Labels: vacations
1:28 am
photo time~
food stall along the shopping street outside the bear ranch.. look so delicious~
this bear chain is from the 100yen machine where you twisted the knob and waited for it to drop out. It was from the shopping street too.
car plate of our tour bus~
petrol station. the special part is petrol flows from the ceiling instead from the ground!
post box
countdown traffic light. there's a timer under the green man. once the lights dim off completely, the man will turn red.
public phone booth. vandalised by naughty teenagers??Labels: vacations
12:21 am
Labels: thoughts + feelings
11:34 pm
Labels: every little things
1:29 am
This tent was fully booked by our group. We were free to eat any strawberries here~
Busy with cutting and eating of strawberries that my camera (hanging from my hand) was being neglected. Poor thing. The plastic cup and scissors were provided by the owner of the farm. (All were busy cutting and easting except for my bro. So he took photos instead. Haha.)
The caretaker plucked a few strawberries for me. I think maybe she saw that I was bad and slow at choosing one to eat. Lol. Anyway, they were very juicy and sweet. Especially the smaller ones, they were even sweeter!
This is the apple tree (still growing). The man besides is the owner of this farm and he was explaining to us the process of growing and taking care of the fruits.
Then, we were brought to the shop selling strawberry products. We bought bottles of freshly made jam (very different from the jams sold in the markets) and strawberry ice pack (or sorbet?)
There are a lot of bears ranging from age 0-10. They are so cute lo. When you attempted to throw biscuits in, they will stand up and say hi to you or ‘pray’ at you or do anything to draw your attention to throw the food at them. Haha.
Hihi~ food here please!
The bear standing at the front most is a genius. Haha. It knows how to make snapping sound with its fingernails! Cool~
Look at my stunt! Hoho~
After this, we had free time to shop outside the bear ranch at the shopping street.
The mountain behind us is a dormant volcano. No one knows when it will erupt. It just keeps emitting steam. I bought the hat from a 1050 yen shop on the street. It was quite cheap as it is from china. Haha.
Rock melon flavored ice cream. I forgot to take a shot before eating. Haha. Special treat for tastebuds~
For lunch time, we were brought to the other end of the street to have bbq or teppanyaki. We had a very early lunch (11+am Jap timing meaning 10+am in sg.. so still not very hungry) as we need to travel for around 3 hours to the next destination.
Their way of cooking is putting all ingredients layers by layers on the pan. The order from the bottom is: butter, vegetables, meat, vegetables, seafood then vegetables again. Let it 'simmers' for some while before eating. The purpose of putting vegetables in between layers is to allow its natural sweetness to be absorbed by the meat/seafood.3rd stop – Otokoyama Sake Brewery and Museum
We were briefed on the history, brewing process etc. After that, we were asked to go for free tasting of 4 types of sake. Preferred the first 2 types as there were sweetness while the others were quite dry.
The sake is very popular worldwide due to its natural underground water from a snow mountain nearby and the cold climate. The underground water is really cooling (like ice water wor) and many Japaneses and tourist came here to collect the ever-flowing water as it is well-known for its life prolonging properties. If I never remember wrongly, there are negative ions in the water, which are good for health.
We were told to queue here to collect the 'miracle' water from the tap. Lol.
View of the city from hotel room.
Waiting for the traffic lights to turn green.
There were a lot stalls and street performances. So happening and lively~
While we were shopping in the departmental store, my bro went to take more photos outside.
McDonalds at the back (they have pork burgers~), cool uncle on a 3-wheeled bike in the front. He didn't ask the uncle to pose for photo, just happened to capture this into the camera. The bike is cool~ Haha.
Mos Burger. The pricing is slightly more expensive for the fast food there. KFC is also available there, but I forgot to take down photo. Zzz.
There were many bicycles parked along the streets. Almost every bike has a basket attached in the front and some weren't even chained up. So weird. Aren't they worried about being stolen? After observing for sometime, I guessed they had some security system for the bicycle. After you have parked your bicycle, there is a key for you to switch off something (like switching off the engine for the bike). I wonder whether it is really engine powered or it is only a trigger for the security system? Haha.
Sorry for dark pic. That guy standing, in striped polo tee, is our tour guide. The chefs were cooking for us. I think. Lol.
gyoza~ 1 person is entitled to 1 plate along with a bowl of ramen.
But for us, 4 people will share 2 instead as our tour guide thought we will be super full if 1 for 1. Zzz. Quite true la cos after dinner, there was hardly space for snacks from the fast food restaurants or roadside stalls. So sad.
Crispy outside, juicy and tender inside! Oiishi~
a big bowl of miso ramen! The soup base is superb~ the ramen is so Q~ the pork is so tender~ look at the not fully cooked egg yoke! Nice~ the seaweed is fresh too~ omg, I’m so hungry now.
Free and easy time again. It was 6+pm (jap time) after we finished eating.
We went to their pharmacy type of shops like Watsons/Guardian here, convenient stores etc but we never went to their shopping centers as the items were not cheap. Haha. Anyway, most shops closed at 8pm, which was less than 2 hours for us to shop. So we rather explored the place than to shop. A pity that we never saw any beer house or bar/pub along the way, maybe we hadn't searched for it properly. Haha.
We came across a street dance festival for the youngsters. It was so crowd here, it was like a carnival where there were food (bbq stuff mostly but was too full to try!), music, etc. There were many supporters (family and friends) cheering for the various groups, making the atmosphere so high~ the teenagers' costumes were really those for performances - shiny and outstanding - and they really danced well.
After staying there for about ½ hour, we went back to hotel to rot. Lol. Really nothing to do outside on the streets. Like I said earlier, if we found beer house etc, it won't be so bored. Haha.
Street name where our hotel was located at. Time was ard 8pm (jap time) and we had reached our hotel. Damn early right? Haha.
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*Add-ons
- their tv programs are not friendly at all. Lol. Only cities have English programs like BBC (but sometimes it was being dubbed in Japanese =.=). So most of the time, I only watched actions (especially for those western movies dubbed in Japanese. Haha), interpreted what the show was about from some chinese subtitles and their education programs for kids cos got teach English~ lol. But it’s true that their variety shows are quite hilarious!
Labels: vacations
1:29 am
There were a few seagulls flying in circles right outside our room. So we tried to capture them into our cameras. Haha.
This seagull landed right in front of us. Think the seagulls here are not afraid of humans. Haha.
This photo is not from me. My camera is not able to zoom this far =(
This is the keyboard in the lobby. So chim~ Took some time to finish typing my blog as I kept pressing the wrong keys. Lol. 
Interesting sign for the disable.
Here are all the coins I had then, after spending on 2 bottles of Evian with a Thousand Yen note. The 5 yen coin is not in this pic otherwise I can have the whole series taken down. Keke. It is similar to the 50 yen coin, ie with a hole in the middle, except that it is smaller.Labels: vacations
4:33 pm
We woke up quite early in the morning (around 6am there). After washing up and packing our luggage, we went to the same small restaurant to have our breakfast buffet. There was nothing much about it so no photos were taken. The only special experience is that I was able to taste some delicious food – their milk is fresh and tasty, no after taste at all~ I like it! Hee.. Their scramble egg is also my favourite! Also, their white bread slice is thick but soft. Yummy~ There got Japanese style of breakfast too and this includes miso soup, rice, porridge, side dishes like salmon fillet, cold tofu, na4 dou4 (can’t remember what is it called in English) etc. It sounded more like a lunch or dinner to me. Haha.
After breakfast, we set off to this place – a national park. This place smells of sulphur. People with asthma or other health problems might encounter breathing difficulty.
(photo from bro) Look at the steam~
Performance for tourist. Their traditional dance for some purpose.. oops I forgot..
There are a few dogs kept in cages here. This is the super camera shy dog. It just refused to come near me. So we can only zoom in to take a snap. The other dogs are more cooperative. Haha.. so this better snap is taken from my bro.
See the big crab? It means it’s a must eat! Haha.
Their 'wet' seafood market. The seafood are really fresh~ and there's seafood which is rarely seen here like sea urchin.
A shell family member, big crab and scallop.
The owner is slicing up the salmon. See how big the tuna fish is!! Omg~ Didn’t order salmon sashimi as I am the only one who knows how to eat and there is a lot to be finished!
(Clockwise direction) fresh raw crab legs, scallop and the shell flesh; the ingredients for the steamboat (such a big portion for 4 people!); left over body parts of the crab
Their method of eating is to put everything inside the pot and let it boils before you start to eat.
The crab leg sashimi is so so nice! So fresh, so sweet, so ‘crunchy’!!
Nice view from our hotel room.
Tatami in our room~
View from hotel lobby. There's a convenient store opposite.
The shelter where we had the leg spa. It is opened to public and is free~
(The above 5 photos are taken by bro)
Lake Toya. They are dolling up this place as it is one of the venues for the G8 Summit that was held around a week later then.
This was a person share. A super full yet most satisfied meal! Oiishi~~ Starting from top left hand corner: seafood rice (covered); hotplate bacon slice with cheese (covered)-a bit salty; veg tempura; sashimi – salmon, prawn and squid; some egg and tofu stuff (covered); chawamushi (covered with a red spoon) – my favourite~; dairy product (I guess is yogurt) with whipped cream; slightly spicy veg – lady’s finger, carrot etc; dessert platter – egg (like those on top of sushi de), grilled cod fish, tart, jelly, mua chee stick and asparagus; preserved raddish. There was dumpling soup too, but it was served at a later time. So is not in this photo. The dumpling soup was piping hot when it was served. Hee.
We were seated on the floor to have the meal. I didn’t wear the yukata for dinner as it was quite inconvenient for me to cross my leg. 
This ship ferried tourist around the lake during the firework session. I forgotten how much it cost. We didn't sign up for this.
(The above 2 photos are taken by bro.)
These are the better viewable photos of the fireworks from my camera. Lol.
Must remember to follow this 左上右下 (ie left over right flap) wearing method. It is because the other way of wearing is for those who are lying in coffin. (So sad! My face is so round. Zzz.) 
There's a jacket for each yukata in the wardrobe. It is for you to wear if you are feeling cold.Labels: vacations
12:30 am