Saturday, March 2, 2013
THE SNOW MONKEYS! The snow monkeys are at the top of my BEST OF JAPAN list right now. This might have been my favorite winter weekend ever, which coincided nicely with the almost 1,000 papers that I have had to grade for finals in the past two weeks.
I am SO glad that I got my butt out of bed and took a 6:03 a.m. train for the hour-long trek to Keith’s house in order to join in on the epic snow monkey road trip to Nagano.
I just….I could see the snow monkeys a few more times before I leave. It was monkey magic. They are right there beside you and cuter than you could imagine. And I pictured them to be pretty darn cute.
After tearing myself away from monkey paradise, we went to lunch at this tiny little hole-in-the-wall restaurant which served killllller homemade soba noodles and soba tea (which I bought).
Then we headed to a sake brewery, followed by an onsen, followed by a late dinner at that amazing pizza place that I had last week.
(A street cat followed me all the way to the sake brewery, so I stopped and rubbed its belly. Just the friendliest little thing and with a striped tail! I wanted to take it back to Takaoka….)
Sunday, March 3, 2013
I woke up early to go on this snowshoeing trip with some other teachers near Mt. Tateyama (but not Mt. Tateyama…..I’m not sure where we actually were?) Anyway. I have been snowshoeing quite often in Vermont, but never EVER have I had cheese fondue at a table made of snow. Please. These Japanese outdoors folks know how to throw it down in the woods. I found my people.
Do you live in Takaoka? I live near Ft Wayne IN which is a sister city of Takaoka Japan. We have a Takaoka Steakhouse where they cook (and flip) the food in front of you. It is my family’s long-time fave restaurant. I like your pics and comments.
Yes, I do live in Takaoka! What a small world.
You should have added funny captions to the monkey pictures. 8th picture down, 3rd monkey photo, caption would read…”Oh God, why did I even wake up this morning? First I have to deal with this guy leaning all over me and then the constant picture takers.”
10th picture down, 5th monkey photo, the caption would read…”Give me the serenity to not kill this little guy on me so I can finally get some sleep.” Okay, maybe I will work on it.
Hilarious! I could have watched the monkeys for hours….
Love the blog! I used to live in Japan so I am enjoying all the photos and adventures!
Love the blog! I used to live in Japan and I am enjoying all the photos and adventures!
Thank you! It is such a cool place. Where did you live? Everyday is interesting. I am always thinking I need to capture this and that. Soon my year will be over:(
I lived further south in Sasebo. It was terrifying and amazing at the same time. You will be so glad you did it!
Loving your captures – great life experiences, especially the snow monkeys – thanks for sharing:) Have a Great One!
They were SO adorable. I was especially fascinated with their hands.
Hooray for snow monkeys and Rausu-an soba! I just did the same trip last weekend. There’s a lot less snow on the ground now since the spring “heat wave.” Great photos, and the cheese fondue looks amazing.