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Showing posts from September, 2018

I Survived Hokkaido! - Episode 2

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Continued... Over buffet lunch I tried a cheese soup for the first time. Hokkaido is famous for their milk and cheese.  We were given each a slice of rock melon. When other tour groups came and saw this I overheard them saying that they must have this rock melon too. Unbeknownst to them, only Chan Brothers has this in the package.  We were moving to the waterfall. Yamashita-san would be alert to wild life along the way and he would slow down or stop for a moment so that we could gaze at them.  This one should be the Ezo fox which is widely distributed in Hokkaido. This is a mountainous area with wild life. Later we spotted a deer roaming freely.  Hokkaido deer is known as the Yezo sika deer. At last at the waterfall.  And the water that rush below. You could spot some deer resting or foraging along the river. As we were in the mountainous area, the temperature was much colder. The waterfal

I Survived Hokkaido!

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It has been like ten years since I had a one week vacation flying more than seven hours. Most holiday travels were restricted to four-day trips nearby, at most five. Industry turmoil is taking its toll. It has been more than a turmoil.  I have never needed a break quite so badly. So I have chosen what I thought was a perfect destination - Hokkaido in autumn. It was quite a perfect plan. Though I may have been to various parts of Japan many times, Hokkaido was the first time. Not everybody speaks English and I was not familiar with the place and so I decided to go on a package tour. Something I always dislike - an itinerary tour. God help me. I am the free and easy type, unshackled. All we need is just journey mercy. A couple of months came by quickly and now I found myself bidding temporary adios to what Nas Daily said was the almost perfect country. He also said great things about our Changi Airport.  Some netizens were picking bones with him. C'mon relax, they are all just one m