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Showing posts from November, 2014

Japan Trip (Hokkaido): Noboribetsu

Jigokudani Jigokudani or Hell Valley is a volcano region which displays hot steam vents, sulfurous steam, and other volcanic activities. From Jigokudani, there are many walking trails which you can take by following the clearly labelled signs along the trails. The trails bring you to a river where you can have a natural foot bath or another trail which you can hike to the blue pond. If you are driving to Jigokudani, just enter the phone number: 0143843311   and the GPS will bring you there. Do note that the car parks outside require a parking fee of 400 yen, but the admission to Jigokudani is totally free. Other modes of transport to Jigokudani include: 15 min ride by Donan Bus from JR Noboribetsu Station; 1 hour bus "Kosoku Airport" from New Chitose Airport; 1 hour 40 mins by Donan Bus from Sapporo Station Bus Terminal Once we were near Jigokudani, we could smell Sulphur in the air. Following this sign on a trail brought us to the hot spring vent which has

Japan Trip (Hokkaido): Furano

Woohoo! Clear skies today and we hoped there're still colourful flower plains for us to see in Furano after seeing many 'botak' trees for the past few days. Farm Tomita Along the road, we saw dried lavender and patches of grassland without any flowers. We were already in despair until we reached Farm Tomita ! There's still an area with flowers in various colours in October! We walked to the perfume house in Farm Tomita and saw how they made perfume and packaged them into small bottles. The shop in the perfume house sells souvenirs, perfume, soap, cream etc. made of lavender. Walked further into the perfume house, we went up the stairs to the second level and managed to get a good view there. Not forgetting there're also stamp chops in Farm Tomita! We also tried some lavender-flavoured food sold in the cafes in Farm Tomita. Lavender Ice Cream. Hmmm. It felt like I'm eating ice cream with lavender essential oil. LOL!

Japan Trip (Hokkaido): Love Hotel Experience in Asahikawa

Love Hotel in Japan was quite an interesting experience. If you just need a room to stay for the night, no harm trying Love Hotel as the price is quite reasonable. However, during the day, Love Hotel charges by hourly rate. The only troublesome thing is you cannot leave the room without paying and you cannot leave your luggage in the hotel. We had a rental car, so we left our luggage in the car and brought the necessary stuff that we needed to the hotel. Outside each Love Hotel, there's a board indicating the price. We parked our car in the Love Hotel car park, even the car park provided privacy for the guests by having curtains for each parking lot. There's no receptionist at the reception counter, everything's automated. When we walked into the Love Hotel, we saw a panel with screens showing the available rooms. The panel was touch-screen. We chose the room number we wanted, and proceeded to the room. The room will be unlocked once it's chosen. Do reme