Day 5 is skiing day!

Not to be missed during a Hokkaido Winter trip to be honest, but we dont have too many days in Hokkaido so only allocated one day for it. Contemplated maximizing our time on the slopes which include itinerary iterations such as - chiong to slopes after checking in to catch night skiing on our own, then going for a half day/full day class the next day. Which we concluded was too ambitious and verified it later on - equipment collection alone would have taken enough time.

Anyway, ended up signing up for a half day first timers class. Skied once before under the guidance of a unlicensed coach lol so remembered nothing except walking sideways up slope and skiing down in a matter of seconds. And finding it difficult to walk with skiing boots. So yep first timer it is. Full day class ends at 3pm and we thought it was maybe a bit too long and we kind of didnt want to reach Otaru late so half day it is. Even if it feels like we are not making full use of the equipment rental. And it ain't cheap :/

So woke up nice and early again - because can't really sleep. I think onsen just before bed for some reason did the opposite of relaxation for me and I took really long to fall asleep - and fever dream even though I didnt really have fever (or maybe I did). So not exactly bright and cheery to start the day. Packed and checked out, left luggage behind as usual, and boarded the bus to the slopes by 8am. Deliberately go early just in case, even though classes start at 10, which thankfully we did.



Changed into boots at welcome centre and walked across to the Grand Hirafu Base where there are coin lockers to deposit our stuff. Then waited for a shuttle bus to the Gondola Base where we were told to meet, which took a while to come so good that we were early and had some time to kill - not so much for the family of three who was waiting with us - they were sending their kid to his snowboard class which starts at 9 and they were already late.

Got to the base, took some time to identify the first timer's gathering slope too which is made more difficult by the fact that the bloody boots were so tight and difficult to walk in. Grrrr. The damn boots even gave me edema at my ankles in the end @#$%#

Anyway back to the class. We were about 10-15 minutes early and by the time we can register with the instructors..they couldnt find our names. Weird. And wifi router was in the lockers so I cant really access the email confirmation. But they decided to let us in anyway (!) which...I guess I am mostly thankful hahah it would suck to come all the way and not be able to learn.

But you know why they couldnt find our names? Coz we registered for classes at the Family Base rather than the Gondola Base - there actually isnt much difference between the two bases - but for some reason I kept remembering Gondola Base and didnt even check before heading out this morning ahahaha.



Anyway classes got started, each instructor taking a class of 6 - we had an Vietnamese couple, and two other Kiwi ladies who were very excited to leave their husbands and kids behind and come for course, and who picked things up really quickly - pretty sure they aren't first timers lor nobody is so natural one. Meanwhile the sister was the worst in the whole class ahahaha she had trouble staying still and kept sliding away uncontrollably. Meanwhile I have a bit of problem crab walking upslope but at least when skiing down I managed to brake la though can't really change directions effectively - instructor said we were to use our calves which we dont usually activate on normal days so that's why we all had trouble except the two pseudo-first timers who probably use their calves on a regular basis then hmph.

But anyway we spent about an hour on the basics and halfway through the first hour it started snowing really hard sigh. And the two of us are the only ones who are gung-ho (or cheapo) enough to not get a pair of goggles so yea it was a bit tough. Lesson learnt.


The second hour was spent queuing for the magic carpet (kind of like travellator) to get to the top edge of the first timers area, then skiing down. Took a while coz we took turns skiing down with instructor's guidance and we all fell multiple times on our way down except the two brilliant first timers of course who left the instructor to focus on us 4 noobs. First timer my foot (yea I was really really annoyed because I really didnt believe any first timer can be that good within such a short period of time). The sister gave up after one round, I at least made it to a second trip before time ran out. And so wrapped up and went our separate ways - shuttle bus back to the Hirafu Base and I was really just looking forward to getting out of the boots at this point.

Changed out of the jacket and pants and boots - what a relief. Also remembered the neighbouring changing stall having two pairs of boots outside, one larger size than the other, and a lady inside giggling ever so often for at least the 20 minutes we were there omg GET A ROOM (crankiness overload probably coz lack of sleep).

Trekked down slope from the base to dump return our equipment and head off for lunch. Not much ideas so we just walked into a random restaurant near the intersection. Completely forgot that we wanted to go to this place called Milk Kobo oh well.



Caught the shuttle bus back to our hotel, which came so late to the extent that it doesnt seem to follow the schedule - what happen to Japanese punctuality huh? And actually by this time I am feeling a flu coming up. Dont remember falling sick on a trip that fast. Sigh.

And because the bus came late...missed our intended shuttle to Kutchan station and had to hang around in the lobby waiting for the next bus. And as a result missed our intended train to Otaru too, but I think at least the next train wasnt too far away.

Earlier plan was to get to Otaru by 3pm so that we can catch sunset along the canal. Eased up coz too tired after skiing and figured that there is no sunset to catch in this weather anyway which we were absolutely right. Ended up reaching Otaru station at close to 6pm ahahah.


Short walk to our accommodation, Lifehouse@IPPO, which turns out to be almost like AirBnB. Otaru isnt very big and accommodation were mostly snapped up by the time we booked (or rather accommodation within our budget that doesnt have just a double bed). IPPO is the ramen shop underneath the place which actually owns the place, and guests are given coupons to redeem something at the ramen place but we thought we would save ourselves for something else so we didnt. Anyway owners were very warm and welcoming even though more than half the time we dont understand each other haha.


Plan was to head towards Otaru's Sushiya-dori (literally Sushi Street) where there are tens of sushi restaurants. Did some quick research and apparently one recommended one, and pretty affordable one, ironically sits outside the street nearer to the canal. Half contemplated yakiniku but decided to stick to sushi and walked over to this place called Toppi.





Then strolled over to Otaru Canal. Saw plenty of photos beforehand but it delivers in real life :)




Called it a day!

Labels: holidays, japan, travel