Emma

A day of break since school started this week :)

As promised, I will blog something before I get too lazy to post something.
I went to Japan, HOKKAIDO! last week :) Haha, finally after 5 years of no-overseas-kind-of-life.
We flew with ANA airlines to Narita (7.5hrs) then quickly change to a domestic flight which took us 1.5 hrs to reach Hokkaido :)
The weather there is perfect, temperature ranges from 8-16 degrees, dry air :)

Day 1: Near Chitose

Took 'ROYAL EXPRESS' bus to our first dining area for lunch. Had Shabu Shabu and a new way of eating rice - add some salmon floss into our rice! After lunch, we did some shopping at the 'supermarket' below the restuarant.

Next, we went to the Bear Ranch to look at bears :) The bears there especially intelligent and courteous; They will bow to us when we throw buscuits at them and accurately catch every buscuits using their mouth. Sometimes, they even show us their sad face when the buscuits dropped into their pond or on the floor. They also know how to use the 'come to me' hand gesture to ask us to throw more food to them. AW-fully Cute :) We also ate the MELON-FLAVOUR ice cream (350yen)

We went on to pick Strawberries at the strawberry farm. We weren't allowed to bring out the strawberries, so we just have to eat them there on the spot after picking them ourselves. The strawberries are super duper sweet and juicy unlike those sold in Singapore.

Lastly, we resided at a Onsen hotel; supposedly the best (affirmed by our tour guide) for a night stay :) Yup, we did HOTSPRING in Sulphur :) The feeling is especially nice when you do hotspring outside; the air is cold but yet you feel hot because of the hotspring. Hotsprings also have therapeutic effects on the human body, but you have to be careful for those with high blood pressure etc.
We get to wear the yutaka or rather the Kimono to dinner :) o.O the rice cooked with scallop,prawns was the best! We also get to taste raw scallop, prawns, milk pork, milk pudding, miso soup :)
We slept on Tatami that night :)


Day 2: Proceeding to Asahikawa

Breakfast was in buffet style, but in a japanese-type of environment.
First itenary for the day was to walk/trk/stroll along a passageway into the mountains that produce sulphur; also the sulphur that we did hotspring in :) We could actually see Sulphur bubbling up like lavas from an active volcano. The scenery there was superb :)

Next we went to Ainu village, which was where the aborigines stayed. We get to experience the type of house they lived in - they have smoked salmon hanging all over the ceiling of their house, their dance and culture. The scenery there was so much better than those you see in Korean dramas, it is simply magnificent that no words can describe.

We bought an enormous crab for lunch and 8 pieces of salmon that cost 2000 yen. OMG THE SALMON IS ULTRA FRESH and it melts in your mouth like almost directly. Lunch was shabu shabu again with smoked salmon in it ><

We took a 4 hours ride to Asahikawa, another town with the 3rd largest population in Hokkaido. As we stopped by a resting stand, we bought ice-cream again :) Raspberry and chocolate ice-cream! How good can life be?! LOLS
Upon reaching Asahikawa, we had our own free time to walk along the street of Asahikawa which was supposedly to resemble Singapore's Orchard Road. I find it more like Shenton way at night, if you know what I mean. I took photos with the schoolgirls with different types of uniform! MUAHAHA, why cant we wear uniform like theirs in Singapore? After walking in the heated shopping centres and air-conditioned streets, we went for our dinner. We were served with Ramen with 3 pieces of Cha-shyu, 1 not-so-big scallop and 3 pieces of Gyoza :) Tantalising :)

We stayed in a hotel with comfy bed :)


Day 3: Asahikawa to Sounkyo

We went to Hokkaido's Cheese Factory to look at how cheese were being made. Bleah, I didnt like the cheese smell, it tasted like fermented cheese. We ate special ice-cream there, ORGANIC ice-cream. They sold flavours like asparagus, corn, grape, pumpkin, milk. OH GOD, I only liked the milk one XD

We proceeded on to a big patch of flower garden! But regretfully, most of the flowers are still in the midst of blooming. And we could only see 1/4 grown Lavenders :( But the red and yellow Poppies were beautiful enough. How I wish I could see all the flowers blooming together!

Lunch was near the big garden. We had buffet for lunch and for the first time in Hokkaido, I saw Japanese curry = I thought of ALIBABA~~ IMMEDIATELY :) HAHA

We visited another garden with flowers planted in spirals :) OMG, I dunno how to describe, but the feeling there was peaceful, harmonious etc etc. We got to eat raw, crunchy, sweet, juicy corn there too :)

Next, we went to see 2 waterfalls in which water just gush out from the mountains; there is no source of water on top of the mountain. There is a beautiful love story behind these 2 waterfalls. (Shall say it next time)

Lastly, we went to another Onsen at Sounkyo. HOTSPRING! Hotspring! :) Dinner was buffet. After our dinner, we went for a walk outside the hotel. The tour guide told us that we may hear howlings from foxes living in the moutain next to our onsen. And if we see a pair of yellow eyes at our waist level, they are deers, nothing to be afraid of. BUT, if we see a pair of yellow eyes above our head, that's a bear! Luckily, we didnt meet any of the above. Went back to the hotel safe-and-sound :) Just that our tatami looks like over-stuffed dumplings ><

Day 4: OTARU!

We went to Otaru! Venice in Hokkaido! OMG, it was the place that I looked forward to go to :)

Lunch was SHABU SHABU AGAIN!

Then we proceed to free-and-easy time! Yes yes yes! We went to Otaru's Musical Box Shop that looks nothing like a shop but a CASTLE! yup yup, my dad bought me a musical box: Vintage Piano :) OMG SUPER DUPER LOVE IT. My mum say its my wedding drowry? Shall snap a photo of it soon :) We then proceed to a shop that sells coffee and tea and also give us the cup we used for drinking the beverages :) oh! And we ate cream puffs = thin and crispy skinned puff with cream that will explode soon :)

Time at Otaru wasnt very long :( I wanted to stay longer.

We then drove all the way to 'England': The Chocolate Factory :) It's really like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory with animals and other toys dancing, singing, parading around :) We got to see how they make the chocolate and with the fastest speed, my bro and I bought the ice-cream with the chocolate in it :) We were the only ones who tasted it! :):)

After that, we went to shop at an underground shopping mall; JR Tower :) Bought japanese kind-of socks that makes me look bimbotic at my age. Nothing to do with the socks, they are pretty :)

We had Korean BBQ for dinner and a mega large crab too:)

Day 5: Sapporo

Free and easy day :)

We went to 'li xiao lu' which means fox's street for shopping. sigh, we were there too early and most shops were not opened yet. We bought all the goodies there.We also manage to get a pair of Converse shoes for my brother and 2 bags for each of us :) Time there was too short! Because some people in our group wanted to buy branded goods: Burberry Blue Label, only available in Japan :(

Branded goods are totally things not suitable for my family. So we went to do our hobby: EATING! After searching, walking, we decided on a Katsu-don shop :) Followed by Mister Donut for some doughnuts that were so much better than those in Singapore. We went out of that shopping centre and instead shopped at 'Lawson' = Seven Eleven. We bought some chips and I got a free magazine featuring Jang Geun Suk on the front page :) HAHA

We then walked back to the shopping centre and sat by a cafe to eat ice-cream AGAIN! The ice-cream there is the best amongst all those that we had.

We proceeded to some Factory Outlet which sells branded goods again :<
We bought baby clothes for my cousin's baby :) Had our dinner there too :)

Day 6: Back to Singapore

After breakfast and packing, we went to the airport at 10am so that we can do shopping in the airport :) We bought some goodies again and most of our remaining money on food such as croquette, calbee french fries, fried chicken, salmon bento set, ICE CREAM :) My last hokkaido ice cream :(:( SO SAD THAT WE HAVE TO LEAVE!

And my journey ends :(

There are so many things that I experienced in this trip and lots of things that I wanted to share; such as the toilet, people, shops etc. I shall do that in my later posts :)
I WANT GO BACK TO HOKKAIDO. I need my daily dose of miso soup XD
Till then  :)

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