as promised, pictures and stories from japan (:

we left on the morning of 25th at an unearthly hour. flew to narita airport in tokyo and transitted to new chitose airport in sapporo. di's boots died on her. one heel came off at narita and we had to resort to buying these for her feet as there weren't many shoe shops around e airport.



we got on the railway at new chitose and headed down to sapporo station for dinner (cos we had to change to the subway there too). we had dinner at this fastfood place. but they sell jap fastfood and not like bk or macs whatever. it's quite a cool system cos they have this vending machine for you to place your order and pay then you go in and wait and they'll serve it to you.


day 2 we took the railway down to otaru which is northwest of hokkaido, near the ports. that day was our first at seeing the huge seafood they have there! we walked thru a market and saw things like crab, salmon roe, preserved fish, squid, big fish, shellfish, seaweed, etc on sale. which we come to realise were common food products for them and as such made a large part of their diet besides rice.


we had lunch from a supermarket. it's inside this huge departmental store called nagasakiya and di bought sneakers to replace those green things. at first we were wondering why the departmental store was so empty, until we stepped into the supermarket at the basement where there were throngs of oldies shopping! my gosh it was so crowded. no wonder they keep talking about ageing population in japan. you never know how scary it is till you see it for yourself. they are intimidating...
check out this humongomous onigiri:


spent the day walking around otaru, bought some snacks from there. saw alot of marimo for sale. hahah some of them are as big as my fist! scary. otaru is famous for their glassware. alot of glass items for sale. i bought these mini glass thingys with a glass bubble attached to them. you can put them in water and they'll float, with the thingys hanging down in to the water. very cute (:


at a closed railway:

my dad posing with a pole:


we split at sapporo station cos di wanted to get some beauty products from pole town (a shopping mall) so me and daddy went to daimaru to look see. the whole basement was crowded with people who just got off work buying dinner and snacks. we bought cakes (sweet treats) to try. the jap people are really creative and good at desserts, i must say. it looks pretty and tastes good (:



at the top floor of daimaru they were having a wine fair. we got to sample this ex wine. it's a type of wine called ice wine, really sweet and quite alcoholic i think. from the small sample cup, the lady split it into 3 portions. haha so you can imagine how ex it is. and with one sip, you can feel your whole body become warm. it was really nice (: haha.

had dinner at ramen alley right behind our hotel. it's a small alley filled with many ramen shops all competing for business. it was really nice. though it's not high class or anything, it beats whatever "authentic" jap food you can get in spore.
the ramen uncle:


day 3 was spent at hakodate, the southern tip of hokkaido, famous for fresh seafood. we visited the morning market and walked past this shop in the centre of the market. they had a huge tank of swimming squid. and they allow customers to fish for a squid with rod and hook and then they'll slice it up for you as sashimi. hahaha. we saw this kid catching one and the squid got caught at the head and as he lifted it out of the water it was making weird squirting noises as its legs were flailing madly in the air. it was amusing but then if i had to do it, i wont eat the squid. cant bear to eat smth that i've seen alive and squirming a while ago :S

had lunch at this shop near the market. we had donburi with salmon roe, crab, sashimi. the salmon roe was really fun to eat. cos it's much bigger than prawn roe, you can literally pop them in your mouth and you feel the contents ooze out in your mouth. haha. you can just have a meal with rice & salmon roe cos the roe is salty so it still makes a tasty meal (:



went walking around but realised not much to see after the market also. haha. we saw a carshow. for really ancient models. it was quite cool but cos these cars were in use, the owners didnt really keep the insides neat and clean so it kinda spoiled the image of the car. haha


we had dinner at this beef grill place. man, the meat was SO GOOD! it was nice and tender, not too fatty. we had 2 portions of a cut near the stomach lining and one of the flank (i think it's the flank la. ahha) it was really tasty and sweet. not chewy or tough like beef can be sometimes. it was heaven! haha. forgot to bring the cam then tho, so no photos on that one. but i'll never forget it. it was the best beef meal i've ever had.

on the 4th day, we went to biei and furano which are in central hokkaido. lots of farms and flowers. our first stop was at biei were we chanced upon a small local produce market beside a park. they have huge carrots. short and fat. haha.




and we bought some corn (cos it's known to be nice) and cherry tomatoes which we enjoyed on the train ride to nakafurano. it was firm and juicy. i accidentally squirted juice on my jacket. haha. the train we took was really cool. like some kind of old european train. wooden interior and all. but it's a tad slower. like a chug chug train. ahah



at nakafurano we went to the lavander fields at farm tomita but we kinda missed the blooming period. they had other nice flowers in bloom tho. we tried lavander ice cream and pudding. yum yum (:






lunched at a small cafe while waiting for our train to come. di said that the trains are ALWAYS on time (they come at fixed timings) and if people were to ever say they were late cos of train delay, their bosses wont believe them and they have to produce a train ticket thing to prove that the train was delayed.

we took a long walk from the lavander fields station to nakafurano station. my goodness it was so secluded we thought the station was closed. when we walked in there was no one there. till we turned around and saw the station master sitting quietly in one corner. ahha. spent the rest of the afternoon at the cheese factory/ice milk factory. the dairy products there are really good. like what you can get from the european countries in terms of standard. and they like lowfat milk. haha




some cute wooden orchestra that was on display in the factory. i dunno why such a thing of no relevance was there but it was really cool



on the train ride back it was damn cold. i couldnt feel my feet and toesies :S and to cure that, we had starbucks at sapporo station! (: i felt at home... haha. cos the tables and chairs were the same. similar products too. and they have SHORT drinks for all their drinks! cna you imagine. like blending a short frappucino. so tiny. hahaha. i had caramel macchiato. i was tempted to make my own drink at the la mar. but of course that would have been impossible. haha.



our last day we went around sapporo. first stop was shopping. haha. it just happened on our way to nijyo fish market. haha. daiso was the ultimate! it had 5 floors of many many stuff. much bigger selection than what we get in spore. and cos they have a culture of bringing food from home, they have cute lunchboxes with deco items, cutlery with cases, etc. kawaii desu ne. haha. we had to go back to hotel to put our stuff down.

at the clock tower:


then from there we walked down to odori park (one stop away from from susukino where our hotel was)



we managed to catch the autumn festival that was ongoing and had our brunch there.





after lunch we took the sub down to chuo central wholesale market. we got to try a slice of melon there. their melons are really pricey. got different grades like durian like that. i saw one pair of small melons at daimaru priced at 16000yen. which is like 160USD so you can imagine the price. but trying one slice is enough to let one savour the sweetness and juicyness of the fruit. shiok (:

there were some shops we walked past where we saw sacs and sacs of salmon roe. and they separate them by gently rubbing the chunk across a wire mesh and the roe would fall to a container below. went into one of the bigger shops which had alot of seafood on sale. check out this squid leg, it's damn big! i could clobber someone with it...



our last stop for the day was at sapporo beer garden and museum.


they had some displays to show how beer is made.




our last dinner was at a jap restaurant. their sashimi was not too bad (i only eat yellowtail) and we tried their grilled crab. that was really disappointing cos although it was so big, the meat was difficult to remove and it was quite hard. but it was a good meal. the soba was the ultimate. you just cant get enough of it! i had to restrain myself from eating too much of it. haha.








that night was some major packing session, trying to squeeze everything into our bags. we came with 2 bags and went home with 3 check-ins and 4 additional carry-ons so you can go imagine. haha. that's daddy surrounded by bags on the train to the airport. he looks kinda constipated but we had no choice, he had to half squat if not he wouldnt fit into the picture. haha.


we checked in pretty early so we had time to put our carryons into a locker and go to minami chitose to shop/look see. they had this big outdoor mall. a cross between a shop-town and a factory outlet place. yeah. many many shops. had lunch there too, in this scandinavian-ish styled building



headed back to the airport after that, where we took a plane to narita. they have this cute thing of ferrying passengers on a bus from the boarding area to the plane. on our way to sapporo when we were coming in, the bus was super packed. the plane was around an airbus size. then coming back we were sitting in the bus wondering why it was so empty. other passengers had the same thought in mind cos the bus driver was waiting for the cue to drive off. then no one else boarded the bus so we were thinking maybe later got another bus or smth. then as he drove, we were approaching this really tiny plane. i wanted to tell di 'eh look, someone's private jet'. and then the bus stopped in front of it. everyone was so shocked that our plane was so small; someone let out a stifled giggle. hahaha! it was really very small! we were seated at the front of the plane and that's the pic to the back.


at narita airport, we had some time to burn as well while waiting for transit so we went shopping yet again. bought much more snacks this time. and also winter wear from uniqlo. buying for aussie :S twas a weird feeling. haha. i saw domokun (: and totoro and friends. okay i dunno why the photo is like sideways but nvm you can still see domokun. i want the really big huggable one. it was so cute! but then very ex also. haha. like 8000yen so i settled for a small one.


the flight back was not too smooth. delayed take off and alot of turbulence. the weather in tokyo was really wet and cloudy. like can see a line forming for the planes to take off. and like not even 100m off the ground, the fog sets in and you cant see anything outside the window. landed in spore earlier than expected.. yeah.

other stuff on my trip included di going crazy at the sight of hello kitty products. she bought super alot of hello kitty merchandise. even my dad was appalled. ahha. i realised jap people like clamshell phones and hp accessories. and they take pride in the things they do, which is really admirable. the service standard is really good there too. didnt include all the details of the trip but most of them are up there alr. all in all, it was a good relaxing trip. although not many things for sightseeing, the food and shopping made up for that. nice (:

on a side note, i think i killed my wrist again yesterday while moving the frap mix into the fridge :S sian.