We will be heading to Noboribetsu today. We catch a cab to the train station and we took a train to the Muroran (an hour drive from Noboribetsu) where we will pick up our rental car to make our way to Noboribetsu.

The ride was 2.5 hours on the train, which passes mountains and seaside through small towns.

Some activities for Jaydon to keep him occupied.

Upon reaching Higashi-Muroran Station, I picked up the rental car while the family waited for me in the train station for their ride.

Reading in the Train Station while waiting for his ride.

We found this udon shop through Foursquare in Muroran. Udon is freshly prepared and served. Later we noticed that this udon shop is a chained restaurant which you could find them almost everywhere in Hokkaido.

We reached Noboribetsu around 3pm. It took us an hour to drive from Muroran to Noboribetsu. We wanted to visit the Noboribetsu Bear Park but when we there, we were deterred on going into the park as the price was pretty expensive and the location of the park was on top of a mountain which was cold. So we decided to head back to the valley. The sun was out and we decided to take a walk in Jigokudani (Hell Valley).

Jigokudani (Hell Valley) is a nice geothemal park in Noboribetsu. It has attractive walking trails through the wooded hills above Noboribetsu. However, some parts of the trails is a bit slippery due to ice. So we decided not to venture further into the valley.

  

On heading back to our car, we came across our first snow man that someone had built. Jaydon got excited and we took all opportunity to take a picture with the snowman, even though the snow man was not built by us.

We headed back to our hotel after our fun with the snowman. We stayed in Mahoroba hotel which was nice. Hotel was big and it was well equipped with a provision shop where you could get your supplies. Rooms are clean and there is nothing to complaint about this hotel except for the price.. 😦

The hotel has a petty sizable Onsen which we went for a dip. Jaydon was studying the ethics of using Onsen. Some of the things not to do is to dip your head into the onsen or to put the tower into the pool (like what you see on TV). Silence should be observe at all time.

 

The stay includes a buffet dinner which has king crab in their menu.

 

The hotel has arcade game centre. We end our day having fun in the arcade centre before heading back to our bed.