Day 0: Flying at night is kinda poop, really. I don't know why, but sometimes when flying, I feel really gassy. Apparently that's 'cos I swallow a lot of air. I thought I wasn't, but actually I have been when I try to un-pop my ears by yawning. (Knowing that though, meant my flight back was easier for me.) Anyway, being gassy felt pretty uncomfortable on the bus, and I thought I needed to solve that by eating something, but that's not true - I had to toot everything out. But hey, at least I'm not as bad as my dad.
Oh yeah, a day or two before we left, I had to go to the dentist for routine checks and adjustments. Aaaaannnd I got rubber bands put in :U The orthodontist glued on new hooks on the inside of my two upper molars, both left and right, so that's four hooks. The bands on each side, hook onto two upper hooks, then diagonally go across to an existing one on the outside of my lower jaw. It took me some time to get used to, but during my trip to Hokkaido (I accidentally typed Hookaido LOL) I just took them out whenever we had a meal. Sometimes I got lazy and just put on new rubber bands instead of using the ones I had that day. I think that meant I'm running out of bands though, but ah well.
On the flight itself, I watched Kubo and the Two Strings, and Kimi no Na wa, both of which was good. Kimi no Na wa was surprisingly better than I expected. At first I thought it was gonna be like 5 centimeter per second 'cos that's what it reminded me of, but I felt like there was greater plot and better character relationships in this one. Wanted to tear up a couple of times during both movies, so they're good c:
Day 1: We landed in the morning, our first visit was to the Sunagawa highway oasis where we got ice-cream, and I ate it in the snow c: Later we ended up at an Aeon mall in Asahikawa, where we were to get lunch on our own. We ended up eating some cheap pasta 'cos we can't speak Japanese lol We still managed though, just pointing at the menu. We would then repeat this a couple of times later throughout the week, since we had more meals on our own. In hindsight, these two places was probably 'cos the ride to the actual sightseeing places were kilometers away, so they needed some breaks in between, hence the stops at shopping destinations that are just, normal shopping places.
The first sight we went to were two waterfalls, ginga and ryusei. It was super cold 'cos we were up on a mountain, and the winds just blew snow everywhere. The little old man at the souvenir store nearby actually came out to us, handing out paper cups of burnt-tasting tea to us, and let us use the toilets in his store. I started wearing four layers from then on. My dad and I bought mikan from him, 'cos you know, to help with butt troubles.
Dinner was a kaiseki filled with crab. Usually I don't eat crab 'cos I'm
The onsen there was really nice too, their spring water had sulfur in it, so it was really smooth and soft. At first I was hesitant to go in by myself, but then I thought, eh, I've been to an actual public bath, going to one in the hotel wouldn't be so bad. It was mostly empty with a few old ladies, so that was okay. Also I learned from my previous onsen experience: tie up hair, wash self with soap, and then soak. I did better than my dad, who didn't know you were supposed to wear something under the yukata, so he got grunted at by some old farts lol
Also it gets really dark pretty soon. By the time it was almost four, it was like seven at night back home. The sun still comes up at around six, but our days are evidently shorter.
Day 2: This day was mostly sightseeing natural places again: an observation area, three lakes, and a sulfurous mountain. We first went to Bihiro pass, which was so foggy that we couldn't see the lake below. Also the snow was so deep, that I sank into it with every step, and got snow into my ankle-high boots. Surprisingly, it didn't feel so cold so I think got me some gud boots.
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| can't see very far out. |
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| ain't nothin to see out there. |
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| look at my lil feet in the sno |
We visited another two lakes later, Lake Kussharo and Lake Sunayu. I don't remember much of the first one, but the second one was the one with geese swarming around a warm area in the bank. Apparently there's like a hot spring under the ground near that spot, which is why the geese just floated around there.
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| Duck duck geese |
Then we went to a Mt. Io, that spews out sulfur, so it just smells like rotten egg. At least it wasn't too strong, though.
That night, we stayed at a hotel that had a tribal aesthetic with totem statues, and bears in the lobby. Lake Akan was also right behind the hotel, which was nice to look out at from above. There was another onsen, but it wasn't as nice as the first one. There were also stores along the street that sold handmade wooden craft things. I would've gotten stuff from there, but I don't know what's a good price for some of their things. We did buy our bro a shirt with a comic-style bear attack on the front, which was kinda expensive, but even when we looked at bear shirts in other stores, we haven't found a shirt like it before, so I guess it was worth it.
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| bear is unsure as to what to do about all the people coming into his territory |
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the lake's blue, da ba dee da ba dai |
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| I don't have many good shots ono |
Later, we were on the bus for another two hours or so to Ryugetsu sweetpia garden, which is known for their desserts and sweets. Just like us, people come from around the area just to eat good sweets, even though the place is like in the middle of nowhere, and diddly darn do I like me my sweets. My dad got us an eclair (that had good cream filling omg) and a cheesecake. I liked the cream the best 'cos it made the pastry moist, and it wasn't overly sweet either. We also bought a box of mochi coated in soybean powder to bring home. I didn't realise that it was gonna expire so soon, like a day after we land, but the rest of my family snatched it up anyway when we came back. It was some gud mochi, man.
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| yum yum in my tums. |
That night, we were in a small city called Obihiro, which didn't have much going on at night. Our hotel was near the JR station, which had some shops that we looked at. There was a 100 yen shop, where I bought some cloth for a possible sewing project, a small bookstore with manga and other Japanese literature, and even a store that specialised in manga and comic supplies. There were ink pens, copic markers, proper manga paper, stuff like that, so that was interesting to look at. Apart from that though, there wasn't much going on in town at night. We tried to walk to other buildings, but they were stuff like furniture stores, and a pachinko building, so needless to say, we didn't go around that far.
Day 4: First business of the day was to go shopping. We headed back in the direction of the airport, 'cos there was an outlet mall nearby, Chitose Rera outlet mall. They mostly had branded goods though, which doesn't interest me, so after my dad bought himself some new pants (to fit over his thermals), we went around the toys section. At first I didn't want to, because you know, I ain't no kid no more, but we did anyway, since we had time and nothing else to do.
There were some interesting things though, like bags and pencil cases designed to look like breads and sandwiches (which I wanted to get for Ju, but they were p expensive), stuffed toys (which were also expensive, although probably less expensive than back here), a whole store just for jigsaw puzzles that even sold frames to go with them, and rows and rows of gacha machines. Guess where most of my money went LOL I got most of my gacha items from there though, like a Tubbs keychain, tonkatsu from sumikko gurashi, litten, gudetama, and a small lil bunny. I hoarded all of them in the pockets of my jacket, so I couldn't hide my hands from the cold that suddenly came upon us. The snow was thick and large enough that it was visible on my phone, so I took a short video of snow falling.
For lunch, we had some grilled beef and pork, which was a change from the seafood and kaiseki meals we had previously. It was also near a small stream, which had some geese floating in it, so yay, more birb photos lol They were pretty cute, although they weren't moving around very much.
On our way to the next hotel, the tour guide decided to let us go the the Silo observatory to see Lake Toya, since it was on the way, and to reduce some of the stuff going on the next day, since it was gonna be pretty packed. Again, I didn't spend long out there to take photos, since it was so windy and cold.
I was pretty sad though, in the souvenir store. I wanted to buy just two postcards, but the line at the cashier was so long, thanks to the PRCs buying horse oil. Also while I was walking around the store, I apparently missed a fat cat that was sitting outside in the cold, so I missed the chance to take pictures of a cat ono
The hotel (nonokaze resort Toya) was real fancy, with Lake Toya at the back. I think it's the best looking hotel we've been to lol They also had the best onsen experience I had. There was a bath on the roof, and it was magical up there omg It was kinda scary at first, because not only is it cold out there, but it's so dark, you can't tell what you're looking at. But the darkness was the perfect backdrop to watch the winds blow white steam around you, it was so mystical to watch. The onsen pools inside also had the best temperature, but when I went back into the indoor pools, I started feeling dizzy, possibly 'cos the cold on the roof was doing me in. It was still enjoyable, though. Best temperature and experience, but the water wasn't soft, it was just normal hot water.
Day 5: This day was more travelling, headed towards Sapporo. We had a lot more to do today, since some of the sights are close together. Before that though, my dad and I took a walk round the back to see the lake.
That was also when I learned how important ear protection is. It was so cold, that my eardrums started to hurt, and it was such a strange feeling, I thought I was gonna damage something. So now I know, wear a beanie lol
Anyway, in the morning we took the Usu ropeway up to an observation deck on mount Showa, to overlook Lake Toya again and some other smaller mountains. It was super cold up there though, and again, going out without gloves is a bad idea. I didn't last long out there lol
There was a little slope where you could bobsled down. I had a go at it, and it was quite fun, but having a small pile of snow as a cushion to crash into, my legs got stuck in it. Touching snow with your bare hands is freezing omg and I got snow in my shoes and around my ankles. At least there was a standing heater in the lobby of the ropeway, so I managed to warm up a bit.
Next was the bear park that was down at the base of the ropeway. I had looked the place up beforehand, and came across some bad reviews about it, like how the bears lived in concrete and metal cages, in areas too small for them. But people enjoy seeing animals, so :/ I fed them 'cos I felt bad for them, even though I think that meant funding the park. Ah well.
The baers. They rISE.
Next we went to Kyogoku Fukidashi park, where apparently you can drink the water from a waterfall there. I forgot to take my container to drink the water, but my dad just put his face at the water collection point to drink it. He said it tasted slightly salty, probably from the minerals in the mountains. It was really pretty with white snow everywhere. Water and ice are my #aesthetic I think I got some pretty good shots.
After that was a three-hour long journey to a chocolate factory, which wasn't that great. Or rather, because there were so many people and tourists around, it kinda put me off. We were supposed to be there for cookie decoration, and even then, we only had one chocolate pen to decorate with, and the session didn't last very long. The place itself was pretty big, though. There were pretty-looking desserts on sale, but since it was near dinner time, we didn't get any, so we went around their mini toy and memorabilia museum, and the light decorations outside too.
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so temptingggggggggg |
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| look at them chubby pikachus |
The ride to Sapporo was a really long one though, not because it was far away, but because there were too many cars on the road. I guess it doesn't help that the roads were icy and slippery, so all the more reason to be slow and cautious. And the restaurant we were supposed to go to kept calling our tour guide, asking when we'll be coming, 'cos apparently it's a very popular place, and if you don't get there on time, they'll have to let other people in instead. They still let us in, even though we were about half an hour late, but I think that's also 'cos we were a tour group of 30 people, so they wouldn't leave 30 people out in the cold to find their own food on such short notice lol
Day 6: We went to Otaru in the morning, and boy oh boy, more tourists. (I say more tourists, when in reality, it was a particular group of tourists, and I don't want to be mean and stereotypical, but gosh diddly darn dem PRCs.) We had our photos taken at the canal, and then allowed to walk around, and go shopping for specialty items, like a store dedicated just to music boxes, glass stores, and dessert stores like LeTao. I think the mass of people around us got to me, 'cos I became annoyed after awhile, having to wait for the rest of the tour group. I just wanted our tour guide to show us the places to shop at, and then let us go where we wanted to, instead of wasting time talking to us about the stores.
We didn't go to LeTao, though, which I think is Hokkaido is famous for, but since we were gonna go for lunch after (and how we now know how much there is to eat) we didn't eat anything from there. We did have ice-cream though, because why would you give up a chance to eat ice-cream? After lunch we went to visit the old government house, which had some historical stuff in it, like a museum.
After that, we were given time to walk around Sapporo on our own, although our tour guide wanted to show us some places to shop at, like this store that sells chocolates and sweet stuff from Ishiya along tanuki koji. It was, again, filled with PRCs, so my dad and I decided to go there the next day instead. Oh yeah, the reason why he brought us there is because the stuff there is 5% cheaper, compared to other stores that sell the same stuff. Apparently in Japan, they sell the same products at the same price, so pricing is standardised across all stores, even at the factory outlets. I don't know how true that is, but eh, better to buy food nearer the end of the trip.
Anyway, after he brought us to tanuki koji, we headed off on our own towards Daimaru, because that's where the pokemon center was!! It was slightly more than a kilometer walk away from where we were, and it wasn't hard to get lost since Sapporo's layout is that of a grid. We could walk all the way there underground, just that we didn't know where the exit would be, so we walked above ground for awhile too.
My dad left to sit outside and wait for me, while I spent like, at least half an hour in there wondering what to buy for other people. I did find the original vulpix, my sweet child. I got my bro a team skull pikachu, when it turned out that he wanted one of the plushies with a ditto face. Sadly I only knew that when we came back ono Ah well. If I could, I would've bought a set of plushies of the current starters, but I no enough money. Also the line was crazy long, and I was burning in my jacket. For some the reason, the store had a bunch of middle schoolers with baskets filled with pokemerch, and I'm like ??? Why y'all in school uniform on Sunday, with so much money? The guy at the cashier was also pretty nice. When he spoke to me in Japanese, I told him I didn't understand, so he tried to speak to me in English.
After dinner, we walked to Odori park, where they held a Christmas market with some Christmas lights on display too. There was a store selling postcards designed by local artists, ranging from the kind of artists at artist alley, to little kids. I bought some cards from there, of course. Again, I'm not good at taking nighttime shots of lights.
The roads were pretty slippery, since it was just ice, no fresh snow like in the countryside, so getting around was a work out for my legs and feet.
Day 7: The day was completely on our own, but at around ten, our tour guide was gonna show us to other shopping places and how to use the underground, which we already did the previous night, so we just went out from there. We headed to the store selling the chocolates, and then went to Tokyu Hands before coming back to unload whatever we got. We went back out just for lunch, and then came back. My dad wanted to spend the rest of the day to check on his mail and work stuff, but I wanted to walk about some more - so my dad let me off the hook and allowed me to walk around on my own heheh I knew where I wanted to head towards, which was a kinokuniya near the TV tower, which was pretty much a straight line, so I just had to stick to google maps.
While walking, I passed a bunch of comic stores, one of which was a rental store - and the only people inside were just men. Men in suits, or just young guys, they were there. I left after realising it was mostly manga catered to them, so I continued walking. There was another store that sold instead of rented, and this one had more girls - because of the doujins. I would've bought some for people *cough jo/ju cough* but I didn't know if they needed to check ID for R-rated ones (I assume there were), so I didn't. They had YOI, Free, Haikyuu, even APH, you know, the usual stuff. I would've bought manga from there, but I couldn't find any recognisable one, or any that I've read, except for koe no katachi, which I already have.
I managed to get to the TV tower, but couldn't find the store, 'cos apparently it was underground. Their kino wasn't big, but trying to go through all the manga in Jap took up quite a lot of time. I managed to find something for Daryl (he chose Your Lie in April) I also got some change from that for gacha machines hehehe When I got back up to the main road, I slipped and fell on my left side, which hurt kinda bad (I can still feel it lol orz) Along the way there were some arcades, so I went there hoping to find a gacha machine that had love live in it for Jo. Sadly, all I found were claw machines, and love live machines. I ended up spending 400 yen on some claw machines, hoping to try my luck on the larger items. I spent my last 100 yen coin on a vending machine for hot milk tea. Anyway, I enjoyed my time walking round on my own in the cold, just that it's really icy and hard to get around.
My dad wanted to eat at one of the highly rated restaurants since we were there, just that we didn't know how to make a reservation lol orz So we got the receptionist at the hotel to do that for us. It's a Japanese-Italian restaurant called Picchu, and it's a really small place, with seats at the counter round the kitchen, and some seats upstairs. Needless to say, it was kinda hard to communicate with the waitress. She asked us if we wanted the chef's recommendation, which is omakase, but according to reviews, it took real long, like three hours long to go through all seven courses, so yeah, we just ordered from the board on the wall. The menu was in Japanese and Italian, so uh, yeah. At least there were some recognisable words, so we ordered those.
While waiting for our food, my dad could look down and take a sneak peek into the kitchen. He mostly saw just one person working, doing one dish at a time, which probably makes sense as to why service was slow. But then he got confused, because he remembered seeing a young guy that also served some of the guests, and my dad sometimes saw two people in there. We had mozzarella cheese with some seafood thing, a salad of scallops, and two pastas with, guess what, herring roe and cod sperm! We had no idea we were eating, until we googled what we were eating. The herring roe was okay, but the sperm was kinda weird. We also had medium rare venison with wasabi and peppers.
This is genuine Japanese-Italian, Italian dishes done using local ingredients that are also Japanese delicacies, so that was quite a different experience. Turns out there was some history linked with why there's so much Japanese Italian food, and I think it's an interesting read.
When we finished, we saw the same young guy and the waitress send us out - and that was when we realised, it was the young guy who was cooking for us, although we swore we saw someone behind him in the kitchen when the young guy opened the door for us. Still, there was something nice in knowing that this young guy in his twenties serving good Japanese Italian food, and survive while being the only chef in his restaurant. After that, we just went back to the hotel, pack our stuff, and sleep early since we had to wake up early.
Day 8: We had to leave the hotel at about 5.45 in the morning, because our chartered flight was 8 in the morning, and we couldn't afford to miss it, since it's a flight specifically for other tour groups too. I watched Kubo and Kimi no Na wa again on the plane, slept for about an hour and a half or so. At least the flight back wasn't so bad when I realised how much air I swallowed on the first flight. When we went collect our bags, our tour guide came up to me to pass me a receipt, allowing me to collect a pokemon for $9.90, since he remembered that I like pokemon. I got myself a litten to join my vulpix, so I guess it was a good idea I didn't get a litten in Japan lol
Overall: I think this trip had less stuff to do and see than Shikoku, since Hokkaido is larger, and there's more travelling to do. But I think I enjoyed myself better on this trip and better appreciated what went on, since I'm older lol Our guide though, I think could be better, though. His commentary isn't very exciting - or factual. He said he studied history, but when he talked about Japan's involvement in World War I and II, it was pretty biased and too general. His personal stories were more interesting though, like how he used to work in finance, but one day decided to drop all that, learn Japanese, and move to Japan to study more. He then came back to become a tour guide, because apparently the Southeast Asian region was a popular holidaying spot among the Japanese. Or at least that was so during the time he became a tour guide. However, some of his personal stories that he shared about Japanese culture and lifestyle sounded kinda outdated to me, like about the treatment of housewives at home. I'm not saying that it's not possible for it to be true, but I don't know if that is still true for the current generation. Another was about radiation and cancer, and even if he says that he reads the papers and cuts out good articles, I don't think he's entirely educated on those areas.
His one interesting story though, was about a time he hosted a yakuza chief in Singapore, while he was still a rookie guide. Apparently he was doing so well and pleasing him, that before the big guy left (he had to leave early 'cos his son was in some life-or-death trouble with another clan), he offered him a whole brief case of stacks of US cash. Very tempting, I must say, but he managed to turn it down. One of his Japanese friends warned him against taking money from the yakuza, especially since he's a tour guide, it's easy to use him as a mule for something. Once you take their money, you can't decline to do a favour for them. It is a little terrifying though, to know how close someone was to making a bad decision. I think that was the most interesting story from him lol
Back Home: Anyway, we're currently temporarily staying in an apartment while our bathroom renovations are going on. I don't know how my mum managed to survive in a dusty house, and sleep in her own room where drilling work is being done. I think my sister stayed downstairs in the basement, and my bro stayed in his own room since it's not being affected. But with my dad and I back, we needed to move out since we can't all fit. So now, we're living in a condo near ACJC lol Even though we're in a pretty convenient spot, I can't really go out 'cos my wallet is locked at home, where the bathroom works are taking place. My mum did go back one to get some of my clothes, but since it was in a locked drawer, she couldn't get it. Also, there's only a few key cards to go around, and I'm stuck with the one that is torn in half and held with tape lol I could go out, but only if someone else is at home, since someone needs to open the door for my mum, or if I take dal out.
Ah well, that's mostly it for now. Soon this year will be over, and then school with start, and hopefully the home will be done by then. Sigh, school :/
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