Hokkaido – Akan to Tokyo – (Day 9)

Today is our last day in Hokkaido before flying to Tokyo and eventually back to Singapore. There is nothing much along the way from Akan to Memanbetsu Airport so we are able to wake up a bit later, enjoy our Onsen and then breafast.

Breakfast at the hotel is good, with a wider spread of food as compared to the breakfast buffets at other hotels. As we still have some time to spare before the airport check in timing, we are able to walk around the lake and town and see their beauty in broad daylight.

This lake is prettier than Lake Abashiri.  However it is also more commercialized and thus more crowded. There is also a town built around the lake unlike Abashiri where the town is a good 2 to 3 km away.  We spotted several ducks feed fishes by the lake side but unfortunately, I was not fast enough the capture the scene.  However, I am already rather happy with the view of the lake I captured.  This picture was taken from the window of my room.

This is a view of Hotel Hannayuka from the opposite side of the lake.

Other than this hotel, there are also several hotels built around the lake side, offering splendid views of this beautiful lake – lake Akan.  Thus, for those who wants to visit this place, accommodation should not be a problem as long as you are willing to pay.

Not long after, we are on our way to the domestic airport – Memanbetsu Airport to take a plane to Toyko.  The journey took us 1 hour plus through Bihoro. For people taking the same route, I would advice to give a little bit of allowance for this trip for the air port is some distance away from AKan.

Thanks to Prime travels for making the arrangement to return the car at Mamanbetsu.  The extra $100 plus charges is worth it as the car took us to places we would never have the chance to visit on tour buses.

My parting shot is a shot at Memabetsu town form the window of the plane.  🙂

I will not be blogging about my stay in Tokyo Shinjuku.  But I just want to mention that I got a realtively cheap accomodation at Hotel Sunlite Shinjuku. The rooms although small, but are already relatively bigger compared to the other hotels in Tokyo area. The hotle is also located very convinently within 15 minutes walk from the Tokyo Shinjuku JR station. All in all a value for money hotel.. 🙂

Ok .. That is it … My 9 days in Hokkaido …:)

Hope you had enjoyed reading as I had enjoyed the trip. 🙂

Hokkaido – Abashiri to Akan – (Day 8)

Breakfast as not too bad …. but not as sumptuous as dinner. Think Japanese like to start their day simple.

Anyway after a hot spring bath and breakfast, we took a quick walk around the area taking photos of the hotel and the lake.  Time is of the essence today as we plan to cover a very big loop, to travel along the coast all the way up to Shiretoko (near the North eastern tip) and then back down to Akan. Distance to be covered is going to be in terms of hundreds of km… so it is best to set off early. And did I mention? Today will we be on a nature trail. But first, lest do the wonderful hotel Abashirikoso some justice .. here is a photo of the hotel in brought day light .. as you can see .. it sits by the Abshiri lake (here is a pic of the lake totally covered with snow) … a perfect resort for people who want to rest and relax by the lake with no worries .. (at least for that few days).

After refueling the car back to full tank, we head back north and drove along the coast way.  We basically took to the highway 244 and 334. After what seems like eternity, we arrived at our first destination.  Oshinkoshin Falls.(another site)

If you think the waterfalls I had seen for the past few days are magnificent, wait till you see this one …. You would be speechless.This is rated one of Japan’s top 100 water falls.  This water fall is just by the coast and the water cascades down a rocky surface approximately 4 to 5 stories high. The water branches into 2 distinct falls half way down and is also called “forked beautiful fall”.  The interesting thing about this beautiful is that there is no plunge pool and you can get really close to the waters if you do not mind getting a little wet. After traveling down the rocky surface, the water cascades elegantly into the big ocean. My pics actually do not do the falls justice. Some one posted a You Tube video of this fall and you can access it here.

After leaving the beautiful fall behind, we made our way to Shiretoko, (another wiki site) which is at the north eastern part of Hokkaido.  It is a land of natural beauty unspoiled by commercialisation and carefully preserved natural habitat for many animals, like the brown bear, the red tail fox, the sika deer and many others. The area has been identified as one of the world heritage site by UNESCO.  As you can see from my pictures, the efforts that are taken to preserve this ecosystem.  The roads leading in to the national park will only be opened from 9am to 430pm, so that the animals within the national park will not be disturbed. In order for us not to be trapped within the nature reserve, we have to move fast.

Our first stop in Shiretoko is naturally its 5 lakes. This website will show you the flora and fauna that can be found within the 5 lakes. For people visiting this place, you can either drive here yourself or take a public bus.  For drivers, you have to pay for your parking and enterance fee.

We viewed the area from afar on top of a viewing gallary built like a broad walk that stretches into the marshes. There we could only see the first lake and the surround area. Not feeling satisfied, we decided to take a nature hike to view the various lakes up close. The hike is about 3 to 4 km long by foot and would generally take 2 hours to complete. The walk was totally worth it. The scenery at each lake is very different but equally mesmerizing. It is here that I get the feeling spring had arrived.  We bumbed into one or two wild deers during our track… but luckily no brown bears.. piew. Oh yea .. if you plan to come to this place in spring, you might want to wait till late May as some parts of the nature reserved is closed as the ice on the walking trail had not melted.

As the journey is long, we decide to forgo taking solid food for lunch, surviving on packed biscuits and water.  Anyway .. the winding mountain road takes my appetite away and even induces me to vomit a few time.  Luckily along the way, the various wildlife that we saw, took away my compulsion to puke my guts out. We saw numerous deers along the way and were lucky enough to spot 2 foxes. The other fox had a prey in its mouth and was moving swiftly into cover when we spotted it. It was too late to take out my camera to take the shot.

After visiting the 5 lakes, we back tracked a bit into the mountain pass, called the Shiretoko Pass.  This pass is at 750m above sea level and connects the eastern shore and the western bay of the Shiretoko peninsula. What can I say, it is another breath taking view up here.  But because the pass is at a higher altitude, snow area this area had not fully melted either. In fact, most of the snow had not melted and it was mentioned in one of the guide books that snow in this area can even be seen as late as July. So like 2 city kids who had never seen snow, we made several stops along the way to have a battle of snow ball. 🙂 It was freezing … but fun.

Finally we reached the mountain pass and we were no disappointed by the view…. if the strong and cold winds do not kill us first. 🙂

The original plan was to go through the pass and arrive at the other side of the coastal road.  However we were rather concerned about the time taken for such a long journey and so we back tracked back to highway 334 to cut across the route to Sunayu.  Along the way, we stopped at Furepe falls.

Furepe falls (another site) lie deep within the forest. Between the carpark and the fall itself, we had to cover 3km of forest track. We were on the look out for bears… but fortunatlely did not spot any.  Perhaps we went too early in Spring, the ice from the mountains had not melted and there was no water fall but a sheer cliff. You can view the splendor of the fall from this You Tube video.

Sadly, we made our way back to our car and continue with the journey.  The rest of the journey was uneventful. We eventually reached Sunayu at around 4pm in the afternoon.  The sky suddenly turned dark and before you know it … it was raining cats and dogs … and of course .. the temperature dropped another few notches south.  Undaunted, we still make our way out of the car, carrying our umbrella to experience the hot bath of Sunayu.

Sunayu is actually a hot spring onsen (hot bath) by the bay of Lake Kussharo.  The sand along the bay is jet black and after you dig a hole into the ground, hot water automatically rises to the surface. The amazing thing is that although the bay contains hot underground water, the lake is actually ice cold.  We warm our feet by digging into the sand.  It is a pity that it was raining that day, if not I would have dug a big hole to soak my whole body in ..

Hee hee … as you can see … we are not the only crazy ones, visiting the hot spring in this kinda weather…The rain shows no sign of stopping and with the dark clouds .. the sky is becoming dark fasted than usual. We quickly departed from this place to our final destination Hotel Hanayuuka at Lake Akan. As you can see .. the journey is not easy at all.  The road is winding and mountainous and because of the humidity and cold tempreture, mist started forming. Yep it is a pretty distressing picture…. darkening sky, poor visibility and terrible road… The mist actually came in very fast.  Within a few minutes, visibility detoriated to only just a few meters ahead. We dare not even to stop for a second to take a picture of the beautiful sunset. I could only take pot shots in the car with my wife driving.

By the time we reached the hotel … it was quiet quiet dark … we proceeded straight for dinner as we were absoultly hungry!  Like Abashirikoso, Hotel Hannayuka sits on the bank of Lake Akan. As it was already dark, we could not see the lake properly.  We could only explore the lake tomorrow morning.

Dinner is not as sumptous as the previous two nights, however it does have variety.  It is a hot pot / steam boat (called nabe) meal with a buffet spread.  Not too shabby .. but cannot compared to the previous two nights … oh well.

After dinner it is time to walk around town before taking a hot bath and calling it a night.  Remember what I said about all towns around hot spring resorts look the same? This place just reminds me of Noburibetsu.

I took quiet a few photos today… you can find them separately at site 1 and site 2.