aik in sushi-land

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Day 7: 昭和新山 (Showa Shinzan)

昭 和新山, a newly formed volcano during the ending period of World War II. The Jap felt that it was an ill omen for the giant pimple to sprout on their head.... They were damn right about it...

The actual writeup
This guy bought the piece of land and started monitoring the growth of this Volcano. They built a statue of him to honor his effort.

Directly next to 昭和新山, is 有珠山(Usuzan) who erupted in year 2000. Wanted to go up there but it was getting late and we need to return the car on time...

Day 7: Path of Destruction... Aftermath of Mt Usuzan Eruption in 2000

The aftermath of Mt Usuzan Eruption in year 2000. A side track from the lovely scenic views of Autumn Hokkaido. Seeing this destruction really hits me on the power of Mother Nature.

The volcano is still active and is only a 20mins drive from the hotel.











Monday, October 23, 2006

Day 6: Lake Toya Fire Works

20mins worth of fireworks that can be viewed in front of the hotel EVERY night till end of October.



My first attempt to do star trails...

Day 6: Lake Toya

After the fiery sulphur pits of Noboribetsu, its off to Lake Toya. Arrived at Toya station, hired a car and drove to Lake Toya. I am sold on GPS from this day onwards... even with everything in Japanese, I am amazed that we were able to roughly know how to use it.... Cognitive....

Checked in Hotel Kawanami with no problem, the owner Kaz Kawanami speaks perfect English. In this out of city place and encountering someone who can speak your language is very comforting.

After a short soak in their hot spring, we headed for dinner. Dinner was served in their restaurant and it was simply... DELICIOUS... for the price of Y9900 per night with dinner and breakfast included... its very very reasonable.


Breakfast

View from our breakfast table

Day 6: Noboribetsu's 地狱谷Ji Go Ku Dani

地狱谷 Aka. Hell Valley....A place of hot sulphur pool and fantastic landscape. The whole place is laden with hot spring resorts and many statues of cute demons. If the afterlife is like this, who wants to go to heaven? I think I took a lot of pictures of this place but most of them cannot make it. So I choose some that represent this place and form a collage.

The trip there from Sapporo is about an hour followed by a 20min bus ride into the hot springs area. We made a right decision to head for this place during the weekday as there were very little people....from the bus, to the souvenir shops, to hell valley and to the place we had one of our most authentic Japanese lunch.

We were the only customer, because it was after lunch hour and Noboribetsu town was actually pretty deserted. She can't understand us and we cannot understand her. So off the 3 of us to the front front of the shop and we started to choose our meal... using the famous japanese artificial food display. Lucky for us, we chose the same food, her very own Noboribetsu Ramen. Seeing the dedication and patience in preparing our meal, I was scared that we may miss our train to the next destination.

Each of the ingredients were nicely wrapped in individual wraps and she patiently unwrap them and arrange them next to our bowls while the soap was cooking. Some how, her timing was perfect.. the soup was done once she completes all those tasks...

The Ramen was served just like the ones we saw on the display... now where in Singapore will you find such consistency... you will be happy if they give you the same amount of ingredients shown in the menu :P

Oishi!!

Sunday, October 22, 2006

Day 5: Otaru

Otaru is just 30mins train ride from Sapporo and can be taken as a day trip.


Reached there around noon and had a good sushi lunch at one of the many sushi restaurants. Otaru is supposed to be famous for their sushi.

Shopping Street

It was pretty cold with the wind blowing...
Had coffee break to rest our legs...

To buy what he was making, needs to queue for an hour... skipped

Went through a few local sites, mainly old building, while on route to the infamous Otaru canel. Slowly but surely, the weather turned for the worst. It starts to pour... my first rain in the trip and that results me in unabling to shoot a picture of the canel which i really wanted to :(

Rather than being stuck in the rain, we hailed a cab to head back to the train station. The train had some problem leaving the station and we were delayed. 2 stops prior to Sapporo, an announcement was made that the train will have to stop at this location due to train fault. Talk about unlucky... well... not many people experience train faults in the seamlessly effecient train system in Japan.

Reached Sapporo late evening. Went to Odori park to take pictures of the TV tower and night... nice...

Day 3,4,5 : Sapporo

Sapporo : Capital of Hokkaido. Very easy to navigate and very modern. Stayed in Susukino, entertainment district of Sapporo.. and the people doesnt seem to sleep....hahaha.
Had my coldest experience here ... 2 degree Celcius.. with wind.. you can imagine....
Odori Park
Clock TowerTourist Trap...crazy price...... note the size of the horse...

Sapporo Beer Museum... Very good beer

Ginko Ave in Hokkaido Uni ... they did turn yellow for me :)
TV Tower at Night

Friday, October 20, 2006

Day 3: Photos

Hakodate

This smoked WHALE meat.... dun ask me if I have tasted it or not.....
Onuma Koen
A very tourist place no doubt, but it is the first place I actually see autumn colours. We hired a bike to cycle around at a ridiculous price of Y1000/2hrs, which is like S$13.50!! Worse still, the bikes became our burden. The lake was just a 5mins walk away and after that, the best mode of transport around the lake was actually FOOT!! Talk about getting ripped off. But the scenary was really great.