Day 9 - David Peyrot is in town!

Now, I had mentioned before that David, from the Netherlands, our good friend we met at Niseko Ski Resorts, had joined us at Rocky's. We timed it so that we would arrive together at the same time. David woke up earlier than we did and went into the forest to collect some special leaves to make sushi with. Meanwhile, Dennis and I slept in an hour longer. I wasn't in the mood to do river tracing the second day since I was tired, but, I think it was important for me to join David. I am so happy I made this decision, because the second day was much better.

Why? Well, for one, I had an infected middle finger on my left hand, and it was awkward grabbing things with the pain the in the finger. But, this day, the pain eased, and I was more confident with the climbing. So, this allowed for some more advenurous climbing.

It was funnny, because along the way, we just kepted talking about relationships. David had met a Japanese girl and couldn't stop talking about her, while I have just recently become single, and we talked about the feelings surround that situation. It was funny because here we were, in the middle of the forest, in the middle of a river, and we're just talking about relationships. Rocky got us to focus on the job at hand, so we were soon soaked and engaged in some river tracing.

One part was particualry worth mentioning. There was a huge rock, falled over, with a small passage way of raging water going through. Rocky encouraged us to try and go through it. I was nervous the day before, but this time, I would not miss out. It was a feeling like James Bond, or some other movie, where there was a narrow passage, and at one point, you had to hold your breath, go under and lunge forward to pop your head up in a small space, only to get a wall of water flowing straight into your face. Then, you must climb up this water. I guess there was a lot of opportunity for injury, but instead, I just got wet!

On the way out, I warned David about the leeches, and sure enough, he got one too, on the ankle. He was luckier than Dennis because the leech was much smaller. But when Rocky burnt it off, it bled a lot.

After this amazing morning, we returned to the fishing center. Here, we learnt how to make sushi, the local way using the leaves David picked. Basically, it was rich, with fish, and fresh herbs, and we wrapped them up in the leaves. We must ahve made nearly one hundred!

After the sushi making, we had lunch, and it was interesting experience. We were given dough, and wrapped the dogh around some sticks. Next, we barbequed the sticks over some hot coals until we had some yummy bread. Plus, we had some sushi and miso soup! Yummy!

After this delicious lunch, we all had a nap and then tried something none of us ahd done before, and that was repelling off of a bridge near by. We were all wearing harnesses, and Rocky taught us how to use the equipment and one by one, we took turns going off the bridge. The beginning was especially scarey for me, to give up your footing on the bridge and relying on the rope, but as soon as you get going, it isn't so scarey any more. I liked it so much, I did it twice.

After this experience, we went back to the hot springs for another evening relaxing naked in hot water. This time, I met some local American English teachers. It was a bizarre experience talking to a stranger with his willy in plain view. I am still not comfortable with open nudity, it will take some more time.

After the hot spring, we had another fantastic dinner, and this time, we made some new friends. A married couple joined us, one who could speak fluent German, and the other English. David is fluent in German, so the two had lots to talk about. The wife had spent a year in Canada, so we had a bit to chat about as well.

After another yummy dinner came the big surprise! The man was a chef! He makes cakes! He studied cakes in Germany, and was delighted to share his creations with us. It was a nice surprise to chow on that! We all had our own individual cake, yummy!

Another great day, we were all exhausted from having too much fun and went to bed early.