Last golf round of 2010

I was quite excited with the last round of this year.

Isamu's acquaintance, Fukui-san, invited us to play together at Gotemba West, which is one of the best golf courses in Japan.

Lucky!!! （●＾o＾●）

I've never played there, so I was really really excited ♪♪♪

Overlooking Mt.Fuji（富士山）the view was fabulous!!!

Although it was quite cold, we were blessed with a sunny weather ☀

The snow❄covered

Fuji-san

was strikingly beautiful against bright blue sky, surrounded by a neat row of old tall trees, gorgeous!!!

We departed at 6am. (yawn!)

It took about 1&half hour drive from Tokyo. We beat the traffic and arrived quite early, so we had plenty of time for breakfast and a short practice before the round.

The am round (OUT) was tough! My body didn't move the way I wanted. My putt sucked. All the good shots I thought I've mastered during my golf lessons just disappeared.

I finished the first half with a horrible score of 72!!!

After lunch things improved a little. Some of my putts did make way to the holes, earning me 2 PARs and a score of 59 for the pm round (IN).

A total score of 131 ... (sigh) ... still a looooong way to go ...

well, they say "Practice makes better" ...

I vow to make it to 100 by end of 2011. Practice, practice, practice!!!

A golf summer

This summer, apart from tennis, Isamu and I did something new → Golf.

We were quite addicted to it, and couldn't help indulging ourselves to a week-off doing only golf. YES!!!

We usually go to Appi Kogen (Appi highland) in Iwate prefecture during winter season, but this summer

we decided to experience the summer Appi.

It turned out really really great!

Day time was quite hot, easily reaching 30°C, but at night it was freezing that we woke up to get the blanket.

Appi Kogen Golf Club consisted of 4 courses:

1) Iwate-san Course (overlooking Mt. Iwate, looking mysterious surrounded by a ring of cloud)

2) Hachimantai Course

3) Towada Course

4) Ryugamori Course

※1&2 must be accompanied by caddie, while 3&4 is ok w/o caddie

During the week, we were blessed with perfect weather. No rain, a little hot in the midday, but was bearable.

I especially love the Hole 6 of Ryugamori Course, 'cause it's challenging.

The tee up (ladies tee) is right in front of a pond, intimidating but exciting!!!

It's strange how the psychological aspect command oneself ... just because there is a pond right in front of my nose, I got intimidated and lost my swing ... :(

During a week play, I lost only one ball in this hole. The ball plunged right into the pond, earning me a water hazard penalty :(

Isamu scored an

"accidentally"

HOLE-IN-ONE in the Hole 3 of Towada Course.

Lucky fella! :)

Too bad he couldn't replicate the miracle shot

on other days ...

After a whole day of golfing, we were starving and treated ourselves to a BIIIIIGGGG dinner → barbeque!!! yummy!!!

Juicy meat, rich red wine, plenty of veggies ... this is what I call enjoying life :)

The night sky in the Appi highland was really beautiful. The air was cold but clear, full of twinkling stars. Too bad my camera suck, not good enough to take a snapshot of those ★☆★☆★★☆★☆★

Fabulous powder snow of 下倉Shimokura

Shimokura 下倉、Iwate, Japan

For those who love winter sport, Hokkaido of Japan may already sound familiar.

I do agree

that Hokkaido has great powder snow. However, there are many other places in Japan that have fabulous powder snow too.

One of those places is Iwate prefecture in the Northern part of Honshu Island.

I particularly love Shimokura Ski Resort with its relatively steep uncompressed slope (38°) which is covered with fantastically thick powder snow.

This slope is great for training oneself before challenging more extreme slopes which can only be reached by helicopter or other means.

Wedding @ Ice Chapel

Feb.15, 2008

Married di Gereja Es salju (^o^)

-> referensi buat yang ingin merayakan pernikahan di Ice Chapel Jepang

Lokasi: Tomamu-Hokkaido, Japan

Temperatur: -20 derajat selsius. freezing!!

Gaun pengantin: lengan panjang plus mantel hangat dan lembut dengan topi bulu sebagai aksesori pelengkap

Karena Gereja Es hanya bertahan 1 bulan (mid Januari - mid Pebruari, tergantung season-nya), maka wedding ceremony di Gereja Es cukup ketat persaingan-nya.

Wong cuma 1 pasang couple yang bisa married di 1 hari, dan hanya 30 pasang couple yang bisa married di satu season musim dingin itu.

Kan kalau sudah nggak dingin, Gereje Es bakal meleleh, kembali ke salju, kembali jadi air lagi.

Seremoni sih cuma 15 menit, itu saja dingin banget, asap putih keluar dari hidung dan mulut setiap kali bernapas.

Keluarga, teman dan tamu yang menghadiri juga pada tahan dingin, kan bangku di Gereja Es semuanya terbuat dari es juga. Brrrr!!!
Waktu jalan ke Altar dag-dig-dug takut kepeleset :) ... untung mami pegang lenganku kencang so selamat tanpa kepeleset, hehehe ...

Sebagai closing-nya, ada surprise fireworks di luar Gereja Es, bagus deh! Kontras sekali bunga-bunga kembang api di malam musim dingin ..

info tambahan:

Design buat Gereja Es itu berbeda setiap tahun. Di tahun aku married, modelnya agak mirip rumah Eskimo yang bulat, tapi waktu aku berkunjung tahun berikutnya, modelnya lebih mirip ke gereja yang lancip. Lucu juga beda-beda terus :)