Kameya Ryokan Nozawaonsen-mura

... and pictures of japanese ladies. We spent the afternoon exploring the town and Mark had a chestnut icecream- the place is also reknowned for its chestnut confectionary. By this point we had spent all of the cash we had on us and were directed to 2 atms nearby, however neither would accept our cards (all visa) even though they had the visa logo on them. These were the only places to get money out in the whole town and we had no other way of getting any, arggh! So we ...

... icone (symbolisant la mort et la renaissance tout en s'etant connecte avec Bouddha...). Bref, tres interessant ! On a aussi assiste a la priere de fermeture du temple pour la nuit : chants, percussions et cymbales creant une atmosphere spirituelle tres particuliere. Mais voila, ca sera tout pour Nagano, il n'existe meme pas de cartes postables de la ville !

... the comfort of this gesture...which kinda depresses me. Anyway, other than the racoon, a really pleasant afternoon at Zenkoji. Lots of multi-coloured streamers in wind, incense burning everything and tones of cosmic connections being made. I actually ended up on a line for blessings by a monk--he covered my head with some fabric, did some incantations and 5 seconds later, I'd been blessed...or baptised or whatever. I can't say anything really came to me ...

... you can get really close to the monkeys and watching the mums with the baby monkeys is lovely. Unfortunately the monkeys only come down when they are fed so luckily we timed it perfectly and managed to get some brilliant shots. But wait around if there aren't any there once you get there they will soon turn up when the keeps start throwing the pellets on the ground.

We also met an Australian family with a 8 month old baby on a similar trip ...

... your knees for the speed bumps, perform jumps and perfect your last minute swerve. There's also a Maccas 1/2 way down one of the slopes. Managed to make good friends with a couple of expats and a couple of locals at a couple of the bars on the slopes, which led to a couple of lock-ins and a couple of drunken shuffles home in pouring snow. Huzzah for the beer jacket! Having suitably injured myself (I didn't know we had joints that were bruisable in our asses ...

I am going to keep the chat to a minimum here and let the (many) photos do the talking. I went to Nagano to see the "Snow Monkeys". They were awesome. After a short 2km hike through snowy forested mountains, suddenly there were monkeys running across the path - and they literally came within an inch of my feet! Well worth the visit.

... dark passageway feeling and groping along the walls to find the "key"! We found a kind of doorhandle object, but no key, so here's hoping it was actually the doorhandle to salvation! Karaoke Allstars!! After a fabulous dinner made by Takako and Eimear, we all headed out to a Karaoke bar where we paid 2000�� for two hours of karaoke with unlimited drinks. Such fantastic craic, I had never been to a karaoke bar before. We had our own private room ...

... en machine distributrice *On attache des genres de bavettes sur les buddha. C<est tout pour la Japon (ou presque), demain depart pour la Chine!! Campai! Cheers! Sante! **************************ENGRISH by Hamish-San Almost end of our first stop, Japan. Last Friday, we were in Kyoto for our 3rd and last night. We got a train to Nara (first capital of Japan, which passed to Kyoto and is now Tokyo). A ...

... it to your table. We had mackerel, tuna, squid, crab, and shrimp (all raw), and tempura and miso soup. It was a culinary adventure! Then, back to the hotel for the evening, which is very nice, with a great view of a bustling city square, with a river and hills beyond. Our room has a computer in it, so I was able to check my e-mail, to find out that my sister, Cris, had her baby yesterday--little Autumn Hope. And she is adorable... I can't wait to meet her!

... and ice-skating rink. We went through the rather disappointing museum and through to the ice skating rink to find the lights off and half the ice melted. It was then that we realised that the sign out the front in Japanese probably said the rink was closed due to maintenance.

We left M-Wave, had lunch and then had to wait ages for another ...