Niseko

This weekend Rotary held a camping trip in Niseko with for us Inbounds. Me and Sachiko went together, taking the train to Sapporo and meeting up with the others outside the station. From there we all took a bus to Niseko, which is up in the mountains. About a two hour bus trip. The views from the bus were amazing, and I managed to get some good pictures, including a picture of a volcano that we passed on our way back through the town that held the 2008 G8 Summit. On the way to Niseko we stopped off at a little petting-zoo type place. They had bunnies, horses, goats, pigs, beagles and an ostrich.

Anyway, the little town of Niseko is home to a lot of foreigners. Usually rich ones. They buy or rent cottages, then come up in the winter for the amazing skiing conditions. We had one of the cottages rented out to us for our 1-night stay. It was a nice little place. Staffed with cooks and maids and such. The staff members slept in the attic, which was a bit surprising. NAC is also there; Niseko Adventure Camp. They do a whole bunch of things, from tightrope lessons to mountain climbing and kayaking. We went white-water rafting with them.

After we got to Niseko, we had lunch at Jo-Jo's cafe, which was pretty good. After lunch we got suited up for rafting, which isn't an easy task. The water is very cold, so we had to wear these special boots and this body suit that was a real pain getting into, as well as a helmet and a lifejacket. To say the least, I felt safe. I also felt like an astronaut. Which was cool.

The rafting itself was pretty fun. The rapids weren't that intense at all, fun still fun. During the times when there were no rapids we would all just talk to each other. Oh, and I got pushed out of the raft. I said the water was cold, but that was a lie. It's freezing. 14 degrees I think they said. Emmi came in after me, and then Sophie, then Jono and Simon. Can't remember if Linsdey ever came in. Jono did a front-flip out of the raft at one point. And Simon used to be in another raft until Jono swam over and pulled him into the river. I went in the river twice. The second time I went in willingly to prevent being pushed in. It was still just as cold.

It was a good old time all-in-all. After we got back to the cottage and dried off, we had a little barbecue. Then, as the adults all sat around and talked, someone pulled out two bags of fireworks and all the young people got to work keeping everyone awake. It was pretty neat.

After fireworks and some more food, everyone went inside to the living room. We watched TV for a little bit, then someone brought a giant box of candy and junkfood. And watermelon. We talked, and took pictures, and ate junkfood, and I got my keitei (cellphone) so I was figuring out how to work it and getting every one's contact info. Keitei are so much more advanced than in Canada. You can do anything with them. I won't get into it, it will take too long.

Next morning we had breakfast and headed out. We left Niseko and went through the town that held the 2008 G8 summit to the Ainu Museum. The Ainu are basically the aboriginals of Hokkaido. After the museum we finished the long drive back home, and that was pretty much it.