Japan - Niseko to Sapporo

We made the most of our last day in Niseko by getting in as much skiing as we could (Andrew is a machine and pretty much went until we had to get our transfer bus), and I managed to get in one more Onsen after lunch at the King Hut (up the Boyo gondolas). Frozen beer is pretty cool.







We arrived at our hotel Excel Tokyu, and again I'm pleasantly surprised at the size of the room and bed. They're both really generous, I'm yet to be disappointed by a room. Kyle was extremely excited there were pyjamas provided.

After dropping our stuff we made our way to find Ramen Alley, which turned out to be at the end of a street filled with "love" hotels (where young people can hire rooms by the hour or two).



This part of Sapporo is so different from the first time we were in the city. It's so lit up and bustling! We saw lots of salary men, and a lot of girls sporting the fashion of boots and tiny skirts… in 0 degree weather. I just got a full set of goosebumps as I typed that.



Ramen Alley was awesome. We chose a place close to the entrance where we were the only people in the small restaurant of about 8 seats. The young and cool looking chef made us each a bowl of butter corn miso ramen, and kept his cool demeanour until he saw Andrew's cheat sheet of Japanese terms (including "that was delicious!") at which point he giggled and seemed quite delighted at the effort. We all loved it, it was a very different (more authentic) experience than Ramen Yokocho where we went for dinner on our first stay in Sapporo.





Tomorrow we're off to an early start to catch a coach to the airport and to our Air BnB in Tokyo. It's all of our first times using an Air BnB and I can't wait to see what it's like!

Japan - Niseko, Day 4

There was a bit of a hole in our Japan story, with this post coming a long time after it happened for reasons that will become obvious.

More skiing, more amazing food, and more Onsen. Today Andrew was out for a lot of the day for a skiing lesson. He learned some good techniques and did some pretty scary stuff up high on the mountain. He scoped out some of the runs and got some advice from the instructor so that we can figure out what fun stuff we can do on the last day.

After morning skiing at the family run, afternoon skiing at Boyo, Amy and I went back to the apartment for a bit while the boys went on. We thought they were heading up to go down the beginners mountain slope (the bit I almost died on), but the visibility was so low that a few of the lifts were closed so they did some forrest runs on the family run instead. The forrest part of the family run is actually amazing and pretty hard too, so it's cool that you have a bit of both worlds in the same place.

That night we headed back to the family run for some night skiing. I only did 4 runs because I wanted to get as much Onsen time in as possible. Amy and Kyle stayed out skiing while Andrew and I did Onsen, and they had an amazing time! I think the best part was when they did the forrest run together, with Amy following behind Kyle, and when she turned back to exit the forrest bit she found Kyle ON ONE KNEE waiting for her!!! (well… two knees, and then he face planted because kneeling on a ski slope is very hard). He proposed on the family run at around 8pm Niseko time on March 13th, which is apt because this was 13 years in the making. It was so actually romantic (not fake or movie romantic) and I cannot be more happy for the two little cherry blossoms!

Japan - Niseko, Day 3

I could get used to waking up to this outside the window every day.





But I definitely couldn't get used to having to suit up until you can barely move your joints because you're so padded, it's so crazy cold! Today it was -11 degrees up the mountain. Ridiculous. Although much to Andrews amusement I did manage to figure out how to completely seal my face with my beanie, glasses and neck tube.



Today we started off on the family slope and did a few runs. Andrew was planning to book into a level 4 lesson but they weren't running today, so we changed our plans and decided to try the Boyo runs a few times, and get lunch at Boyoyo. Amy and Kyle stuck to the family slope while Andrew and I headed over. The Boyo slope is really fun and very different to the family slope. I think that the family slope is actually more pretty and picturesque, and I still find it really fun, but the Boyo slope gave us something different to try because it's a "bowl", which means it slopes up on either side of a fairly steep middle section. You can make it as fast or slow as you want by going up the sides of the bowl, but you have to have your whits about you because you're skiing in and out of pylons that hold up the overhead chair lift.

Lunch at Boyoso was great, much more intimate than yesterday's ref lunch. We had to hike up a little slope to get there and were surprised to find that it was actually packed out, but it was because skiers from further up black diamond runs were skiing down to Boyoso. There were only a few of us chumps hiking up the hill to get there.







After a couple more runs down, we decided to take the gondola up, and take the beginner run back over to the family slope (which is the closest to our accommodation). The conditions were perfect, the visibility was amazing, but still it was fucking hard! Andrew had warned me a lot and described it to me so I could decide whether or not I felt like I could do it, and I figured I would just go really slowly and fumble my way down. It was actually so steep and scary with lots of fast people and intersections that could accidentally take you down a black diamond run and I never want to do it again. I was shaking the whole way down.



I managed to make it pretty much back to the family run without falling (well, I sat down a couple of times but not proper falls), and then I proper fell just before the start of the family run. I went over a big lump and got a bit of air before my left ski got caught in the snow, came off, and I did a few tumbles down before I stopped. The fall itself was like falling onto a bed, but I twanged my already sore left hip flexor and it took me about 5 minutes to get the bloody ski back on. I managed to get back down but I could barely even snow plow because of my shot hip flexors, and man the bath back the apartment was heaven.



Andrew has gone out night skiing on his own tonight, fingers crossed he comes back in one piece (edit: he's back in one piece!). We got a takeaway dinner from Seico mart again tonight and are just having a quiet one in. Only two more days left, I really want to make the most of it tomorrow and try some night skiing.

Japan - Niseko, Day 2

Our second day of skiing in Niseko in perfect conditions. We all got a bit better, and a bit more confident, which was probably why Amy and I both crashed for the first time today. But I would go as far as to say that we are all actually excellent skiers, and apparently I am also the best Chinese Poker player that has ever lived.





Today we had lunch up on the mountain in an awesome Japanese ref. I think everything tastes amazing after skiing, especially vegetable curry, rice, and Kirin. I was a bit too cold to try the frozen beer (which had a frozen soft-serve looking head) but maybe tomorrow. We took the gondolas back down to the other side of the slopes.







We took the gondolas down, and Andrew and I tried a different beginners slope. It was fun to try something different, but the family slope is still the most fun.

Andrew and I went to our first onset today at the Vale, not together of course. We pretty much each had it to ourselves until the end where a few other skiers came in. Being snowed on while in a hot bath is really a fun new experience, and of course being naked makes everything better.





Dinner was takeaway from Seicomart and the food trucks in the ski village, Sapporo beer, Hibiki whisky (and apple for me), and a couple of Gudetamas (boiled eggs). And finally, after my 4 out of 5 wins, Kyle has stopped challenging my win and we can all finally go to bed.

Japan - Niseko

A 3h bus trip from Sapporo brought us to the ski village of Hirafu in Niseko. We checked in to the gorgeous Freshwater apartment where the view of the powdery snow is spectacular.









We picked up our ski gear (mine was pinstripe yellow and green) and got ready for our first lesson on the family slope. Our ski instructor (James a.k.a Tyrone) took us through the basics, so while Kyle and Andrew were bored, I was busy being terrified out of my frozen mind. It was so hard! But we were all pretty damn good so after a quick intro we headed up the chair lift. The chair lift was even more petrifying, but I finally did get the hang of it. The shower after was miraculous, especially for my frozen butt.

I really enjoyed skiing, it's actually pretty similar to ice skating in the way you shift your weight to turn, but it's so much more scary because you're at the mercy of the slopes on the mountain. I think I've built up a bit of confidence so hopefully tomorrow some muscle memory will kick in and I'll be able to start strong.

Dinner at Bang Bang was our first Yakitori in Japan, yum! Also, the fruit here is amazing.

Japan - Cottesloe Beach and Sapporo

Yesterday we spent our last day in Perth making the most of the weather by visiting Sculptures by the Sea and having a swim at Cottesloe beach after breakfast at John St Cafe.

My favourite:


The most enjoyable:


And the giant vagina just has to get a mention:


We tried to pack in as much exercise as possible before we left, which for me included some cardio with Tammy and also checking out the progress on her new studio. It looks phenomenal and has so much personality, I cannot wait to see the finished thing and my god I can't wait to start training again.

Perth to Hong Kong to Sapporo was a long and pretty sleepless flight (my Fitbit reckoned 2h 29min). I think I went slightly mad in particular when on the first flight they brought around the coldest ice-cream I'd ever had. It was like a mango bar thing, and before I knew it my lips and tongue were completely stuck to it. I thought I was over reacting but a quick look around the cabin had some equally alarmed reactions.

After we arrived we took an excruciatingly expensive taxi to Hotel Aspen which is absolute luxury for the price we payed for the rooms. I was warned to expect tiny rooms, beds, and bathrooms, but it's really fine, great even!



It was 1 degree outside, probably less by the time we got to walking. I thought the boots I brought were a bit over the top, but after stepping outside I was wishing they were about 10 times more over the top. It is freezing! I've actually been in colder temperatures (in Kazakhstan) but I think the difference is that you wouldn't really wear your thermal underwear under your jeans for 1 degree, but wearing jeans alone is like wearing nothin at all, nothin at all, nothin at all… So glad I brought my silly ear muffs.




Ramen at Kyowakoku on Level 10 above the train station warmed us right up. We all got variations on the miso ramen theme and it was absolutely delicious. I traded ramen noodles for broth, and we even warmed up enough to enjoy a couple of Sapporo beers.





After dinner we checked out the other floors in the train station shopping mall and stumbled upon a pet shop, a giant arcade, and the longest row of those little machines you get knick knacks out of I've ever seen. One of the machines served up deep fried mining machines because why not Japan.




Kyle wanted to win an anime girl in food but picked the wrong machine by accident so won me a Gudetama (he didn't have such a good-a-time-ah). I don't know what this little egg thing is but it's popping up all over the place and now I have one attached to my handbag.



Tomorrow we're up early to head to Niseko for some skiing lessons!

Laneway 2016

Methyl Ethel, Majical Cloudz, DIIV, Health, The Smith Street Band, Violent Soho, Grimes, Beach House and Purity Ring. Yum.











Thank god for Old Faithful, fried brussel sprouts and baked potatoes. Later on the wait for food was 40 mins and everyone ran out of vegetarian!


Also, no door hook, no problem!

The Cooking Professor - Moroccan Tagine with Riki

I bought Andrew a voucher to The Cooking Professor which has just opened up pretty much across the road from our house. We decided to to go the Moroccan tagine class run by Riki (and her assistant chef Pepe who is of Nobu fame).



The class was brilliant! We really really loved it. Riki is lovely and her excitement is infectious. The class itself is actually pretty full on; you each have your tasks and you're quite pushed for time to finish them. Every now and then Riki would stop us to share some interesting things to learn from the other people in the class, or to demonstrate techniques to everyone.



We all sat down to a big share plate (or share-tagine) dinner made of all the dishes cooked by the students. I have to say, we all nailed it. Yum! After dinner Riki fried us some doughnuts (one of the stations had the job of making the dough and setting it to rise). I ate two, to hell with the gluten consequences.



I will be spreading the good word!