Yup, it was a hot, hot day

Lake Toya is an almost round shaped caldera lake, extending up to about 11 km east and west, 9 km south and north. This ninth largest lake of the nation measured 50 km around, 70.7 square kilometers in area and 117 min mean water depth. There are four islands at the centre of the lake.

I was only at one tiny spot at area A. Many more places to cover!

The map above and information are courtesy of Hokkaido Toyako tourist info. We were only there for a night, there was barely enough time to scout out the area around. I would've love to walk to Fruit Garden Course trail map and see the Sobetsu Fruit Village. I was there in September, so grapes and apples were in season! It was said that apples can be enjoyed till early November.

See... I told you, pretty map!

The Takarada Area Tour Course trail looks pretty good too. I have not been to either but the map sure looks pretty. Maybe next round I should opt to stay in Sobetsu Spa Resort!


Anyway, I digress. Ok, back to Lakeside Path. Most of the hotels in Toyako Onsen area has an entrance or backdoor overlooking the lake. Magnificent view from the hotel, and you could watch the nightly fireworks from the comfort of your room (if you got a room with a lake view!) As mentioned in the my earlier post, we stayed in Toyako Manseikaku and it was just next to the Paper Lantern Street.

The lanterns look a little dated though :/

The town itself was rather quiet, even at the Lakeside Path where one would expect to have a chokeful of tourists. Maybe we were strolling about right at noon time, under the bright, hot sun.

And these are just outside the hotels!

Sobetsu Town, Abuta Town and Toya village are promoting a sculpture park project, called Gurutto Chokoku Koen (Sculpture Park). As part of this project, sculptures in accordance to the them "song in praise of life" were placed surrounding Lake Toya. There are 57 sculptures in total, with 18 of them placed in Sobetsu. Considering the widespread area, I have only seen a few of the sculptures.

Cheer up, sculpture!

And the Academy winner is...! (kind of reminded me of Academy Award trophy :p)

A different kind of rainbow?

This is my favourite actually - this makes me feel like the sculpture was happy ^_^

Side note: It still amaze me how anyone can go shopping in 3 inches high heels shoes... hm..