Day 2
Time: 0546h
Place: Tokyo
Temperature: 24 C
Weather: Fine

よこうそ！Once again bringing you live coverage of my trip to Japan.. of course, all of these are being jotted down in my notebook before being transferred here.. currently its 27mins to touchdown at Narita Airport.. a total flight time of 6.5 hrs.. and quite a turbulent one i'ld say.. managed to catch a couple of winks though..

Oh ya.. was surprised to find that Andrew from my company law class was actually on the same package tour as me! and that's like unexpected incident #2 after me, qq, yang wee, shi wei and chee wei bumped into him at Chomp Chomp during dinner time on tax exam day..

have been quite a while since i took a plane.. and i got a reminder of how uncomfortable it was to try to sleep in the seat.. haha.. actually got distracted just now as the plane made its descent.. was watching the nice scenery outside the window.. will continue on my updates later..

Edit: Exchange rate @ S$1.35 to 100Y


On the ANA flight to 成田空港

Time: 0944h
Place: 羽田空港　(はねだくうこう) Haneda Airport
Weather: Fine

Finally in Japan.. now at 羽田空港 waiting for the domestic flight (edit: had taken a shuttle bus from　成田空港 Narita Airport to here) connecting to 札幌千歳　Sapporo Chitose.. somehow have this feeling that the tour will be quite laid back.. as confirmed by the tour guide, the flight from SG to 成田空港 was one of the most turbulent that he've encountered..



e japanese are well known for their vending machines which sells just abt anything.. but to see 1 such unusual vending machine personally is really an eye opener.. flight insurance for 1,000 yen anyone?



e erm 可愛い　kawaii plane tt i took for e domestic flight to sapporo.. pika pika pikachu!!!



e head rest for e pikachu plane..

Time: 1245h
Place: 千歳 (ちとせ) Chitose

Arrived at 千歳 Chitose at 1245h and had this for lunch:



some traditional jap food to start off e trip.. also met some sec school children raising funds (flag day) outside e restaurant where we had our lunch:



Time: ~1530h
Place: 登別地獄谷　(のぼりべつじごくだに) Noboribetsu Jigokudani

1645h and i was done exploring 登別地獄谷　Noboribetsu Jigokudani in 支笏洞爺国立公園 Shikotsu-Toya National Park:





the first thing tt u'll notice when u get off e coach is e distinctive sulphuric smell of e air.. in e 2nd pic u can see a geyser in e background churning out sulphuric steam.. e place was actually similar to e one which i saw in 箱根　Hakone on a previous trip to Japan..



still at 登別地獄谷.. one of e statues found there.. and directly oppostite it was this:



me and andrew posing for a pic..



sakuras in full bloom.. my package tour was called "hokkaido flower tour" or something like tt.. but i think e timing of my trip wasn't good.. lavender wasn't in season and it also wasn't winter.. but i was lucky to catch e last of e sakura blooms before they wither away and as u'll see later on, i managed to catch e start of e tulip season.. due to its colder weather, sakuras tend to bloom later and hence wither later in hokkaido than in other parts of japan..

Time: ~1800h
Place: 洞爺湖 (とうやこ) Lake Toya







reached 洞爺歓光ホテル Toya Kanko Hotel around evening time, our hotel for e 2nd day.. it is situated beside 洞爺湖, which was where e G8 summit was held this year, from july 7-9.. a very scenic place, as u'll see in e photos tt follow.. e temperature was a cooling 16 C..



but first, we cooked (oops, i meant soaked) our feet in a foot bath near e hotel.. water from e foot bath was drawn from underground and is e same as those used for e 温泉 onsen facility tt e hotel had..



flowers in bloom.. zooming out:





zooming out more:



e view from outside my hotel room.. we sighted a few gulls flying around e next morning outside our window, a couple of times at a very close distance too.. a further look at our hotel room:





the sideroad beside e hotel..



dinner time!!! yum yum.. like any other typical jap meal, there were many many side dishes.. guaranteed to make u full and satisfied.. there was after-dinner activity, where we had karaoke singing in e same room where we had our dinner.. singers included our tour guide, 1 of e female hotel stuff and a family of 5.. e karaoke system actually has quite a lot of songs, from japanese to western to chinese to hokkien..

soon it was time to stop singing and to head outside to take a look at some fireworks.. sponsored by e hotels situated along e perimeter of 洞爺湖, e fireworks are a daily event (barring bad weather).. although nothing quite like those at NDP, the fireworks were nice to look at:



they actually threw some of e fireworks onto e water surface and letting them explode there.. e fireworks had a couple of seconds delay between them and were shot as the firework boats moved along e lake, beside e whole stretch of hotels..









some pictures taken on e morning of e 3rd day, before we left our hotel:



price list for motor boat rides around lake toya..



heavenly..



view outside my room..



japanese hospitality.. they even waved mini singapore flags at us as e coach moved out of e hotel parking lot.. how cool is tt..

Edit: there is nothing much to do in e vicinity of e hotel (no shopping), other than sight seeing (lake toya) and having onsen in e hotel.. a convenience store is located directly opposite e hotel.. personal ratings for e hotel is tt facility wise, it is probably average.. hospitality wise, very good..