Hell Valley / Jigokudani - Hokkaido Travel Day 3

Before checking into our most expensive stay in Hokkaido, we decided to visit a place as planned in our itinerary. We decided to visit the Hell Valley first before we proceed to check in at the hotel in the afternoon. Official check in time is 3pm anyway so we might as well make good use of our time.

We parked our car right outside the entrance to the Hell Valley. There is a paid parking space available for visitors. Hell Valley is well known for its displays of hot steam vents, sulfurous streams and other volcanic activity. It is the source of the natural spring water for the Onsen Hotels in Noboribetsu.

Okay...okay we get the idea...Hell Valley.

Once inside there will be a walking trail to follow....

As we walked deeper inside, we found many geysers of different intensity / activeness spraying out hot steam and water. To me, the smell of ammonia was still bearable and fine with me.

Cross the barrier and it will land you in Hot Soup!

Intense Volcanic Activity In Front...

After about 10-15 minutes walk later, we have a chance to see an active geyser close up. Contrary to what I understand about geysers, the bubbles due to intense heat at boiling temperatures don't gush out all the time. Instead it happens intermittently and at its peak hot water and steam can burst out in great force. Well, something new that I have learned today :). Overall, I feel that this place is quite a good place for a leisurely walk given the comfortable weather in Noboribetsu even it is during summer. We basically only completed the short trail only which took us about 45 mins. The trail is actually a long one and if ventured deeper inside, we would have found a hot spring river and lake as well.

As it was already close to noon, we did not spent too much time at the hell valley. and we decided to head for lunch by noon. Furthermore, wifey and I wanted to allow more time to relax in the luxurious Boro Noguchi Noboribetsu Onsen Hotel.

We headed for lunch at the only seafood restaurant located in the main street of Noboribetsu Onsen Dori which is less than 10mins walk from Hell Valley's car park. We ordered scallop curry rice, clam soup and sea urchin rice bowl. All I can say here is the food is really delicious and fresh!! Honestly I never actually eaten such big clams and scallop before. It was certainly one of the most satisfying lunch ever.

More to come.....

Click on LINK to Day 3 Part 1

Click on LINK to Hokkaido Travel Blog (Overview)

Noboribetsu Marine Park Nixe - Hokkaido Travel Blog Day 3

There are a few popular attractions in Hokkaido and one of them is Marine Park Nixe. It is not a very big area and it is possible to cover this place in matter of two to three hours. We decided to go there immediately after breakfast. The park is located not far from our hotel (Daiichi Noboribetsu) or less than 10 minutes drive away.

Ticket price for adults 2,450 yen

Park Map 

This park is very popular for two main attractions namely the penguin parade and the sardine whirl pool. You will still find a variety of marine animals there although the park isn't that big of a place.

People waiting eagerly to watch the penguin parade

The penguin parade is held 2 times a day, first in the morning at 11am and the second one at 2.15pm. Do recheck the sign boards at the entrance again in case of any changes.

The cute penguins will march along the designated walkway like superstars with cameras flashing away. If you are fast enough, you may even get close enough for a selfie with them.

The second attraction that I like here is the sardine whirl pool or aquarium. The school of sardines swims round and round the whirlpool which is kind of fascinating to me. Just take a seat in front of the aquarium to chill out and free your mind. If you are feeling mischievous, try to frighten the fishes and see them swim the other way around. There is also daily show here where you will have opportunity to watch the sardines along with light and sound effects.

Have you touched a star fish before? If you haven't, there will be an opportunity to do so at Marine Park Nixe.

Other marine life.....

If you happen to be in Noboribetsu, I would certainly recommend this place as a good side trip which would not take too much time unless of course you are a local tourist and want to watch all shows / performances which would eventually take the entire day. I think there is much more other interesting things to do in Hokkaido. Come here for an opportunity to really get close to the penguins. 

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Click on LINK to Hokkaido Travel Blog (Overview)

Dai-Ichi Takimotokan Onsen Resort (Noboribetsu, Hokkaido) Review

To me this is a touristy mid budget hotel to both locals and foreigners although I noticed that the presence of foreign tourist is higher in this resort as compared to others. It is the first onsen (hot spring) Resort in Noboribetsu hence the name Dai-Ichi which means number one in Japanese. Being the first established resort here also means that this is a very old resort which retains the traditional Ryokan design. We paid about 36,288 yen for a night which includes a buffet dinner and traditional Japanese breakfast.

The room is fairly spacious with pretty simple design. It is separated into two sections. Upon entering the room, we found ourselves at the dining area which is covered by tatami mats. The second section is the resting area equipped with a sofa set for 4 persons. Complimentary Japanese traditional jelly is placed on the dining table in place of welcome fruit basket usually provided by Western hotels. You can usually buy those jelly at supermarkets and are usually quite pricey. Yup of course it is delicious. So delicious that I ate it almost immediately and I forgot to take picture of it :).

  

Our room at Dai-Ichi Takimotokan

At the sofa area, we found two equipment for neck and shoulder massage respectively which reminded us that we are in Japan, a country famous for quirky inventions. 

By now you should have noticed that there is no bed in the room. That is because housekeeping will only bring out our futon bed after we left the room for the buffet dinner.

The futon bed is just as comfortable as the normal conventional bed. I slept soundly throughout the night, 

Dining Experience

Buffet dinner was at one of the resort's restaurant which looked somewhat like a canteen (understand that it had been renovated recently). Frankly, I went there with quite a low expectation and I even left my camera in the room as I figured out that probably there wouldn't be much things of interest. And....I was proven wrong. The food was actually quite delicious but the thing that is worthy to note here is the all you can eat crab legs (Red King Crab). It is super fresh, sweet and would have cost us a bomb if we had this in Malaysia. Anyway, I doubt that we can get crabs in Malaysia that is as fresh as what we had.

Source: Tripadvisor

Source: Tripadvisor

Breakfast was at another restaurant where we are required to first make a reservation for a time slot. We were given option of either Japanese or Western breakfast and of course we chose the former to enhance our experience in Japan. The dining area are set up in cubicles for additional privacy. 

Rice served with grilled salmon, japanese omelette, condiments comprising of various types of pickles and a bowl of soup made from soybean. 

The bowl of soup tasted like soybean milk except that there is no preservatives and sugar added.  

Onsen (Hot Spring) Experience

After spending much time reading about the dos and don’ts when going to a Japanese onsen, Wifey and I finally were going to our first onsen experience at Dai-ichi Takimotokan. The first thing one need to know and overcome before heading to the onsen is that the only thing you are allowed to wear is your “birthday suit”. As a first timer, we decided to go later at night around 11pm so that there will be lesser a crowd and therefore allowing us a slow start to blend in lol.. This particular one that we went opens 24 hours so there was no rush. Sorry no pictures since no camera is allowed inside the onsen. 

Picture from resort's website.

There are also procedures to follow (click on link for recommended site for a quick reference) if you do not want embarrass yourself in front of the locals. Fortunately most onsens adopt similar procedures so once you get a hang of it, you can go for a Onsen escapade in Hokkaido without any further issues. One thing to note is that sometimes the resorts in Hokkaido alternate / swap the onsen between male and female to allow both genders to enjoy the different scenic views in the resort. So make sure you check the signage at the entrance carefully before entering. Imagine, if you are a man and you just walked into a changing room full of naked ladies...oh my....total disaster. 

Anyway, Dai-Ichi Takimotokan's onsen offers 7 types of different pools which consist of different properties and minerals which carry different health benefits from healing your skin to improving 

your blood circulation and blood pressure. One of the pool is located outdoor. For a "gaijin" (meaning foreigner in Japanese) like myself who probably won't be able to do this over a long term to extract that kind of benefits, I just tried out the pools randomly and relax. After soaking myself in the pools, I especially like the refreshing feeling of taking a cold shower at the area just nearby the pool. The complimentary premium shampoo and shower gel with fantastic aroma enhance that experience as well. 

Shower area looking something like this. You are supposed to take your shower seated at the stool provided. For a little privacy... try to find hidden corners :) 

To sum it up...

Good and comfortable resort with fantastic location just nearby hell valley and near shopping street. Good value for money.
Food is fantastic. Triple stars for the buffet crab.

Click on LINK to Hokkaido Travel Blog (Overview)

Watch my entire Hokkaido Trip below:

Hokkaido Travel Blog Day 2 (Noboribetsu and Kani Goten / かに御殿) Restaurant Review)

Finally... our first meal in Hokkaido. After driving for about an hour we reached our very first destination in Hokkaido to have our lunch. It was already about 2pm and my tummy was growling for some authentic Hokkaido cuisine :). We had our lunch at a restaurant called Kani Goten which literary means Crab Palace in English located along the Muroran Highway. I chose this place for lunch since its location is pretty strategic as it is located en route to my hotel in Hokkaido. We will be staying at Dai-ichi Takimotokan Hotel for the night which is just 20 minutes away. It is not easy to miss this place as there is a big crab sign board right outside the restaurant and a giant bear statue on the roof of the restaurant. To be exact, this place is not only a restaurant but also a small seafood market where a variety of seafood produce are sold. 

Kani Goten Family Restaurant

Bear Statue on the roof of the restaurant

To get here, exit Hokkaido Expressway at Exit 8 (Shiraoi) and head towards Noboribetsu. After a short 15-20 minutes drive, you should find the restaurant on your left. Despite the restaurant known for crabs, we did not order any as I felt that I would have much of it over the next few days. With the intention of going simple and nice, we ordered a Donburi (a bowl of rice with mixed seafood ie tuna, shrimp, salmon roe and sea urchin) and Stuffed Squid with Black Ink Sauce.  

Donburi

As a person who don't prefer to eat raw seafood, I still find the Donburi to be really delicious. Funny... The rice was sweet and had a nice flavour to it. If I am not wrong, vinegar is added when the rice is cooked. The seafood was fresh and there was no fishy or foul smell at all. Really nice. 

Stuffed Squid With Black Ink 

Source: kanigoten.co.jp

Can't say the same for the  squid stuffed with rice though. It tasted too bland for my liking. After lunch, Wifey and I walked around the area selling seafood located next to the restaurant. You can find all sorts of seafood here including different types of crabs, scallop, sea urchin, oyster and etc kept mostly alive in aquariums. I guess it caters more to local Japanese tourist who can make purchase here and get the seafood delivered to their homes anywhere in Japan.

After lunch we continued our journey to Noboribetsu. If you are driving to Noboribetsu from Chitose, I would suggest you take this route ie via Muroran Highway instead of all the way using the Hokkaido expressway. Firstly, there are a few seafood restaurants along the way that you can try and secondly you get to catch the view of Hokkaido Coastline. Not that it is really a magnificent sight but I guess it is more interesting especially if you are a foreign tourist.  

First Japanese Car Parking Experience

After about 20 minutes driving, we finally reached our hotel for the night, Daiichi Takimotokan Hotel. We were directed by a hotel staff to go to the basement level for parking. As soon as we there, another based at the parking directed me to park a an empty lot right in front of the entrance. I thought to myself how lucky can I be right? Wrong!!!

As I was preparing to alight from the car, it started to turn 90 degrees to the left and soon I found myself facing this. 

Yikes... I was totally not prepared for this. The staff manning the parking asked me to retract my rear mirrors and I didn't really know which button to press since I just got the car. So I decided to go trial and error and luckily I managed to find the right button. Once the car was parked inside the space provided, Wifey and I quickly grabbed all our belongings and ensure nothing is left behind. Once outside the car, I tried to lock my car with the remote but somehow the car lock did not work. ??? After several tries, I decided to give up and just leave the car as it is since it was going to be in a cage anyway and..  of course we were in Japan, one of the countries in the world with low crime rate :). The morale of the story is to get to know your rented car well enough including some of the controls or otherwise you may end up like me. I later found out that the reason why I wasn't able to lock my car with the remote was because my car engine was not switched off. Luckily, the car system knows how to auto shut down after the car was left idle for a while.

Daiichi Takimotokan Hotel, Noboribetsu

A great hotel although I find it to be a bit touristy. Will write more on a separate page. :)

A walk in the evening

After checking into the hotel, we decided to take a short walk outside the hotel before our much anticipated buffet dinner. The good thing about Daiichi hotel is that it is nearby to the main tourist attraction area like Hell Valley, Sengen Geyser and the main shopping street. 

Main shopping street (a bit quiet since it is late evening already)

Some of the statues you find along the road...

The smog in front is actually hot steam from Sengen Geyser

Sengen Geyser (Note that it sprouts every 3 hours only)

Watch the video of our Hokkaido Trip: