travel

Hokkaido roadtrippin’ and Tiffany tea (Day 1)

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We just had a long weekend here, so I headed on up back to Hokkaido for a road trip. Our destination: THE most northern point in Japan! On Friday morning, I woke up early and was on the first flight out, up to Sapporo.

From Road trip north
From Road trip north

Arrived in Hokkaido, and got the train into Sapporo where I was meeting Fi and Debs to begin our road trip. Perfect timing as their car pulled up right as I was exiting Sapporo station. A long drive ahead from Sapporo to Wakkanai. Was feeling like I had a cold coming on so I grabbed a Vitamin C drink for the road. This was a bit excessive though. The equivalent of 50 lemons’ worth of Vitamin C. Either lemons contain very little vitamin C, or I was about to OD on the vitamin.

From Road trip north

Hokkaido has such beautiful scenery. It’s God’s gift to cyclists. Lots of flat terrain that stretch on forever over vast expanses of green fields and rice farms – popular with cyclists and runners.

From Road trip north

We made several conbini stops for toilets and snacks. Did you know there are a ridiculous number of Seicomarts in Hokkaido! We must have passed a good few dozen over the long weekend. We stopped for a late lunch at Big Boy – a hamburger steak restaurant with salad bar! Just a family chain restaurant which wasn’t too bad.

From Road trip north
From Road trip north
From Road trip north

Fi and Debs posing with the Big Boy:

From Road trip north

Fi and Debs are friends from my days when I lived in Hirafu (Niseko, Hokkaido). Fi now lives in Sapporo and Debs still lives in Hirafu. More scenes from our Hokkaido road trip up north.

From Road trip north
From Road trip north
From Road trip north

We spent 11 hours on the road on that Friday! Lots of conversation, some napping in the backseat on my part, a few pit stops along the way, some Glee music to pass the time. We took only the main roads and avoided the toll roads (which would have gotten us there faster). Going north, we took the central inland Hokkaido route. The drive should have only taken us 6 hours, but we drove 2 hours off-route. We were so close to the peak…and then we found ourselves taking a wrong turn and driving 2 hours back south! Yabai! It was dark, and around 7:30ish. We had been on the road since 10am. We pulled into a random hotel to get directions. We also had no accommodation planned. We had tents and sleeping bags and were planning on just camping somewhere. But it was also pretty cold up north. At the hotel we stopped at, we rang around for some hotels near Wakkanai to stay at.

We consulted the Lonely Planet book I had carried along (for emergency use). The first hostel in Wakkanai wouldn’t take us because it was already 7:30pm and we were still two hours away, and we were pretty much just booking then. Tried another youth hostel in Wakkanai, and they told us we could stay there only if we got there and checked in before 9:30pm. It was already after 7:30pm and we had over 120km to get to Wakkanai! We put the pedal to the metal and arrived in Wakkanai just after 9pm. And we didn’t really know how to get to the youth hostel. We called up the guy at the youth hostel to get directions and to kind of stall him, so that if we arrived after 9:30pm he’d let us in. We arrived at the youth hostel literally right on 9:30pm! What a blessing. We had lodgings for the night after 11 hours on the road, including 2 hours of “being lost”.

This was the best youth hostel I’ve ever stayed in. It was pretty palatial for a backpacker joint. They had either dorms or private rooms. Private rooms being more expensive. We opted for the dorms, but I swear the room we were in had to be the private rooms. It was basically a self-service apartment. There was a dining room, our own shower, own washing machine, fridge, microwave, kettle, and stove, tv, and a tatami mat room that could sleep 5-6 people. All self-contained and private. I couldn’t get over how nice it was! And for 20 buks each for the night.

From Road trip north
From Road trip north
From Road trip north
From Road trip north

What followed next was a most awesome surprise! So, Fi knows how much I love afternoon tea and so she had packed her own little afternoon tea for us. I had no idea. Bless her. She had brought along some fancy cakes, teabags, and even really nice mugs so we could enjoy a proper cup of tea. And these weren’t any ordinary tea cups. These were Tiffany & Co tea mugs!!!! She had packed along a set of cups nicely wrapped in a box. (The Tiffany & Co mugs were a set that she had received as a gift for attending a wedding). How awesome is that. I’m not much of a jewelry wearer or into labels, but Tiffany mugs are pretty special! And after a long, long day of sitting in a car, roadtripping up Hokkaido, a cup of tea was a welcome treat, as was a little Youth Hostel afternoon tea, courtesy of Fi. (Thanks, Fi!!!)

From Tiffany Tea

How cool are the Tiffany mugs – in their signature blue with the ribbon as well! And they, of course, came in a cool Tiffany box! Cups of tea for three:

From Tiffany Tea

I so want to get me a Tiffany mug. I know they’re just mugs, and it’s not like they were spectacularly designed mugs, but still fancy nevertheless. I googled the Tiffany website today. The mugs are not available on the Japan or Australia site…but you can get them on the US website. They cost 35buks! And I think that was for one mug…although it could have been for a pair.

From Tiffany Tea

It was so thoughtful for Fi to do this. So we sat down to tea and cakes in our fancy youth hostel.

From Tiffany Tea
From Tiffany Tea
From Tiffany Tea

We crashed out and fell asleep soon after. We were all utterly exhausted. Day 1 of the northern Hokkaido road trip was mostly driving. We were officially in Wakkanai – which is the biggest most northern town in Hokkaido and Japan. Wakkanai had been on my Japan bucketlist for a while – even though I’ve lived in Hokkaido twice, I never managed to get up there. Tick. It’s also a cool name for a place. The next day is when the real adventures began, as evidenced by the 500 photos that I took. Plenty more installments to come from the Hokkaido roadtrip.

Sky views: Mori Tower

memoirsofaleisha1 Comment

Because the Sky Aquarium was on level 52 of the Mori Tower and because the ticket included entry to the Mori Tower observatory/sky view – what better opportunity to go check out the view. Normally, it costs 1500yen alone just to go up there! Great views to be had from level 52. If you time it to go in the late afternoon, you get the daytime view and then watch it get dark so you see the night light view as well. The sky was clear on Monday night so we got decent views.

From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View

Tokyo is such a metropolis. So dense. So many buildings. So big. So wide.

From Mori Sky View

The space up at the top of the Mori Tower is spacious and wide, but plenty of people around, especially on a public holiday.

From Mori Sky View

There was also a small clownfish fish tank – I think this was just a temporary installment for the Sky Aquarium.

From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View

Flying Fish:

From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View

Uninterrupted views of Tokyo Tower (modeled on the Eiffel Tower).

From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View

Slowly got darker. It was fun to see all the lights being gradually switched on…

From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View

Got a good arial view of the National Art Centre:

From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View

And then we got the night light view:

From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View

There’s a cafe/bar up there that sells a great selection of teas, and gelato! Highly recommend the gelato! 2 scoops for 500yen! The hazelnut gelato was delightful!

From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View

Sit and enjoy whilst soaking up the view.

From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View

Night views of Tokyo Tower. It really stands out of a night time when it’s all lit up. I heard that they’re tearing this down in a few years…

From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View

It’s hard to take photos of lights at night off of reflecting glass. I tried to do a reflection thing with the tower and the glass window with a random couple. It kinda turned out not too bad. The couple were actually really good models for this shot.

From Mori Sky View
From Mori Sky View

This week has actually been a short week, dubbed a mini ‘Silver week”. Monday was a public holiday, as will be tomorrow (Friday). So only three days of work this week. I can live with that. Two back-to-back long weekends – yay, marked with a typhoon in the middle. Will be going away tomorrow for the long weekend, pending any disruptions/national disasters.

Always be prepared

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What a crazy day it’s been. The excitement in Japan never ceases. And by ‘excitement’, I mean natural disasters. A huge, intense typhoon battered central Japan today and now making its way up north…but not before passing through Tokyo. Everyone had been waiting in anticipation for it, and not in a good way. More bracing ourselves for it.

Yesterday/last night, both the Canadian and Australian embassies issued alert warnings via email. I’ve been living in Japan for 6 years and never have I received an alert for typhoon reasons…and there’s usually a dozen or so typhoons a year in Japan. This one was expected to be a doozy. We had some heavy rain overnight as the typhoon made its way east and north.

Today was windy, rainy…but for most of the morning…nothing too intense. By afternoon/early evening, the typhoon hit Tokyo. It was expected to hit between 3-6pm. And it delivered. Most companies were letting people go home early….but not early enough. Around 3-4pm is when most people who wanted to leave early left…but that was when all the trains shut down. So many train lines all went down around 3.30pm leaving masses of people stranded at train stations unable to get home. I, on the other hand was at work, in the office. One – there was a lot of work that needed to be done. It was crazy busy today. Not to mention that we’re shortstaffed at the moment. And secondly, no point in trying to leave the office only to be stranded at the station – this happened on the day of the earthquake. In my attempt to leave early and head for the airport…I was stuck underground at Tokyo station for 8 hours! Better to stay indoors. Quite a few people tried to leave, only to return back to the office and wait it out instead. Train lines were down, and even once they were back up, they were going to be delayed and backlogged by millions of Tokyoites all wanting to get home. Some intense crazy winds whipped through Tokyo. Even our office building was shaking from the wind! Ploughed through work which kept us busy, but was able to work shorter hours thanks to the typhoon. Didn’t want to be stuck in the office all night. Trains eventually started running again…albeit delayed and not to any schedule. Some are out of action altogether. Was lucky to get home without too much drama…apart from the fact that the trains were more crowded than usual! What an insane day.

The typhoon stuck around a few hours and is now headed north. That’s a cause for concern because it’s going to batter Tohoku which has had more than enough damage and wreckage. It also appears that I may be following the typhoon (or is it following me?) because I am actually due to fly to Hokkaido on Friday morning. I’m hoping that the typhoon is done with by tomorrow…but there is a possibility that it may reach Hokkaido on Friday. I think it will go out to sea though. The airports were in chaos with practically all domestic flights cancelled today. With the typhoon having passed, through Tokyo at least, I am expecting hot humid weather to follow for the next week or so. I’ve observed that intense hot days follow after a typhoon. I don’t know why (care to shed any light on that, Alex?!) Got home fine tonight after seeing out the typhoon at the office. But on my way home I saw a lot of abandoned umbrellas. They were no match for these winds. Not much later after I had gotten home…there was an earthquake! Geez. Never a dull moment in Japan. I had actually secretly been worried about this all day – I knew the typhoon was coming, but what if we also got an earthquake at the same time. We still get multiple baby earthquakes everyday. The apartment started shaking slightly…and at first, I couldn’t tell whether it was because of the typhoon winds (which had subsided) or an actual earthquake. Turned out to be 5.3 magnitude earthquake at the source. Not so bad in Tokyo though. I’ve become super, super sensitive to shakes and earthquakes. I can usually feel even the slightest of earthquakes. Sometimes my own heartbeat/pulse keeps me awake at night and I mistake it for a slight earth tremor. Central Japan has suffered a lot of damage as a result of this typhoon – the news footage has been intense – with much flooding.

These natural disasters are taking its toll on the landscape and the economy here. It’s been a wild weather day here, yet things in Tokyo, will go back to normal tomorrow. With all these natural disasters…it’s important to be prepared for anything! That’s why it’s necessary to have an emergency kit or emergency supplies on hand. I am a super organized person..bordering on obsessively organised. I’m a planner. I make lists to make lists. I have a very serious obsession/addiction to making lists! “Always be prepared” was the Boy Scout motto. I was actually a Brownie – of the Girl Guide variety and not the edible chocolate kind, when I was a young girl in primary school. Our motto was LAH – Lend A Hand. I much preferred the Boy Scout motto. So after the March earthquake, I made sure to prepare a little emergency kit. I kind of haphazardly put stuff together with stuff around the apartment, and haven’t really updated it since.

From Emergency kit

Here’s what it contains:

– 4 small packet of tissues (doubles as toilet paper)

– wet tissue/wipes

– honey lollies

– packet of gummie bears

– plastic bag

– 2 mini bottles of water

– 2 packets of Calorie mate (nutrition bars)

– 1 packet Prune/dried raisin biscuits

– 2 bandanas (useful as a cloth, hanky, sling etc)

– A packet of sesame bars

– facewasher

– onsen towel (a small body towel)

– a pencil

– a pen

– notebook

– photocopy of my Gaijin card (identity card that is mandatory for foreigners in Japan)

– a little keychain watch (I don’t own a watch so I’ll need to know what the time is)

– Hokkairo (heat patch)

– Plastic cup

– a fork

– spare empty ziplock bag

– Rain poncho

– box of matches (but no candles…must add that to the shopping list and get me some)

– a tiny medical kit (containing: eye mask, face mask, bandaids, toothbrush, cotton buds, Advil, feminine hygiene products – I’ve put these into a little Qantas airline kit that you get free on airplanes.)

– Sudoku puzzles (pages ripped out from a Sudoku book – figured it was a way to kill time without being electricity-generated entertainment.)

This all fits nicely into one very small portable drawstring cloth bag (about half the size of a pillow) which is easy to pick up in a hurry should I ever need to evacuate. I keep it right by the door in the genkan, so I only have to pick it up on my way out the door.

From Emergency kit
From Emergency kit

I also keep 2L Bottled water by the door as well. I only drink tap water at home…but safe to have bottled water as well, especially after the radiation scares that we had. So that’s all the stuff that I would have in a pinch. At any given time, I also have a handbag and that also holds further essentials, like my iPhone, purse, camera, other bits and bobs, and a torch. I have a small torch wherever I go. It’s basically survival stuff that would get me through 2-3 days if needed before getting on a flight back home, if for example I was stuck in an evacuation centre or the airport for a few days.

Stuff like the laptop, clothes and all other possessions would most likely get left behind if needed. At the end of the day, it’s all replaceable. I have backed up the majority of my photos on online photo albums (I have just under 400 albums saved on Picasa!)…so things like my photos on my hard drive would be ok to leave behind. A lot of photos are also on this blog…so that’s kinda nice too to have. Other important docs I have saved in my email account and Dropbox – if I were to leave behind my computer. The laptop and the SLR camera would probably be the two tangible possessions I most care about. I also leave my passport in an accessible place to grab in an emergency. It’s better to be safe than sorry. Having an emergency kit though is only fine when you’re at home. But when disaster strikes…most likely you’ll be at work or out somewhere, and not in the comfort and safety of your own house. I really should also prepare a mini-kit for my desk at work.

After the March earthquake, I did put some small emergency things in place. I always keep a bottle of water on my desk that I don’t touch – it’s to grab in an emergency. I also keep a pair of old sneakers under my desk in case I ever have to walk home from work – not much fun in heels or work shoes. I keep a toothbrush and toothpaste and some snacks in my drawers (the furnitute kind not my briefs) as well. And again, my handbag will always be with me, so I’ll have my torch, purse, phone etc with me. I should put together a proper kit though…especially considering I’m always at work when all this stuff happens! There’s more stuff that I should add to my kit, but you’ve also got to keep it portable. The idea is to not take the whole apartment with you, as tempting as that is! I remembered reading this timely article (I am follower of this blog) and if you read through all the comments, there are some great suggestions in there. It was good stuff for me to consider. And yeah, I saw that movie too, so it really does make you think what is essential for survival but at the same time keeping it to a minimum. You’ve got to brace yourself for anything these days it seems. My kit is kind of a work-in-progress. Is there anything else that I must add to it??

Passport to the future

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Where have you been and where are you going? One of my most precious possessions is my passport. Travel is not so much a right, as it is a privilege. Most of us are fortunate enough to have travelled abroad at some point in our lives. These days it’s almost a rite of passage, but there are plenty of people who don’t even own a passport! This year, I had to renew my passport and get a new one. Firstly, because it was full! And secondly, because it expires this year. So I got it renewed a couple of months ago at the embassy here. I got one of those shiny new e-passports. An ordinary passport lasts for 10 years, and it occurred to me that my old passport was a memento, a record of all the places that I’ve been to over the last decade from age 20 to age 30. I thought it was really cool that my passport timing coincided right on with each new decade of my age. Same goes for my new (current) passport. It will expire in the year that I turn 40 (that’s a scary number!). My new and old passport:

From Passport

So my old beloved passport is a thumbprint of how I spent my 20s.

From Passport

Over the last 10 years I have accumulated lots of stamps and visas (mostly a gazillion entries and re-entries in and out of Japan).

From Passport
From Passport
From Passport
From Passport
From Passport

Here is map which highlights all the countries that I’ve been to:
visited 19 states (8.44%)
Create your own visited map of The World or Free iphone travel guide Those countries would be Australia, Fiji, NZ, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, France, Germany, Netherlands, England, Ireland, USA, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, 19 countries visited in 10 years. Not a bad effort (I thought I had done more), but still not enough, I say. I haven’t included stopover countries where I didn’t leave the airport. If I did, I would also include the UAE and Malaysia. My passport also includes a Russian visa (but I never made it to Russia even though I got a tourist visa). I haven’t included my upcoming Turkey trip because that’ll go in my new passport! There are soooo many more countries that I am dying to go to!!! Travel is my life, my 生きがい, my raison d’etre. I’ve not done any of South America, and I want to do way more of Europe! Here’s what my bucketlist of countries to visit looks like (they’re highlighted in red):
Create your own visited map of The World

Yep, I wanna go everywhere! Okay, I’ll be a bit more realistic then. Now that I have a brand new passport which will see me through my 30s, here is a list of countries that I would to like visit before my 40th birthday and upon the expiry of this new passport. So this bucketlist will cover the next 10 years. Ideally I’d like to do more, but this is a bit more realistic:

visited 35 states (15.5%)
Create your own visited map of The World

Hmmm, I just realised that was 35 countries! Maybe not that realistic after all! Me thinks I might have to live in a winnebago (coolest word ever, along with ‘haberdashery’) and eat catfood for the rest of my life to support this habit! Check back in, in 10 years and see how I’ve done. I’ll then make a bucketlist for the next decade. You can play with the interactive map and create your own travel bucketlist here or here. I used the first site, because I can embed into this blog. Fun, right!

So back to my original question: Where have you been and where are you going?

Scenes from Dahab

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I’ve got the travel bug again. I love traveling and going overseas. I keep thinking and planning for my next trip. Destination: Not sure yet. Tossing a few around in my head. Am hoping to make a few overseas trips this year. Have decided to live vicariously through some of my photos of past holidays. I never did get around to finishing posting up photos of my Egypt (and Israel and Jordan) trip. During my time in Egypt, I spent a fair bit of time in the Sinai/Red Sea region, in a resort town called Dahab (better than Sharm El Sheikh). Dahab means ‘Gold’. Was a gem of a place to relax and snorkel.

Here are some scenes from Dahab:

From Scenes from Dahab

One of the (three) hostels I stayed at:

From Scenes from Dahab

View from balcony:

From Scenes from Dahab

Now this is what I call a banana sundae:

From Scenes from Dahab

At the markets:

From Scenes from Dahab
From Scenes from Dahab
From Scenes from Dahab
From Scenes from Dahab
From Scenes from Dahab
From Scenes from Dahab
From Scenes from Dahab
From Scenes from Dahab

The Red Sea:

From Scenes from Dahab
From Scenes from Dahab

The Red Sea/Sinai region is famous for partaking in water sports such as snorkeling and diving. Dahab despite being ridiculously hot (37-40 degrees celcius in summer) it’s also very windy, which also makes it a windsurfers’ paradise.

Lake Toya swim

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With swim number 2 behind me, I’ve got another ocean swim race ahead of me this weekend. Here’s a recap of last Sunday’s swim. I arrived in Hokkaido on Saturday morning only to be greeted by clouds and rain at Chitose airport. Upon arrival in Hirafu I had a hearty brunch.

Given the weather conditions for the day, Fi and I had a chocolate bake-off for the rest of the day, but that, my friends, spawns another blog post. In short, there was a lot of drinking and eating had on the Saturday, topped off with a night at the pub for trivia where several glasses sparkling wine and meat pies were consumed. On a very full stomach and a few alcohol units, I somehow managed to get up early on the Sunday morning.

Departing Hirafu at about 7.30am we made good time to Lake Toya. The weather was gorgeous. What a fine day indeed it turned out to be. It was about 29 degrees that day and the sun was out. Courtesy of the sun’s appearance I am now sporting a decent tan despite applying generous amounts of suncream. I’ve got a pretty severe cossie tan. It was a great day to re-visit Lake Toya. I swam in both the 800m and 1.5km swims last year, and was entered again for both this year. Unfortunately, my times were a bit disappointing. It was definitely a slow swim day for me, but not bad considering how little training I did and the amount of food and drink I consumed the day before. Probably not the best training diet. Don’t try that at home kiddies. A sensible diet and an early night’s rest is ideal the night before a race. Oh well, good times were had anyway. It was really quite a miracle that I did not sink in that lake. Lake Toya is a freshwater lake, so the swim was a bit of a struggle. We swam across the shoreline. And man, I really felt the distance in this race. First up was the 800m swim. The distance felt a lot longer. My time was 15minutes and 11 seconds for that one, and placed 8th in my age category of about 17 people. A considerable difference between that and the 800m swim at Atami beach which I did in 10 minutes. The age category was all females under the age of 39. That was a pretty broad group of competitors. I felt really slow in the water and the distance felt like forever. I think the salt water in ocean swims really make a difference. Either that, or I was carrying a lot more weight through the water this time around, coz I felt heavy in that water. That swim was then followed by the 1.5km. That was a struggle. Especially after doing so poorly in the 800m, I didn’t know how I was going to double that. It was two laps of the same course (which would make it 1.6km ja nai?). I was slow and felt like I had been swimming forever. The finish line didn’t seem any closer. Usually I guesstimate my time by the length of a TV show. This swim felt like the Director’s Cut of Titanic along with preview and credits. The whole time I was swimming that 1.5km all I could think about was “how the hell I am going to swim 4km?”. During the week I had sent off an entry for a 4km beach swim. That was more than double what I was doing now! That’s going to be a solid 1.5 hour of swimming in the ocean. 4km! What was I thinking! “I’m struggling to swim 1.5km so how the hell will I finish 4km!” What was also frustrating about this swim apart from being slow and sluggish in the water was the two ends of the course were marked by blue raft boats that we had to swim around, yet they had lifeguards in other blue raft boats that were paddling along the course, so every time I would look up to see how much further I had, I kept seeing these moving raft boats which were the wrong ones and kept thinking I less to go than what I actually had to swim. I spent over half an hour in the water moving my arms and legs. My time ended up being 32minutes and 38 seconds. Another disappointing time.

Because I had entered both races, I could only choose one which would eligible for placings. I chose the 800m as my main event. For the 1.5km swim I wasn’t placed in my age category, but rather was lumped into the Open category. I didn’t improve on either time from last year’s results. Oh well. I’ll just have to do better in the next one. At least I didn’t sink. I will admit that after the swim at Lake Toya, my arms were a bit sore and my shoulder and back muscles were a bit tight. Doing non-arm strokes for over 45 minutes is kinda tiring. Also it’s kinda funny but I also got a sore neck after this race.I think it might have been from straining when looking up to find the buoys and water markers. During the race, a couple of swans even crossed the course. I was careful to get out of their way.

With the two swims behind me, it was time for lunch which was a delicious spread put on by Jojos. The lunch is worth the swim. Of course, most sane people would skip swimming 1.5km and just go to Jojos instead to eat their food. This year’s NAC t-shirt was also a really nice colour compared to last year’s grey t-shirt. Swim number 2 done and dusted. This Sunday I’ll be off to Chiba for a beach swim. That’ll be swim numero 3. I much prefer beach/ocean swims. It’s a standard 1km swim which is the minimum distance I swim whenever I go to the pool. I would like to do it in under 20 minutes as a personal goal but will prepare myself for a time anywhere between 15-25 minutes. Will let you know how it goes. I believe rain is forecast for this weekend though.

race gear

getting my race number texta-ed on my arm

Lake Toya on summer Sunday morning

in the water

Off to Hokkaido for swim # 2

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Most people get woken up by an alarm. This morning I got woken up by an earthquake at 6am. Such is life in Japan. Awake and albeit reluctantly, I hauled my ass to the pool for one last “training session” before the weekend. Open Water swim race number 2 for summer 2010 is this weekend, on Sunday. It’s been a fortnight since my last open water swim race. I’m travelling up to Hokkaido for this one heading up tomorrow morning.

This event is the only open water swim race in Hokkaido, and I use the term ‘open water’ deliberately in this case. This swim is not an OCEAN water swim. It’s in a lake. More specifically a volcanic caldera lake – Lake Toya, a beautiful lake in a nice onsen town. Here are some interesting facts about Lake Toya: – Lake Tōya is said to be the northernmost lake in Japan that never ices, – and the second most transparent lake in Japan. – The 2008 G8 Summit was held here This particular swim event is a private/non-official race in that it is not endorsed or organised by the Japan Open water swimming association. This race is run by a local adventure/outdoor company in Hirafu/Niseko.

This swim is kind of close to my heart for several reasons. Firstly, Hokkaido was my first experience of Japan ever. I first came to Japan as a uni exchange student and I was placed at Sapporo University (not my first preference at the time). Our flight from Sydney was to Chitose airport in Hokkaido so I never even landed on Honshu before arriving to Japan. I lived in Sapporo for one year. It was where I first fell in love with Japan and knew that I would return. After graduating from uni I was back to Japan on the JET program. I also visited Hokkaido again during that time.

After finishing JET, I then moved back to Hokkaido and lived in Hirafu, Niseko (a major ski resort town) for a year and a half. Sunday’s swim race is called Big Swim Toya and it is hosted by NAC (Niseko Adventure Centre). I lived within walking distance of NAC and spent some time there. They have a great restaurant/cafe called JoJo’s – it’s a beautiful casual, spacious restaurant with delicious food to boot. They have a little shop and an indoor wall climbing facility too. They also run heaps of activities and tours all-year round like rafting, snowshoeing etc. In addition to the Big Toya Swim event, they also put on the Hirafu 10km Trail Run which I also competed in last year – the most gruelling 10km run over. It’s not a road run, it’s a trail run – up and down mountains and ski slopes. I also competed in this same swim last year, so it will be nice to do it again and hopefully improve my time from last year. So there you have it – me and Hokkaido go way back. I always like going back to Hokkaido – it’s also one of the most prettiest prefectures in Japan in my opinion. In fact, Hokkaido is awesome – great climate, powder snow, awesome coast line, great onsens, majestic mountains, delicious seafood and miso ramen, gigantic national parks, festive festivals, pretty flowers (Furano and Biei), home of Sapporo Beer and Royce choco, etc etc, stop me now… So this Sunday’s swim at Lake Toya will be a little trip down memory lane.

I competed in the 800m and the 1.5km swim back to back last year, and will be doing the same again this year. Lake Toya is a freshwater lake, so again these are different water conditions to what I’m used to. For one, the water temperature is a lot colder. Wetsuits are a given at this one. I don’t wear a wetsuit. I don’t own one, and even if I did, I wouldn’t wear one. Plain old togs do me just fine. Also, there is no salt content in the water, which means less bouyancy than an ocean swim. I know my times are definitely going to be slower. On the upside, there is virtually no current. The water is very flat, still and cold. It also means that the water is also quite pleasant to drink should you accidentally gulp some of it. I recall from last year that the water was quite tasty. Cool, clean and fresh – the way water should be. So it’s been two weeks since my last race event. I’ve done a little bit of training. Not as much as I would have liked. The first 800m event I’m not too worried about. I will be fresh so my time will hopefully be ok. My goal is to improve on my 800m swim time from last year which was 14 minutes and 39 seconds. The catch-22 here is that the faster I swim the 800m the greater rest time between that race and the start of the 1.5km swim. But the faster I swim, the more tired I’m going to be for the 1.5km race. From memory last year, I had about a 20min break between the two which was not too bad. As for the 1.5km I don’t expect my time to be so great, just average. After having already gone flat out in the first 800m event, I’m already going to be a little tired by the time I have to compete in the 1.5km. All up, it’s 2.3km all on a Sunday morning. The 1.5km is basically two laps of the first 800m course. If I can improve on last year’s time I’ll be pleased. Not 100% confident that I can pull it off though. Here was my 2-week swim plan in the lead up to this event after the first Atami race: In bold was my planned training schedule (i.e what I told myself I should do). In parentheses next to it is what I actually ended up doing.

July 12 2km swim (nothing. did not go to gym -I was actually sick after the Atami swim)

July 13 1.5km swim and 45min walk(1km swim + 250m swim)

July 14 1.5km swim and 45min walk (nothing)

July 15 1.5km swim and 45min walk (45min walk (4km) and 30min cycle)

July 16 2km swim (45min walk (4km)

July 17 3km swim and walk/cycle (1.5km swim)

July 18 Walk (5.5km walk) J

uly 19 1.5km swim and 45min walk (nothing)

July 20 2km swim (45min walk (4km))

July 21 gym closed nothing

July 22 1.5km swim and 45min walk (1.5km swim and45min walk (4km) – stuck to the plan – yay)

July 23 2km swim (1.1.km swim)

July 24 no swim. Never swim the day before event (will be sticking to the plan)

July 25 Lake Toya Swim Day Race event: 800m and Race event: 1.5km

The above suggests that:

a) I am way too optimistic when I plan my training schedule

b) I am an unrealistic goal setter

c) I am an underachieving lazy human being

d) I spend way too much time blogging about swimming than actually swimming

e) I should take up walking as a sport because I spend more time walking than I do swimming

f) all of the above I blogged a breifly about the Lake Toya swim last year. You can read that old post here. If you should feel so inclined to participate in this swim next year, info can be found on the NAC website here. If you email them (English or Japanese) they can send you an application form in the post. You can then pay by furikomi. Application form, documents etc are available in Japanese and English. double entry for both swims is 8500yen. One event is 5500yen. This cost includes a t-shirt and yummy all you can eat bbq lunch feast and a participation certificate. Also the chance to win heaps of lucky dip prizes. Placings also receive prizes. NAC do a great job of putting on this event. Super organised and friendly staff. You can even camp at Lake Toya the night before. Kudos to the competitors who sleep in a tent and then swim the next morning. I prefer the comfort of a bed the night before a swim race.

Bex made a video of last year’s Toya swim race. You can watch it below: WARNING: A most unflattering video of me. All my wrong angles (why is it always the side angle???) and I’m wearing a swimsuit in pretty much nearly every scene…not a pretty sight coz I ain’t no skinny bitch. I like my food and lots of it too! You were warned. Oh, and I hate my voice too. Maybe I should go drown in Lake Toya rather than actually swim in it. Clearly I belong behind the camera rather in front of it. So apart from me starring in the video, the video is great. Very entertaining and big kudos to Bex for making it. Thank you, Bex! It was actually a fun day and I’m looking forward to doing it again this weekend. I’ll be sure to be blogging about it next week. Here’s hoping for better weather this time around. Last year was wet and rainy, grey and overcast. The lake was kinda eerie with its low mist. So at the risk of personal embarrassment I am going to upload the video. (Video duration: 5min, 24 seconds – – – 5 minutes and 24 seconds that you will never get back from your life again). (Just tried uploading directly onto my blog. Exceeds my blog media file limit. Will upload to Youtube)