The day began with the guide asking whether we preferred good news or bad news.

Grrr... I had a bad feeling on this. Before the guide even said it out, I oreadi guessed it ~ the icebreaking cruise was canceled due to bad sea conditions and thin ice. I dunno whether the guide was trying to "console" us by saying that there were tour groups who went out to the sea but saw nothing except for drifted ice from far, so nothing to break.

Oh well, I was really disappointed coz the purpose of going Hokkaido during winter was because of the cruise. Otherwise, I would prefer to visit the place when it is all sunny and colourful with all sorts of flowers. I still feel a bit dejected now just to think of it, coz I wonder when will I ever visit Hokkaido in winter again.

And the good news? We got back 3000Yen for the unused service, which we spent it on snowy crab that cost 15000 Yen.

Hairy Crabs

This will be served at our dining table later. Such a weird feeling to see your food alive just a moment ago.

Hey, that was my tour guide helping us to catch the little big thing. The scallops were big relatively to their own species but considered small as compared to the crabs mah, so I called them the "Little Big Thing". Keke

This was the lunch for us, if we didnt order the seafood at extra cost. Pathetic right? Just a few slices of salmon, corn and vegetables. Therefore, I certainly think that this was a "plot" to make us spend on the seafood! Hahha

You may think that paying 15000Yen (about S$200) for a crab is expensive. But it will be torturous seeing your fellow tour mates sinking their teeth into the meaty crab and scallop, while you can only stare at them and pick on lettuces and salmon. I tell you, you better pay that $200+ so that you will not have regrets in the future. Wahhaha

Finally! Our beloved crab cleaned and chopped up for us to devour!!!

These were meant to be cooked in the soup. Remember not to finish your rice but to dump it in the soup after you have finished eating the crab, so that you can enjoy crab porridge! It was heavenly! *Slurp slurp*

It was so good that we finished all the rice, which was a tad sticky like typical japanese pearl rice and absorbed all the sweetness from the crab soup. Ha, I'm getting hungry just by writing this paragraph.. *Stomach growling*

The crab legs were prepared separately as crab sashimi ~ 2 for each. I would say the portion was just nice for 4 to share. So if you are going as a couple, please start to build "good relationship" with another couple for the convenience of sharing food later on. Hahaha...

That was the boat that never get to sail out to the sea on that faithful day........ Sobzzz

Small pieces of drifting ice.

The guide told us that there will probably be what we gonna see if we did managed to cruise out and so we were 'lucky' to be able to see the scene without paying single cent. Erm, that didnt seem to make me feel better.

Bye bye icebreaking cruise.

I'm left with playing with my rubber duckling knocking against ice cubes in my bath tub liao... >.< >.<

Haiz.... we saw nothing again coz of bad weather. I hate you, BAD WEATHER!!!

Well, we were supposed to see a beautiful lake, but it was so foggy & white. Since there were nothing to see, we ended up watching a video of Lake Mashu shot in different seasons... Lame.. double >.< , >.<

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The tiny toilet that we didnt quite use it except for pee and wash up in the morning. Coz we always bathed at the onsen place! Hehe

As you can see, I was getting less & less food each time, coz they were all the same. Standard items I would take: Beef, amaebi, corn (super sweet!), salmon....

Before I move on to the Ainu performance, there was one last final sway thing happened ~ The Lake Akan supposed to have winter activities, ice sculptures etc. Guess what? It was closed on that night. Three sway items happened on the same day!

First the icebreaking cruise, then the Lake Mashu and now, Lake Akan! Wah piang... Pengz.. Buy 4D oso not so chun lor!! Grrr...

As we were waiting for the bus to bring us to the performance, something good finally happened. I thought since all the activities were halted on that night, there would probably be no fireworks. To my delight, there was firework display afterall! I took a video of it, but the file was too huge to upload to Youtube. Hmm.. *scratch head* How ar?

The day finally ended off with the Ainu performance, a cultural song & dance performance. Dint really know how to appreciate though ~ one of it was a dance by flinging the dancers' long hair so hard that I though it was a bit scary. There was another part whereby the performers made music using their mouth and dunno what, which almost sounds like BBOX, quite cool huh?

Ok, I shall end off this entry with some more scenery pictures before I move on to the city sight seeing... Enjoy!