hakuba

Another short post after a long day (actually, before a long day - I write the posts the morning after because I’ve been going to bed at 10 and waking up at 5 every day…we can just say my blog is on PST :P actually, based on how the web timestamping is working, I think it’s on EST?).

someone backed into a snow pile lol

yay snowboards

ski friends (ignore my awkward hand)! and it started snowing at the end of the day!

my first real onsen experience - obv couldn’t get photos of the inside bc everyone naked

name and price of onsen (it’s ¥800 ($5) for adults, previously ¥600 according to the internet)

Onsens are natural hot springs (I’ve previously been to “fake” onsens - just hot water baths - which are still nice but not the real deal), but this one was my first time going to a real one. Very popular activity around ski resorts because hot springs occur where mountains/volcanoes are, I think. I’m going to have to fact-check myself on this later. It was pretty packed at Kurashita Onsen today, and the bath itself was outdoors but covered, which was slightly a bummer because the air was cold but we couldn’t see the night sky or stars. However, it felt pretty awesome. Since they are natural hot springs, apparently they can vary significantly in temperature. I forgot to track the temperature of the water at Kurashita, but maybe I’ll start doing that, since I heard they can get unbearably hot. This one was pretty nice though. It was split by genders, you have to shower before you get in the hot spring bath, and yeah everyone in the bath is naked.

Ate at Kicchonchon for dinner, an izakaya. We ordered a bajillion dishes, and the table had a foot heater underneath!! Really hit the spot post-ski. 7/10, which is very solid for a ski town restaurant - would definitely go back again.