▼ The highlight of my trip to Japan in January was skiing in Zao. Our bus set off from Sendai in the morning. About two hours into the bus journey, the snow-capped mountains of Zao emerged in front of the windscreen.
▼巴士進入山中，公路兩旁的松樹都掛上一層白雪。
▼ Into the mountains, our bus moved along a road lined up with snow-enveloped pine trees.
▼藏王滑雪基地，兩名滑雪初學者在等待教練上課。
▼Other learner skiers waiting for teachers at the Zao Ski Base.
▼藏王滑雪場的初級雪道又長又寬，最適合初學者練習。平衡到的話，還可以一邊滑一邊欣賞雪山景色。
▼ Zao Ski Resort is famous for its wide and gentle pistes for beginners. Beginners like me can perfect their skills on safe pistes. If they are not too nervous in keeping balance, they can enjoy enjoy the beautiful scenery as they ski down the slopes.
▼我們每天的午餐都在滑雪基地的餐廳解決。左邊的服務員嬸嬸對我的招待特別好，飯菜加料不在話下，拍照時她還從背後抓住我的手。
▼ We had lunch at the cafeteria at the Ski Base on the three days we skied in Zao. The lady on the left was particularly hospitable to me. Ihe treated me with extra large portions of food. When we took this picture, she was holding my hand behind my back.
▼我們的小小溫泉旅館就在藏王山腳下的小村落。相片是神舍的進口，拾級而上便是神舍。
▼ Our little hotspring hotel is located in a small quiet village at the bottom of the mountains. This is the entrance in front of a long flight of stairs leading to a temple on a small hill.
▼在雪道玩了大半天，下山回旅館休息。
▼ After sweating ourselves out on the pistes, we made our way back to our hotel.
▼晚上旅館的嬸嬸親手為我們預備牛肉火鍋。
▼ The middle-aged lady attendant of our little hotel prepared a beef hotpot at our dinner table for us.
▼旅館門前就是一間古老公共浴場。浴場無人看館，只要把入場費投進小錢廂，便可自由享用。
▼ An old public hotspring bathhouse in front of our hotel. This kind of public bathhouse used to be popular in the village when their houses were not equipped with a proper bathing facilitities. Its use operates under an honour system. The bathhouse is not manned by people. Patrons pop money in the little tinbox at the doorsteps and they help themselves with a nice relaxing hotsrping bath in a large pool.
▼屋簷旁的冰柱。
▼ Icicles hanging from roof edge
▼餅店門外的一株禿樹，偏長滿酒紅色的果實。
▼ Red fruits dot the bare branches of a tree in front of a bakery.
▼為一睹藏王山的標誌物，我們第三天早上坐纜車登上六千尺高的藏王山山峰。
▼ In the morning of our last day in Zao, we took the cable car to the summit of Mount Zao. Mount Zao stands over 6,000 feet. We were determined to see the symbol of Mount Zao at its summit.
▼纜車往上爬，山下的村落在白雪中漸漸消失。
▼ The village at the bottom of the mountain faded out as our cable car was climbing up.
▼經過二十分鐘車程，終於到達山峰。當天刮著大風雪，溫度計顯示氣溫只有零下二十度。我們冒著風雪，走出室外，終於給我們看到藏王山的標誌物 — 樹冰。從日本海吹過來濕濕的雪粒，一層一層的把整株樹包裹起來，造成不同形態怪獸模樣的樹冰。
▼ After 20 minutes of cable car journey, we reached the summit of Mount Zao. We braved the -20 C temperature to walk into the snow storm to see the symbol of Mount Zao – “ice monsters”. These monsters are formed when wet snow from Sea of Japan glues itself onto the fir trees. Repeating snow coating in winter transforms the trees into various forms of monsters.
