Sapporo

Sapporo was the last stop on our trip to Japan, where they were hosting the 62nd Annual Snow Festival. I first read about the snow festival while living in Portland, as Portland and Sapporo have been sister cities for over 50 years! I've always wanted to go, and since Japan is just a 3 hour flight from Dalian, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. Of course, most people in Dalian choose to go to Harbin, China for their snow and ice festival (about a 1 hour flight from Dalian). It was a tough choice, but at 20*F warmer (20 degrees in Sapporo v. 0 degrees in Harbin), Sapporo was the winner!

We had a great time!

Caught in one of many brief blizzards:


Snow Festival sign:


Frozen bananas that don't need a freezer:


One snowboarder jumping every 8 seconds:


Beautiful snow temple, a replica of an actual temple, actual size:


The little steam engine:


The snow family:


Hundreds of small snow sculptures:


Three blocks of ice carvings:


Frozen fish:


Lights in downtown Sapporo:


Outdoor food court:

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Skiing in Furano

Riding the lift.
Cold fingers.
Warm sun on my cheeks.
Endless snow below.
White flocked trees out of a picture postcard.
Mountains rising high in front of me.
And at 12:50 every day, Bruno Mars playing on the loudspeakers.

I forgot how much I love skiing. The quiet beauty of the snow and mountains paired with the adrenaline rush of going just a little too fast. Yup, I could stay here and enjoy for a really long time!

Here are some photo highlights from skiing in Furano (Hokkaido, Japan).



Super(snow)man flying outside our house:


The end of a beautiful snowmobile ride over the bridge and through the woods:


Happy, happy, happy:


Happy this lift was closed:


My favorite ski run (Kiana's too!):

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From One to Another

Tokyo ---> Furano.

9 million people ----> 25,000 people.

882 rail stations ---> 1 rail station.

urban noise ---> snow quietly falling.


The trip from Tokyo to Furano (in Northern Japan) was incredible. We flew from Tokyo to Sapporo, then took two trains to Furano.

When we boarded the first train at the airport outside of Sapporo, it was a modern station with escalators. The train was spacious and comfortable.

We laughed when we arrived at the town where we changed trains (Takikawa). Here is how we navigated the snowy platform with 4 suitcases.



And what a cute one-car train we took from Takikawa to Furano, about a one hour trip. There were about 15 other local people on the train with us.



We rented a small house through a property management agency in Furano that is about two blocks from the ski area and surrounded by small locally owned restaurants. We had planned to take a taxi to the house when we arrived. We were very pleasantly surprised when the property management agent was at the station to pick us up! And, even better, he stopped at the grocery store on the way to the house so we could pick up groceries. After giving us restaurant recommendations and a thorough orientation to the house, we settled in for the night to get ready for skiing the next day.



I fell in love with Furano after reading about it on the internet from home. I love it even more now. First class skiing and lots of light powder snow, in a small town atmosphere. I am really happy here :)
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Tokyo

All of us at DisneySea:



We feel so lucky that our niece, Kelly, could join us for our week in Tokyo. And we are very proud of her for flying by herself from Portland to Tokyo!

We spent the week seeing sights around the city and shopping. We saw Harajuku, Shibuya, Tokyo Tower, Ginza, Odaiba and DisneySea. The highlight of the trip for me included a bowl of ramen at our favorite ramen shop in Shibuya (we went there last time too). Believe me, this is NOTHING like “Top Ramen.”

We also ate dinner at a small traditional Japanese restaurant in a business park near our condo. We ate early on a Friday night, and as we enjoyed our meal the restaurant filled with Japanese businessmen just getting off work. As their cigarette smoke filled the air and their glasses were filled with sake and beer, we were able to soak in a small part of the true atmosphere of Japan. We also challenged ourselves by ordering food that we weren't quite sure about.....five skewers of meat....yes, but what will they be? We finally decided that they were chicken breast, chicken wings, chicken and onion, chicken sausage, and liver (the liver was our least favorite). We also sampled the appetizers of tuna and octopus wrapped in mashed potato.

Next we will fly to Hokkaido in Northern Japan. We will spend six days in Furano and finish off our trip by visiting the snow festival in Sapporo.

Here are some pictures of the highlights of Tokyo.

Kelly and Kevin in Shibuya crossing:


Yum - crepes (1 of 4 times we went!):


View from our condo - a great place within walking distance to trains, restaurants and stores:


The super fancy mall in Odaiba:


Even men like Duffy at DisneySea:


Duffy and Shellie Mae in the picture spot:

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Christmas Vacation, Finally the Photos

Photos....Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand.

Christmas Trip 2010

Double click to view the album.

Christmas Vacation, Part 6 - Phuket (Kata Beach) Thailand

Finally the last leg of our vacation! We took the passenger ferry to Phuket Town and then a taxi to Kata Beach near Phuket. We stayed at a "boutique hotel" that was about a 5 minute walk to the beach. We had a very relaxing time in Kata. Basically we ate, watched National Geographic Channel, read, played and relaxed on the beach, shopped, played Uno and ate (yes, I know I said it twice!).

Our favorite food there was a crepe-like pancake wrapped around a sliced banana and drizzled with nutella or chocolate syrup. I'll be looking for a crepe pan soon!

After 5 days in Kata we flew back to Singapore for a one night stay before heading home to China. We did a bit of last minute shopping and eating in Singapore.

We finished the trip quite happy, but tired, after 20 days! They kids are proud that they swam for 19 days straight!!

Christmas Vacation, Part 5 – Koh Lanta (Thailand)

We love our resort in Thailand. We are on the northern tip of Koh Lanta (a small island off the west coast of southern Thailand) at the Kaw Kwang Resort, a small family owned resort and one of the oldest on Koh Lanta. The resort is very family friendly and we feel very welcome here with the kids. We are all together in a small bungalow with a view of the ocean past a treed lawn area.

The kids love the pool! In fact, they spent about 4 hours in the pool the first day we were here because it was raining and they didn't have to worry about getting too much sun.

The resort has a small restaurant, so we are able to eat all our meals here, or walk down the beach to many other restaurants nearby. Or, take a taxi (really just the back of a small pick up truck) into the small town nearby to shop or eat.

Tomorrow night we will celebrate New Year's Eve here at the resort, where they are throwing a small party for the guests with dinner, games, dancing and fireworks. As the staff all know us now and we recognize many of the other guests, it should be a fun family party!