Hokkaido Trip Day 5: From Asahikawa to Niseko Kutchan（俱知安）

The next few days were pretty exciting to us as we were leaving Asahikawa and heading to Niseko for our skiing experience! I woke up early to visit the onsen as we had missed it the previous night. Although photography is not allowed in onsen, it is empty and I was dying to show off how beautiful this place is, so I quickly snapped a few pictures.

Row of washing area where we can sit and dry our hair

Locker  area where we keep our clothes while bathing

Slipper rack to place our slippers once in the onsen

The main onsen area

The journey was rather long, so we had to make sure that we wake up early enough to catch the train at 8.55am and not miss the train. We managed to grab breakfast (just getting the croissant and not the drinks) before running up the platform to catch the first train heading back to Sapporo. This is the first day we're activating the 7days Hokkaido Rail Pass and I was really glad that all the reserved seats were booked. The Limited Express Super Kamui had very comfortable seats and initially we were sitting apart with the aisle between us. The nice lady next to P saw this and she offered to change her seat with me, so sweet of her! I really love the Japanese who are so considerate in everything they do! The weather was so much warmer when we reached Sapporo, we did not feel that cold after getting there from the freezing Asahikawa. We arrived with 20min buffer time for the next train heading to Otaru so we waited for sometime on the platform. I saw some vending machines on the platform but they were all selling cold drinks and not hot drinks for this cold weather. Some people mentioned buying train bento sets (ekiben) but I didnt really see them at Hokkaido JR stations, I'm really glad that we managed to grab something to eat earlier as we're going to totally miss breakfast and will only reach Kutchan at 1pm+.

Selfie for the day

The snowy landscape that I'll always miss in Hokkaido

Waiting for train at Sapporo Station

Somehow it always confusing where to stand and queue up for the different trains

The next rapid train to Otaru is our ride

After another 30min ride to Otaru, we got a bit tired after transferring and waiting for train two times, so when the next local train heading to our destination came, we were really resting and dozing off, luckily there were plenty of seats after a few stops as we could not get reserved seats for local train rides. As the train sped along the countryside, we saw that there were more snow coverage on each side of the tracks, and even the elderly sitting opposite us were quite excited and kept peering out of the windows. The local train had quite a number of tourists with big luggages so I assume they are all heading to Niseko for skiing. The local train stopped at Kutchan, Hirafu and Niseko stations but Kutchan is nearest to Hirafu area where we'll be staying so we alighted there. It looked quite covered with snow and we took sometime taking photographs around the place. There were only stairs leading to the exit of the station so P had to struggle with my 20kg+ luggage carrying them up and down the stairs (opps!)

Finally at Kutchan

When we left the train station, we saw a Donan bus leaving from the bus stop outside. I forgot that Donan bus timing is usually synchronised with the train timing so taking our own sweet time earlier caused us to miss the bus. There was a taxi waiting room opposite the bus stop, so we crossed the street and try to get a taxi to bring us to Hirafu instead. From what I had researched online, it will cost about 26000Y, which is quite reasonable since we do not need to walk to the hotel with our luggages in the cold. We waited inside for quite sometime before we realised that we need to get the help of the staff there to get a cab to come. There was a guy there helping mandarin speaking tourists so I asked him to book a cab for us, he told us it will take 20min, which is a long wait on top of the all the time we had wasted earlier. I tried to look for the the bus schedule online, and it seemed to indicate that the next bus will arrive at 2pm, sooner than the 20min wait required. We thanked him for his help but decided to go back to the bus stop to catch the next bus. However, 2pm came and a Donan bus appeared without stopping at the bus stop. It’s quite confusing how we could catch the bus, either that or we missed out something somewhere. At the moment, with some luck, we spotted a taxi waiting outside the train station and P went ahead to check if he would bring us to our hotel. He said yes! Yeah~ so off we went to the hotel. (Lesson learnt: leave the station immediately if you intend to catch the Donan bus, and prepared to wait about 20min if you get the guys at the taxi waiting area to book, apparently there aren’t many taxis around the area so they don’t queue outside the station like other places.)

Bus stop right outside the station, but we did not get a ride there

I was certainly glad we took a taxi that brought us right to the hotel, even though the hotel is said to be just a few minutes walk from the Welcome Centre, it did not feel that near when we were there. In fact, I think it should be a 10min walk instead of 3min as what was said in the reviews (maybe it seemed further during the winter). Even thought it was only 2+ and the check in time was 3pm, we were glad the hotel staff allowed us to check in after the long journey. This is the first Japanese style room we’re staying in, and its quite awesome. The best of all, we have a private outdoor onsen area overlooking the ski slope.

Our outdoor onsen in room overlooking ski slope

We were really excited with the prospect of soaking in the hot bath while watching people ski, the hotel is in a quite strategic location as its a ski in ski out hotel. However, ironically, we were not skiing at the Ace Family Lift as it was already December when I got an advice from TripAdvisor to book our ski lessons ASAP. Obviously, it was already kind of late as I sent email to the two schools operating at Ace Family Lift but NISS replied much later after GoSnow and there was no reply from NBS at all. (Lesson learnt: Book ski lessons once hotel dates are confirmed as the area is really crowded during this season.)

Although we only ate one piece of chocolate croissant earlier that day and we were quite famished, P couldn’t resist taking some shots at the ski slopes while the skiers and snowboarders were wheezing around. As it was already 4pm and almost the end of day skiing, some of them were keeping their skis at the ski lockers at the side of the hotel nearer to the slope. I was quite impressed to see quite a number of Japanese old folks handling their skis at the area, my guess is they probably stay area the area and picked up skiing at a younger age, so this is like a seasonal sports for them. 

The ski slope right next to our hotel 

As Hirafutei did not have a proper listing on Agoda (no reviews), i thought that it’s a small hotel but there were actually quite a number of rooms and its a prominent hotel in the area (most people know where it is) and I would say most if not all are there for skiing (convenience of ski in ski out). More reviews of the hotel in the next post!

Japanese restaurant where skiers came to have dinner, but it was just lunch for us

After taking some pictures, the lights on the ski slopes were already on as it was getting dark. Niseko is one of the few places with night skiing till 9pm, and Ace Family Lift area is one of the few areas with that, with the ski lift operating till night. We then went to the main Hirafu village at the intersection to look for food. When we reached Kutchan, we noticed that the ground was wet and there was a slight drizzle that evening while we looked for food. The rain was getting heavier, but we could not decide what to have. Fortunately, P agreed to have Japanese food so we can get out of the rain, so we popped into the prominent Fujizushi right at the junction. It was actually 5pm and dinner time for the skiers, more people came into the restaurant after we did, but it was just our first meal for the day. P had tempura with rice (quite rare of him to have Jap food for a change) and I tried this donburi with assorted sashimi and salmon roe. The salmon roe was not as fresh as the one I had my first night at Sapporo but the meal was still quite satisfying after the long train rides we had. 

The rain was getting heavier after our meal and we had to make a trip to the Gondola area to pick up our rental equipment for ski lesson the next day. It would be much easier to do it that evening than to wake up super early on the day of lesson itself. We were trying to figure out how to take the shuttle bus as there was supposed to be a shuttle bus going there from the bus stop outside our hotel, but we waited for quite sometime in the rain and we decided we could actually walk there as it did not look that far on the map. It was tough walking up from the intersection to our hotel as it was a steep slope, and we had to continue the climb further up till another junction before heading right. Anyway, we managed to find the place after a 10-15min walk, so it was considered good enough. I was sure glad I brought along an umbrella with me so we were not drenched at all.

GoSnow office was still opened at 6pm and they printed the vouchers for us to get our equipment next door. We only met a few Singapore families around Hokkaido the previous few days, but there were really lots of them at Niseko and I could hear English with Singapore accent everywhere, from the hotel to the ski school. Niseko is also the rare place in Hokkaido where we hear more English than Japanese, many of the westerners (or australians) were working at the ski schools as instructors, coaching the Asian kids and adults. 

The rental equipment area was kind of messy as there was a big group of family with adults and kids (Singaporeans?) trying out their stuff when we were there. There were 3 staff fitting people with ski boots, ski goggles, gloves, ski pants, jackets and stuff. I would say the experience at Lake Tahoe years ago was much better and there was more efficiency, plus the equipment looked newer. Nevertheless,  I was still glad we made it and our rental was settled that evening, since it was getting dark and many of the shops in the area was already closing or closed. 

It was pouring and dark outside and we decided we will take the shuttle bus since most of them pass the Gondola and we did not want to get ourselves or our shoes wet. There were actually benches for us to sit and wait in the lobby area so we did not have to wait out there in the rain, we realised this after we missed one shuttle bus but the next one came eventually and we were really glad it made a loop to the Welcome Centre, then stopped outside our hotel. I must say even after reading up all the stuff online, the shuttle bus service at Niseko is still quite confusing for me. 

Futons all laid out and looked very inviting

When we were back in the hotel, we were delighted to find that the futons had been laid out for us when we were out earlier (they usually do it during dinner hours). It was nice staying in a Japanese room as there was a separate area for us to put our jackets and stuff (with cupboards, sofa and tables) and the toilet/bathroom etc were all separated. The futons looked so inviting after a tiring day on train/ in the rain that I dozed off for a short while. We picked up some titbits from the small shop downstairs as the thought of soaking in the private onsen while munching on snacks and watching video on the laptop was so appealing. I simply loved Japanese onsen as the tub is always ready for us, unlike in Taiwan where we had to fill up own tubs or bath area with the spring water or hot water. 

We enjoyed soaking in the onsen and watching several people do their night ski, there were much fewer people at night (usually beginners) as its pretty tiring to ski the whole the day plus it was raining then. Finally, it was 10+ and we decided to go out for dinner. We did not realise that Hirafu is basically like a dead town by that time and we could not find a single eatery that was still opened after walking around for an hour, not even a izakaya. As there were many westerners in town, some pubs or eateries were still opened for drinks but dinner hours was long over after 9pm/10pm. We turned back to get some stuff from Seicomart so that we could eat something in the room, but even that was already when we finally decided to go there. I would say that after this night at Hokkaido, we finally adjusted our dinner timing to fit the Japanese winter lifestyle. (Lesson learnt: Do not get dinner too late at Niseko, it is very much like a dead town after 10pm.)

We were not super hungry after the meal at 5pm+ and some snacking in onsen earlier but it did feel quite sad if we sleep with a empty stomach that night. I took out the two packets of Hokkaido instant ramen I bought at Asahikawa as the last alternatives, and i was really glad that I have those with me on this trip. Mum prepared a mini electric cooker for me to bring along for this trip and I set it up for noodles cooking in the room. However, the electric current in Japan seems to be too low to get it to work properly (either that, or the electric cooker was faulty), so i eventually used the electric jug provided in the room to do my noodles cooking (something i learnt from my mum during the Hong Kong trip earlier). I guess I really brought too many unnecessary items with me for this trip, but its still nice to be prepared on a night like this.

Hokkaido Trip Day 4: Asahiyama Zoo (旭川市旭山动物园）

The whole point of traveling to Asahikawa was to visit the zoo, which is somewhat famous in Hokkaido. Despite being very tired after all that traveling, I did not sleep well that night, I was awake at 6am and decided to wake up instead of trying to go back to sleep. I was sitting at the table updating my blog while is sun is rising outside and the view was quite awesome.

Nice sunrise view with snow outside

At 7am, I went to the onsen and again it was fabulous as I was the only one there. They actually have this section where we can lie down in the shallow water and listen to the soft music, watching the clouds goes. There was also an outdoor area which I really loved, the top part had vents for letting the natural cold air come in, while my body was immersed in water. I walk along the edge of the tub and looked outside, watching people getting busy around the JR station while the hot water was at my feet. Its really a nice place to chill as the whole area was so steamy.

After being back in the room, I was updating my blog and remembered the hotel actually gave us free breakfast vouchers for the 2 days which consisted of a drink and bread. I did not include breakfast in our room package since the reviews were not fantastic and I figured we can easily get brunch somewhere else. Nevertheless, having free complimentary breakfast is still great. I went down to AEON mall only in a thin long sleeve and T shirt since it is part of the mall, but it was still quite cold as the auto door opened at times when people were walking in. I got myself a chocolate croissant to bring back to the hotel room and finished a glass of orange juice within few minutes in the cafe.

As usual, it took P quite sometime to wake up so I had quite a bit of alone time, but we agreed that we should be out of the room by noon. Perhaps getting the extra night there is really good for him as he can get more sleep time. When we were going out, I checked with the lady at the reception area for the directions to the zoo, she gave us a bus schedule and a bus to the zoo happened to be setting off from the JR station below at that moment, so she pointed out the bus to us.

Sushi set for lunch 

We went to AEON mall 4th floor to get our brunch, and guess what we saw there. Kani-Honke! P was once again attracted to it and he did not mind going for it a second time since he really enjoyed the meal previously. A quick check on Google showed that they indeed have a third brunch at Asahikawa, other than the 2 branches which I already knew they had as Sapporo and Susukino. The setting at this Asahikawa brunch was also not as nice as it was noisier during lunch hours, apparently they attracted lots of patrons. Even though they still gave us a private room, we were sitting on normal chairs and table instead of tatami like the previous time. We did not order the set lunch this time as we did not want to spend that much time eating this time round, we have to catch a bus to the zoo in an hour or so, as the zoo will close early at 3.30pm in the winter. P ordered the exact same stuff which he enjoyed the previous time, the boiled Japanese Hairy Crab and Baked Crab, and I ordered a set of sashimi. The meal was still quite satisfying, but lack the 'wow factor' since we had already tried the same two days ago.

The bus to the zoo (with special zoo prints)

The next bus was arriving at 1.40pm, so we got to Bus Stop no. 6 outside the JR station to stand in queue waiting for it. It was more like our bus interchange where there's different areas to wait for different buses and we found it without much difficulty. Once again, it was quite cold outside so we had our full gear on, gloves and scarf and everything. That was our first bus ride in Japan (other than airport express shuttle) and it was quite interesting, people board from the back door and exit at the front door, opposite from what we do at home. When boarding, they'll collect a small ticket with the station number and there will be a board to indicate the amount of fare in front, so just pay the fare to the driver. Its interesting to note that when the passengers do not have sufficient change, there's this money changer box next to the driver and it will provide the necessary small change. So fascinating!

The board on local bus and train that will show the corresponding fare

We alighted at Asahiyama zoo after a 40min bus ride, and it was already 2.20pm, so we have almost an hour to explore around. The zoo is famous for having penguin parade during the winter, unfortunately the amount of snow fall is still insufficient when we were there, so it will only begin around late December. It should be the highlight of the zoo as many other visitors were also asking the staff about this. They even printed a small card with the explanation written in different languages as the zoo staff was only proficient in Japanese and just a bit of English like most of the other service staff in Japan. The entrance fee to the zoo was only about 800Y, so it didnt matter that we arrived quite late since it is much cheaper compared to visiting the Singapore Zoo.

The entrance

The entrance... again

As we only had about an hour, we did not manage to see all the enclosures, but we did get a quick look at the major ones. The first stop was at the penguins, which were one of the closest to the entrance. We could get really close up to the very kawaii penguins and we took many photos there, we even went into the indoor exhibit, where we can view the penguins from the other side of the tank and spotted them gazing and stoning away. It was really cute!

Love the font and cute direction signs

Temperature for the day

Cute penguins, we were so close to them

Loved how they gaze into emptiness, thinking hard about life

Different types of penguins in the enclosure

Next, we visited the polar bear. The special thing about the zoo was they built a viewing bubble glass thingy inside the polar bear enclosure so that we could take a closer look. There were two polar bears and both were prancing up and down non stop.  It looked kind of unsettling to me as one of them looked skinny and they looked stressed up unlike the polar bear we have in our homeland zoo. When I was researching about the place, I saw westerners leaving comments in Tripadvisor about the sorry state of the animals and how it is quite cruel for the zoo to keep them in small living quarters. I felt kind of sad for those polar bears but we moved on soon as we had spent quite a bit of time walking around the place looking at them at all angles.

The arctic fox

Red pandas scurrying around

Harry Potter's owl? 

Wolves that look a lot like huskies

Fierce Animals? Hmm...

It's the tigers!

We also saw other arctic and winter animals that I had not really seen before, like the white winter owl, the arctic fox, the red pandas and so on. In winter, the whole atmosphere of the zoo was indeed a little gloomy and there were not many visitors, but we still find snow and winter a novelty so we were enjoying it. We saw a few other animals like the seals, tigers, deers and bears etc and finally left the zoo when it was closing at 3.30pm. As we had missed the 3.30pm bus, we stood in queue at the bus stop for half an hour waiting for the next one to come at 4pm. It was really quite cold waiting out there since the temp was less than 0 degree, so we were really glad when the bus finally arrived. I figured that there was sufficient seats on the bus since there were just a few visitors left at closing, therefore we could have taken our own sweet time looking at stuff at the souvenir shop and so on instead of queueing up for the bus in the cold. But I'll probably not stop at Asahikawa or Asahimaya zoo the next time I'm in Hokkaido, since the zoo was small and I will probably just need another 30min or so for me to finish looking at everything there was to see. In fact, the duration of our visit was quite okay for us.

Heading into dusk

Acting cute during the bus ride back

Interior of the bus is old but its very clean

Nightfall was very early in winter and it became dark as we were traveling back on the bus. As it still felt early to us, we went to AEON mall to look for some desserts. I saw an area selling Rokkatei stuff so I bought a small packet of the strawberry white chocolate to try. It tasted familiar and good but nothing fantastic, I was glad I only bought a small packet to try so I'll probably try out other sweets and biscuits if we see Rokkatei again. Nevertheless, I'm still really impressed with the very nice packaging and the effort put into it even though I'm not really spending big bucks on the food. The service of the staff was also impressive.

Aweseome packaging

It was too early for dinner, but P felt that he wanted to get some snacks as well. We saw a Lotteria (a Japanese fast food chain from Japan) outlet along Heiwa-dori street previously so we went in to get a burger, fries and drink. We walked down Heiwa-dori street again while the shops are still opened but most of them are eateries and we did not find anything interesting. We headed back to AEON mall and we shopped awhile at the supermarket on the first, trying to find some interesting stuff to eat and try out.

Got my salt candies, the traditional snack is the middle is a yummy red bean paste thingy

We went back to the hotel to rest around 7pm and I fell asleep on the bed again, since I woke up really early in the morning. When I woke up, it was already 8pm and P was also taking a nap. As it was getting really cold outside and I knew P have the tendency to knock out dead once his head hit the pillow, I decided to get down to AEON mall supermarket again to get some 'backup dinner' in case P failed to wake up and everything is closed again when we go out to look for food. I saw a great variety of supermarket deli and cooked food before we went back to the room, but they've already started to clear the things when I went down again, so I only bought two packets of cute Hokkaido Ramen to try out someday.

Back in the hotel room, I kept trying to get P to wake up so we can go out to get proper dinner but the time just dragged on. I got a little impatience as it was really hard to accommodate to a sleepyhead and fussy eater for days during a trip. Finally, he woke up at 11pm and we set out again to look for dinner. I suggested cooking the instant ramen for dinner but as he's not a noodle person, the suggestion was turned down immediately. There was some tension when we were getting ready to go out but luckily the issue was resolved quickly and we were once out again in the really cold weather. I had to make sure my ski socks and leg warmers were on as my toes were freezing the previous time down Heiwa-dori.

Private booths available in most izakayas

Many eateries have these to hang up our coats/jackets

We looked at the same row of eateries and most of the shops except the izakaya were already closed for hours. We even went to the next street and I was surprised to find that there were many small pubs and clubs with people in their work clothes and drinking along that street. I had actually thought that Asahikawa is a small town (the image of a really same station with a small bus stop when I read up Tripadvisor) but I was wrong, it is in fact the second largest city in Hokkaido, after Sapporo. As expected, we ended up in a izakaya again, we walked for a long time around the whole area but settled for one just a street further than the other place we ate the previous night. Unfortunately, I did not really enjoy my dinner at the place as two guys were sitting at the booth across from us and one of them was chain smoking. It quite common for people in izakaya to be smoking as its a place for them to relax and drink, chit chat and have some food, plus the weather was so cold... On top of that, after we sat down and I took a good look at the menu, nothing caught my eye. I really wanted to order chazuke again, but that will be very boring. Since Asahikawa is famous for ramen, I ordered the only ramen dish they had, which is a plain chicken soup ramen which I would not have chosen if I have other choices. I also ordered a plate of sashimi to go with it as it seems that we will never go wrong with that in Japan. The ramen dish was really nothing to shout about, and P had some chicken wings which turned out not too bad and fried oyster stuff to go with his favourite Japanese rice. The fried oyster thingy turned out to be quite bitter so we did not finish that dish.

Not too fantastic but at least it filled our stomach

When we walked back to the hotel, it was already 12.45pm so we missed the chance to go to the onsen that night, even though I was dying to soak in the hot bath after such a cold day. I promised myself to wake up early the next morning for my last onsen at Asahikawa.

Hotel Review: JR Inn Asahikawa

When I saw the high score of this hotel on Agoda and its convenience being connected to the JR Station, it became a obvious choice of accommodation for us in Asahikawa. I have a very different impression of the hotel when reading the reviews, even though it has a high score, I thought it was the excellent review was mainly due to the relatively cheap room rates, but I was wrong. From the exterior to the rooms and facilities, I will gladly pay double the price to stay there. Fortunately for us, we had a additional night there due to our misadventure, and the hotel really saved us as they have available rooms.

Entrance to the lift lobby at the side of the mall

Simple but classy design

Even though I did not choose the cheapest room available, it is still the cheapest among all the hotels I've booked, the rooms being bigger than the one I've stayed at Sapporo, the onsen is bigger and so awesome. When I went to the onsen at Keihan, it was so crowded at night, but I only saw two other ladies at this hotel when I went in the morning and late night, I could really enjoy the bath and have my personal space/time.

The layout at the door area is similar to Keihan and other hotels in Japan

I loved that the toilet area is separated from the bathroom and wash basin 

The wash basin with amenities

The bathing area (the left side is similar to the onsen layout)

Our spacious 'work area' where we can sit and surf on our laptop

Our twin beds with yukata, we only used one bed for sleeping

This is facing the bed (we never use the tv during our trip)

Nice lounge area in front of reception

Overlooking the JR station

Look at all the snow outside

The pillow library

Despite the name 'inn' in its name, it is very much a hotel with good facilities, very impressive. Being connected to AEON mall and the JR station is also a big plus point. The hotel entrance is at the side of the mall nearer to the JR station, and the hotel lobby is on the 5th floor. The staff are so polite and will greet us unanimously whenever we walked past the area. There is a big lounge with free coffee just in front of the reception area, so the hotel is filled with aromatic smell of the coffee. There is also a pillow library where a selection of the pillows are available around the area, I chose a second pillow from the library for my second night there. The things in the hotel and hotel room looked really nice, clean and decoration was very modern. I like the feel of the wood/dark/brown theme around the hotel.