Christmas at Bintan

Woke up very early on 24th Dec. We were leaving for Bintan in the morning. The sea was quite calm and so the ferry ride was smooth. We would be staying in one of the villas at Bintan Lagoon Resort. My father, aunties and uncle were going golfing and since we couldn't check in yet, the rest of us went to the poolside. This was the first time in so many months that I last stepped into a pool. It was a good day, perfect for sun-bathing. We played in the pools for a while and swam.
Soon, it was time to check in. I was really tired and took a nap in the afternoon. My cousins and brothers played board games and decorated the whole place for the Christmas party at night. At 4+, the golfers returned. After dinner, it was time to celebrate. All of us took part in the games that my auntie prepared. Time passes slowly. The last game was what got everybody going, the grand prize being a PSP. It was supposed to be like a lucky draw. In the end, much to everyone's disappointment, the PSP set went back to my auntie who originally sponsored it. We also exchanged presents.
At last, we lit up the candle-formed Christmas tree and sang. It was well over 1+am, before we went to sleep.
The next day, after breakfast, we sang along Christmas songs. After lunch, we proceeded to the beach then to the leisure centre. I played beach volley with the adults, excluding my mother. We were picking up the ball more than actual playing. Now I got bruises on my hands. I played billiard with my cousins and brothers. The adults were playing table-tennis. In the evening, we went out of the resort to have dinner and massage. We arrived back to the villa a few hours later.
Went to poolside again after a late breakfast. It was a cloudy day so I did not manage to tan much. The golfers went golfing again. Not too long, it was time to check out. My cousins, brothers and auntie and I went to the billiard room to play snooker and billiard. Our ferry left at 4+pm, although it was rainy, the waters was not that choppy.
Have a Merry Christmas

Hokkaido winter wonderland

snowman and me

These shots are given to me, courtesy of my uncle.

Have a very merry christmas!

Do not use them without permission...

Christmas nostalgia

It's that time of the year to look back at the time pass by.
The year 2007 has been bittersweet, more sweet than bitter, of course. I can say that I've a great year in school, given that this is my last year in secondary school. I can almost say that I missed school already, which is something coming from me. I treasured those days very much.
However, this year also proves to be a trying year. It's the O levels for me. I "suffered" a lot. I felt depressed, hopeless over this. I even cried just before going for exams.
But all these had past. Memories, be them good or bad were history. Sure, I missed my class, friends, teachers and even my school but I won't want to turn back time. Christmas nostalgia, indeed.
On a further note, I've always wanted to celebrate Christmas at a bigger scale. For example, going to Christmas parties or just window shopping at Orchard Road, not that I like the crowds. I guessed this will probably happen when I'm older. There's plenty of time for that.
This year, I won't be in Singapore celebrating Christmas. I will be away in Bintan with my family and relatives. I'm not exactly thrill about this. For one, Bintan is quite the boring place. Furthermore, there is nothing much to do there.
This year, I made a silver Christmas wreath tied with red ribbons. It was the least I could do. I also took time to wrap presents for my cousins. Wrapping presents is what I like and enjoy.
God Jul to all!e
snowflakes in the air~
Y

Photos from Hokkaido,Tokyo

28th Nov--steamboat lunch

27th Nov--mum and me with dinner

28th day--tatami

28th Nov--me feeding the swans

28th Nov--wooden kitchenware

28th Nov--dad with the 2-sided bowl

28th Nov--mum and me

28th Nov--mum and me with the owl telephone box

28th Nov--mum and me at fox farm, see those snowflakes

28th Nov--fox at the fox farm

28th Nov--me in yukata

29th Nov--the biggest spider crab, look at the price

29th Nov--steamboat lunch

29th Nov--me out in the snow

29th Nov--lake flowing...

29th Nov--"icefall"

29th Nov--"icefall", once again

29th Nov--music boxes at Otaru's music box factory

29th Nov--cousins, brothers and me posing with "ice-creams"

29th Nov--my family during BBQ dinner

29th Nov--Sapporo TV tower

30th Nov--bare trees in field

30th Nov--lake at Ainu Village

30th Nov--bear doing the "gong xi"

30th Nov--another active volcano

30th Nov--Mt Showa, sprouting smoke

1st Dec--"horse mountain"

1st Dec--"horse mountain", taken at different angle

1st Dec--"horse mountain", once again

1st Dec--sea urchin...eaten raw

1st Dec--fresh seafood from the morning market

1st Dec--fresh spider crabs and hairy crabs from morning market

1st Dec--me posing with car at the airport

2nd Dec-- me with globe at background at DisneySea

2nd Dec--cousins, brothers, auntie and me with "fox" at DisneySea

2nd Dec--me with house at DisneySea

2nd Dec--sunset at DisneySea

3rd Dec--Trees outside Shinagawa Prince Hotel

3rd Dec--hues of Autumn colours at Tokyo

I've been wanting to put up these photos for a long time. It's been about a week since my return and I miss Hokaiddo everyday.

Some of these photos are so real that they look fake. I tried to arrange them according to the time taken but it was a difficult task to do. As a result, some of the photos were jumbled up. Furthermore, there was just too many photos for me to put them online. So these were some of the "best" ones.

Regardless, enjoy the picture-perfect Hokaiddo!

Hokkaido, Tokyo, Japan trip 2007

26th Nov:

Stayed at home all day to do last minute packing. After dinner, We left for Changi Airport Terminal 1 in a maxi cab. The flight to Tokyo was about 6 hours long. There were small TV screens on the ANA plane but I didn't watch any movies.

27th Nov:

Reached the airport in the morning. Boarded the bus to Hanade Airport to take the flight to Hokkaido. Upon arrival, we went to have a seafood lunch. It was really delicious. There were miso soup, hairy crab and other types of seafood. We then went to sample some chocolates. The melon chocolates with almonds were really good, though I didn't buy them.

We travelled for 4 hours, the road became icy, snowflakes started falling. The farm houses and the background with its mountains and bare trees looks picture-perfect. It gives a rustic feeling and was totally different from Singapore.

We reached Tokachigawa Daiichi Hotel in the evening. Before dinner, I tried out the 'onsen' or known as hot spring, the water is rich in minerals absorbed from vegetation. This is the only place in Japan that has it. It was an experience to remember. There were different kinds of shampoo, body gel, facial wash in there. After the hot spring, refreshed yourself with the hair-dryers, moisturiser and lotion available. I tried out both the indoor and outdoor pools. The outdoor pool was better. It was cold and hot at the same time.

We put on the 'yukata' and enjoyed seafood dinner. When my cousins and I went up to our room. Our 'tatami' were already done. We will be sleeping on the floor. Quite the experience.

28th Nov:

After buffet breakfast, we took a photo stop at a lake. We fed the swans and ducks too. We stop-by at the Oketo Wood Craft Centre next. There are handmade woodcraft made by artists in Oketo town. Most of them are kitchenware and made of oak, pine and birch. We then went to the Winery shop where the adults can get to sample white wine and plum wine. I did drink a little. We also saw the making of wine. The wine chocolates were nice.

We had lunch at a small shop. The bowl had 2 sides. 1 contains soba, the other contains rice with tempura. After that, the fox farm was next. The foxes were really furry and cute. We continued the journey to Sounkyo, a hot spring resort located at the foot of Mt. Daisetsu, or big snow mountain. It was coldest that day. There was strong wind and snowfall. We went to the hot spring before dinner. I too went to the indoor and outdoor pools. The outdoor pool was different from the 1st one. This time, snowflakes were falling on our heads while our bodies were immersed in the hot pool.
My brothers and cousins built a snowman outside the hotel. They also had snowball fight with my uncles. It was really fun though I did not join in. It was a wish come true for all.

29th Nov:

I woke up at 5+ to go the the hot spring again. The buffet breakfast consisted mostly of traditional Japanese fare so I did not eat much. We visited the Sounkyo Gorge. The 2 waterfalls there had became icefalls. The snow was so thick. It was so cold there even gloves and boots could not withstand it. The scenery was as usual, picturesque.

We travelled to the charming town of Otaru. It was a lovely place, some called it romantic. I found it a little like Venice, with its canal, old shop-houses that sell glassware and music box. I bought many small souvenirs and took many pictures. The chocolates and milk ice-cream were also famous there. Some of us tried out the 6-flavour ice-cream in a cone. The steamboat lunch was great. One of my uncles ordered a spider crab to share. Its taste was different from other crabs.

We then proceeded to Sapporo. We went to a underground shopping mall where I bought a skirt. We took pictures with the Sapporo TV tower, which looks like a mini Eiffel tower. There were Christmas lights on the trees and decorations. We went to a discount shop and bought all the White Lover chocolates. The White Lover brand was famous in Hokkaido and it was only sold in Hokkaido. I bought 2 boxes to distribute to my friends next year.

After the BBQ dinner which was great because of the Kobe beef. Its taste was different from other meat and it was really tender. It was supposed to be cheaper here than other places. We checked in at Keio Plaza Hotel Sapporo. It was the nicest and grandest hotel throughout our trip. Our room was the biggest.

30th Nov:

After buffet breakfast, which was one of the best, we proceeded to Ainu Village. After the performance by some Ainu people, we went to feed the bears and Ainu dogs. Next stop was Mt Showa, an active volcano. It was sprouting smoke. We then journey to see the bears at the bear ranch. The bears will wave if you fed them apples. We stopped by Lake Toya before going to Hakodate. Our hotel was Daiwa Royal Hotel and there was hot spring inside too. As usual, it was hot spring before dinner.

1st Dec:

Went to the hot spring 1 last time and at the same time, bath. We then went to the Hakodate morning market. The whole place are people selling fresh seafood. There's live squids, sea urchins, abalones, king crabs, etc. My auntie bought a sea urchin to try. I didn't dare to eat it, but they said it was quite nice.I did try out the cooked abalone though. Some other people from our tour fished for squids in a tank and ate them live.

We then took the flight to Tokyo. Tokyo was not as cold as Hokkaido. We visited the Asakusa Kannon Temple, followed by a walk through Nakamise Shopping Street. There were lots of people.We ate our 1st Chinese meal in so many days. We checked in at Loisir Hotel.

2nd Dec:

We all parted here. Everyone in this tour had decided to stay on and extend their stay in Japan. Since we wanted to arrive early at Disneyland, we woke up very early in the morning to eat breakfast before going to there via subway. Our tour guide had very kindly helped us take our luggage to our hotel. The ride was long and tiring. It was stuffy and full of people. We had to change 3 times of train before reaching Disneyland. We wanted to go DisneySea though. The quenes were so long. Time past so fast, I only played 2 games while my cousins played 4. We stayed on to the road show and left before the fireworks as we were scared of the crowds leaving after the show. We saw the fireworks display at the JR station. It was beautiful, colourful and special. We checked in at Shinagawa Prince Hotel.

3rd:

Woke up late. Cousins, brothers, uncles and aunties wanted to go to Shinjuku, a fashion place. I didn't want to go because we need to take the subway again. I went to the many shopping centres around Prince hotel instead with my parents and grandparents. We then waited for the others to return. We left for Narita Airport at 1+. The journey took about 2 hours. We checked in our luggage and went in to do last minute shopping. The plane left for Changi Airport. It touchdown at 12.10am, Tuesday morning. I did not sleep till 3am. Home sweet home.

Summary:

I did not have any regrets joining this tour. The tour guide is funny and a good entertainer. There's free gifts. Everything is new to us, the scenery is prefect. I love Hokkaido for its chocolates, seafood, ice-cream, hot springs and most importantly, snow. It was everybody's greatest wish to see snow falling. Our wish had came true. My cousins made snow angels and snowman and had snow ball fight. Here, they are more generous in helping, whole chocolates as samples and free drinks. The people are really friendly too. They will wave to us when we leave. We also learnt more about Japan and its people. Hokkaido is a picture-perfect place even in the winter, where all the trees are bare.