threep

Hi Mike, great shots. I had no idea you were an Aberdare boy or even you were back over here else I'd have tried to hook up with you on one of your trips up the Beacons. I went on a Boxing day hike up Pen-y-Fan. It was arctic on top, about -10 degC and a good 40mph wind. Christmas day would have been the day to go up there, colder air temp, v. little wind and clear blue skies. I'll PM you with contact details should you be interested in a skiing buddy in the Beacons if we get conditions again this winter. Cheers, Gary

Dynaland

Warning, drinking vintage single malt in Japan in seriously injurious to your wallet (more so than the UK!) On the other hand in big off-licenses you can get 10 litre (plastic) bottles of Japanese whisky for remarkably little money.

{almost} interesting fact... the jelly in pork pies came about because when the gentry went out fox-hunting, ordinary pies got shaken to pieces in their pockets. By injecting that jelly it set solid and didn't get damaged.

Whole deep-friend baby crabs, no taste really, just like eating crisps. Strangest (and possible most vile) thing I've ever drunk is Vietnamese snake wine. It was a bottled, mass-produced drink, not quite the skin-it-alive-and-drink-the-blood type experience you can apparently get in-country.

Same tune, but the programme has changed radically over the past few years. When I left the UK it used to be pretty much only cover the world cup ski rounds, downhill, slalom etc. Now it's more of a lifestyle show, with some coverage of world cup skiing, but other stuff like celebs learning how to improve their technique and seeing how their times improve on a slalom course, articles on skiing from all different parts of the world (Kashmir a couple of weeks ago).

Originally Posted By: soubriquet Quote: sunrise I like Lotus too, but isn't that Britsh? English. Colin Chapman was not Welsh, Irish or Scots. He was English. You're correct of course sunrise because English is a subset of being British, so Colin Chapman was both English and British. I became expert at drawing maps of the UK whilst in Japan to explain where I'm from because most locals weren't aware that England is not the same thing as the United Kingdom. threep, a non-English Brit.

If you leave them down then first they'll freeze to the glass. Even when you free them you'll find frozen ice along great chunks length of the blade and they'll be no good as wipers anyway. Definitely used to leave up, learned the hard way.

Originally Posted By: soubriquet It's a fake. Check out the date, 23rd December 2005. There was sh!t loads of snow in Hakuba that year. You are free to call Mitch at Snowbeds and ask him Yes, it is a small k-van. He had it as his screen saver and I just had to have a copy.

Hakuba, (courtesy of Mitch, Snowbeds)

I don't want to steal your thunder Cheeseman, but as you mentioned a Spanish cheese I thought I should mention a lovely cheese I tasted back in the summer. Cabrales A rough-rinded Spanish blue cheese. A renowned blue cheese from Northern Spain (region of Asturias) Cabrales is made from blended cow's, goat's and sheep's milk (not in winter when only cow's milk is available) . It is matured in naturally-formed caves and has a creamy texture, a complex flavor and a powerful bouquet. Cabrales is salted, wrapped in foil and matures for 6 months in natural limestone caverns. The locals are

Formerly Nagoya, now in Bristol, UK.

Originally Posted By: Creek Boy I often just role a die which has: A, B, C, D, F on it and see what happens...you should hear the complaints sometime. Like, at my old school last year, a 7th grade boy didnt answer one question wrong, well, technically he didnt even answer one question, so I gave him 100% and an A in my class...his classmates were pissed - you shoulda seen all the zero's the following sememster on the Final exam Ah, the old five-sided die, what ever happened to them

Mass is the enemy of good fuel consumption, so by definition SUV's will always be poor in comparison to other vehicles. If we are serious about fuel efficiency then we need to wean ourselves off all the heavy bells & whistles vehicles in modern vehicles (why do people need electric seats?) and strip them back to the bare minimum. The "hidden cost" of hybrids like the Prius is the large cost associated with de-comissioning/recycling the batteries at the end of it's life. The batteries are under warranty by Toyota for 5 years with replacement costs being > £1000/$2000. I bet the repl

Originally Posted By: SerreChe A friend told me he heard there are going to be some direct flights from England to Niseko this season. This sounds very surprising to me as I do not think many people would be willing to fly 12 hours when they can get to the slopes just accross the channel. Has anybody heard anything similar? I did that trip last year, though I was in Japan for 2 weeks, 1 skiing in Hokkaido and the other visiting old friends in Aichi. I wish there was a direct flight, but I have been looking and haven't found any. My trip last year was a bit of a marathon, London -->

Climbed Fuji on a Monday in September 2005, i.e. out of season. There were perhaps 100 - 150 people on the mountain, and just about all of them were at the summit for sunrise. Very few of the huts were open and it was properly cold just before dawn, I had all my gear on. I can say I did it, but not something I would bother repeating. So many more interesting mountains in Japan.

Skied in France January on a package trip. Crap snow, wrecked my skis, not happy. Skied a week in Hokkaido in February, pistes always good plus 3 days of powder fun. Am I a snob? No, but I'm happy paying big money to ski on rocks and frozen turf either. Might skip the Alps altogether next year.... cue best winter season for 30 years

I've drunk beer in an onsen a few times, in Hokkaido and in Hakuba. Some even provide little wooden planks which float on the water and upon which you can place your can. Not that common, but it does happen. Why else would they place beer vending machines in onsen?

I've skied at Cairngorm (Aviemore) in May once, same weekend as Ayrton Senna and Roland Ratzenberger died at Imola. The snow record in recent years has been pretty dismal though and I think all the ski areas are on the point of bankruptcy (Glencoe already went over the edge IIRC). Niseko was reasonably busy about 4 weeks ago, but still had a couple of days of powder fun without everything being skied out

I travelled with SAS earlier this month for my ski hols in Hokkaido. Their website said ski kit was only included in the free allowance as part of 20kg limit, so I cut right back on my main bag. At the airport they weighed my rucksack and boots (about 18Kg total) and just asked me how heavy my skis were. "Very light" I said and they never weighed it, just tagged it and took it to the oversize baggage counter. Must admit I never checked allowances before I booked the flight, but will do next time.

Japan - the return. Leaving the UK tomorrow for about 11 days in Japan, 6 days in Niseko and 5 days further south visitng friends. Really looking forward to some powder in Niseko, but the travelling will be a PITA. Have a happy long weekend everyone !

Quote: Originally posted by quattro: The problem with flying in Japan it so damn expensive. I think it's pretty reasonable, especially if you're flying in from overseas and can get those Air Pass fares, or Star Alliance rates. I've got 3 internal flights next month for 30,000 yen, which is just over 130 quid total !

Faster quads = more electrical power = more cost Operators try to maximize profits and so will use the slowest speeds they think they can get away with.

I've got to make the same bus journey next month, first time I've not managed to get a connection from Narita to Chitose. Go by bus. Door to door (or should that be gate to gate?) with all your bags, 3000 yen each way. Narita Express (train) to Tokyo station (i.e. you still have to get out to Hanada airport) 2940 yen. No doubt you could get there by more local trains, but you don't need the stress of changing trains at stations you don't know when already tired and when carrying arm loads of bags. It's a no brainer really!

At the Prince hotel in Yakebitai (Shiga Kogen) you can access the West Wing restaurant for lunch directly from the slopes, you just wander in without taking your boots off, just like most other lunchtime restaurants. Can't remember what the score is at Higashiyama.