After spending the first night in my new bed, in my new home i was up bright and early ready for our bus trip!
Tom and Nozomi had organised a jam packed day of activities and sightseeing of the local area.
We headed to the local council offices first to get my japanese I.D card. We then drove around the route of the ski shuttle bus that heads to the four ajoining mountians of Myoko ski area. the weather was rainy so we couldnt see too much, but there is certainly a lot of terrain to be skiied!
We then headed towards nagano city, where there is a Monkey Park. After a nice walk through the trees we arrived at the natural springs. The setting was beautiful and we were surounded by snow monkeys! the monkeys are native to the area, and come to the springs daily to 'hang out' and chill in the onsen. they certainly looked to be having a good time. it was a little bit intimidating to be surrounded by wild monkeys, but the little baby ones were adorable.
By the time we had oggled over the monkeys, it was lunch time so we headed to the traditional japanese tourist town of Obuse for lunch. It reminded me of Hahndorf a little bit, with a quaint central street. i was quite keen to eat japanese food for lunch, but the group decided on a japanese Italian. Needless to say, it was very nice and really cheap for only 1000Yen.
After lunch we drove to the immigration office in Nagano to sort out visas and then headed to a temple. The temple is over 1300 years old and is fascinating. we all made a wish at the shrine and it was nice to be spending time with new and old friends again.
after a long and eventful day we drove back to the lodge for dinner and relaxation.
Today was a really good opportunity to get to know everyone and become familiar with the local area.
This is going to be an awesome season!
