Japan (Hokkaido) 10-16 June 07

Hi, me back from my Japan, Hokkaido trip ! I was there with my 3rd aunt & uncle, my cousin CK, his wife Q, baby E, his friend W, cousin R and her hubby SK. Total 9 of us.

Hokkaido is beautiful, relax, slow moving & picturesque ! There are plenty of beautiful diasies everywhere you go, so pretty that we took lots and lots of photographs with them as the background ! Heehee..

Taking a flight from Singapore to Tokyo took us approx 6hrs 55mins, followed by a domestic transit plane from Tokyo to Hokkaido of approx 1hr 30mins. It was messy during the transit from international to domestic flight at the Tokyo airport. We had to collect our luggages and check them in again for the domestic flight, then proceed to go through long queues of security checks before we can finally proceed to the departure gate. Phew.. what a challenge.

Some of the highlights of this trip:
1) Fireworks @ Lake Toya Hotel (Crater lake) - Awesome ! I always love fireworks.. even wanted to buy some fireworks (yes, they sell in their Seicomart, which is similar to our 24hrs 7-11 stores) but didnt in the end.

2) Bear Ranch - Many many big black bears kept in big cages. We bought some biscuits to feed them.

3) Foxes & foxes holes - They were free to roam around unlike the bears. We even witness one of their "fighting scenes" among 4 foxes. They can be really fierce !

4) Waterfalls (Shooting Star & Silver River) - Situated at the foot of Mount Daisetzu-zan (Sounkyo Gorge), very awesome waterfalls, all the way from the top of the mountain downwards.. I decided i like them !

5) Sounkyo Ropeway - We took a Gondola (can take up to 100 passengers at a time) & a chairlift ride (2 at a time) up to the Mountain Daisetzu-zan. I like it a lot. During winter, many people will flock to this place to take the chairlift right up to the top of the mountain and ski downwards ! Wow... should make a trip back to Hokkaido during their winter season ! The tour guide told us that many Japan olympic competitors for ski-ing comes from Hokkaido. Hokkaido has 6 months of winter every year.. so every kid here knows how to ski !

6) Ishiya Chocolate Factory - The fresh and rich aroma of butter, flour and chocolates fills up your whole senses as you walk through the whole building. The owner of this factory also has a great collection of toys on display on every level, so many were they that if i could, i will definitely take a picture with each of them ! There was also a period of time where bubbles (yes bubbles) will be released from a machine in the garden (filled with lots of flowers) that is so beautiful, you just had to reach out your hands and burst them ! I feel so like a kid at that time, and i believe i must really be grinning from ear to ear !

7) Otaru Music Box Museum - This place has the largest numbers of music boxes i had even seen to date. The music was so nice that i wanted to buy everyone of them back.. but too expensive lar of cos ! hee hee...

8) Kitachi Glass Shop - The types and colours of glass items in this shop is humogous ! Spoilt for choice. I finally decided on a glass container for my sis. She could use it to store all her earrings, necklaces, bracelets etc. Beautiful !

9) Lavendar Ice-cream - Japanese called them "soft-cream" not ice-cream. Purplish in colour and lightly flavoured with lavendar taste, i would say its unique and something that i would try again if i do go back to Hokkaido.

So far, i had visited Japan twice. Tokyo (4 years back), and now Hokkaido. The next trip ? Hmm.. maybe to Osaka or some other parts of Japan. Till then...