Went on a day trip to Otaru, a small town near Sapporo. Highlights were the famous Otaru canal, musical box factory, and lots of small authentic Japanese shops selling food, souvenirs and crafts.
As we walked along the streets, we couldnt stop ourselves from indulging in the snacks and BBQ seafood. It's a nice little place but was very very hot!
Famous Otaru canal
BBQ crab for lunch
Delicious Hokkaido melon (sells for S$80 - S$100 in Singapore)
Yummy BBQ scallops
Outside the musical box factory
Day 6 - Noboribetsu (6 Aug 08)
This day we embarked on a 2 day 1 night trip to Noboribetsu. Of the entire trip, the hotel accomodation in Noboribetsu (Dai ichi Takimoto kan) is the most expensive of all. There's an indoor swimming pool, and separate hot spring areas (both indoor and outdoor) for men and women. We also had buffet dinner in this hotel. I could just stay in the hotel for the entire week to enjoy the hot springs, swimming pool and food!
In the female hot springs area, there are around 9 hot spring pools with temperature ranging from 39 degrees to 42 degrees. As you soak in the bath, you are able to enjoy the beautiful scenery as well. Sometimes I wonder how they were able to build outdoor spring baths but at the same time hidden from outsiders... For those who are not familiar with Japanese hot spring baths, you are not allowed to wear any clothes (yes nothing at all) into the bath, only a small piece of towel to wash yourself. Apart from the initial awkwardness, once I begin to soak in the warmth of the hot spring water, and moving from one pool to the other, I feel I could just stay in there forever!
Apart from the baths and food, we also managed to trek around 'Hell valley', an area with hot bubbling underground spring waters and high sulphur concentration.
Hell's valley
Enjoying a hot spring for the feet along the hike
On our way back to Sapporo, we made a little detour to the Shiraoi village. This place was recommended in the guide books and we thought it would be an easy place to find but how wrong we were! We took a train to one of the Shiraoi train station and walked for almost 20 mins in the hot blazing sun before we found the place. It was very out of the way and in there we watch a short performance by the Ainu people (couldnt understand a single word) and walked around the museum which showcased the history and ways of life of the Ainu people. We also saw a few large bears in cages. We realised that this is only catered for tourists who disappeared as quickly as they appeared. The only great thing about this place is the beautiful scenery.
In the evening, we went back to Sapporo to soak in its night life.
Sapporo with TV tower at the background
Day 8 - Sapporo (8 Aug 08)We spent the last day of our trip walking all around Sapporo. We went up the Sapporo TV tower, the Tokei dai wooden clock tower, a big garden in the centre of Sapporo (cant recall the name now), shopping malls etc. Basically just taking our time relaxing and soaking up the culture...
Sunflowers in Sapporo
Fountain in Sapporo garden
I cant get enough of the Hokkaido melon!
Day 9 - Sapporo - Singapore
2 comments:
wah.. yr photos are all so nice... and gd choice to take leave away from the baby boss...
uncle weekiat
thanks. it was a really good break although we missed Kaelyn very much. We'll be bringing her on our next trip. Hope everything turns out well..
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