Shout out to the Shizenkan Lodge, a highly recommended accommodation for all budgets.
http://www.niseko-backpacker.com/
This was my first trip to Japan and I didn’t quite know what to expect. I heard it was clean and you had to know some Japanese or it would be difficult to communicate with the locals. The place was absolutely spotless, and that wasn’t just because I was the first guest for the season!
There was so much snow! The first 24 hours it did not stop snowing, I had never experienced anything like it before. It was like playing a video game for too long and the images are imprinted in your mind, at night the snow falling motion layered my dreams.
You can see why the snow is so romantic though, the mountains can be so quiet, not even an echo sound or maybe it’s the echo of silence. Everything is white, and it’s not just because it’s white, it’s the abundance of colour, similar to an endless blue sky, or rolling hills of green, or blanket colours of wildflowers. The magic of this soft snow hugs around corners like a crazy monkey chain.
I landed in Sapporo, the fourth most populated city in Japan with two million people. It didn’t seem like that, downtown was quite small but the culture was alive! Streets were a buzz with night life entertainment for all. It had a great feel for 11pm on a Tuesday night. Staying in budget accommodation does not deduct from quality in Sapporo. The place was very clean and had great service. It should be classified as shared accommodation rather then budget.
In the morning I ventured on a train ride to Niseko. Planning this trip was a bit of a nightmare as the public transport system represented on the internet is very confusing and although many people on forums say it’s quite easy you still have your concerns especially because of the use of foreign words and characters. But it’s true, it was not too difficult and if you do have the time then the train and bus trip is well worth it.
I love transport where you can stick your head out of the window and feel the wind through your hair. Ok so I don’t have hair, plus this wasn’t one of those trains, but it did have that old rail feel about it.
Otaru is the first change to make and due to it’s winding nature and lack of travelers to the area it’s pretty much a single cart, single track from here on in. A beautiful spot for a stopover with some older style architecture that has with stood the elements and technology.
The Niseko resort area is highly rated, especially for first time travelers to Japan. It is very reasonably priced, and the one thing I like about Japan is that they don’t charge a ransom depending on location. For a resort I was expecting jacked up resort prices, but no, it seemed like prices were about on par if not a bit dearer then any other place in Japan. I first kind of noticed this in the airports where drink prices were like $1+, where you would expect them to be three to five times more expensive or like movie cinema prices. Months prior to my trip, I had been practicing my Japanese and even had a few sessions of language exchange, which really paid off, even though you didn’t really need to know Japanese to communicate effectively at Niseko. Mainly because it was a tourist resort and it catered for international tourists. But as a reflection of the quality of Japanese service, I was able to access my Japanese language exchange partner while he was back in Australia to help we with a couple of phrases. One in particular “hukuro irimasen” or in English “no bag please”. Remember this one. Like most Asian transactions the use of plastic bags for everything is quite normal.
So there was snow, snow and more snow, this shot was taking when I was caught out waiting for a bus with one main road and complete darkness and so much snow I thought I was going to be buried alive. I’m not sure if it’s a church, I don’t think it is, but it doesn’t look like a regular building.
At minus 10 degrees centigrade it didn’t seem that cold, it was like once it reaches a certain temperature it doesn’t feel any colder. I don’t know but minus one degrees seemed pretty much the same as minus 10 – cold!!! And the combination of the cold and being dehydrated I caught a cold. It is the worst feeling being sick when abroad. Thank these wonderful people and the makers of Japanese Curry Soup – this was my saviour
I thought the general rule for Asian food was chili goes with everything. And it probably does, it’s just not featured that much in Japanese cuisine. And I needed soup! This was absolutely delicious! The chili factor went to 20 and on my first attempt I went for a conservative level five. It was hot enough and would be too spicy for many of my friends except for my Sichuan friends. They would laugh at the soup. It made me sweat well, hydrated me well with vitamins and salts, and it increased my metabolism. The following night I went for more, this time raising the ante to eight. Wow this was enough, I can handle spicy, and I’ve done Sichuan peppers and hotpot, but this was something a bit different. It surely hit the spot though and a sunny day was just around the corner.
Japan is a bit of an adventure, there are foreign words and systems to navigate, also there are foods and cultures to explore!