Last Day in Hokkaido (Day 15)

25th May 2019, Saturday

Time flew fast when we were having fun and yes, today was the last day of our holidays. We packed our goodies into our luggage and went down to check out the hotel once we were ready to leave. We left our luggage with the hotel and tried to query if there was any shabu shabu restaurants which are opened early. So the staff recommended us one restaurant named Sayabu Syabu Monster nearby the hotel which we could have shabu shabu before we fly (cannot get over with the one last night..haha). So we headed out the the shabu place and we took some time to find the shabu restaurant. Anyway, the restaurant was not opened for business yet, so we went down to shop around and played some games in the arcade.

Meats Selection Section

Vegetables Selection Section

Our Soup Base

After that, we headed back to the restaurant to have our shabu shabu. The place was quite big and we took a promotion which was quite cheap for us. We had the free flow of meats, veggies and the drinks. So we had our yummy time there and we took our time to eat even though there was a time limit for the shabu shabu. After the shabu shabu, we went down to buy some seaweed and cheese snacks from a local supermarket and went back to the hotel. We decided to leave slightly early to return the car so that we got enough time and won't have to rush too much. We reached the car rental car company quite ahead of our flight time and parked to return the car. When the staff did a check on the car, they questioned us on the scratches on the side of the car. We tried to explain we did had a minor accident during our stay in Lake Toya and they were definitely not happy about it. The guy who attended to us was kind of like scolding us as in why we did not make a report on the day of the accident as now they had to pay the damage themselves and unable to claim from the insurance company with no report. He was saying that they had made it clear to us that we had to make a report for any accidents on the day we collected the car. But we had no recollection that they had told us on the first day. We tried to explain that they can check with the hotel staff and she had not told us to make a report even though she had witnessed the accident. After some time, the guy introduced the guy standing beside him as his manager and it was agreed by the manage to waive off the maximum damage charge imposed (it was like $1k or $2k sgd at that time). But he told us we will have to pay for the non-operation charges and the expressway tow charges. I was glad i don't have to pay so much for the damage but i was kind of affected by the matter.

After all that, we paid the charges and waited for their shuttle bus to pick us to go to the airport. When we reached the airport, there were many shops in the airport and of course, there was a pokemon center. We checked out the shops and there were still so many stuffs that we could buy back. There were daisy products, desserts, toys, whole honey dews and many more. I bought the pikachu keychains with the pilot costume of New Chitose Airport. We had cheesecake, tart and ice-cream in LeTao and i had a chat with a Japanese lady who was waiting for her flight to Osaka to visit her new-born grand-daughter. But we were not able to get the pudding we had in Otaru's branch. After that, we checked in our luggage and went around the shops again. I saw Donburi Chaya restaurant in one of the levels and decided we had our dinner there cos it was not expensive and full of ingredients.

LeTao Latte & Ice-cream

Pikachu!

Giant Royce' Chocolates

After dinner, we made our way to the boarding gate and waited for our flight back to Tokyo where we will have to transit on another flight back to Singapore. With this, my hokkaido holidays was over but i will definitely try to go back again. It was really a nice place with plenty of food and places to eat and visit.

Places visited:
Sayabu Syabu Monster (Address: 2-15-1, Minami three Jo Nishi, Chuo-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, 060-0063)
New Chitose Airport

Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Vista Sapporo Odori

Kyoto 京都, Japan Trip (Day 8)

3rd January 2015, Saturday

Parked Cars covered with Snow

Lake covered in Snow

Direction to the correct Gion

Today, we had planned to go Arashiyama but decided not to go as we didn't really explore Kyoto city itself. So we searched google map to go Gion, which was the Geisha street in Kyoto instead. We even found a 540 years old soba restaurant which was somewhere near the Imperial Palace. So we got ready and went out to the station which Google map had indicated, which was 1 stop away from our hotel station. Then we tried to walk very slowly, cos the whole ground was covered with ice and there were still left over snow around too. We just took our time to walk to the place which Google Map had pointed us to. It took us a long while to reach the place, cos we were also playing with the snow too...hehehe...The cars in the car park were also having snow on top of them. But alas, it was the wrong place, there was a notice pasted on the window, saying that the Gion shown in Google map was wrong and there was instructions on how to go to the real Gion distinct. So we walked back to the subway station again and took the subway to Higashiyama Station.

Unopened Shops

Nice River

Imperial Palace Gate

We were very lost when we came out from the station exit. So we just decided on 1 direction and started walking. There were shops along a street but all were not opened yet, seems like the opening time was in the late afternoon or evening time. Then we came to a river with an open bridge (more like a stone path with small walkway and there was no support to hold. We didn't try to walk over it but we saw an ang mo tourist walked across it. Then we walked further and it doesn't look right anymore. So we turned back and looked at the map near the river. There was buses to the Imperial Palace, so we decided to take the bus there. Saw their public toilet dome near the bus stop, very weird though...hahhaa...Then we waited for the bus to come, it came after about a few minutes later. And so we boarded and alighted at one of the entrances to Kyoto Imperial Palace. We thought of finding the 540 years old Soba restaurant and so we walked into the big garden of the palace. Snow was on the whole ground too, some parts were wet too. I just enjoyed myself and tried to walk on the snow with my rubber shoes (It was fun walking in the snow). My friend was cold until she don't have the mood to play...hehehe.....But when we reached the palace main gate, it wasn't opened for the day (Maybe due to the holidays week). It was a pity...didn't get to see the inside of the palace. So we left through another exit and we got lost again...hehehe....We just kept walking, trying to find the directions to the restaurant. I was getting hungry and abit frustrated too as we walked and we had walked until the next subway station away from the Imperial Palace.

Ho-Rai Soba Set

Ebi Don

Our dessert

So later i asked my friend to go the metro station and took the subway instead of walking in the cold. Then we just took the subway from Imadegawa Station to Karasuma Oike Station which was nearer to the restaurant. We checked the area map again from the station before we exited and tried to walk to the restaurant when we came out from the station. It was much nearer than walking from the imperial palace and the blogger wrote that it was like 5 mins away from the palace... -_-".....Finally we reached the restaurant, the name was called Kyoto Honke Owariya Soba (Must come to this place if you are in Kyoto). The restaurant was famous in the area and has a very long history of soba. They even cooked for the Royal Family, when the Royal Family visited Kyoto. They also sell their own made biscuits and cookies. We were brought up to 2nd level and i was so happy i can eat my breakfast and lunch finally. We really took almost 3 or 4 hours to get to this place, cos by the time we reached there was already past 3 pm. I ordered a Ho-Rai Soba Set, which the soba came in a form of 5 stacks and there was a plate of different toppings (seaweeds, eggs, prawns, etc). My friend ordered a prawns ebi rice bowl with a bowl of soba too. For my set, there was a piece of instructions in English on how you should eat the soda. I noticed the ladies on the next table got their instructions in Japanese. I like the soba very much...and this is the first time i actually eat soba noodles (i don't even eat in Singapore). The food was yummy. And for my set, there was a small teapot and a teacup with a sakura blossom flower in it. The tea was to be drank after you finished the soba. It was refreshing and my friend likes it. After the mains, we looked at the desserts menu and ordered a red bead with 'glass' jelly. It was yummy too, not sure what was the glass jelly was made of, but it was really transparent and smooth. And the red bean was nice....We also took their matchboxes too...heheee....

Green Tea drink & Dessert

After the yummy meal, we went down to pay for our meal and we also bought some of their biscuits and cookies. We also bought a packet of red bean buns (it was nice!!). After that, we left and tried to figure out how to go the Gion street. So we took the subway back to Higashiyama Station and this time, we went to the travel information counter to check first. The staff was telling us to walk 2 stations away to the place. Then i noticed there were 3 guys also looking for the same place as us, so i was joking with my friend said to follow them, they were going to the same place as us. But when we came out from the station behind the guys, they were also quite confused on which direction to walk...hahaha...So we turned the other way and walked on our own until we came upon a bus stop. So i checked on the buses and noticed there were some buses going to Gion street. So we waited for the bus to come to take to the street. Finally, we ended up in Gion street, the correct one but it was already dark although it was like 5 or 6 pm. But we just walked on the streets and looked at the shops, there were many people on the streets too.  We saw alot of restaurants there too and people started to queue too. Then we came to the Gion Corner sign but we walked ahead to a temple. The temple had also closed for the day, so we just walked round for a while and then left to walk on the shops streets. We came about a green tea shop, where it was selling mocha drinks and desserts. It really looked very yummy there and there were many people buying it too. The shop name is Japanese Tea Tsujiri and there were seats on the 2nd floor. The dessert was good and their drinks were also nice to drink, best of all, there was wifi too. So we took our time to enjoy the wifi and the food...hehehee....

Ninja Costumes

Shabu-Shabu Hotpot

Unlimited of Pork

After this, we continued walking on the streets until we came upon Takashiyama building where we went in to explore. It was very big, it was having 7 or 8 levels in total. I bought a notepad from Moleskine and even saw Tempur pillows having luck bags (but very expensive still)...hohohoo....After that, we continued walking on the streets, the shopping area was soooo big, we kept walking and walking and there were still sooo many shops along the streets and on both sides some more. We came upon an alley streets, with more and more smaller shops in it. Then something caught my attention inside a corner, it was a ninja restaurant and it was selling all you can eat buffet sabu-sabu for 90 mins. So we went inside and ordered only pork sabu sabu. I was expecting the restaurant to be more lively with some ninja actions but it was dead quiet and there was no ninja action (abit disapoointed).  Anyway we had our sabu sabu there, the pork was thin and nice and there were some free fried snacks, My friend targeted on the edamame most, anyway we took our time to eat too and the staffs didn't chase us out too. When my friend called for the bill, we waited for some time before the staff came back and gave us a glass of beer. We were so puzzled as why the staff gave us beer, so i asked my friend did she call for bill or beer? Hahahaa....the staff thought we wanted beer instead of the bill. We had a good laugh on this...hohoho....After the dinner, it was past 9 pm and all the shops had already closed when we came out from the restaurant. Then we walked a long way to the subway station where we had to transfer to the JR line to go back to our hotel. We really had a wonderful and fun day today and we both had our last hot bath and coffee in the hotel too as tomorrow we were be moving to Osaka city next....

Hotel Stayed:
Hotel Tetora Otsu

Complete Photo Album: Click here