tokamachi snow festival

last saturday, we went to tokamachi. they had their 58th snow festival. we rode the 1006am bus from kibougaoka. some myanmar students were on the same bus. mae and her family also rode the same bus to nagaoka eki. at the eki, we all agreed to meet at bus stop #1 at 11am. we will ride another bus bound for tokamachi. we still had at least 30minutes of free time, so jay and i just bought crepe and some drinks. the ride took about an hour and 30minutes. we stopped at honcho 6-chome. we would meet a volunteer at cross 10 building. since it wasn't 1pm (meeting time) yet, she told us to checkout what's inside the building and go out again at 1pm. we went inside, they were selling some sake, food, native things, etc. we went to the other side and bought squid to eat. at 1pm, we went outside and the old lady just gave some of us a map to her house (others would be staying at her house for the evening), tickets to the carnival show, and something to keep us warm. it was a very cold day. she gave instructions on how to go to the carnival. then she waved at us and wished us well. we (jay, mae, wawang) were surprised because we thought she would guide us. apparently, she was just there the give us the instructions and we had to see the place by ourselves.

so, we walked a few blocks and arrived at the road to the carnival. lain (myanmar) explained that that was the way to the carnival. and we can also go to the community hiroba to play. he doesn't know what we can do there, but said the old lady said to go there and play. they decided to checkout the carnival first. we followed them. there were ice sculptures along the way. they were nicely done. at the top (place of the carnival), we took some pictures. a group of dancers were practicing for the show in the evening. it was very cold, and some of them had no shirt on! the show would start at 6pm. we have tickets to the show, but we must be there by 530pm. we wondered where the other sculptures are. then, jay understood that they are distributed in the city. so, we have to go back to the main road and go the the marked places on the map. so, we tried to find as many sculptures as we can. since it was very cold, we decided not to watch the show, and go home early. we took the 544pm bus to nagaoka eki. though we didn't get to see all the ice sculptures, it was still a nice trip for us.

we arrived around 710pm at nagaoka eki. the next bus that will pass by kibougaoka is at 835pm. jay and i wanted to eat outside. so we tried to look for a bus that will at least pass-by jusco. there's a 730pm bus that will pass jusco mae. so, we decided to take that. now, for mae, their nearest bus stop is nishi-chuu iriguchi. i tried to look for an earlier bus that they could take. good thing i found an 8pm bus that will pass by their place. the bus stop name is the same but the actual location is not. so, i explained it to mae first, so that they won't get lost.

so... off we went our separate ways. we stopped at jusco. then walked to hard-off and looked at their stuff. then walked a little further to m's dining. soup bar and drink bar for 500yen. in total, for the two of us, we spent 3k yen and we were very full. then we walked to book doom. jay was looking for gamecube memory. we bought there. then, we walked home. at home, we just watched some tvseries and slept around 12mn. i thought jay would still play mario party, but he said he slept at the same time i did. but the next day, he woke up late.

we didn't go anywhere on sunday. we just stayed at home. we ate brunch and dinner at home. jay cooked adobo for brunch. i cooked pinakbet for dinner. mae and wawang fetched us at 630pm. jay's bus is at 7pm. wawang took us to nagaoka kita bus stop and we waited for jay to ride the bus. we then went home. thanks for the ride, mae and wawang.

now, it's back to being lonely once again. i'm going to try to concentrate here. but it seems my rtr mode is on today.

updated:
here are some pictures....