My First Extreme SNOW Experience

(As a tribute to Japan being my second home, my first entry will be about one of my trips in Japan)

Hailing from  a tropical country like the Philippines where the average temperature is above 20ºC, experiencing snow in Hokkaido for the first time is like heaven. Finally,  my childhood imagination from what I've seen on movies & television about the "White Christmas" thing CAME true. Really, Dreams do come true. 

HOKKAIDO is the second biggest island among the 4 main islands of Japan. It is located in the northernmost part and famous for its extreme coldness. 

This trip was organized by my japanese language school. It is one of the school's program encouraging students to join an affordable group tour within Japan (though not compulsory)  to orient and expose us with different japanese cultures & traditions. This also enable us to mingle  and commune with the locals. Indeed, a good venue to  practice our japanese language skills. I grabbed the opportunity to be part of the trip to avail the lower package tour as traveling within japan will cost you more than the cost when traveling to the neighboring countries like Korea or China. 

 memorize the plate # of your bus as there are similar buses

While our bus was moving on to our first destination,  I felt the child in me, the excitement was overflowing when I saw that almost everything was covered by  SNOW. I saw homeowners were trying to remove snow piles from their roofs to prevent from collapsing.  It made me realized how hard it is to be living in a place like Hokkaido during winter season and my compassion goes out to the people who we're trying to survive there. But I SALUTE  the locals that in spite of the situation, they were still able to find ways to go on with their lives. 

INDEED, each one of us has battles in life to deal with no matter how other people think how great our life is..

They built greenhouses  to plant some crops even during winter season

As the sun was setting down, the temperature became more unbearable reaching in as low as -20ºC, but it didn't hinder us from doing the things that we must see and enjoy. 

schoolmates were enjoying this 

I super enjoyed this banana boat sledding in the "iced" lake

Another "must see" during this trip was the spectacular fireworks display.. it's not as big as the summer fireworks display in Tokyo but still you will be awed with how beautiful it is...

How I just wish I can eat fish. (I don't eat fish since childhood) The foods served to us looks so yummy and my friends said it really was, fresh fish & seafoods, veggies and ohh, the presentation..

Included in our itinerary was to visit one of the most famous, most visited Zoo in Japan, the ASAHIYAMA ZOO. Here, you will enjoy watching different kinds of animal and shows. 

I've seen different penguin shows but this one  impressed me much... the PENGUIN PARADE. It was just so amazing how these little creatures knew how to follow their leader.. 

NEVER miss this.. "CRUISING the sea of snow" when you'll have the chance to visit Hokkaido. It is in ABASHIRI area. 

While we started sailing, these creatures entertained us, flying with us and some even "boarded" on our boat.

This area in ABASHIRI is near RUSSIA. The mountain from afar is already part of RUSSIA.

Hubby always tell me than when you travel, always maximize your time... For you to see more places, you should WAKE UP EARLY and GO BACK to your hotel LATE...

Morning view ---- Guess what it is guys... IT's actually a lake that turned to "ICE"... People were camping there and made a small hole to catch fish..

At night - you will see these "lighted snow houses".. displayed inside are bottles of wine

Of all the beautiful places I've seen during this trip, THIS one's my FAVORITE in SOUNKYOU area.  Illuminated and Beautifully made ice statues!  Just make sure you are fully geared from gloves, bonnets to ear muffs as its really really freezing...

This is actually a lake transformed into a beautiful snow/ice sculpture

Your's Truly enjoying the beautiful view

This is called GIN GA NO TAKI (Milky way falls) in Daisetsuzan National Park

My Personal thought : Never leave a place without buying any souvenirs that you can see and look back in the future. Aside from you're able to help the locales, a simple thing will bring back all those precious memories..

my schoolmates & teacher

Till my next post..