Hokkaido [08-14Jan2010]

I am back from Hokkaido! :)

It snowed every single day! The snow was so deep, I accidentally walked off the path and ended up waist deep in snow.. Gorgeous powder snow... The weather was perfect too! Not too cold and the winds were mild. Wonderful trip!

Covered in soft snow from walking outside..

Rusutsu Ski Resort.. Look at the amount of snow behind me!

Imagine trekking thru this amount of snow.. I think it's around 160cm deep. We walked 400m in and it was a very difficult trek cos the snow was so soft, the moment you stepped on it.. you'll sink down immediately. We went all the way in to do the snow activities like rafting and tubing. I like this Ski Resort due to the food choices... and the nice night view outside at the ski area.. but the Onsen (hot spring) is super duper mini...

Ski Mobile

Wah! It was very very very cold! My hands and feet were frozen and I kept on willing myself to continue cos there's no turning back. It's a one way drive in and one way drive out... Fortunately my customers enjoyed themselves despite the cold cos it's snowing and there was lots and lots of snow everywhere.

Otaru Canal

My favourite place cos there's so many shops here selling yummy food and beautiful things! Cheesecake, Ice Cream, Ramen, Japanese pastries, Chocolate, and many many more!

Hokkaido Potato Farm Chips

They used to limit each person to only buy 2 boxes as they had limited stocks and everyone wanted to buy them. It's ¥840 per box, around S$12.60

You can get these in most places in Hokkaido, but I will recommend you to buy it at Chitose Airport (if you're flying out from there) cos many shops are selling them.

Went to hunt for a birthday cake for my customer cos it was her birthday... saw this giant Hello Kitty and stopped to take a picture. Didn't have time to go into the shop to browse cos need to rush back to the coach.. :(

The hotels were very nice, sometimes we stayed in tatami rooms.. sometimes we stay in western-styled rooms.

Rusutsu Ski Resort's Room

Toya Sun Palace Hotel Room

At the airport with my guide, Florence Tham :)

I worked with her before 1.5yrs ago, so we were quite comfortable with each other's working style. She is also a Singaporean, Japanese PR. Married a Japanese man. Shiok lor! Can be a Japanese housewife... everyday go Japanese supermarket and shop shop! Eat Japanese food. Yum yums!

I think I've come full circle. She was my 1st tour guide when I went on my 1st tour and now she's also my guide for my last tour with CTC. Super coincidence.

One of the must buy item in Japan is Agnes B and I finally splurged on one! It's perfect! Waterproof, lots of compartments and so pretty! Also not available in Singapore yet! The normal plain design in Singapore is already more expensive than the one I bought.. It costs around ¥9300(S$140) after tax rebate.

I also bought lots of other stuff like...

1. Agnes B wallet
2. Hello Kitty Keychain
3. Hello Kitty Scrunchie.
4. Pink Canary Clothes Pegs from Franc Franc
5. Pink Chopping Board
6. Pink Sponge Holder
7. Pink beauty stuff
8. Bathroom mat
9. Butter cookies
10. Ishiaya Chocolate waffle

The doll was a gift from my guide. ^___^ I wanted to buy it but it was quite expensive.. almost S$30! She went to buy it for me without knowing that it was the exact same design I liked! She said she just chose the latest design cos she dunno anything about Hello Kitty!

HAHA! So amazing lah! Out of the hundreds of designs in the whole shop.. she chose the correct one! And we weren't even together! We were walking separate ways cos she needed to go to the ATM to draw money.. and she only went to the shop after I left that shop. HAPPY!

New year = New wallet!

It's pink and red! Shiny shiny! It's around ¥15000, S$225 after tax rebate. A bit expensive... but I think it's a good investment. Moreover, new wallet may bring me better fortune and good luck!

Can someone enlighten me why does wallet usually cost more than the bag?? Even for the Burberry Blue Label, the wallet was ¥24,000 and the bag was ¥22,500... so weird right? But I think it also depends on the design and material. I was told by a friend that wallet is more difficult to make, so in comparison to size, regardless of material.. it usually costs more.

Anyways.... for more pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=140257&id=531553106&l=1108dbfb11

Merry Christmas from Hokkaido!

I'm now in Hakkodate.. and will be flying back to Narita tomorrow evening before flying back to Singapore on the 26th Dec!

-

Weather has been ranging from -1 to -14 degrees celcius.. some places are extremely cold due to the strong winds blowing from the Pacific Ocean..

-

Can't describe in words how much I *heart* Japan! I love the culture, people, food and most of all.. HELLO KITTY!

I love this group a lot cos everyone is so nice and sweet to me! I also got Ronnie as my tourguide and he is fantastic cos he's a ultra foodie and kept bringing me to special places to eat! Yay!

Thank you all for the shout-outs! I know I have not been blogging recently.. just felt that there was no point cos I don't seem to have any visitors anymore, unlike in the past where I used to have quite a following.. Guess my life is not that interesting anymore....

-

Alrightys, going to get ready to go up and have an early night's rest. Good night!

My very 1st tourleading assignment!

Here's my tour group of 25 people~

This picture was taken at Mt Showa, an active volcano that is still spewing smoke.

Here's my 1st night hotel room.. the best hotel IMO throughout the whole tour..

Lake Toya Sun Palace

It's overlooking the Lake Toya with a lovely view of Nakajima Island.. There's a daily fireworks session just outside the window at 8pm and the buffet dinner is TO DIE FOR!

Too bad there's so many China nationals working there, it doesn't feel japanese, but like you're in China cos all these cheene kept speaking mandarin to you and keep shouting heavily accented (and off pronounced) japanese phrases.

Next day we went to Nakajima Island, took a cruise there and here's a pic of the forest trail.

Apparently these trees take minimum 60 to 70 years to grow so tall!

Bear Ranch @ Mt Showa

One word to describe the bear ranch: SMELLY

Norboribetsu Hell Valley

Bought a orangey demony keychain for Money from here, bobbing head, very cute. The souveniers in Hokkaido very personalized one. Only avaliable in certain places.

Eg; The Hello Kitty in Norboribetsu is wearing demon skirt and holding a club while the Furano Kitty is hugging lavender flowers.. etc.

Shiraoi Ainu Village

They are the aborigines of Hokkaido, and only 10,000 of them remain.

Super Fresh Seafood

Apparently most of the tour groups come here.. so it's a wee-bit rip off.

Sobetsu Strawberry Farm

I never imagined that strawberry bushes are sooooooooooo small and short! It is my first time plucking strawberries! So fun! :)

Anyway, there are many crop fields in Hokkaido, and my passenger keep asking me what crop is this, what crop is that.. And i got all of them correct (according to my driver Mikami-San).

Potato, Corn, Onion, Tomato....

And you know why I know?

Cos i play Harvest Moon! The plants look exactly the same as in the game! So i know lor. HAHAHA.

Furano Flower Farms

I took tons of pictures. Damn chio lor.

Otaru Glass Musuem

There is Hokkaido's oldest steamclock which chimes every 15mins. Can you spot it in the picture?

Li Xiao Lu

Asakusa Temple

Last day was Free & Easy and my group opted for a Tokyo City Tour.. So I managed to go to Ginza, Harajuku & Asakusa Temple..

Luckily i managed to buy Yaya's burberry blue label bag at Harajuku (my local guide helped me to buy, i showed her the picture) and some Fancl products.. But i didn't manage to buy the TenseUp EX cos my luggage overweight liao. 38kg! So sad. Cos it's really cheap there and i promised to get for Money & Wany. I dunno why my luggage so heavy lor! Must be pipimon's chocolates and lavender pillow.
I went to pray and ask for a lot at this temple.. Heard it's very "ling".

The lot says I must be patient in order for success in career and love... and some other things about my family. It's a good lot, but not the best.

Haix. Patience!

That concludes the Hokkaido tour! It's not my first time to Hokkaido, but I really enjoyed it a lot! And being my very first tour that I lead as a tourleader, of course I feel nervous but I pulled it off! Yay!