Hokkaido Summer Trip 2017 Day 6 (6/6/17)

My past trip reports rarely exceed 5 parts and I hardly manage to report about any trip from beginning till end so this trip is really something special, its at such a relaxing pace that I can get finish my blog daily update by the next day. Anyway, Mum is enjoying herself so much that I plan to bring her back to Japan again, for more mother-daughter bonding!

Today is the day we leave Noboribetsu for Lake Toya. When we went to Lake Toya the previous winter, I decided to give ourselves a treat and I splurged on a 5 stars hotel (Windsor Toya Hotel) but after a long train ride from Niseko, we reached the place at 4pm or 5pm and it was already nightfall. Windsor is also so far away from all the action that we did not get to see the place that much, as we left for Hakodate early the following morning. I regretted spending all that money on such an atas place and it turned out so boring, even though we did have fun playing with all the snow. Therefore, this time round I decided that we should stay in Toyako Onsen town.

Free shuttle bus service by Hanaya ryokan

We decided to leave the ryokan earlier and take their shuttle service to Noboribetsu JR station. The other option is to wait for the public bus just opposite the hotel but again, but we felt that it is cumbersome carrying our luggages up the bus (especially the case for my 29 inch big luggage). When I booked the reserved seat ticket at Sapporo, I had opted for a 11am+ train ride since we cant check in that early at Lake Toya. However, there is no shuttle service from the ryokan that was near this timing, so we decided to forgo our reserved seats and just hop on the next train after reaching the JR station. During the summer, the sun rises at 4am, there was no blackout curtains in the room so I was awake by 7am despite sleeping late the previous night. Mum had already been to the onsen by the time I was awake and there was plenty of time so I also had a good soak at the onsen before leaving.

Mum chilling with a cup of free coffee at the lobby

When it was time to leave, three of the staff (I guess one of them is the lady boss) quickly ran out and knelt at the door, giving us a deep bow. We felt really shy when we saw this sincere gesture as we're really not used to such hospitality. The shuttle bus driver who took us to the station was also the one who gave us the lift the previous day, a really kind old man.

Waiting for the 9.52am train

We reached the station in less than 15min and we were able to catch the train at 9.52am. Unfortunately, we waited for more than half an hour on the platform before the train arrived. Train delays are very very rare in Japan but I think it also happened the last time we were at Lake Toya or Noboribetsu. Anyway, even though we've booked reserved seats for 11am+, we were okay with hopping onto the free seating compartments since it's just a 40min ride.

(Didnt manage to finish this blog post, but still decided to post it 2 years later when I re-read my post in 2019)

Hokkaido Summer Trip 2017 Day 5 (5/6/2017)

In the morning, I went to the onsen again. It was 8am+ but just a few ladies were there, most people were already out and about in their day clothes when I went down in my bathing pyjamas. After two days in Asahikawa, we are going to leave this place for Noboribetsu, this is also our longest train ride for the whole of the Hokkaido trip. It turned out not too bad as the ride was broken down into two parts, one from Asahikawa back to Sapporo, then we changed to another train heading to Noboribetsu. I continued watching another episode of Goblin during the trip and also munched on some snacks while drinking my fruity beer. We did not have much to eat for breakfast, just shared a packet of noodles and sandwiches between us. But all the snacking during the trip kept me full.

A drastic change of weather coming days

Mum asked to take some pics while we waited for the train

Our reserved seats

After three hours, we arrived at a neat little station at Noboribetsu. The part that I disliked most about this station is the lack of lifts and elevators, so we had to carry our luggages up get across the tracks and then down again to exit the station. P helped me with my big luggage when we came previously but now I could only do it on my own slowly, huffing and puffing. We were the only ones who took a cab to our ryokan, while the rest of the tourists waited at the bus stop next to the station. I did not want to save this 1700Y and carry my big luggage up the bus, so we just hopped onto the cab.

Bears at the station welcomed us

We stayed at Oyado Kiyomizuya ryokan the previous time I was here, it was my first half board ryokan experience when we had dinner and breakfast served in the room and slept on futons. It was a good experience but I thought of trying out another ryokan as the onsen at Oyado (清水屋) felt a little old and creepy when I went alone at 11pm or near midnight that winter. Luckily, the male onsen was just separated by a wall and I was shouting across the wall to talk to P while we bathed and soaked. Anyway, when I was doing the booking on Agoda this time round, I saw Kashoutei Hanaya ryokan at a affordable rate ($180 sgd with no meals) and I decided to try it out. I was super tempted to book a room here the previous time but the price was too steep then, if I'm not wrong more than twice of what I'm paying this time. Probably the rate that I've gotten now is a promotional rate since it is off peak season. I did not opt for meals this time due to my previous ryokan experience at Oyado. P and I enjoyed the kiseki dinner then and we took lots of pictures, but we did not enjoy waking up early for them to come and set up the breakfast in the morning, we even drag out the futons to continue sleeping after they finally came back to clear all the stuff. I had intended to add on the dinner after reaching the ryokan as I saw many good reviews, but the price was rather steep (6400Y per pax) and Mum was not willing to pay the price. Once again, we were an hour early for check in when we reached Hanaya so we decided to go out and walk around before we make a decision about dinner.

Entrance to the Hell Valley Jigokudani

The two demons and mascots of Jigokudani

It was a very different feeling coming here again in the summer, although the weather was still quite chilly and cool for summer. The previous time we were here, snow was drifting down and super cold. We enjoyed it a lot as it fell really magical to be around these valleys and the onsen when it was snowing. There were fewer visitors this time round as it is off peak but I found the pavement and walking trails easier to navigate, I remember the slippery path and people slipped and fell the previous time we came. Despite the sun appearing today, we did not really feel the heat and the temperature was still below 15 degrees when we were out. At least the weather was still quite pleasant and not rainy like the previous day. The smell of sulfur got stronger in the small town area and near Jigokudani, I'm sure its not pleasant for some people but to me it is a smell of good onsen so I'm fine.

Nice toilet next to the visitors' centre, cute demon signs!

Mum posing at one of the observatory

Another observatory

Panoramic view before we go down to the platform nearest to the middle geyser 

Those anti-slip thingy on the bridge were god sent in winter

Mum modeling for me as I dont really like taking pictures

Instagram picture with filter

We managed to walk around quite a bit before turning back to the shopping street Gokuraku Dori, I think we managed to cover more trails this time as it was harder to walk around the slope areas in winter and nightfall also came earlier then. We only went into a few shops along the shopping street and decided to head back to check into our room to get some rest as it was already almost 3pm.

Walked past the post office on our way and we sent some post cards to US

We were glad the staff at Hanaya arranged a shuttle bus to drop us off at the shopping street earlier. It was easy to walk back although the ryokan was some distance away from the end of the shopping street (maybe 300m-400m) as it was downhill all the way back, but it could be hard for us if we had to walk up earlier. When we got back to the ryokan, the staff had already brought our luggages up and a kind lady showed us to our room on the 4th floor. As this is a new place I'm staying in, I guess it deserves a separate blog review on its own. I realised I stopped blogging about my winter trip after Niseko the previous time, so I might do a comparison of Oyado and Hanaya in the review posts and also post up some of my winter trip photos of Noboribetsu. Somehow I love comparing photos of places I've been to at different times and see what had changed.

The geyser at a mini park before the entrance of Hell Valley

We have a twin sharing room this time round, but its western style so instead of having futons, they have two beds for us with the Japanese nice fluffy blankets. It was really comfortable so I took a nap after settling down in the room. We went out again at 5pm+ to get dinner, once again the shuttle bus happened to be waiting outside and the driver allowed us to board and dropped us off at the junction between hell valley and shopping street. We decided to have dinner out as we walked past a shop selling fresh seafood earlier and we decided to have our uni and ikura don revenge there.

My stylo mama at the main entrance

The entrance again from across the street

Noisy Korean aunties came in a tour bus

We did not walk into the Jigokudani walking trails as it was getting late, only took some pictures and then went for our dinner. The shop we saw earlier (Onsen Ichiba 溫泉市場) was quite near to one end of the shopping street, right after we went across hell valley. The shop was empty when we went and we got a bit skeptical as there were no other patrons. But since there were not many other choices here, we just went inside. Mum was convinced their seafood would be fresh or at least better than the one we tasted at Otaru as they had rows of tanks with the sea urchin, crabs and other seafood at one side. After we ordered our food, a few groups of tourists came in and the shop got filled up with people.

We had these tatami seats where footwear were not allowed

Mum with our food orders

Look at the colour of the uni and ikura, much better this time!

Staff helped us take some photos

The Instagram version with filter

The texture of the uni and ikura were right this time and tasted so good with the rice. All the food taste quite good and we did save some money on dinner here although the price of the seafood was not too cheap. We paid 7200Y for our dinner instead of the 12800Y we would have paid for the kiseki dinner. It's a pity we did not enjoy the sumptuous dinner at the ryokan, but Mum was also right for making this decision as we're both not big eaters and probably would not be able to finish all the food at the ryokan.

Before (normally looking Enmado something like our 閻羅王）

After (demon looking with blazing eyes)

We left the restaurant at 8pm and encountered lots of tourists at the Enmado shrine next door with their handphones ready so we also stopped to watch what was happening. There was some mechanical trick show going on at 8pm and other designated timings so people were waiting for it to start. It's quite interesting how the crowd quickly dispersed after that and the street once again became very quiet with very few people while we were walking back. Many people were also dressed in their yukata with the little haori jacket when walking down the streets after dinner. It's quite an interesting sight as the loudspeakers on the street were also playing a soft traditional Japanese music, giving the place a very peaceful vibes. The walk back to our ryokan seemed further when it was night time and I'm sure I'll not feel comfortable walking along that path in the dark if I'm alone, so that's something to consider if I'm traveling back alone and staying at Hanaya.

Mum looking awesome in her yukata

When we got back, Mum decided that it'll be less awkward if we go to the onsen separately, so we put on our yukata to take some photos before she went down to the onsen first. This is her first Japanese onsen experience as our ryokan does not have shower in the rooms. It is also a good chance for her to soak in the sulfur water found around this area, real and authentic hot spring experience.

Hokkaido Summer Trip 2017 Day 4 (4/6/17)

To do something different from the previous trip, I decided to venture to Biei from Asahikawa. It is too early to go further down to Furano for the flowers as flowers are not blooming yet. Actually it is also too early to see the farm harvesting in Biei, but I read from online reviews that people do tour around the small town on electric bicycles and I decided it is something refreshing for us. Mum cycles very often and I guess she'll like this. I googled online and found this bicycle rental place offering guided tour so I emailed to them and got a confirmation for a half day tour. I chose a earlier tour so that we can still have the afternoon free to go to the zoo if we decided to do the trip today.

Taking the local train (very short carriages) to Biei

As the tour starts at 9.30am and it takes 40min to travel to Biei, I dragged myself up by 8am to prepare for the train ride at 8.46am. There were tourists from PRC and taiwan after we board the train. Mum brought a cup of hot coffee from the hotel and we also dropped by Delifrance to pick up some bread to eat along the way. When I woke up at 4am ahead of my alarm clock earlier, it showed Biei and Asahikawa raining although there was no rain when I looked out of the window, so I brought my down jacket along. After receiving the confirmation email, I did not hear anything from the tour vendor and did not pay anything, so I was crossing my fingers. The cycling tour is also something I had been looking forward to for this trip.

Biei Station

When we reached Biei, it was super cold and drizzling a little. I was really thankful that I had my down jacket with me. It was a small and very quiet town with not that many people on the streets. I followed the instructions on the website and I was glad that I managed to find the shop after crossing the overhead bridge to get across the railway. I could see that it was just a small standalone shop and the owners were waiting for us to turned up. There was row of bicycles outside and no other patrons in sight, so I guess we were the only ones going for the tour this cold windy morning.

Mum and our guide getting our bicycles ready

The vendors and the guide checked with us a few times if we wanted to go ahead with the trip as it was really cold. Mum and I decided to bite the bullet and see how far we could go before we have to cancel our adventure. The kind owners also offered me a pair of gloves, it was another lifesaver and earlier I had even thought that Mum was too kiasu to wear gloves in summer! The guide taught us how we should operate the electric assisted bicycles and I also warmed up a little by cycling around the area. I was wobbling a little at first but slowly got used to things once we started the trip.

The patchwork area of Biei (Ken and Mary trees behind)

Our guide named Tommy spoke good English for a Japanese and we encountered very steep slopes going uphill for quite awhile after we started our journey. I would say that it is really necessary to rent a electric assisted bicycle in this area as our legs were just a little tired from all that cycling up. We came to this area with many people taking photographs at two trees (supposedly to be famous during to an old Japanese advertisement) and the area was also filled with different plants waiting to harvesting, forming a patchwork of different green. It was quite cold and windy but I still marveled at the nice scenery in front of me. We stopped to take some photographs.

The patchwork area

Ken and Mary trees

The next place we stopped was at a french bakery that also hosted a neat restaurant. We requested to go in to buy some bread to try as Mum also needed a toilet break. The warmth of the place was a welcome relief from the cold wind whipping my hair on my face. Perhaps we were really hungry, the two pieces of bread we bought were really good! I read about the restaurant on TripAdvisor and I guess its listed as the top few in Biei.

Really cool french bakery and cafe

The rain came down harder after we left the bakery and Tommy checked with us if we wanted to continue. We still felt comfortable coming equipped with thick jacket and raincoat so we decided to go on. It was about an hour into our guided tour. After that, we cycled around the place and Tommy showed us some other famous 'trees', made famous by advertisements again and there were really people who earnestly took photographs there. I was glad that we did not opt for the taxi tour as the price is also quite steep to do that and it felt silly to stop just to take photographs with these trees. 

Parent and child tree from a distance

Tommy also pointed out the vegetables we saw on the field, like lines of potatoes, beet sugar plants, onions and wheat. After a while, we were just cycling up and down around these fields which looked pretty much the same. The feeling were very serene and it really could have been better if it was not raining. As we soon realised that the scenery were getting repetitive, we requested to head back around 11am as it was raining harder and getting quite cold. I'm sure glad that the rain did not pour down heavily like the first day in Sapporo and we were still able to make it that far into the tour. 

The seven stars tree from some distance

When we reached the shop, it was already 11.35am, so we only lost about 20-30min of touring time. We did not mind that as we had already seen enough. Tommy apologised for the rain but I sincerely thanked him for taking us out on a day with such a weather. Temperature for the whole day was around 7-8 degrees but from tomorrow onwards, the sun will be out and temp will rise to more than 20 degrees. So its really our luck when it come to weather. The train was already waiting when we reached the station, we quickly hop on and the journey back to Asahikawa felt so much faster. 

Interesting honest shop when farmers just leave their produce for sale

We decided that we deserve a good treat for our good effort this morning, so its finally Kani Honke time! After a very cold morning, I was craving for something hot and soupy so we ordered a Snow and King Crab sukiyaki and Mum ordered another set meal that comes with many small dishes like crab miso, boiled crab legs, crab porridge etc. The food quality and service was as good as I remembered it and we found it worth every bucks we spent. The plus point about the Asahikawa outlet was that it was not so crowded and there was no queue when we went during the weekend lunch hours.

Food is served! 

We took this pic balancing the phone on a bag lolz

When the server came in with the food, we get her help to take pic

It was only 2pm when we finished the sumptuous meal, but Mum was not keen to tour the zoo, so we decided to head back to our hotel room. I was also happy with this decision as I can get a nap after waking up early this morning. We only went out to the shopping street for a short walk again at 5pm, more shops were still opened unlike the previous day but there was still nothing much to see and buy. We only stopped at a small shop selling local produce to get a green tea ice cream, and then we headed to the supermarket once again to get some food for dinner. I dont really have any special craving by this time and felt a bit sick of the fresh seafood don or sashimi so we did not get any. We tried other food stuff like their preserved vegetables and some salad, food that I had missed eating the past few days.

Visiting this guy and his cat in the rain instead of snow

Sunset view from my hotel room

Before it was 7pm, we were once again back in our hotel room and ready to rest for the night. I sat at the desk to update the blog, went to the onsen (surprisingly only a few people around 9pm) and came back to finish one episode of the Korean drama Goblin (I had been watching it on and off since last year December). I prefer the onsen here as its always less crowded compared to the one at Keihan and there's two onsen areas (indoor and outdoor). Mum was getting ready to sleep when I got back to the room at 9pm but I was wide awake till midnight due to the inactivity and the nap I took earlier.  

Hokkaido Summer Trip 2017 Day 3 (3/6/17)

I rested well and only woke up at 8am this morning. I headed down on the onsen and was pleasantly surprised that there were only a few ladies there. Probably people here all have an early start so it's more crowded going to the onsen too early. Mum slept very well and I only woke her up when it's almost time for us to check out at 1030am. Basically this is a very nua day as we only took the train to Asahikawa and walked around Aeon Mall, we did not even go to a restaurant for our meals.

Our breakfast of cup noodles buffet! 

We packed up really quickly although I felt like we bought a lot of snacks here and there. Mum prepared cup noodles for breakfast and as a noodles fan, I didnt really mind that. The checkout time was 11am and we went down shortly after that. I guess I'll still be back to Hotel Keihan Sapporo if I'm back in this city again.

Tickets for our reserved seats

Train to Asahikawa

I went to the JR information counter at Sapporo station to get all our reserved seats tickets before we leave the city. I really love the feeling of traveling in a reserved seat car and having designated seats. The Hokkaido 7 days Rail Pass is really worth our bucks as reserved seats can be utilised free of charge with the pass (or maybe the price is already included). Probably I had really sufficient sleep the previous night, the 1.5 hour ride felt very long and I couldnt get any shut eye at all, the train also felt shaky. I had taken trains of more than 4 hours so this should be tolerable to me, but it still felt quite long. Finally, we arrived at Asahikawa and it was as cold as I remember the place to be, even during summer.

Finally reached! 

But I still liked the place in a way, as we had lots of adventures here previously and the whole JR station is linked to the mall and our hotel, so its quite convenient. I had lots of praises for JR Inn Asahikawa the previous time so without hesitation, this is the first hotel I had in mind when I was booking the trip. We had a bigger room the previous time but this time round is also not too bad, in fact it is slightly bigger than our hotel room in Sapporo and its also the cheapest for the whole trip. I wrote a detailed review the previous time but I still could not resist taking a few more pictures as I really adore this place. We were more than an hour early for the 3pm check in time, so we left our luggages with the front desk and went to explore the area. I showed Mum the lounge with free flow coffee and she loved it so much that she had two cups of coffee immediately. 

Very comfortable rest area

Coffee machine and free flow tea

Not snowy this time but still cold

Large collection of comics for people to read

Mum loved the Aeon supermarket as there's a lot of foodstuff to buy. Once again, we decided to just get stuff we'll love to try for lunch from the supermarket. She was not hungry enough for Kani Honke and it felt too late for us to go and visit the zoo after check in, so we'll just slack in the hotel room for the rest of the day. I saw the whole range of sushi selling for a very cheap price and could not resist getting some of those, its Japan and Hokkaido after all! We also get some sweet snacks and some onigiri from the stalls next to the supermarket. 

It's interesting the fruits were rated according to sweetness here

After we grabbed all the food we wanted, it was past 3pm and we decided to go up to check into the room and enjoy our lunch. I had booked a smoking room as it was the only one available when I visited Agoda, I had requested for a non-smoking room before our trip and earlier at the front desk but they do not have any available. To our relief, the room turned out okay and we were not affected by the smell in the room at all. Just like many Japanese hotels, they have this multi purpose spray in the closet so I just helped myself with it. 

Quite a big study area and side table

We chose more pillows from the pillow library and I loved that

Place for us to leave our bags and the mounted TV saves space

Basic toilet amenities were all there and very clean

Our lunch spread

I took a nap after lunch since we decided not to go to the zoo and I got myself recharged after a few hours. After my nap, we decided to go out and and explore the Heiwa-dori, the shopping street just in front of the Aeon Mall. I'm so glad that I checked the weather before the trip and brought my down jacket as it was really just 7-8 degrees outside and I need to bundle up like it's early spring at Nagoya. It's unbelievable that it is still so cold here in summer. We went into some of the pharmacies and convenience stores to look around and these were really well stocked like all Japanese ones but we did not see anything we liked, so we turned back and headed back to the supermarket to stock up more food for dinner. By this point of time, I had gotten sick of cup noodles, sushi and onigiri, so I looked for instant porridge instead. We also decided to come back tomorrow and get some fresh bread for breakfast instead. Mum liked the peach beer (only 108Y) and thus we bought a few more of the fruit beer.

Cheap fruity beer (prefer the 3% ones)

Jill Stuart stock up

I also found Jill Stuart products in a tax free store here at Aeon Mall, although its not a counter on its own but I found that shampoo and conditioner refill I was looking for. I had waited for more than a month to come to Japan to get this after missing the chance at Nagoya in March. After moving into my new place in March, I was looking for new brands of shampoo and conditioner with refill packs as these are more environmentally friendly. Surprisingly, its hard to find those in the supermarkets whereas in Japan common brands like Pantene and Lux have refill packs. I searched online in Carousell and found Jill Stuart, the bottles with the bling on top look so good in my bathroom so I got them at quite steep price ( 300ml bottles at about $50 each), they smell so good that I decided to get the refill packs during my frequent trips to Japan. The refill packs are only selling at $30 sgd in the tax free store so its quite good deal. I also get the hair mask to try out while I'm here.