World In My Eyes

In each of the regions I have included in this trip, there were some particular landmarks or things I wanted to see. Like in Germany, I really wanted to see the Berlin Wall, the Reichstag Dome and the Holocaust memorial. The Wailing Wall, the Temple Mount, the Baha'i Garden in Haifa, the Dead Sea were my must for Israel, I also wanted to visit the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem to draw a contrast comparison to the one in Berlin. Petra in Jordan was highly recommended by a few friends, I appreciated it a lot more after I actually visited it. Wadi Rum (the desert) was way beyond my expectation. These were all bonuses. In Nepal, Mount Everest was obviously the one I must see. And lastly, in Hokkaido, what I really wanted to see were the red-crowned cranes, to enjoy a night of onsen ryokan in the rural Hokkaido area and see the Blue Pond. Today, I have checked the last must-see landmarks - the Blue Pond.


We got conflicting information from different staff in the ryokan. One staff agreed with my guess that it would take 40-45 mins to walk to the Blue Pond each way. The man at the front desk told me it would take 1-1.25 hour or so one way to hike to Blue Pond from the ryokan, and we needed to have at least 2 hours for that. But in the tourist office, we saw on the map that the Blue Pond was only 3km (1.5 miles) away. Anyway, we decided to attempt it this morning, we had sufficient time even it would take 2 plus hours. We requested breakfast at 7am sharp, another big meal, it featured porridge, smoked salmon, miso soup, and all the other little Japanese delicate side dishes. It surely fueled us up for the hike. It was partly sunny, not cold this morning. Perfect.


We took off around a quarter after 8am. The path in the little onsen town was mostly clear where we could walk pretty fast except a few icy patches. There was only one road leading into town, after we passed the last hotel (or the first depending on the direction you are on), the sidewalk was gradually covered by more and more snows. Until the sidewalk was completely invisible, it was under about 8-10 inches of snow, we started walking on the road sharing the lane with the incoming traffic. There was not really a lot of traffic to speak of, maybe occasionally some army trucks, tour buses or tourists in their rental cars. We walked pass the first sign, it was a sign saying that the onsen is 1km away. In other words, we had walked 1km already. I thought it was encouraging, but walking on the road between the heavy blanket of snow and the cars proved to be not an easy task. I walked pretty fast ahead, while Bryan followed behind me, because he was wearing his sport shoes.


Keeping our pace, we walked passed the second sign, the third. It was still not the Blue Pond yet. By the time I finally see the second parking lot sign and a sign indicating Blue Pond entrance. I was relieved. It took us indeed 45 mins (more or less) to walk from the town to the Blue Pond. The pond was closed for winter, the entrance was all chained up. I insisted that it just meant the car couldn't drive in. It had to, I was already here, there was no way I wasn't going in. We followed the path to the left where the snow was somewhat clearer, soon I saw two cars in the parking lot, this had to be it. I continued heading down the trail which was snow covered. Soon, there was a path down some stairs, there was a sign say "don't enter", but the frozen pond was just right next to it. The stairs were completely covered by snow. There were some footprints down the stairs in the middle. Of course, I was already at a point of no return. I followed the prior footprints, still I got my feet all wet, because there were really a lot of snow, possibly just collected from the night before. I was excited to see the pond, though it was all frozen, there was a small pool of water by the trees in the middle. It was crystal clear, but we couldn't see the blue color though.



Following the path by the pond, we headed further and further, the snow was somewhat cleared after a certain point, and we reached one of the corners of the pond, and there was an amazing wide view of the entire pond. Turned out we could have taken the high way and it would lead us to the same place. This is where people can see and take wide angle shots of the pond. Maybe because of the effort we had spent to walk here, I was so excited despite the pond was frozen and it was all white everywhere, it had a different feeling. Another goal accomplished, I thought. Someday in the spring, I would really like to return here to see the pond again and its magical dream-like blue color.


The return trip was much faster, that's usually the case. We got back to town around 10am. Had a warm coffee from the vending machine, and rested a few minutes in our room before we checked out. The owner was already at the entrance waiting for us, with a camera. She asked us about the pond, I said it was very nice. And then I said I really had a great time there at her ryokan and thanks her for her hospitality. And then she actually wanted to take a picture with us. I was kind of surprised by that. She knew about my round-the-world trip too since she was the one who answered my email in the beginning and asked me where I was going next. Maybe because of that, she wanted to take a picture of us together. I was not sure. It was really heart-warming to have met some people who were so kind and genuine on the road. Someday, when I retired, I like to do something like this and provide the same hospitality to other travelers.


Continued our journey to Asahikawa, the second largest city in Hokkaido. We had our lunch there before we returned to Sapporo. Done some records shopping at night and had a fabulous dinner. I was so full, violating all the dietary advice from the doctors. It was a little warmer tonight, about 4C, it was not snowing, but there were still a lot of icy sidewalks. I was actually surprised that the city did not do a better job to clear the ice on the street. Maybe because they were more environment conscious and didn't want to use a lot of salt on the ground. Tomorrow, we will be heading to Hakodate, a place Bryan picked, where we will see the famous night skyline of Hakodate from a hill, said to be one of the most beautiful night views in Japan. Thanks to the Hokkaido Rail pass, we really have made it bang for the bucks with all these long distance rides.


See the other photos from Day 20 here.

It was a long way from Kushiro to Biei, from Biei we had arranged a pick up from the ryokan. That was our destination today, to an onsen ryokan near the mountains in the Biei-Shirogane area. Time in Hokkaido seemed to irrelevant, we were like time travelers in a way, sitting in a train observing the normal people day to day lives in this corner of the world. Today we have had another 4 hours or so on the train. Some towns were so small and quiet. I wondered how they entertained themselves. I guessed lives in this region must be much simpler. It was a yearning of mine to live a simpler life, but then after 2 days in the countryside or suburbia I already wanted to go back to the city. I couldn't explain that contradiction myself.


We got to Shintoku station around 11:00pm and changed the local train to Furano. Furano is a popular destination in spring, where you would rent a car and drive around the rolling hills of blossoming lavender and/or other colorful flower fields. From Furano, we changed another local train heading north to Biei. There was a Korean couple riding with us all the way from Kushiro to Biei, after two transfers, but while we got off at Biei, they stayed on. I wondered where they were heading to. We did not have lunch today, but snacked the whole day, from the corn soup from the vending machine, to some sweet potato black sesame cake and coffee, to the traditional Japanese rice cake at the Furano stations.


Picked up by a man sent by the ryokan, he spoke no English at all, the only Japanese I knew is Thank You, I said that whenever he opened the door, or when we arrived. Just to express a little extra friendliness. We were in a small van, from Biei to the ryokan was about 20-30 mins away. We drove passed the Blue Pond entrance actually, which was a place I really wanted to go. From the Blue Pond to the ryokan seemed to be still quite a distance (maybe two miles), the road was covered with snows. I was wondering if we could actually make it there. When I booked this ryokan, I did inquire about going to Blue Pond, they said we cannot go in winters. But I clearly saw a tour bus at the parking lot by the Blue Pond. I secretly planned that we would still try if the weather permitted.


Everywhere was covered by heavy blanket of snow in this region. They must have had some huge snow storms the week before. It was like a Snow Kingdom here. I mean, I had seen serious snow condition in Boston. But here they were all undisturbed snow, thick and heavy, perhaps wet as well. Arrived at the ryokan, we were welcomed by the owner, an older Japanese woman. She spoke a little bit of English to us and she was very pleasant. She was the one who told me that there were lights shining on the Blue Pond at night. It confirmed my determination that I needed to see the blue pond despite it was frozen. She recommended us to go see the Shirahige Waterfall, which was only 300m away. We did. It was a WOW! It was such a pretty scenery that I almost couldn't believe my eyes.


The waterfall led to a little creek, for which the water was in that light bluish green (probably from the minerals in the water, the rocks covered with snow standing on the crystal clear creek were like marbles, and part of the waterfalls on the side of the creek were frozen into ice, it added a sharp edge to the overall picture. And also the surrounding trees, they were all white, the whole scenery was so mesmerizing, it took my breathe away. It really did. I could have looked at that for hours. But it was 0 degree out. After we both jumped into the snow, it soaked down from my neck and my hands were frozen. It was getting dark, even though it was not even 4pm yet. After some debate, we decided not to go to the Blue Pond today, and saved it for tomorrow morning when there will be lights. That's probably the most sensible option, it was probably not a good idea to walk in the dark on a snow-covered road by the forest. There might be some hungry bears hitchhiking on the curbside and find us tasty to eat alive all in a sudden.


Back to the hotel, we tried our own onsen in the room. Aside from a private onsen, the ryokan also provided a 11-course dinner and breakfast. The private onsen was outdoor, it was a small wooden bathtub kind of container, and both of us went in there. At first To step outdoor naked was cold, but once we were in the 42C hot spring water, it was just right. I felt so cozy in the hot spring I almost started to feel sleepy. I soaked in there for maybe 30 mins or so. Dinner was at 6:30pm. The owner of the ryokan served us herself and explained to us what was in each of the dishes in English, though I overheard from the other table where they explained in Japanese, the description were much longer. Still I was very appreciative to the owner trying to make us feel really welcomed there. We had a special menu, it had my name printed on it, for Chan-san. Most of the dishes were probably the same as the other tables, but maybe there was a difference in a one or two courses. The 11 course meal was very refined, delicate and delicious. I thought I would be hungry, since each dishes were so small, but actually, it was just right at the end.


We tried the public bath after dinner. It had an indoor part and an outdoor part. When we went in, there was only one person who was finishing up. And again when we left, there was another person just coming in. So, we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves. I loved the outdoor spring, it was just a few inches off from some heavy blanket of snow, and we were butt naked in a hot spring. It was an absolutely cool feeling. I know there were other onsen in Hokkaido that was loved by the monkeys and they took bath in the hot springs. I would have loved to see that. Maybe next time. So far, we have really enjoyed our experience in this ryokan and would totally recommend this place to others if anyone are coming this way.


After all these hot baths, either it really relaxed my muscles, I was extremely sleepy and almost fell asleep immediately soon after our second bath. Breakfast at 7am, then will hike to Blue Pond if it is not snowing. I really hope we will see something beautiful.

See the other photos from Day 19 here.