The non-skiers in our group went on a tour to see the Snow Monkeys, we were supposed to see them when Merv and Bruce took Liam’s year group skiing in Japan, but there was too much snow to get into them.
Merv and Bruce went skiing for the day and had a great time, we were careful not to do too much skiing before taking a break for coffee or lunch. The conditions were better than the previous day, so we could get into a good rhythm with the skiing, which means you expend less energy. We decided to take the long trip down the hill when we still had energy, but unfortunately Merv’s body gave out a bit and after not falling over all day, he had a couple of near crashes on the way home. All was good in the end, so a great day.
Meanwhile, the other group went off to a sake factory for a tasting, before having an extremely well presented lunch. Then they had to trek to the snow monkeys, which apparently was a very slippery walk. Rosie with her usual balance, slipped in the mud and fell on her back, completely covering her white jacket and ski pants with mud. She then had to change into a pair of Shaun’s scrubs pants, very sexy.
They all loved seeing the monkeys swimming in the hot pool, so everyone had a great day.
We had a lot of trouble finding restaurants that were not booked out in Hakuba. Eventually we settled for the pizza restaurant in our hotel for two nights and then the “Asuka” for two night. Asuka was an izakaya style restaurant and the food and service was excellent.
