week 23 Hello Hokkaido! [Tomamu Resort]

Part of the fun of being in Southeast Asia is the proximity of other fun Asian countries to visit! And part of the fun of working for a great international company is their shared appreciation for exploring the world :) This weekend, our firm took advantage of the 3-day weekend... made it into a 5-day weekend for the company... and headed to Hokkaido, Japan. [I have lots of pictures from the adventure, but this will take a couple of days for me to get completely uploaded...]

Day 1

We met at the office at some uncivilized hour to begin our trek to Japan, starting with a group bus ride to the airport. I have never really been on a group tour type vacation before, but it didn't take long to settle into the routine... Mostly, listening to our tour guide ramble on and on in Chinese about places we saw or were going to see, or just general information to fill the time. [Apparently, if the tour guide is not narrating at all times, many of the tourists would feel that they were not get their money's worth... this is what I'm told...]

Anyways. The flight was generally uneventful. I sat next to one of my teammates. Watched the "Secretariat" movie... Was entirely too sappy and vowed not to watch another emotional movie on the flight back... Made it to Hokkaido safe & sound.

After we cleared the airport, we boarded yet another bus for a 3-hour(ish) ride to our resort in the mountains. 

Japan was beautiful. 

Rolling hills, soaring mountains, flowing streams, and sleepy parks waiting under a blanket of snow. Farm land. Small towns. Villages. Calligraphic writing. I even saw a family riding in a horse drawn sleigh through the snow as we were driving along... Yep!

Tomamu Resort

 When we arrived at our resort, I was no less pleased. Tomamu resort is like a small village with multiple hotels, restaurants, ski lifts, etc. The picture above was the view from my room - looking out at the other tall hotel on the property. The room (possibly on purpose, possibly by mistake...) was more like an apartment: 2 bedrooms with two twin beds each, a powder bath, private bath, and master bathroom, living room & entryway. 6-8 person jacuzzi, dry sauna, and a killer view. Yes! :)

Entrance to the master bathroom... 

His & Hers sinks...
In this case, Hers & Hers
(I roomed with a female colleague)

En suite sauna

My bedroom

Only part of my view :)

By the time we made it to the resort, the sunlight was already fading.
That evening we feasted on a buffet with both Western & Asian foods...
The fresh sashimi and sweet desserts were the best part! (The Japanese use more sugar, butter, etc than the Taiwanese typically) After dinner I ended the day with a swim. First swimming in the large indoor pool - supposedly the largest heated indoor pool in Japan, I believe it - followed by a dip in the hot tub, aka the "Jacuzzi" as my Taiwanese colleagues refer to it.

Indoor pool at the resort... And it had a fake ocean current.
Loved the waves!