Holy Moly Hokkaido... First Stop, Niseko

Beautiful, beautiful Hokkaido!  So, so, so much fun.  And so, so, so much delicious food.  I think I just might have to split this into 2 different posts - one for all the fun we had and one for all the food!

As we were trying to figure out our summer travel plans, we were looking for 1) a few days escape from the heat and humidity of our first Tokyo summer, and 2) a way to recreate the nature adventures we used to have in Tahoe.

Last August, the boys and I were lucky enough to spend a whole month together in Tahoe, and I look upon this time so fondly that I was itching to try and re-capture some of that.  Or maybe just get out of the city for a few days, but either way, we had a grand time...

Mt. Yotei in Hokkaido - we were able to see this beautiful
mountain every day!

We knew that Hokkaido is typically cooler than Tokyo, but I must admit, I think the clincher came when Kevin learned that there is good golf there.  Whatever works, I suppose.

Anyway, we got some travel advice from the family of my English student, whose great-great-grandfather was one of the original settlers of Hokkaido 150 years ago.  So on their suggestion, we headed to a place called Niseko - and we loved it!  Found Freedom Inn in Niseko online, a hostel in Sapporo in the Lonely Planet guidebook, cheap flights and we were set!

Hokkaido is the northernmost island of Japan, and it has been said that it is the least "Japanese"of all the Japanese islands.  It is 20% of Japan's land area with only 5% of the population.  It feels very rural, almost back road North Carolina style - farms, fields of corn (it's a "specialty" of Hokkaido), rusted-out tractors, dilapidated buildings, and not very many people in most of the places we went... We felt right at home - and worlds away from Tokyo.  

Niseko is well- known as a ski resort in the winter.  Supposedly the best powder around, especially for Australians.  But we were happy to explore it in the summer when there were far fewer people around... in fact, we hardly saw any "foreigners" the whole time we were in Niseko.  Most of the tourists we saw were Japanese...

On our way...

Unfortunately, the cheap flights were early in the morning, so imagine the 4 of us at 4:45 AM trekking to the train station with 3 roller bags, 3 backpacks, and 2 car seats.  Despite the time of day, we were all in good spirits as we started our adventure.

At our Gakugeidaigaku train station headed to the airport...

We flew into New Chitose airport, rented a car, and drove 2 hours (part of it along the coast of the Sea of Japan) to our home away from home, the Freedom Inn in Niseko.

Roadtrip! Our Hokkaido-mobile... small, just like many other things in Japan...

Our basic m.o. for our 4 days in Niseko seemed to be:

1. Big breakfast at the hotel - kids were in 7th heaven because they could have cereal and fruit everyday (to be honest, I was actually starting to miss the rice and seaweed we often have for breakfast at home)
2. Outdoor activity of the day
3. Naptime in the afternoon
4. Wake Ryan up from his nap to go to dinner
5. Fabulous feast!
6. Food coma...

How is it that I am talking about the food in Hokkaido AGAIN?  That will simply have to wait for its own blog post...

Here's a sampling of our Niseko fun...

Whitewater Rafting

Rafting was Ethan's First Choice of Things To Do.

And I think we're all glad that he wanted to do it so badly because we all had a lot of fun.  Unfortunately, there are no photos as we were camera-less on the river.  But, that's probably a good thing because there is simply NO WAY to make those helmets look cool.

Weather was ideal.  Scenery was beautiful.  Reminded us of kayaking the river behind our house in Tahoe.  

Rock Climbing

 A rainy day forced us to a cafe that doubled as an indoor climbing wall.  Kids couldn't resist, so Kevin and I got our first lessons in belaying and harnessed 'em up.  It was Ryan's first time to try it, and Ethan's second (he had gotten an expert rock climbing coaching session by Uncle Mike last summer).  It was a fun way to spend an afternoon (and resulted in niiiice, looooong naps afterwards).

Apparently, the rules of rock climbing are in English, as the instructor told them to say "tension" when they wanted us to bring them down with the ropes.  No matter how many times we told them this, both Ethan and Ryan insisted on yelling "Attention!!" every time they wanted to get down - as in "pay attention, mom and dad, get me down from here right now!"  It sorta backfired as I was too busy laughing to maneuver the ropes very quickly, but alas...

Fishing

Fishing was Ryan's First Choice of Things To Do.

In fact, he's been asking us to take him fishing for a couple of years now, so I was quite pleased that we were finally able to make it happen.  Except for the small problem that Ryan didn't catch any fish.  And Ethan did (after having his rod in the water for only 2 minutes).  It was a tough lesson in the cruelties of life and fishing... Ryan has bounced back and was eager to explain to his yochien teacher that he ALMOST caught a fish and that the fish ate his bait.

Ethan was beyond excited about his fish.  It was a small rainbow trout, and it's almost all he has talked about when he tells people about our trip to Hokkaido.

Getting schooled in the art of fishing...

Ethan's Big Catch

It was a feisty little thing...

Ryan looks on longingly...

His own special fishing style...

A little quiet time on the river

Leaving the river fish-less... sadness prevailed for Ryan...
but it was nothing that a little ice cream couldn't cure...

Hiking

I must admit, hiking was my First Choice of Things To Do.  We got in a very nice hike, after a morning rain storm, only a few minutes from the front door of our hotel.  Couldn't be more perfect than that.





















We hiked along a wooded trail, crossing several small rivers along the way, ending at the wetlands and a small pond.  The scenery all around us was green and lush and actually reminded us of the North Carolina mountains more than Tahoe (Tahoe's mountains and scenery are a lot more rocky and dramatic whereas NC is more gentle and rolling).

 

Hot Springs

On the recommendation of our inn host, we headed to the Goshiki Onsen for a truly traditional onsen experience.  Again, no photos because a) they are public baths, and b) I'm guessing that taking pictures of (or near) naked strangers might not be the best idea...

At first look, the onsen is basically a glorified shack on the side of a beautiful mountain road.  Once you go inside, it still looks like a shack, but we were prepared for that.  We put our money (600 yen) in the little ticket vending machine and we were on our way.  

Kevin and the kids headed to their onsen and I headed to mine. The water comes straight from the earth and is very hot coming out of the pipe with a slight smell of sulphur (remember the black eggs cooked in volcanic sulphur water from our trip to Hakone).  It is not treated in any way and we heard that the color of the water "changes from creamy white to green depending on how angry the volcano gods are."  They must have been in a fine mood the day we were there as the water looked very much like... ummm, well, water. 

There is an indoor onsen and an outdoor one.  The outdoor one was the favorite of the four of us as it had large rocks in the middle - sort of looked like a Zen rock garden in the middle of a fish pond with a view of Annapuri Mountain (ok, there are also several naked people sitting in the pond, but disregard that part from the image).  

Gondola up the Mountain

It was our last day in Hokkaido, and so we figured we should do the obligatory gondola ride up the ski mountain.  On clear days, there is an amazing view of Mt. Yotei, but it was a bit cloudy, so we just took the ride up for fun...

The cloudy view from the top...

Headed back down the mountain...

Wheeeee.... roller coaster time!

Some Hokkaido Dairy place...

Can't really tell you much about this place except that many Japanese tourists buy their omiyage here (obligatory souvenirs, often local food items).  We just ate ice cream and played on the random farm equipment scattered around...

Hong Kong - A Land of Contrasts

There's nothing like getting ready to go on vacation that motivates me to do things I should have done months ago. We leave tomorrow for Hokkaido, so here I am - FINALLY uploading pictures from my Hong Kong weekend back in June.  My fabulous Peace Corps friend, Sandy, was in Hong Kong for work and very graciously suggested that I come for a long weekend and crash in her hotel.  I had to move a few mountains to make it happen - but it was worth it!  

That said, don't get me started about the 10 days of work and the 3 single-spaced pages of details that had to happen in preparation for me being gone for 5 days.  And how much fun did I have watching the jaws drop of my Japanese mom friends when I told them I was going away for the weekend without the kids?  They seemed to find the whole idea an utter impossibility.  Of course, that only encouraged me to stir the pot a little more by suggesting that we all go on a girls' weekend.  The sideways eye glances of "is she for real?" was a thing to behold.  We'll see if we can make it happen... I only have a few years to prime the cultural pump, so I better get to work.

Anywaaaay.... yes, Hong Kong was a ton of fun.  It felt like we did a lot in a short amount of time. I got in late Thursday evening and left on Monday morning... so our days were filled with:

• Tram to the top of Victoria Peak, gorgeous views, especially as the city began to light up for the night
• Cold beer
• Ferry to Macau - didn't require a visa, but did require us to go through customs to get Chinese passport stamps
• Cold beer
• Snacking our way through Macau street food stalls
• Exploring the Sao Paulo ruins replica
• Ferry back to Hong Kong and the Kowloon market / Temple Street
• Cold beer (do you see a theme here?  And yes, it was HOT)
• Cable car to Tian Tian Buddha (Big Buddha) and then 300 steps up to it
• Dim sum and random snacks (coconut lotus sago cake, sago pudding, shiu mai)
• Tai O Fishing Village - boat ride, more snacks (who knew you could get a husband for the low, low price of 18 HKD?), more beer
• Light show at the Wan Chai Pier

It's hard to sum up, but Hong Kong does seem to be a country of contrasts.  Beautiful and old and modern and austere.  The water views are phenomenal.  My favorite part was our day spent at an old fishing village.  Of course, part of that joy was the "riverside bar" we thought we were going to, which we think might have actually been a family gathering that we crashed by walking in and asking for a beer.  They happily obliged, along with a bowl of random, chewy, fish parts, and the insistent "no pay, no pay."  It was a crack-up.  We're still not sure if it was a restaurant / bar or just somebody's back porch, but I'm leaning toward the latter...

My other favorite part was all the street food we ate.  Pear in sangria and "make your own" curry soup were favorites - this was in Macau... we had fish balls, urchin and crab balls, and something we thought was tofu but I'm pretty sure it wasn't.  Oh yeah, and the famous portugese egg tarts - yummmm - and the multiple flavors of meat jerky!  We had dinner one night at a VERY local market eatery (it's the restaurant with only plastic sheets for walls in the slideshow), where we had a PILE of PORK, some delicious Chinese cabbage, and some mighty tasty cold beers.  Also, I quite enjoyed watching Sandy have her fortune told, all the while the fortune teller was using a palm pilot to check her birthdate, etc.  Cracked me up!  Just another contrast...

Another "highlight" was exploring one of the many dried goods shops - sort of natural foods shop meets homeopathic medicine.  Here, we were offered a taste of dried scallops but were, thankfully, NOT offered the dried deer penis.  Seriously?  I couldn't stop laughing.  You should be able to identify this fairly easily in the slideshow....

Good times!  Sandy thinks we should try out for the Amazing Race ...

A New Kind of Top Ten List: The Similarities Between My Life in Tokyo and My Life in Malawi

Who woulda thunk it? Japan and Africa? The big city of Tokyo is like my little village of Kazuni in Malawi? Yes, indeed, there are some striking similarities...

This may not make sense, much less be even the slightest bit humorous unless you happen to be a Malawi RPCV, but I find it ever so chuckle-inducing, and since I just might be the only one reading this, I'm gonna make myself laugh...


1. In both Malawi and Tokyo, my main form of transport is my bike.  In Malawi, I always wore long skirts while biking, because culturally, that's what women wore in the villages.  In Tokyo, I often wear skirts as well, because my time in Malawi actually taught me that it is waaaaay more comfortable in hot weather to wear skirts rather than pants or shorts.  You get a good breeze when you pedal, I'm just sayin'...

2. I don't have a car.  Therefore, much of my life these days is figuring out how to get from one place to another.  In Malawi, I never knew if there would be any transport at all - I literally didn't know how and if and when I could get out of the bush.  In Tokyo, that is not a problem at all - buses and trains are quite reliable.  But I'm still dependent on someone else for getting me where I need to go.

3.  And though my life in Tokyo has yet to include being crammed into the back of a pick-up truck with assorted livestock as well as 57 Malawians, all hanging on for dear life, I am routinely crammed into a train car, in which I only hope there is enough air to sustain my dear life.  In both Tokyo and Malawi, they have people whose actual job it is, to push people farther into what appears to be a completely full train car or pick-up truck or mini-bus, so that the impossible can occur - even more people can fit in a space which appears to have absolutely no more room.  Defies all scientific principles... but it happens in both Tokyo and Malawi.

4.  I used to be ever so amused by the daily chore at every well-kept Malawian hut of "sweeping the dirt."  Literally sweeping the dirt outside one's hut with a broom made of twigs and branches, leaving it neat and tidy and decorated with the imprint of the twig broom.  Two things are the same in Tokyo: 1) You can actually buy the twig/branches brooms everywhere around here and people use them to sweep the sidewalks.  2) You know those Japanese Zen sand gardens - they rake the sand everyday, which is, in essence, "sweeping the dirt."  Who woulda thunk it?

5.  A smile can get you a very long way.  Now that I am experiencing life as an illiterate immigrant, I am constantly reminded of my first few months in the village when my main form of communication was lots of smiles, some crazy miming, and a precious few words.  I got by.... In Tokyo, I have added the iPhone to my repertoire of communication tools when I don't know the language.  This means that I am constantly using my phone to take pictures of things that I need to buy and then showing a store clerk and asking where it is in the store.  Just the other day, I took pictures of several children's books in English, went to the library, showed the librarian, and then asked her if they had those books in Japanese (when we have the English version, it makes reading the Japanese one approximately 79 times faster and more fun).  Worked like a charm...

6.  Remember in Malawi when every restaurant and every home you entered offered you a warm bowl of water in which to wash your hands?  In Tokyo, virtually every restaurant offers you a piping hot warm cloth to wipe your hands.  But, I haven't been in enough Japanese homes to say if the tradition holds true in homes.

Japanese style toilet

7. The infamous hole in the ground.  In Malawi, it's dirt.  In Japan, it's porcelain.  But, you still have to pop a squat and build your quadricep muscles.  So, in essence, it's the same.

8.  The "r" and the "l."  This cracks me up every time.  In Malawi, I was oh-so-ever-amused whenever I heard, "Feer flee" (that's feel free, for anyone trying to find the humor).   In Tokyo, I can eat runch or lunch and the name of my poor child "Ryan" is pronounced just like "lion."  Ryan and lion are even written the exact same way in katakana, because there is literally no difference in the pronunciation (ライアン.  Fortunately for him, he really likes lions.

9.  MOSQUITOES!!!!! I had no idea that I would have to buy mosquito coils in Tokyo, that I would actually stay inside at times because of the blood-sucking monsters, and that I would seriously consider buying a mosquito net for our bed?  Seriously?  Can you tell how much I hate mosquitoes?  In fact, the boys are allowed to use the word "hate" for exactly 2 things.  Mosquitoes is one of them (the other is throwing up, if you're dying to know).

10.  I love where I am, but I miss my friends and family!

LOTS of Surprises in One Day - By Ethan

On the Yokohama ferris wheel...

Dictated by Ethan, typed by Stephanie

Dear Friends and Family,

Today we had a great day.  We had TEN surprises in one day.

1.  We walked by a shop that had a small pool of balloons that was part of a game.  To play, you had to buy something in the shop, but the lady said "this is a gift" and let me play one time for free.

2.  Hooray!  In the game, I caught the balloon with the hook, so I got to take it home.  A pretty fun game.

3.  Baseball time!  I played this cool baseball game and hooray again - home runs for my team! And I won 6-5 - close game too. And I said "that was a pretty good thing for 100 yen."

4.  Yippee!  The ferris wheel!  We went on a big Ferris Wheel in Yokohama - it is called Cosmo Club 21.

5.  Alvin and the Chipmunks!  Alvin and the Chipmunks!  Haha - fooled you.  It was just a big squirrel thing (my mom said it's called a mascot) with a really big belly button!

The silly mascot thing that Ethan REALLY wanted a picture of...

6.  Ooishii yummy!  We had dim sum for lunch in Yokohama Chinatown and for dessert, I chose coconut tarts. We also got to taste mango pudding, almond jelly, and peach buns (they were shaped like a peach but filled with red beans).

7.  Again, a balloon!  And a big buta.  Haha - fooled you again, buta is a pig (the balloons had pigs printed on them because they were giving them away at a tonkatsu food stand).

8.  With the 2 balloons, I made an archery game!

9.  While we were walking by the ships, we saw lots of jelly fish swimming in the water.  And I have a story for you.  One time, Mommy got stung by a jellyfish and it hurt!  She had to put baking soda on it.

10.  A homeless man gave Ryan a fan and Ryan said it's a fan, an umbrella shade, a back scratcher, and a mosquito-smacker - all in one!

Ethan with his bow and arrow made from his 2 "surprise balloons."

We had a fun day, with Mommy's friend whose name is Sandy.  My four favorite parts were the ferris wheel, the ballon I won at the game, winning the baseball game, and the jellyfish.

Love,
Ethan

I have one song -　いちにさんしごろくしちはち

The Mt. Fuji Mission

Roooaaaadtrrrrrriipppp!

We planned a little last minute excursion to Hakone, with the goal of seeing the famous Mt. Fuji.  Though our Mt. Fuji mission was thwarted by rain and clouds, our spirits were high and we enjoyed our weekend away...

And the kids were quite excited to see their first rice fields, resulting in a shout-out every time we passed one (which was often)!

Exploring the Owakudani Volcano and other such Adventures

I was amazed by how green and lush the Hakone area is.  Kevin and I both said that it reminded us of the Santa Cruz Mountains.  We left on a Saturday morning and by the time we got there, it was early afternoon.  So, with only a day and a half to explore, we went for the gusto!  Our explorations included

• The Hakone-Tozan Cablecar up the mountainside - like a small train car that travels on a steep track up the mountainside
• The Hakone Ropeway (aka what we might call a cable car / ski lift like thing / the English term is escaping me at the moment)
• A short hike to the boiling sulphur pits of the Owakudani Volcano
• The Hakone Pirate Ship, sailing across Lake Ashinoko 
• An all-consuming search for the perfect Hakone souvenir for the boys that met our criteria of a) less than 500yen and b) a reminder of our trip.  [In case the suspense is killing you, Ethan chose a "3-D" Mt. Fuji notebook and Ryan chose a Mt. Fuji "crystal ball." We hope these will bring us good luck the next time we try to see the "shy" mountain.]

The cablecar up the mountain

A little snuggle time on the cablecar - I'll take it whenever I can get it...

On the ropeway....

Looking out at the steam escaping from the earth....

...in the Owakudani volcano area

Where our black eggs were cooked (see below for more about this tasty treat)

Looking out at the mountains, while breathing in the sulphuric fumes :)

Heading back down the mountain... on to our next adventure!

The Pirate Ship on Lake Ashinoko!

My boys... seeking refuge from the rain and wind!

 Our First Guesthouse / Hostel and Onsen (natural hot springs) in Japan

Our home away from home - for 1 night in Hakone

We quite liked our little family tatami room - it looked out onto a babbling brook surrounded by lush, green forest.  Quite peaceful, really.

There was also an outdoor onsen and an indoor onsen, and the hot water was none other than that of the Owakudani volcano that we had seen earlier in the day.  Ryan opted to skip the hot water, but Ethan was game to try it.

After a long day of exploring, we were quite happy to come back to the guesthouse, relax in our yukattas, and then relax even more in the outdoor onsen.

Exploring the outdoor onsen when we first arrived

Ethan's first onsen

Tired travelers!

FOOD!!!!

As has become "the usual" for us, any adventure includes sampling whatever tasty treats we can find (and some not-so-tasty, but we didn't know that until after the fact).  This weekend was no exception.

Clearly, the specialty of the Hakone area is かまぼこ (kamaboko), or steamed fish cakes.  They come in all different shapes and sizes and colors and often on a stick.  To our untrained taste buds, the flavors of the various types were quite similar.  Ethan tried them, but wasn't a fan.  Ryan quite liked them. 

One of many random fish-cakes-on-a-stick we tasted...

We also sampled the famous くろたまご / "black eggs" that are literally cooked in the bubbling, boiling sulphur water of the Owakudani volcano.  The eggs don't taste any different from normal hard-boiled eggs, but the chemical reaction with the sulphur creates a completely black egg shell.  The legend is that eating a black egg will add 7 years to your life, but that one should not eat more than 2.5 (I wonder if that's why you can only buy them in packs of 5).  We topped off our black eggs with egg ice cream, for no good reason at all, except that it was delicious.  We skipped the wasabi ice cream, however... that'll be the next trip, I suppose.

The black eggs cooked in the boiling sulphur water pits...

Taking a little "black egg" break in the middle of our short hike

More street food - and this was some darn DELICIOUS corn on the cob! I had no idea that corn on the cob was such a Japanese delicacy....

Our favorite meal was from a "country-style" Japanese restaurant for dinner on Saturday night.  It was a feast!  And as usual, the kids ate waaaay more than one would think people of their size should be able to consume.  But it's par for the course these days.

We had teriyaki chicken, traditional fried chicken (kara age), age dashi tofu and age dashi eggplant, oyakudon, miso soup, tsukemono, and probably some other delicious-ness that I'm forgetting.  Our meals were served with a mystery side dish that I thought was incredibly tasty, until I asked Kevin what it was and he told me that he thought it was pork innards and pork fat.  That made it slightly less appealing as I figured that I probably shouldn't be eating a bowl of pork fat - no matter how good it tasted.  I finally asked the restaurant what it was and after much dictionary searching and a call out to another apparently local restaurant guest who spoke some English, we learned that it was actually stewed gluten.  At least that's what we understood - not 100% sure that's right, but I gotta find out soon so I can eat it again!

Watching our dinner being prepared...

Watching our dinner being devoured...