currently suffering from hokkaido withdrawal symptons. :(

25thnov

Flew for six and a half hours to Tokyo, Narita.
Quite a bad flight.
The leg space was horrid as usual. Hahah. :D
ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS BERNICE.
Watched Tokyo Drift as there werent anything else good.

Travelled to Haneda Airport for the domestic flight into Hokkaido.
The weather was already chilly with sharp and cold gusts of wind.

SHOP SHOP SHOP at Haneda airport. (:
Bought those Bento sets plus some other food to bring back.
Van Houten's hot cocoa is really nice. (:

Domestic flight was ancient.
The headset looked more like stethoscopes than headsets.
Hahah.

Landed in New Chitose Airport.

Late lunch and a visit to the Ainu village.
Some weird tribal place.
Their baby lullaby sounded more like the rolling of tongues and funny noises.

Since it was already winter, the sky turned dark really early, about four.

Checked into Lake Toya Resort.
Yukatas again for dinner just like the June trip!
Only this time the dinner was better.
There were like ten things on the tray for us to eat.
Plus warm, strong sake that we ordered. (:

The onsen was unbearably hot and scalding as we went into the wrong pool first.
GAH.

26th nov

Went to view the lake in the morning.
Pretty, pretty.

The bears at the bear ranch were amusing.
Hahah.
Since they were tall, big and well trained, they caught apples with their mouths directly and did funny arm actions to beg you to feed them.
:D
And they were HUGE.
Towering above us all.

Jigokundani/Hell valley was tiring.
We had to walk a long long way on pebbles/stones/gravel to get to the small pond where the water boils every ten minutes and rises.
My SMART MOTHER told me to wear boots that day as it was going to snow the next.
And the darn boots had spikey heels that were hard to walk in, in all that rocky stuff.
I ended up tip toeing all the way down the path.
hmph.

But it provided good grip and warmth though.
The floor was apparently slippery and someone from our tour group fell and sprained her ankle.
Hobbled all the way and pasted some weird Japanese plaster.

Extra shopping before dinner at Jusco and Aeon.
The stuff there was quite good. (:
Bought two pairs of shoes and a jacket.
While my mom bought YET ANOTHER WINTER COAT.

The sweet sake at the Sake brewery was yummy.
Hahah.
The kids/teens didnt get to drink cause the woman didnt want to give them as they were underaged.
But when it came to my turn, she just gave it to me like there wasnt anything wrong.
The good thing was that i got to drink.
But its BAD CAUSE IT MEANT THAT I LOOKED OLD!
MATURE'S JUST THE NICER WORD.

Ramen village for dinner.
The portion's really huge and the eggs had a weird taste.

Wind was biting cold when we came out but its a nice change from the humid spore weather.
:D

Checked into Crescent Hotel at Asahikawa.
Nice room with two parts.
Walked out to the shopping street and just looked.
Hahah.
It was already late and the shops were closing.
Late in Japan's standard.
The shops close about eight/nine.

27th nov

Sounkyo Gorge: Ryusei no taki Falls and Gingano taki Falls.
Translation: Shooting star and Milky Way falls.
HAHAH.

Freezing our butts off there.
It was quite high above sea level so the temperature was lower.
The wind was stronger and everything was well, COLDER.
My nose and ears felt like they werent there anymore.
And the leather gloves seemed to have ceased their functions.

Took group photos there.
Standing in the cold while waiting for seven or eight cameras to get their shots.
Everyone was just dying.

Stopped on the highway to take photos of the fallen snow.
Our driver was really cute and he made a snowman for us.

The highlight of that stop was my mom falling down.
WHOOPS. :D
She kept nagging at me and my dad not to walk on the road as the melted snow had turned into ice.
In the end, she ended up slipping and falling herself.
HAHAHA.
One moment she was walking to my dad to take a picture.
The next she was on the floor when i turned around.
HAHAH. :DD

The fox village was quite boring.
The foxes seemed full so they werent eating anything.
Plus they were shy and kept running away.

Lake Kussharo was fun.
The swans (I cant remember if they were swans. But i think so. Hahah.) came up to us and were aggressive.
Hahah.

There was this little hot spring thing that they made into a foot bath for us.
The water in the lake's cold, but when you dig up the sand, the water that comes up is hot.
Our good old driver dug it up for us. :D

A few of us decided to soak our legs and the water was HOT HOT HOT.
Hahah.
No one could stay down there for ten seconds.
But the guide claimed that he could for ten MINUTES.
Hoho.
Maybe thats what eight years of staying in Japan does to you.
He's actually a Singaporean.

The ice cream there was nice and milky. (:

Lake Mashu was next.
It was around four and getting quite dark so we didnt get to see the reflection of the mountains.
The lake doesnt freeze up in winter though. Interesting. :D

The temperature was below zero and my teeth were chattering.
Some of the pictures were blurred cause my hands were shaking.
Hahah.

Lake Akan view hotel in the night.
The buffet dinner was superb.

Huge crabs, fresh salmon, plus the main courses.
And of course the ice cream!
Rum raisin and Almond crunch!

The salmon was fresh so it didnt have the fishy taste.
The crabs were HUGE and tasted really yummy.
Ate till we were FULL.
(:
Shopping at the back lane of the hotel.
Nice cold weather again.

No one from my family except my dad wanted to go to the Hot spring.
And obviously i cant go with him cause male and female had separate hot baths.
So i ended up going alone. :(

Had a nice lone-ing time though.
Soaked in the two hot indoor ones before going out to the Outdoor ones.
Three tour mates were there.

The outdoor hot spring was good.
The cold wind blows at your face while youre soaked in the hot water.
Amazingly nice feeling. :D
I missing it horribly now.

28th nov

I looked out of the window after washing up and IT WAS SNOWING!
Since it was up in the mountains, the snow wont melt upon hitting the ground.
So everything turned white.

We grabbed our coats and went down to the front to play with the snow.
Finally FALLING SNOW after years.
It didnt snow in Europe, neither did it in China.

IT WAS BEAUTIFUL CAUSE EVERYTHING WAS WHITE.
Nothing but white.
Hahah.
It felt like Christmas and i was muttering FIVE GOLDEN RINGS under my breathe. (:

Our nice driver made ANOTHER snow man for us.

Stopped by another place for taking pictures.
It was freezing cold when we climbed up to have a better view.
And i didnt bring down my coat.
Ended up stuffing my hands into my pocket to keep myself warm.

Teppanyaki lunch was good. :D
They seem to give out bean sprouts for free.
Nobody finished all of theirs.
Hahah.

Reached Sapporo after five hours.
Went to another shopping lane and it was still snowing.
Just that since it was the city area, it landed on the ground and turned into water.
Chilly over there.
Bought Hokkaido's famous chocolate.
Shiroi Koibito
Bought so much that everything was packed into a box.
:D

Then to the famous Odori park.
The Snow Festival light up already begin.
But there werent any ice carvings yet.
The atmosphere was good and the JR tower looked like the Eiffel only smaller.
(:
Plenty of picture taking again.
The underground shopping's really good but we had no time.

JR tower shopping next.
The departmental stores were classifed into different lands.
Some lands being more branded then the others.
Bought another pair of shoes and a bag over there.

The dinner was another barbecue.
Chicken was good.
And the extra KOBE BEEF STEAK AND ABALONE.
The steak and abalone costed a good hundred over dollars.
Just one abalone and a piece of steak.
Though i dont take beef, i ate it and it was GOOOD.
Soft and tender.
Everything was cooked on the spot by the chef.
Even the abalone WITH THE SHELL.
Abalone was YUMMYLICIOUS. :DD

Keio Plaza for the night.
Five star hotel that had mirrors at the lift landing.

The meals were especially good,
and it snowed the whole of today. (:

Walked to the opposite store to get gum and just enjoy the cold air.

29 nov

Ishiya chocolate factory was like a chocoholic's dream come true.
The outside didnt even look like a factory.
The design reminded me of WILLY WONKA. :D

The design was nice and sweet.
CHOCOLATE HEAVEN basically.
Anther cam whore session.
Hahah.

They have little figurines everywhere that moved.
And a little museum liked place.

The mini houses outside were adorable.
Even the clock tower that had figurines that came out to dance every hour when the clock chimed.

Went to Otaru after that.

Lunch was even better than the other day's buffet dinner.
The crabs were four or five times the size of the ones over in spore.
:D
Salmon and the other stuff to put into the hotpot.

OH AND IT WAS SNOWING AGAIN. (:

It started snowing really heavily at the Otaru canal,
so it became nice and romantic to walk down the canal in the snow while enjoying every other thing.
The temperature was reaching below zero again.

Looked at a famous Gondola cause Prince Charles and Princess Diana sat on it before.
Hahah.
And it was also transported from Venice.

The Music box musuem was nice and homey.
Bought a glass musical box over there that played the Walt Disney song. (:

Had coffee at this little place where you get to keep the cups.
I had a musical cup that played It's a small world whenever i picked it up.
Cake and coffee while watching the snow fall outside.
Sweet.

Glass shop was just so-so.

Had more ice cream.
This time there were five flavours piled on the cone.
Lavender, Milk, Melon, Strawberry and coffee.
I hate melon but Hokkaido's famous for melon.
The good ones can cost up to a few hundred thousand yen for one.
Which was insane.

Dinner at the hotel.
Hotel nikko chitose which was near the airport.
Pathetic five course chinese dinner.

Walked out of the hotel again for the weather since it was our last night.
Had instant noodles in a cup as supper.
And calbee chips that were packed like they came from MnS.
The cup noodles had an egg inside. :D

1st dec

Chitose Airport for the domestic flight over to Tokyo Haneda.
Good flight this time.
The leg room was a tad better.
The pilot was good cause we landed with no ear pressure while the coming flights were plagued with it.

Then went from Haneda over to Narita.

Lunched in a nice Japanese restaurant.
Food was good as usual.

Shopped at Mono Comme Ca.
The shop that we missed in June cause we were rushing.
Bought a little pouch that was like my paul frank one.
And gum in a little purse on the spur of the moment cause i thought who cares.
I wont be back here in a long time anyway.
WHOOPS. (:

Flight back was pleasantly okay.
Good food.
Watched The devil wears prada again.
And a Japanese show called Heavenly Forest.
Quite a cute Japanese love story but i didnt get to see the ending cause they turned off the inflight entertainment system.
The music was not bad too. :D
Though the leg room was still as bad.
But better cause i sat at the aisle.

Landed in spore around 12.25.
Reached home around one in the morning.
Showered and went to bed without unpacking. (:

Randoms:

1.Our guide was funny.
He joked with us alot during the trip and was really helpful.

2.Our Japanese driver was a cute fella.
He always said something to everyone when going down or coming up the bus.
(:
he made snowmans everytime it snowed.
And bowling pins for my guide to knock down with a giant snowball.
Hahah. :D
He had a detailed map of Hokkaido and marked out the places we went to with coloured markers and even the distance we travelled each day.
With a photo of our group and the names of the guides and him.

3. Japanese people are small sized.
YES BERNICE. (: Hahah.
Judging by the leg room in the ANA flight,
the height of the door in one of the hotels,
the height of the roof in the bus.
Even a tour mate said so.

4. I lost my key charm on the first day!
How horridly unlucky. Now I'd have to go back and buy another.

5. Good packing skills are important when you go on hoildays! :D
I came home with four pairs of shoes in my suitcase excluding a pair of slippers,
when i only went with one.
Plus tons of food and other new stuff.
My mom was amazed when i told her i squeezed everything in without having too carry some on hand. Ho hum.

I miss Hokkaido,
the cold air,
THE SNOW,
the glorious food though i was really sick of hotpots,
the SHOPPING,
AND EVERYTHING! :(

LOVE.

We said good-bye with so much left to say
We knew inside we'd find another way
We'll have it all, it's not too late to try
Maybe you and I could go from here
Maybe you and I can make it, this time we'll...

Fall in love when we meet again
We can finish what we started
Fall in love if we try again
And then nothing will keep us apart