Sapporo, Hokkaido Trip (Day 12)

22nd May 2019, Wednesday

Today, we just planned to walk around Sapporo city so we woke up late and we took our time to prepare ourselves. We went down for ramen at Ramen Sora, a small ramen stall recommended by the hotel staff. It was just round the corner of our hotel. We ordered a miso ramen and a spicy ramen, it was quite nice. After we finished the ramen, we walked down the shopping streets of Sapporo, Tanukikoji Shopping Street. It was quite like the one in Osaka, with streets and streets of shops. There were many shops available along the streets, selling pets, shoes and food. I was amazed on how big their Don-Don Donki was. It was 6 storeys high and there were 2 shops, opposite each other in the same street. We spent a lot of time shopping inside.

Miso and Spicy Ramen

Tanukikoji Shopping Street

Donki Shop Entrance

Then we walked further down the streets to a cheese market and Istean. We were amazed at the seafood and cheese products selling at the supermarket. We took our own time exploring in the supermarket and bought some fruits and some food back. We were lucky to buy 1 whole honey dew for $1000 yen as there was an offer going on. So we asked the staff to help us pick ripe one that we could eat it. After that, we walked back to the hotel and asked the counter staff if they had a knife to lend us. The staff was so funny, she actually gave us a plastic knife and asked us if it is okay. We broke into laughter and my friend kept telling her we want to cut our honey drew and the plastic knife won't work. Later my friend asked the staff if the kitchen chef of the hotel restaurant could help us cut the melon drew instead. So the staff went to the restaurant and asked. After some time, she came back and told us the chef was willing to help to cut the fruit. We were so happy, and so i went up to the room with our purchases first while my friend waited for the fruit to be cut.

Eel

Fishes

Giant Scallops

More honey dew

Yummy!!

After some time, my friend came back with a tray and on the tray, there were 4 big slices of the honey dew. So we sat on the floor and had our maki and honey drew. The honey dew was sooooo sweet and juicy....It was soooo enjoyable...After that, we just stayed in the room and do nothing...hahaha....We stayed in the room till about 6 plus, then we went down again to see what was nice for dinner. We walked into a small eating alley with some small restaurants but we gave them a miss. Then we ended up at an okonomiyaki place named Hina-Chan which we had to wait for some time before we could get a seat. Finally, we get a table and we ordered a coke float and two okonomiyaki for dinner.It was not bad but it was quite a lot so we didn't managed to finish the food. After dinner, we walked back to hotel and rested.

Entrance

Coke Float

Recommended Okonomiyaki

Places visited:
Ramen Sora (Address: 5 Chome-20 Minami 3 Jonishi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0063, Japan)
Cheese Market (Address:  4 Chome-14-5 Minami 4 Jonishi, Chuo Ward, Sapporo, Hokkaido 064-0804, Japan)
Istean
Tanukikoji Shopping Street
Hina-Chan (Address: 6 Minami Sanjo Nishi Tanukikoji 6-Chome, Chuo, Sapporo 060-0063, Hokkaido)


Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Vista Sapporo Odori

Sapporo, Hokkaido Trip (Day 11)

21st May 2019, Tuesday

Today, we are leaving Lake Toya and heading to Sapporo. However, it was raining in the morning and we got lazy to wake up. So we dragged ourselves up only past 9 am and packed our luggage to check-out the hotel. We drove down to Lake Hill Farm for breakfast and bought the cheese and puddings before we leave. We bought a pizza to share, orange juice and a coffee. We took our time to have our breakfast and bought the cheese we wanted. Then we hit the road to go to Sapporo, it was a 3 hours drive. We drove down on route 230 on the highway and took me some confusing time to drive to the correct hotel as there was another hotel with the same name. But the hotel staff told us we had went to the wrong hotel, so we drove around the city to find the correct one. Not very easy to drive in the city as there was so many signs and cars. Eventually, we managed to find the hotel along a road and it was like a small building in between bigger buildings. My friend went in to do the check-in and asked for the parking space. But the hotel don't provide free parking, instead we had to park in the public car park opposite the hotel. We had to pay $1200 yen per night for the parking too and the staff gave us 5 parking tickets which he told us to exchange in the parking office to full day tickets.

Our Breakfast

Pit Stop

Our bedroom

Bathroom

Basin Area

After we settled the car, we brought our luggage and went up to our room. The room was soooo small (standard size as in Tokyo) and the sink was facing our bed. But they still managed to have a bathtub inside the bathroom even though it was small. Anyway, i was having worry that i might have forget to lock the car so i went back the car for a check. And, i really forget to wind up the car window after winding down to take the car park ticket. After winding the window, i went back to the hotel lobby to meet up with my friend. After that, we walked down the street to explore the city. We walked to Orini park and saw it was having some food event. So we turned in to check it out and there were booths selling bbq meats, seafood and wines. Since we did not have lunch yet, so we bought some of the bbq food to try and there were quite a lot of crows fighting for the food placed unattended on the tables too.

BBQ Food Stalls

Food Stalls

BBQ Seafood Stalls

BBQ Giant Crab Legs

BBQ Meat Skewers

BBQ Corn

The park was quite big and long too, it was covering almost 3 streets and as we walked further in, we saw there was a ramen competition. There were a few ramen stalls representing from different regions in Japan and you have to buy a ticket and order the ramen you want to try from the ramen stalls. So we bought a ticket and checked out the ramen stalls in line.  We decided the ramen from Kyoto and queued to buy a bowl of ramen to try. You also top up some cash to add on eggs, ramen and the pork pieces.  After that, we continued to walk on the street and we walked to the Pokemon Centre which was inside Daimaru building. We went to check out the supermarket level and there were fruits, sashimi, cheese and seafood available. After that, we went to the upper level and to the pokemon centre. It was smaller compared to the one in Tokyo but best thing was there was not many customers there to squeeze with you and fight for photo-taking of the pokemon statues.  We bought some pokemon socks and there were new version of pokemon tetra machines at the back of the shop. So we played on the machine for some time (100 yen per game). The tetra cartridge was longer and the game was totally different from the current ones played in Singapore.

Ramen Show Entrance

Rules for the ramen voting

Speciality ramen from Kyoto Seabura Shoya

Pokemon Centre

Pokemon Tetra Machines

After playing, we walked back to find a popular bar in the city named Meshiba Ookami. It took us some time to find the place as the GPS was not able to direct us in the correct direction. Finally we managed to find the place and it was a small place which allowed guests to drink and eat plus smoking inside. So we tried to ask if we can take away their speciality, chicken wings. Well, one lady told us it was possible so we ordered some honey and salted chicken wings to go. We waited for some time before the wings were ready. Then we headed back to the hotel to have our chicken wings with coke (it was just a few minutes walk to our hotel)....hohoho...The salted chicken wings were quite salty, not to our liking and the honey chicken wings were sweet but still not so bad. After that, we took to shower and rested for the day.

Meshiba Ookami Entrance

Interior

Speciality Chicken Wings

Places visited:
Lake Hill Farm (Address: 127 Hanawa, Toyako, Abuta District, Hokkaido 049-5724, Japan)
Orini Park
Meshiba Ookami (Address: Japan, 064-0804 Hokkaido, Sapporo, Chūō-ku, Minami 4 Jōnishi, 6-chōme−8-3)


--> Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Vista Sapporo Odori