HOKKAIDO [A Travelogue] - limwhow & SereneXMM

[limwhow]

The old folks were so impressed with the Onsen that they vow to take another Onsen trip in the year to come...

[Translation: "My face feel so smooth and soft after the soak!" said the Grandfather.]

... and from the look on everyone's face, we could certainly tell that it had been a remarkable highlight of the trip...
And one more thing... we have never in our lives seen ourselves all so... so... 'Japanese'! It was a strange feeling...

 

[limwhow]

Buffet Dinner at the Onsen Hotel

People have commented time and again that the Buffet Breakfast and Buffet Dinner that came as part of the S$236 per person per night Onsen Package was one of the best meals that one could get.
I would honestly say that in terms of quantity, there was no question about it.
In terms of quality, well, the variety was certainly there and in good amount.
Just that certain items could have been better.
But then again, for approximately S$50 per person, and coupled with the fact that we were dining in Japan, I would say it was well worth the money!

Very cute, one of the waiters advised us to display this to show them that we have started eating and we were still at it... haha...

Now, I was very sure that few other places in Hokkaido let one enjoy so much free-flow of Hokkaido crab buffet style...

And not to forget our favourite sashimi...

and shellfish...

and desserts..

(this one by SereneXMM with NEX5.)

 

[limwhow]

Day 6: An Evening Stroll down Snowy Noboribetsu Onsen Street...

It became customary to take the almost mandatory post-dinner evening stroll along the main road down the hotel.
There were quite a few small souvenir shops, as we had discovered earlier on in the day. And Noboribetsu Onsen Dori (Onsen Street) being a very small town, was certainly very easily accessible on foot.

We were glad that we actually did grab a few umbrellas from the hotel front desk for it started snowing again soon after we stepped out.

... and the snow just got heavier and heavier. It was really very very fun walking in this way. Fancy a bunch of Singaporeans who were so used to walking in the rain under umbrellas, now instead were walking in the snow under the umbrellas!

I could never get enough of the delightful old-fashioned street lamps in snow...

 

[limwhow]

Time to call it a day...

It was getting quite late.
And all of us had a long, tiring but again, eventful day.
We just had a few more items to purchase from the souvenir shops before we called it a day and retire back to the Onsen hotel for a nice sleep in the tatamis...

A last splatter of snow flakes...

... and a last few shots of the night scene in snow... even my lens did enjoy several droplets of the snow, as apparent from the flares on the photo... hehehe...

Soon... we were all changed into our comfortable kimono and were lying soundly asleep in the warm quilt of the tatami... Honestly, the tatami wasn't bad at all for sleeping....

 

[PhotoProZero]

im having loads of fun reading your travelogue!!! Am saving $$ for tis trip!!

 

[madmartian]

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Hi limwhow, I see that you've got many nice shots here & nice narration. Man, I forgotteen most of my trip already.
These nite shots are beautiful! :heart: them :thumbsup:

 

[madmartian]

[shot taken with ISO 100. Fence-held.]

Lovely shot! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[madmartian]

This shot is a power shot. It depicts a long journey this man has gone through the times & tides of life.
Good use of the shallow DOF to bring out the essence of the shot!

Well done! :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

 

[limwhow]

im having loads of fun reading your travelogue!!! Am saving $$ for tis trip!!

Thank you very much, PhotoProZero, for your most kind encouragement!
We had loads of fun remembering the trips and writing about it ourselves.
Hope you could experience the lovely land of Hokkaido soon.

Hi limwhow, I see that you've got many nice shots here & nice narration. Man, I forgotteen most of my trip already.
These nite shots are beautiful! :heart: them :thumbsup:

Lovely shot! :thumbsup:

Thank you very much, madmartian!
Yah... I agree with you.
Sometimes by the time we want to start writing about it, we would have forgotten certain of the small details that would have been so much the essence of that moment.

This shot is a power shot. It depicts a long journey this man has gone through the times & tides of life.
Good use of the shallow DOF to bring out the essence of the shot!

Well done! :thumbsup:

Thank you for your compliment on this photo, madmartian. I would have liked it better not to have the lady on the right side.
But no choice, I didn't have another opportunity at this scene.
So I'd have to just make do with this one.

 

[madmartian]

Thank you for your compliment on this photo, madmartian. I would have liked it better not to have the lady on the right side.
But no choice, I didn't have another opportunity at this scene.
So I'd have to just make do with this one.

Clone her off ;p

 

[limwhow]

Clone her off ;p

madmartian, sorry for the late reply.
Haha... I will attempt that one day.
But meanwhile I shall just let the picture remain in its raw, native state the way I took it... haha...!
Thanks for your suggestion!

 

[limwhow]

Day 7: Bye Bye Noboribetsu, Hello Sapporo...

As much as we wanted to stay, we had to leave early the next morning.
The JR Train journey from Noboribetsu to Sapporo was about an hour and a half.
There was a special hotel-chartered bus from Dai-ichi Takimotokan to Sapporo at 10am. But we were too late to book this, for we should have booked even way before arriving at Noboribetsu.
It happened that on this day, this special bus was fully taken. Not surprising for it was only 500yen per person, way way cheaper than the other alternative way of taking a 330yen bus to the JR Station followed by another 3000yen JR train back to Sapporo.
Well... but that's just life.
You can't get the best every time.

Then again, it was times like these when I thought to myself, how nice it would be if we had been on a guided tour and need not have to worry about taking bus or train or whatever lah...

Here... walking out from the hotel and saying bye bye...

... not even 10 steps away from the Hotel, and already missing it... hehehe...

As we walked along enjoying the cool, crisp air of the early morning, the beautiful golden light of the morning sun gave everything a cloak of yellow...

 

[limwhow]

Noboribetsu Onsen Dori Bus Terminal

Walked 500m back to the Bus terminal to catch the old, green bus to the JR Station.
Hmmm... all these buses were driven by aged, elderly bus drivers.
But they were all very friendly.
We communicated with them literally via writing on pieces of paper and they will write back the exact fees we had to pay.

In the bright morning sunlight, we found a nice row of chairs to sit down and enjoy the scene while we waited for our bus...

Time to take out the souvenirs to enjoy them...

And to complain some more...

Actually, what the young man said was very true.
There was a famous zoo where one could feed bears and see penguins.
Some reviews online expressed disgust at the zoo saying that the bears were simply cooped up in their habitat and so sluggish that there was hardly anything interesting to see.
But other sites gave raving reviews of the zoo.
Too bad, we could not verify for ourselves. Perhaps if we have another chance to come to Noboribetsu, we would finally be able to give this destination a visit...

 

[limwhow]

A view just before we leave the bus terminal...

 

[limwhow]

Finally... on the bus to the Station...

[Translation: "Later on it's going to be another one and a half hour train journey," thought the Grandfather.]

 

[BaguaPhoto]

Sharing with you some highlights of my last December (9D8N trip to Hokkaido with CTC)...the scenic parts of Hokkaido mainly:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bagua8/sets/72157626116819251/

Pardon my skills as I am no where as interesting as what you shot as I only just picked up DSLR photography after decades of using PnS... They were shot using Canon 550D and mainly 10-22mm and 15-85mm lens (not iPhone 4 as indicated on the Flickr page).

 

[LowLights]

Thank you for your compliment on this photo, madmartian. I would have liked it better not to have the lady on the right side.
But no choice, I didn't have another opportunity at this scene.
So I'd have to just make do with this one.

Agreed with madmartian .. This is indeed a power shot ..
Agree that the lady should not be there .. Time for some PS power Liao

 

[limwhow]

Sharing with you some highlights of my last December (9D8N trip to Hokkaido with CTC)...the scenic parts of Hokkaido mainly:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bagua8/sets/72157626116819251/

Pardon my skills as I am no where as interesting as what you shot as I only just picked up DSLR photography after decades of using PnS... They were shot using Canon 550D and mainly 10-22mm and 15-85mm lens (not iPhone 4 as indicated on the Flickr page).

BaguaPhoto, your shots are lovely!
You see lah... now you make me jealous already... for not taking the trip with a tour agent company like you did.
You managed to go to so many places!
Good for you... good for you!

 

[limwhow]

Agreed with madmartian .. This is indeed a power shot ..
Agree that the lady should not be there .. Time for some PS power Liao

LowLights yah, LowLights!
My thanks, my heart-felt thanks!
Eh... I think I better come to you to learn how to do something about taking that lady on the right side away!

 

[limwhow]

Day 7: JR Train from Noboribetsu 登别 back to Sapporo 札幌

The last little wait at the Noboribetsu train station..

... and our trip back...

Thus, it was with the final run of the JR Train journey from Noboribetsu to Sapporo that we have come one big round back to where we started.