Visiting Lake Akan was the second most disappointing thing that happened to us this entire trip (50% due to rain and 50% due to the marimo exhibits).

After our visit at the [Kushiro Crane Reserve], we drove about 1 hour 20 mins from Kushiro to Lake Akan. The weather wasn’t on our side that day as it was raining throughout the entire drive. Furthermore, we were rushing to be in time for the hourly Lake Akan cruise which would bring us to see the Marimo (green moss balls).

We literally ran to the counter to purchase the tickets (1,900Y) for the cruise ride. Any second later, we would have missed the 15:00 ferry and not have enough time to wait one more hour for the next cruise.

The cruise had a capacity of about 100 to 150 but there were barely 30 people during our session. I guess the rainy weather probably turned away a lot of people.

According to the plan, we were supposed to visit Lake Abashiri and Sounkyo (Daisetsuzan National Park) before arriving at our hotel in Asahidake.

After our disappointing Lake Akan experience, we decided to give Lake Abashiri a miss too as the weather wasn’t looking too good either. We headed straight to Sounkyo despite the rain but it wad bad too.

Left: Expectation; Right: Reality

AUTUMN is indeed the best time to visit Korea. At a comfortable temperature ranging from 10~20 degrees Celsius, it is very cooling and all you need is just a jacket or two~

The really best time to visit it would be when all the leaves will be in different shades of red and yellow but we were only semi lucky and only about 30% of the trees have turned red/yellow.

There are a lot of awesome food in Korea and I’m glad that in this tour, we were able to try out quite a variety of food!

GWANGJANG MARKET

KPOP Dance Lessons in Seoul

Hallyu (aka Korean Wave) has grew tremendously over the WORLD within the last 5 years or so. Even if you don’t know what K=pop is, I’m sure you will know what Gangnam Style is.

Many people go “WOW” and “AHHH” & “OMG” when they see this in the itinerary but I’m like totally “…” No longer that young to be not shy to dance in front of everyone else..

(Random Joke) All along, I read “KPOP Contest” as “KPOP Concert” in the itinerary, thinking that Thursday evening = M! Countdown and that we would be given a chance to watch the famous music show. I was so excited about this activity from the moment I saw the itinerary, when I won the event, when I accepted the invitation, all until I saw the full itinerary which says “K-POP Contest: ….. now it is time to show off your k-pop song and dance skills as a team” I totally died when I read that line. D:

Anyway, despite the fear and anxiety and everything bad, I actually enjoyed the lesson and learn more about the whole K-wave culture among Korean youths.

We went to ENT Dance Studio (I can’t seem to find the address) for our lessons.

Yes I am back from my first ever trip to Bali, second trip to Indonesia (1st was Batam). Well, since I’ve indicated “first” in my entry title, it simply means that I will be going Bali again. It could be next month, next year or next next year. It doesn’t matter how long later but I’m pretty certain I will return.

WingShark's Note: October to March is the wet season of Bali, so be aware that the air might be humid, hot, and rainy.

I shall begin with the financials (as usual).
My ticket was bought last November, 4 months ago, during a Tigerair promotion and it was only $224 for 2 tickets without check-in baggage. It was a pretty impulsive and random decision but it eventually turned out pretty well. For my Hotel, I’ve booked Amadea Resorts & Villa – Seminyak which cost $321 for 3 nights. Averaging everything out, it was SGD $272.50 for return tickets and 3 night hotel stay per pax on a twin sharing basis.

Summary of our day trip to Furano/Biei on a beautiful July morning:

We started from our accommodation at Asahidake.

(1) Seven Stars Tree セブンスターの木

(2) Furniture Slope (Random wood shop we spotted along the way)

(3) Blue Pond

(4) Kanno Farm

(5) Farms Chioya (Beef Stew Lunch)

(6) Roller Coaster Road

(7) Farm Tomita

(8) Curry Omurice @ Yuiga-Dokuson 唯我独尊

(9) Furano Glass Forest

After visiting Shiroi Kobito Park (the place which produce the delicious white chocolate biscuit), we headed on to Otaru, which was a 30 minutes drive away.

Otaru is one of the recommended destinations for tourists to visit as a day trip from Sapporo as it brings about a charming vibe with its low-rise conserved buildings. However for this trip, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed with my visit to Otaru – mainly due to its overcrowded streets filled with tourists. The entire town has been infiltrated with endless gift shops, eye-catching banners in English and a lot of people.

We visited on a Saturday, where the locals could possibly contributed to the crowd, and the available carparks were very almost packed (and expensive at the same time). Parking cost approximately 300-400Y for 30 or 60 minutes.; can’t exactly remember. If I didn’t recall wrongly, we parked at the parking area for a hospital. Everywhere in Otaru is within 20 minutes walking distance so I don’t think it really matters.

Despite running late for our buffet dinner (included in hotel’s price), we took a break at an observation area which was directly opposite the action and buzz of all the other Lake Toya resorts and hotels.

As it was close to dinner time, this place was.. empty; but I like it this way. The temperature dipped as the sun sets and we were pretty much braving the wind as we walked around the area. We also spotted a helicopter which probably offered bird’s eye view tour of the vicinity. The gift shop/restaurant at that area was not open too.

Visiting Mt Asahidake was one of my highlights this trip because we chanced upon “snow” (or rather yet-to-melt ice) despite it being the start of summer already.

As mentioned in the previous article, it was drizzling in the morning so we switched to visiting Asahidake’s city, before returning to this mountain in the afternoon.

Although it wasn’t raining when we reached, the forecast at the bottom of the ropeway indicated “Cloudy” weather and “Unclear” for visibility. Since we were already there and there was nothing else to do anyway, we decided to proceed with going up the mountain (2,900Y for two way). If we had more time, we could have done a one way up by ropeway and trek down (1.5 to 2 hours).