Trip Report - 17D Eastern & Central Hokkaido 2015 Spring

[limweeli]

View of Mount Shari as we got out of the town. I like the views of mountains with some snow.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 4 - Mount Shari from another view

We arrived at 東藻琴芝桜公園 (Higashimokoto Shibazakura Park) in late afternoon. It's a very nice place and I recommend a visit. Compared to the one in Takinoue which we visited later, the consensus is that this park is bigger. Entrance fee is 300 yen per adult IIRC. I'll let the pics do the talking


Hokkaido 2015 Day 4 - 東藻琴芝桜公園 Higashimokoto Shibazakura Park


Hokkaido 2015 Day 4 - 東藻琴芝桜公園 Higashimokoto Shibazakura Park


Hokkaido 2015 Day 4 - 東藻琴芝桜公園 Higashimokoto Shibazakura Park


Hokkaido 2015 Day 4 - 東藻琴芝桜公園 Higashimokoto Shibazakura Park

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[vernon_wmk]

Day 4
There is a fire place in the hotel, not sure if it's operational and used in winter though.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 4 - 季風クラブ知床 Hotel Kifu Shiretoko

They do operate the fireplace during winter.

 

[limweeli]

Day 5

After a light breakfast at Toyoko Inn, we went to the Abashiri Morning Market. But, it's only opened from July onwards.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - Abashiri Morning Market closed

Next destination is 流氷硝子館 (Ryuhyo Glass Museum).

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 流氷硝子館 Ryuhyo Glass Museum

There is a cafe which we had our late breakfast and kopi.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 流氷硝子館 Ryuhyo Glass Museum

There is outdoor seating but we chose to sit indoor because it's pretty cold.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 流氷硝子館 Ryuhyo Glass Museum

You can view the glass making process from the cafe.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 流氷硝子館 Ryuhyo Glass Museum

They used the self-made glasses to serve the drinks.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 流氷硝子館 Ryuhyo Glass Museum

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[limweeli]

From Abashiri, we travel towards 上湧別チューリップ公園 Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park. This is the park I anticipated to take nice photos but the sky isn't cooperative, it rained Entrance is 500 yen IIRC.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 上湧別チューリップ公園 Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park

Nevertheless, looking at the rows of tulips blooming still makes my day.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 上湧別チューリップ公園 Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park

There is a bus tour and it's very tempting as the weather is cold (probably 5 degrees with light wind). However, we decide to walk the place instead.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 上湧別チューリップ公園 Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park

There are quite a few places for photos like from the bridge platforms or props like the benches.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 上湧別チューリップ公園 Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park


Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 上湧別チューリップ公園 Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park

Some tulips pics to end off the visit.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 上湧別チューリップ公園 Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park


Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 上湧別チューリップ公園 Kamiyubetsu Tulip Park

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[limweeli]

We checked into 紋別プリンスホテル Mombetsu Prince Hotel after the park visit.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - 紋別プリンスホテル Mombetsu Prince Hotel

I read mixed review from TripAdvisor but we find it pretty good. The Japanese room we had was the smallest of all the onsen hotels we stayed. The dinner and breakfast is good. Mombetsu is famous for crabs so we had 2 Zuwai Crab set and 2 normal set (which includes crabs too).

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - Dinner in 紋別プリンスホテル Mombetsu Prince Hotel


Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - Dinner in 紋別プリンスホテル Mombetsu Prince Hotel


Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - Dinner in 紋別プリンスホテル Mombetsu Prince Hotel

Look at the row on the crab body.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - Dinner in 紋別プリンスホテル Mombetsu Prince Hotel

They helped to make this very nice crab roe rice mix. I am pretty sure this is only available in the Zuwai Crab set.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - Dinner in 紋別プリンスホテル Mombetsu Prince Hotel

Besides crabs, the scallops are very sweet!

Hokkaido 2015 Day 5 - Dinner in 紋別プリンスホテル Mombetsu Prince Hotel

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[tHeOrY-]

This is beyond beautiful! Love the pictures and ur itinerary! Keep posting! Looking forward to ur day 6 onwards?

 

[tHeOrY-]

May i know the dates u travel too? Cause planning to go next year too! TIA

 

[Adenovirus]

Your photos are absolutely brilliant and Hokkaido looks breathtaking! Mind sharing your photography gears?

 

[limweeli]

This is beyond beautiful! Love the pictures and ur itinerary! Keep posting! Looking forward to ur day 6 onwards?

Thanks. Posting soon ...

May i know the dates u travel too? Cause planning to go next year too! TIA

I went from 22 May to 7 June. This period is good for tulips and pink moss. I would suggest giving Biei/Furano area a skip.

Your photos are absolutely brilliant and Hokkaido looks breathtaking! Mind sharing your photography gears?

Thanks. I am using Sony A7S with FE 16-35mm f4 (50%), FE 24-70mm f4 (40%) and FE 28mm f2 (10%). I just shoot raw and correct later.

 

[limweeli]

Day 6

Next morning, I continued my streak of scallop eating during the breakfast buffet. I can't get enough of those sweet fresh scallops

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Sweet fresh scallops @ breakfast in 紋別プリンスホテル Mombetsu Prince Hotel

Besides crab, Mombetsu is also famous for their white curry. We route back to the Michi no Eki where we found it yesterday. The restaurant opens only at 11am. We explored the seaside near the station while waiting.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Seaside near 道の駅 オホーツク紋別

There is this bell on a platform with a good view. I presume it's for wedding occasions?

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Seaside near 道の駅 オホーツク紋別

Weather is sunny but cool and we just sat and enjoyed the scenery.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Seaside near 道の駅 オホーツク紋別

Finally, the retaurant opened and we order this white curry and normal curry set to sample. The white curry is tastier and smoother where as the normal curry is thicker. We almost mistaken the white curry as soup

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - White curry brunch @ 道の駅 オホーツク紋別

Dandelions are aplenty around this area too.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Dendalion @ seaside near 道の駅 オホーツク紋別

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[limweeli]

Next stop for us is 滝上公園 Takinoue Shibazakura Park. We felt the park in Higashimokoto is bigger, more "decorated" and seems to have more variety, i.e. the white flowers. Some of parts this park are starting to shows signs of fading. Entrance is 400 yen IIRC.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - 滝上公園 Takinoue Shibazakura Park

One of the main slopes with the criss-cross path ways leading to the top.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - 滝上公園 Takinoue Shibazakura Park

Close-up on the pink moss ...

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - 滝上公園 Takinoue Shibazakura Park

There are some tulips in this park.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - 滝上公園 Takinoue Shibazakura Park

Top of the slope, you can see Takinoue town.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - View of Takinoue town

There are quite a lot of people visiting this park though.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - 滝上公園 Takinoue Shibazakura Park


Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - 滝上公園 Takinoue Shibazakura Park

 

[GoToSea]

camping here for your updates.

 

[limweeli]

Next up for us is Sounkyo.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Towards Sounkyo

The scenery is really nice here. I can imagine how it'll look when the colour changes during autumn.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Late afternoon in 層雲峡 Sounkyo

One thing we noticed is that the signboard of the 7-11 is black and white. Further down the road, we saw the same for FamilyMart too. I wonder if it's the theme here.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - 7-Eleven in 層雲峡 Sounkyo

We visited the 2 famous waterfalls here after dropping our luggages in the hotel - Ginga no Taki (Milkyway Falls) and Ryusei no Taki (Comet Falls).

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - 銀河の滝 Ginga no Taki in 層雲峡 Sounkyo


Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - 流星の滝 Ryusei no Taki in 層雲峡 Sounkyo

We are also fortunate to witness a group of deers crossing at Ginga no Taki.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Deers at 銀河の滝 Ginga no Taki in 層雲峡 Sounkyo

 

[limweeli]

ホテル大雪 Taisetsu Hotel is pretty good. Of all the onsen hotels I booked, this is the cheapest but one of the larger ones. It has 3 buildings each with onsen facilities. Out of which, 2 of the facilities has an indoor and outdoor pool which I visited. The outdoor pool from the facility in the middle building has a good view of 黒岳 Mount Kurodake. The furnishing is very typical of an older Japanese onsen hotel IMHO.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - 層雲峡 ホテル大雪 Taisetsu Hotel

The dinner buffet area is quite big and has a good spread.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Dinner in 層雲峡 ホテル大雪 Taisetsu Hotel


Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Dinner in 層雲峡 ホテル大雪 Taisetsu Hotel

The teppanyaki beef is very juicy but has a strong beef taste which my wife and sis doesn't like. I realise most of the beef sold in Japan has this strong beef taste as compared to those in Singapore.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Dinner in 層雲峡 ホテル大雪 Taisetsu Hotel

The windows of the room can be opened so I took another starry night shot.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Starry night in 層雲峡 ホテル大雪 Taisetsu Hote

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[purpleberry]

There are quite a lot of people visiting this park though.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - 滝上公園 Takinoue Shibazakura Park

Sorry OT, I have seen these chairs quite a bit in Japan. Does anyone know if we can find one locally? I saw some at Raffles Hotel.

For the waterfall photo, how many seconds exposure was that? it looks very nice

 

[evilerniex]

Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - Hokkaido 2015 Day 6 - 流星の滝 Ryusei no Taki in 層雲峡 Sounkyo

this is beautiful! nicely taken!

 

[GoToSea]

i think that at least 1/10 shutter speed.

 

[limweeli]

For the waterfall photo, how many seconds exposure was that? it looks very nice

i think that at least 1/10 shutter speed.

It's 15s exposure You can see the camera exif data if you go Flickr (click the link below the pic).

 

[evilerniex]

It's 15s exposure You can see the camera exif data if you go Flickr (click the link below the pic).

are u using filters? or was the place dark enuf for such long exposure

 

[limweeli]

are u using filters? or was the place dark enuf for such long exposure

Yep, I have to use an ND3.0 filter.