Summer in Hokkaido

I heard from a Japanese friend that summer was short in Hokkaido this year, so we were really lucky to have been there during the right week! Here are some photos of the family trip.

Day 1: 23 Aug 2007
8:30am ANA flight, some 12 hours long, including domestic transfer, sigh. Narita airport looked unexpectedly modest... best shot of the sky that I've captured so far during a flight (using a phone camera that is).




Day 2: 24 Aug 2007

After visiting a salmon farm in Sapporo, it was off to Otaru. Quaint, like a toyland, check out the top right photo of father and child enjoying music played by life size mechanical teddy bears.

We visited a fabulous Music Box Museum (more of a big shop really) and had large Hokkaido crabs for lunch. Then, we visited the gigantic chocolate factory that makes the popular chocolate biscuits, Shiroi Koibito. Beyond the chocolate factory, there were exhibitions on history of chocolate, coffee and even toys. Of course lots of chocolates, candy and ice-cream on sale, with outdoor gardens to frolic in. And free entry, what more could one ask for? Dinner time, missed out on Kobe beef, coz we deliberated over the price of 700 yen per 200g tad long, drats.

Day 3: 25 Aug 2007

8:30am, left for Furano for lavender farm, the highlight of the tour. Arrived around noon, bad time for photo-taking. Post buffet lunch, the sun grew less harsh, don't the sunflowers look lovely. Me and mum looking happy!

Day 4: 26 Aug 2007

These snowmen that I saw at Hokkaido's Ice Pavilion are the closest to the real thing for me, and here's a video of the cold but rather cool visit.





Does the facade of this historical old temple look like a face? Just like the houses in Satoshi Kon's animated movie, Tokyo Godfathers!



Day 5 & 6: 27 Aug 2007

Visited sulphurous mountains. The sulphur is apparently used by the hotels in the vicinity for their baths.

I loved the giant animals that pop up on the roof or around the buildings. Food was quite an attraction: besides the milk chocolate and hairy crab, I also miss the sweet rock melon and corn that could be eaten raw. On the last day of the trip, we went to the market and indulged in some tax free shopping.


Day 7: 28 Aug 2007

Our final evening at Sapporo. Hope to visit again!

Time out in Bangkok

I came across a post on The Eugenia by Chubby Hubby and thought the hotel sounded nice. Hm, a long weekend shopping at the Chatuchak market and chilling out at The Eugenia, anyone? end.

Pics from hotel website

Weekend at Langkawi

Fri 27 Apr: Felt like almost a year since my last beach holiday! Finally got to Langkawi by Silkair. Bit pricey, but very comfortable flight.Arrived at Westin late evening, lurvely view of hotel lobby.

You can look into the bathroom and tub through the bedroom if you want to, naughty!

The spa was under renovation and services were moved to one of the villas, so we got to check it out, 5 bedrooms, nice. But sad to say, the massages weren't too great, the ladies were not very experienced. Not as good as those I had in Krabi, and the charges were higher.

Taste restaurant where we had buffet breakfast (roti canai, century egg porridge, nasi lemak, aaah.... ). Dinner was more challenging, until we decided to go for buffet as well :P

The room, like Taste, had a view of the sea and you could see the hotel jetty from the balcony. It rained quite a bit, but it was ok, indoors was cozy :) But we did manage to catch a Langkawi sunset, sweet.

1 Apr: Final view of Westin on a sunny afternoon :)