Hokkaido July 2010 Trip Day 6 - Arriving at Lake Toya

Looking out to the window

Waking up the next day and looking out from the window. I think today is the day that I have the best sleep so far during my Japan trip. the weather looks pretty nice. But too bad, I think I am leaving this town real soon to the next destination, Lake Toya. Lake Toya is a volcanic caldera lake in Hokkaido on an afternoon train. And most of the hotels there are very famous with their hot spring (onsen) bath.

More photos after the jump...

Getting ourselves refresh and ready, we decided to go to the market near by to have a walk. It is not a hugh market, but it pretty much got everything you needed here. We bought some corns as our breakfast. :"D (Yeah the Hokkaido corn is very juicy and sweet) :)

the refreshment area in the homestay

It is not very hugh

Yup a lot of stalls

I kinda like the feeling here.

We bought the corn from this aunty. :)

The other side of the market

The exterior of the market

After visiting the market, the time is still pretty early. LB is kinda crave for the macha latte again. So we stopped by at the Detour and grab a cup of coffee and Macha latte there. Sitting there, enjoying the crows as well as the atmosphere. (I think it is just nice). After the Detour, we went to one of the raw seafood restaurent for our lunch. :)

The wind is very very strong. Check out LB hair.

Thanks for the coffee anc macha latte. :D

Oh yeah, our breakfast drinks!

The sensei at work. :)

I guess the strong wind previously comes for a reason. After our lunch, it started to rain very very heavily. in order to prevent ourself from getting soaking wet. We just stop and sit outside the JR station and look at the raining view. :"P

It is raining very heavily.

We went to the wait for our train once the train stop. (actually I am waiting for the rain to stop so that I could retrieve my luggage back from the home stay). Guess I am lucky that I didn't get really wet when I went to pick up the stuff. :") Hanging around in the train station for around 15 minutes, I decided to walk around the platform for some shoots. :")

That's our train.

Waiting

Loneliness

Towards my path

LB as the spokeswoman for JR here. :"P

This is the little girl sitting next to me.

Arriving at the Toya station. our shuttle is not there. LB is kinda worry that the hotel staff could not get our arrival time and date correctly the other day. To reduce her worriness, I have go and made a phone call and luckily they have some one who could speak in English and our shuttle will be here in another 20 minutes time. Guess is another waiting time for us here.

Welcome to the Toya Station

Alright for Staff only

You can smell the flower everywhere. :)

Finally, we manage to get to the shuttle and arrived at our hotel. :) (Finally a nice rest). Looking out from our balcony. You could see the lake directly from there. But the weather is not very cool at that hour. it is drizzling outside and slowly turn into a down pour. x"\ So we stuck in the room for a while, and while waiting we are checking out what is our next stop as well as finding the convenient store near by from the map that we got. :)

The Lake

boredom

When the rain get smaller, we decided to go out for a quick walk. Just to have a feel of the area and location. Didn't go very far since the wind is getting stronger and stronger. We decided to get another round of walk tomorrow morning. (Yes, you will see a bit more of Lake Toya photos on the next post).

They have the speed boat service.

as well as some swan ride. :")

Welcome to Lake Toya

Getting ready for the fireworks show tonight

This is actually figure near by to our hotel. Looks kinda lonely somehow. : |

Last photo of the day, a strobe shoot. (but too bad no softbox with me) :")

There is actually fireworks show that night. But I just lay myself down, get my camera rest, standing at the balcony and enjoying the fireworks show. :) They have that every night here during summer. (I heard that they will only canceled it if there is a heavy rain that day - it is drizzling that night and we still manage to watch it, I am glad). Anyway, Lake Toya is a pretty nice and cozy place to rest and relax. Not a lot of people and you could soak yourself into the onsen that is available at the hotel to wash away all the tiredness you have during the trip. Personally I think it is kinda nice. :)

No matter what, that's all I have tonight. :) Hope that you all enjoy it so far. For those who are interested, the full series could be view here. Singing off...