Hokkaido! Day 4

Day 4- Furano --> Niboribetsu

I guess since everyone went to bed so early, everyone decided to wake up early. I was just in the last 5 minutes of breakfast, but they were already cleaning up everything, so I just grabbed a piece of bread. The owner caught me as I was leaving the kitchen/living area, and said he could get something but I told him now to worry. I felt bad for sleeping in soo late anyways!! Regardless I still had to get ready to make it to Farm Tomita, huzzah!! By foot from the hostel it’s only 15-20 minutes, but I remembered on their website they mentioned having a bike. They lent it to me and I was able to get to the farm in about 10 minutes. On the way, I found another flower garden. Half of I was lilacs, and those flowers were already out of season so only half of the field was blooming. Still it was very beautiful! Got some glamour shots in there (but man I need to study up on my photography again, I feel like my picture style is very repetitive and uninspiring). Then I made it to Farm Tomita. I think I put this place on a pedestal, because once I got there, I wasn’t -very- moved. They had some very interesting food ( pumpkin croquette, lavender ice-cream, Hokkaido-milk pudding, mango ice-cream, and though it may not be unique, the potato and butter was delicious!). For some reason there were a ton of people at the farm who could speak Chinese, which took me a second to grasp. Guess there was a tour going on. Farm Tomita has another area of land to go around, but omg… 4 ½ miles away, didn’t wanna bike that, so I just headed to the hostel. Since I went through the farm soo quickly, I had some time to burn. Check out at the hostel was at 9:30, so when I came back, I asked if I could just wait for the train and use the internet. To my surprise they said no!! I mean, I understand its not with policy, but just to make sure my train times were correct and burn an hour…. Damn they be strict. I really do love the feel and atmosphere of this hostel, but just that last request left a sour taste in my mouth. Oh well. So I had to leave and lug all my luggage to the station. This time at least it was downhill! When I boarded the train at Naka-Furano, I was able to catch the old-school train that they only run during the summer. It goes a little slower too, but you’re supposed to be enjoying the view. It was pretty, and I felt pretty relaxed. Once I got to Furano, I had to wait a little bit until I could head out to Noboribetsu. All I gotta say is…wow…. Everything ‘futsu-denshya”, god it takes FOREVER. I will have ass bruises by the end of this trip!! LOL. Usually I can ride a train and not be soo ancy, but I really wanted to make it in time for dinner and then hit the onsen X3. So after.. *gulp* 6 hours…. I got to Noboribetsu. Getting here soo late really cut my plans to see Hell Valley *sigh*, but oh well, after all this traveling, I was about to be pampered a little, huzzah! Random story: so I knew the onsen area wasn’t next to the train station, and I could either go by bus or my taxi. I knew the bus fare would be around 400 yen, but I wasn’t sure about the taxi. So, I asked. And, yet again, another Japanese guy got really shitty with me! WTF man, I don’t want them to bend backwards for me, but this seems a little ridiculous. What happened to being passive and polite? I’m being more “nihon-poi”, gyaaaaa. After he was shitty I just started walking away, and he was like “Aren’t you going to ride??”. >0< Good lord what a dumbass. So I got on the bus, and with the help of another woman riding (poor thing, her arm was in a sling), I found the stop I needed to get off on. Unfortunately for me, I had to climb uphill some more. God I’m gonna have the beefiest legs in the world after all of this. If anyone ever asks “Where’s the beef”, I’ll pop up and go “right here!. Anyways, so I checked in, get to my room, and…. Omg there are two beds?!?! I went downstairs to ask about this and it turns out that the hotel has absolutely NO SINGLE occupancy rooms. Ugh. And this is the hotel I reserved with JTB. Oh well.. I was able to eat at the buffet in time; pretty good food, but nothing outstanding. Then I hauled ass next door to get in the onsen. You see, I was at the Takamoto Inn. This is separate from the Dai Ichi Takamoto. In short, I was in the crappy hotel, LOL. But I still was able to use the other hotel’s onsen, WHEW. And at first I thought they said it would close at 10, which I was like WTF after dinner its 8, what do I do?!?! They are actually open 24/7, so again, whew!! It was kinda impressive to see the onsen; they had 9 different types of baths you can go in both indoor and outdoor. Differences included sulfur, temperature, and effect. They also had 2 sauna rooms. I think my two favorite baths were the waterfall and the “bijin no onsen”. The waterfall was fantastic for the shoulders, because it was just the rough type of massage I needed. The other was a mixture of sulfur and magnesium; it was a medium-green colored bath, but it was just the right temperature for me. I went in once, and after that, donned my hotel yukata and walked around the shops. They have soo many different souvenirs, but I was really surprised with how difficult it was to find a spiffy demon statue. I actually didn’t buy one in the end, because they all looked a little too retarded LOL. I did get a gift for my sister and a hello kitty phone charm to help my collection. God I really am obsessed, ha-ha. But I will have a ton by time I leave Japan. After I shopped around, I hopped back into the onsen, and then passed out in my room. At least I’m getting a little stronger against feeling light-headed after a good soak! :D