Sunday, August 24, 2008
Runaway to Hokkaido: Day 3
Well now, this is quite the interesting day. Started the day at 06.15 - thanks to the constant ringing of the morning call. Turns out the only way to silence it is to pick it up. Had the same ol' morning routine that had been going on since...forever, followed by loading the luggages onto our bus.
Anyway, our tour then resumed with us heading to the fruit plantation for some plum picking. However, instead of being interested in the plums, the 'runaways' were WAY more interested in the peaches, though the peach season was still weeks away. Besides, despite the plantation attendant's warning for us to stay away from the peaches, the runaways just had to have their to-die-for pictures with the peaches. Kinda rhymes, doesn't it? Pictures and peaches. So, that's how I found the group scattered around the plantation -- even though we were clearly instructed to follow our guide. Took a nice 5 minutes before the group clumped back together again to hear the guide's briefing. "Pick only from trees with a pink ribbon." That's what the guide said. But of course, trees with pink ribbons only bear plums, not peaches. Nevertheless, the runaways had a wonderful time feasting on the crimson colored ping-pong-ball-sized plums.
Some unripe apples
More unripe apples
The crimson ping-pong-ball-sized plums
What?! A plum growing from the tip of a branch?
The oh-so-famous peaches that everyone wants to have a picture with
Next, it was off to the bear ranch. In my opinion, best spot of the day. Gosh, you should've seen the bears! They were brilliant! Whenever a visitor stands by the enclosure, the bears would beg and wave for them to send food their way. It's like a scene out of a kindergarten, when a teacher pops a question and the kid's are eager to answer. Went on feeding the bears till we had to leave for lunch at a seafood market. Frankly, I never thought that crabs would come in all colors, shapes and sizes. I've always thought a crab's a crab. Shell, six legs, a pair of pincers and bulging eyes. Crabs aside, there were even more sea creatures that I've never seen. As before, the runaways were eager to get their pictures with the sea creatures but they were less fortunate here since they'd have to buy it before they're allowed to hit the shutter. Well, that didn't even stop them one bit since they each bought a crab and took photos with it. Problem solved. It was a blessing they had them at lunch or our bus would be filled with the lingering odor of rotting seafood.
This spells doom for the Hokkaido-lings
Racoons, aka. bear fodder. Nah, just kiddin'.
Bear cubs
Foood...fooooood...
'Sup? Wanna come chill with me?
Pweeease, can I have a cwacker?
Hey, over here! Throw me a cracker!
Pfft, he didn't even notice me!
Here comes Puma's rival: the bear!
>Mount Showa, a dormant volcano, lies in front of the ranch
What are those? Sea apples?
Reminds me of the spiders from 'Eight-Legged Freaks'
Anyone want more than a bite? Go ahead.
Run! It's Bear-zilla!
'Are there giant salmons here?'
'Never mind. I'll take that crab instead.'
After lunch, it was time for some sight-seeing at the Tomita Farm. Actually, I'd so call it a garden after seeing the iridescent field of flowers and finding no crops or livestock. Spent some time admiring the flowers and for the first time in life, had lavender flavored ice-cream. It sorta tastes like vanilla except that it's purple in color.
Finally, time to check-in again. Arrived at the hotel for the night and headed to our suite before meeting at the reception desk for dinner. Since dinner's not in the hotel, we had to walk quite a bit. On our way, I saw the weirdest car I've ever seen. It's like a Batmobile wannabe in orange. It's really weird and not to mention, funny-looking.
Views from the suite
See? Looks weird yeah?
A shot of the city
And there goes day number 3. 3 days down, 4 more to go...
Last Updated @ 6:54 AM
Signed: Whoever was here...
