If you are interested to read about the other spots,
please check this link:
In just few seconds, the towels were completely frozen!! haha ^____^ Can you imagine how cold it was inside? Well, most of us who joined this trip have experienced the harsh winter in Hokkaido so we somehow know how cold it is. However, everyone, including me of course =P, was still getting so excited with this simulation, hehe.. not to forget that we were also surrounded by the real drift ice specially brought to the museum for the purpose of this simulation room!
JTB, well-known Japanese travel agency and one of the largest travel agencies in the world, conducted 7 kinds of 2-3 days guided tour packages to various places around Hokkaido for foreigners, and they are like almost free. Foreigners who wanted to participate had to apply and choose for a course depending on where and when they wanted to go. There were a lot of people applied, of course, and I was quite lucky to get a place ! ^^
The website of JTB Hokkaido is here (sorry, it seems everything is in Japanese).
I was really looking forward into going to Shiretoko and Abashiri areas because I think I have been in most of Hokkaido's famous spots, except Shiretoko, Abashiri, and Wakkanai.
We chose one of the furthest courses, Shiretoko and Abashiri. Shiretoko national park is a UNESCO world heritage, and Abashiri area is famous for its drift ice and old prison. I always want to go there but the timing was always not right. It's also very far, so beside the travel duration issue, it is quite costly to go there and also tiring for Javier if he has to drive alone.
This post is mainly about our visit to Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum at Tentozan, Abashiri. So, what did we see there?
1. Beautiful view of Sea of Okhotsk, Lake Abashiri and the city
Abashiri city, with population around 40000, is located on the northeast of Hokkaido and faces the Sea of Okhotsk. The city is blessed with abundant supply of marine products from Sea of Okhotsk, allowing the fishery industries to grow and become the most prominent industry there.
 |
| The view of the city and sea of Okhotsk |
 |
| The view of Abashiri lake |
On the other hand, agriculture and tourism are also another important industries in Abashiri. According to the city website, Abashiri's spectacular beauty of the lakes, landscape and the Sea of Okhotsk with its mystery of drift ice on winter draw around 2 million tourists to the city each year. The popular tour of the drift ice onboard the first icebreaker ship in Japan, the "Aurora", is also conducted here.
2. Drift ice experience
Drift ice has been part of the image of Abashiri and Okhotsk region. Each year when it comes to winter and the landscape begins to be all white, ice forms at the end of Amur River in Russia, carried southward by sea current and wind until it arrives on the northern coast of Hokkaido. It is said to be very soft and not so dense at the early stage, but gradually grows during its long journey into what we see as drift ice. Its final shape varies since it is shaped naturally by wind and tide.
Drift ice has been part of the image of Abashiri and Okhotsk region. Each year when it comes to winter and the landscape begins to be all white, ice forms at the end of Amur River in Russia, carried southward by sea current and wind until it arrives on the northern coast of Hokkaido. It is said to be very soft and not so dense at the early stage, but gradually grows during its long journey into what we see as drift ice. Its final shape varies since it is shaped naturally by wind and tide.
This museum has a drift ice simulation room in which we can see the real drift ice and experience the extremely low temperature even in summer. We can borrow a coat for free before entering the room. Most of the coats are too thin for the real temperature on winter actually, but they are sufficient for around 5 minutes experience in subzero temperature. If I remember correctly, the temperature inside the room is kept at -10 degree Celsius.
They gave each of us a wet small blue towel to do try a simulation inside. We had to hold one end of the towel with one hand, and then move it very fast in the air in circular movement, until ...
What happened after that ?
In just few seconds, the towels were completely frozen!! haha ^____^ Can you imagine how cold it was inside? Well, most of us who joined this trip have experienced the harsh winter in Hokkaido so we somehow know how cold it is. However, everyone, including me of course =P, was still getting so excited with this simulation, hehe.. not to forget that we were also surrounded by the real drift ice specially brought to the museum for the purpose of this simulation room!
3. Clione
Sorry that the pictures are not so clear ^__^! Cliones are so small and they kept moving, while I don't have special talent in photography, hehe. By the way, the pics on top were taken by iPhone camera. Not so bad la huh ? ^_^ In fact, I had to do so much editing to the picture below as well, which was taken by normal camera.
Talking about cliones, my cousin asked me to check Pokemon center for some soft toys of her children's favourite Pokemon characters. Two of them happened to be Phione and Manaphy. I have no idea about Pokemon hehe, but then when I saw the pictures, I was wondering.. don't they look like clione ??? Apparently, they are really based on clione!!! You can read more about it here. |
| Manaphy and Phione (picture taken from Bulbanews column) |
4. Balloon lumpfish
Aren't they so cute !??! ^__________^ scary ? no la! They are small (so much bigger than cliones, of course) and fat. hihi.. It's so fun to see them swimming like tiny orange balls, looking so busy struggling to move from one place to another place. ^^
Ballon lumpfishes are also species found in cold waters. They have pelvic discs which help them to cling to stones and other substrate in the water. After swimming a bit, they easily hopped or clung here and there, both on horizontal and vertical planes. How convenient!
If any of you think that balloon lumpfishes are scary, now see the pictures below!!
Don't you love the babies ?!?! ^______^
At least the babies are less scary, don't you think so ? ^^ They are super tiny and smooth! ... really look like cartoon characters for me... O.o
I was quite disappointed that we didn't pass by the prison. I don't understand why they didn't bring us there while the prison is one of the most famous spots in Abashiri, and it will look as it is all year round. I mean, it's not like drift ice which we only can see on winter or flower gardens that are pretty when the flowers are fully bloomed during specific season.
Anyway, I will definitely want to go back to Abashiri. Maybe on winter. :)
 |
| Cannot see the background actually huh ? =P |
 |
| Haha.. nice pic! Thanks, Javier ^^ |
No comments:
Post a Comment