Berrie got it right this time!

Berrie: I am going to make a cup of coffee with sugar and milk.


Stir a bit.


Got it right this time!

Yummy chestnut puree

We went to Obuse, a small town near Nagano famous for its chestnut product. We ordered a yummy plate of chestnut puree and icecream.


We couldn't finish all...


Have a good rest.

Berrie buying coffee

Berrie wanted to buy a cup of coffee.


Add some milk and sugar.


It's coming!


"What? Black coffee? Oh, no, I pressed the wrong button..."

Papa fighting Snow Monkey

We finally arrived at the Monkey Park. It was funny as the Japanese name of the place is "Hell Valley", but the English translation is "A Paradize for Monkeys". There are about 1000 monkeys living in the area, but we didn't see that much. They were free roaming in the valley. There was a natural hot spring where some monkeys were taking bath. Others were busy picking seeds from the snow nearby. These monkeys are very fluffy, so we thought they were friendly like doggies. It turned out we were quite wrong. Berrie wanted to take a photo with one monkey who suddenly got up and almost scratched Berrie's belly. Some monkeys seemed to have a territory dispute among themselves. So we decided to stay away from them.

Just when we were about to leave, we heard a human screaming. Then we saw about 50 meters away, a monkey was climbing on to an old lady's back. Mama rushed to her rescue. The monkey was caught by surprise, and jumped down the lady's back. But he stared at mama and tried to decide whether to attack. Papa was 10 meters behind, so he made a snow ball and threw at the monkey. The monkey wasn't scared at all. Instead, we were all very concerned that the monkey would call his clan to attack papa. Luckily, it was quite late and most other monkeys already went home. The monkey comtemplated for a while and decided that the odds were against him with 1 vs 3, so he ran away. But we told papa to be more careful even when he wanted to be a hero.

Google map cannot read Japanese

Mama booked a hotel near the Nagano train station. She printed out a google map page with the main streets near the station and the hotel pinned down. It seemed very clear from the map. But when they reached where the pin was, the hotel was nowhere to be found. They walked around for 15 minutes but still didn't see any sign of the hotel. Finally, a local human came to help. The hotel was one and half block away from where Googlemap marked. We reckon that Googlemap couldn't read street names in Kanji.

Blitzen Diary: Stuff us all the way to Singapore.

We were flying A380. Berrie told me it was the largest airplane on the world. I never travelled before, so I cannot tell the difference. We were suppose to take off by 5pm, but the captain said there was some problem with the generator. So the plane had to go back to the berth for examination. After half an hour, the captain announced that the problem was identified, and the plane needed refill fuel. Both papa mama and Berrie were laughing, but I didn't know why.

When papa and mama were packing yesterday, Berrie told me and Shikamaru to slip in mama's luggage. I didn't understand why until now. Once we boarded the plane, mama took us out of her luggage and found us a private cabinate, whereas papa just put his luggage under the chair and told three monkeys to have a good sleep :D

Apart from the delay, it was a very pleasant trip for us. We had a lot of food and drinks, and had a good sleep.


We had a private cabin.


Berrie loves Singapore Sling.


Shikamaru had an apple bliss.


I was busy studying Japanese.


Our entree.


Chicken rice.


Thai rice.


Berries for Berrie.


Lychee icecream.


Papa squeezed a corner for us to sleep.

Blitzen Diary: My first trip

I've been with Feddie's family for almost two weeks. It's such a big family that I still haven't got time to know everyone. But I found my little bro Shikamaru. He was adopted one year ago. It's sad thinking that reindeers got abandoned during the Chrimbo season. But we are the lucky ones! Hope (the little doggy who was my buddy at the store and was adopted at the same time) also found his cousins in the family. Indeed, there are quite a few doggies in Feddie's family, but only two reindeers.

I had myself settled in quite well because Shikamaru can explain a lot of things to me in reindeer language. We often like to sit in the flower garden and chat over a cup of tea. Most of the days were quite warm, perhaps too warm for reindeers. One day it was 43 degrees, and Berrie had take us to hide in the fridge. Then she asked us if we would like to visit Japan because it was snowing there. Of course we said yes! But I have never travelled before, and was a bit worried as I don't have a passport. But Berrie said that we could hide in the luggages until we board on the plane.

Now we are at the airport lounge waiting for boarding. Berrie is a frequent traveller so she found a way to lead us in (I think she knows the reception lady). There are a lot of foods and drinks in the lounge. We had a cup of chocolate mousse, and then I had a cup of cappuccino. Feddie told me his blog account, so I can write my travel blog along the way. Everything is the first time for me, so I am a bit nervous, but it's really fun!