"The Land of Flowers" a Hokkaido Travel Page by kielorla

Hokkaido is a very beautiful place, it is the most northern island of Japan. Hokkaido produces the best chocolate in Japan as they have the finest milk in the country. The best honeydew melon, potatoes and also sweet corn in Japan. They also have the freshest seafood.

Summer in Hokkaido is not very hot, it has the best climate in Japan. The temperature range from 25 to 28 degree C. Therefore during summer holiday, alot of japanese from the other parts of Japan will be flocking to Hokkaido for flower seeing and also tour there.

Apart from all the nice things found in Hokkaido, there are also alot of disadvantage especially for foreign travellers like us. Backpacking or Free and Easy tour in Hokkaido are almost impossible for foreign travellers. I found out from my tour guide that in Hokkaido, they only target the japanese travellers and not people from other country. And it is true, as when i am there, i felt that i am illiterate, they dont speak english, all the road signs are in Japanese and all the menu are all in Japanese. We communicate through gesture and pictures pointing.

And also i tried to get some town maps or Hokkaido maps but they all in Japanese. The transport infrastructure is also not as good as in the main island like Toyko and Osaka. As Hokkaido is an island by its own, the only way to reach there is by internal flight or JAL. And travelling in Hokkaido using the train to get from one place to another is also not very friendly. And there are places like lavander farm or skiing resort are also not accessiable using train. Renting a car and drive around is the only solution but only workable if you understand japanese and is able to read in Japanese. Another thing in Hokkaido is that things are very very expensive, if you think that Toyko is a very expensive city, well Hokkaido is much more expensive so be prepared to spend more if you planned to travel there.

Therefore, you must be thinking, how i got there and managed to travel around, well i signed up for the package tour in my country. Oh ya, forget to tell you all 1 stupid mistake i have made while i am there, i brought along my digital camera and also the adpater to charge my battery, but i actually forgot to bring my charger !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I almost killed myself for such a stupid mistake. Therefore i survived on my friend's opitcal camera. Thus i apologised if some of the photos in the tips are blurred or not clear, as some of those are scanned using my old scanner.