Hokkaido – Chitose to Noboribetsu (Day 1)

This post (and probably the next few) will be dedicated to my holiday trip. The northen tip of the land of the rising sun… Words would fail to describe the scenery (so I guess I would let my photos do most of the talking. We signed up with Prime Travels Pte Ltd for their Hokkaido Fly and Drive package.  The trip was from 7 May to 18 May.  Spring time, where the ice on the road just melted and the flowers started blooming. The air is sweet and crisp.  What is only lacking is the chirping of birds … come to think of it, I do not recall seeing any birds there .. except only for occasional seagulls as I drove along the coast line.  I guess birds are not that active yet …  We were warned that the bears are active though, however, .. fortunately or unfortunately me and my wife did not encounter any grizzly / yogi/ brown bear. The first day was spent on the planes.  The transfer took 2 to 3 hours and by the time we reached Chitose airport, it was already dark and there was nothing else to do except retire and sleep. Thankfully the hotel (New Chitose Hotel) is just next to the airport.  On the first night, we were issued with a cash card for the car (for paying toll charges, a system similar to our ERP) and a local hand set to call our tour guides for help / msg our tour mates as and when we stumble upon any nice eating place or place of scenic beauty.  And well the night was spent fiddling with the hand set… I tell you .. the Jap phone is so much better than the ones in Singapore … the screen is bigger and brighter and so much clearer.  Here is a shot of my wife charging and fiddling with the phone, the hotel room and the view outside the hotel window .. not too shabby eh?

Day 2: rise and shine … after a buffet breakfast provided by the hotel, we were given a short briefing on how to use the GPS on the car, reminded to keep within the speed limit and we are off.  It was rather hectic at first but all turned out well.  WE made our way to the factory outlet first … Well … we are true blue singaporeans what … shopping comes first .. ( actually no lar … the way we plan our trip, we would not come back to Chitose any more … so this is our only chance to visit this outlet)

Shopping….

Next we drove off to our first location on our initary.  Lake Shikotsu This is part of Shikotsu-Toya National Park. Scenic and big park (too bad the parking was not free) And we are in time to catch some flowers in bloom too !

Stop over for lunch at a rest station called the Mushroom Kingdom for a piping hot bowl of soba with Mushroom tempura and we rushed off to our next destination call the sangaidaki (or 3 level waterfall: exact translation).

After enjoying the waterfall and resting for a while, we headed to our next destination, a free public foot hotbath called the Shirakiku no toko falls.  It is outside a hotspring hotel/resort. Do not be fooled by the pics .. the water is really piping hot … can cook my leg ! You can see how red my leg is after the soak !

After cooking our legs .. it is time to head back to our hotel … the drive is some distance away and we need to take frequent rest stops and toilet breaks … and surprise surprise .. we saw unmelted snow (a bit dirty though) along the way … with the temperature around 20 degrees and the searing sun hitting on your face, you would have though the snow melted but no … snow there was … and this is not the only time we saw snow either !  By the time we reach the town of Noboribetsu, it was almost dark .. the temperature plummeted to around 10 plus degrees. Trust me .. when the wind blows .. it was really cold. The town was small and quiet .. a typical town that sprang up around hot spring resorts. Went for a full body soak at hotel Mahoroba ( another website) before dinner and went out to explore the town abit .. (sorry guys.. no pics of the hot baths!!)  The hotel is a hot spring resort and has various pools for you to totally cook your self.  There are pools where sulfur content is higher, acidic pool, therapeutic bubble bath, cold water, etc.  Have fun hopping form one pool to another .. but remember to wash off the pool water from each bath first to avoid contanimating the next bath pool.

All photos had been scaled down to save space… the rest of the photos can be views here.