[Japan] - Noboribetsu s2 s2 s2

YES, this place deserves 3 BIG HEARTS!!! This was probably one of my favourite places during my travel in Japan! I couldn't help thinking about this last week, especially after meeting up with my travel buddy KW and hearing from my Japanese penpal about her travels to Noboribetsu... making this post is like an itch I have to scratch!!!

Soooooo I'm gonna show you all how amazing this place is =) =) =)

Actually upon arrival, it wasn't all glam...

Look at those STEEP stairs....@___@

  Upon arrival at Noboribetsu station, the first thing we noticed were the stairs...then our eyes moved to our huge luggages...then we looked around us...and there were NO escalators nor elevators.  This meant only one thing, we had to gather all our strength and drag our luggages up two flights of steep stairs.  KW and I literally stood in front of these stairs for ages, saying to ourselves: if only we had a man *sigh*

  But we had to do what we had to do...I've never taken in such a deep breath and rushed up such a steep flight of stairs in one single go and at such a pace! And I've never huffed and puffed so much when I finally arrived on the other side... haaaa

  Then we caught a bus to the main part of the suburb.  Noboribetsu is this little town in Hokkaido, there's no glamorous buildings nor the bustle of city life, just the mountains, snow and everything cosy and small that spelt locality - just the things that make me smile after a hectic month of mission.

Centre of Noboribetsu

  This place is also SUPER famous for its onsens (hot spring!)...so of course, KWand I booked ourselves a night in one of the hot spring hotels, ready to let our bodies relax ahhhh~ Even talking about it now, I can remember that feeling of being in the hot spring so clearly!

The hotel we stayed in! It has 'No.1' in it!!!!! MUST BE GOOD! =D

Our Japanese-style tatami matted comfy room! Niiiiice!

  We decided to leave the hot spring til later, because we really wanted to explore this suburb!!! But we were super hungry and what fun is exploring with an empty stomach right? One thing Noboribetsu is also famous for is its SUPER hot ramen..and the shop famous for it is just down the road from our hotel! Luuucccky!!!

The owner of the shop preparing his famous ramen! He is the husband of a super cute couple - even though you can't see it here, but his wife is actually working alongside him...SO CUTE!!! ^^

Comments from famous people all along the wall!!! すごいですね！！！

 





 

...and there's MORE!!!!!!

Here's my HOT ramen!!! いただきます！！！

  I only had the one that's like...second hottest (地獄ラーメン), even though I love HOT stuff, but I don't think I could have handled the heat XD XD XD

  After our stomachs were filled with delicious ramen, KW and I began our journey around the trail of Noboribetsu!  It is a scenic route where you could encounter beautiful mountains and amazing hot springs! (Though these ones aren't the ones where you dip into... because it's wide open and just...way. too. hot!)

Smoke coming out from a hole...thought this was pretty coooool!



The start of the little trail... Welcome to JIGOKU!!!!

Demons are the mascots for Noboribetsu - because the hot springs create a 'hellish' environment...

...kinda like this.

  The views that we saw along the way were absolutely amazing though, almost every step took my breath away!

Saw the sky break open!

Yes. No drinking.  It didn't look too tasty anyway haha

The wooden became really slippery when the snow got heavier! I held onto the rail for my dear life hahaha

  As we kept exploring, we found another spring...

There's steam/smoke constantly coming out of this spring! It's even more crazy close up!



See? Hot hot HOT!

  Close to this hot spring was a hot pond where it's used as a footbath! These footspas are really comfortable and somewhat therapeutic in the winter of Japan, especially since people's feet are pretty much frozen from walking on the snow for such a long period! So KW and I tried to find this footspa...and I really should've gone with my frist instinct! Because when we were at the information centre, I thought the girl told me (in Japanese) that the path was blocked...but I wasn't sure if I understood right...I should've had more confident in my Japanese >.< I guess this is another instant when I doubt myself...just a little to much >.<

  We must have been pretty excited...because even though the snow began to get heavier, we still didn't make plans to go back to the hotel! Instead, we went on a track on the mountain and basically 'bush-walked' in the snow!

Crazy crazy crazy girls...@___@

  Some parts were quite steep and slippery...and we had to hold onto the strings that were on the side to keep our balance! The wind and the snow rushed pass us...there was not a single person in sight! What if something happened? No one would have known! Obviously we didn't care at that stage...and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!! I guess a thrill-seeker like me (though a paranoid person!) rather have experienced it and get a kick out of having experienced something like that hahaha

Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!

  And of course, we made it out alive!!! WOohoo!!! But we were soooo freezing when we got back to civilisation, thankfully there was an information centre nearby and we stayed there for a while to warm up.  But more excitingly, look what we found outside!

Cute cute cute snowman! Couldn't help but copy them hehehe

 Was so incredibly exhausted after the day's trip! I don't think I realised that until we actualy went back to the hotel...I just felt SO hungry and SO exhausted! You know what was waiting for us though... BUFFET DINNER!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

NOM NOM NOM!!!!!

  There were crab, scallop, sashimi, yakiniku beef....my mouth is salivating just recalling the memory! I tried to fit as much as possible into my stomach...from being so completely hungry...after this meal, I was more than satisfied!!!

  KW and I explored the hotel after dinner as our 'digesting' activity...and look what I found!!!

DORAEMON!!!!!!!!!!! <3 <3 <3

  The hotel itself has quite a few levels...and it seems to be plated in 'gold'...haha

The big pole thing in the middle opens up into a musical item every hour...to tell some story XD  I actually watched it...but wasn't too sure what was going on XD

  Since it was Christmas Eve (yes! I spent Christmas Eve in Japan hehe), a group of people (whom we believed to be associated with the owner of the hotel or something) dressed in Christmas costumes and put on a show for the guests!

They all look really similar...so we suspected that they were a family hehe

  They played really uplifting and fun music, from Christmasy kinda songs to songs from famous anime like Miyazaki! There were so many people there...from all over the world! It felt really cool to be amongst so many types of people, enjoying the atmosphere of Christmas together!

  More than that though, besides being able to spend it with my travel buddy KW, CW and GW from mission was there as well! One of the most memorable things on this trip was actually my onsen moment with GW that night.  First of all, being able to go to hot spring late at night after such a wonderful yet tiring day is one of the best feelings ever! It's as though all the exhaustion is being pushed out of you and you just feel so relaxed amongst the hot water and steam.  Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos of the hot spring itself because that would make me a wierdo and would be quite a criminal thing to do XD

  I was able to share one of the most memorable conversations with GW that night, who gave me lots of wisdom and encouragement, which I still hold onto.  One of which was: go and try things while you still can, grab onto whatever opportunities are given in front of you and use them!

The other things he said to me was: try not to think so much and just enjoy whatever's put in front of you.

  I hold onto these words somewhat dearly and am really thankful for the chat and wisdom that night =)

  Ahhhhh~everytime I think about Noboribetsu, I feel so relaxed.  Love Noboribetsu so much ^^

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[Japan] Sapporo - Odori Park

Whenever I think of my time in Sapporo, one of the places that inevitably conjures up in my mind is Odori Park (大通公園).  It's not like any other parks, it's not simply a big field in the middle of some suburbs like you see here in Sydney.  But rather, its rectangular form is laid out all along one of the main roads in Sapporo, which is incredibly close to town centre.  It's awesome because for someone like me who can get lost easily, it definitely serves as a life-saving landmark, giving me at least some sort of direction!

The famous TV Tower is also situated in Odori Park, great landmark to meet your friends!

In winter (which was when I was there), Odori Park is filled with people at night, because everyone's there to see the Christmas Illuminations which is held every December! For the Japanese, 'illuminiation' is the word they use to describe Christmas lights.  But I totally understand why they wouldn't use the word 'lights', if they did, that would totally undermine the beauty of these decorations in colour, in form and in creativity!

View of Odori Park from above! So vibrant with colours! Definitely a great place for families...

...and couples! Look how the 'Love Tree' transformed over there! I really love that tree <3

Now that's just a big-picture-snapshot of what the park filled with illuminations looks like! Wait till you see the individual illuminations themselves!

Lots of big flowery shapes lighting up the park!

Family time in the snow amongst the lighted up trees! Fun fun! (I really wish I was that kid!)

Though I have to say, my absolute favourite illumination has to be this:

Totally captured by the lights paved water, with the birds resting on it.  PLUS backgrounded with the TV Tower in its mighty colour! WOW! (and of course, the snow did make it look so much more amazing as well!)

Aside from the illuminations, during this festival, there is also a German Village set up, where people can shop for Christmas decorations and eat supposedly 'German' food! Each of the stores are set up like little wooden houses, it was pretty cool! (I don't have photos of this either...yeh pretty fail...>.<)

And for smokers out there, you need not be afraid that your habit would kill the atmosphere! Because in the park near the festivities, you might find something that look like this:

Yes a smoking site! A box where you get to enjoy smoke without troubling others! (Actually, you would find a lot of these around Japan, even in shopping centres!)

Another good thing is that it gets dark pretty early in Japan... I would say it's probably pretty dark around 4:30pm/5:00pm - the sun starts setting around 2:30pm/3:00pm!!! ( It was pretty crazy when that first occurred to me, who thinks daylight saving in winter in Sydney is already taking too much sunlight away!) So, the illuminations start around 4:00pm, which is perfect for if you don't want to stay out too late or if you have other plans during the night as well!

*Sigh* I really wish there was something like this in Hyde Park...could this ever happen in Sydney I wonder?

[Japan] Sapporo - Government House

Since I've started work this year, sometimes I can feel quite exhausted and quite weighed down by the workload.  Do you ever feel like that? Friends have told me that a good remedy would be to either look forward to something or simply imagine/remember something good.  For me, whenever I look back to my one month stay in Japan last December, I would feel so happy at the memories of this experience blessed by God! Because it had such an impact on me, I really want to relive the moments and share them with you as I reminisce.  So every now and then, you might find blog posts on various places I've been to in Japan and hopefully you'll enjoy reading them! Perhaps, one day, you might even go to see these places for yourself (and I defintely recommend you to do so, despite the recent disasters!!!)

So I went to the northern island in Japan called Hokkaido (北海道) and stayed in the major city Sapporo (札幌) for most of my stay.  Since I went in December, I missed my most loved season - Summer - here in Sydney.  But what I gained though was my first time seeing and experiencing snow-ing! Yes, not just snow, but snow formed at the very height wherever the sky lies and fall from there!!! I still remember waking up one morning, rushed to the window and exclaimed with indescrible amusement as I saw this outside the apartment window:

Snow covering the streets, school, cars...everything!!!

Though I must say this excitement died off probably a week or so into my stay there, as I realised the difficulties of having to make twice the effort to walk and battle through the white fluff in order to go from point A to point B.  Not to mention you can never really walk elegantly, but rather more like a penguin no matter how hard you try! Nonetheless, I can't deny how beautiful it does make everything look, covering them in pure whiteness.

Sapporo is city not quite like Tokyo, while Tokyo might be bustling with life and is ever-changing, Sapporo is a bit more slow-paced and although busy, has a sense of peacefulness to it.  There are many great places to visit in Sapporo and we made sure we visited each one of them! We decided to go to one of the touristy recommended places first - the Government House!

All wrapped up in our down jackets on the way to the Government House! The whole place is surrounded by the fence, by which we walked along.

The Government House is quite grand in its style, giving off an old yet respectable stance.

The Government House

As you might be able to guess from the picture, the Government House is surrouned by a huge courtyard.  I would imagine it to be full of colours from the trees and flowers during the other seasons, which would be quite pretty.  But I also quite liked how the snow covered courtyard made things feel a little more...romantic hehe (Not that I was there with anyone of that special kind, but you know...=)

the bridge enhances the romantic atmosphere I think! Can't you just imagine standing there being with your beloved looking out to the lake?

This definitely feels like a scene from some Japanese drama...<3

There are also duckies swimming on the lake...

...and some parts of the lake was actually frozen over! Kinda reminds me of Harry Potter the 6th movie...(if you know what scene I'm talking about?)

The inside of the Government House is filled with the history of Hokkaido, with displays and interactive devices to interest the visitors.  Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of this.  But to be honest, as much as I respect the history, I found the scenery outside more intriguing.  Though that could just be a personal preference as I love looking at sceneries.

Walking out of the Government House definitely won't leave you feeling dry and overwhelmed with information, instead, you'll feel like a grand princess walking out of somewhere ever so important as you walk down a wide aisle before exiting through the gates.

Goodbye Government House! Feeling like an important citizen of sorts while leaving hehe

Although at first mention of it, visiting the Government House might seem a bit mundane.  But with all the drama like sceneries and photo opportunities, not to mention making snow angel on the thickened pile of snow (yes, my friends did this!!!), boring is definitely not in the dictionary of this visitation!