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)