Otaru, Hokkaido Trip (Day 13)

23th May 2019, Thursday

Today, we woke up early and got ready to drive ourselves to Otaru which is quite nearby to Sapporo. We ate maki and strawberries which we bought yesterday before we headed out. It  was about 1 hour drive and we had driven onto route 5 expressway. We stopped at a games store (didn't see any game stores throughout our holidays) and had a toilet break. And, of course to shop around the games stores to see if there are any console games which i could buy back. There are plenty of games for different consoles, anime and movies VCDs/DVDs plus music soundtracks. There are some recent games selling at quite cheap prices as compared to buying in Singapore. I spent quite a long time trying to pick the games to buy and buying for my brother some ps4 games.

PS4 Games

Nintendo Switch Games

After buying the games, we finally left the game store and looked for our lunch. My friend googled a popular seafood restaurant named Aotsuka Shokudo which was located near to the Otaru Aquarium. So we decided to drive there to have some seafood as Otaru is located near the sea too (Seafood must be fresh and good.. ^_^). The restaurant was quite towards the end of the town but it was accessible by car. We parked the car at some empty lot beside the restaurant and went to the restaurant. There was another seafood restaurant beside the one we wanted to go and we got a bit confused as the restaurant's name was in Japanese. We were guessing if which one was the one we were looking. So my friend went and asked some guys standing in front of the second restaurant to confirm the restaurant's name.

Correct Restaurant

There wasn't much customers dining there as it was already 3 plus in the afternoon. Luckily the menu had English translation on it, so we were able to order. Of course, we also asked for recommendation from the staff. She was able to understand slightly and able to recommend us some of their popular dishes. We ordered raw salmon, seafood don, grilled fish and grilled scallops. The seafood was really fresh and yummy and while we were eating, it suddenly to rain heavily. So we took our time to enjoy our yummy lunch. There were a few customers who came to have their lunch too, an elderly couple came and ordered their giant crabs. It looked so great. We were lucky that the rain stopped by the time we had finished our lunch. So we thanked and paid for our lunch and went out for a walk.

Raw Salmon

Seafood Don

Grilled Fish

Grilled Scallops

We walked up a hill behind to see the Hiyoriyama lighthouse above but it was not operational. But from the height we climbed up to, we could see the coast of Otaru port and the sea animals in Otaru Aquarium. There was a house located up the hill when we climbed up but we didn't went in the house to visit as it looked closed and required some entrance fee to enter. However, there were some antique equipment outside the yard.

Antique House

Otaru Aquarium

Coast of Otaru

Hiyoriyama lighthouse

After that, we drove down to the town centre and walked past Otaru Canal. And of course, we walked around the area which passed by some of their historic buildings in Otaru Historic Scenic District. Some of the shops were still in operational since they were built in the 1900s. There were many shops along the street and a lot of goodies to buy, be it snacks, anime stuffs, gifts, chocolate. The famous LeTao shop was also located there and with a mini cafe in it. A lot of people were packed inside the shop to grab their famous cookies to bring home. We are not any exception too, my friend had been thinking to grab their cookies on the whole trip and she was already busy grabbing what she had already planned to buy. For me, i don't know about this brand but still, i bought a box back for sharing too (not cheap leh)...hehee...then we went and kaypo what desserts they are selling in their cafe. I saw they were selling their milk pudding as their limited item and wanted to get one to try. So my friend went and bought an ice-cream and pudding. Their pudding was really smooth and yummy!! i finished it in no time before my friend even knew it (She only managed to have one bite to try...i ate the whole pudding while she was busy talking...hahahaa! We should have bought more back). However, we did bought a slide of their cheesecake and tart back. There was a chocolate shop owned by LeTao opposite the main shop.

Otaru Canal

The Former Takasaburo Natori Store

The Former Motosaburo Kaneko Store

Desserts available in LeTao

Ice-cream & Pudding

Otaru Beer

After that, we walked a bit longer on the alley but we could see there were some shops preparing to close as it was already past 5 pm and their closing hours was at 6 pm. As it was also getting dark soon, we made our way slower to our car. But it was a pity we can't stay long in Otaru, there are still so many food to try and places to see. Next time, we will definitely come back again. With that, we drove back to Sapporo and went back to the hotel to put our goodies. We went back to Meshiba Ookami to take away some chicken wings but this time, the staffs told us they do not allow for take-aways which was so weird. But we did not bother to pursue further, so we just left.

After that, we went to have some sushi at a restaurant (Sai Kaku) instead as recommended by the hotel staff. We ordered a sushi platter with 11 different kinds of sushi as my friend wasn't hungry. The sushi chief saw us trying to cut the sushi into half so that we each can have a bite on the different sushi. He took our plate and helped us to cut each of the sushi into half and passed it back to us. We were taken by surprise that he actually helped us to cut...hahaha. However, the sushi were nice and we thanked the chief for the food. Then, we went to a nearby shopping building mall to see what shops do they have. I was happy when i saw the shops were all selling anime toys, game cards and video games but the shops were closing as it was late. So we decided to come back again tomorrow and headed back to the hotel to rest for the day.

Sai Kaku

Sushi Platter

Places visited:
Aotsuka Shokudo (Address: 3 Chome-210 Shukutsu, Otaru, Hokkaido 047-0047, Japan)
Hiyoriyama Lighthouse
Otaru Canal
Otaru Historic Scenic District
Sai Kaku (Address: Japan, 〒060-0063 Hokkaido, Sapporo, Chuo Ward, 南3条西4丁目 ＴＯＳＨＯ３．４ Ｂ．Ｌ．Ｄ)

Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Vista Sapporo Odori

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