Niseko

After my Kamikaze Day One, the remaining three days passed in a merry blur of powdered snow and powdered painkillers. With me out of commission, Matt rode the slopes with enough frenzy for the both of us whilst I relaxed in the Hirafu-tei onsen, an awesome complex with three inside baths and an outdoor bath which overlooked one of the chairlifts/runs. Nothing quite like getting naked and watching hundreds of skiiers cruise down the slopes, the lucky f!@#$ing bastards. More painkillers, please.

More lamb, Mashu-san?

One of the highlights of our "ski" trip was the "All-you-can eat Jenghis (sic) Khan Barbeque" at the Niseko Scot. The hotel had built four private igloos, equipped with benches, a table and an iron grill. The waiters bring you a platter of lamb fillets (the equivalent of half a lamb, more or less) and you cook enough of the lamb to fill you up. At least that's the idea. In reality, Matt was determined to finish the platter or die from smoke inhalation in the process. He succeeded, but at what cost I can only let you imagine.

Another novel (and appreciated) aspect of our mongolian experience was that it was B.Y.O beer, a concept conspicously absent from Japanese society. However, after inhaling all that lamb, the beer started to seem like not such a good idea...

Take a sneak peak at this gastronomical (and rather chilly) experience (minus the copious belching)...

On our last day, Matt and I made rude snowhermaphrodites and took an onsen where Matt had an "encounter" (what those naked boys get up to in the onsen is something best left unimagined). So in spite of the chronic disappointment of being a side-lined skiier, Niseko-Hirafu was top shelf. Next time I'll spend the two weeks before the trip, running to the pub, not sitting in it drinking beer...