Day 3 - Sounkyo
Da da... Let me present to you the scenaries of Hokkiado Winter =)Oh well, the bus trip to Sounkyo Gorge took quite a while, so between my napping on the bus, I snapped some pictures to kill time... =p
I particularly like this photo ~ Bare trees and a single soul on a vast land of white... Looks kinda artistic huh? keke
Clear blue sky, mountains and river....
Let me clarify myself ~ no photoshot or editing done to the pictures above. All are simply the beauty of nature in its raw form.
Trying to mimic the fish eye effect.. hehe. Is it up to standard?
What I did was just covering my lens with my arm warmer, creative ya? That also showed how bored I was on the bus. =p
Saw this on the road side. Erm, dunno what was it, but sure looked like a big white waffle to me! ^_^
The white snow seemed to cleanse everything. Even the factories, cranes, lorries looked better in white. Hahhaa..
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After a long long time, we finally reached Sounkyo Gorge! Phew, finally can get down from the bus!
The reason why we were here ~> To see this frozen waterfall. If you look closely, there were people climbing it.
Crazy fellows... It was so cold and it was snowing heavily! We were literally running for shelter after taking some pictures.
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Next, we checked in to our hotel ~ Sounkyo Kanko Hotel, our first tatami hotel.
This was how the bedroom looked like when we first entered the room. So where was the tatami bed? Ha, somehow the staff was aware of our plans and "sneaked" into the room, shifted the table to one side and laid the mattress for us, when we went for our dinner. Keke
Free biscuit, complimentary from the hotel!
Dinner was settled in the hotel again. Buffet again.
Not too sure whether was it the planning of ASA tour group or was it that tour group in Hokkaido always settle the dinner in the hotel itself. I was expecting different type of japanese cuisine or themed resturants.*Shrugged*
On a side note, the grilled beef was good. =)
Crab was served in the buffet, but not fantastic. I ate one and decided that it was not good enough.The crab was not meaty, served cold and tasteless. I think Hokkaido crabs should taste much better than that, but probably it was served in a buffet, the quality may not be at its best.
Oddly, I saw people eating heaps of crab legs. Was I too critical? Oh well, all up to individual's preference bah.
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After dinner, we went out to see the ice sculptures and ice icicles formation, which was only a 10 - 15 minutes walk from the hotel. But it sure felt like a long time, braving against wind & snow.
We reached! ^^
Colourful ice mountains and igloos everywhere. They really looked like ice kacang huh? Hehe
There were different ice sculptures in the igloos.
One of it, a wishing well....
This was the entrance for one of the ice mountains.
Note the "warning" at the entrance? Yeah, it stated "Beware, on top"... Beware of what?
Icicles!! They looked dangerously pretty, like sharp spikes hanging above our heads.
More pictures of the icicles, enhanced with the lightings.. Pretty.
An opening in the ice mountain..
Slides were everywhere in winter. Adults and children alike were having so much fun with the ice tubing. Hey, the queue seemed to take quite a while, so we decided to head back to our hotel to enjoy the onsen instead. Ha.
Finally the day ended off with a good session of hotspring/ shower time!
I oreadi got used to having my shower with lotza others, and seeing lotza naked bodies. I will clean myself first before going to the onsen lor, very hygienic one! Oh btw, the onsen will provide toiletries, so I would just bring along towels and my facial wash to the onsen. Keke
I thought of bringing my tooth brush and toothpaste too, so that after the "shower", I can go straight for bedtime! After 2nd thought, it may be quite paiseh lah. =p
Displayed in the hotel lobby. Obviously I was not paying attention to the tour guide what it symbolized. If you know, let me know!
Next stop - Abashiri and Lake Akan! Coming up soon!
2 comments:
Great photos! Looking forward to more! ^_^
Keke.. Sure, sure.. more coming up!
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