7 Days Flower World of Hokkaido

[twtan14]

I was kind of surprized to find Stir Fried Rice Vermicelli in Hokkaido. Was it to cater to the Chinese visitors from asia, especially those from Taiwan?

Some of you, especially the older generations might not take to western meals, like the couple who sat with me, told me they must have rice for every meals. Plain rice and porridge were also provided to go with the below dishes.

Assorted Pickled Vegetables - I am clueless as to what most of the dishes were, saved for a couple of them.

Starting from the bottom two rows are Salmon, the next two are Kombu (Kelp) and the rest should be Ika no Shiokara or fermented squid or it's guts. The first two dishes were yummy but I just cannot stomach the salty fermented squid.

Natto is a traditional Japanese food made from soybeans fermented with Bacillus subtilis. It is popular especially as a breakfast food. Natto may be an acquired taste because of its powerful smell, strong flavor, and slimy texture but eating it is supposed to be beneficial to the health of the body.

 

[twtan14]

Shirasu (Dried Baby Sardines) or whitebait is eaten in two ways - "as is" over white rice or mixed with grated daikon (giant white radish) and flavoured with soy sauce.

Here we have Himono (Sun-dried Fish) and the type of fish used is usually horse mackerel. This resembled our local salted fish both in appearance and texture. I am sure this goes very well with the rice.

OK, I'll try my best to identify the below Pickles Vegetables, starting from the left to right. Do correct me if I got any of them wrong since there weren't any name labels by the dishes.

• Kyuri Asazuke are simple pickles made of cucumbers marinated in a salt brine (shiozuke) that is sometimes seasoned with konbu, togarashi pepper and/or vinegar.
• Shibazuke Shibazuke is a Kyoto specialty pickle made of cucumber, eggplant, perilla leaves (shiso), ginger and myoga (a mild flavored relative of ginger) pickled in plum vinegar (umezu), a byproduct of making pickled plums (umeboshi).
• Takuan is made of Japanese radishes (daikon), which have been sun dried and pickled in a mixture of salt, rice bran and sugar. The finished product is a sweet, crunchy pickle that is sliced and served alongside rice or other dishes.

Umeboshi is salty ume, a relative of the plum and apricot fruits pickled in salt. They are meant to be eaten with rice or porridge as they are extremely salty.

 

[twtan14]

These were the most perfect Poached Eggs I ever had. The 'perfect' poached egg has a runny yolk, with a hardening crust and no raw white remaining. Just look at the egg white, it's so smooth with no wrinkles or folds in them.

Salad and Fruit Station - Like I had said earlier, the salad here typically consisted of only one or two leafy vegetables. Fruits wise, only fresh oranges (lemon not counted) plus preserved peach and pear were available.

A Toothpicks Holder and Condiment Container for the soya sauce.

 

[twtan14]

My first Plate of Food consisted of both sweet and savoury dishes. Next up, a couple of toasted warm Pastries to round off my carbs intake.

Hijiki is a brown sea vegetable growing wild on rocky coastlines around Japan, Korea, and China. It's hand harvested with the sickle during spring tide when the tide is low. After collection, the seaweed is boiled and dried to be sold in the form of dried hijiki. Dried processed hijiki turns black. To prepare dried hijiki for cooking, it is first soaked in water then cooked with ingredients like soy sauce and sugar to make a dish.

I can't remembered if I had one or two of the Poached Egg but it's just felt so good to suck the entire egg into the mouth and experiencing the exploding viscous runny egg yolk coating the inside of your mouth. Damn shiok.

Our body needs fibres, so here's the Salad. Cherry tomatoes weren't as sweet as those I had in Sapporo though.

 

[landslot]

Was the tour alone by yourself and other members that you do not know? Will it be bored if going alone? As i have some annual leave to clear, i thought of going with a tour group but i am going alone.

 

[twtan14]

Was the tour alone by yourself and other members that you do not know? Will it be bored if going alone? As i have some annual leave to clear, i thought of going with a tour group but i am going alone.

I went alone on a package tour. It's not bored as I made friend with the other tour mates. Since it's a package tour, the tour guide will be bringing the group around most of the time. During free and easy time, I either explored the place myself or I chose to tag along with the other tour mates.

 

[landslot]

Thanks Boss

I went alone on a package tour. It's not bored as I made friend with the other tour mates. Since it's a package tour, the tour guide will be bringing the group around most of the time. During free and easy time, I either explored the place myself or I chose to tag along with the other tour mates.

 

[twtan14]

Breakfast's over and it is time to go back to our rooms to pack the bags and go on the road to the next stop. A short ride uphill and we reached Bear Mountain or should I say the main building where the ticketing booth and gift shop were.

Bear Mountain
Karikachi-kogen, Shintoku town, Kamikawa
Hokkaido 081-0039, Japan
Tel: 81+156-64-7007
9am - 4pm (Last admissions at 40 minutes prior to closing)

Map of Bear Mountain - Bear Mountain occupied an area the size of 15 hectares, more than 3 times the size of Tokyo Dome. Unlike in zoo, here you can see the bears living in a real forest environment. This facility has been made possible at Sahoro Resort where wild brown bears inhabit in the surrounding areas.

Sahoro Resort Ski Area Building is just next door but it's not in operation at the moment as winter is still many months away.

 

[twtan14]

At one corner of the building were two wooden kennels with Siberian Huskies in it. The timid one on the right with half body out of it's home was barking continuously at us for intruding into it's territory. While the husky on the left was so much friendlier, coming out to greet us and letting us stroke it.

 

[twtan14]

This is the Bear Mountain Ticket Booth and we were each distributed with a ticket and a flyer from our tour leader. As usual, we were advised to go for toilet break before we board the bus to tour the inside of the fenced up compound unless you want to receive a hug from the bear by doing it in their territory. Trust me, this is one bear hug you do not want! Ok, I am just joking, the rangers will not allows you to come into direct contact with the bears as it's just too dangerous.

No time to explore the Gift Shop just yet as we were ushered to the waiting bus. We will come back to it after the bear watching.

 

[twtan14]

Time to board the Bear Watching Bus to tour the fenced up compound. Everyone took to their positions in the rows of seats lined along both sides of the bus's interior as it slowly made its way to the secured entrance.

Wow, this place sure looks like some prison, whats with the Reinforced Metal Gate and high fences all around, not to mention the guards/keepers manning it.

 

[twtan14]

As the bus made its way along the undulating terrain, someone spotted the first Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) laying on its belly enjoying its breakfast. The alert drew all the bodies and eyes to the right side of the bus, trying to get the best glimpses of the bear.

A quiet pool surrounded by sasa bamboo and trees on 3 sides plus more than twenty pairs of eyes staring at it. No wonder this Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) quickly clamber out of the water. Maybe it's just shy.

 

[twtan14]

We were wondering what were the Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) all doing out in the open, until we spotted a pickup truck going around luring the bears out with breakfast.

And we even spotted a couple of Wild Hokkaido Red Foxes (Vulpes vulpes schrencki) but they were rather cautious, keeping their distant when the bears were around.

 

[twtan14]

Bear Watching on Bus - The ride was rather bumpy and I jokingly mentioned that those who wanted to vomit can use the Feeding Outlet located just above us. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to or maybe our package does not including feeding the bears.

A Brown Bear or what the Japanese called Higuma, rubbing its back against a tree trunk, maybe to relieve the itch.

 

[kunoichi]

bunny want to play with bear too....

I went alone on a package tour. It's not bored as I made friend with the other tour mates. Since it's a package tour, the tour guide will be bringing the group around most of the time. During free and easy time, I either explored the place myself or I chose to tag along with the other tour mates.

which agency and package u went with ah?

 

[twtan14]

Brown Bears (Ursus arctos) range in size from 1.8 to 2.2 m in length. Adult males weigh almost 500 kg in the most productive habitats, with adult females weighing from 150 kg to slightly over 200 kg. The species is characterised by its size, a large mass of muscle overlying the scapulae (shoulder hump) and long fore claws, measuring 10 cm.

Source

 

[twtan14]

Alighting from Bus to visit Bear Point Viewing Gallery. As you can see, the bus was reinforced with metal grills on all four sides.

This Playful Bear Cub was trying to grab hold of the steel chain, its keeper was dangling in front of it. Check out those sharp claws, which will reach 10cm long in an adult bear.

 

[twtan14]

which agency and package u went with ah?

I went with Hong Thai (康泰旅行社) and as for the package, it's the same as this thread's title.

 

[twtan14]

Inside the Bear Point Viewing Gallery, the floor to ceiling glass panels offered closeup views of the savage breasts in safety. Don't be mislead by the pictures, they may look cute, clumsy and not that big in the photographs but in effect, they towered above us all when they stood on their hind legs, not to mention those 10cm sharp claws they welded.

 

[twtan14]

These are the Bears and their Keepers' Biodata. According to one of the keeper, the bears on display were all males, while the females were kept away from the public. We did not get the answer as to why this was the arrangement.

I think this corner was explaining the Anatomy of a Bear if I guessed correctly.

Wow, security sure is tight! - You just to need see the numbers of layers of gates and high fences with barbed wire on top to know how tight the security was. The safety of the visitors are top priority here, nothing is left to chance.