Hokkaido'17 - 23 Dec 17

札幌

Today was a warm day, it was drizzling (yes not snowing but drizzling). The floor was wet and slippery with ice. Hated it ..

Visited 円山公園 for a while and found out that the real Hokkaido Shrine was inside.

So what was that shrine that I visited on my second day in 札幌?

洞爺湖

Off to Toya, but by the time I reached there the sky was already turning dark. and anyway there seemed to be nothing much to do so I just stayed in the ryokan after grabbing a bite from a nearby restaurant.

The 大和旅館 that I was staying in, not bad, Japanese style room and yuukata! 

But the onsen/public bathroom was a bit disappointing. Expected it to be .. nicer? And bec of the colour of the floor/tiles perhaps due to the mineral from the onsen, it didn't give off a feeling that it's clean so regardless of whether it is clean anot it just made me not feel like dipping in for long :(

Sadded..

Hokkaido'17 - 22 Dec 17

札幌

Snowboarding day! Went up to Kokusai Ski Resort to snowboard instead of ski because skiing is too mainstream hahaha. Well, of the hours there, I went from totally cannot snowboard to manage to travel a considerable distance for beginners, I think not too bad la, given that I didn't get a coach and I was learning by myself haha.

Still suck at stopping and turning (especially the ones require leaning forward) tho. And I had quite a few rather bad falls haha just like the ones in cartoon where the characters just suddenly fall down and the shoes flying. My shoes didn't fly but imagine I went from standing upright to lying flat (back facing the sky) on the ground in less than a second HAHA. Really had fun bec I was learning something new, but I would have stayed longer or enjoyed more if I went with friends haha so next time! Video gotta wait for me to edit my trip video.

Went to 豊平峡温泉 afterwards, tried the Indian curry recommended by my host Totsumo-san. I don't usually eat Indian curry, but this one was really good! I liked it!

Then it's onsen time! Outdoor onsen some more! I called it "being legally naked outdoor" HAHA ! TOO BAD that it wasn't snowing when I was in the onsen :( it was quite an interesting experience tho, with half your body feeling warm from the onsen and the other half (if you want) feeling the chilly air; it was an interesting sight too, when you see the steam forming from the onsen while at the same time seeing the white snow surrounding you, if it was snowing it would be even more beautiful! Too bad can't take photos of this bec yknow .. you go totally naked in the onsen so ... Good thing that it wasn't too crowded. In fact when I went in there was only another guy inside and the onsen is big enough that I can go to the other corner to enjoy the place by myself!

Went to this place that serves good Oysters as recommended by Trip Advisor. I didn't imagine it to be such a small shop! 

 but nonetheless the oysters damn cheap, I bought 10 for only 1050yen!

Hokkaido'17 - 21 Dec 17

小樽

The first thing I reached 小樽 was to visit the aquarium. Quite awesome la the place, get to see really exotic sea creatures. Best thing is not a lot of people so I quite enjoyed my trip there and gotta took my own sweet time to look around.

For the first time too I got to watch this show by dolphins and seals. Really cool! I wonder how they trained them. Finally seeing dolphins in real life YASSS! 

Then there was this one section in the aquarium that's open for visitors to touch the sea creatures. I only dared to touch the octopus and starfish (fingertip haha), too humchi to touch the rest haha. Octopus feels really smooth and soft, starfish feels rough like a rock. There is also another creature that look like penis ..

search Korean sea penis

小樽 is a nice port town, I was looking forward to the sea view! But by the time I got out of the aquarium, there was a snowstorm (kinda) so there goes my seaview :( and the snow just got heavier throughout the whole day. Managed to take only a pic..

Nothing much to do there except to walk along the shopping street. Very famous for their venitian arts especially glass. Oh didn't take any pic. Almost 75% of the shops sell glasses in many forms, like pens, earrings, etc. Oh with the arts and canal there, the place does look a lil bit like Venice, just a tiny bit, except that the town is on land.

Visited the famous music box hall and the canal.

The canal didn't light up as much as I imagined it to be, again I guess it's the wrong time of the season :(

Finally got to try some sushi! Lunch was rather disappointing, but dinner (回転寿司) at 和楽 was quite good! 

Hokkaido'17 - 20 Dec 17

旭川

I wanted to wake up early to visit 常盤公園 (the shrine that I visited the night two days ago) again to see how it looks like in the day. But meh too tired to wake up. So I went back to Sapporo directly instead.

札幌

It was snowing in Sapporo, but the floor was wet, just as if it rained, except that it was snow falling from the sky. I didn't like it. I prefer 旭川, even though it snows more often and possibly heavier, it is drier than 札幌 so I could actually enjoy more to be walking around on the street.

I detoured to Hokkaido government office building, it looks magnificent! Glad that I took a detour there! And somehow the place just give a lot of feels that Christmas is cominggggg!

Didn't really do much today. Was initially planning to visit 藻岩山 before sunset so that I can see 札幌市 both during the day and night. But to do that my plan would be screwed up so forget it, I'll just visit it at night. So I had almost the whole afternoon free! I was just hanging around trying to visit the botanic garden but it's actually nothing much. The clock tower  was also nothing much. So I guess the only places in my plan today would be just the government office building and 藻岩山.

Took the ropeway on to 藻岩山.. hmmm in some sense I mean it's pretty but ... 

I would still prefer what I saw the other time when I was on the plane flying over Shanghai. It doesn't fill up the whole landscape with lights like the one in the pic, but rather trails of light making out the silhouette of the city and the highways, while leaving the other territories dark. It looks more like galaxy/milky way/stars than filling up every single spot with lights. I appreciate more of that than this. I still don't like china tho, nothing changes. 

Anyway, just a random note: the best time to go Hokkaido should be some time around Feb probably.

Hokkaido'17 - 19 Dec 17

旭川

No sunlight today, couldn't see my diamond dust. Well, this has always been my kind of luck ..

Took the train to 東旭川駅 because the train didn't go from there to 北日ノ出駅, which was supposed to be nearer to the zoo. Apparently there was a direct bus from the 旭川駅 also, but oh well I wanted to take a walk so I decided to take train instead. So end up IC card couldn't be used for this train again zz. Why did I top up so much cash. Luckily I only topped up 5000yen, initially wanted to top up 10000yen phew.

I walked from 東旭川駅 alllll the way to the zoo, which took me almost an hour +? I love it because of the snow, the weather and the scenery. It was a bit far, but I like to walk as long as I know that if something happens I won't die out there without being discovered. And because I'm on solo trip, so I get to take a bit of detour here and there without having to care about another person!

Took a short detour to 日ノ出公園. A bit disappointed because it looks smaller than I imagined. And perhaps it's the wrong season (ok I know that it's the most beautiful during other seasons like spring or autumn, but I didn't expect it to be deserted), there was no one there and the snow was at knee's height! So cool! I yolo walked to the nearby sheltered bench where there was less/shallower snow. Oh my, look at the icy spike!

Ok time to head towards the zoo. Uh oh, I'm stuck ... 

Finally reached the zoo after a million year! This zoo is really cool! Unlike other zoos that I've been to where we usually look at the animals from afar. I get to see them real close and there are a lot of animals that we don't get to see in SEA!

It's a snow owl! Hi Hedwig!

And some of the animals are humongous! Oh and I found my spirited animal hehehe they are so cool! 

I love it here bec I get to see some of the animals real close, and more importantly, there were a lot less people! I mean there was a crowd but not to the point that you have to squeeze with other people. In fact, I had some time with the animal by myself! I think it's the season, or just the weather haha it started snowing quite heavily after a while and it dragged on for about 3+ hours (still braved the snow to see the animals ofc). AND because of that I didn't get to see my Japanese crane sobz which I was really eager to see because I decided to not go to the east of Hokkaido .. :( didn't know that we can't see crane during snowy days.

Supposedly I could take a direct bus back to 旭川駅 from the zoo entrance. But I wanted to have a look at a nearby temple/shrine so I was walking back again. 

Very nice scenery hehe. 

I walked all the way back to where I started, 東旭川駅. And guess what, due to my foolishness I took the wrong train and ended up in 北日ノ出駅. Such an ulu place with very little lights around. Scary, but hehe adventurous. Btw 北日ノ出駅 is nearer to the zoo than 東旭川駅. Which means that I walked for one hour to the station just to get back to the same place again .. zzz

Visited the ramen village located at 南永山駅. The ramen village was actually just a small building with all the ramen shops. Hmmm. It's location is slightly different from what I imagined, again. And the ramen isn't all too great. But maybe it's the shop that I went into. But still, not impressed haha. Haven't really tried really good food yet tho hmmm but honestly I didn't plan food as part the things that I wanna try in Hokkaido. The only thing I can look forward to is what XunYu shared with me, which is gonna be in 小樽 which I will be visiting two days later.

Pretty tired and decided to just go back and rest. Trust me, walking on snow is no joke, it's damn tiring!

Hokkaido'17 - 18 Dec 17

札幌

Wanted to train to 旭川 early in the morning, but hmmm looking at the plan there seems to be nothing much to do in 旭川, so I decided that I might as well visit the places that I planned to visit after coming back from 旭川. And so I went to the Hokkaido Shrine which is near the central 札幌市.

Since I decided that I didn't have to go to 旭川 so early, I decided to also visit 伏見稲荷神社 that's on the other side of 札幌市. Pretty nice and quiet place, very little visitors. I like. But there were still some people who were there to take photos bec the 鳥居 are really beautiful!

And guess what! It started snowing!! YASSS! This trip is the second time I visited a city covered in snow (the first being Changchun) but I had never seen snowfall before! Really excited! 

旭川

Took the train to 旭川 finally but didn't know that the IC card doesn't work for this train (or most cross-city trains) and I was supposed to get a separate ticket (Japan train why so many different kind of tickets). Lucky the train commander was nice enough to help me to get the tickets even though his English was near zero. I guess I'm not the first travellers that did this haha. I wish people in Singapore are as nice as Japanese haha.

When I reached 旭川, it started snowing again. I went to look for this フラリーと alley that was recommended by someone on Trip Advisor for dinner. On the way there, the snow just got heavier and heavier. Reached the place, hmmm looked interesting, but most shops had their door closed and without glasses (Japanese style) so I didn't dare to go into any. End up went into one that I can see what's actually going on inside. But honestly tho, the ramen is good! Compared to Singapore ofc!

Continued my adventure after dinner. The snow just got heavier but it couldn't stop me. I mean, how often do I get to walk in snow right? Unfortunately some of the temples nearby was closed, so I went to the furthest shrine, which was near the border of the city. Oh my, I made to right choice to brave the snowfall!

It's either it's closed by then, or no one was stupid enough to go there in such cold weather and snowfall (it was only 630/7pm btw) , there was no one around and it was soooo quiet and peaceful, to the point of being eerily beautiful hehe. 

Had to go back to hotel early today because nowhere else to go and the snow was not stopping. Anyway, wanna try to wake up early tmr to catch (hopefully I'm lucky enough) diamond dust, and go to 日ノ出公園 before visiting the zoo that opens at 1030am.

Hokkaido'17 - 17 Dec 17

My journey started the moment I left my house, and the first thing I realised was that I forgot my pullover ._. What a way to start my journey HAHA.

札幌

The first thing I did after settling down into the guesthouse was to visit すすきの and 狸小路 because Trip Advisor says that those places are famous in Sapporo for shopping or other "interesting" entertainment (ahem), but both places look too city-ish to me (I mean skyscrapers) and shopping ain't my thing (so apparently すすきの is famous for "adult entertainment" according to the two Korean guys who visit there for three consecutive days - more about the two guys later).

So I ended up going to 大通公園. Thought it's going to be a huge park because of its name but it is actually a few small parks connected in series. I wanted to see the snow festival but too bad it only happens in Feb, lucky this period of time they have something called white illumination, so there are lights setup in the park. Went up to the TV tower to see the city light too, can see the 大通公園 white illumination from here.

Decided not to take too many pictures unless the scenery is really nice because I want to enjoy it with my own eyes more (and also because my photography skill sucks la so better don't spam). Will still try to take video with my newly bought camera, though I am not sure how good is the quality because china. Don't have a good expectation of it but will see the final footages, if they are bad then forget it this will be the last time I ever use the camera.

Back to the guesthouse, met my roommates for the night. Two 22-year-old Korean guys who travelled to Sapporo after they completed their army and before they start their uni. Language barrier was a bitch bec they know very little English and I know zero Korean except anyeonghaseyo, hamshahamida and saranghaeyo (and I have totally no idea if I spelled them correctly and I don't want waste effort to look them up on Google haha). It was funny how we tried to look for translation on this app called Papago (quite good) so that we can carry on our conversation. Pretty cool and funny dudes, I exchanged beers with them for the night but too bad I had to leave the next morning. Well, I guess the fun thing in solo/backpacking/staying in guesthouse is that you get to meet people from different places who are cool to mingle and also without the obligation to exchange names. I would like to have more of this kind of experience haha but for the remaining of the trip I won't be staying in guesthouses anymore. I guess that's a pity but I'll be sure to experience this again in my future trips!