Hokkaido'17 - 27 Dec 17

登別

Finally went to 伊達時代村 , the buildings are really cool! The shows are quite funny. Went to try the shuriken throwing afterwards but my hands were so frozen that they didn't obey my commands. So yea I didn't hit even one zzz

Yea ok well, this place was really the highlight of the day and couldn't really put much writings about this place here, will just have to wait for the trip video to be out. The only thing that I was quite amazed was the Ninja Maze. There is this room that was slanted by some degrees. I know full well that the room was made to look slanted and there was no mechanism or whatsoever that forces the people in the room to fall towards the lower part of the room, yet somehow once I was inside, I couldn't help but feel like I was going to fall and roll down. I suspected that it was the slanted room playing tricks on our visual. Our brains just can't perceive it right. Because we are so used to see a door being rectangular and the sides are either parallel or perpendicular to the ground, once the door is being put such that the perpendicular sides make an angle to the ground, our brains perceive that our bodies are slanted and want to correct back our postures. So unconsciously we will try to adjust our bodies back such that the door will be in the "right" position again, causing us to feel like falling. Once I tried to walk inside the room with my eyes shut, the feeling that I kept wanting to fall disappeared. Cool shit really.

 I guess I have been out for too long so I didn't really feel like wandering around much. So after this place, the next in my list is .. none. Yep I was gonna go back to my lodging.

Oh I guess.. BYE HOKKAIDO :'(

last meal in Hokkaido :'(

Hokkaido'17 - 26 Dec 17

登別

I honestly dk what's wrong with the weather, wind started blowing real strong since yesterday and it was still the same even after I arrived at Noboribetsu .. halp!

Due to the strong wind, I couldn't visit the クマ牧場 (bear farm) bec apparently ropeway is the only way to go up to the farm :/ so I had to settle for my next destination - 地獄谷! To my surprise, the few destinations of lesser priorities were also in the vicinity and they were all actually linked by mountain trails. So yayyy, mountain trails leggo! Really loved this, just like when I was back in Taiwan/ALP when my group of friends loved to trek in this kind of nature!

地獄谷

日和山

大湯沼

鬼

地獄谷 (smelt of sulphur), 日和山 (so this mountain is made of the lava that was erupted from underground cool! Still can see the smoke coming from the tip), 大湯沼, 奥の湯.. and 鬼! Seems like this place is famous for its Oni! 湯鬼神。and wrong season again but I think in other season they have quite a few 祭り surrounding these Oni.

Bec this is such a small town, it doesn't seem to have much to do after 3pm, so I decided to go back to my Airbnb lodging (besides, I was alr freezing from the mountain area and the strong wind. My bottle of water got frozen from my trip around the mountain!) Looking forward to tmr's trip to 伊達時代村!

Hokkaido'17 - 25 Dec 17

洞爺湖

Merry Christmas!

Not much for me to do today because idk what's wrong with the weather, crazy strong wind has been blowing since last night. It's strong to the point that just a tad bit stronger and it could literally blow me away! Interestingly, the wind didn't seem to just blow from one direction by rather it kept changing directions constantly, looking at how the snow fell.

I guess no go to go up to Mt Usu today then, I don't want to get blown off the mountain haha. Anyway when I went to the bus terminal I saw the sign saying that Mt Usu Ropeway is closed. I wonder it was closed because of the weather or bec it's winter (I mean a lot of things were closed during winter so I won't be surprised).

Mt. Usu was my only plan today ... So .. I'll just go back to my Ryokan and chill for the day. What a chill Xmas. Then it started snowing again in the afternoon yayyy

spent some time in this chill cafe in the afternoon to spend my Christmas

Hokkaido'17 - 24 Dec 17

洞爺湖

Took a cruise around Lake Toya. The scenery was nice, but it was rather similar to other lakeside scenery. What was refreshing was the flock of seagulls that flew side by side with us (bec tourists fed them food). It was really quite cool tho, this trip to Hokkaido not only get to see penguins real close, got to see seagulls so close as well!

Next on the list was the volcano. Went to the volcano science museum, paid 600yen to listen to some documentary about the eruption Mt Usu had in 1977(?) which the eruption went as high as 12000m, even higher than the height that any airplanes normally fly (10000m). And the previous one was in 2000.

I planned to take the trails to the volcanoes but all trails closed during winter :( But luckily still get to go up to this observatory platform for Konpira volcano.

The inside of the volcano is probably frozen haha but I think this volcano is not dead.

nice view side by side hehe

The "observatory" isn't some kind of building, it was another hill/mountain right next to the volcano and on a bit of a higher ground. So on the way down, gotta be really really careful to choose path with snow. It provides more friction as compared to the path that was already cleared by cars that drove up to the observatory platform bec rather than give you a clear path, the path was covered with a layer of melted snow, in other words, ice. You could literally slide all the way downhill. It happened to me for a short 1 m before I could stop myself. 

Today was Christmas Eve, but nothing much seemed to be happening in this small town. Was expecting something interesting but guess I saw wrongly on some brochure :( guess it's still best to go to the cities during such festivals. But on the other hand tho, this is gonna be a chill and peaceful white Christmas for me, except that this was probably the first time since the trip started that I wished I'm with someone haha oh well

Hokkaido'17 - 23 Dec 17

札幌

Today was a warm day, it was drizzling (yes not snowing but drizzling). The floor was wet and slippery with ice. Hated it ..

Visited 円山公園 for a while and found out that the real Hokkaido Shrine was inside.

So what was that shrine that I visited on my second day in 札幌?

洞爺湖

Off to Toya, but by the time I reached there the sky was already turning dark. and anyway there seemed to be nothing much to do so I just stayed in the ryokan after grabbing a bite from a nearby restaurant.

The 大和旅館 that I was staying in, not bad, Japanese style room and yuukata! 

But the onsen/public bathroom was a bit disappointing. Expected it to be .. nicer? And bec of the colour of the floor/tiles perhaps due to the mineral from the onsen, it didn't give off a feeling that it's clean so regardless of whether it is clean anot it just made me not feel like dipping in for long :(

Sadded..

Hokkaido'17 - 22 Dec 17

札幌

Snowboarding day! Went up to Kokusai Ski Resort to snowboard instead of ski because skiing is too mainstream hahaha. Well, of the hours there, I went from totally cannot snowboard to manage to travel a considerable distance for beginners, I think not too bad la, given that I didn't get a coach and I was learning by myself haha.

Still suck at stopping and turning (especially the ones require leaning forward) tho. And I had quite a few rather bad falls haha just like the ones in cartoon where the characters just suddenly fall down and the shoes flying. My shoes didn't fly but imagine I went from standing upright to lying flat (back facing the sky) on the ground in less than a second HAHA. Really had fun bec I was learning something new, but I would have stayed longer or enjoyed more if I went with friends haha so next time! Video gotta wait for me to edit my trip video.

Went to 豊平峡温泉 afterwards, tried the Indian curry recommended by my host Totsumo-san. I don't usually eat Indian curry, but this one was really good! I liked it!

Then it's onsen time! Outdoor onsen some more! I called it "being legally naked outdoor" HAHA ! TOO BAD that it wasn't snowing when I was in the onsen :( it was quite an interesting experience tho, with half your body feeling warm from the onsen and the other half (if you want) feeling the chilly air; it was an interesting sight too, when you see the steam forming from the onsen while at the same time seeing the white snow surrounding you, if it was snowing it would be even more beautiful! Too bad can't take photos of this bec yknow .. you go totally naked in the onsen so ... Good thing that it wasn't too crowded. In fact when I went in there was only another guy inside and the onsen is big enough that I can go to the other corner to enjoy the place by myself!

Went to this place that serves good Oysters as recommended by Trip Advisor. I didn't imagine it to be such a small shop! 

 but nonetheless the oysters damn cheap, I bought 10 for only 1050yen!

Hokkaido'17 - 21 Dec 17

小樽

The first thing I reached 小樽 was to visit the aquarium. Quite awesome la the place, get to see really exotic sea creatures. Best thing is not a lot of people so I quite enjoyed my trip there and gotta took my own sweet time to look around.

For the first time too I got to watch this show by dolphins and seals. Really cool! I wonder how they trained them. Finally seeing dolphins in real life YASSS! 

Then there was this one section in the aquarium that's open for visitors to touch the sea creatures. I only dared to touch the octopus and starfish (fingertip haha), too humchi to touch the rest haha. Octopus feels really smooth and soft, starfish feels rough like a rock. There is also another creature that look like penis ..

search Korean sea penis

小樽 is a nice port town, I was looking forward to the sea view! But by the time I got out of the aquarium, there was a snowstorm (kinda) so there goes my seaview :( and the snow just got heavier throughout the whole day. Managed to take only a pic..

Nothing much to do there except to walk along the shopping street. Very famous for their venitian arts especially glass. Oh didn't take any pic. Almost 75% of the shops sell glasses in many forms, like pens, earrings, etc. Oh with the arts and canal there, the place does look a lil bit like Venice, just a tiny bit, except that the town is on land.

Visited the famous music box hall and the canal.

The canal didn't light up as much as I imagined it to be, again I guess it's the wrong time of the season :(

Finally got to try some sushi! Lunch was rather disappointing, but dinner (回転寿司) at 和楽 was quite good! 

Hokkaido'17 - 20 Dec 17

旭川

I wanted to wake up early to visit 常盤公園 (the shrine that I visited the night two days ago) again to see how it looks like in the day. But meh too tired to wake up. So I went back to Sapporo directly instead.

札幌

It was snowing in Sapporo, but the floor was wet, just as if it rained, except that it was snow falling from the sky. I didn't like it. I prefer 旭川, even though it snows more often and possibly heavier, it is drier than 札幌 so I could actually enjoy more to be walking around on the street.

I detoured to Hokkaido government office building, it looks magnificent! Glad that I took a detour there! And somehow the place just give a lot of feels that Christmas is cominggggg!

Didn't really do much today. Was initially planning to visit 藻岩山 before sunset so that I can see 札幌市 both during the day and night. But to do that my plan would be screwed up so forget it, I'll just visit it at night. So I had almost the whole afternoon free! I was just hanging around trying to visit the botanic garden but it's actually nothing much. The clock tower  was also nothing much. So I guess the only places in my plan today would be just the government office building and 藻岩山.

Took the ropeway on to 藻岩山.. hmmm in some sense I mean it's pretty but ... 

I would still prefer what I saw the other time when I was on the plane flying over Shanghai. It doesn't fill up the whole landscape with lights like the one in the pic, but rather trails of light making out the silhouette of the city and the highways, while leaving the other territories dark. It looks more like galaxy/milky way/stars than filling up every single spot with lights. I appreciate more of that than this. I still don't like china tho, nothing changes. 

Anyway, just a random note: the best time to go Hokkaido should be some time around Feb probably.

Hokkaido'17 - 19 Dec 17

旭川

No sunlight today, couldn't see my diamond dust. Well, this has always been my kind of luck ..

Took the train to 東旭川駅 because the train didn't go from there to 北日ノ出駅, which was supposed to be nearer to the zoo. Apparently there was a direct bus from the 旭川駅 also, but oh well I wanted to take a walk so I decided to take train instead. So end up IC card couldn't be used for this train again zz. Why did I top up so much cash. Luckily I only topped up 5000yen, initially wanted to top up 10000yen phew.

I walked from 東旭川駅 alllll the way to the zoo, which took me almost an hour +? I love it because of the snow, the weather and the scenery. It was a bit far, but I like to walk as long as I know that if something happens I won't die out there without being discovered. And because I'm on solo trip, so I get to take a bit of detour here and there without having to care about another person!

Took a short detour to 日ノ出公園. A bit disappointed because it looks smaller than I imagined. And perhaps it's the wrong season (ok I know that it's the most beautiful during other seasons like spring or autumn, but I didn't expect it to be deserted), there was no one there and the snow was at knee's height! So cool! I yolo walked to the nearby sheltered bench where there was less/shallower snow. Oh my, look at the icy spike!

Ok time to head towards the zoo. Uh oh, I'm stuck ... 

Finally reached the zoo after a million year! This zoo is really cool! Unlike other zoos that I've been to where we usually look at the animals from afar. I get to see them real close and there are a lot of animals that we don't get to see in SEA!

It's a snow owl! Hi Hedwig!

And some of the animals are humongous! Oh and I found my spirited animal hehehe they are so cool! 

I love it here bec I get to see some of the animals real close, and more importantly, there were a lot less people! I mean there was a crowd but not to the point that you have to squeeze with other people. In fact, I had some time with the animal by myself! I think it's the season, or just the weather haha it started snowing quite heavily after a while and it dragged on for about 3+ hours (still braved the snow to see the animals ofc). AND because of that I didn't get to see my Japanese crane sobz which I was really eager to see because I decided to not go to the east of Hokkaido .. :( didn't know that we can't see crane during snowy days.

Supposedly I could take a direct bus back to 旭川駅 from the zoo entrance. But I wanted to have a look at a nearby temple/shrine so I was walking back again. 

Very nice scenery hehe. 

I walked all the way back to where I started, 東旭川駅. And guess what, due to my foolishness I took the wrong train and ended up in 北日ノ出駅. Such an ulu place with very little lights around. Scary, but hehe adventurous. Btw 北日ノ出駅 is nearer to the zoo than 東旭川駅. Which means that I walked for one hour to the station just to get back to the same place again .. zzz

Visited the ramen village located at 南永山駅. The ramen village was actually just a small building with all the ramen shops. Hmmm. It's location is slightly different from what I imagined, again. And the ramen isn't all too great. But maybe it's the shop that I went into. But still, not impressed haha. Haven't really tried really good food yet tho hmmm but honestly I didn't plan food as part the things that I wanna try in Hokkaido. The only thing I can look forward to is what XunYu shared with me, which is gonna be in 小樽 which I will be visiting two days later.

Pretty tired and decided to just go back and rest. Trust me, walking on snow is no joke, it's damn tiring!