Hokkaido 8 Days - Oct 2009, Part I

Dad and Mom went on a 8-day tour to Hokkaido Japan from 10/18 to 10/25 with Mom's National Taiwan University classmates. Unlike other tours with young people, these mid 60's grandpas and grandmas enjoyed a relaxing trip with good food, good views, good hot-springs and good friends.

They arrived at Sapporo late in the evening, so they could only walk around the shopping district for a while before checking into the local hotel.

The second day started with the visit to Hokkaido Shrine, the center of worship and the only shrine in Hokkaido. The maples trees this time of year are vibrant with different shades of color. Quite a beautiful sight.

Next stop was the old administrative center of Hokkaido which was built in the American Baroque style. The old Timing Tower was also built in an American style, but more with the Western frontier flavor. It is the oldest remaining time tower still in operation.

From the group photos, can you tell who was the oldest and who was the youngest of the group?

The group departed toward the "Devil's Valley" after the city tour. It was actullay the remains of volcanic eruption about 10,000 years ago. Till now natural gas and hot steam are still coming out from beneath the ground.

They checked in and enjoyed the hotspring at 登別溫泉 for the night.

The group went on a little walk up 昭和新山 early the third day. It was formed two hundred years ago in the middle of a wheat field with a volcano eruption. It is still considered a "living" volcano and gets higher every year. The current height is at 407 km.


When they got to Toyako Lake, the weather was getting cloudy and much cooler. The Lake was the third largest lake in Hokkaido, again formed from volcanic eruption. To view the surrounding scenaries, Dad and Mom got on a boat tour with the group.

The next stop was "Big and Small Marsh Park" 大小沼公園 to ride the dragon-bicyle, which was a long chain of tricycles connected together. It requird team work and group effort, if some people did not peddle, it would be much tougher for the others to get the entire chain going.

Though it had started to rain, but the group still enjoyed the beautiful maple leaves at 五陵廓 Park, a famous landmark in Hakodate。It was also the site of an important battle between 1868 and 1969.

The third day ended with the night scene up Hakodate Mountain. The night view here is considered the top three night scene of the world, with the other two being in Hong Kong and in Napoli in Italy. They enjoyed 湯之川 hot spring tonight.