Toyako Onsen: Night walk and Hanabi

The battery in my primary camera died but the older Ixus isn't too great on night shots, especially when I have forgetfully left the tripod back home. We were killing some time before dinner which was scheduled at 7 pm. Our preferred time would be 6.30 pm but the 6 to 7 o'clock slots were all full when we checked in. The lady in Noboribetsu Manseikaku actually checked us in earlier, as we were not going to our room anyway. We were not checked in when we dropped our bags at Toyako Manseikaku though. Anyway, a walk would be good to work out a good appetite :D



Touron no Yu

There are also a few free hot springs to usage by general public along Lakeside Path. Touron no Yu is actually a foot spa. Imagine enjoying a foot spa with beautiful Lake Toya as view. How cool is that?



Castle or ferry?

A variety of windows

This shop is not along the Lakeside Path, it is along one of the roads and if you can't tell from the looks, it is actually a souvenir shop. LOL. Just thought that the windows are pretty interesting, one standalone building but with different shapes and sizes windows.

After dinner, it was time to wait for the fireworks. Lake Toya has 20 minutes firework displays every night between the end of April and the end of October. The fireworks are launched from a boat on the lake. Shame that the fireworks is not exactly continuously for 20 minutes non stop. What really did happened was a few launches of fireworks, stopped, then the boat moved a few metres, then launches a few more fireworks and the cycle repeats itself. I suppose that was fair, to give occupants of each hotel a fair share of better views. I guessed I watched too much animes on super long, non stop fireworks :P



See the boat?

If you are feeling generous or want to splurge a little, you could book yourself in on a cruise to watch the fireworks. To be honest, I was not too impressed, maybe I have set my expectation too high because the last fireworks I saw in Japan at the Wakakusa Yamayaki was absolutely brilliant.



Oh.. raining hanabi

Side note: Any good movies coming up?