Hokkaido's Ice-breaking cruise

An exciting part of our Hokkaido winter vacation was taking an ice-breaker cruise along the Sea of Okhotsk.  There are two ice-breaker cruisers in Hokkaido:

-  “Aurora” at Abashiri
-  “Garinko II” at Monbetsu.

We boarded the Garinko II at Monbetsu.  There are observation decks on the cruiser for you to view hull smashing through the blocks of ice. Ice-breaker cruises are available from the end of January to the beginning of March, although the season varies from year to year depending on the weather. 

The seals give birth and raise their young in Okhotsk.

I'm wearing a few layers of clothings! Gosh, it was freezing outside!

Flo & me in front of the cruiser.

Monbetsu is famous for drift ice, a yearly phenomenon which reaches the city every January or February from the northern Sea of Okhotsk.  It is noted that Monbetsu does not have passenger rail service. There are buses to Sapporo and Asahikawa, as well as a daily flight to Tokyo from Monbetsu Airport.

Winter Wonderland - Hokkaido



Fell in love with Hokkaido when I first visited it with Janice & Florence in Feb 2008. It was snowing heavily and it was my first experience with winter wonderland. I was quite apprehensive before the trip - was worried about the extreme weather and whether we would be able to withstand it.

Super snowy holiday !!

From Singapore, we flew to Tokyo Narita Airport on ANA - a comfortable and smooth flight.  Upon arrival at Narita, we were met by our guide - Steven Yap, a Singaporean who speaks fluent Japanese and Mandarin.   He is very knowledgeable and friendly. 

At Narita, we had to check-in our luggages again to connect the next ANA flight to Sapporo, Hokkaido. We had a quick meal at the domestic airport before our flight as we were quite hungry.  No meal was served on board this short haul flight.  By the time we arrive in Sapparo, the sky was all dark although it was only 5pm.



Jigokudani Hell Valley



Early morning after breakfast, we took a leisurely drive to Noboribetsu (登別) where we find the famous Jigokudani, also known as the Hell Valley.  We walked through the sulphurous valley to see boiling ponds and steaming streams.  The snow on the ground were thick and we had to walk slowly and carefully to avoid falling down on our butts.

Jigokudani Hell Valley - photo taken using a Canon Ixus 400 camera


Next, we made our way to Shiraoi Ainu Village to catch an insight of the lives of the aborigines of Hokkaido through their houses, embroideries and weavings.


Fishes are left to dry in the sun/snow.



A river runs through the Village.

Performance by the Ainu people - Dance to thank the gods for their harvest.

Throughout the trip, we had delicious meals - all arranged by Steven.  It was superb.

Fresh scallops which can be added to your steamboat lunch for a price.

The ingredients for our steamboat lunch.  Lots of vegetables and two Hokkaido crabs.

Our delicious dinner at the hotel in Lake Toya.  Our dinner consisting of crab, pot of hot soup with scallops, sashimi, fried tempura & vege. Dessert is a crunchy apple

Lake Toya

Lake Toya is the 3rd biggest caldera lake in Japan, about 42 km around, with 4 pretty islands in, the habitat of many kinds of birds, Hokkaido deer and so on. To its south we find active volcano, Mt. Usu and another impressive Mt. Showa.


To its west, we can enjoy the view of Mt. Yotei, nicknamed Mt. Fuji of Hokkaido.  Around this lake is Lake Toya hot spring resort, popular among the people for the beautiful landscape, good hot spring, excellent food, for they can produce good rice, vegetables, beans, fruits, and dairy products here besides the tasty seafood from the Toyoura bay on the Pacific Ocean.

Mt Showa (above) is an interesting landform that was raised from a farmland after two years of volcanic activities.

Florence, at Toya Snow World, posing with the snow mobiles on the white mountainside. We are in fact, at the mid-way point of our 1 hour snow mobile ride. It was freezing cold and snowing heavily, riding against the icy wind and falling snow.

During our trip, we visited Asahikawa - the coldest city in Japan, holding Japan's temperature record of -41°C. It's not that bad most of the time though, and the good side to cold and snow is that there's some great skiing nearby.

We arrived at the famous Hokkaido Ramen Village where the entire place is dominated by ramen stalls. We got to taste the famous Hokkaido Ramen.

 Janice & Flo tucking into their delicious Stewed Pork Ramen.

We had a stop at the Kita Kitsbe Fox Village to see the famous Hokkaido fox, which was well-known for its fur.

(Above) The famous Hokkaido fox

We journeyed to Sounkyo Gorge, situated at the foot of Mt Daisetsu-zan National Park. This gorge consists of many cliffs, 100 metres tall.   Sounkyo Gorge has many waterfalls Ryusei-no-taki Falls (Shooting Star Falls) and Ginga-no-taki Falls (Milky Way Falls).

Sounkyo Gorge - falling now and it's freezing here !!!  It's not even 5pm!!

Below are photos taken at 4.30am from my hotel room window in Asahikawa.  The girls were fast asleep.  The whole place was covered with snow.  It's so beautiful and peaceful outside ! 



The cars at the hotel's carpark were covered with snow!

Birthday Lunch

31 Oct 2011

A group of us celebrated both Sharon and Jenny's birthday at Ajisen Ramen at Vivocity recently.  Here are the photos ...

The radient birthday babes .. Jenny & Sharon

These were what we had for lunch:

Crayfish Ramen

Side dishes - White Fish & Ebi

Side dish - California Maki

Side dish - Fried Toufu

Volcano Ramen .. real spicy !!

Japan - Oct 2006

Setting sun at Tokyo Disneyland / Disneysea.

Was my first real trip to Japan (excluding all those stopovers that I used to do while flying to USA).  This trip, I visited several cities ~ Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Ibuski, Kagoshima, etc.


It was a tiring trip. Morning call was 6.30 am every morning but I woke up half hour earlier (ie. 5am spore time = 6am Japan time). Breakfast at 7am, bus leaves at 8am. Gosh .. was quite a busy ride.

Hotel Nikko at Tokyo Bay

We stayed in some nice hotels whilst the others weren't that fantastic. We even had a toilet (in Osaka hotel) that is like a space capsule ...  because we had to climb up to get into the bathroom. The toilet base is at our knee level. It's quite a feat to climb into the bathtub to take a shower.  Simply unbelievable..!

We told ourselves to lower our expectations after Day One. Because on Day One, we stayed in a very nice hotel facing Tokyo Bay - the Hotel Nikko. It has a fantastic view of Tokyo Bay at night. The shopping centres and Nikko Hotel are linked by the "rooftop" .. so we don't even have to go to the road level to go from one building to another.

Kumamoto Castle

We took some rides in Disney Sea and Universal Studio. As the sun sets at 5pm, many places and shops are closed early. We didn't do much shopping, due to the early closing time.

Most memorable experience?  It's the Hot Sand Bath at Ibuski.  It was simply fantastic .. and I just love it.  We had to put on a yukata and then go out to the beach.  Each person just lay down on the freshly dug sand pit and then the guy will just use a big spade and buried you in hot sand from your toes up to your neck.  Just lay there for ten minutes and you feel yourself 'roasting' like a 'turkey' in a hot oven. Heeheee .. it's a wonderful feeling.

After you get up, just head back to the bathroom and get a cold shower and then 'jump into' the clear cool spring water for a nice soak.  :)

Kagoshima

My thoughts on travelling.......

Going away on vacation is always my first love but I must confess that I hate the long aeroplane rides. The air-pressure on the plane always "kill" my appetite! For long flights, I survive on only water and fruits.

Sometimes, I wish there was some kind of travel machine that I can use to travel from country to country in a matter of minutes. Hopefully someone will invent that machine really soon!

To me, the best part about going away on vacation is normally the period before the trip. This is where time will be spent pouring over the brochures, planning the day-to-day itinerary, doing research on the places of interests, studying & reading the maps and also packing my luggage(s).

That always give me a sense of satisfaction for a job well-done! It certainly makes my whole trip a more enjoyable and interesting one !!

I am back from Japan

I'm back from my vacation in Japan.  Visited several cities ~ Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Fukuoka, Kumamoto, Ibuski, Kagoshima, etc.

It was a tiring trip.  Morning call was 6.30 am everymorning but I woke up half hour earlier (ie. 5am spore time = 6am japan time).  Breakfast at 7am, bus leaves at 8am. Gosh .. was quite a busy ride.

We stayed in some nice hotels while the other wasn't that fantastic.  We even had a toilet (in Osaka hotel) that is like a space capsule.. because we had to climb up to get into the bathroom.  The toilet base is at our knee level.  It's quite a feat to get into the bathtub to take a shower.  Unbelievable..!

We told ourselves to lower our expectations after day 1.  Becos' at day 1 we stayed in a very nice hotel facing Tokyo Bay - the Hotel Nikko.  It has a wonderful view of Tokyo Bay at night.  The shopping centres and Nikko Hotel are linked by the "rooftop" .. so we don't even have to go to the road level to go from one building to another.
 

We took some rides in Disney Sea and Universal Studio.  As the sun sets at 5pm, many places and shops are closed early.  We didn't do much shopping, due to the early closing time.
 

Taken over 500 photographs, some are not that fantastic.  My Canon Ixus was giving me some problems while "shutting down".  The lens jammed when I turned the camera off.  Luckily it still worked or else.... !  It's due to the dust/sand/grid that has lodge between the lens barrel.