South Korea & Japan Winter Trip 2007 - Day 5

17/12  Noboribetsu  date historical village, Volcano, Sapporo, Noodle Street, Odori Park.

We slept so early last night!!  It's just soon after we enjoyed our nice hot spring because we wanted to get up early today so that we could enjoy the sun more!!!

So this is our bedroom!!  It isn't that bad...quite good in fact, but we just made it too messy after one night!!!

We had a nice buffet breakfast at hotel and asked for some travel information at the help desk.  We met a couple from HK, they suggested us to go Noboribetsu date historical village rather than the bear park.  They also suggested us to take a taxi to there because the bus to there was expensive and they didn't run so frequently.

So, we took their advice, picked the discounted coupon at the hotel counter and the staff in the hotel helped us to keep our luggage and call taxi to there.  It's our first time to take taxi in Japan.  I had never planned to take taxi in Japan as I didn't think I could afford it!!!!!!  However, it wasn't that expensive as I expected!!

So here is the entrance of Noboribetsu date historical village, we met a huge group of Hong Kong people following the tourist trip to there...so strange to hear that much Cantonese~~

A big hint here, I know it isn't good to tell this kind of trick, but if you don't have enough money, you can try but I never tried!!  We waited for Alban for helping us to buy entrance tickets to the village while we're just taking some silly pictures with those performances.  After Alban coming back we entered the village but found that there were no entrance gate at all, they didn't check our tickets for entering everything!!!!  So strange, and the ticket office is located far away from the entrance as well!!!  So I think you don't have to buy a ticket for entering it, but of course it's illegal!!!!!  I hadn't tried that, we're good people, we  didn't do that illegal thing, we bought the tickets that were quite expensive!!!

So we're heading to the village now!!

The village is so nice, it's just like bring us back to the old time although we know everything is faked!!

Michelle and me were just too happy to see these kind of traditional Japanese building, we wanted to have take some cute pictures here...haha..so cute around here...

Alban join ed us as well..we wanted to imitate the TVB actress Yu Mei who came to Japan for producing a Japan tourist programme,   She was so cute during the TV, but we knew she was just pretended to be cute..

Haha...I didn't pretend it, just natural cute....hahah

Very nice street...like at the old time..

Suddenly, a big snow.....I've worn my ski trousers with a tight inside...so quite warm...

Can you see the snow flying??  We entered the house for watching a show.  Alban enjoyed it quite well, but Michelle & me felt quite bored as we totally didn't understand what they're speaking. 

There was one interesting to let you know, when you first enter the show room, the staff will give you a piece of paper, guess what is that used for???  After the show, the staff will ask you to throw money to the stage, if you like their show.  It's all optional, we didn't throw it out but it's funny to see people throwing money.

It's just nice to take many pictures because everywhere is so beautiful.

Very big snow, this man must be so cold.........Nevertheless, he was so professional.

We went to watch a funny show, I had totally no idea what made the audience laugh a lot!!!  After the show, we went to take a pictures with the artists....I found their pictures in my book which means they have been working here for a very long time.

we've a big snow.....

We're pretending that Fortune cat..

so silly we were....

Don't you feel we're so happy and relaxed??  Guess what? Michelle got cramps (抽筋) while she's doing this post.
 

This house is so funny, I love most, highly recommended!!

So here is inside the house...

Funny illusion, I was standing straight, but the house built in a way let me look like falling..cool!

Then we found a house where the staff was taking rest there (I guess), they asked us come to join them because they're heating up some water to keep themselves warm...wow..so nice to us!!!  As a result we came close to the boiling water for warming...then somebody helped us to take a pictures, they're so professional to make some cool postures for us!!!Yeah~~~After we left that house, I just told Michelle they're so professional even they're 蛇王中!

So after visiting the village, the staff there helped us to call a taxi back to our hotel's area, we went for hiking!!!!

The volcano area, we've been there last evening, we're going to hike in day time!!

The volcano is totally different from day and night time.

It's very difficult to hike here as they don't have some deep slope, but the snow made the road so smooth!! Michelle and me were like skiing...ah...so bad..I didn't want to ski here....

Michelle would like to try the foot bath introduced by the hiking map, we finally hiked to this foot bath, but whe she saw this situation, she was speechless.  Eventually, she gave up her plan.

A very hot spring....the smell was quite bad!!

Nice picture!!

haha..裕美again~

Guess what???  How Alban did it??  He supposed to write his name, but his tool was used up...hahah..guess what is that tool..it's a very nasty thing in fact....  I won't say it here!

A straight road back to the hotel....

After the hiking, it's time for us to leave this little rural city and back to the biggest city in Hokkaido - Sapporo!!!

We took a bus in front of the hotel to the JR station of Noboribetsu.  The JR is very convenient transportation in Japan, but it is not the only way!!  Bus is another convenient transportation and usually cheaper than JR.  However, it normally takes a bit longer time, so if you're in a short trip, you may not want to try it!!  In our case, we've time to spend, and in fact it's like only 30-60 minutes different...so we always take the cheapest way!!!  The bus in Japan is quite similar to Hong Kong one.  I don't mean their physical design but the system to announce the  next station we are going.  There is a display panel on the front to let all passengers know where you are!!!!

So we arrived Sapporo, the bus stop near the JR station, and our hostel is located near the JR Station as well!!!  We booked a YHA hostel, it's like a 8 persons dorm, but there were only we 3 living in this room!!  So, it's pretty cool.  Anyway, after settle down, we went out to find some good food!! 

We couldn't believe that Sapporo was that tiny, we could walk to most tourist places on foot!!!  All streets were systemic, it's very easy to find all places, you won't get lost in this city!

Here we come to a street that is full of little noodle restaurant.  It's my first time to have Japanese noodle in this kind of small restaurant!!  It's very popular in the Japanese TV drama series!!

We've a dinner here...you can see the whole cooking process, but the taste wasn't very outstanding.  The price of a bowl of noodle is at least 750 yen.  I'd say you can eat better with that price.  Anyway, it's good to have a try, but it's only worth for once only!!!

This is the Odori Park...very famous tourist spot in Sapporo~~

It's nice and romantic here when the park was covered by snow!!

The tower like.. Eiffel Tower???  No..I don't think so, this one is much shorter!!!  Alban said he was sick with the tower...hahah..yes....me too..we've no intention to go up and see because I know there is a mountain in Sapporo where have a better view!!!

Snow fighting....  hahah..we're just like kids...Alban wasn't nice to us...he started the fight.. both Michelle  & me were put to lay on the snow...it's really cold!!!!!!!  However, it's very fun at the same time!!!

This is another famous clock building....we would visit it again in the day time.

After a long day, we came back to the hostel to sleep...I wouldn't recommend people living to close to the JR station, because it's really noisy when the train passing by!!

South Korea & Japan Winter Trip 2007 - Day 4

16/12 Incheon Internation airport, Sapporo New Chitose Airport, Noboribetsu

We have an early flight to Sapporo 10:10am, so we had to leave Corey's home at 6am something.  It's really early that the outside was totally dark and cold, but Corey was so nice to wake up and accompanied up to catch a taxi to the metro station.  He was the one who insisted to accompany us, we didn't expect he would do so and never asked for it.   Corey was just so nice, my first coughsurfing experience was too great!!!

Corey and me at his house.  He said he would come to HK in Feb, Michelle and me should treat him a big dinner to thank him!!

On the way to the airport and we could see the sunrise, it's so nice..........

So we first met Alban in the airport, and he had many friends accompanying him to the airport and saying goodbye to him.  A girl even cried, wah...I didn't know Alban was so popular to the girls even that he only stayed in Seoul for one semester only.  However, Alban didn't cry!!!!!  I remember the day when he left HK, Michelle and me cried heavily, and I forgot if he had cried.  Alban told me he cried during his flight back to France.  We didn't accompany him to the airport because he left HK in early morning, and I thought it would be too sad to say goodbye at the airport, so we just say goodbye in the hall.....it's sad enough to separate after being together nearly whole year to share loads of happy and unforgettable moments.   Thanks someone innovated airplane, so that we could meet each other so easy now, we will keep traveling the world together in the future!!!!

Our airplane!!!  I think that Korean may love their country so much, the airport was dominated by Korean Air & Asiana Airline....I don't think we can find that many airplane from CX & Dragonair  in HK airport.

Bye Korea~~See you soon!

Nice sky..

Don't think that Japan & Korea are so close, we took 2hours and 40 mins from Seoul to Sapporo.  It's a long way....in fact from Hong Kong to Seoul takes only 3hours something....

Heading to Sapporo New Chitose Airport...so much snow~~

Everything in Japan is so cute, I couldn't believe that they have pikachu airplane as well!!

We saw so many high school students in the airport....not sure what they were doing.

There are good souvenir shops in Sapporo airport, we had to control ourselves not buying so much and we really did it.  We missed the delicious chocolate we tried there, so bad that we couldn't find it outside the airport!

Not sure how cold it was, should be below zero degree, but the sun made us feel so warm!!!

I must recommend a hotel in Noboribetsu to you all, this hotel is really good and cheap.  It's called Noboribetsu Onsen Takimotoinn (第一潼本館INN) . (http://www.takimotoinn.co.jp/index.html)

Many people asked me how could I reserve the hotels in Japan with that very cheap price.  I have to introduce some good website for you all to do the research online, they are:

http://travel.rakuten.co.jp/

http://www.tabi.tv/

http://www.jalan.net/

All websites are in Japanese, but if you know Chinese, you can probably know the operation of the websites, if you don't you can use some translation tool.  The websites give you very good ideas about the price and the vacancy status of the hotels.  You can reserve the hotel online directly if your register to become the member of the website.  The membership fee is free, and you don't need to pay any deposit for making reservation.  However, I will prefer to send email to the hotel directly, because you will have more information about the hotel, and normally you will have better price and services.  For example, the website may only show double room, but if you send an email to ask if they have any triple room, they may have it.   So, always send email to the hotel directly. 

So, I booked the Noboribetsu Onsen Takimotoinn from it websites, it's only 5925yen (~HKD420)  per each person.  It included a triple room, a shuttle bus pick up from Sapporo Airport to the hotel (it costs more than 1600 yen by public transport), very grand and good quality of hot spring (the hotel makes a creditable claim to being the largest spa in Asia), very delicious dinner and breakfast buffet, and a free shuttle bus from the hotel to Sapporo city though we didn't take it!!!  I think this is the best hotel I tried in Japan in price and quality!!!!!  Highly recommended!

After taking around 1 hour shuttle bus from the airport, we had to interchange another shuttle bus to the hotel.   We saw the big devil that is very famous in Noboribetsu.

So we have arrived our hotel...very decent!!!!

We settled down our stuff and explored the surroundings.  Basically, most tourists spots are close to our hotel, so we were just do some random walking.  It's only 4pm something, but the sun went down so early!!

The hell valley.....Sulphurous volcanic pits and geysers that is very famous......

Don't know what is it.

We're wondering if this guy had worn underwear....so silly!

Trying to bite something...silly picture again..

So big snow...first time to experience that big snow.....interesting!!

It'd be more romantic if Michelle could be replaced by a guy.

Alban Caron was so eager to ski.

We saw the volcanoes finally..

It's so amazing, never seen the so many volcanoes in that close..

Not sure if the volcanoes is living or died already...but there were hot smoke and very strong sulphur smell emitting.

Self photo taking...the sulphur smelt like shit though...

Alban took us from the ground..

I took Alban from the top..

Well.....just like other tourists, we had to take a photo in front of this big sign......

Sometimes, I feel that human is just too tiny in this universe.

We found that there were many convenient shops in Japan, and most of them with a sign to indicate that they sold alcohol.  It's quite weird to give an alcoholic image to the Japanese.  

A little travel tips to all: Most convenient shops in Japan have ATM, you can withdraw money from there.  Some local convenient shop may only accept Japanese bank, but 7-11 is always international.  Alban couldn't withdraw money from the ATM at the airport, but he could withdraw money here!!

After the little exploration in the volcano area, we walked down a bit to the little shopping street..

I guess it's the king of the hell...

Actually, we 3 took this silly picture, but it's just too silly to post up here.  I guessed Alban wouldn't mind showing his picture here, would you?

We were very hungry as we didn't eat anything other than the food served on flight, and some free samples in the supermarket at the Sapporo airport.  We still had one hour to wait for the dinner after the volcano sightseeing.  We went to some souvenir shop and wished to try some free sample again!!!  Eventually, we were attracted by this cake and bought some to share....It looked really good but the taste was just so..so...

Heavy snow.......I only had 130000yen (~HKD9100) for staying in Japan for 2 weeks, so I didn't want to spend too much money at the beginning of trip.

Finally, it's 6pm!!!  We went back to to our hotel for dinner!!!  The dinner was unbelievable great with many different types of food!!!!  It's a buffet dinner.....we're so full and happy with our first meal in Japan!!

We're just too concentrated in eating and forget to pictures.  I just found this picture that have Alban and the fried shrimp.  Alban looked so feminine!!   

After the dinner, we couldn't wait but come back to take a shower and go for hot spring!!!!  The hotel provided us the dressing, it's so tradition....love it!!

I took similar picture when I first visited Tokyo 4 years ago while we were sleeping in hot spring hotel at Mt. Fuji.  The hot spring in that hotel was quite small and I was so shy to be completely naked, so I didn't try last time.  I promised myself to be brave and open-minded for trying the hot spring even with my very close friend Michelle this time.  haha....ctually, I went with Michelle last time as well....I was just so shy and embarrassed because we're just so close, I didn't mind to be naked with a group of strangers.

The hot spring is located just opposite our hotel in 1 minute walking, it's weird to wear like this to walk out. Anyway I read that hot spring in my book, it said that it was the greatest hot spring in this district, and I heard that the hotel claimed that it's the largest spa in Asia!!!! 

Of course, we couldn't take any picture inside the hot spring, but I could tell you it's just so wonderful, they have many different types of hot spring, I love the outdoor hot spring!!!!  It's really amazing experience!!!!  The snows were just dropping to my head and shoulder while my body was so warm to be immersed into the hot spring!!!  It's just so good~~~~  I love it!!!

The hotel provided some skin care products for us after the hot spa..Michelle and me both felt that every part of our skin were just so smooth~~~~

I've downloaded some picture from the official website : http://www.takimotokan.co.jp/paradise/index.html

Can you feel our happiness in this hot spring experience??