2nd June
We woke up at 3am to catch the plane. My mum was dizzy because she couldn't sleep and she had a bit of gastric. She was alright until we got to the airport, when she started puking. It was really worrying when we had to take 2 plane flights, and I kept praying because it seemed she hurt so much. After the first leg, the long one, we stopped at Narita, and my mum was really in a TERRIBLE state. She was PALE and really really weak. So we tried to find a doctor. Good thing there was one at the airport, so we got some medicine and miraculously managed to get a ROOM for free for 2 hours. So my mum slept there and she got a little better. Won't go into the details but it was super scary for me. We took the plane to New Chitose INTERNATIONAL Airport (International? So NOT. No direct flight to/from Singapore!!) and took the JR (rail) to the Sapporo station supposedly connected to the hotel. I don't know why but my mum's condition was quite bad then though she took the medicine, so I was still praying HARD. This part was really scary. JR stations in Japan are BIG!! And we couldn't find the connector to the hotel. We asked around and were brought in circles. FINALLY we got to the hotel and my mum was still in a bad state. I did my TAWG. I was at Mark 16 that night. I read powerful verses.
Mark 16:15-18
"And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover."
I was very much uplifted by what I read. It was promising. I soon realised that I did not lay hands. I did so, and we went to sleep. (What is written on this blog is truthful, but definitely incomplete.)
3 June
My mum was feeling tons better. She was able to BATHE, to get up, all sorts of things she was previously unable to do. We walked around Sapporo and rented a car! Then we drove to Furano for the fake onsen. xP By the time we got there, my mum was great (but naughty.) If you have gastric, you're not supposed to eat stuff like milk, sour stuff and oily stuff. And she was eating the western OILY dinner plus all the butter and cream soup. And God was nice enough to pamper her and let her eat all that, and she was okay!
4 & 5 June
In Furano, we did some sightseeing using the mapcodes and our car's GPS. Worked a few times but unfortunately some mapcodes given to us were inaccurate and we ended up in a terribly remote places in the middle of vegetable fields and tractors with mud roads and no people, no cars. Twice. The second time it happened, we went off the GPS radar system for about 50m. SCARY! Without the GPS, we would be there now, eating grass. Not daring to try anymore mapcodes, we left Furano for Daisetsuzan National Park using the TELEPHONE NUMBER of the hotel. It WORKED (: I know it sounds... WEIRD... If I say we stayed IN the national park, but yea, the park was gigantic. We were in this place called hotel Bearmonte. We wondered about the name... UNTIL we climbed part of Mt. Asahidake the next day. On 4th June itself though, we went to the onsen. A natural one this time. I found it really gross because there were naked people everywhere. I chose to take my towel along and face down in the pool, but that was about all I could do to... Protect myself. But it was female ONLY LAHHHH.
The next day... Mt. Asahidake- an active volcano! Hokkaido is experiencing summer, but if you've been to the states, you would think it was Autumn. Fabulous weather. On Asahidake (we took the ropeway up), we climbed a part mostly covered with snow, and we were warned that there were bears. Not the cute cuddly ones that sleep on your beds, I'm SURE you guys still do that (because I do), but those gigantic grizzly ones with sharp 'fingernails' (claws or wadeva.) It was a rather scary but very very fun climb. The snow was deep, and I kept sinking into it. YIKES! And we were quite worried about 'face-to-face' encounters with BEARS. I wouldn't want to meet one, but on the ropeway down my dad and I decided it would be really cool to see one from way up there! xP
(BTW I'm terribly sorry about the length of this but ME, ME, I want it for keepsake. Yay. You can refuse to read on because I guess my posts, especially the long ones, are BORING.*Yawns from all directions are coming*)
6 & 7 June
We drove to Otaru to return the car for a while because we were claiming FREE hilton 2 night stay there and we would have to pay parking, so might as well return the car! Hilton was nice. And Otaru wasn't really nice. It was just a port town. Busy, nothing really much to see. But there were CRABS. Those BIG ones with really FAT (and yummy) legs. OOh. The gluton in me was acting up. *Drool* Actually, we bought a few legs home at the New Chitose Airport. (: We had them for lunch and we'll have more for dinner tonight and tomorrow and maybe even the day after :D YAY! Unfortunately, on the 1st night in Otaru, my mum couldn't sleep because she had gastric. AGAIN. I was really worried because her medicine dosage would finish the next day and I didn't know if she would be alright. I reminded my dad to pray and we slept.
MY MUM WAS ALRIGHT THE NEXT DAY! A little pain, but more or less GOOD! But my dad fell sick that night. It was SUPER scary because if BOTH of my parents were to fall sick, I would have to take care of BOTH of them, drive illegally and do all sorts of things like find doctors and pay bills and take buses and JR (when I rarely even take the bus and MRT in S'pore!) I prayed for them again, and we slept. It was a GOOD thing BOTH of them had recovered fully the next morning,
8 June
when we re-rented the car and headed for Toyako. Toyako was NICE! They had a pretty lake, but they had a fireworks show NIGHTLY! Can you imagine that? How terrible. I'm not an environmentalist kind of person, but I do appreciate acts to take care of nature and God's creations. When fireworks are released, the toxic stuff go into the lake! Soon, the pretty lake will 'die'. The marine life will die and the moss will grow rapidly and then lake will be polluted, ugly and stinky. Wanna bet? Anyway, the hotel was Japanese-style so we had to sleep on mattresses on the floor and it wasn't comfortable. So my mum was unable to sleep. :(
9 June
We headed for Noboribetsu in the car. On the way to Noboribetsu we first stopped by the active volcanos and took more ropeways. Fun, but not as fun as the Asahidake one! (: And we went to the hotel. Nice, but JAPANESE-STYLE AGAIN. Then we went to hell valley. I don't like the name, but it was really nice. It was craters and lakes. Giving off smoke! Volcanic stuff I guess. Ahh I'm running out of time!!
10 June
Fly back to Singapore!
And here I am. I think this trip has greatly strengthened my faith in God knowing that He is always with me and he will take care of me. I'm glad I went for this enjoyable trip though I missed the SP course, and that I've got LITTLE time for WGP, which I have JUST started CHOOSING poems. I have a shortlisted few I'm choosing from to suit my theme. I haven't even found ANY prose. GAHH. I have to be focused, so if I blog after this post or tag or MSN or SMS too much, you guys MUST scold me! Okay? I'll go UNTIL I finish my WGP.
I still have tons of stuff when I'm done with that.
BUHBYE! <3!!! Will miss you guys for now. (: Laura xP
