29 December 2017 Friday
Good Morning. Looking out of our window…dripping water frozen into icy stalactites.
It was morning onsen time. A short dip at indoor onsen.
Make my way to the outdoor onsen.
freezing ice around the hot pool.
It was so nice to dip in hot water with falling snow. I try to catch the superb sight with a short video clip.
After onsen, it was breakfast time. Dinning hall with western style seating on Tatami.
buffet style breakfast… people picked what they like.
Our breakfast…
Half boiled eggs sprinkled with onion… Oishii !
After breakfast, we moved our stuff to the reception area. While waiting for Asahikawa shuttle, we explored the external of our hotel. Stepping out of the Hotel…. light snow fall with freezing air.
Wonderful winter sight.
Zoomed in on the vegetation around…
This is the condition of car after a night of snow fall.
This group somehow had to make some clearance behind the car…. look like struggling !
Playing with snow…
The bus arrived…. bid goodbye to a wonderful snowy experience at Yumoto Shirogane Onsen Hotel.
The bus was very packed.
A smooth ride from woody country side to city.
Arrived at Asahikawa station… Had coffee before catching the train to Sapporo.
Sunny snow outside Asahikawa station….
and it was half meter of snow everywhere !
We had 2 hours transit before our reserved train ride to Lake Toya. We decided to placed one of our two luggage bags at Sapporo Hotel. As we dragged our luggage through the snowy pavement, the wheel to the luggage bag we wanted to bring to Lake Toya gave way.
We had to do repacking and leave this handicapped luggage bag at Sapporo Nest Hotel.
Lesson learnt : Dragging luggage bag through icy snow surface is more unpredictable than typical solid ground.
With all the hold up, we still had sometimes for snack at JR station before train arrival.
It was around 1700 hrs when we arrived at Lake Toya Station. The street was very quiet.
A mini size illumination tunnel standing in front of the JR station.
All passengers queue at Taxi stand…but no Taxi.
I read from internet – because Taxi is expensive, few people in Japan take Taxi. There will be taxi waiting for Passengers at most JR station.
In the case of Lake Toya JR, this is not true. We waited but no Taxi for 20 mins or longer. A great relief when Donan public bus appeared and everyone board the bus.
Looking out through the window… we could see the Lake Toya dimly illuminated by street light.
My wife tried to demo traditional “Way of Tea”….Ooops !
Exit from Hotel…. the main street was very quiet too.
About 50m from the hotel is Boyotei restaurant. Tripadvisor ranked it as top at Lake Toya area. Externally, it looked a mixed of unique, traditional with a peaceful and quiet ambient.
Internally, it was all wooden classic decorations. Feeling warm, cosy and relaxing. Very comfortable indeed.
We had the famous hamburger steak. Taste rather special compared to traditional steak.
After dinner, we were back to the main street. There was light snow fall.
Walking along a lonely road.
Looking up on the street light…. snow flake illuminated by orange light. Aura of Romantic in the air.
Our pictures…
A little decorative street lighting…
Very quickly, we were at Lake Toya Illumination tunnel…Entrance to the tunnel.
The illuminated hall at the center of tunnel.
Emerging from the end of illuminated tunnel.
An external view of the illuminated tunnel.
Our pictures…
End of Day 9 : It was a day of more traveling and less activities. The snowy onsen @ Yumoto Shirogane was one of the best I had come across. It was a wonderful snowy experience at Biei. We make our way to Lake Toya to see the illumination tunnel and were we very much delighted. A snowy night along the main street on Lake Toya offered a symphony of feeling – peaceful, quiet, lonely, romantic, lovely…
We liked the ambient very much.
Return to : Hokkaido Winter Fantasy Day 8
Continue to : Hokkaido Winter Fantasy Day 10.
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