Skied in Hakuba for 5th time. We were lucky that prior to our arrival in mid-Jan heavy snow has been falling for few days, such that all slopes were opened.
D0 – Entering the snow country from Nagano
as usual, took Shinkansen to arrive at Nagano and change to express bus to Hakuba Happo.
Snow covered Nagano city
outside Happo bus terminal
ryokan inner garden
view from room in early morning
trucks was burried after overnight snow
D1 – Hakuba Goryu+Hakuba47
Heavy snow was falling while the gondola was operating on and off intermittently. Fresh pow was everywhere !! The top lifts for both were closed due to strong wind and poor visibility, thus we were confined to ski in Goryu.
Came down the Champion-expert course
Toomi gelande
Alps-daira Grand Prix gelande was closed due to strong wind and poor visibility
at the bottom of Toomi-gelande
D2-4 in Hakuba Happo-one
Skied in Happo-One for the rest of our trip. We had a rare sunny day on D3 with all clouds and mists dispersed in the morning. Went to the mt top @1850m to take great shots of the 3 summits of Shirouma-dake – the featured image. 1st time in deep blue sky !!
D3 morning view from room
Panaromic view @1650m
heading towards the top mt lift
@1850m
Goryu-dake
@1650m
Karamatsu-dake
Usagidaira @1450m
top of Olympic course II
looked back after descent
getting misty in pm
ryokan that we stayed in Happo
Big sakura tree in snow
Jinja in thick snow
Tall JP sugi trees in Jinja
Time in Tokyo and in Hakuba Happo
as usual, we met up with local friends in Tokyo for reunion. Enjoyed in cosy izakayas in Happo. Returned to Tokyo and visited museum in Ueno Park.
Upon returning to Sapporo we visited the Hokkaido University campus where peak Koyo had arrived. Besides, we re-visited theFormer Hokkaido Government Office again. The lily pond – featured in the cover photo looked fairly similar to Monet’s garden in Giverny, though on a smaller scale and offered a different ambience.
2nd visit since 2004. Dropped by Onuma National Park while en route. Koyo was about 10%. Took an easy walking path of 1 hour. Nice view of Mount Komagatake in the distance.
Yunokawa onsen and Trappist Convent
While we took a day time onsen in Yunokawa in 2004, we stayed in an onsen ryokan with seaview and rotenburo in-room. On the next morning, visited the Trappist Monastery before returning to Hakodate city.
view of Mt Hakodate from onsen ryokan
Kaiseki dinner in-room
our room with rotenburo facing the sea
Trappist Convent
Back in Hakodate city, we first visited Kosetsu-en, a famous garden for Koyo. Though Koyo was about 10%, it was a nice walk. We then headed to the morning market for lunch and checked in to new onsen hotel with view of Mt Hakodate and bay. Went up to Mt Hakodate for famous nightview. The narrow road up to the peak was so congested that there were long lines of cars and buses on either way. On the next morning, we strolled around in the bay area before heading back to Sapporo.
at the north-western tip of Hokkaido. Took about 2 hours from Niseko to skirt around the coastline to get there.
coastline while heading north to Cape Kamui
Shimamui-kaikan in Shakotan Peninsula
clear blue sea water from above
Otaru Shukutsu
Took about 1 hour drive from Shakotan to Otaru. Stayed in a hotel overlooking the Shukutsu coastline in Otaru. as we have visited Otaru twice before, did not stop by the city centre this time.
Hoheikyo and Jozankei onsen
our first visit – Koyo was a bit late in both, which are in the outskirts of Sapporo. Stayed overnight in an onsen ryokan in Jozankei.
In this Koyo trip, we visited Hokkaido from mid to late Oct starting from Shikotsu-ko, Toya-ko, Niseko, Cape Kamui, Hoheikyo, Otaru, Sapporo and Hakodate.
Shikotsu-ko
First stay right after landing in nearby New Chitose airport, about 30min by car. Deep-blue lake in peak Koyo.
sunrise from onsen ryokan
Toya-ko
Koyo was a bit after peak. Nevertheless, it was a sunny day and it was my first shots on fireworks.
view from Sairo Observatory
Ukimido
Mt Yotei in the distance
Niseko
visited Shinsen-numa for the 1st time. Koyo was clearly beyond peak in mid-Oct due to higher elevation. Refer to our trip in Oct 2013 when we visited 1 week earlier to catch peak Koyo.
Half-moon lake
At the foothill of Mt Yotei, about 15-20min walk from car park through a forest of White Birch (Shirakaba in Japanese).
Took about 40min by hotel shuttle bus pick up from Onomichi station. The resort has an awesome view of the Seto Inland Sea (Setonaikai), with islands and peninsula stretching into the horizon.
View from balcony
steamed Tai fish
Grilled fish – Tanago
Fried fish – Ozeko
slow-cooked Hiroshima beef
Rice baked with Anago
lounge
morning view from room
view from western restaurant during brekie
swimming pool
Barons de Rothschild Champagne for brekie
cart loaded with bread rolls
Delicious fish soup in the morning
Grilled Tai on egg benedict
own mariner pier
1st time the HK SAR flag was hoisted during our stay !
The Kaiseki dinner was very nice. Worth mentioning is the fresh fishes being served – one grilled and one fried upon their recommendation among others, were very delicious. These were local fishes which were unknown to us. The grilled Hiroshima beef was served in western style.
As to the morning breakfast, we selected the western style. The restaurant was in an open area next to a huge lawn facing the sea with a swimming pool in front. It has been many years since our stays in Amsterdam that we had Champagne again during breakfast. Equally surprising was the grilled Tai fish on top of Eggs Benedict. Selected bread rolls were sliced and heated in charcoal furnace outdoor.
Undoubtedly it was a memorable onsen stay. We would definitely return in other seasons of the year.
returned to Osaka for the last 2 nights to avoid peak crowds on the road. Stayed in Tennoji area for the first time. It was less crowded than in Namba/Dotonbori but still has plenty of shops, malls, decent restaurants.
Kokoen is just 500m away from the Himeji castle entrance. With less visitors, it was serene with well-maintained gardens, ponds, small bridges. Camelia was in full bloom.
Visited Chugoku area for the first time – Okayama, Kurashiki, Miyajima, Fukuyama before returning to Himeji and Osaka. Our visit was in the last week in December, New Year decorations were in many places as locals were busily preparing the NY.
Took Sanyo Shinkansen and local trains, pretty easy and comfortable.
Korakuen in Okayama
One of three famous landscape gardens in Japan.
250th year anniversary
Okayama castle in the background
Tanchou – JP crane
tea fields
tea house
NY decorations
Okayama castle
The castle is situated on the back of Korakuen across a stream via a foot-bridge. There is an exit gate on the back allowing easy access to both.
room where the shogun lived
Kurashiki
about 30min by local train from Okayama. It was a rainy day so we spent about 2 hours strolling there. Unfortunately, the Ohara Museum was closed and we visited the Toy museum instead.
