As some of you might know, I went to Hokkaido/Tokyo last year from October 28 to November 3. Well uh I guess that was about a week? But about two days were spent on plane rides and such, so yeah.
The only photo I took on the plane from Tokyo to Hokkaido, before the air stewardess told me sincerely but in a practiced, scintillating manner that mobile phones are not allowed on flights. So I meekly off my phone and kept it.
Dinner, later at night when we got to Hokkaido. This was the first hotel we stayed in, Hotel Nikko Chitose. I think it's good. In fact, all the hotels we stayed in were good.
Went to the Ainu Village the next day.
First can of cocoa I had (in Japan) since a year ago when I went to Japan! I know I'm lame to do this but somehow, I liked it. :)
It was autumn nearing winter when we were there, and if you can make it out, those are salmons hanging on beams in the hut. Those were, specifically, smoked salmon, preserved from summer just from all the smoke. And it could still be eaten. Amazing? I think it is.
A medley of performance of the old Ainu rituals and stuff like that. It is, harshly but honestly, boring.
These were the real bears kept in the cafe. I feel sorry for them, having to wait for tourists to feed them food. See where the bear's mouth is in the first picture? It was a tube where tourists rolled food (bought from the souvenir shop) to feed the bears.
This rain caused the weather to drop from an already-quite-cold-10°C to a very-cold-3°C.
This soft ice-cream was fantabulous both in price and taste. It was soft and when I ate it my sensitive teeth didn't sting. And it wasn't too sweet, too bland. It cost ¥450, which is roughly about S$5.85.
The wine cellar in Oeda Wine Castle. Also where I bought the soft ice cream (but that was upstairs. Who sells ice cream in wine cellars anyway?!)
Second hotel we lived in, Sahoro Resort Hotel. It was even more grand than Hotel Nikko Chitose, however, in terms of hospitality, they lost slightly.
Pictures of the view I took outside of the hotel. Just imagine if Singapore was like this everyday.
Okeda Woodcraft Shop. Do visit that place if you pop by. :)
The workplace in the woodcraft shop.
The other tour members. They were like kinda stingy?! Every time they picked up something nice, they'd go, "Oh wow, this is nice." But a moment later they'd put it down, exclaiming, "But it's too expensive." -_-
The Counter.
Some of the work displayed there (and waiting to be bought home!). :)
A display of the different types of woods... O_O!
I have to say, Okeda's hospitality is really good, whether or not they are wooing after tourists. We went to this restaurant after the visit at the woodcraft shop, and the chef (also the owner of the restaurant) personally came up to thank us for patronising his shop. OHOHOH AND I also remembered this minute detail: We had some free time after lunch, whereby which I decided to go buy some magazines. After that, I went back to the restaurant because it was really cold. The restaurant owner saw me and he gave me a few packets of crackers!!! When I didn't even know him, like omg, he's so kind.
Lunch: Tempura Udon and Tentamadon.
And this is the wonderful restaurant I was talking about earlier on. :)
Then we had a really long bus ride, whereby which I consumed 2 cans of Van Houten Cocoa...
Finally we arrived at the Fox Farm a couple of hours later.
The animals were, also, in cages. A few of them were allowed to run free, however.
We went to a waterfall after that. In case you are blind, the sign reads: GIN GA NO TAKI.
GIN GA NO TAKI.
The next day: Another bus ride, another can of cocoa, a different brand this time...
Here's one of my favourite part of the journey, Otaru. It's this amazing little town, four hours drive from Sapporo if I'm not wrong. I'll let pictures do the talking before elaborating further.
I know it's beautiful. It just makes me feel like going back there again.
These pumpkins are real and they are about the size of Mr LFK's stomach. No, twice of that.
Otaru Musical Box Museum. x3
The steam clock outside the museum, with several of my tour member's heads. Oh yes, see that guy on the right (in navy blue)? At first I thought he was Benjamin from CSS2, then after that I thought he was Ming Yao. LOL. So I gave him the private combined nickname of, Benjamingyao. xD
So we went into the museum. We weren't supposed to take pictures but for some reason the staff didn't stop me... Rows and rows of musical boxes, and accessories (that's for if you want a custom made musical box). The pictures don't do them justice because the image quality was bad. :/
Can you believe this is just some random street picture I took? Do you see Winnie the Poohs sitting chairs in the middle of the street in Singapore? This is how cute the town is. :)
And also not to mention, whimsical. I mean, just look at the towers and buildings. They all look so English and Victorian and beautiful.
This is one of the toy stores.
Okay, after that I decided to go try the renowned 6-flavoured soft ice cream, which our tour guide strongly recommended. The making of the ice cream.
Flavours from top to bottom: Chocolate, Strawberry, Green Tea, Orange, Coffee, Vanilla.
Neoprints at ¥200, which is about S$2.60.
Some TV tower thing. Can't remember.
The ticket for the entrance to the Bear Ranch, which we went to the next day.
Weirdly enough, we saw racoons there at the first display.
Then we saw the baby bears!:
Adult bears:
All of them performing in an attempt to get food... :/
Mt. Showa, an active volcano.
That night, in the hotel: This is the only picture I'm posting of me in the yukata... I simply look too... Well all I know is, I'll become a public object of ridicule if I post up the other pictures.
We left Prince Hotel the next morning.
Then that day flew by too quickly for me to get another pictures... The next day, we were out of Hokkaido and in our Tokyo hotel. Didn't take much photos because we only spent a day in Tokyo, and a quarter of the time there is wasted on the traffic. Tokyo's an amazing city nonetheless. Did some shopping. The things I bought includes but are not limited to an Alice Nine CD for Yunwei and Harajuku boots that make me 5 inches taller.
We left Japan the next day. Haha. Took these in the airport. =)
OKAY! I'm done. I think I am going to sleep soon, in hope that I will dream of my dream crush. HAHA.
