Gaijin

Just an FYI, I am not writing this on my mac but from the internet cafe at the XIV resort so no pictures just for the next few posts until I get back to kyoto on sept 15th. I am really struggling to find the time to write and internet. Sorry! I am posting all of this as fast as I can because I have limited time so pardon the mistakes and I will fix them later. :)

(Never mind the above comment, I managed to hijack some internet and quickly posted some pictures. I hope that I will be able to again before we return to Kyoto :) Shhhhhh!!!! Don't tell anyone :)

Last night was our first night at the XIV time share resort in a town called Chino, Near Nagano. It is an opulent place that is expensive. I have never stayed in a place like this before. XIV is an exclusive membership time share resort company that own and operate resorts all over Japan specifically located near Japanese hot springs called Onsen. Even though it is a membership resort it is a very high end resort with people with deep pockets. Martin, Kay and I need to be careful with our budget around here. It turns out that it is the Japanese way to pay for everything that you might need so very little is included in your room costs. This is true for many hotels in Japan. There is internet, a pool table, karaoke, hot springs and a swimming pool but all of these things are extra costs which are adding up fast.

So, we started again at about 10 am and drove to Suna which is an alpine area near Nagano. You will probably remember that the winter olympics were held here many years ago. The mountain range was tall and vast. We ended up taking a chair lift to the top of the Kurumayama Kogen Sky Park Resort and the views were spectacular. It was an amazing site to see. We drove around some more but to be honest I am not sure where we went. Tomorrow we are moving to another resort which I think is near Mount Fuji but I am not sure. I'll let you know.

Signed "Gaijin"