Japan (Kuala Lumpur > Chitose Airport, Hokkaido) Oct 2015 D-1

Air Asia Flight from KLIA2, Kuala Lumpur to Chitose, Hokkaido

Map of  Hokkaido

Our group of four from Subang Jaya (William Boey, Soon Hoh, Soon Mae & myself K M Cheng) joining a package tour (a total of 35 tour members) organized by Apple Holiday, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur (www.appleholiday.com Tel 03-21418250) for the Hokkaido Autumn Fall Special (7 Days 5 Nights) trip from 24-30 Oct 2015

Boey, Soon Hoh, Soon Mae & Cheng

Yokoso ! Hokkaido

Air Asia flight departing Hokkaido 08.35 arriving KL 17.00

Our Hokkaido tour group was led by Apple Holiday's Tour Manager from Kuala Lumpur (Lee San) & Tour Leader (Felicia Ho) - Thanks to the excellent service & commentary provided by Lee San & Felicia Ho for making our stay in Hokkaido a very pleasant & enjoyable one ! We were proud to be called Apple-Nian after this fabulous Hokkaido trip !

Tour Leader Felicia Ho (middle)

Tour Manager - Lee San 

Throughout the 6 day, the Apple's tour bus in Hokkaido was driven by an experienced Japanese driver and the bus was fitted with special anti-slippery tyres to ensure utmost road worthiness especially driving along the winding snowy mountain roads in Akan & Daisetsuzan National Park regions. The 6 day round the Hokkaido island trip had chalked up approx 1,000km of mileage from the moment we arrived at the New Chitose Airport to our final day hotel accommodation in Chitose Grand Terrace. Hokkaido (5.5m population) is twice the size of Switzerland so it is not that stressful taking the tour bus ride - an average of about 2 hour interval from one major tourist site to another tourist attraction and in between a short rest to wash rooms or a stopover for a lunch / dinner. This 6 day Hokkaido Autumn tour itinerary is ideally suited for children as well as senior citizen like me !

The total distance travelled to complete the 5 solid day tour program in Hokkaido based on a Google search is approx 895km. But as some tourist attractions are located away from the main trunk roads or in mountainous regions, additional time and distance have to be taken into consideration in order to arrive at the designated tourist sites.

- Day 1 Chitose > Lake Akan - 261 km (3hr 34 mins)

- Day 2 Lake Akan > Abashiri - 87 km (1hr 31 mins); Abashiri > Monbetsu - 108 km (1hr 54mins)

- Day 3 Monbetsu > Taisetsuzan - 115 km (2hr 4mins)
- Day 4 Taisetsuzan > Otaru -  235 km (2hr 48mins); Otaru > Sapporo - 49 km (49 mins)
- Day 5 Sapporo > Chitose - 40 km (48 mins)

Comparing to my free & easy May 2015 visit from Xian, China to Xinjiang / Kazakhstan / Kyrgyzstan & return, I travelled a total of 7,040 km over a period of 24 days ! Life after retirement is always full of challenges & at times rewarding ! 

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