Rafting

Aha!

And we're back! Dina がんばって！OK had to begin with that.

So since it's been a while and I have no idea where to start, so I'll start with rafting last Sunday!

It all started at 9:30 AM in the huge train/subway/convenience store building I've spoken about more than once, where I met Aiman (Libya), Barbora (Slovakia), Dasha (Russia), Julien (France), Ted (Mars), Vala (Russia) and we took a minivan towards... geh need to get the brochure forgot the name... NISEKO! Muahaha my memory never fails! Or rather since I KNOW that it will, I've come up with many methods to get around that fact, like for example:

Taking a photo of the subway entrance in front of which I parked my bike... just in case ;)

As always I sat in front to chat with the driver, but I hadn't thought about the fact that I can't really speak Japanese lol. Turns out he speaks little English though, and he works as a fisherman half the year, when the rivers aren't freezing, and different things the other half. Thanked him for contributing to my healthy diet of sashimi/sushi since I got here :D

Last Sunday was the last day of ski, still plenty of snow as you can see.

Coolest part of the drive:

That was a bridge, that went into this half-tunnel thing (to protect from avalanches I guess). Striking resemblance to that Need for Speed 2 track! Which reminds me of Niz rest his soul, he always used to kick my ass on that track :(

Finally arrived at our destination and were greeted by the evil puppy with plans to take over the world with his hypnotic powers.

20 seconds later, we had to hold this strange woman back. She was trying to scratch out the eyes of a poor unfortunate smaller man while he pleaded: "I'm sorry the dogu tolde me to grabu youro assu!" OK maybe that didn't happen. Donno why I just had the urge to write that, felt like a voice in my head compelled me to do it...

Moving on, we put on the wet suits, emptied extra air (if you have lots of air inside and fall into the water, the air might all go to your legs thus making you float legs up lol), and went outside to take the bus.

The guy with long hair was our guide. The other team of 7 Japanese girls had Spider-man for their guide... But ours was cooler! We called him Spider-man coz he was showing off (we assumed?) and hanging down from the bars on the bus' roof. Strange man with red hair...

Once in the water, the craziness began (again I blame the evil puppy!). Our guide miscalculated and started to hype us up by yelling: "HIGH FIVE" to which we would high five with our oars and scream while screaming it with him. I think he started regretting doing so the 38th time we did it haha. We did some rafting between jumping in the water, pushing each other in the water, and splashing the other boat full of Japanese girls every chance we got! Fun stuff.

(photos are on my FB so can't be bothered to upload them again here)

After finishing, the bus was waiting for us with hot tea. Then we were back at the puppy's base of operations, where we changed back into our clothes and went to the hot springs! Not sure what type of hot spring it was, but it wasn't Sulphuric which smells bad so that's cool. Hot spring with a cold 750ml beer? Yes please... No photos inside for obvious reasons ;) sorry ladies.

Video of a small drop we did yay! Unfortunately we had to take the silly side, the cool side (with much bigger drop was too dangerous for us... pansies...)

Oooh! Bird!

Guess what time it is! Time to pee!

OK NOW guess what time it is! Blog update time mmmhmm.

So never got to writing about last Sunday.

As many of youz know, and some do not, I am a firm believer that the biggest problem facing religions around the world, is the clergy. *TAM TAM TAAAAAAAM*!

However, every once in a while, someone comes along and proves me wrong (partly wrong at least). Someone like Father Manfred. Father Manfred came from Germany to Japan 43 years ago, that would be 16 years before I was born lol, and is still going at it with a lot of passion, compassion and love.

You see Father Manfred believes the world is just a bigger version of this bus:

We're all in this journey together. Might as well make it a pleasant one :D Reminds me a lot of my grandfather, but that would be a nice subject for another post (or 30 hehe).

Off to Bibai (north of Sapporo)!

First stop: Tsukigata Kabato Museum.

This museum was originally a prison for political prisoners during the Meiji Restoration period. This was around the time when the shogunate decided to extend the Japanese reach to the island now known as Hokkaido for several reasons. This is where the aforementioned prisoners come into the play. They were exiled up north because of the severe weather (yes...) and to build the infrastructure needed to cultivate the lands.

The prison cemetery, where people offer thanks to the prisoners who built what eventually became the roads we use today. Yes, learned a couple things today, very important stuff too, like the fact that I like ginger ale!

Couldn't take photos inside, and I didn't secretly take a couple photos, and their quality didn't turn out really crappy coz of the lighting, the reflection on the wooden floors (so pretty are the wooden floors and walls...).

This wasn't taken inside.

Nor was this (cedar tree found buried).

Second stop, beautiful lake with some pretty swans. Oh and FOODz!

Coolest stairs ever! Donno why. They just are! Mmkay?

Za lake.

Ate our sammiches in a nice and big shack thingie with no walls, so had to put up plastic curtains to stop the wind that really slices you to pieces... Prisoners could probably only escape 2-3 months a year and still have above 20% chance of survival... Sandwiches and hot rice (and curry and stuffs) were welcome, but no tea for me, apparently I have what Japanese call "cat's tongue", which means I f**kin hate hot drinks!

BIRDY NUM NUM!

Not the smartest of creatures, but perrrty! And they look amazing when they land (and fly it would seem), too bad didn't have camera out when it happened.

Strange pink building, this one's for you Dina :D (check out her blog it's also about life in Japan and really cool).

Final stop, and highlight of the day, Miyajima Luma lake. Seriously. Wow.

You see a lot of birds migrate north this time of the year, I don't blame them, who would ever be happy with warmth and sunshine?! Again, not the smartest of creatures hehe. So where we were is the final pit stop before they reach their destination. They stop here to eat the remaining grains in the rice fields. Apparently there were around 30,000 or so, and at night, most of them sleep in this lake, to avoid predators. Unfortunately, when around so many birds, this is bound to happen :)

Truly a marvelous sight.

Now some people say I have a very short attention span, and that I get easily distrac... ooh look a bird! Doh!

They CAAAME... from... BEHIIIIND!!

I blame my couz Imad for this... must... resist... urge... to link... video...