Trip Report - 17D Eastern & Central Hokkaido 2015 Spring

[limweeli]

Day 11

We started the day with 白い恋人パーク Shiroi Koibito Park. We spent quite a few hours here as there is a lot for our daughter to see and play.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - 白い恋人パーク Shiroi Koibito Park


Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - 白い恋人パーク Shiroi Koibito Park

The flowers are blooming here.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - 白い恋人パーク Shiroi Koibito Park

This time, we bought tickets to enter.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - 白い恋人パーク Shiroi Koibito Park

We stopped at the cafe upstairs for a short snack while waiting the musical hour up close. Our daughter enjoyed this a lot.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - 白い恋人パーク Shiroi Koibito Park


Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - 白い恋人パーク Shiroi Koibito Park

We had lunch at レストラン梟巣 at the stadium opposite. This is supposed to be the special soup served there. I noticed the soups are all pack in plastic bags and warmed before serving. They are probably prepared elsewhere.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - Lunch at レストラン梟巣

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[limweeli]

After the park, we head to サッポロファクトリー Sapporo Factory. Then, we checked in to 東横INN札幌すすきの南 Toyoko Inn Susuikno Minami before heading to dinner. The Twin C rooms we had are big.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - Big room in 東横INN札幌すすきの南 Toyoko Inn Susuikno Minami

We had our dinner in ラーメン 華龍 restaurant in Ramen Yokocho.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - Dinner at ラーメン 華龍 restaurant in Ramen Yokocho

We recognized the 2 cooks from our earlier trip 2 years ago. There seems no change to the shop at all.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - Dinner at ラーメン 華龍 restaurant in Ramen Yokocho

Slurp ....

Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - Dinner at ラーメン 華龍 restaurant in Ramen Yokocho

We briefly stopped at 狸小路商店街 Tanuki Koji Shopping Arcade and noticed this super long car.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - Very long car in Susukino

Our last stop for the day is 大通公園 Odori Park. It's a nice, cool and relaxing evening there.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - 大通公園 Odori Park


Hokkaido 2015 Day 11 - 大通公園 Odori Park

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[limweeli]

Day 12

We decided to try out the 札幌市中央卸売場外市場 Curb Market for breakfast. Nijo is nearer but we read it's more expensive as it's touristy.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 12 - 札幌市中央卸売場外市場 Curb Market

After surveying the area, we found that it's just as pricey. By far, the 和商市場Washo Market in Kurshiro offers the best price for similar quality of seafood.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 12 - 札幌市中央卸売場外市場 Curb Market

Morning "exercise" after breakfast is to shopping at 狸小路商店街 Tanuki Koji Shopping Arcade.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 12 - 狸小路商店街 Tanuki Koji Shopping Arcade

Next, we packed lunch from MOS Burger and head to モエレ沼公園 Moerenuma Park. There are quite a few attractions here but it's not that near to each other. We chose to visit the pyramid and climb up the man-made hill only due to time constraint. If we are back next time, we would spend the whole afternoon here and try out the hill slides.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 12 - モエレ沼公園 Moerenuma Park


Hokkaido 2015 Day 12 - モエレ沼公園 Moerenuma Park

It's windy at the top with a pretty good view of the park.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 12 - モエレ沼公園 Moerenuma Park

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[limweeli]

We reached 登別温泉 第一滝本館 Daiichi Takimotokan in the late afternoon and checked in to a family room in the main building. Again, nothing seems to have changed from the last time we were here. This is the hotel we (or rather me and my wife) anticipated. It has quite a few indoor pools and 3 good outdoor pools. I particularly like the section where the onsen water is channel out of a pipe at a height for massaging my stiff neck.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 12 - 登別温泉 第一滝本館 Daiichi Takimotokan


Hokkaido 2015 Day 12 - 登別温泉 第一滝本館 Daiichi Takimotokan

The live hot spring outlet at the park shows how hot the water is when pumped directly out from the ground.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 12 - 登別温泉 泉源公園 Hot spring park

One welcoming change we do notice is that they renovated their buffet hall. It's very nice now.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 12 - 登別温泉 第一滝本館 Daiichi Takimotokan

Another view of our favourite hotel at night. Most of the people head to the onsen but there is still a sizable crowd that walks the area at night. It's nice and cool.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 12 - Hokkaido 2015 Day 12 - 登別温泉 Noboribetsu Onsen

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[limweeli]

Day 13

After breakfast buffet and checkout, we head to 地獄谷 Jigokudani.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - 地獄谷 Jigokudani

This time, I went to the middle with my sister. There is this bubbling spring outlet on the platform in the middle of the valley. The ammonia smell is quite strong there.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - 地獄谷 Jigokudani

Next, we drove up the small mountain trail to the 大湯沼 Oyunuma.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - 登別温泉 大湯沼 Oyunuma

And took a short walk to 大湯沼川天然足湯 Oyunumagawa Natural Foot Bath. The change we noticed is that they added padded aluminium mats for visitors to sit on. This is a welcoming improvement as we had to bring out own plastic bags to lay on the damp and sometimes muddy ground the last time.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - 大湯沼川天然足湯 Oyunumagawa Natural Foot Bath

The platform is a bit high, I had to hold my daughter while she soak her legs. She enjoyed it!

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - 大湯沼川天然足湯 Oyunumagawa Natural Foot Bath

We had a brief stop for lunch at 有珠山SA Usuzan. The wind is so strong that my car door slipped out of my grip and was slammed wide open when I try to alight. And we had to lean ourselves forward while heading against the wind.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - Very strong wind at 有珠山SA (上り/函館方面) Usuzan

Due to the low clouds and rain, the view here is less spectacular that the last time we were here.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - 有珠山SA (上り/函館方面) Usuzan

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[limweeli]

We arrived at 乃の風リゾート The Lake View Toya earlier today to chillout. It's a very nice hotel. Compared to Daiichi Takimotokan, this is smaller but more modern and clean. There are less onsen pools here but they made it up with quality and a roof-top infinity pool with Lake Toya view. Another good thing is they swap the male and female sides daily so you get to try out both.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - 乃の風リゾート The Lake View Toya


Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - 乃の風リゾート The Lake View Toya

This is the view from our room. It's a rainy and foggy day. Nice to stay in the hotel and enjoy the onsen facilities.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - Very foggy day at 洞爺湖 Toyako

The buffet area has a magnificent view of Lake Toya. Too bad for us, it's still foggy.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - 乃の風リゾート The Lake View Toya

After dinner, I managed to sneak out for some night shots of the lake side. This is the last boat ride of the day and is specifically for the fireworks.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - 洞爺湖 Toyako

All the rooms in the hotel are facing the lake so you could watch the fireworks from within the room.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - 乃の風リゾート The Lake View Toya

Every night 8:45-9:15pm from May to July, there is fireworks display at Lake Toya. The fireworks are launched from a moving boat that moves from east to west covering the whole town. We didn't know about this initially so we went down to the lobby. Later, we found that we get a better and closer view from the rooms Lesson learnt!

Hokkaido 2015 Day 13 - 乃の風リゾート The Lake View Toya

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[limweeli]

Day 14

It's still cloudy the next day at Lake Toya.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 14 - 洞爺湖 Toyako

We head towards New Chitose Airport after breakfast, stopping by Usuzan along the way.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 14 - 有珠山SA (下り/札幌方面) Usuzan

And got this as morning snack

Hokkaido 2015 Day 14 - 有珠山SA (下り/札幌方面) Usuzan

We went 千歳アウトレットモール・レラ Chitose Rera Outlet Mall before heading to the airport.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 14 - 千歳アウトレットモール・レラ Chitose Rera Outlet Mall

After dropping my family and luggages off at the airport, I returned the trusty Toyota Alphard. 11 days of driving covring almost 1500km with about 4 full tanks and no major issues. It's a reliable workhorse!

Hokkaido 2015 Day 14 - Returning the rented car

From Nippon Rent-a-car, I took their free shuttle bus to the airport to rejoin with my family and check-in to the エアターミナルホテルAir Terminal Hotel.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 14 - 新千歳空港 New Chitose Airport

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[limweeli]

The shopping area at the airport is quite big.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 14 - 新千歳空港 New Chitose Airport

For dinner, we just head to the food court.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 14 - 新千歳空港 New Chitose Airport

And have ramen.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 14 - 新千歳空港 New Chitose Airport

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[hongge]

Day 14


After dropping my family and luggages off at the airport, I returned the trusty Toyota Alphard. 11 days of driving covring almost 1500km with about 4 full tanks and no major issues. It's a reliable workhorse!

Hokkaido 2015 Day 14 - Returning the rented car

From Nippon Rent-a-car, I took their free shuttle bus to the airport to rejoin with my family and check-in to the エアターミナルホテルAir Terminal Hotel.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 14 - 新千歳空港 New Chitose Airport

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Hi, how do u pump petrol at hokkaido?

 

[limweeli]

Hi, how do u pump petrol at hokkaido?

At the petrol stations. I look for the serviced ones and tell the guy to fill up "regular" and "full tank". They'll understand that. Bigger petrol stations take credit cards while the smaller ones are usually cash only.

 

[limweeli]

Day 15

We had breakfast at the hotel.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 15 - エアターミナルホテル Air Terminal Hotel

After that, we proceed to check-in early and shop at the airport.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 15 - 新千歳空港 New Chitose Airport


Hokkaido 2015 Day 15 - 新千歳空港 New Chitose Airport


Hokkaido 2015 Day 15 - 新千歳空港 New Chitose Airport

There is also an outdoor observatory that we visited.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 15 - 新千歳空港 New Chitose Airport

Soon, we had to board the plane to Tokyo, thus concluded our adventures in Hokkaido Again, I would like to come back some day but subjected to approval ...

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[limweeli]

Some random selections from our time in Tokyo.

View from our spacious twin room in Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku

Hokkaido 2015 Day 15 - ホテル サンルートプラザ 新宿 Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku

Busy Shinjuku station

Hokkaido 2015 Day 15 - Hanging around in 新宿 Shinjuku

Chilling out at Doughnut & Coffee (Krispy Kreme) in Shinjuku on a rainy evening

Hokkaido 2015 Day 15 - Hanging around in 新宿 Shinjuku

Pastries in Takashimaya basement

Hokkaido 2015 Day 15 - Hanging around in 新宿 Shinjuku

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[limweeli]

McDonalds near the hotel where I pack burger back if I feel hungry ...

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - McDonald's breakfast

View on the 3rd floor of the McDonalds

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - McDonald's breakfast

The Doughnut & Coffee (another avenue for food) and walkway to Takashimaya Times Sqaure that is near the hotel too

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - 新宿 Shinjuku

From the hotel to Shinjuku station is very convenient via the walkway and this bridge

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - 新宿 Shinjuku

Infamous Shibuya crossing from Starbucks Shibuya Tsutaya ... very hard to get a window seat ...

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - 渋谷 Shibuya

The statue of Hachiko outside Shibuya station. There's another statue in Tokyo University that shows her reunited with her owner.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - Hachikō ハチ公

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[limweeli]

One of the boutique shops in Daikanyama .... quite a nice area if not for the warm weather ....

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - 代官山 Daikanyama

The cafe we stopped for a break. It's small but has a nice feel.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - 代官山 Daikanyama

The pistachio cake is not bad.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - 代官山 Daikanyama

More unique looking cafes

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - 代官山 Daikanyama

Isetan at Shinjuku. I can't get a better shot as the distance from the cross is very close.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - 伊勢丹 Isetan in Shinjuku

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[limweeli]

We went up the North observatory of Tokyo Metropolitian Government Building. entrance is free and open till late.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - 東京都庁 Tokyo Tocho (Tokyo Metropolitian Government Building)

Some night shot from the observatory which is at 55th floor. It's shot through glass using the ledge to place my camera. There is a lot of crowd and movement so it;s not very stable. I had to use my jacket to cover away the reflections too.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - North Observatory of 東京都庁 Tokyo Tocho (Tokyo Metropolitian Government Building)

On queuing to go down, we realise there is 1 window that has the view of Tokyo Tower. Missed that one

Hokkaido 2015 Day 16 - North Observatory of 東京都庁 Tokyo Tocho (Tokyo Metropolitian Government Building)

Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku in early morning before our flight back. Our fav hotel in Tokyo in terms of price, location and space of the room.

Hokkaido 2015 Day 17 - Leaving ホテル サンルートプラザ 新宿 Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuk

Haneda airport from the limosine bus

Hokkaido 2015 Day 17 - 羽田空港 Haneda Airport

Check-in loh ....

Hokkaido 2015 Day 17 - 羽田空港 Haneda Airport

THE END

 

[Foress]

10/10 quality post with quality pics. thanks for sharing, op!

 

[kosongice]

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