HOKKAIDO [A Travelogue] - limwhow & SereneXMM

[Virgo]

Looks like the entire family is in CS! :bsmilie:

While waiting for our Snowmobile transport, our youngest daughter did it again...
A Singaporean-made Japanese-Snow-man...

Yay! I love Snowmans! Especially Singaporean-made ones..... My favorite snowman in the WHOLE trip.

 

[ShooterSGP]

Very nice and wonderful travelogue !
I really enjoy every pic posted here.
Great Job !!!

 

[eng60232]

Dear limwhow...
I am suffering from withdrawal syndrome due to no new Hokkaido posting from you for more than 1 day..
Can you please prescribe medicine fast fast!!!

you can start a second career as travel journalist!!

 

[FatboyLum]

I am suffering from withdrawal syndrome too.
Pls post fast fast cause this coming Dec I'm planning to visit Hokkaido too. Hopefully by then your done with all the post. Thanks.:bsmilie:

 

[JadeIceGreen]

Can't wait for the next update.

 

[andysim65]

me too enjoy so much from your post, 1 day no new post is like 3 year waiting

 

[limwhow]

Yay! I love Snowmans! Especially Singaporean-made ones..... My favorite snowman in the WHOLE trip.

Looks like the entire family is in CS! :bsmilie:

Haha... naughty naughty AhLi XMM.
Yupe, Virgo. Not the whole family is CS... but just those who are deeply in love with photography are... Haha..

 

[limwhow]

Very nice and wonderful travelogue !
I really enjoy every pic posted here.
Great Job !!!

ShooterSGP, really thank you! Thank you so much for your encouragement!

Dear limwhow...
I am suffering from withdrawal syndrome due to no new Hokkaido posting from you for more than 1 day..
Can you please prescribe medicine fast fast!!!

you can start a second career as travel journalist!!

eng60232, haha... my goodness! Thank you for being so supportive.
I am nowhere near that kind of level, I'm afraid... haha..
I only know how to prescribe that Panadol kind of medicine. Can't do more leh... Hahaha..!

I am suffering from withdrawal syndrome too.
Pls post fast fast cause this coming Dec I'm planning to visit Hokkaido too. Hopefully by then your done with all the post. Thanks.:bsmilie:

Haha... thank you, FatboyLum!
I will try my best to post as fast as my tired fingers can muster.
Recently too busy already lah... Sorry sorry.
But sincerely, thank you for your encouragement!

Can't wait for the next update.

JadeIceGreen yah, JadeIceGreen! Ok, Ok.. Coming coming, Sir!

me too enjoy so much from your post, 1 day no new post is like 3 year waiting

Aiyoh.. andysim65... haha.. thank you for your encouragement too!
No lah no lah... I dare not post too much lest my fellow CS members kok kok my head.. said I jam up band-width!
Haha.. just joking just joking...
Ok, will do my best over the next few days!

 

[limwhow]

Day 6: Bye Bye, Hakodate... Hello, Noboribetsu 登别!

It was Day 6 already.
And we all woke up to a wet, and snowy Hakodate morning.
The temperature plummeted to a nice and warm (yes, after a while, this would began to feel nice and warm...) negative 3 degree the night before.
But on daybreak, the mercury nudged the zero and we had a good mixture of snow and some rain.

Onsen? Why Noboribetsu?
You all could easily have enjoyed any onsen any where in Hokkaido?

Yupe. That was what a few of my close friends asked.
Indeed. Why Noboribetsu when we could have easily did it in Hakodate or even back in Sapporo?
Well, the fault lies with the Grandmother.
She was the one who insisted on going to Noboribetsu for the one-of-its-kind, most-genuine Hokkaido Onsen.
Well, I couldn't blame her.
Noboribetsu was not called the Onsen town for nothing, and right through the middle of Noboribetsu ran an Onsen Dori 温泉通(Onsen Street) that saw, littered on both sides of the Street, Onsen Hotels, Onsen Ryokans and all of the facilities related to the Onsen industry in this area.
In fact, Noboribetsu was so famous for Onsen that even the local Japanese would take a weekend getaway trip to this scenic little town just for that very purpose.

Geographically, Noboribetsu sat on a bed of hot springs sprouting sulphur steam on a constant stream.
And its very unique location had given its spring water a unrivaled concoction of minerals that far exceled many other areas of Hokkaido.
And thus it came as no surprise that the Onsen facilities in Noboribetsu was one of the best in Hokkaido.

... and so to Noboribetsu we came...

 

[limwhow]

Day 6: Train Ride to Noboribetsu

Even before we arrived at Hokkaido, we had already checked from the JR Train schedule website that the most suitably timed train for us that very morning would depart at 8:15am.
Thus we woke up especially early that morning, gobbled down our breakfast and at 7:30am, took that 10 minutes walk from the hotel to the JR Hakodate Station.
By this time I have learned that to ensure smooth seat allocation, I had to arrive at the train station half an hour earlier and to make a reservation for all of us.
Now one thing about this reservation matter: If we were like any other Japanese buying the one way tickets, making reservation would require paying more on your ticket.
But using the JR Hokkaido Pass meant that everything was included. And it was a privilege for tourists like us to make reservations on the seats so that we knew exactly where each of us sat, and there would be no mad rush searching for seats.
What was more, the very gentle and courteous Station Masters would usually allocate seats together or at least close to each other for the whole family.

On this day, the train trip to Noboribetsu took two and a half hours...

As could be seen, the train was superb. Clean and comfortable.
And one could literally take a deep sleep on one's seat if tired...

Nah... but we were too busy shooting out the window...
... or perhaps shooting our own reflections in the window.. hahah!

The landscape outside was simply spectacular.
Our shots were mostly marred by the snow and water droplets on the window.
Thus, the scenery was best appreciated with the best cameras in the world: our own pair of eyes!

 

[limwhow]

SereneXMM asked me:

"Hey... my landscape shots out of the windows can make it or not?"​

"Erm... not too bad lah,"I replied.
"But got a lot of snow and water droplets on the window leh... some more streaks of water marks across the pictures leh.."
"Like that... can use meh, your pictures?"
"Wei... try lah! PP them lor..!" Insisted the enthusiastic Nex5 photographer.​

So, there we have it.
Two of the shots out of the window of a cold, snowy landscape of Hokkaido, by none other than SereneXMM on her beloved Nex5.

Well... can make it or not... we'll have to let our good friends decide lah...

 

[limwhow]

Day 6: Arrival at Noboribetsu 登别

It must be the warmth emitted by the hot springs of Noboribetsu, for when we alighted from the JR Train at the Station, we almost instantly sensed the very special woody smell of the platform.
And the earthly feel of the whole place.

Stepping out of the small little train station brought us to the one and the only bus stop outside.
The rain pelted us from above, and made all things wet, creating puddles after puddles on the ground.
My guide book said we were to walk to the bus stop and take the one single bus for a 15 minutes journey to the Onsen Dori.
Luckily for the guide book, we were able to aga aga find our way around with help from our GPS.
Those who were not so lucky (ahem... referring to the two young and pretty ladies from Beijing who were standing lost beside us) had to really squeeze their brain to decipher the Japanese words on the sign board...

Well... SereneXMM was her usual friendly self.
Before long she struck a conversation with the two nice Beijing ladies and gave them the reassurance that they were on the right track... just by following us!
Wah lau eh... she didn't know how stress that made the humble tour guide! Haha...

 

[limwhow]

At the Onsen Dori Bus Terminal...

You could never be lost here.
The very friendly bus driver ferried us all the way along a nice curvy wurvy road up the slope to a really sleepy little township.
The bus itself was old-fashioned and a little tight.
The passengers on the old fashioned bus were all old and wrinkled Japanese ladies and gentlemen (serious! Not joking!), except of course for ourselves and the two young pretty Beijing ladies.
The bus terminal itself was oldish and small, so as to fit into the whole picture of a small, old, relaxed and sleepy Onsen town of Noboribetsu.
Right?

Alighting from the bus, automatically all eyes were upon me.
But this time round, my GPS was well-readied.

"Ok, everyone. Grab your luggage and let's take a nice slow walk up this sloping road. Our hotel is only 500m ahead up north!" This time round I was much more confident. Hey, how could I not be? It had been 6 days already. And my GPS hadn't failed me yet (no major disaster yet!)​

Here was that scene right out of the bus terminal...

[Translation: "Crazy weather... siao one lah! Out of nowhere suddenly came rain!" complained the Grandmother.]

Well, we couldn't exactly blame her for saying that.
Because over the past 5 days, we had cold and snowy weather with lots of snow.
But once we arrived at Noboribetsu, all these snow seemed to have melted into rain as they floated close to the ground level.
Deep inside me, I half-explained to myself that the heat generated from the ground must have met the snow flakes half way up the sky to gave us not snow, but rain here at Noboribetsu Onsen town!

The small little main street up was lined with quaint small souvenir shops... we made a mental note to be here this evening for some shopping...

And the Noboribetsu-ians are such romantic people.
Imagine sitting face to face on these two little stone benches in the shape of foxes, and chit-chatting away in the nice, warm summer breeze.
Of course, right now in the wet wintry weather there would most likely not be any one in their right frame of mind doing just that.

Haha... who else but the most mischievous little AhLi XMM to jump at the opportunity to pose right in front of the 阎罗王 half way up the street!

 

[limwhow]

Walking to our Onsen Hotel:
Dai-ichi Takimotokan 第一滝本館

[Translation:
"Grandma, I am hungry!" said the elder sister.
"Ok Ok, later I will bring you to this Ramen shop to have your favourite Ramen!" replied Grandmother.]

Well, there are Onsen hotels in Noboribetsu, and there are Onsen hotels in Noboribetsu.
But why this particular one, Dai-ichi Takimotokan?
Firstly because my Guide book said so.
Secondly because Tripadvisor.com said so.
Thirdly because one of our friends recently came back from Noboribetsu said so.
I guess... these are enough reasons for us to want to take the hotel.

Walking through the main doors of the Dai-ichi Takimotokan, we were met by a team of very courteous and well-dressed female staff on each side of the door bowing to us.
Wow... what a hotel.

Some history of Dai-ichi Takimotokan

The story goes this way: In the year 1858, there was a man called Takimoto who brought his wife to a hot spring just next to the Jigokudani (Hell Valley 地狱&#35895 for she suffered from skin disease.
After soaking in the mineralised spring waters, her skin disease was cured. And the man built the first onsen ryokan (hotspring hotel) which finally became Dai-ichi Takimotokan at this current location.
Well, so much for the romantic story... we'll see what the onsen would do for me that afternoon... later...

Just so as to be objective, the main reason why we decided to take this largest Onsen Hotel in Noboribetsu was simply because it had 30 different hot spring baths in it, with both indoor and outdoor onsen, and what was more, several of these onsens where opened 24 hours!
Now that was what I call great onsen facilities!
For those family who had children and teenagers, this onsen was also very family friendly for it had swimming pools and wading pools for the children to play in while the adults soaked in the onsen.
One thing about Onsen in Japan was, there seemed to be some kind of ruling that children younger than 12 years of age were not allowed in the adult onsens.
But interestingly enough, our AhLi XMM was not asked to leave when she waded into the onsen and was able to enjoy herself to the fullest!

 

[limwhow]

Coming up soon:
Jigokudani - Hell Valley 地狱谷

Will take a breather here to PP and arrange some more photos before continuing on our next section....

Thank you for coming on board our thread and do feel free to leave your comments.

 

[samchong]

I am planning to Hokkaido this coming Nov during my kids school holiday...I like to travel F & E but I do not understand Japanese and never been to Japan before..You posted a very interesting and detial guidance to me..And I feel much confident now and decided to bring my family to Hokkaido for F & E this year end ! Thank you so much Limwhow

 

[MGohzxc]

Holiday with the family.......... a true and great joy.....

 

[limwhow]

I am planning to Hokkaido this coming Nov during my kids school holiday...I like to travel F & E but I do not understand Japanese and never been to Japan before..You posted a very interesting and detial guidance to me..And I feel much confident now and decided to bring my family to Hokkaido for F & E this year end ! Thank you so much Limwhow

samchong, thank you so much for coming by our thread and thank you for your kind words!
I am happy to hear that you are considering bringing your family to Hokkaido Free and Easy.
It's really not so tough.
Just remember November, during the winter season, the daylight hours are short.
And also not to aim to hit too many sight-seeing spots, otherwise it's going to be too stressful for everyone. Haha...!

Holiday with the family.......... a true and great joy.....

Manita, thank you for coming by our thread too!
Have you gone for your holiday last year?
Now school CA period, can't go for holiday yah... right?

 

[JadeIceGreen]

Thank you for updating! And like all good things, it's too short! Lol, J/k.
Take your time, all of us here are looking forward to the next instalment.

 

[limwhow]

Wait... we forgot about lunch..
The 姐姐 (elder sister) was hungry... :bsmilie:

We were walking half way to the Jigokudani (Hell Valley) already when we suddenly remembered the elder sister was hungry.
So we made a U-turn, back-tracked to the little Ramen store just before the hotel...

The chef was the typical across the counter type.
Well, he was dedicated in his job, that was for sure.
But the wrinkled old lady manning the shop was a tad less enthusiastic.
Well, slightly less enthusiastic than the usual ramen shop staff whom we were so used to over the past 5 days... hahaha..

Well... the Ramen was... Ok lah... so so lah... :wink:
To make up for it, we ordered my favourite sake as up till now I have not really had too many bottles of sake while in Japan for the sake of keeping alert while on the job mah...

Haha... don't mean to complain.
In fact, nothing to complain about. Honestly, in Hokkaido, everything was World Class... sincerely. And so often, we looked back at the service that was provided to us here in Hokkaido and wonder with a sense of regret why we in Singapore back at home couldn't provide a level of service that was equally good.
Being philosophical about it merely brought up all the various combinations and permutations on the factors contributing to this undeniable fact that the Japanese were just that good.
But until we all back home reached that level, I guess we could never explain why... not yet.