As
anticipated, the outdoor pools at the onsen last night were
fantastic. Once again, I had the pools to myself – the
sulphur pool and the clear water pool. I slept very well after the
experience.
Today
was a very interesting day. The first part was fantastic, exploring
the local area a little more broadly with our pedal car. 
Note
the empty car park, apart from us. Very different to what we have
been used to.
We had a closer look at Oyunuma Lake.
We had a closer look at Oyunuma Lake.
And then headed to the nearby Lake
Kuttara, a near circular lake formed within a caldera recognized as
having the best water quality in all of Japan. History doesn't seem
to relate when the volcano erupted which caused the lake to form,
presumably many thousands of years ago.
We
then went to the Lake Toya area, the site of much more recent
volcanic activity. 
Presumably they are confident that they can predict the next eruption and get all of the locals and tourists out of there before it happens. The evacuation route is well sign posted.
We saw lots of cherry blossom trees today. Very picturesque but I am not sure what all the fuss is about.
We
then headed south to where we are now staying. Our accommodation is
well located with a nice view over the water but we don't understand
why our itinerary required us to drive about 150 klms to Hakodate, the third
largest city in Hokkaido with all of the big city hassles along an
expressway with a posted speed limit of 70k/hour in a car with
uncomfortable seats and no cruise control And, to make matters worse,
we have to drive another 150 klms tomorrow to get back to not far
from where we left this morning. The rest of the itinerary looks
great but this part is just stupid. I am disappointed that I didn't
realize that before I left home and told JTB to get their act
together.
Having
said that, we found a very nice restaurant tonight with an English
menu and once again enjoyed Japanese fare.
No comments:
Post a Comment