Shiretoko Five Lakes 知床五湖

If you ask mum what left the deepest impression on her in Shiretoko Five Lakes, it wouldn't be the clear blue sky or the zigzag wooden structure leading out to one of the lakes or even the mirror-like reflection of the beautiful scenery on the lake. It would be...... BUGS!! And they were everywhere and they swarmed you as soon as you stand still for more than 2 seconds. They would look for any orifice in your body and decide to fly in. "Psssst....pssst...", imagine that.

Get off me!!

Somehow we didn't see much being said about these little flying pests in the same breath when the natural beauty of this place was mentioned.

Panorama shot by NEX-5, no more photo stitching

They didn't get to see the other 4 lakes but then given the bugs, not sure if they would enjoy hiking further.