The flight was reasonable, no one kicked the back of our seats this time, the food was tasty and of right proportions, the movies on offer was entertaining. I did manage to snooze here and there.
Haneda Airport has three separate terminals: international, domestic 1, and domestic 2. To jump between them you would have to catch the free shuttle bus. Blue one for domestic domestic terminal and green one for the international termainal. The bus comes around every 6 mins between 5am to 11pm Monday to Friday. Less frequent and slower on the weekends. Best to provide ample time between your international and domestic flights here. We? Only had 1 hour gap. A tight one, as we had to go through customs and security. Ugh.We managed it.
On the other hand New Chitose Airport connects both terminals with a bridge. Its domestic terminal has a mega mall. After having left our suitcases at the temporary storage counter, we sauntered around all four floors. Visited several craft stores, themed stores, sampled food, two museums (two more to visit). The third floor, the smile road is the best one of all. It has Doraemon themed everything, Steiff stuffed animal has heaps of fun photo opportunity, as well as the Royce Chocolate museum display and a small factory with real staff making real chocolate.
Communication stores were scarce. There was a vending machine dispensing prepaid SIM cards and there was a store selling prepaid SIM cards. I was indecisive and decided to go with the store option. I got myself SIM card inclusive of voice with 3GB of data.
The slowest part of the day would have to be collecting our JR Pass. Not so much the staff fault, but all these Chinese tourist groups (each holding 4 to 10 passports). They didn't buy the passes online in advance, they needed advice, and then they wanted direction on how to get to their accommodation, which happens to be more than 2 hours away. I would recommend that they stay the night at the airport hotel and catch the train the next morning. Limited express trains come by one every hour and local trains every two hours; and that is if nothing goes wrong. however, it starts to slow down after 4pm. Afterall, it is snowing out there.
When it came to our turn, it took 2 minutes to process. I've prepaid ours in advance and I've filled out the paperwork in while in the queue. Interesting, they hand out free wifi card for use in Hokkaido metropolitan areas at the JR office.
When we went to the platform to catch the Rapid Airport line to Minami-Chitose station, the cart lady insist we catch the present train, despite we were advised to take the later one. The elderly people on board were kind folks, insisted I sit in one of the empty seats, and stow away our suitcase behind the back of seats. Sis had to breathe in so two guys in suits can walk pass her to other empty seats. We only had one stop and it didn't make sense to hog up seats. Though, it was sweet of them to offer.
At Minami-Chitose station the local train didn't show up. So we caught the Limited Express Suzuran and boarded the non-reserve carriage. Phew. We checked-in okay. No late fees.
At HQ, the Mall mega had cheap prepared food (fried, tossed, and stewed), sushi, bottled water, snack food, fruits and vegetables, stationery, make up, hair dye, and over the counter medicine. We shopped up a storm. On the second floor there are shoes, fashion, toys, and homeware. On the thrid floor is a baseball batting station and massage shop.
Day 2. 4 February 2016.
Sapporo, you beauty. Wide as the ocean, the deep underground connected walk ways and malls are a saviour.
Today Sis and I decided to go and visit the west side of the city. The first pit stop was Vega Vega, a pachinko parlour, it was suppose to have an owl park. Unfortunately, it was false advertisement. I roamed all the floors and could not find it. Oddly, there are posters in other cities promoting it. Sis reckons it must have been temporarily put up and the posters must be dated. Oh well. F***U, Vega Vega for wasting my time.
However, I did get to see a more quiet and possibly grittier side to Sapporo, often ignored by the tourist and general population.
Thank the lord for ESTA, my new favourite retail building, just to the west of JR Sapporo station. The ramen dojo on the 10th floor has many little restaurants with ramen at a reasonable price, and a waiting room that rings nostalgia, Japanese lounge, with its old TV and telephone. I had the black miso ramen and Sis had the soy sauce ramen, which tasted like fried chicken. Also, we had cheese flavoured gyoza. Oh, nice.
We then visited Yodobashi for electrical portable adapter. Sis managed to guide us into the upper car park areas of Yodobashi shop. I guess, she believed there were more shops and a food court upstairs, because the other Yodobashi shops in other cities indeed had such amenities. This was a mini version of the ones we have seen in Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. The only similarity was it did offer free wifi and sitting tables.
Tstutaya no longer sells manga and magazines. Instead Kinokuniya bookstore had Sis' manga book. Which was across the street.
Tokyu Hand and Loft is so identical in the range of stock they sell, that I no longer need to jump from one to the other. Either one will do really. I mostly seek iPhone accessories, stationery, stickers, and facial cosmetic care products. However, Yodobashi still reigns supreme in iPhone accessories offering: 6 aisles of covers, adapters, power bank, cables, stickers, and headphones.
Sadly, Citi bank branch no longer exists in Sapporo. So, Sis and I are left with the option of using Japan Post Bank's atm. Which is pretty decent. That or we left with 7 Eleven atm with a maximum withdrawal of ¥10,000 and no more. Good to learn about these changes early in the week.
TIP: Exit no. 5 to Hookaido Bank in Sapporo. Go to the small counter to exchange money.
Yay! Our JR Pass is eligible use on limited express trains. It shaved off 40 mins to HQ.
Day 3. 5 February 2016.
Off to Kutchan. The train to Hakodate is very close to the bay. Scary and gorgeous at the same time. So surreal with the sun just hanging over the bay with silver-ish clouds. I'm so blessed to be exploring the south side of Hokkaido.
On the local train to Kutchan, Sis and I met a lady, who was interested in learning English. She said in her 60 years of life she has not explored Japan vastly, compared to us. Mainly, due to duties as a mom, she has a sick son to care for, who she visits the hospital daily for the last 16 years. He has been ill since he was 20 years old. She also has a 38 years old son with four grand children (2 girl, 2 boy). Today, she is also headed to Kutchan town hall to complete some papers for mother, who has pasted away for a year now. Her mother married at and died at Kutchan. Her husband would have accompany her, but he caught the cold. I gave her a heat pack as a safe journey offering.
Sis and I proceeded to catch a taxi to Niseko Hanazono resort. Upon arrival we sussed the place out. We found lockers, loos, food (canteen), and booking equipment counter. It started to snow heavily, 3cm of snow within 30 minutes. Wow. You sure need goggles to see out there. In addition, the snow was blistering bright white. Luckily, I bought one from Anaconda in Oz. Very useful in this weather condition.
We started with the zipliner (30 minutes) then we had pizza for lunch at the canteen, then we went snow tubing (60 minutes), wolf down a matcha red bean cake, before proceeding to have ourselves a snow ball fight and make a snowman.
The zipliner harness was lighter compared to the one in Las Vegas's Boulder City. Matt, the instructor, lead us via the magic carpet to the cubby house, the jump off spot. To get up to the cubby house you need to climb up a couple planks of wood like a monkey. We then jump and twirl our way down to the opposing base. Where Naoyako waited for us, with black mat hanging on opposite end of the cable, and he would bring a ladder to let us down from the cable. We were able to squeeze in 3 rounds of zipline. Apparently, when the zipline was in operation, snow tubing was halted.
Snow tubing was fun. Sis and I went on all three courses several times in conjunction with another family. We would belly flop and sit backwards vice versa. It was glorious fun, just as I have anticipated it. We have managed to sneak in some pics between it all.
To find a spot to do snow ball fight was challenging, as there is no real good spots. Everywhere was some thorough fare for some activity. We did manage to squeeze in 3 mins of footage documenting our snow ball fight. Also, we built a medium sized snowman.
When we tried to get at the information centre to organise a taxi, they said the taxi service must be busy. I don't think so, when we were at the train station there was a queue of empty taxi cars. Everyone just boarded the shuttle bus. So with a leap of faith, we took the free shuttle bus to the Welcome (bleak) Centre as advised. I then approached a taxi and insisted they take us to Hirafu JR station. Omg. The station was destitute and dilapidated looking. However, not long later a train came. I told Sis, we are taking this one and it will connect to the Limited Express Hokuto with only 4 minutes to transfer. Phew. Again we made it back to HQ. Some day trip.
Man, the resorts in Niseko, Hirafu, Kutchan could do with a better train station and taxi services. Very poorly set out despite making all that money off tourists.
Day 4. 6 February 2016.
The 9:13am Limited Express Suzuran line was packed to the brim, so bad that Sis and I with many others stood by the toilet/carriage door entrance way for 48 minutes. It was bad. If it is such a busy line, the transportation company should run it every 30 minutes. Unfair for the locals to be confronted with barrage of tourists' wheelies.
We have decided to have our own kind of brunch instead being the earliest visitors at the zoo. I got us some crab croquettes at Daimaru. Then we strolled over to ESTA basement for some lovely matcha drinks at 108 Matcha Saro. O-boy, was it a glorious start to the day.
The subway station for the zoo was very decorative and it was connected to a dedicated bus that travels to the zoo M15円. I do love the cartoon series that on display on the wall. The quirky tales made my Sis and I fill with laughter.
Hanged out with the animals today. Not really. Many of them were relocated to a warmer place than their usual spot (cage). Maybe that's why it was free to enter the zoo today. Did I? I mention the zoo offered us free juice bottles upon entrance. Yeah. It was very nice of them. We took one orange juice and one apple juice. The label had zoo animals with the brand mascot too. Cute.
Luckily, the red pandas were available, they woke up for us to take photographs of them. How sweet. The star of the zoo, twin polar bears were asleep and were kept apart. How sad. The penguins and seals were out and swimming in the designated areas.
After the zoo, I went to the Internet Cafe, Joy Cafe. It was such an awesome place. The going rate is very reasonable, free WiFi, free ice cream, free soup, and free drink. Of course, that is only available for paying members only. Which I am now. Nice to have access to decent Internet speed too. Some cloud storage are slow at uploading files some times. I name you OneDrive.
Since we missed the time needed to join a tour at the beer museum, we decided to go Daiso, Yodobashi, Paseo (west) for dinner, and Paseo (east) to find Rilakkuma Store. The Rilakkuma store had Sentimental Circus products, which Sis loves. Nabbed all that we want and can afford. You won't find some of these good elsewhere.
So yeah. Feet is sore. But I did get to see another side to Sapporo today.
Day 5. 7 February 2016.
Some people refuse to learn about the importance of lighting and rule of thirds. Also, by covering the camera with your gloves, just because you have cold fingers has ruined a precious and not repeatable footage on my camera. What would have been a better is to warm your hands before I do an action that is not repeatable, or better yet just, F*** off and say, "no I don't want to be here and help you record your action, as I'm not interested in being here at all". O'duh! Well, the zoo is not an IMAX or Myers to be exact. Sorry, I'm not Rupert Murdoch or James Packer who can attract the paparazzi.
I'm a simple tourist who wants some video of her holiday for memory sake. Is that too much to ask?This holiday ain't cheap. To me this is ain't no "a walk to Myer kind of trip". It is my recreation leave and I would like to enjoy it as much as I possibly can in two weeks. Visiting shops all day long is such a bore *yawns*. Ain't my fault you can't wear warm, use heat packs effectively (left in the hobo bag), test out their gear before travelling (pants don't fit - or did you eat too much?).
I like sitting down as much as the next person when my feet is sore. However, I like to make use of my holiday minutes too. How can I relax? When you don't even look up places on the map, check opening hours, suggest places of interest, work out transportation routes and costs. Instead obsessed with free wifi. Seriously. Moreover, when I need to check information, why do you have the need to use my iPhone to take a photo. Ugh. Also, what's with the, I need to sleep early, yet I wake up late business?
Thinking about it more clearly, my sister is so use to taking selfies, she has a hard time stopping herself from doing close up portrait shots. Unfortunately, holiday isn't about selfies, unless it group pics. However, when an individual is on a holiday, it is best to capture them with the 'whole landmark'. Landscape mode would be nice. Portrait with the 'landmark in the background too' would have been nice. Have people come to lose this sense ability since the iteration of smartphones?
Onto more fun things. They cut down on the number of sculptures compared to 7 years ago. There five very tall and large snow sculptures located across Odori Park. Each one offered different activities or entertainment. My sister didn't wear a hat on and could bear the fresh heavy snow that was falling on everyone. So we did not stick around to listen to the announcement and only took photos. There were staff willing to help you take photos with the giant snow sculptures, but there was a long queue, each and everyone of them. Same goes for the snow maze and special video show. Nothing but queues and queues of people. Oh well.
We did end up at Miku snow area with merchandise and snow sculpture. Aww. Everything was so cute. Back at TV station tower they had a mascot whom we can pose with. Cool. We drank hot ginger mojito. Sweet. However, there was no money exchange outlet nearby Odori Park. Which is odd for such a heavy tourist filled area.
Day 6. 8 February 2016.
Hakodate pt 1. The train station was straight forward to get out and in. The lockers were by far the most popular part of the train station with locals and visitors alike. Minimal ¥400 for a small one for a whole day. Each time you re-open it, you have to pay another ¥400. There is change machine nearby. Which is very handy. There were a convenient store selling ekiben and a store selling produce made in Hakodate.
We didn't mull around long. Sis and I quickly walked to the bus station office and brought ourselves 'all day' streetcar pass. ¥600. There are two lines operating the streetcar: Red and Blue. Each goes in one direction. We took the streetcar to Yukona Onsen streetcar station. Where we stopped by the foot spa. It was adjacent to the streetcar station. Oh, the foot spa was glorious. My feet felt relaxed after having soaked in it. After few minutes, we decided to walk to the tropical garden, and along the way, we saw ducks fighting and making a ruckus. How cool was that.
However, the same cannot be said of the tropical garden. The monkeys were housed in a dilapidated arena. There were rust stains, cracked walls, faded paint, and lack of natural leafy trees. Some of the monkeys were noticeably thin and had lost most of their fur. It was quiet off putting to say the least. There were rabbits in the snow too. However, they were caged too. The garden did have a foot spa outside, but it looked partially rusted, so we didn't put out feet in it. Although, the water was hot, but nah. On the inside, the tropical garden had various plants, turtles, parrots, and koi fish. Lots of nice walk ways and photogenic steps.
Back to the streetcar, we hopped to Goryokaku garden and tower. There we came across ample of sample food. The ground floor had lots of tasty treats to sample. Oh, I loved the corn soup. So refine. This was grounded corn cooked in milk with a pinch of salt. Yum. There are scallop rice crackers, crab rice crackers, squid rice crackers, corn popcorn, squid ink rice crackers, and so on. The mascot for the tower resembles an onion said Sis. Snort. Snort.
The view from the top floor of the tower was breath taking. I felt like I was looking down at a giant snow star. According to history there are many other star shaped citadel around the world as well. There are only two in Japan and this was one of them. Many people have mentioned that this garden looks even prettier in spring, with all the sakura blooming. I can imagine that.
The magistrate court was well restored and has turned into a museum. The interactive units had sensors and it only came alive when your presence triggered it. So cool. The story of how the citadel and the magistrate court came to being was amazing. Also, it does not pay to be a famous city, because people has this desire over throw you and own it for themselves. Off the point, it is nice to take off your shoe and walk on tatami mats. Ahhh.
When it was time to hunt for dinner it was already close to fireworks time. Being new and all to this city. We had no idea where to stand to view this fireworks. Sis stayed indoors by the restaurants. While I mosey onto the bank with other photographers. How wrong was I? Oh man. I ended up in the furthest point of all. Oh well. The fireworks was nothing out of the ordinary. It was situated closely to the bridge and the right side of the bay, rather than in the centre. Which would have been ideal, but no. Hence, only a small crowd of people came out. Sad really.
The beer lounge in the red brick had very delicious food: baked garlic bread scallop, crab sushi with crab butter, roasted pork with vegetable, and crab gratin. I had a pint of Yibesu stout. Sis had pink and white non-alcohol drink. The trees on street to the bay was illuminated, but no snowman candles insight. The evening came to a close.
Day 7. 9 February 2016.
Hakodate pt 2. Some of the temples are closed around winter. Why do I know this? My sister and I went to Koryuji temple and the other temples around it were closed. This one was located at the top of the street. The street had a bit of a slope to it. You could see the bay down the slope. A small mountain of snow covered most of the walk way inside the temple grounds. The staff has not being clearing much of the path way. Sis and I had to climb through small mountains to take a photograph of the Buddha statue and the huge bell. Then we proceeded to build two snowman in front of it, as our offering. lol.
We had lunch in a 1920s Japanese house cafe on a different slope. Here we get to warm our feet in a sand pit with wood burning in the middle and cast iron tea hanging on top. It was a splendid feeling and oozed nostalgia. There were wooden toys on every table. Ours was a ball on a string and we had to catch with side ears on the handle. It was fun. We ordered Napoleon spaghetti and ika spaghetti for lunch. It came with salad and a drink. For dessert Sis had the black honey parfait and I had traditional red bean black sesame glutinous rice balls with baked sweet potato. Both of them came with matcha.
Oh! Was it fulfilling or what? Culturally and food wise.
Staying on top of the slope, we walked out way to the Mt. Hakodate ropeway. The gondola that took us up was wide. The top of the rope way was a beautiful view of the city. We can see the landmarks we had visited yesterday from this high up. Sis and I built an unicorn snowman here. We stayed a little bit longer to use the wifi and buy souvenirs.
Motomachi Park was a disappointment. No events or illumination. Nicely painted buildings but that's it.
Sis and I went to a small food street in the city centre. Some of them were izakaya. We had chilled tofu, squid gyoza, and corn skinned gyoza with potato centre. Yum yum.
We visited the Made in Hokkaido store one more time, before dashing to our train back to HQ.
Day 8. 10 February 2016.
It started to snow pretty hard. Of all times, I have left my goggles at HQ. The last subway station of Nanboku subway line is Makomanai. It has a vast bus system. So much so, there is north and south wait area. You can use smart card (SUICA & ICOCA) on these buses. Which is pretty cool.
The bus 106 only arrives every 45 minutes. The Chinese tourists were also eager to go there too. I guess, if you promote it on the website people will come. Which is a good thing and it was a bonus, as I don't need to keep my eyes open for the destination, as I can use the Chinese tourists to keep an eye on things. If they make a ruckus, it means we have arrived. Ha ha.
Takino Suzuran Hillside National Park was steep. The slope for the sledge ride was awesome. There was an electronic lift that dragged you and your donut upwards to the top of the hill. Sugoi. Then you had to pushed yourself down the slope. Too bad the S shape slope was out of bounds. Sigh. Besides the slope, there was a maze, three igloos, a cafe, and a souvenir store. We ate a snowman shaped gratin (spaghetti) with fried chicken.
Then we took the bus down to Sapporo Art Park. The thick ply of snow made it difficult to navigate to around the sculpture park (free entry in winter). The paths were not cleaned and stairs were covered in layers of snow about 1.5 meter or more. We only managed to climb to less than a dozen sculptures, before we wore ourselves out. For a break we decided to visit Sapporo Art Museum. It was small but cute.
Day 9. 11 February 2016.
We woke up late. Yet we managed to get 7:51 train. This is our first time heading to the east via Limited Express Super Tochi train. The HQ is actually, pretty close to Obihiro and Kushiro. Wow.
Upon arriving at Ashibetsu, we can see the giant kannon from a far. For the first time a taxi driver refused to drive us to a place. He said it was closed and there was nothing to see. I don't believe that to be the case. Knowing that everyone one of these giant sculptures of Buddha and Kannon there is usually an open space or a garden for people to roam and to admire it. Only when you enter the structure do you pay, as well as take off your shoe. He mustn't be a regular temple visitor. He got angry. I was about to go to another taxi. Then he said he'd drive us there just to look. I said fine. Upon arriving at the car park Sis got out of the vehicle and I paid him ¥950. He ask will you be fine that's it was closed. I said 'YES'. Geez. Sis and I like to make our own kind of fun. We don't rely on cities to put on a festival in order to have some kind of fun.
Even if we got here early. The entrance to the giant kannon was closed. Oddly, there was a ski park right next door. Uh…okay. Luckily the garden was open to all. Also, someone kindly left us ski sticks to walk up to the main building. Sis and I were planning to plow our way through, but sure these will do. There was a bell outside the main building that we could ring. Sweet! Not all was a lost. The back drop off the bell was the city with a pagoda. Awesome.
Since no one is coming this way, we walked our way back. On the way back, we saw several smaller temples. They were also closed as well. It was sad, that they don't offer blessing in the winter time. The icicles are large here. Some people even made art of it too. Ha ha.
Off to check in at Furano. The hotel was generous, they gave us facial skin care product samples, tickets to Furano KanKan Mura, bus tickets, and free access to the spa. The room was delightful to stay in. Very cosy. Exception of the window into the toilet/bath tub. I guess, for couples that would have been romantic or business folks who want to watch the TV while taking a dump. Ahhh. Plenty of power plugs now we are talking.
Furano KanKan Mura was a small area with no food. Therefore, it was best to eat up before you enter it. The snow tubing was fun and costs ¥100 per each ride, which you can buy from the entrance hut. It didn't feel like 201m. Perhaps it was very curve so I didn't notice the distance. The ice bar was so so. We had hot chocolate. The snow and ice sculptures were gorgeous. The night light does make it prettier. We didn't go on the banana raft as the ride was closed for the night day according to the sign, but hotel guests were able to go on it. Odd.
Ningle terrace was beautiful, especially after 5pm when the fairy lights are turn on. I felt like I was in the wilderness in USA. The huts and stairs were all made of wood. The handcraft gifts were cute and gorgeous. I got myself a snowflake tac pin. Whereas Sis got herself a glass snowfall tie bow. Nice. The cafe didn't serve green tea or matcha latte. Tragic.
For dinner we went into the town's shopping street and had ramen. Most ramen serve two slices of pork, seaweed, some vegetable, and miso broth. This one had heaps of vegetables and meat. Sis had meat falling off the bone on her char grilled ribs ramen. We also had gyoza and apricot almond milk pudding. Simply delicious.
Day 10. 12 February 2016.
It took two hours to reach Sapporo from Furano despite we took two rapid trains. Furano has improved it English menu and maps. It may have been 7 years since we were last here, however, the local town is still not buzzing with people. Oddly, it has two major ski slopes. Winter does not suit the town very well. Sis reckons people do no like to come out to play because they are afraid of the cold snap. Perhaps. Or they are unemployed and cannot afford to eat and play outside.
The Historical Village of Hokkaido in Sapporo was extremely big. Lots of old buildings with decor from the bygone eras. Some had dummies in it. Some had rooms upstairs that you can visit. Of course, you had to take off your shoes. The inn had western tables. The candy store had short legged tables in the preparation room. The doctor and post office building had small glass window holes for buying medicine and stamps. Which isn't all that different to today, we are still being served by people behind a counter and some sort of glass. The photographer building had an amazing upstairs room with natural light, black curtains to darken the room, and white curtains to dim the harsh light from the sun. Pretty cool. The other amazing structure was the fish monger building. Half of it was for purchasing daily caught fish and the other half was a residential space. The printing press was just as good as the other buildings with many tools still in tact. The rubber text was too small to read, even for me. I'm amazed how people can edit there daily. Also, we came across two shrines. One had the bell locked down so nobody can ring it. Another welcomed you to ring it. As always you have make an offering before ringing the bell. Oh. How time flies. We didn't get enough time to head down to the lower hill areas with martial art building and hostel.
Sapporo Factory is not discount outlet mall. Rather it was a maze that was confusing to get around. It could do with some improvement. Pretty dull and some tight corners. Not suitable for pram or wheel chairs. Also it needs lockers.
Day 11. 13 February 2016.
It stills takes 2 hours to reach Otaru. We got off Minami Otaru JR station. First port of call was to visit Sumiyoshi shrine and came across frozen shards of ice, which we formed a ship out of it. Pretty awesome. However, it was also closed.
The marchen square was sea of tourists. The most busiest spot is area was the cakes and sweets shops. That didn't stop people over filling the music box shop and museum. Oddly, only a handful of people were buying music boxes. People were nutters pushing and shoving around on the ground floor. Bumping into each other. We went upstairs for peace and quite. Beyond this initial area was quiet. Plenty of souvenir stores selling toy, hanker-chief, glass works, etc.
We found ourselves a lovely old Japanese pub with three kinds of seating: table with sandpit, western chairs, old Japanese tatami mats with short tables. The setting and decor had a very traditional appeal to it. Nice. We had grilled squid set and tempura fish cake with vegetables. Ah. Relaxing compared to dealing hordes of tourists previously.
The canal was plain, nothing but bucket ice structures. The same heart shape at one end and staff rowing out to the canal to light the candles.
It seems there are no better paper weight since 2007. Upon entering the art museum we received free sweets and rice. Only Otaru art museum offered free sledge ride. One straight and one curvy slope.
The side street formerly known as Teine railway was filled with meshed autumn leave and roses onto candles placed in snow, some snow art, and spots where staff would help you take a photograph with your smartphone for free. There were people handing our free grilled rice and grilled potato to keep us warm at night. So kind of them to do so.
Day 12. 14 February 2016.
The Shiroi Koibito Park was housed in a beautiful building. Even the gates were decorative. The entrance was scattered with many little buildings, but tall enough to fit a kid in it. In the centre was a giant snowman, a moat, a bridge, a glass house, a rose garden, and a mini train ride (closed). In some ways, it looks messy in day light, but I guess, at night it might look better.
Sis and I beat people to book us a cookie cooking session. The session was to make our own cookies and they will bake it for us. Even though, we missed out on the session to do icing on the Hokkaido map cookies, we did managed to nab the 12:00 session to cut out own cookie shapes. I made cookies into shape of hearts, stars, gingy, and my name. Whereas Sis created cookies in the shape of geckos, bears, and hearts. It was fun. I know you might say, but you can make cookies anywhere. The difference was you get to use the same ingredients that Ishiya uses to make cookies that they sell to tourists. Yay! How wicked is that? I must say, I am the fastest cookie cutter amongst the people here in the studio. It only took 20 minutes, when the expected duration was 1 hour 10 minutes. Yippee. But if you must know, the cookies were delicious.
The place does seems to lack activities for adults. They need something to entice adults in order for them to like the brand even more. An activity that interact with their senses would be better, eg. Smelling. Most of the kids ran around yelling they liked this and that, soon enough they got bored of it. Aww. A proper resting place with TV playing documentary and product placement would engaged even the tired ones.
There were hordes of tourist being unloaded from coach buses every thirty minutes. Gosh was it popular. However, a few Chinese tourist did comment it was just biscuits, bland tasting ones at that. I won't say the cookie was bland, it was quite delicious as they were wafer thin, crispy, with had a salty butter taste. It was fun hoping around and about, inside and outside. No cloaking service. Everyone had to lug around their winter coats. No foot spa. People had sore feet from climbing the numerous pretty stairs. In between, each step was a tile with images of fruit or people doing agriculture work. No chocolate scented lip gloss (we miss you Cadboury chocolate visitor centre). There was only a gallery referencing to chocolate.
The Rera outlet mall was disappointing. No ferris wheel, no lockers, and insipid Brands that doesn't reminisce with tourists or the Internet age citizens.
Day 13. 15 February 2016.
It has stopped snowing in Sapporo, but the wind was ice cold and it can freeze your ears into the shade of white. Well, Sis said so. Mine was fine. Just my nose was runny.
The baseball batting station in Mega Mall sucks. 15 balls for 5 minutes. ¥300. Yet on the board it states 30 minutes for ¥300. Either I have pressed the wrong button or it is really this crap. No wonder, no one comes up here. The service and charge is crap. I had 15 minutes in Los Angeles's pure metal baseball batting cage and I was able to manage to get 7 minutes footage.
Chitose is one bustling city. Many small businesses and hotels surrounding the train station. I couldn't find a bus that goes up the the Northland country golf club. Apparently, there was a shuttle bus from the airport. It comes every hour. Ugh. Instead we took the taxi because we were no where near the airport. Which happens to be quicker according to the poster in the waiting room. Uh. Wrong place for the poster. The town was still covered in snow and the wind was even colder, it made my fingers go numb.
When we reached the top of the hill, and we started to see the country club. The mini snow mobiles and for wheel buggy were parked out front. Totally peaked our interest.
We went inside to reception to buy our tickets. There was no locker. You just handed your bag to staff to mind it. There was free hot chocolate on offer. Every ride costed ¥1000 each and they last between five minutes to 10 minutes. Pretty pricey. I guess, there was a reason, hordes of tourists were dumped here every hour and so time had to be divided up into tiny amounts to ensure everyone gets a chance to try things out.
The rides we went on were house riding, four wheel buggy, and mini snow mobiles. It was the first time Sis and I have being on these machines. The exception of horse riding, I've done it before, but Sis hasn't done it until now. Horses are quite the magnificent beast. As we approached a black horse to feed it, it was waving to us, using one hoof tapping the ground beckoning us to come closer. In the end, we did feed it with carrots. Note you don't get to ride it on your own. The country club staff guides the horse personally as you are riding it.
The four wheel buggy and mini snow mobiles were pretty easy to maneuver. I can drive them with one hand and no brakes required. I take it, these are toys edition of the real thing, and speed controlled, because kids can go on them too. But yeah, you can feel the snow bumps alright and drifting around the slippery turns.
Dinner at Sapporo Beer garden. Sapporo Garden Grill restaurant was posh and has a great view of the snow covered garden. Every table had a grill in the centre, when turned on it keeps your legs warm. We ordered Hokkaido black beef, which we got to grill to our liking. Also, we ate grilled snow crab, snow and hairy crab gratin, and ice monkey (custard mochi with chocolate ice cream).
The Animate shop was so so. The area where it was located does not ooze Otaku at all. More of a downtown retail area. The shops selling anime and manga were scattered across south of Odori park area and not centralised in one area. Not great for those who don't have time to spare.
Day 14. 16 February 2016.
Our flight never appeared on the check-in gates and soon it will be one hour before boarding time. I approached JAL customer service staff and asked can we check-in anyway. She said yes, they do accept early check-in. Phew.
Upon descending in Haneda airport, JAL airline drop us off in a packed bus, it supposedly drives you to domestic and international terminals. However, many of the people were told to disembark at domestic terminal 1. With that we ended up in the wrong terminal. Thank god, the security guard was able to explain that we have been dropped at the domestic terminal. We had to catch a green shuttle bus and not the blue one to the international terminal. What a crappy service JAL, for leaving us in the lurch. Haneda airport was trippy and a complex maze. There are two domestic terminals 1 and 2. One international terminal. 20 bus stops.
We dined at the Planetarium Starry Cafe. We got the chance to watch "flower universe" show as well.
So surreal and pleasure to watch. The staff was very attentive and quiet. A must see experience.
On the flight to Singapore I watched "Ghost in shell: The New Movie" before dozing off. The food served for breakfast was disgusting, heavy, and so not Japanese. It tasted like a cheap American line food.
Day 15. 17 and 18 February 2016.
We are stuck at Changi Airport at 6:55am. The departure area in terminal 1 has no free wifi. My Amaysim SIM card cannot pick up any network, only constant stating 'no network'. The difference between this one and the many other trip to Japan was this time I used a prepaid SIM card and it saved some Internet setting onto my phone. There is credit on my SIM card and the details are still the same. So I gather my Amaysim SIM card hasn't being fried by security machines at check-in Japan.
I had to find a way to contact the international terminal hotel, Aerto that we cannot check-in at 7:30am as planned, as we have been thrown out of terminal 1, and the early check-in lounge isn't open until 7:50am. It was 7:37am, I have managed to find an information booth. Which my sister could not find earlier on the map. Oh god. I have to literately do everything. Geez. She complains how she didn't get any sleep on plane. Sigh. Oh bother. Please grow up and stop watching movies on flights that takes off at midnight. You are suppose to get a shut eye on such flights.
The information booth kindly rang the terminal hotel for me. I was able to push check-in time to 9am. When I headed back to the early check-in lounge apparently Qantas check-in isn't open until 10am. So I scurried back over to the information booth and asked if I could get them to call the hotel once more. This time I pushed check-in time to 11:30am. Ah. We still have immigration to pass through.
Now I sit here in the highly rated airport in the world. Stranded without a communication tool. There is no rental SIM card or prepaid SIM card for sale at this airport, well, not in the departure area anyway. Aerotel transit hotel was modern, comfortable, and clean. I'd recommend to others too. However, it can be a hassle if terminal 1 was inaccessible to you until 11am. Somehow Qantas food is more decent than JAL. What has happened to JAL? Westernising has ruined them. I managed to watch: Goosebumps, Black mass, and Dressmaker.
