autumn
Cycling Tour
Deer
eastern hokkaido
Ezo Fox
Five Lakes
Hokkaido
Japan
jinxjapanguide
Lake Mashu
Mt. Io
Road to Heaven
Road trip
Shari
Shiretoko
Shiretoko Daiichi Hotel
1-day Road Trip from Lake Akan to Shiretoko
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| Lake Mashu with Clear Lake |
Rise and shine, it is yet another day in Eastern Hokkaido!
If you're awake at 5AM and it is a little too early for breakfast, why not considering a morning onsen session?
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| Image courtesy to New Akan Hotel |
In the evening, you can completely relax in their open air spa with some illuminations and cooling winds, but in the morning, the scenery from the indoor bath is also wonderful!
Every single view screamed 'BEAUTIFUL!'
Of course, you can't take photos inside an onsen but please feel free to feast your eyes on the beautiful views in the morning.
At 6.40AM, I had my breakfast in the hotel and proceeded with check out.
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| Lake view from my room |
After checking out from New Akan Hotel, we are continuing on our road trip to Shiretoko, a UNESCO world heritage site famed for its pristine, protected nature!
Our first destination of the day is Lake Mashu.
"It's just a lake, what's there to see?"
This is a very common question that I always receive, even from my parents.
A Japanese friend told me that in Japan, the clearest lake is Lake Mashu, followed by Lake Kuttara and Lake Shikotsu. I have been wanting to see why people are so hooked about a place, so of course I was really excited to see it!
At about 9 in the morning, we've arrived Lake Mashu and holy moly, the view was AMAZING!
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| Me, and Mashu-ko |
I was told that Lake Mashu is always foggy but today is a clear day.
As a tourist, seeing such clear lake waters it is a very rare view, but legend says that when you see a clear view, it means that you'll be remaining single for quite some time.
And this place is very close to nature, so you sometimes you get squirrels in your view too!
If you walk further, you can also shop for Hokkaido snacks tax free here 😊
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| Another angle of Lake Mashu from observatory |
After being amazed at Lake Mashu's beautiful views while also slightly saddened that I will remain single (jk), our road trip continues to Mt. Io.
Mt. Io is a sulfuric mountain. Lots of steam coming out from the ground.
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| Mt. Io. I covered my face because my face looked horrid in the photo and I forgot to take another photo. |
If you noticed the yellow thingy, yes, those are the sulfur. They smell like egg yolks to me.
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| This entire place smells like egg yolk |
Besides being famous for the sulfur smell (?) from the volcanic vent, this place is famed for their eggs!
Iozan (or Mt. Io/ Mt. Iou) is actually an active volcano!
You can also consider to walk in their walking trails (longest one is just about half an hour's walk, probably within 3km) that you can go to Kawayu Onsen.
There is a shop near the parking lot that you can buy onsen tamago (onsen eggs) and they taste good.
The eggs are cooked by their heat!
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| Autumn view from Mt. Io |
We went there during Autumn. The views were amazing even from the parking lot itself.
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| Mt. Io's autumn leaves near the parking lot |
After our visit, it's almost lunch time.
We stopped by Michi no Eki Shiretoko for lunch.
The lunch was simple, but it tastes good.
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| My lunch |
Here, they serve deer meat too. It might sound like a turn-off, but this is the local culture.
In Japan, they have the saying of 'itadakimasu', which directly translates to 'I humbly receive'.
Before meals, we say 'itadakimasu', where this word contains the feelings of gratitude to the animals for their lives, the farmers/ fishermen that harvested/ caught the meal, the chef that prepared the meal, the waitress/waiter that served us the meal... basically to everyone that have contributed their power for this meal to be brought to us.
After the meal, we say 'gochisousamadeshita', which is generally translated to 'thanks for the meal'.
This is actually also a line to appreciate all of the efforts of the people that brought this meal to us.
The Japanese showed their respects to the lives of animals that they consume. Despite the meat not being something that we commonly eat, we respected the local culture and appreciated the food served to us.
Later of the day, at about 1PM, we arrived Shiretoko!
Later of the day, at about 1PM, we arrived Shiretoko!
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| Shiretoko |
We intended to cycle in Shiretoko today, they have a Shiretoko Pass downhill activity that is suitable for those who can cycle (even cycling beginners). They will bring you up to the Shiretoko hills and you can start cycling!
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| Bicycle rental shop |
However, the weather got so cold and windy that on Shiretoko Pass, it was a whopping 0.8 degree Celsius!!
As such, we were unable to continue our cycling tour. So, we went downhill via the tour operator's van... And the funny thing happened - the seat broke at one corner that we had to reverse our seats and get out from the van via the boot. It's almost like we were prisoners, lol!
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| Prisoner's view of an Ezo Fox |
Before we end our journey on the road on the mountains of Shiretoko, we stopped at a stopping point and man, the view is AMAZING.
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| Amazing view from Shiretoko!! |
However, as the weather was too cold, many of our devices died out.
It was windy. I regret not wearing thicker. Literally jumping around when I got off the van and started wearing masks.
After that, we continued our journey to Shiretoko Goko (Shiretoko Five Lakes).
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| Shiretoko's First Lake |
In Shiretoko Goko, there are five lakes and a few walking trails. However, we were only able to walk around the first trail as the other trails were closed due to bear sighting.
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| Another shot of Shiretoko First Lake |
After hopping around in cold and getting amazed at the nature views of Shiretoko, it's time for us to go to the insta-worthy Road to Heaven!!
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| Continuing towards Road to Heaven |
And so, we arrived!!
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| Road to Heaven. Imagine all the insta-worthy shots that can be made here!! |
This road goes on for about 28~30-ish kilometres and is good for Instagram shots, they say.
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| My solo photo looked horrid. I'm sorry. |
Also apparently if you're tall your head blocks the end of the road lol how does one take good photos 😂😂😂
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| Another lower angle shot of the Road to Heaven |
Imagine the leaves turning fully red here, or when the trees are covered in snow, becoming like Monet's monotone art during winter, or just being healed with the fresh greens during summer 🥰
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| If you're tall legit need to look for new ways to take photos lol |
And after that, we proceeded to checking in our hotel in Shiretoko Daiichi Hotel!
We chose there for their greatest dinner buffet.
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| Our room was really wide that we can have a meeting here lol |
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| It's a mix room - Japanese + Western Style |
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| Our dinner buffet (and that's definitely not all) |
The reason we chose Shiretoko Daiichi Hotel is that, they have the best dinner buffet of over 100 types of food selection, and it has a yatai style of space!
There are Japanese, Western, Chinese food. I personally am impressed that they made blue curry and called them "Drift Ice Curry". As a Malaysian that is particular with curry this is actually pretty tasty (and refreshing) despite the color.
Also, we enjoyed the onsen very much and had a great time as a group! ^^
After our buffet, we shopped a little in the souvenir stores. This is my greatest find so far.
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| Candy to make one wanting to marry |
It's pretty funny, I'd say!
Anyways that's basically the full day for me.
I'll update more again in the next post!
Until next time ^^
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