Light Festival in Otaru

Otaru has repurposed an abandoned railway line for a one week 'Yuki Akari no Michi' (Snow light festival).

Inverted, hollow snow buckets are lit by small wax candles.  Dozens of volunteers light hundreds of candles at 5pm each evening with blow torches.

The simple snow sculptures are beautifully detailed with berries frozen into clear ice blocks.  Handmade wax globes inlaid with leaves and flowers (presumably in the summer) also line the old railway line.

The intimate scale of this event is a welcome change from the masses of tourists at the Sapporo Snow Festival.

Locals offer free roasted potatoes and grilled meat to add to the welcome atmosphere.

The second site in Otaru is the canal at the waterfront, lit by hundreds of floating candles.

Kida's nose was about as cold as this ice ball by the end of the evening.

Snow Festival in Sapporo

Three story snow sculptures are the norm in Sapporo.  Pretty impressive masses though not very creative.  It was 5 degrees F so we were walking fast to keep warm.  After an hour of ice and snow we were psyched to duck into a Starbucks.

This Malaysian building looked like it was created 1/2 scale of the original.

Wouldn't be Japan without Manga!

The winning small scale sculpture.

One of my favorites with the backhoes lined up in the background.  Presumably to tear it all down next week.  This webpage shows the buildup of the sculptures: http://www.snowfes.com/english/daie/index.html

A few local sakes were displayed in frozen sculptures.  Check out the opaque layers within the clear glass bricks.

Local produce proudly displayed next to the ice carving competition.

The opaque ice rose in this sculpture looked like it was frozen in clear glass.

…and some unabashed advertising

Hokkaido

Jex's 6'3 frame and size 13 snow boots are very entertaining for locals.

We've just arrived in the Olympic city of Sapporo (1972) on the northern island of Hokkaido.   Niseko ski resort is located on the west coast of the island and host to winter storms from Russia that dump tons of light fluffy powder snow.

Niseko is two hours from Sapporo via a tiny train that has great underseat heaters to combat the frigid temperatures.

Thanks to the cold and mostly overcast weather there is almost always fresh snow!

A rare sunny day with views to Mt Yotei and the ocean in the distance on the right.  The farmland below produces the best potatoes, apples and dairy products in Japan.

Farmers Market at UN building

The farmers at the weekend market are not reserved and it is a great place to test and learn about various Japanese delicacies.  Jex now has us eating kelp appetizers with yuzu sauce. 

This stand sold bread under the label 'A gift from the Goat'. That was the only English text so we're hoping that the gift is milk...

It's apple season and they're huge!

… and so are the radishes

The kids are convinced that we need to go to the market every weekend …
so that we can eat at the food stands that surround the market.

Arrived in Japan

In contrast to Mumbai, Tokyo is neat and organized.  The subway system is timely and easy to use.  The traffic lights and pedestrian crossings all function and you actually need to obey them!

Stores are often narrow and deep like this trendy restaurant in Shibuya

Our first foray into the tourist side of the city; The Edo Tokyo history museum is an imposing structure with great exhibits showcasing the last 600 years of the cities growth… not enough weapons showcased for Jex though.

Bicyles are prolific and allowed on the sidewalks.  

Cambodia

We spent the New year in Siem Reap, Cambodia in temples and small villages

The bas relief in the 12th century temples was impressive.  Our favorite places were the
small temples that had few tourists and had seen little reconstruction.

This fishing village is accessible only in the dry season by a dirt road.  The rest of the year only by boats.

The kids in town played around in boats and improvised boats when they weren't in school

In Banteay Chmmar (small town in the northwest) our guide, Peat, was also the leader of the local musician troupe.

He introduced us to locals (some of them his family) in their daily routines of fishing, house building  and silk weaving.

These versatile tractors had drive belts that could be connected to pumps and other machinery.

Typical gas station in a village with repurposed soda bottles full of  gasoline

Diving in the Maldives

Just spent 6 days studying hermit crabs, boat building and underwater life… very relaxing.

There are over 1000 islands in the Maldives…of which only about 200 are inhabited by humans.  The islands are built from thousands (millions?) of years of coral growth and decimation.  At night the ocean is filled with tiny bioluminescent creatures that look like stars underwater.

This Christmas tree tube worm was our best Christmas present. 

Curious boxfish

We think that we discovered the mother of all hermit crabs on a night dive.  This lady was about 8" across!

This pufferfish posed for a few minutes on the stag horn coral.  Check out his scraped lips from chewing on crabs, clams and snails.

These tiny fish are aggressive defenders of their anemones and will nip if you get too close.

Jex found tons of tiny red crab and ghost shrimp hidden in the coral.

Post dive bliss

Evening boat trip to catch tomorrow night's dinner (snapper and grouper)