Isaac, Joy and Papa Go Japan: Day 3 and 4, Higashikawa, Otaru, Sounkyo and Asahidake
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I did not plan to drive around the entire island of Hokkaido in the few days we had. It would not be practical or fun. So I decided to keep things within the centre of Hokkaido.
From Shikotsuko, we drove to Higashikawa (my favourite town) and stayed at my friends’ B&B. Dinner was spent watching the Rugby World Cup Finals with my friends (they were rooting for England) while Isaac and Joy played with their kids, who were a few years younger. Jody and Nina adore big sister Joy, whom they met when she came visiting during my solo trip with her when she turned 12, and the girls were happy to see her again.
The next morning, we set off again, without any plans once more. I thought, perhaps we could drive out to Otaru, just to have a look. Frankly, it was just an excuse to drive, as the drive itself is very pleasant. I told them, “Otaru is famous for their canals.”
Joy asked, “And?”
“That’s pretty much it,” I said. It is one big tourist trap, to be honest, and I told them, “Essentially, we are driving all the way to see Otaru’s Long Kangs.” They laughed and were cool with their father’s rather stupid travel plans.
“The canals are actually quite nice when it is winter, to be honest,” I added, trying to make it sound a bit more exciting.
When we got to Otaru, I found a parking lot near the canals and was quite pleased it said ¥100 for 30 minutes. After parking, I realized I read it wrongly and it was actually ¥400 for 30 minutes during the day, and ¥100 for 30 minutes AT NIGHT.
“We better not stay too long,” I told the kids. Joy, the financially-minded of the two, said, “Ya, not worth paying that kind of parking for Long Kang.”
So we snapped some photos, walked around the food court a bit, and then left Otaru. I figured we would get lunch further away, en route to Sounkyo, where we planned to stay the night.
Sounkyo is a quaint mountain resort area, located in Kamikawa. It is considered a touristy place, but a good base to hike Daisetsuzan National Park from. We stopped at a ramen place in Kamikawa called Yoshino, just off the highway. And wow, the ramen was great. They even had thick slices of Miton roast pork available as a side, in limited quantities. This is part of the fun of road trips: stumbling upon good places to eat.
After eating at Yoshino, we drove on to Sounkyo and stopped at the Twin Waterfalls rest stop. That was when we encountered some serious cold and wind chill. It was -1ºC and windy there. We looked at the majestic cliffs for a bit, stared at the waterfall which was not flowing very rapidly (Spring is when the ice melts and you get a grander sight) and then we ran into the souvenir store to enjoy some heat.
The store ladies were so kind, and offered us cups of soup. They had a hot pot set up with paper cups to serve their customers, and we were very thankful for the soup. So much so that I felt I had to buy some stuff there, in gratitude. I bought some sweets and grapes. You may have seen the Instastory of Joy and me eating said grapes in our ryokan later, and attempting to spit the seeds into the bowl.
I asked the kids if they wanted to climb the stairs to the viewing platform but the sign said, “20 minutes” and there was a sign to look out for bears. So we chickened out. Actually we were just lazy. It was too much of a climb on a cold autumn’s day just to see two off-peak waterfalls.
We finally checked into Kumoi Hotel, a nice little place that was renovated only two years ago. Many of these onsen hotels in areas like this tend to be old and tired. A couple of the hotels I saw along the way had signs with missing words in their names. But not the Kumoi.
The kids had to set up the futon beds themselves, something they learned to do in our first house, and I have to say, it is handy having two assistants to set up the beds.
At least this Sounkyo area had three restaurants open till 8pm, so we did not need to tabao food. We chose an Italian place called Bear Grill, run by a handsome old man who made great food.
We also stopped by the Seicomart, the FamilyMart of Hokkaido, to resupply our drinks and junk food. And then retired to our hotel.
Because the Kumoi has its own onsen baths, I took the kids to the baths and taught the son how it works. Joy already had some experience in our previous trip so she was fine. The son took some convincing. “Nobody will look at your junk lah,” I assured him.
I gave him pointers on how to use an onsen, like putting a small towel on his head, and using the same small towel to cover his lower bits. The butt, that one cannot cover, the small towel was not big enough.
The kids enjoyed the onsen experience thoroughly, and we vowed to do it again when we could. And we ended our night at Sounkyo with a movie screening in the room, where I introduced them to The Matrix. Suffice to say, their minds were blown.
The next morning we drove back towards Higashikawa and stopped at the Seven Stars Tree. It is a scenic spot where, I later learned, a famous oak tree, that was once used on the packaging of seven stars tobacco, stood.
I only found out when I got to the Tree. Great, we drove all this way to see a cigarette advertisement. But the view was really nice lah. So it was not for nothing.
We also made a stop at the Shirogane Blue Pond, which was recently upgraded with new viewing platforms and lights. There, we spotted some dumb tourists taking photos on a tree branch that grew over the water. This is why we can’t have nice things.
By then it was close to sunset, and I didn’t want to drive in the dark, so we drove to Hotel Bear Monte, near Asahidake mountain, where I booked a night in this bigger, fancier onsen hotel. It took a lot of talking to convince the kids that it is okay to walk around the hotel in our yukata. And even to have the buffet dinner wearing our takata.
“This is how the farmers used to do it, on their vacations to onsen hotels,” I told the kids. They looked a little skeptical but took to it eventually. So we walked here walked there, like a boss, in our yukatas.
Like Japanese farmers on their winter onsen vacations.
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