Our Japan Honeymoon: Day 3

beautiful sunrise while still on the Hokutosei..it looked better when the train was going past the sea but darling didn't take the photo while i was freshening up myself so wasted...

we arrived at Hakodate at 630am...and tranferred to our train to Noboribetsu...

our train to Noboribetsu..it was so freaking cold at Hakodate!

the Kirin 午後の紅茶 is my fav milk tea fr Japan..and i gotta drink it everytime when i go there..and during the winter and spring time..they will hav hot ones available too..

we arrived at Noboribetsu..its a v quiet train station and town..unlike the hassle we see every morning in Tokyo..

while waiting for the bus to go to our ryokan..There's a bear park in Noboribetsu...so it became sort of their icon..This is a real bear but it was preserved...i cld hav been easily eaten up by it if i met it in the wild!

Another icon of Noboribetsu is the Hell Demon..

it was v v cold even thou the sun was bright and shinning!

we left our luggage at our ryokan - Daichi Takimotokan and proceed to the Hell Valley

Blue sky and beautiful mountain range..wat else can u ask for? its called Hell Valley cos all the spring water for onsen in the town r piped fr this area..and becos its v hot..we can constantly see smoke fr the ground..thus the name Hell Valley..

getting too cold for comfort..i had to wear my gloves..even thou its at Hell Valley and even thou its sunny..it was freaking cold..and there was oso strong wind blowing...even darling had to take out his thick gloves to wear..

PS: the big hands were not mine..i was juz holding on to darling's big gloves when he was setting the camera on timer..

can c the fumes fr the ground...which is y this place is called the Hell Valley..

there was a mini hot spring and gosh..it was bubbling hot!! the water became overheated and boiled and spilled out fr its little hole..

so scare my camera will fall into the water..den tat's it liao..hah..

Hell Valley is a gd place for trekking during the summer time...during winter and early spring..the snow actually covered alot of the trekking roads..so made it impossible to walk far...we walked to places where the snow were cleared...

my first snow experience!!! clean white snow!

Surprisingly..the higher we go..the less cold it got..and we cld took off our jackets..darling said cos there was no wind at the top...

check out the white white snow!! i was so happy to c the snow on the floor...woo hoo!

a rather dirty volcano lake..prob cos of the mineral deposits..

there were some areas which we wanted to venture to but unfortunately the snow was not cleared and it was impossible to walk in our normal shoes...

darling wanted to try snow ski...so we asked the ryokan front desk and they recommend this ski place where we can rent the equipment and ski.. we got bento lunch and ate on the bus..

mine..

his bento set

we fin our lunch and juz nice, we reached the ski place.. snow on mountains..

the real ski mountain..

unfortunately..we didnt do any ski at all cos it turns out tat renting the whole set of equipment is going to cost a bomb..and we r beginners..so it was best tat we take lessons otherwise its going to b quite dangerous..i asked darling to go ahead without me cos i wasn't very keen to ski in the 1st place..but he didn't wan to..

so we were practically stuck at the ski place cos the next bus back to our ryokan is at 4pm!! and the time was only 1pm when we reached the ski place..how to spend 3 hrs u tell me? den i thot of asking ppl for a ride back down to our ryokan area...so everytime i see someone going out to get their car..i will ask them which way they going and if they can give us a ride...

after the 4th try..i finally got a very nice lady who is going the same direction as us!!! woo hoo!! i was sooooooo super happy cos it meant tat i wouldnt be stuck in a place doing nothing! i chatted wif the lady on the car and she mentioned tat this yr's snow was not as much so skiing wasn't tat fun..and she was surprised tat we in Spore know SMAP and the other Japanese singers and movie stars...

we can finally check into the hotel and i m super longing for a nice long bath...the ryokan had special front desk ladies who are dressed in Yukatas and helped us with our luggage and brought us to our room..

the tatami rm..

when we were in the rm..she even made tea for us..gave us some explanation of the rm facilities..i'm v impressed and pampered!

the nice snacks and green tea

after a nice shower, we went to try out the onsen..no photos on it cos cant bring camera in..cos everyone walked ard butt naked..how to take photo?

anyway, the onesen..all i can say tat its super shiok!!! i chose this ryokan cos there were many diff kind of onsen pools for dipping..all for different kind of functions.. and i tried the outdoor onsen..its juz like in Japan Hour! wat u see is wat i get...its was v chilly outside..but i quickly stepped into the pool..the nice landscape surrounding the pool made the onsen experience super unforgettable..there's even a bar counter selling beer and sake..darling said he wanted to order but he cant speak the language..but i tink it will be super shiok to drink sake and dip onsen at the same time!

met darling back at the rm for dinner buffet which was included in our rm package...the spread was super..nvr ate japanese food buffet tat can b so fresh! spore japanese buffet restaurants shd learn fr their counterparts in Japan lah..

BBQ Scallop