Almost jinxless

great ski area, posh hotel, buffet meals, cozy swimming pool, and no untoward incident to the chin and other body parts - the trip was fab!

the slope.
the first day was alloted for refreshing the basic ski moves. the V thing and how to stop. not bad, i'm more confident now, but i have a feeling i'll always belong to the Beginner's slope. i may become better and better, in the vague future, but i don't think i'll ever move up to the Intermediate course, much more the Expert trail which i will never even dream of trying, even in the next life. i wanted to take a lot of photos but my hands have a very low tolerance to the cold. if i remove my gloves my fingers will turn purple-lish in less than a minute. too bad they didn't have lift service at night, i wanted to try night skiing. the second day could have been so much fun. tried to practice a little more advanced moves. hehe. but it was so cold, there was that strong wind passing through the slope with snow particles that hurts if they get into the eyes (there must be an english term to that, but i dunno what). we actually stopped for a break because our faces, hands and feet were so numb. i felt mine were ready to fall of. but all in all, it was great. my favorite part was when i was up there, perched on the swingy lift, the snow softly falling, the world looking so white. there's serenity about the snowcapped peaks and the white-dotted treetops. half the time it made me think of leaping out from the seat and jump down shouting ”シャンナロウ！”　
just kidding atii hehehe !






the pool.
i really liked the swimming place, with all those lush green leafy decorations, muted lighting, interesting swimming pool shape and relaxing ambiance. (erhm.. was not actually free of charge, but we got a good discount because we stayed overnight). there's also jacuzzi, dry and wet sauna, jet bath (what's this for, btw?), and other mini-pools with varying water temperature. it's not only the pool area that's nice. also the shower room, dressing room, and of course, the locker rooms. the first we noticed were the square cabinet-looking compartments with keyholes. later we realized those were for the shoes but at first we thought those were the only lockers they have.hehe. when we found the real lockers we couldn't find our numbers. i was checking out the lockers near the entrance when a guy suddenly appeared. he was as startled as me, and then he hurriedly skittered out with a shocked face. "wtf! are we in the men's locker room?!" we ran out of the room, the guy was standing outside the door, and when he saw us laughing our faces off, he sort of laughed too and relaxed. and from that time 'till the rest of our stay at the hotel, he was like everywhere - at the lobby, the elevator, the restaurant, the pool, the big staircase - canoodling with his girlfriend. oh well, we could only chuckle. for him, we'll always be the girls who went inside the men's locker room wearing swimsuits. and for us, he'll always be the lone guy we saw inside the men's locker room. nope, didn't see any naked japanese in there, no sir.