We headed back to Sapporo after the excursion and stay at Onsen Hotel. I liked to observe what the locals do and copy. They liked to put the train tickets in the ticket compartment to facilitate inspection by the train conductor. As a copy cat, I did so and just rested surfing net while the conductor did his tour of checks. Of cos, I would not do so in Europe.
其实我们第一晚已在札幌度过，有吃拉面，也有逛街看日本的手巾。有时想想，为何要看手巾？手巾太美了，会舍不得用的。 我们到了狸小路，当地的著名街道。我喜欢它的路名，有狐狸的谐音。
It was a long stretch of streets. Compared to BKK, this place was more orderly and spacious. A good walk after dinner and not too crowded even on weekdays after work. Besides the huge cosmetics department, I called it "department" as it was really huge unlike the pharmacy shops back at homeland. Not sure why I preferred old rural streets compared to modern bitumen streets. Perhaps, it was the rural feel that attracted me the most.
We went to visit the Hokkaido University to take a look. Frankly after our first visit to BKK University, I thought it was a good idea to take a look at the University. How they studied, where they hanged around, what food they sold at the canteen. That's why I was quite excited when we went tohoku and makaned at one of the universities last time. This winter and as we were abit late in the late afternoon, many undergrads were already heading out of the university. We saw bicycles trapped in thick layers of snow and I wondered how the owners were taking them out?
The University has a very famous motto "Boys, be ambitious". This caught my attention a lot though my wife said it was "MCT". Hee. Actually, I have read that the "Principal" had actually meant "Boys" as "All". Internet websites also explained that it could be explained as "Boys and Girls, Be Ambitious". Yes, need to be ambitious. Ambitious to find the best sushi and hokkaido ramen for me.
I used to eat Salmon Sushi only even when I went Japan last two rounds. This time, I have an exception. I ate Toro and Sea Urchin! I especially liked Toro as it tasted very different from what I used to eat for Salmon. Tuna - the best part of Tuna - Toro was simply amazing. We went Nijo Market - a different walk to find its location - and we were rewarded to find a small stall selling nice sushi. This sushi trip was a climax in my sushi eating history. I not only liked Salmon but also Toro and this was something I looked forward to in future. 我有点怕吃海胆寿司，但我在北海道，一定要吃。看看老婆这么爱吃海胆，非sushi不可。
Noboribetsu Onsen (登别温泉)
is quite a famous onsen village in Sapporo. I managed to secure a booking at Takimotokan. Read from guidebook that it has both indoor and outdoor onsen and superb in-room dining meals. This should be the ideal "dream" onsen and in-room dining for my dear?
The onsen hotel was located very near to "Hell Valley". In fact it was a 10 mins walk from the hotel and one plus point for us to stay there. We chanced upon a HK couple wanting to share cab to reach Noboribetsu Onsen. It was about 3000 Yen for each location if I remembered correctly. Not worth the rush and better to take the local bus at JR station. The HK guy was quiet and he allowed the HK girl to approach us on the sharing of cab. I told my wife I would do such talk instead.
The in-room dining was really an experience for us. We waited for the waitress to serve us and she would do up the table nicely and arrange the food for us. The setting was really like what we saw in Japan Hour. Against the cold snowy backdrop and mountain, and sulphur smell, sitting on tatami mat, wearing our Japanese "Ainu" looking gown, we enjoyed the dinner alot. The hairy crabs were "hairy" and though I took abit, I could sense their freshness. Everything were arranged neatly and it was like an art. We usually didnt take pictures of ALL dishes but this time we did. Much fascinated by the art of Japanese dining. As it was an expensive meal, I ate almost everything. Except the prawn's head and maybe pickle.
Lucky my wife suggested for us to try in-room dining or else I would completely "miss the point" of visiting the onsen. Deep in my heart and mind, I have decided to do such in-room dining for my future japan trips.
The hotel was really very big and grand. You needed a map to walk around and there were so many rooms and lifts and shops. We spent some time and yen in a shop. Bought our lavender pillows. Saw the horse lotion that the hotel has recommended and used in the onsen. The horse lotion seemed to promote good hair growth. I actually didnt use it during the onsen bath as I worried that it might not work well for my hair. Didnt want to experiment on my hair.
It was interesting that the "demon" was actually not portrayed as scary ones at the Hell Valley. In fact, they were like mascots. There seemed to be a story behind these creatures. I didnt notice the plush toys shown in my wife's camera shot. If not, I would get a pair for souvenir. Just that I am not sure where I could place them @home. The red coloured one looked like one who soaked into the hot onsen for a long time?
Breakfast could not be in "in-room" dining style and it was in a very big canteen. You would flip the cardboard on the table to indicate that the seat was taken and the concept was similar to Marche. We chose a small table and off my wife to the makan selection trays. There was a mini episode when two families were not "fighting over" a joint table - seemed that they didnt notice that the long table comprising 8 seats (4 per table) was already occupied. No real quarrel or fight.
Not sure when I started this habit of glancing at other tables to see what they were eating. I would be "kapo" and "borrow" notes from neighbouring tables to see and take similar food. I loved the hokkaido milk. Without fail, I would drink the milk. Frankly, I already have the mindset that the milk was very fresh as the cows were eating top grade grass and enjoying fresh air. Radiation was never in my mind anyway. My wife has really adapted to waking up early to eat Japanese breakfast. She really enjoyed such routine and without fail to go makan with me.
The checkout time was 10 am and we didnt want to incur additional charges. We planned for a short trek to Hell Valley after checking out. At the visitors' centre, we saw a cute little snowman. This was one of the better snowmen we saw in Sapporo. The others were basically created by me. Initially I still thought it was a "fake one". This snowman actually got two horns and I guessed it represented the hell valley demon? Cute though.
In case you or me were wondering how could a blog about onsen hotel without sharing onsen experience? This sharing of onsen experiences deserved a separate entry.
The journey up to the mountain was interesting and it required skillful driver - definitely not me. The bus had to drive through snowy roads and snowy weather and it gave me goose pimples when the driver was negotiating sharp turn. We were looking at the map to determine where to alight as we did not want to be alighting at the wrong stop up in the mountain. We got help from fellow travellers and bus driver but still didnt see our HI Hostel initially. It was a cool wooden hostel and we were anticipating the indoor and outdoor ONSEN - the feel of powdery snow on us in warm onsen. We explored and walked up a spiral staircase up the "watch tower" in the hostel and it was a nice "white christmas" view. We had our drink and short chat here - something like what we had done at 长洲。
It was however a pity that the outdoor onsen was spoilt, a disappointment to us. We then hoped for a sumptuous dinner in "canteen style". It was the first time that our "food" were actually waiting for us haha. I quite liked the soup and the chicken nuggets. The tea was hot and nice too and it warmed us. Initially, I was equating this as a form of "in-room dining" but it wasnt so. We didnt go for breakfast package as we had planned to take the ropeway up to the peak in the morning.
I had wanted to surprise my wife when I was hiding behind the curtain and opening the window to make a snow man. The snow was so fine and powdery that I could only manage the body and not the head after several attempts in the morning. We had snow falling outsides our windows and the feeling of white christmas was there. My wife woke up and suggested to put our drinks in the snow as natural fridge. It was real fun as we didnt stay so close to snow before. Snow was literally besides us.
大雪山 － 给我们有圣诞的感觉。 一棵棵树被雪白的雪盖着，是真正的圣诞树。
We walked hand in hand to the ropeway station and many people were in fact skiing. It was a steep way down and I dun think I have the skills to ski down. As usual, I shared with my wife on my "skiing experience" telling her how to walk like a crab, how to stop and change direction. However, I lowered my voice as there were many experts around queuing to go into the ropeway.
I wonder how beautiful it would be with different colours of autumn in the mountain. Not sure why but I felt that white was elegant. It gave me a different feeling - something that I would like to experience and see as in a white christmas winter. Hokkaido was famous for powdery snow and we had indeed experienced it.
我时不时在看是否有hokkaido fox， 但没有它的足迹，只在宿舍看到它的照片。有趣的是我们哼着叶正文的歌 hokkaido fox, 穿梭在白白的雪路中，偶尔也向对方抛雪球。 Dun use stone covered with snow next time, ok?
We took Ana to Narita and transit to Sapporo. This was the first time that we used a Japanese airline - overall feel was clean and order. It would be better if they had provided toothbrushes ;P.
Hokkaido has been one of my dream places to tour. It gives me the impression of harsh cold and snow. Mysterious and rural. Not so when we stepped onto the ground of Sapporo. Before checking in Route Inn, we played a while with the snow. Snow = Rain? haha.
Our first focus point of the Hokkaido trip was to see the drift ice in Abashiri. This meant that we needed to take train all the way to the east of Hokkaido, about 5-6 hrs of journey. Abashiri was a small town - small literally and relative to Sapporo city. Our Route Inn was opposite to the train station and it has a very nice view of the canal leading to the harbor. The harbour or port was the destination we needed to go to board the ship to see the "drift ice". We understood from the info centre that the drift ice had drifted away. In my thoughts, I still hoped for miracles or at least a piece of drift ice. So, I already made up my mind to go for it and hoping to see it.
We met a taiwanese girl who also wanted to chase after the drift ice. Dear said stubborn people. We boarded the boat with "resistance" indirectly from wife haha. We saw many sea gulls and they were really big. The ticket staff gave us discount on the tickets as they said NO DRIFT ICE, OK? And I "OK". At this stage, I thought we could see some sea creatures at least. Well, we ended up seeing many sea gulls. The upper deck was cold and the feeling was good though. This was the first time we cruised with snow-covered islands around us.
Then, we decided to go for Abashiri Prison, a very well-known and feared one due to the harsh winter. It could drop to minus 30 degrees for the compound. I also read about having the prisoners' meals at the canteen and suggested to have lunch there. The Prison compound was interesting and big. One amazing structure design was the guard post which was designed and modeled after the belgium prison. The 5 corridors to the cells were diverging from the guard post as the focal point. This allowed the guard to see if there were any escape attempts easily. We tried the prisoners' food which was more suitable for my dear. The fish was full of bones which I was lazy to eat and feast on it. Basically I thought the food was better than I thought. Mum used to say "黑豆饭" but the meals here were definitely not. Maybe needed to suit tourists' needs as well?
We took a bus down to Abashiri Lake where there might be "Smelt Fishing". This was something that was unique and I wanted it to be another focus of our Abashiri trip. Too bad we were one day late. It was risky to walk on the frozen lakes but this did not stop us from walking there. We stopped at the signpost "Abashiri Lake" and convinced ourselves no fishing for us. Talking about stubbornness?
We hitched a ride back to JR Station cos there were NO BUS. It was quite funny as we were the only two persons walking along the Lake and road. Of cos, it was an enjoyable walk seeing the ducks swimming in the canal next to the Lake.
