Summer in Noboribetsu, Japan

We all have places we’ve been to before that we wish we could go back to. Jigokudani in Noboribetsu, Hokkaido, Japan is definitely one of mine. It was such a great break from the city life. Standing across the valley, staring into the smoking valley with its lush green scenery, I knew that exploring the world would be something I’d want to do for the rest of my life. I spent two days there. I went to Jigokudani, also known as Hell’s Valley, and Noboribetsu Marine Park Nixe.

Lodging

There are many hotels in Noboribetsu and near Jigokudani. I stayed at Noboribetsu Manseikaku in a single room with breakfast + dinner (both were buffets). They also have indoor and outdoor onsen. The outdoor onsen view was breathtaking. Tattoos are not allowed. Fortunately, the hotel sells tattoo cover ups (stickers to cover your tattoo), which I had to do.

For more information on the hotel, please visit:
https://noboribetsu.manseikakuhotels.com/en-us

Noboribetsu Manseikaku is a 10-15 minute walk to Jigokudani, and across the bus stop to go to the Marine Park Nixe. The hotel also coordinates a bus in the morning to go to Sapporo.

Spot all the demon statues

Throughout Noboribetsu, you can find different demon statutes, all with meanings to them. I was shocked to have seen such a tall demon statue on my way to the hotel. There are other tall demons standing and sitting on your walk to Jigokudani. But there are also small, cute demons for success in love, exams, and business.

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By the way, I don’t think I found ALL of the demon statues. I didn’t know how many total were there. It would be a great little scavenger hunt of the place to spot them all.

JIGOKUDANI OR HELL’S VALLEY

Noboribetsu is famous for its hot springs, which come from Hell’s Valley. Above the valley are the Jigokudani-Oyunuma Walking trails. Be prepared to walk deep into the forest: wear sunscreen, bug repellant, and comfortable shoes; and bring a bottle of water.

If you have not seen my bee “attack” story, click here.

There are a few maps before entering any of the pathways so make sure to take a photo just in case.

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OYUNUMA LAKE

After a hundred and more steps, I reached a part of the valley looking out to Oyunuma Lake.

I still had to walk towards the pond from the valley. To save some time, it is also possible to drive there. But a walk through the valley would definitely be a great experience. It’s almost like hiking. Well, I guess I’ll consider that a hike.

The walk back to my hotel was about 25-30 minute by foot (on my pace) along the road. It may have been shorter if I had walked through the valley again, but since it was almost dark I did not want to risk getting lost in the woods with no flashlight.

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The trail to Oyunuma Foot Bath can also be accessed from the lake.

OYUNUMA BROOK NATURAL FOOT BATH

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After my first failed attempt to go to the foot bath, I actually decided not to go anymore. However, after spending half the day at the Marine Park Nixe, I had some time to head there so I put on the direction on Google map and walked over from the hotel. When I got there, there were so many tourists with their shoes off and feet in the water. Do not worry about the water being dirty, the river flows. I had spent about 40 minutes there, with my foot on and off the hot water. Definitely relaxing!

Oyunuma Natural Foot Bath Scenery:

MARINE PARK NIXE

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Getting to Marine Park Nixe was easy. There is a bus stop across Noboribetsu Manseikaku and there will be signs. Otherwise, you can also ask the friendly people there. Most likely you will meet another tourist who has been there or will be heading there.

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They have seals, turtles, penguins, dolphins etc. Their main attraction is the Penguin Parade. The only reason I went to the park! My love for penguins have made me travel across the ocean to see them up close and out of their cage lol. Not kidding. The penguins will walk on a carpet and you can watch them waddle through.

Penguin Parade at Marine Park Nixe:

Thank you for reading my blog! I hope you enjoyed it.

Here are also other photos I’ve taken there:

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Have a wonderful day and be safe!

Labor Day in Maui, Hawaii

A long weekend means… traveling! Just kidding. I was fortunate to have an extra day off, which I spent time with Jayson and friends in the Island of Maui. I packed my backpack and my camera, and the exploring began.

Day 1: Iao Valley State Monument and Karaoke with friends

Iao Valley is located in Wailuku, Maui. It was beautiful! Living in Honolulu, surrounded by tall buildings, traffic, and noise, the green scenery and the fresh air was what I enjoyed the most. There is a parking fee, but if you are a Hawaii resident, it’s free!

The history of the valley has great historical significance. A battle occurred here where King Kamehameha I defeated Maui’s army in his quest to unite the islands. The Iao Needle served as a lookout point.

I was mostly fascinated by the clear, cold water that flowed down through the river.

Jayson and I went to the river to feel the water (and to take some photos). We saw a girl in her bathing suit in the river laying with her eyes closed enjoying the moment, and we thought, why not dip our legs in? Well, we got carried away and ended up doing the same.  Noticed how I was only wearing a shirt in the photo above? I didn’t plan on fully getting in the water. It was freezing, but worth it! We didn’t want to leave.

After our relaxing river adventure, we bought some good Filipino plate lunch and took it to the beach.  We laid under the shade, talked stories, and watched people fish and kite surf (a lady kept falling into the water, but never gave up! So amazing.) Around 4 pm, we did our own fishing! We fished for Oama. If you know me personally, you know that I never get in the ocean or do fishing – but I wanted to try new things! Plus, the fish was close to the shore so it wasn’t that scary for me.  Jayson and I caught 54 Oamas (I caught the first one by the way). Unfortunately, I was unable to take photos of us fishing, but just trust me when I say I had fun.

In the evening, I spent some time with friends singing karaoke.  Time passed and it was time to go. As we said our goodbyes, we all decided to drive up to Haleakala together. We took our chances with the little time left to get ready and drive up. Thus, Day 2 began (I haven’t slept yet).

Day 2: Haleakala National Park and Lahaina

It was past midnight when Jayson & I said bye to our friends. We planned to go to Haleakala for sunrise and invited the rest of our friends. To my surprise, they came! What was crazy was we only had two hours left to get up to the first gate of Haleakala. BUT, we had to head back to Kihei, which was 20 minutes one way, to get ready for the freezing weather up the mountain leaving us with only 10-15 minutes to dress and pack our stuff. We packed a mat, a blanket, some food, coffee, additional warm clothes (“just in case” that I actually did need), and a pillow.

Sunrise was at 6 AM and we were there around 3 AM. Six people packed in a car seemed uncomfortable so three stayed in the car and three went up to the shed/lookout (I was one of them).  Jayson & I tried to take a nap, but the floor was too cold. Despite my four-layered top and three-layered bottoms, it was still freezing. Like little children, we pointed out the shape of the clouds. There were dragons, pigs, etc… The sunrise was definitely beautiful! I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera.  The little ball of sun slowly creeped its way out of the clouds to the sky.  Then we ate at Kula Lodge. I highly recommend their Loco Moco!

In the evening, I took a stroll at Lahaina with Jayson’s family.  Jayson & I planned to watch the sunset at Haleakala, but after the morning event and the lack of sleep, we decided to opt out of it. We watched the sunset at Lahaina instead.  No regrets.

Day 3: Beach hopping! 

My last day in Maui had to be relaxing.  Jayson & I ate at Kihei Cafe (highly recommend) and began our beach hopping.

First, we went to Makena Landing. Jayson said this spot is great for snorkeling. We took a short hike closer to the edge of the water above a cliff  It was worth the rocky walk as we saw three turtles swimming back and forth! I couldn’t take a photo of them as my phone couldn’t take a quick photo of them poking their heads above water. One day I’ll be able to swim next to them.

Then, we visited Big Beach at Makena. The waves were terrifying – definitely not for me (I’m not a swimmer), but the sand was fine and the water was clear and blue.  The photo on the left may seem like the beach was calm, but trust me, it wasn’t.

We took another short hike up a hill to go to Little Beach.  The photo above was taken shortly after the hike up where you can see an amazing view of Big Beach. Little Beach was shocking… A LOT of naked adults in real life. Just like the ones you see in movies. I didn’t know such a beach existed. Once again, not my type of beach, but the water was as blue as Big Beach.

We bought lunch at Tamura’s for kimchee tako and ahi.  We then headed to Baby Beach at Paia. With the few hours left before my flight, we relaxed.  Jayson & I (mostly Jayson, but I helped!) set up two hammocks.

We stayed there for a little more than an hour waiting for the sun to lighten up a bit. Then we swam for an hour and a half. By “swam” I meant, floating with a body board and attempting to swim. As stated above, I’m not a swimmer, but I am trying to be one.

Three days went by fast. Three days felt like one day because I spent it with amazing people with lots and lots of laughters.

This was my third trip to Maui and I’m sure I haven’t seen it all! Let me know if you have any suggestions on where to go in Maui. I’d love to visit more!

Baguio City, Philippines

Although I was born in Hawaii (and now live in Hawaii), I grew up in Pangasinan, Philippines.  My hometown is a little more than two hours away from Baguio.  Baguio has always been a favorite tourist destination as it is much cooler than any other part of the country (per my experiences). It is known as “the summer capital” of the Philippines.

I went back to the Philippines to visit family in August 2017 – exactly a year ago.  I was hoping I could do it again this year, but plans changed.  However, I would like to share what I did a year ago and maybe in the next coming years, visit Baguio again maybe at the same time or in a different season and compare. My last visit to Baguio prior to this was at 9 years old.

My visit to Baguio in 2017 was with family. We took a two hour bus ride from Dagupan City to Baguio City.  We were dropped off at the bus stop and were welcomed by many taxi drivers.  We decided to take a walk instead to stretch out our legs (which also saved us some money).

Our Lady of Lourdes Groto

We ate Chowking for breakfast (sorry no photo).

Our first stop was at the Our Lady of Lourdes Groto. We had to climb the stairs prior to reaching the top. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think it was less than a hundred steps. It wasn’t too tiring.

After the climb up, we finally got a view of Our Lady of Lourdes.  Behind us were roses from visitors and there was also a spot to place candles. Of course the flowers and the candles were bought prior to climbing those stairs.  There was also a simple, yet beautiful church.

Strawberry flavor taho (left) and caramel flavor taho (right)

On our way down, there were local vendors. I specifically bought taho (sweet-flavored tofu). I have lived in the Philippines for many years, but only knew one flavor – caramel. This time, I was fascinated with strawberry. It looked really good and the vendor used fresh strawberries, but it was a little too sweet for me.  I would still resort to the caramel/original flavor of taho. It was a good experience though.

Our next stop was at Tam-awan village. We took another taxi there as the walk would have taken us double time and it started raining.  It seemed like a hike as we had to walk up to see the multiple sites.  It was a fairly easy walk.  There were different types of Ifugao houses, which explains the architectural components for who the house was built for.  There was a museum-like house where we were able to go in (shoes off and lots of bending) and saw the various local art that is a must-see and pleasing to the eyes. I have always known the Ifugao tribe to be vibrant, especially with their red tints.

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(I apologize for the quality of these photos as I had to pull these off my Facebook)

Then, we asked around A LOT on how to get to the strawberry farm. I wanted to do strawberry picking specifically.  There were some people who said there are still strawberries and others said it was out of the season, but the latter outweighed the former so we went. We took the taxi to the “strawberry” farm and became disappointed to find… lettuce.

I was excited for NOTHING. But I guess it is another reason to return to Baguio for the experience of strawberry picking in the Philippines.

We also visited the Mines View Park, which is famous for its spectacular view. This view reminded me of my hikes in Hawaii.  Urbanization is slowly creeping up to the mountains as the population in Baguio continues to increase.

There were different stores that sold souvenirs and various activities for picture taking. I rode a horse and hung out with St. Bernard.

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I felt really bad for the horse after my photos because as seen above, the horse looked exhausted! As soon as I got off, I told the owner that the horse looked tired, and he said that she will be switching out with another horse after me.  In addition, St. Bernard also seemed tired. Luckily, I heard not too long ago that St. Bernard was retired by the Mayor. In my future travels, I will be much more aware of being a part of such heartbreaking business – overworking animals for profit.

After such a hot day, we decided to cool down prior to heading home so we took the boat-ride. We hired a paddler to help us paddle the boat as none of us knew how.  He was funny and very entertaining. He had a lot of fun facts!

There were so many more to see and many other activities to do such as shopping at SM Baguio, horseback riding, bicycling, etc… but we only gave ourselves a day to explore.

It’s 2018 so why am I posting an adventure from a year ago? Well that’s because I want to remember. Surprisingly, I still remember most of it and maybe 5 years or 10 years or 20 years down the road, I want to remember the places I’ve visited, what I did, and whom I shared those memories with. Also, it will be really funny 30 years from now to see that I colored my hair in some weird way and was completely okay being in public with it.

Thank you for reading my adventure in Baguio last year and I hope to update it in the coming years with new information or any changes.