Niseko Ski Resort

oops! forgot to post this one!
Since we had so much time in Hokkaido, we decided to try out some snow sports. I left Otaru VERY early in the morning to catch a train to Niseko. The night before I had asked the hostel owner if he could call me a cab for 5:45 am the next morning, and when I got up, he was all dressed and ready to take me to the train station himself. That was so nice of him! Just another typical example of random Japanese kindness. It was snowing quite hard that morning, and it was so beautiful. The scenery on the train ride was amazing, although I did fall asleep again.
Niseko is a famous ski resort in Hokkaido, with many runs. I decided to try snow boarding for the first time. Since I was the only beginner, I was put in the kid’s fenced in area. There were three other children (all under 7 years old) who were beginners also, two kept arguing with their teacher, and the other just ate snow. This was probably the 80 thousandth humbling experience I have had in Japan. But at least I had the “magic carpet” (conveyer belt) to take me back up the small hill. I had my lesson for a few hours, and it was really fun. It is difficult to get up with a snowboard strapped to your feet, and I outweighed my instructor by a bit, so I kept pulling him down with me. Luckily, I only fell a few times. After my kiddie lesson was over, I went straight to the hotel and got a 65 min massage. It was a perfect ending!
Sorry, no pictures of me falling in the snow, but here are some I took of the mountain and trees. I definitely would like to try snowboarding again.