roaming around annupurri, hirafu and stuffing our faces all day
we spent our last full day in hirafu in search of some eateries. first on the list was rakuichi sobatei, a small soba house in annupurri that was featured on no reservations a while back. it’s a 12 seat restaurant…
Day Trip to Otaru
I made a day trip to Otaru on my own yesterday. Started out at the Hirafu intersection waiting for the Niseko bus that goes to the Kutchan train station at 8:59am. For whatever reason, the bus was 15 minutes late…shocking…
another day in niseko
day three on the mountain and it might be our last one of the niseko portion *insert sadface*, barring any magical dumps in the next 36 hours. with the snow forecast predicting 1-3cm everyday during our stay, we’ve had some…
Lazy Day in Grand Hirafu
Spent the morning researching and mapping out all the onsens in the area while the boys enjoy powder runs. Found three onsens within a three block radius from our hotel. Before we started any relaxation, we went in search of…
Snowy Mountain
Snow, lots of snow. My snow boots finally look at home and prove to be awesome. Explored Hirafu and Kutchan today. While waiting for the bus to Kutchan, I noticed a man working hard to remove snow on a sloped…
niseko!!! finarry!!!
after a 24 hour travel day, we arrived in niseko to clear skies, no crowds and cold & crisp weather to boot. a 2.5 hour bus ride from the airport to rusutsu & finally niseko grand hirafu. they’ve gotten about…
Shanghai Nights
Spent the last day in Shanghai doing laundry and getting a massage. Decided to check out the Bund at night. I popped into the lobby bistro at the Peace Hotel to grab some nosh. After three weeks of Chinese food,…
Chilling in Shanghai
Woke up this morning to sunshine and clear skies in Shanghai. It had snowed yesterday and this morning the temperature outside was -7° degrees, the coldest it has been in 15 years according to news reports. I was very happy that…
this is my closet for the next 10 months…
so i decided to neglect some other stuff i had planned for today to get my packing out of the way. snowboard bag, packed. carry-on bag, packed. all that’s left is my backpack of critical items and electronics and the…
last minute planning, or lack thereof…
t-minus 96 hours until i fly out to meet haha and friends in hokkaido and i’ve decided to drop the size of my carry on from a limit-pushing 49 liters to a more manageable 41 liters. the asian in me…
