Blog News - Valentine's Day 2007Note: The actual Valentine's Day is on 14th February.
Happy Valentine's Day to everyone in advance ( : I tweaked the template to produce a special LunarTwilight Valentine's Day '07 Edition. Hopefully everyone will have a good Valentine's Day ahead. (Although I don't exactly celebrate it myself.)- xw
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2006 Japan Trip (7th-27th December) + Uncle Ben's Family [PART III]
Note: As the whole of the Japan trip is too long to put in a single post, it will be split into parts. This is the 3rd part. To see Parts 1 and 2, scroll down.
Note: To get a better picture, open it in a new window. Then you can see the high-resolution version.
PART III (15th - 16th December)Okie its the 3rd Part! By this time, we are already in Hokkaido, and on the 15th we left Hakodate (the port city) for further up north - to Otaru City. We stayed in the outskirts of the city. Then after staying in the city for 3 days and 2 nights we travelled to Niseko. The 3rd Part only covers our time in Otaru City, which was mainly on the 15th and 16th as on 17th we left Otaru for Niseko. By the way, Otaru is the northernmost point that we reached.
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15th December, FridayOriginal Area: HakodateDestination: OtaruDriving: Hakodate to Otaru
Time: 12pm - 3:30pm (3.5 hours)
Distance: 243km
Lodging: Asari Classe Hotel (http://www.classe-hotel.com)
15th December, Friday
On the morning of this day, we ate breakfast at the Yumekukan Pension. Then we went walking around the Pension Yumekukan area.

Breakfast at Pension Yumekukan.
After having breakfast and walking around the Pension, we checked out. But before that, we took a photo with our friends at Yumekukan.

Us and our friends in front of the Pension Yumekukan in a group photo.
Then, before we left for Otaru, we went to the Hakodate wet market to explore around. We spent some time there. On the way, we took some pictures of the bay and passed a canal.

Squid fishing boats. The lanterns hanging in a line at the top of each boat are to attract squids.

Us at the canal. There are starfish and other fishes in the water.
After visiting the wet market, (by the way, Japanese wet markets are way cleaner than Singapore's wet markets) we went to eat ramen at the old ramen shop.

The Ramen Shop.
After eating lunch at the ramen shop, we left for Otaru. By the time we reached Otaru, it was already dark. We had dinner at the hotel (it was part of the hotel package) and then retired for the day.
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16th December, SaturdayOriginal Area: OtaruDestination: No ChangeDriving: None
Lodging: Asari Classe Hotel (http://www.classe-hotel.com)
16th December, Saturday
On Saturday, we remained at Otaru and did no driving - we went skiing at the Asari Ski Jose. Finally I got to ski again - it had been a very long time since I had skied. Anyway since it was the first time Sarah and Timothy were skiing, XP and me had to teach them. So we didn't really go on the chairlifts at the Asari Ski Jose, since the whole day was spent teaching them. Skiing is a very tiring and time consuming activity.
We spent the whole day at the Ski Jose. Sarah and Timothy did not use the chairlifts at this Ski Jose as they were not yet experienced enough. We only owned 3 pairs of skis (we did not want to waste money renting), so Sarah and Timothy took turns. However, we did rent a sled. Although me and XP both didn't get to use it, since the rest were not on skis.

Me and Timothy performing the "crab walk" up the slope.

Me helping Timothy up after he fell down.

Group shot from left to right: XP, Tim, me.

Group shot from left to right: XP, Sarah, me. I look lame in the woolly hat..

Standing guard..

The Sled.
Oki, thats the end of Part III. It covers the 2 days in Otaru. Part VI will be covering the 4 days in Niseko - one the most major highlights of the trip! I hope it will be completed soon though - getting busy with preparing for JC and other stuff.