Wednesday, January 7
During the long drive from Noboribetsu to Lake Toya, I was a dead log..
The carsickness somehow left me drifting in and out of sleep..
Till a sudden exclamation
"Looook at this man.. ..!"
Jolted up, the view was .. ..
We had arrived at Lake Toya..
Another different dimension to Hokkaido..
It was a piece of shinning tranquility.
Daylight had immersed itself in the lake, together with the slight drizzle, the lake was gifted a mysterious greyish blue.
Lake Toya or 洞爺湖
A volcanic caldera lake that never freezes due to the high temperatures caused by magma activities beneath the lake.
On its south lies an active volcano Mount Usu that has erupted 4 times in 100 years.
Surrounded by green hills, the lake is hailed as "the lake on the hill".
Measuring 11km in east-west diameter and 9km in north-south diameter, the lake is almost circular.
是美的喔!!
We were driving towards our destination when the GPS suddenly became very quiet.
We missed turning into the correct lane that led to our hotel, again.
And think the GPS didnt know how to react to our stupidity.
LOL
Finally we reached our ryokan.
Left our luggage at the hotel, we proceeded back to the car to set the GPS to the Lake Toya Cruise embarkation point.
The GPS refused to set and asked us to walk from our hotel..
LOL
Took a slow stroll along the lake, absorbed the scenery..
The lake was all calm and the stretch of the bank was very peaceful..
There wasnt a soul in view.
Saw a cute little footbath with wooden planks for seating in the middle of nowhere.
Snow by this time was mostly washed away by the persistent rain.
At a distance away, we saw a weird patch on one of the mountains across the lake..
Upon closer observation, that patch was moving!
First it was a big patch in front, then it moved to the middle and gradually faded away..
That, was Sun's illumination..
Creation is fascinating.
Bought our tickets for the cruise..
Dear passed it to me for safekeeping and then we proceeded to find food.
At a distance away, across the streets, we chanced upon this small family-oriented shop that had a seemingly yummy dessert that we could do for a quick bite before the cruise.
The hosts served us organic black bean tea when we stepped in..
Something which I vaguely remembered watching the availability of such tea in some Japanese programmes..
All the things sold in this shop were either organic products or self made.
The dessert came in a wooden bowl with a cute wooden sppon as a hot and thick mix of white wheatgrain and beans, accompanied by a piece of their handmade rice cracker, called the black bean senbei.
There were pieces of small "汤圆" in the dessert, and we thought we did not miss "冬至" this year afterall =)
The piece of senbei that accompanied the dessert was a good marketing gimmick even though it was usually offered to visiting house guests as a courtesy refreshment.
Or at least it induced our purchases of those rice crackers =p
On our way back to the cruise, the silly me lost the tickets..
Panicked, I simply could not remember where I left them..
We went to ask the counter lady and boy, we were relieved that she allowed us to board without the tix.
After the cruise on our way back to the car, came across the kind of a ramen shop which I had always wanted to try.
Stepping into the shop, the familar "Irasshaimase" greeted us.
I would say the layout was more of a Japanese house kitchen than a ramen shop.
Owned by an old couple, they cooked our ramen right in front of us.
Obasan cooked his curry ramen and the Ojisan cooked mine.
Our orders came and the servings were huge!
When my miso ramen came, Ojisan was watching me eat through his small spectacles, and he had an earnest look of:
"How did the noodles taste? Are they alright to your liking?"
And he only looked away when I appeared satisfied with them.
LOL
What a cute uncle..
I used to avoid eating ramen because I thought they were somewhat similar to our instant noodles.
But this ramen totally changed my perception.
Perhaps the ramen in SG was not up to standard, or I havent come across a good one, or the Japanese ramen really had a good succulent texture.
My soup base was a concentrated miso..
And his curry flavour was quite spicy in fact.
We were the only two customers in the shop then, hence the sweet couple cooked themselves ramen too and sat at a corner to have their late lunch.
After the meal, we drove in search for the Lake Toya ranch.
Wanted to try out horse riding in snow..
But the GPS was acting up and we kept going in circles.
Just as we were about to give up the ranch and proceed to the next location, we saw it.
Damn excited.
At the top of the hills where the ranch was, the view was splendid..
The baby blue skies peeked out from the thick fluffy clouds that held low..
It was a piece of grey landscape, somewhat postcard-worthy.
Wasnt it gloomy then?
I didnt think so, the gloom was nowhere near.
But as we walked further left, we saw something disappointing.
Horses on holiday..??!
Perhaps it was the weather, perhaps it was the exclusivity..
We had this voracious appetite..
Buffet breakfast in the morning, then the whitegrain dessert, then the huge bowl of ramen and now the two flavoured ice cream at Lake Hill farm..
How could we give the ice creams a miss..
Lake Hill Farm
Fresh milk was obtained from their cows, real ingredients are used in the ice creams and there were sooo many choices of flavours.
Tour buses specially made this one of their routes and it seemed that the ice creams are very popular, even in winter.
Just like the horses, the cows were no where to be seen.
We missed milking the cows..
The dairy ice creams were the only exclusive pruchases we had at Lake Hill farm.
We were trying out luck when we checked out the Toyako Visitor Centre after check in..
It was twenty minutes to closing when we reached the premises.
Was browsing around when the cleaning auntie tried to speak to me in Japanese.
She was trying to invite us to the theatre to watch a small video clip on the volcanoes in Lake Toya..
I thought it was close to knock off for them..but..
Such nice people they are..
The clip took about fifteen minutes, and gave us an even better understanding of Lake Toya..
Had to give the Volcanic Museum a miss because we didnt have enough time.
The visitor centre showcased the usual life of Japanese.
Various wood, sealife, forest life were all on exhibition.
The different wood texture on display caught my attention..
I did not know there were so many types of wood that you could use each for various purposes.
That explained why the Japanese could make such good quality sturdy furniture and intricate foodwares.
Nightfall came very quickly..
The streets were indeed very quiet.
Perhaps it was winter, perhaps Lake Toya was situated near an active volcano..
Human beings were scarce.
Touya Kohantei 絶景の宿洞爺湖畔亭
The same hotel chain by Noguchi Group that housed our Noboribetsu accomodation.
Apparently they are a huge group in Hokkaido whose ryokans are famous for their open air baths.
This simple ryokan had no beds.
A pure Japanese room, and the view from the ryokan was spectacular!
Dinner at the dining room thereafter, and it was again the buffet style.
During our absence to the meals, they set up the tatami mats for us.
And they looked really conducive for sleeping =)
I tried the open air bath at the top floor for the first time.
Made of cypress wood in circular, rectangular baths..
Wooo damn refreshing and the bath made me sleep so much better.
Shall end with this..
Dear thought I needed another pouch to replace my batteries pouch and made me buy this hello kitty pouch from a machine that you need to roll the knob after you slot the coins in to get your stuff.
Somewhat similar to the 20 cents machines in SG just that this costs 500 yen..
Forced him to take one picture with it..
LOL
Alrighty the kitty wasnt that bad..
He had a much vivid childhood as compared to me =p
*****
irony @
3:11 PM
