16 October 2014 2355 - 17 October 2014 0800
26 October 2014 2050 - 27 October 2014 0325
$714.30 each on S
JR pass Y46,390 - 5% discount for 2pax Y88,141
Day 0
We were departing from T3 but still travelled back to T2 for Green Market lounge access. The plane was refurbished and had those swanky touch screens with lots of entertainment options. I watched Fault in Our Stars then went to sleep while Tobs made full use of his SQ ticket by staying up and watching like 3 movies.
Day 1
Changed our JR passes and headed straight up to Sendai. Tobs took the opportunity to catch up on sleep on the train. I slept on and off - afterall, someone needs to look out for when we alight right! When we hit Sendai close to 12, we found the original location of Triangle under renovation with signs directing us to their current location.
With the help of the tourist information centre lady, we found our way there. It was so far away - first the sky walk to get to the other side of the street, then walk down at least 2 shopping streets before you get to the hotel which now houses Triangle. This may be the last time I'm having it. When it used to be right at the JR station, it was at least convenient but now, it's just too troublesome.
I had my mentai soup spaghetti. So did Tobs (with upsize). I got the cream cheese drink as well. As usual, it was splendid. I have never had anything close and nothing really compares with Triangle. Saw St Marcs Cafe en route back but did not grab anything. Instead, bought a caramel pumpkin crossiant taiyaki - imagine that! It turned out quite interesting and yummy.
Train up to Shin-Aomori and took a detour because we hopped on the wrong local train that took us in the opposite direction we wanted to go. But luckily there was a small station that was shielded from the cold wind. Got to Aomori around 5 and checked in to Hotel Passage.
After getting recommendations, I picked the old school home-cooking-ish place called [ ]. Tobs had the local speciality hotate stew and I picked the grilled hotate. My grilled hotate came in 3 humongous shells with 6 scallops in them. Super worth it! Ended up adding a fried hotate to our order cos I saw the lady at the next table having it. It was wonderful as well. ￥1030 each and total bill came up to ￥3090.
Took a short walk around the bay area and attempted to take pictures without the tripod. Failed miserable. It got really cold after a while too so we headed back after grabbing an apple cider from A Factory. Slept real early around 9.30ish cos alarm was set at 6am the next day.
Day 2
It was all bright and sunny even at 6am when we woke up. The breakfast was impressive, with a good selection of meat and desserts. Deposited luggage at front desk then it was off to queue for Bus 11 to head to Lake Tawada. Thanks to JR pass, the bus ride was free. The tour bus had commentary in Japanese but none in English (boo).
There was one short toilet stop but we all went to snap pictures instead. Hopped off at the Hakkoda ropeway stop and quickly got on the ropeway but was stuck with a PRC tour group. Used the 10% discount coupon so it was ￥1650. As the ropeway headed up, it was still pretty picturesque but near to the top, the weather suddenly turned super bad and it started raining and fogging up badly.
When we alighted, Tobs said to go immediately to take the same cable down. I guess it didn't make sense to hang around at the top since you can hardly see anything at all and it was really super duper cold.
The thing about the JR bus is that frequency is an issue and your movements are controlled by when the next bus arrives. Plus, it was raining so exploring outside was not an option. We hid in the cafe next to the ropeway station and ordered a ramen. Turned out surprisngly edible and we could have the free wheat tea which kept us warm.
Hopped onto the bus and headed to the next spot Jogakura Onsen. Thank God the weather changed for the better. Walked close to 30mins to the bridge and it was breathtaking. En route, all the autumn colours were in full display and we took lots of photos. It was crazy windy on the bridge and half the time, I could not feel my fingers.
Then we finally decided we ought to wear our uniqlo jackets before we both fell sick. After we did so, we felt so much warmer. It was 30mins back to the bus stop again and then off to the next spot Tsuta Onsen.
We almost missed the stop cos both Tobs and I fell asleep (I was asleep for less of the time and realised in the nick of time that it was our stop and quickly woke him). Unfortunately, it had started drizzling again so we tried to find shelter. As well as lunch. 2 options: some run down shed-looking place near the bus stop, or eating in the onsen hotel. Decided on the latter. If we were poor students, we would have definitely opted for the former but hey, let's not torture ourselves anymore cos 10 days will pass damn quickly.
It was an excellent choice. He had a fish set and I had some gyu set. It was value-for-money (￥1780 each set only) and tasted good. Most of all, it gave us a very nice place to relax in while waiting for the rain to stop. After we were done with lunch around 1430, we went on the walking route and found many beautiful lakes that reflected the autumn sights. Although the path was quite muddy from the rain, it was still bearable. The sights more than made up for it.
I hope my photos do justice to what I saw. One lament I have is that my photography skills aren't superb so I may not be able to capture the essence of the moment. But it was nevertheless wonderful to be doing this with the love of my life - our first Autumn together! ;))
Catch the 1610 bus back and slept all the way until we reached Aomori at 1800ish. Headed for dinner at Ringdako and had some problems ordering cos the menu was in Japanese with little pictures. The waiter was very patient with us and gave us some recommendations. His recommendations did not turn up very nice though - the beef was strange and cold (Tobs suspects its tongue), and the hotate stew was meh in comparison to yesterday's. The gindara I ordered was not bad. But, we claimed a free sushi and free tempura and found the latter delicious. So we ordered not one but TWO tempura moriwases ￥(640 each)!Dinner came up to ￥4110, a price we would not even have dreamt of spending in the past.
Now we're back in Hotel Passage hanging around waiting for 2200 to board Hamanasu. Did not manage to get the sleeping spots so will have to settle for the chair. But my last experience on the chair was not too bad. At least this settles both accomodation and getting us from one place to another! Praying for good weather the next few days!
Tobs reminded me that today is already Day 2 of the trip, one-fifth is gone. Sigh. When will we ever have the luxury to do those 30-day trips again? My youth..
Day 0
We were departing from T3 but still travelled back to T2 for Green Market lounge access. The plane was refurbished and had those swanky touch screens with lots of entertainment options. I watched Fault in Our Stars then went to sleep while Tobs made full use of his SQ ticket by staying up and watching like 3 movies.
Day 1
Changed our JR passes and headed straight up to Sendai. Tobs took the opportunity to catch up on sleep on the train. I slept on and off - afterall, someone needs to look out for when we alight right! When we hit Sendai close to 12, we found the original location of Triangle under renovation with signs directing us to their current location.
With the help of the tourist information centre lady, we found our way there. It was so far away - first the sky walk to get to the other side of the street, then walk down at least 2 shopping streets before you get to the hotel which now houses Triangle. This may be the last time I'm having it. When it used to be right at the JR station, it was at least convenient but now, it's just too troublesome.
I had my mentai soup spaghetti. So did Tobs (with upsize). I got the cream cheese drink as well. As usual, it was splendid. I have never had anything close and nothing really compares with Triangle. Saw St Marcs Cafe en route back but did not grab anything. Instead, bought a caramel pumpkin crossiant taiyaki - imagine that! It turned out quite interesting and yummy.
Train up to Shin-Aomori and took a detour because we hopped on the wrong local train that took us in the opposite direction we wanted to go. But luckily there was a small station that was shielded from the cold wind. Got to Aomori around 5 and checked in to Hotel Passage.
After getting recommendations, I picked the old school home-cooking-ish place called [ ]. Tobs had the local speciality hotate stew and I picked the grilled hotate. My grilled hotate came in 3 humongous shells with 6 scallops in them. Super worth it! Ended up adding a fried hotate to our order cos I saw the lady at the next table having it. It was wonderful as well. ￥1030 each and total bill came up to ￥3090.
Took a short walk around the bay area and attempted to take pictures without the tripod. Failed miserable. It got really cold after a while too so we headed back after grabbing an apple cider from A Factory. Slept real early around 9.30ish cos alarm was set at 6am the next day.
Day 2
It was all bright and sunny even at 6am when we woke up. The breakfast was impressive, with a good selection of meat and desserts. Deposited luggage at front desk then it was off to queue for Bus 11 to head to Lake Tawada. Thanks to JR pass, the bus ride was free. The tour bus had commentary in Japanese but none in English (boo).
There was one short toilet stop but we all went to snap pictures instead. Hopped off at the Hakkoda ropeway stop and quickly got on the ropeway but was stuck with a PRC tour group. Used the 10% discount coupon so it was ￥1650. As the ropeway headed up, it was still pretty picturesque but near to the top, the weather suddenly turned super bad and it started raining and fogging up badly.
When we alighted, Tobs said to go immediately to take the same cable down. I guess it didn't make sense to hang around at the top since you can hardly see anything at all and it was really super duper cold.
The thing about the JR bus is that frequency is an issue and your movements are controlled by when the next bus arrives. Plus, it was raining so exploring outside was not an option. We hid in the cafe next to the ropeway station and ordered a ramen. Turned out surprisngly edible and we could have the free wheat tea which kept us warm.
Hopped onto the bus and headed to the next spot Jogakura Onsen. Thank God the weather changed for the better. Walked close to 30mins to the bridge and it was breathtaking. En route, all the autumn colours were in full display and we took lots of photos. It was crazy windy on the bridge and half the time, I could not feel my fingers.
Then we finally decided we ought to wear our uniqlo jackets before we both fell sick. After we did so, we felt so much warmer. It was 30mins back to the bus stop again and then off to the next spot Tsuta Onsen.
We almost missed the stop cos both Tobs and I fell asleep (I was asleep for less of the time and realised in the nick of time that it was our stop and quickly woke him). Unfortunately, it had started drizzling again so we tried to find shelter. As well as lunch. 2 options: some run down shed-looking place near the bus stop, or eating in the onsen hotel. Decided on the latter. If we were poor students, we would have definitely opted for the former but hey, let's not torture ourselves anymore cos 10 days will pass damn quickly.
It was an excellent choice. He had a fish set and I had some gyu set. It was value-for-money (￥1780 each set only) and tasted good. Most of all, it gave us a very nice place to relax in while waiting for the rain to stop. After we were done with lunch around 1430, we went on the walking route and found many beautiful lakes that reflected the autumn sights. Although the path was quite muddy from the rain, it was still bearable. The sights more than made up for it.
I hope my photos do justice to what I saw. One lament I have is that my photography skills aren't superb so I may not be able to capture the essence of the moment. But it was nevertheless wonderful to be doing this with the love of my life - our first Autumn together! ;))
Catch the 1610 bus back and slept all the way until we reached Aomori at 1800ish. Headed for dinner at Ringdako and had some problems ordering cos the menu was in Japanese with little pictures. The waiter was very patient with us and gave us some recommendations. His recommendations did not turn up very nice though - the beef was strange and cold (Tobs suspects its tongue), and the hotate stew was meh in comparison to yesterday's. The gindara I ordered was not bad. But, we claimed a free sushi and free tempura and found the latter delicious. So we ordered not one but TWO tempura moriwases ￥(640 each)!Dinner came up to ￥4110, a price we would not even have dreamt of spending in the past.
Now we're back in Hotel Passage hanging around waiting for 2200 to board Hamanasu. Did not manage to get the sleeping spots so will have to settle for the chair. But my last experience on the chair was not too bad. At least this settles both accomodation and getting us from one place to another! Praying for good weather the next few days!
Tobs reminded me that today is already Day 2 of the trip, one-fifth is gone. Sigh. When will we ever have the luxury to do those 30-day trips again? My youth..
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