This was our last day in Hakodate and again, my baby brother made breakfast for us. Before we left Hakodate, we went to make our final stop at The World’s Second Best Ice Cream. I finally had my melon pan with ice cream which cost me ¥400.
Our next stop was Noboribetsu but we made a stop in Lake Toya for a short sightseeing and lunch. Unfortunately for us, it was raining so, we did not get the chance to explore Lake Toya. However, we were very lucky to witness snow during our ride. It was really beautiful! The temperature was 2 degree Celsius when it happened. Sadly, it did not last long. One thing I love about the highway in Japan is the public toilets are awesome and very clean! Some but not all the public toilets have this swallow origami which works like a good luck charm for those driving on the highway. Very thoughtful, right?
We had our lunch at Toya Marche whereby the food is not that great but the set meals are very reasonably priced. Beef dishes are their specialty so, we ordered 4 different dishes to share which cost us ¥4,370 in total.
It took us another 50 minutes for us to reach Noboribetsu. The hotel that we stayed was Noboribetsu Grand Hotel. Noboribetsu is famous for its many onsen resorts. The resorts offer either half or full board as well. We took full board whereby we had both dinner and breakfast. The resort that we stayed has both indoor and outdoor onsen. I suggest you to dip in the indoor onsen first before heading for the outdoor onsen because it was really cold outside unless you are visiting Noboribetsu during the warm seasons. We had a family tatam room, our most favourite type of room and the first thing we did after we settled down in our room was to get to onsen.
It was my very first onsen experience in my life with strangers. The last experience I had was I was lucky to be alone. No one was in the bath at that time. Hence, I had a cultural shock. There’s an etiquette that you need to adhere when using the hot spring. You are not allowed to bring your body towel into the onsen. However, you can bring a face towel with you. You had to bath first before dipping into the onsen but do not dip your face towel which is considered rude. We spent about 1 hour before we went for dinner.
We had a buffet style dinner. They offer various types of dishes. Everything is free except for beers. As it was really cold outside, we did not explore the town and spent our time in the resort until we hit the sack.
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