Hokkaido part 1 of ?

Quatre nuits, cinq jours, 836 kilometres de route plus tard, je suis de retour apres un petit voyage dans le nord a Hokkaido. Moi, Aya et toute sa famille avont pris l'avions et a l'aide du voiture loue avons explore la majeure partie des routes au centre d'Hokkaido.

Notre avion nous a depose a Chitose, l'Areoport le plus proche de Sapporo, le coeur d'Hokkaido. De la, nous avons passe une nuit a Sapporo et tot le landemain nous sommes parti pour Asahikawa une ville reconnu pour etre l'hote du zoo le plus populaire du Japon. Nous avons passe une bonne partie de la journee a explorer le zoo et les environs de la ville. Le plus grand attrait d'Hokkaido etant generalement la beaute de la nature et des espaces verts. Je dois avoue que tout au long du voyage nous n'avons pas ete decu.

Tot le landemain de notre arret a Asahikawa, nous sommes parti pour notre prochain hotel situe a Obihiro. Avant d'arriver, nous avons toutefois passe l'heure du diner a Furano dans une micro-brasserie et visite un parc a Biei. Une semaine plus tot nous aurions pu assister au tres fameux festival du nombril a Furano. Ce festival commemore le fait que Furano est considere le nombril de Hokkaido etant situe en plein milieu de l'ile.

Tous ces arrets entre Asahikawa et Obihiro ont fait que nous sommes arrive tard a Obihiro, nous sommes donc rapidement aller souper dans un restaurant servant une specialite locale. Un Genghis Khan ou, autrement dit, un barbecue d'agneau absolument delicieux ! Le landemain matin, avant de partir pour notre derniere destination, nous nous sommes arrete pour visite Bear Mountain, un complexe qui sers a la fois de centre de ski et de reserve pour un type d'ours appele au Japon "Higuma" (Ours Brun). Ca valait le detour, je n'avais jamais vu d'ours d'aussi proche, c'etait tres interessant.

Nous avons passe notre derniere nuit a un Onsen a Noboribetsu. C'etait tres impressionnant, un magnifique village d'hotels niche dans une region montagneuse avec beaucoup de vapeurs emanant des sources d'eau chaude. Il est meme possible de voir la source des onsens qui bouillonne de facon alarmante au centre de la ville.

C'etait beaucoup de route, et comme les parents d'Aya n'aime pas trop conduire et que j'adore conduire, je me suis occupe de la conduite sur tout le trajet. C'etait tres agreable de conduire sur les petites routes sinueuses avec presqu'aucun traffic. Seul bemol, il semble qu'il y ait une grosse difference entre les routes au Quebec et au Japon. Le Japon ne semble pas avoir de route de campagne ou la limite de vitesse est plus grande qu'en ville mais tout de meme inferieure a une autoroute. Au Quebec je parle des routes de campagne ou la limite est souvent 70 ou 90 kilometre a l'heure. Au Japon, meme s'il n'y a absolument rien, la limite est tout de meme de 50 km/h au maximum. Considerant qu'il y a 130 kilometres de route entre Furano et Obihiro, disons que 30 kilometres a l'heure de difference ca fait la difference entre arriver a l'heure du souper ou arriver pour le dodo. Meme les parents d'Aya trouvais que je roulais lentement, quelle fut leur suprise d'aprendre que je me tenais deja 10 a 20 km/h au dessus de la limite ! Il y a beaucoup de presence policiere aussi, alors il ne faut pas essayer de tricher, ca n'empechais pas les voitures de me depasser a toute vitesse. La route entre Obihiro et Asahikawa etait la plus longue de toute, meme peut-etre un peu trop longue considerant qu'on voyagait avec une petite fille de 3 ans, mais je dois avouer que c'etait aussi la plus belle.

Je vais essayer de poster quelques photos avec commentaire dans les prochains postes.


Four nights, five days, 836 kilometers of road later, I'm back from my little trip in the north to Hokkaido. Me, Aya and her family took a plane to Sapporo and then rented a car for the duration of the trip to go around. This way we managed to cover most of the middle-western part of Hokkaido.

The plane landed in Chitose the closest airport from Sapporo, the heart of Hokkaido. From there, we spent the night in the city and left early the next morning for Asahikawa, a city mostly known for hosting the most popular zoo in Japan. We spent most of the day exploring the zoo and neighboring attractions. A lot of the things to do in Hokkaido involve nature, flowers and other beautiful scenery. I have to admit, I wasn't displeased with the result.

Early the next morning after Asahikawa we left for our next hotel situated in Obihiro. Before arriving there however, we spent lunch time at a small beer factory in Furano and we visited a beautiful flower park in Biei. If we had been in Furano a week earlier we could have watched the renowned Bellybutton festival of Furano. This festival commemorate the fact that Furano is considered the geographical center of the island.

All these stops between Asahikawa and Obihiro means that we arrived quite late and just had time to go out for diner after checking in at the hotel. We went to a local specialty called a Genghis Khan which is basically a very delicious BBQ of lamb ! The next morning, before setting off to our last destination we stopped to visit a complex called Bear Mountain, which, beside hosting a ski resort in winter also has a natural reserve for a type of bear that Japanese call "Higuma" (Brown Bear). It was worth the detour, I had never seen bears from so close, it was quite the amazing sight.

We spent our last night in a Onsen town called Noboribetsu. It was an impressive, magnificient village of hotels sitting in a tiny valley between a pack of mountains with hot steam coming out of the sources of hot water. We could even see the source used for the onsen which was bubbling in an alarming ways right in the heart of the city.

It was a lot of road and since Aya's parents don't really like driving and I do, I ended up driving the whole way. It was very nice to drive along those small winding roads with little to no traffic. The only complaint I have is that roads in Japan and Quebec seem to have a major difference. In Quebec, there are roads that are in between city roads and highways. I'm talking about side-country roads were the speed limit is usualy 70 to 90 kilometers per hour. These kind of road do not seem to exist in Japan so even country roads with nothing but trees and forest surrounding them are limited to a city-like 50 kilometers per hour. Considering there's more than 130 kilometers separating Asahikawa from Obihiro, a difference of 30 kilometers per hour is the difference between arriving for diner or for sleep so it's a bit annoying. Even Aya's parents tough I was driving a bit slow, they were quite surprised to know I was already 10 to 20 kilometers per hour above the speed limit ! Also, there are a lot of police presence on these tiny roads so it's better not to try your luck too much. Still I got passed plenty by car going like bullets. The best road I drove was between Obihiro and Noboribetsu, it was also the longuest. Perhaps even a bit too long considering we had a small child 3 years old child on board.

So, I'll post some pictures of all that in the next few posts, stay tuned !