It was a smooth flight but clearing customs and immigration took us alomost an hour. Chris our Japanese guide was nervous for we only have about one and a half hour to catch the domestic flight from Haneda airport which was about 45 minutes away from Narita.

It was nap time on the short flight to Chitose airport as the tour begins the moment we touch down.

It was straight to lunch after touching down. The temperature was about 2 degrees celcius as it had snowed the previous night.We had Japanese hotpot with seafood in it. If you are not a fan of scallops and giant crabs Hokkaido is not the place for you.

Our bus journey to the Onsen for the night in Tokachigawa in Eastern Hokkaido would take about 5 hours. It started snowing and in no time everything was blanketed by snow.

It was dark by the time we reached the Onsen or hot spring resort. It was decided that we have our dinner first before soaking in the hot springs. We were advised by Chris to wait at least 2 hours after meal before heading to the hot springs.

There were a couple of things we needed to take note of. One has to clean up before soaking in the baths. the Japanese do not soak more than 15 minutes at one go. If you have high blood pressure do take note that the temperature of the baths might affect you. One can go dip in the baths three times a day. After you finish a glass of ice water will cool you down.