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In September 2005, I traveled alone to Hokkaido. I cannot speak any Japanese at all, but I wasn't worried. Japan is a very safe country and the Japanese are very nice and helpful.

The first day, I flew to Tokyo and stayed a night there. I have previously visited Tokyo before, so I didn't want to spend to long there. I stayed at Shibuya Excel Tokyu Hotel Tokyo. It is a very good hotel, connected to Shibuya station and right on top of a very busy shopping mall with many restaurants. The airport bus stops at the hotel front door, very convenient.

The next day I took a domestic flight to Asahikawa in Hokkaido. On arrival, I took a bus from the airport to Biei train station, where I changed to a train to Bibaushi station. I spent a night at the youth hostel right beside Bibaushi station.

I fell in love with the area straight away. It is completely different from the cities. Wide open spaces, gentle rolling hills, very relaxing. Between July and August, the hills will be covered with lavender. In September the lavender season was over, but the scenery was still very nice. I rented a motorized bicycle to travel to a flower farm nearby, where there were a variety of flowers, very nice.

I stayed in a room with 4 bunk beds. There was a teenage girl traveling with her mother and her teenage brother. They are Malaysian Chinese. The girl was very friendly, she offered me some maps and information of the area.

The hostel served a very nice dinner. It was very nice staying there, except that the bathroom was communal. I could not get used to bathing with strangers, even though the same sex. So I didn't bathe that night.

The next morning, after breakfast, I checked out of the hostel. Took the train to Nakafurano station, and walked about 20 mins to Farm Tomita. Very nice scenery of sunflower, lavender and other colorful flowers. I had lavender ice cream there, yummy.

I went back to Biei train station to have lunch. After that I wanted to tour the surrounding areas of Biei, but there was no public transport at this time of the year. I hired a taxi for about 6000 YEN to travel around for about an hour. Visited the famous attractions like the patchwork hill and family trees.

In the late afternoon, I took the train to Sapporo station, and spent the night at the JR Tower Hotel Nikko Sapporo. It is adjacent to the train station, and connected to a huge mall with many restaurants and shops. Very convenient. The hotel is very new and very nice.

The next day, I took a train to Otaru, a harbor city about half an hour from Sapporo by train. I walked along the Otaru Canal, lined with old warehouses, some are converted to souvenir shops and restaurants.

I took a train to a small town very near to Otaru to visit some apple farms there. There is a small street lined with shops selling fruits, behind the shops are the fruit trees. I spoke to a shop owner who kindly agreed to let me tour the fruit trees. Somehow we managed to communicate even though I didn't speak a single word of Japanese, and she didn't know English. I saw apple trees for the very first time in my life, it was a nice experience.

The next day, I flew back to Tokyo, and changed a flight back to Singapore. I promised myself I will go back to Hokkaido again during lavender season. The rural landscape is so relaxing compared to cities.

Learn more about this author, Tamara Hock.
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