Somerset

Back in the UK, I treated my parents to a weekend away in Somerset. We stayed at The Cleve Spa, a very quaint, English hotel where the majority of the cars in the car park seemed to be for the gym. Our spa package included one treatment, dinner and breakfast. Dinner was a little spoilt, Mum’s steak was well done to the point of burnt and my slab of deer has a too tough.

Not really ventured into the west of the UK, I was delightfully surprised by the very English countryside we saw on the way to Dulverton, Wellington villages and the Tarr Steps in the Exe Valley. The Tarr Steps is an example of a clapper bridge, a medieval bridge made from large flat slabs of rock.

The houses all seemed to have space for a horse, there are bridle ways galore for said horse and there was an abundance of places to enjoy an afternoon tea. We stopped at  Lewis’s Tearoom in Dulverton. With one’s afternoon tea, one should have clotted cream which is basically creamy fat, and oh so delicious. Homemade scones, cakes, and giant tea cups, a great place to enjoy a break.

Crossed into Exmoor, we saw a little Exmoor pony foal with Exmoor pony Mum. Very cute.

Ended the day in the coastal town of Lynmouth, that looks out on to the Bristol Channel and on to the Atlantic where we enjoyed a British dinner by the seaside at ‘North Devon’s Favourite Fish and Chip Shop 2010’.

Somerset

Dessert Gyoza

In the back streets of Kashiwa, is a little local's run gyoza restaurant a great place to have a last dinner in Japan.

Famous for the dessert gyoza, we tried some of the savory ones, with so many to choose from on the menu, Jeff and I choose a couple of pick and mix plates. Some of the ones I tried are the cheese, kimchi, garlic - with whole garlic pieces.

Wasn't sure what to expect with the dessert gyoza, and was pleasantly surprised. Choosing the apple pie one, the little gyoza's are filled with apple and cinnamon mix with vanilla ice-cream.

Umai, yo!

My favourite sushi place in Japan is a chain called Umai Sushi. I have tried other sushi places and they just do not compare. I am consistently pleased everytime I go to Umai Sushi. Luckily for me, a few stops down from Kashiwa there is an Umai Sushi.

My usual menu:

• まぐろ - Tuna
• さけ - Salmon
• コンサラダ - Corn salada
• ねぎ　とろ - Negi toro
• あなご - River eel with sweet sauce.
• あさりしる - Mussel soup
• Daikon pickle rolls

My dinner buddies

The Ghibli Museum

The Ghibli Museum is at the top end of Kichijoji Park, which is a really fun, Tokyo park, lots of things going on in the park and around the station, including a multi-story Muji store.

All tickets for the museum have to be pre-bought, if you live in Japan these can be purchased though Lawson convience store for a thousand yen. For comprehensive instructions on buying at Lawson, see here. There are four times a day that you can choose to enter and you must enter within half an hour of the time you choose. Once you’re in, you’re in, there didn’t seem any end time restrictions on leaving the museum. 

 

Laputa character on the roof garden

There are various rooms showing original sketches for the most recent film, Ponyo. On the first floor there was a life size cat bus room, only for the children, Aleisha did ask if adults could climb around it, and was shot down. Outside and up on the spiral staircase was a lovely roof garden that would be perfect for barbeque's in the summer.

There is also a cute Ghibli short with no dialogue, using only using sounds effects and the animation to tell the story making it accessible to people of any language. The busiest room was the gift shop, displaying all kinds of Ghibli memorabilia to purchase. One of the more expensive items was a ten thousand yen umbrella, but it was so beautiful. I settled for some stickers and a cassis sorbet ice-cream from The Straw Hat Cafe.

Afternoon Tea at the Mandarin Oriental

Another Sunday, another afternoon tea, this time at the Mandarin Oriental. Having seen photos of how this hotel presents their afternoon tea, I really wanted to see it for myself. 

They don’t use a three tiered presentation plates, instead the sandwiches and scones are served as separate courses and the sweet course is served on an Asian inspired, presentation shelf.

On the left, the meat platter; on the right, the specially made veggie platter.

For Skye, they made a veggie sandwich platter, then and there, no fuss, no meat or fish. 

The food itself wasn’t that good, smaller than usual servings and a little dry. On the other hand, the tea selection was broad and they allow you to drink as much of any variety of tea you choose. 

Plain & Earl Grey scones with marmalade, clotted cream and cherry jam.

The service was excellent and the décor as well as atmosphere was most luxurious.

Sweets presentation; Coconut & mango mousse

Alice in Tokyo

There are plenty of themed restaurants in Tokyo, from being in a prison to kitten and puppy cafes. I had the pleasure of experiencing the Alice in Wonderland one with some local Tokyoites.

I wasn’t expected that much from the food, as it’s the surroundings and atmosphere that you’re paying for, yet I was pleasantly surprised. The food was good tasting and I was full afterwards, on top of that some of the dishes were presented along the same theme. The cutest ones being the deserts - little paw prints along the side of the parfait dish.

Their attention to detail was such that even the wine was re-labeled to show the Alice logo and a rabbit. All the wait staff were women in cute blue dresses with white aprons, the master of ceremonies was suitably dressed in a Mad Hatter type costume.

Exit A2 from Ginza subway station, on the fifth floor building, which isn’t marked very well. The parent company of the Alice restaurant is Diamond Dining which was advertised from the outside.

Alice in Tokyo

Tree Trekking & Leaving Hirafu

A couple of things I didn’t get a chance to do last summer in the Niseko area are tree trekking at the Hilton and rafting. The tree trekking was open just for Golden Week and I took advantage of this and went across one morning to try it out. There is the kids course then you can choose to go on the adult course where there is a beginner and expert course. For Golden Week it was two thousand yen and you could use the courses as much as you liked. The ‘Pure’ activity area is open every day throughout summer, see their full website.

The hardest part for me was the Tarzan rope, you have to swing from the rope on to a net suspended in the trees. I landed a lot lower than the platform so had to climb back up and when there is nothing to lean on it was really tough on my arms.

To relax after the morning workout, went  to the onsen which is probably going to be my last onsen visit for a while.

The Flame bar in the Hilton lobby was offering a Sakura Latte with Macha mousse set; ever a sucker for seasonal special, I ordered one.

Tree Trekking

The mousse was soft, sweet and velvety to taste while the latte had a subtle sweetness that took away from the bitterness of the coffee. A most enjoyable, mid-morning break.

On my last day in Hirafu, Tadashi from work organized for me to go on a NAC (Niseko Adventure Centre) rafting trip at a special SJ price.

Wearing a dry suit is not the most flattering piece of clothing one could wear. Once kitted out with helmet, paddle, boots, life jacket, we hopped on the bus and started our river rafting adventure.

Using a mixture of mostly Japanese and English commands we started down the river. Our guide, Tatsu, is from Hokkaido and wants to be a chef or work with food. He also teaches snowboarding in the winter.

The whole experience was pretty tame yet none the less fun, felt like being on an extended water ride at a theme park, there was nothing too extreme about the rapids and everyone got a little wet. I even had a translator, his English was good, but the parts he translated I could understand, I needed help with the more difficult sentences which I think were outside of his English capabilities as much as they were outside of my Japanese ability.

Continued to pack the last bits of my stuff before having a last curry and drinks with the people at the Castle.

Wakkanai: Part II

The first bus to Cape Soya, the northern most point in Japan, leaves the bus terminal at 08:10. It takes just under an hour to get there, with about half an hour to look around, take a picture at the monument before getting on the return bus back to Wakkanai. I arrived the same time as a Japanese tour bus, stood in line and got the tour guide to take my photo at the northern most point in Japan. I also had time to get my stamp and a Soya Misaki Hello Kitty in the omiyagi shop. There are four buses spread over a day to the cape, each one gives you about half an hour at the cape.

Bus times to and from Cape Soya and Wakkanai.

Once back in Wakkanai, climbed up the hill to reach Wakkanai Koen, Wakkanai Garden, where I thought there would be a ropeway. I didn’t see the ropeway, speaking to a lady at a gift shop, it was taken down last year and no longer operates. There was a wind turbine and an indoor foot spa. It was so windy outside, I took a little break.

Followed the path round to a little garden and statues for Taro and Jiro, two dogs who survived a year in the harsh Antarctica conditions when a Japanese research team had to abandon the expedition. Found more stamps and someone was doing a market research survey, which I managed to complete in Japanese.

I felt I was more challenged with my Japanese than usual while being in Wakkanai. There is very little written in English, I only saw either Japanese or Russian due to there being an international ferry port that connects to Russia.

I continued to walk five kilometers along the coast to Noshappu Misaski, where there is a sad looking aquarium, a lighthouse, a look out point and various restaurants. The omiyagi shop was pretty well stocked, where you could buy fresh seafood including some of the biggest crabs I’ve seen. Took a Wakkanai made ice-cream break out of the wind.

From this cape to Wakkanai onsen the wind was so strong and it had started to rain. Getting cold and desperate, I hitch hiked the last three kilometers to the onsen. A middle-aged couple picked me up and took me to the onsen. The woman was originally from Fukushima, near Koriyama but had since moved to Hokkaido.

The onsen was large with a few different pools to try including a small outside area. The bus back into town was late, and I wasn’t the only one waiting for it. The other old people who were waiting as well were getting agitated. Things aren’t late in Japan and it was interesting to watch them get obviously annoyed the bus was not on time to the minute. Buses run few and far between in the area, which is why I chose to walk one way.

A last omiyagi shop and dinner at a seafood place before heading home the next morning on the first train out of Wakkanai. The JR train company is offering a special return ticket from Sapporo that costs 12,200yen if you return within six days. Which is a bargain, as normally a ticket is at least ten thousand yen, one way.

Most helpful website was the Wikitravel site on Wakkanai.

Wakkanai: Part II

Wakkanai: Rishiri & Rebun Island

Work has finished and Golden Week has begun. I choose to take a pleasant, five hour train ride to the northern most tip of Hokkaido and Japan – Wakkanai.  Said with a different intonation to the ‘I don’t know’, wakkanai.

On first arrival, there didn’t seem like there was much there, a tiny train station, a Seikomart, a lot of seafood restraunts. Early to bed for the early start for the ferry to the islands.

Off the coast of Wakkanai there are two islands that are National Parks, Rishiri and Rebun Island. Rishiri has a mountain in the centre, standing at 1721 metres high, is the first thing you see from the ferry. Towering down and still covered in snow, with large peaks and rock faces. I could also see Mt Rishiri on the train arriving into Wakkani, all pinks and purples in the early evening sunset.

Right outside the ferry terminal on Rishiri Island there are about four or five car rental / omiyagi shops. Knowing there was a cycle path, I went to the bike hire hut. No one there, went next door and asked the omiyagi lady, who called the bike guy. Moments later he arrives and gives me a purple mama-chari bike for three hours.

I am off to Hime-numa, Princess Lake, five kilometers from the ferry terminal. The first two were on the flat, following the ocean road, then the last three were up a very steep slope that I had to get off and push. Hime-numa is also the start of the path to take up to Mt Pon, a smaller mountain. The path started out fine, then as more and more snow covered the path it become too difficult to continue and I had to turn back and take the more mellow, Hime-numa Nature Trail, which followed the edge of the lake.

Fun reflectors on Rishiri

On the way down, I joined up with the cycle path and took it to the Notsuka view point looking over the ocean. Rode the cycle path all the way back to the ferry terminal in time for the next ferry to Rebun Island.

Rebun Island, famous for it’s large range of wild flowers in the summer althought I was a little too early for the flowers. The Rebun ferry terminal has a variety of leaflets on the different trails you can do on the island. I took the Momoiwa walking trail, one of the shorter ones, which was mainly covered in dry grass, with a few little plants trying to push their way out. At the look out point it was very windy and a lot of cloud cover blocked the view. I followed the trail out towards a lighthouse; I didn’t reach it as I had to make it back to get the ferry back to the mainland. Wasn’t too disappointed, couldn’t see much because of the clouds and the wind was getting a little too much. When I did get back to the ferry terminal, found I was too early by nearly an hour, so used the time to go to the Rebun onsen.

If you are short on time, it’s best to plan which ferries you want to take, the ferry company connecting the islands is called Heart Land Ferry and they have an English website here.

By the time I got back to Wakkanani, I was famished and went to a little place right next to the station for a large bowl of crab ramen. After a day of trampling around, was well needed.

Rishiri & Rebun Island