Asahikawa Washinton Hotel

... ground. Arrived to sunny, warm weather (thankfully) and went to the Visitors center to see about some hiking. They nixed my idea of hiking to Tenninkyo Onsen nearby (avalanches apparently...) so I went up in the cable car to Mt. Asahidake, the tallest in the region, and snow shoed a bit up there around steaming sulphur vents and hiked down the slope. The down bit had a dicey few moments when I decided to not follow the ski slope down and instead some snow shoe tracks I ...

... hike near the hostel. We expected a cake-walk, but the trail climbed more than we thought and the with the fresh rain forest growth around us we got quite wet again. Once again, it was a delight to to get back for a good hot soak. Our destination today is an onsen resort located on the shore of Lake Toya in southern Hokkaido. Toya-ko is very popular, so we are expecting the full-on Japanese tourist experience.

... visitare en estos proximos dias, Daisetzusan. Me recomiendan comprarme una campanilla, auyenta osos, porque los hay y cada anyo se cepillan a algun senderista silencioso. Me la compro, auqnue me parece que en general son un poco exagerados, esta gente. Aunque basta para que no te la compres y seas tu el pringado que es deborado por el oso. Me pregunto si notaria la diferencia el oso... Llego a las 11 a Wakkanai, un pueblucho de mala muerte, todo cerrado ...

We're in Sapporo now and it's absolutely amazing. However the hostel is charging ten yen per freaking minute to use the internet - which adds up to roughly $10 AUD an hour. So there won't be any further posts until we reach Tokyo again in another three days.

Missing you all,
Tom and Rachael

We're in Sapporo now and it's absolutely amazing. However the hostel is charging ten yen per freaking minute to use the internet - which adds up to roughly $10 AUD an hour. So there won't be any further posts until we reach Tokyo again in another three days.

Missing you all,
Tom and Rachael

... need to be naked. The only difference is that, you don't really need to mix up with guys actually. They are seperated into ladies and gents division but of course you got to be naked when you are in it. So, it's either you let people see what you have, or you pay the trip to stay in your hotel room.

... wet at the lower altitudes but up top the snow is still very dry. I've been to one other mountain in Daisetsuzan, it's called Asahidake. Asahidake is Hokkaido's tallest mountain. It's an active volcano and when you hike to the good runs you can see the smoke coming out of the peak and smell the sulphur. It's a bit nerve-racking but really cool when you think to yourself "Whoa, I'm skiing on a volcano right now." The drive ...

... for the card. Luckily my company included information for this in my arrival pack. It said "if you didn't pay about 300 yen, show this to the clerk." I didn't pay about 300 yen so I showed it to her and she filled out some more paperwork for me and now, our hero, the unstoppable Bri-ah Cheru is a registered alien in Japan (that's the closest the kanji could get to my name. Although when I got my bank account a few days later the girl there could say Chell as ...

... wasn't able to sleep hardly at all. So I read some books and watched some in-flight entertainment. They had some sports shows but they were mainly about rally car driving and golf, no baseball scores which was annoying since that little team that could (but didn't), the Little Pirahnas, The MINNESOTA TWINS were playing Oakland while I was in the air. Once I got to Tokyo Narita Airportit was easy enough getting through customs and immigration. There were representatives from ...

That was the first time to take a flight in my life. It was very nervous at the time the airplane took off the ground and I also experienced compressed air in my earhole on the flight for the first time. Sapporo had a snow festival with a lot of snow sculptures and ice sculptures in ...