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