time to blog abt Japan trip, if not i have to blog alot when i come back from TW..HA
basically woke up v early every morn, like ard 6 or 7am there (Japan is 1hr faster). Weather was damn nice! esp hokkaido, which is cooler. got one nite the temperature even went down to 11 deg cel! shiok!! hahahah. n it rained the day after, and the temperature was also about 13 deg cel the whole day, damn cold esp with e wind! sometimes got "smoke" when we talk..hahahha. but its also v dry, my nose hurts when i breathe (same as when i was on plane) in the cold air. hair and skin also v dry..Zz.
1st day was supposed to be free and easy, but the tour guide offered to bring us to a shopping mall, AEON, nearby at a fee of 600Yen to and fro. so we went. had lunch at their food court. the buying food system there is quite interesting. at every stall, theres a ticket machine, where u have to buy the meal ticket first, present to the person at the stall, den she will give u one 'tracking' machine, which ll produce a beeping sound when ur food is ready. cool!! hahaha. but the food at the foodcourt wasnt really nice..ha. walked ard the mall, but cant find anything to buy, cos the price is super ex. hahaha. kinda sian to shop but nv buy anything.
2nd day fly to sapporo airport, at hokkaido. had crab feast! but the crab wasnt as sweet as it looks. hahah. den we went to Shiraoi Ainu village, their aboriginal ppl and culture. watched a culture show and was very much entertained by the host who can speak simple korean, chinese, and even hokkien..hahaha.
Next went to a bear ranch and see bears. the bear cubs were sooo cute!!! and u can buy apples and throw to feed the big bears. when they see u holding apples, they will stand and wave their arms at u to ask u to throw them, kawaii!!! hahaha
oh, in case i 4gt to mention, there are TONS of crows (wu ya) there. urusai desu ne.
den went to mount showa. erm.. i tink it was a volcano. the itinerary says: at Mount Showa, an interesting landform that was raised froma farmland after two years of volcanic activites. saw smoke coming out also! but the sulphur smell was quite disgusting.
after that was checking into a hotel at lake toya, and saw sunset! omg, v beautiful!! told my bro and cousin tt we should go watch sunrise the next morn, but erm..well, who can wake up at 4am in the morn?! HAHA. the sun rise there quite early, i rem i woke up halfway thru one nite(mayb its the nite b4) at abt 4+ sg time, n it was already bright outside. had dinner at a restaurant in the hotel, and watched a about 20 - 30 mins fireworks..Wooo~
3rd day, early morn went to sobetsu fruit farm, but it wasnt the fruit season, so no fruits for us to pick. But we made ice cream ourselves!! by juz using milk, fresh cream, 2 large metals bowls, ice and salt. the ice was placed in one of the bowl first, and salt is sprinkled on it to further reduce the temperature. den pour the milk and cream into another bowl and place it on top of the bed of ice and spin it. den eventually it ll become ice cream! hahaha
next took a short ferry ride to Nakajima island for a nature walk and see deers. saw lots of pine trees too!
right, den the driver took us to a place where we can see SNOW!! HAHA! so v exciting!! though its not falling from the sky, but its still so exciting to see snow!!! LOL. got the most of us so excited and happy..LOL. well, we only have one HOT sun in singapore. but its kinda interesting that the snow doesnt melt under the hot sun. the weather wasnt even v cold, i din had to wear jacket. ok, mayb its on its way to become water.
after all the excitment, we went to Jigokudani (hell valley), which was a sulphurous boiling pond. the sulphur smell was quite disgusting. checked in the hotel quite early, and after putting our luggage in our room, we walked ard the street juz outside the hotel.
4th day, went to Noboribetsu Date Jidai Mura, where we see culture from the Edo period. Watched a ninja and a geisha show. we were each given a piece of paper, which was for us to wrap 100Yen inside and throw to the stage after the show end. was fortunate that we din had to sit in front, if not our heads would have been hit with the coins..HA.
next we went to Furano Tomita Farm and see lavender !!! the lavender season was in August, but nevertheless, they grew small plot of lavender inside the green house for tourists to see ba. tried the lavender ice cream and bought quite abit of lavender stuffs, like a pillow for my mum, a smaller one for myself, one essence oil and the dry flowers. n my bro gave me one to cover the eyes one..haha.
i tink we went to jam garden and make apple jam and also the Anpanman shop too. cant rem which day was it tt we went..hahaha.
5th day went to Otaru and see the kitaichi glass. V exquisite, and was so tempted to buy sth but the price held me back (luckily i wasnt overwhelmed by impulse), hahah. went to a music box museum too, but only my cousin bought 2 musical box..hahah. den free and easy to shop ard. ate the cream puff which wasnt expensive, and even got free coffee! they have strawberry, mustard and original (?) flavour, liked the strawberry one best! hahha.
next visited Ishiya chocolate factory for the Hokkaido no. 1 famous chocolate biscuit - shiroi koibito (白色恋人). its really everywhere in Hokkaido, but only in Hokkaido. the boss dun export it or sell it in other places except Hokkaido. after that the guide brought us to a place to try a famous ramen, those traditional types which we see on TV..nice nice! noodles was v Q!
6th day, morn went to a seafood market to see see and also to Odori Park and took pictures, and also saw the Sapporo TV tower which is the NHK tower. den was shopping time!! went to Sapporo station shopping arcade and a factory outlet mall Rera. 3 of us plan a route to conquer all the shops we wanted to go..hahahah. i bought a levis jacket for abt $65.
took a nite flight back to Narita Airport (Tokyo).
7th day, tour guide brought us to 2 places to shop, one of it was Aeon again, n the other i cant rem the name already. 2nd time to Aeon, we went to hard rock cafe and i bought a T-shirt and a guitar keychain! i m so rich!! LOL. had lunch at the sushi shop and omg, the salmon sushi is damn nice. the variety wasnt alot, or mainly its becos i only ate salmon and the ika one. the salmon was so big that u can see the rice below it. seriously. in Japan, u dun have to go for sashimi, juz eat the sushi which is same as the sashimi in singapore. and it was quite filling. 3 of us ate 19 plates only, cost us abt S$11 or S$12 only.
den it was to the airport to wait for our flight, and home sweet home~!! was so hungry that i tink i finished my food in 10 mins. LOL. 8pm dinner leh..of cos hungry, not tt i m pig..hahahaha.
cant really rem which day eat wad food, but i noe we had suki yaki, and e beef was damn nice. cook the meat and den dip into raw egg to make it smooth (as wad we were told), but i thot there was no difference betw dipping or not. we also had a meal which was all steamed food, like steam veg, fish, pumpkin blah. this was eaten when we visited the Edo period thingy. ha. had a western meal at one of the hotel for dinner too, the steak was really good, and the seafood meal was scallop and salmon (i tink i had scallop and salmon almost everyday) which was delicious also. the scallop was HUGE..hahahah.
hmm, tried hokkaido milk beer also, but it doesnt have milk taste..lol. oh, and the milk in hokkaido dun have the milky taste one, and ur mouth wun have the "sticky" feel after drinking it. breakfast at the hotels werent fantastic. oh, and saw sakura also..wahahha. was quite lucky to be able to see it. saw the white one too! wooo, beautiful!!
photos erm..mayb tml? or after TW le..haaha. too many nice photos..LOL!
enjoy the holidays!!
