Greeting everybody! Nomnomnoodle is back here again as promised on my last post that I'm gonna be telling you guys about the hotel I stayed, which comes with nice food and a real "Onsen", Japanese hot spring/bathhouse. I'm very excited about it, as me myself doesn't get much chances to go to Onsen. Only in rare occasion, I get to do it. and without further ado let's get into it.
Check out my other posts about the Hokkaido trip
We stayed at the hotel called "Sounkaku Grand Hotel". The hotel located right by the street and across the hotel, there was "Sounkyo Hyobaku Matsuri" a snow festival, where you can go take pictures with ice sculptures and do a little slide. Unfortunately when me and my mom trying to go there, we didn't bring any cash so we couldn't get it. so, we just look from outside, just like window shopping in the brandname mall that you can't afford.
You can see the name of the hotel right upfront.
very nice and warm lobby
a fireplace in the middle of the lobby with all the fire/wood tools on the side. (Me personally like it so much because we don't have those at home at all)
We got assigned into the room and this is how it looks like.
everything is on the floor and there's no bed (yet)
We have our mini bathroom. In Japan the bathroom is always small to save as much space as possible.
You can see that every toilet has the function of bidet (to wash), blow-dryer (to dry) and heater on the seat so it's nice and warm when you're using the toilet.
We unpacked a little and freshened up a bit before we went to our dinner buffet. I remembered I was so excited to see what they have that I forgot to take enough pictures of it.
They have various kind of food, mostly Japanese of course, the Chinese and western look nice too.
Needless to say that this is only my first round. (PS. one fact about me is I loveeeeeee Sashimi, Japanese raw fish, so I got like 3 more of a Sashimi plate like that lol)
During our dinner, the hotel staff would come to each room and set up the bed for us. When we got back the beds were there waiting for us.
I love Japanese bed so much. The mattress, the weighted blanket and the Soba pillow, a dried buckwheat that is inside (instead of latex or cotton) are perfect combination for a night sleep. But, no matter how welcoming these beds look, I'm not going to bed yet, until get to take a bath in the famous authentic Japanese Onsen.
Sounkaku hotel actually has 2 Onsen. (Wow! Not that one is enough or anything lol) One is with outdoor Onsen and one is indoor Onsen. Japanese people have this tradition of going to a bathhouse not just to clean themselves off, but also to relax after a long day. So in a hotel like this, they provide Onsen for people to take a bath in a hot spring/ hot tub to enjoy, relax and restart. The Onsen opens 24 hours so you can come anytime you like. Luckiky the time I went, there were nobody, so I get to take some pictures to see what it looks like from inside.
Onsen are separated by gender, but if you are a foreigner, just follow the person in front of you, so you don't go into the wrong room.
Once you go in, there'll be baskets for you. Here is where you undress (yes everything). Normally in the room, you are provides yukata, japanese robe to wear to the Onsen. So, you will take those off and get completely naked here and go in. At first to me, it's still very weird because in Thai culture we don't do naked shower with other people at all. So I was kinda timid and self-conscious about my body, but I learned that it's considered rude to wear something inside. I think it's related to the philosophy that says, underneath every pieces of clothes we all have, we are just a human. All equal and same.
Going inside, because of the humidity, it's always warm and foggy.
First off, you start to shower here on a bench with your own station of shower head and basin.
The faucet is so cool, you can adjust it however hot or cold you heart desired. The default temperature is 40C which is a little warm to get you ready for the hot tub.
Right, it's so convenient just to go there, you don't even need to bring anything. It's already everything there for you, unless you prefer to use your own shampoo and stuff.
After you showered here, you can head to the hot tub/ hot spring. These are all indoor.
Also, for a mom with a small kids, they provided a little seat for the kids too.
There are not really a time limit to stay in an Onsen, like when you take outdoor Onsen and it's snowing. It's a wonderful sight and moment that I wish I could stay for an hour but my body would probably overheat. So listen to your body and enjoy the time there.
After the hottest part, you can come back to the shower station and scrub or cool off a bit with a cooler water. Then head back to the basket to get dress and you can also dry your hair, using cotton buds to clean your ears and put some lotion on in the hair-dryer station, that looks kinda like this
Which again has so many lotion and cream that you can just use it, no need to bring your own. After all of this, you are all done, clean, relaxed and most of all ready to sleep.
It was a nice ending of the day and this post too. That would be it for todayThank you so much to join me in the trip and I'll see you again soon, my Hokkaido trip is just started.
Khob kun khaaa,
Nomnomnoodle 🍜