Hakodate, Hokkaido Trip (Day 5)

15th May 2019, Wednesday

Grassland in Yakumo

Hotel Car Park

Today, we are leaving Nooribetsu and heading down to Hakodate. It is going to be a long journey as the road trip is going to be 4 hours long. We packed our luggage and checked out the hotel. Then we hit the road, and went onto the expressway. There was few cars on the road and most of the cars were driving at faster speed than us. We decided to stop at the last stop point, which happened to be Yakumo and had a rest as i had been driving for around 2 hours plus. At the stop point, we bought some milk, puddings and some snacks before hitting the road again. We managed to reach our hotel in Hakodate safely and parked the car at the parking lot provided by the hotel. However, we were unable to check in the hotel when we arrived and so we left our luggage at the hotel and headed out to explore the city.

Lucky Pierrot Set

Lucky Egg Burger

Chinese Chicken Burger

In-house Soda Drink

We decided to head to the nearest Lucky Pierrot branch, which the hotel staff recommended us to go for a try. It is the fast food chain only in Hakodate and it is not available elsewhere. We just walked to the destination as i wanted a break from the driving. Plus, i can take photos and enjoy the view as i walked. It was a 10 mins walk from the hotel and luckily there wasn't a queue at the fast food restaurant. So we were able to get an available table and ordered our food. We ordered their top 2 recommended burgers and a cup of fries. The chicken burger (top 1st) was super yummy, the chicken meat was very juicy. The number 2 burger was with hamburger steak and a sunny side up egg. It was also very yummy. There were other burgers available and curry rices too. They even have their own kind of soda drinks (quite weird).

Mashu maru

Seats in the ship

Ship Crew's uniforms

Musical boxes with different designs

Inside shops

Pudding and Cheesecake Set

Exterior of Red Bricks Warehouse

After lunch, we headed further down to have a walk and we ended up visiting a ship museum named Mashu maru near the port. It was an old ship where it was now used as a museum to showcase the inner of the ship and the history of the ship. We had to pay a small entrance fee to enter the ship to view the exhibition inside. The ship was big and a lot of collection to view. After that, we walked toward the Red Bricks Warehouse. There were many shops to see and many food products to buy too. There was even a big shop selling musical boxes with different design. There were wooden types too and all the boxes were very beautiful. So we ended up spending long time in the shop and buying 3 musical boxes from the shop. We also bought some anime socks and toys plus a pudding set and we walked till almost 7 plus. There were 2 more Lucky Pierrot branches around too (You can visit the different branches as the shop themes are different in every branch).

Horsan Ramen Entrance

Dry version

Soup version

Beds and TV

Dinning and Cooking area

After that, we went to try noodles from a popular noodle restaurant named Horsan Ramen. The place was quite small, we ordered a dry and a soup version of the noodles. The noodles tasted like our hor fan style. The noodles was quite cheap too, less than 1000 jap yen. After dinner, we walked back to our hotel but it was quite cold as we walked. We managed to get our room key from the counter and went up to our room. It was a mini apartment with two beds, in the living room and there was a cooking area too. There was washing machine in the toilet area too and a bathtub. Finally, we can rest for the day and of course, i had my pudding that was bought at the stop point today...yum yum...

Places visited:
Lucky Pierrot
Mashu Maru
Red Bricks Warehouse
Horsan Ramen

Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Paco Hakodate

Muroran, Hokkaido Trip (Day 4)

14th May 2019, Tuesday

Nakajima Shrine

Shrine Gate

Sakura trees

Today, we headed out for a road trip and drove to Muroran which was about 30 mins away. Of course with my slow driving, it took us almost an hour to reach there. We stopped by Nakajima Shrine but it took us round and round to find the entrance to the shrine. It was quite empty when we arrived, it even looked like the shrine was not open. We stayed there for a while and there was some sakura trees too. We did went in the shrine to have a look and it was quiet inside.

Entrance Gate

Jellyfish

Giant Crabs

Fishes

Bbq Shell fishes

Sotong?

Penguins

Seals

Next, we headed down to Muroran Aquarium which was some distance away. We bought the entrance tickets and went in. There was a small area with some amusement rides and the aquarium was quite small with some fishes, starfishes and jellyfishes. The fishes look bored in their tanks. Outside, there were some seals and penguins. After walking for some time, we stumbled upon a stall selling a funny looking shell type seafood (like giant gong gong). The lady in the stall was telling us this is only available in Muroran, no where else. So we decided to buy one to try. Then we went in a resting area to rest our feet and eat the shell fish. After that, we went exploring the outside enclosures where the seals and penguins were. We also tried to google for a nice lunch place.

Restaurant Entrance

Soba with Fried Ebi

Soba with Chickem

After that, we drove out to city central itself and headed to a restaurant which is famous for their handmade soba and was only 9 mins away. I parked the car in a corner and we went finding the place by foot. It was challenging to find the place as google was showing the name but the building we walked past didn't not have the name of the place. We saw a building with a curtain with the word,  縁 on it. So my friend popped her head in and asked the people inside if they are from the restaurant we were looking for. Luckily we found it and that was the place. The name of the restaurant is 手打ちそば処・縁. We ordered 2 sets of soba with chicken and fried ebi. It was really yummy, the soba was very smooth and it was not expensive. 

Shopping mall

Strawberries

Salmon for sale

After lunch, we decided to go for a walk in the mall across the road (haven't been walking during the day since we were driving and there was no shopping mall in Noboribetsu). The mall has quite a few shops, cafe and a big supermarket. So we headed to the supermarket and kaypo the products available. We bought a packet of red strawberries and bought a hot chocolate from a cafe opposite. But it was so funny, the lady in the cafe did not really sell hot chocolate drink but my friend asked her if there is. The cafe lady still let us to buy a hot chocolate drink. So when we sat down and sat how the lady prepared the drink. The lady basically poured some packed chocolate drink into the cup and then she put the drink into the microwave oven to heat it up. Then she told us the drink is ready..hahaha...and that's our hot chocolate. 

Next, we left the place to go to Cape Chikyu. The place was like at the end of the world and we did have a small argument while trying to navigate the directions. I got frustrated when my friend was telling me to turn into one of the roads on the expressway but it was too late to turn and there was another car turning out to cut in front of our car. Luckily i was driving at low speed and was able to react. Without thinking, i just shouted at my friend for informing me late to turn at the junction. Plus, the junction was weird as there can be cars turning out or going straight and cars can also turn to the opposite side of the junction with no traffic lights control. Of course, my friend was upset and keep nagging she won't be able to see the cape. After i calmed down, i decided to have another attempt on the junction so that we can turn to the right direction. So i exited out from the next exit and did a long u-turn to get back to the expressway and had another go. This time, we managed to turn into the right direction and was able to reach the cape safe and sound. But it did took us a long while to reach.

Cape Chikyu

Bell of Happiness

Globe

We parked the car and went up to see the famous cape chikyu on the cliff. The wind was blowing strongly as we were facing the sea. There was a white lighthouse on the cliff and a bell of happiness which you can ring for your happiness. There was also a silver globe there. The scenery was really beautiful, the sea and sky were so blue. We spent about half an hour around the place to have some photos taken and enjoyed the strong wind.  After that, we left the place and headed to Wakasalmo, a place my friend die die wanted to go for their sweets snacks. So we drove back to Noboribetsu as the sweets place was quite near to Norobribetsu. We managed to reach the place around 5 plus before the place close. However, their restaurant was closed as we saw good online reviews on their food and wanted to have our dinner there.

Goodies from Wakasalmo

So we walked around the shop and checked out their sweets. They really have a lot of sweets, cheesecakes and most importantly, they sells puddings too. Without thinking, we just grabbed the sweets and puddings we wanted to try and bought back. After the shopping, we drove back to the hotel but the hotel parking staff wasn't letting us to park in the car park and kept telling us it was full. So we had no choice and i parked the car in another small public car park behind the hotel. Then we took our goodies for the day and went back to the hotel to rest before we headed out to get our dinner.

Tomato Ramen

BBQ

We left the hotel slightly late for dinner and we just walked along the streets to see what to try. We decided to head into a bbq restaurant (forget to note down the restaurant's name) for dinner. The place was really crowded with people and smelled of bbq. We had to queue for our turn and we could see every table having bbq even though there was option not to have bbq. Having to wait for some time, we managed to have a table and we ordered a tomato ramen as recommended by the staff and scallops and pork belly for the bbq. The seafood and pork was quite nice. After the dinner, we thanked the staff and headed back to the hotel. We had our puddings and cheesecakes as our supper, after which we rested to prepare for the next city tomorrow.

Places visited:
Nakajima Shrine
Muroran Aquarium
手打ちそば処・縁 (Address: 2-2-16 Chuo-cho, Muroran Hokkaido)
Cape Chikyu
Wakasalmo Honpo (Address: 96-6 Nakanoboribetsucho, Noboribetsu, Hokkaido 059-0463, Japan)


Hotel Stayed:
Takimoto Inn

Noboribetsu Date Jidamiura, Hokkaido Trip (Day 3)

13th May 2019, Monday

Entrance Tickets

Today, we woke up early and got ready to head out to the ninja village theme park (Noboribetsu Date Jidaimura) which was about 12 mins away from our hotel. So we had our breakfast in the hotel and headed out with our rental car. There were a lot of parking lots available when we reached the place, guess we were early. Then we headed to the ticket counter to exchange for our entrance tickets, after which we proceeded to enter the park and were greeted by a ninja and a samurai.

Ninja Performance Theatre

Ninja Host

We headed straight to the ninja show where the staffs dressed in their costumes to get the crowd into the theatre for the show. Everyone was given a small sheet of white paper when entering the theatre. We went in and seated while waiting for the show to start. There was a piece of paper to explain the story behind the show. There was also a korean tour group with us. After some time, the show started and a ninja appeared to explain to the audience on the rules while watching the show. He explained that the white paper which was handed out to everyone is for tipping the performers. What we have to do is to wrap the coins with the paper and throw it up onto the stage as an appreciation. After the explanation, all the lights went out and the room was in totally darkness. Suddenly, a samurai appeared from the bottom of the stage in front of the audience. The ladies who were seated right in front were so startled by the surprise appearance that they screamed and fell back onto my friend. We were glad that we wasn't seated right in front of the stage...hahaha...

Bad Ninja Leader

And the show started with two samurais talking to each other (in japanese) and they were suddenly attacked by two ninjas. Then the show escalated into a fighting scene between the 2 ninjas and 2 samurais. There were a lot of action scenes, companied with some funny actions.  The whole show lasted 15 mins, which we threw some tips on to the stage when we left the theatre. After which, we were guided to the next theatre for the next show. We were accompanied with the same tour group and similarly, we were handed with the white paper while we entered the theatre. The staff also asked everyone which country do we come from. But for this theatre, we had to take off our shoes and placed into a plastic bag handed by the staffs. And we were seated on the floor while waiting for the show to start. Again, there was an explanation paper provided to give the story behind the show. After some time, a mama-san appeared on stage and greeted everyone in their own country's language (first in japanese, then in korean, in english and in malay too). After that, she explained the rules in the theatre while watching the show.  Next, she asked if there is any male audiences on the floor who like to volunteer. There were 2 korean guys who expressed their interest and the host got them to play paper scissors stone to have a winner and the younger guy won. After that, the host invited the winner up to the stage and told us that he is going for a costume change.

Host & Korean guy

Volunteered Guy dressed up

On stage performance

So we waited for some time before the host re-appeared onto the stage and told us the guy is ready and the show will start now. When the curtain opened, we saw the guy dressed up in japanese costume like a landlord boss in the room. The host whispered to the guy and got him to say some dialogue in japanese. Everyone laughed. Then the host introduced a beautiful lady to appear on the stage and when the door opened, everyone wowed at the lady appeared. There was more talking on stage and they played games with the korean guy on stage. It was very entertaining and we had a lot of laughs there, just that my legs were so cramped after seating cross-legged on the floor. After the show ended, we waited for almost everyone left the room and went up to the performers to have a photo with them. After that, we headed for another performance which was outside. However, the benches were packed with the korean tour goup and we had to stand to watch the show.

Fighting scene

Final Battle

The show started with an old man walking up the stage and starting talking for a while. Suddenly, there was some ninjas appearing to attack the old man. There was one ninja actually did a zip-line down to the stage as his appearance. After some short talking, they started to fight with each other and there was another younger samurai appeared to rescue the old man. He started fighting with the leader of the other party. There was also loud explosion during the show and the show ended with the young samurai successfully defeated the attackers and recused the old man.

Goblin Cat Statue

Long Neck Lady Demon

Spider Demon

River Demon

After that, we headed for a short toilet break and went into the goblin cat building. The goblin cat actually looked like the fa cai mao which has the left hand waving always. Beside it, there was a sign explaining how you can pray to the cat for your wishes to be granted and you actually have to bring up your left hand to wave and meow like the cat (which we did)...hahaha....After that, we headed the maze inside the building and there were different forms of demonic cats which were fierce..very unfriendly types.  After that, we headed into another building which contained the different demons inside. There were different demons displays such as umbrella demons, long neck demon lady, spider demon, fox and owl spirits (the one normally outside japanese restaurants), cyclone and river demons. These displays were actually less scarier than the demonic cats...lol....Next, we went into a building built for ninjas training. When we first entered the room, the layout was not straight like a normal room. There were mirrors around and you can feel the pressure of giddiness kicked in your head. Even i attempted to walk in the room, but i can't take the first step in as my head started to get heavy. In the end, i gave up attempting to enter the house (not cut out as a ninja)...hahaha....But the room looked interesting and it looks like there is a maze to clear.

Barber

Tattooist

The Thief & the townman

Trying to stop the fight

After that, we walked to a street where there were houses for different occupations during edo period in Nagoya. After that, we walked around the streets and ended up in a o-edo theatre for a comedy performance. There were only 4 persons watching and the host told us that he will be expecting tips from us 4 persons after the show. The performance was light-hearted and it was about a honourable thief who always steal from the rich to help the poor. The performers spoke in japanese and so we just watched based on their actions. After that, we walked to the watch tower and climbed up to have a look. Then, we went down to have our lunch. The streets were damn quiet in the theme park and we ended up in a ramen shop for lunch. We were the only customers in the shop.

Squid Ink Fried Rice

Spicy Ramen

Rice Crackers

Rice Balls

Samurai Statues

Samurai

After lunch, we headed to the crafts shop and i wanted to do a self-painting on the ninja but it was not available. So we left and went ahead to explore other shops.  We bought some crackers snacks and gifts. After that, we went to a mansion at the end of the park. It was like a museum where they had kept the histories and stuffs regarding ninja and samurai. After that, we left the park and went back to the hotel. After which, we walked down to the post office to buy some stamps. We did have some problems trying to get the staff understand what we wanted to buy. My friend had to use google translate in order to get the staff understand. Finally, we managed to buy some stamps for me to post the postcards back to Singapore.

Milk Pudding (All gone!)

After that, we headed to a small pudding shop where it sells some dairy products like milk, cheese, ice-cream and pudding. We got a pudding to share and we just sat outside relaxing. The pudding was really smoothing and soft. Yum Yum....and the bottle was glass (which i washed and brought the bottle back for souvenir). After that, we walked back to the hotel to rest for the rest of the afternoon. We headed out down for dinner around 6.30 pm, the dinner tonight was in the hotel but it was buffet-style. We were quite disappointed as the food wasn't that wonderful. In fact, we found the breakfast was better.  The only food that was being snapped out was the raw salmon. After the disappointed dinner, we went out for a short walk and it was very cold. We then walked to the shop to get a postcard for my friend to post to her sister in taiwan. After the walk, i went back to the hotel while my friend went for her onsen bath in the new hotel opposite.

Places visited:
Noboribetsu Date Jidamiura

Hotel Stayed:
Takimoto Inn