Tuesday Jan 19

Yesterday we caught the bus to the local station and then the train to Sapporo with Yui. It is a good thing that we got on the right bus! A smooth train ride to the old city of Otaru where we wandered around, had lunch and watch the glass blowers - world famous and along the calibre of Venetian glass. We arrived at Sapporo station around 6pm to masses of people in the new huge mall. We visited the food area - lots of samples - pickles, and fishy things and sweets.

Then Andrew picked us up after dropping off clients in Sapporo. Sapporo is a city of 2 million and lots of cars. We worked our way through various side streets that had one lane snowplowed through and finally arrived in the north of the city at Yui's parents home. They were so welcoming and hospitable. We enjoyed sushi, pot stickers, fried noodles, potato salad and deep fried chicken. We sat around a table that is 18inches off the floor. It has a skirt around it and you can extend your legs under the table. This is great because there is an electric heater attached to the underside of the table. I liked the warm...on the feet and legs....even though the house was pleasantly heated. The home surprised me in terms of size and wonderful new and modern design. The big open kitchen eating area with a massive tv in the sitting/eating area. Upstairs are bedrooms and a loft. It seems that you heat the areas that you are in and not the others. Everything is such clean lines and so clean. The kitchen sinks are one massive sink. Food is enjoyed slowly and seems very social here. You take a piece at a time much like our Chinese style. It was a comfortable relaxing evening. Yui did some translating, Andrew spoke some Japanese and it was all extremely comfortable. Nobody tried too hard and we all seemed to enjoy the experience.

Andrew then drove us back to Niseko. It takes a long time to get out of the city - it seems to sprawl on and on.

A slow start this AM. I am starting to understand how the snow drives everything here. Now I understand why they all went skiing the first evening that we were here. It was dumping!! I have never thought about snow conditions before like they do here. When it snows they know where to go. Today is grey and warm - possibly rain/snow at lower elevations. Probably better tonight or tomorrow or at higher elevations. So now I sound like a local. I am hoping for that powder fluff snow that was so heavenly that we experienced earlier in the week. It may be a common occurrence but not everyday. I guess that Andrew specializes in knowing when to go where...for the deep white stuff.