Hokkaido-Places

This time let me start with a nasihat. For your next trip, get yourself a sort of trip diary. Now I feel frustrated that I forgot the chronolgies and all, it's hard to give a helpful answer. I usually go like.."lupa dah" although baru je beberapa bulan.

Nevertheless, I remember the places I visited. Basically..as long as the pictures there. pheww..God bless who invented camera.haha..precisely digital camera! heh..

I may not be able to write everything I do, but i'll try as much.

Anyway, this time I'll write about two places you must go in Sapporo.

Historical Village, Hokkaido

Access: Go to Shin-sapporo station and take bus for Historical Village. The bus took only 10mins. so dekat. so, don't drive.

It is an outdoor museum..A spacious, huge, physically demanding kind of museum. It's like you came into an ancient village. There's sweet shop, hotels, houses, factories, fire fighters house, newspaper company, school, etc. Everything that is in a society!

But, yours truly dah penat nak balik kat rumah ke-2 je baru (that's the situation you have to deal when...wani is not interested. she will..immediately feel tired>,<)

But, not interesting to me, might be interesting to you ^_^

what made me keep walking was..I just wanna walk with him, and..yea..i eat a lot the night before, so...:'D

the views here mmg awesome. every single thing pun so interesting to be captured. Sesapa yg nk gi honeymoon tu bolehla spend masa kat sini gegolek amek gamba :')

Let's have a look around.

Lihat, punyala real perkampungan ni, siap ada public transport..yaitu kereta kuda:D

 

This is the silk house. sometimes, they put patung which would make me..tekejut.

and..the pakciks called me, to try on er...baju petani? They were volunteers. I think this place is mostly operated by volunteers yg terdiri daripada pakcik-pakcik and makcik-makcik. I heard that, after they retire, they would feel bored, hence the volunteering:) This is a common thing in Japan. You'll see a lot of elders volunteers in places like this.

kereta kuda station

 

Gakko (school)

Actually, a lot of pictures were taken. Itupun we did not see all buildings. For more, sila tengok sendiri.hahaha.

 

Mt. Moiwa

Access: (Susukino) Tram to Mt. Moiwa ropeway station, take the free feeder bus (basically drive you up a bit so you don't have to sweat at all. the bus ride was only 3mins! or so)..yea..basically baik naik public dpd drive. hewhew..

Ini lah bas kecik tu. The timing was so perfect, well synchronized with the tram. I don't know how else to praise these Japanese. sekecil2 perihal pun di titikberat :') no reason not to come here.

Actually, we came here twice. The first time we came was more like an impromptu visit as we got extra hours in the evening and the nearest attraction to us that time was Mt. Moiwa. Husband was quite skeptical to my idea at first. My plan for Mt. Moiwa sounded so hopeless romantic. haha.

So, the first time we came, we were told that there might not be a good view for that night. Mt. moiwa is quite high actually..It needs two ropeway trips to reach the top. So, if the weather bad, the view langsung x ada. So, the staffs keep reminding visitors about this and convinced us to come another day. Unfortunately, it was raining season for the whole week, so the probability for a clear view is almost impossible for us. The trip up is quite pricey and the attraction is the view itself. If there's no view, then, there's no point to go up. Husband listened to them anyway, so we balik. That time I started to think that I'd never climb the mountain T_T

I guess it's my rezeki next day, the sky was so clear! alhamdulillah..so we go there at dawn. Dear husband was kind enough to book a table and made sure the food served are muslim friendly! That's a good thing about Japanese. They tolerate well with our beliefs, although husband had to explain quite long on the phone. pheww..

Ropeway ticket. So, there were two trips. The first trip would just carry you until the middle peak. It is not necessary to buy both trips. You could just stop halfway. Banyak attraction juga although half:) We came back down very late, so, everything close already. So, I don't know what's there.

Since we book a table at jewel restaurant, the price for the ride were included in the dinner..so, what I'm trying to say here is..I don't know :p

 

Stunning view all the way up.

Oh, before that, you can climb on foot too. But there'll be many warnings for foxes..maybe more suitable during daylight. Me? no..daylight ke tak ke..I would rather ride the ropeway. I love my lutut k.

 

View on top of Mt. Moiwa:') i should have came earlier. Dapat tangkap sikit je..then..gelap T_T

 

Our table. In front of us is a glass wall..and Sapporo City is behind it :')

 

Then we jalan-jalan around the place. Basically we were hanging on top of Sapporo, looking down like a gawd :p ramai pasangan kekasih je kt sini. takde bebudak pon :p and I tell you, after just a few minutes, I felt really cranky..coz it was sooo damn cold. like super duper cold T_T

Walaupun sejuk kene buat muka sweet je sebab that was my idea after all T_T

I think this entry would be the last for Hokkaido series.

Till then, see you in another review:)

 

 

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Dining in Hokkaido-Cheese!

Assalamualaikum..

Last time I stop at seafood. I hope the review could help you get a picture of what Hokkaido is all about (for men, that is food!)

As I mentioned before, I was mostly looking forward to let myself loose on a green field besides white cows with huge black spots, like what we've always see on a milk's box :p My imagination went like, I would help around carrying the freshly squeezed milk and could finally drink the freshest milk ever (not like u can be allowed to drink straight tau.haha)

So, of course one thing I look forward to do in Hokkaido was indulging their produk tenusu like cheese and...susu! anyway, it was actually including the meat, but of course la we muslims are forbidden. So, we stick to susu and cheese je k. Yogurt pun, but yours truly is not a big fan of.

Cheese..all we had in mind was..italian food. Banyak je restaurant Italian especially because we jalan-jalan most of the time around Sapporo je. Our hotel pun memang tengah-tengah (gile) Sapporo city. But, we can't waste any time. It's like no space for mistake in making decision bab-bab makan ni. haha..kalau dah penuh, agak payah la nk cuba yang lain..so, bagusnya Jepun ni, u ols taip aje la kat google tu 'famous dining place in Sapporo' (contohla..ayat carian boleh dirombak mengikut keselesaan anda). So, we did! Following the result, we were brought to Sapporo eki (Sapporo station), to an Italiam restaurant name Circo. According to the ranking given in the website, this restaurant is number 1!lol xp

This kedai is located on the 3rd floor (kot) x ingat. But u wouldn't find it by the roadside ke..no, you have to keep your eyes on the papan-papan tanda on the building. But basically, it was just opposite Sapporo eki (however, the eki is so huge..and I'm pretty sure this wouldn't help :p) haha.

Let's have a look!

The open kitchen. Kita boleh je gi kat dia tgk dia prepare our order (nobody I saw doing that though)

Ni kat depan pintu masuk. pasta maker. Freshly made following orders!

Pizza kitchen. Dapur batu

Because we were very blur, we asked their recommendation. But we tell them, we would like to try hokkaido cheese. So, they recommend us cheese fondue and pizza of the season.

The cheese fondue. Yours truly is not a big fan of fondue..but this one I can eat. In fact I like it! My favorite was sweet poptato deep in fondue! Well, maybe it's the cheese? I don't know.haha

Their seasonal pizza. That time was kani (ketam) pizza, with lotsa cheese on top!! Their all time specialities was their tomato pizza (i forgot the name, mane margharita?). Memule tak heran pon tomato2 ni..sekali makan..wowss!!the tomato was indeed so different! I don't know how to explain it. It was so sweet! So, the pizza tu tak cukup la at the end. hahah

Two days later, I miss the pizza, so hubby had to bring me here again..this time, I want the whole pan for myself :P lihat! Basically the best pizza I ever had. The dough is perfect, cheese was marvellous!

Interior. Every food akan dipresent bebaik punya..some of presentation I put them in keek. hihihi

Susu pulak..actually we tried a few.This one in glass bottle was the first one. We instantly fell in love and we basically drink this like water! Tapi yours truly tak gemok pulak...husband?Hard to tell..haha

Oh, another thing I sgt amazeballs...*drumrolls*ichigo miruku!!! (strawberry milk!) but I think it wasn't right to complement solely the kedai la..because I think the susu already sedap as it is. Tapi I never had think of this! we can simply dump a lightly crushed strawberries in a glass of fresh milk...and wallah!

As of omiyage (souvenirs), mashaAllah...banyak sgt rasa nak beli. Like above example, the cheese (which I found it ridicuclously expensive), cakes (because of their butter, most of their cakes are awesome), butters, and..etc (suddenly I got writer's block). we bought susu yg mendapat gelaran golden award.haha..but I prefers yang kat atas tadi. It is more drinkable than the golden one. haha..

Till then, see you soon! xoxo

 

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Dining in Hokkaido-the seafood series

Before I arrived in Hokkaido, green fields with cows were the picture i had in my mind. Unfortunately, we only had a week which is not enough to travel farther than Sapporo. The farthest we went was Otaru, which was about an hour by bus. So, mostly we were in Sapporo. Maybe if we were a little bit more motivated and a bit fit we could do more than Sapporo.

My agenda was simple. I want to go to that field I saw in Adelaide once upon a time and hirup udara segar dengan banyaknya. But husband has other agendas, totally differ to mine. He wanted to invest money and time for good food! I was so disagree to his plan at first. But I don't know how I finally fell for that too! geez..When the time I sedar, we were all set to fly back home. cehh..

When you are in Hokkaido, maybe you would get yourself a catalogue as panduan la kan. Because our hotel is located in the centre of Sapporo, there were so many tourist centre and souvenir shops and you could get all these panduan there for free. Or better, google it in your smartphones!

What I'm about to tell you is a general knowledge- Hokkaido is a place for seafoods especially kani (ketam/crabs)!

From my research, there are 2 places where you can enjoy those the freshest!

1) Nijo Market

2) Curb Market

Nijo market was located just about 5 minutes from our hotel, hence the final day :p

Nijo market looks like. So like a wet market kan???but a tourist attraction!

We didn't know which kedai to go, until we see like segerombolan tourist walk eagerly towards this one small, isolated restaurant. Not to mention a bit dodgy. We enter anyways, and look what we ordered!

Saving the best for last. Trust me, all this uncook food cost us a fortune. But for husband, the experience and taste would be worth it! So, we ordered both of their osusume (recommended).

The restaurant looks from outside. It was such an experience to eat at this kinda restaurant. Despite of the look, the seat were always full and ranked among the top for kani.

My review?

Sedap tu memang sedap, but too expensive with its portion. If you want to eat kani, I adviced you to eat in Curb market instead.

Our menu in Curb Market. I like my kani and salmon so so much!!!The kani was so sweet and abundant! The portion also very big for the price! So, I guess Curb Market would be a better choice:)

As we walk, we stumbled upon a restaurant which offered cheap sashimi!

Husband so fast masuk although it was about time I go to bed >,<

Our sashimi. And...not recommended. Murah sebab tak sedap rupanya despite of coming in kapal lidat! Another dodgy Japanese restaurant! arghh!! mcm dalam drama GTO tau T_T

Ok, when I said seafood, of course sushi is in the list!

We spent half a day in Otaru. Believe me, it is more than enough please...not much there except the cannal. Tapi ok je nak pergi :)

Actually, we read there was a 'sushi alley' nearby the canal. After surveying,(in cold. Otaru was so damn cold!) we came to the first restaurant we saw just by the canal (not even near to the alley >,<). Best suits our taste:)

This is the restaurant. We chose this one because this restaurant did not make you eat by set. You can order whateva you like!

This was just a few of our plates. The white fish was my favorite! Bestnya, we eat while being entertained by the chef. It was so amusing to look at them making sushi in front of me. It wasn't as easy as we thought! geez..practically sushi is just raw seafood with nasi je. The hardest is the art to it!

One of the chef of the day!Oh, I forgot to mention, if you come here, get the table,instead. the view would be the Otaru canal. so romantic! ^_^

Anyway, it wasn't that Otaru famous for sushi, that we had sushi here. The person at Otaru tourist centre told us that Sapporo is the better choice for seafood. Basically, anything you want in Hokkaido are just in Sapporo.

Happy seafood-ing!

 

 

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Shiroi Koibito Park, Hokkaido

We arrived at our hotel at 8pm and most of the shops were already closed by that time. We were so hungry and tired then. That's why I hate flying. What we do was only sit right? but why do we feel tired and hungry??!! >,<

Anyway, it wasn't hard to find our hotel. Since this was a last minute trip (again!) we didn't have much choice. The best choice was Sunroute Hotel Sapporo. The location was so awesome. Do you know shottengai (shopping district with roof). It was located at the shottengai of Sapporo. Awesome right?

Besides, our hotel was located like 2-3mins away from the Pole Town; an underground mall connecting between Susukino metro and Odori metro. So, there's two metros you can choose! I love to choose Odori coz it is a bit farther than Susukino, so I could pass by a lot more shops on the way:') you know what I mean:p

Another great thing was, airport limo stop just in front of the hotel. So, no need la to risau rushing2 with all ur luggages later. Plus, in Japan they keep time like so tepat, sometimes 2 seconds early (speaking of my pengalaman tetinggal shinkansen T-T).

Anyway, on the second day when we wake up, we was like..what's the plan for today? apparently both of us, tak ada plan T_T

We didn't even decide whether to get a car or to travel by train. Most people adviced us to get a car. So, husband called around and we got a car despite of it being holiday season. lagi awesome pasal hotel ni, there's also a rental car service at its parking space! ^_^

with our ride. the only choice left. Im ok with it, unlike the guy in the picture la -_-"

So, dah naik kereta we were like..err..where to go? we refer to the car gps, and we saw..wow! shiroi koibito park is just like 10 minutes away! So, terusla ke sini :D

View outside shiroi koibito park.

So, what is this place? I had no idea at first, but after the visit, I'd say..this p

place simply a chocolate factory (again?!I know right??). I mean a pretty chocolate factory, located in a building of many museums like musical instruments, etc. Ada show juga you can enter. There's chocolate making class, where you can register and make chocolate for your loved ones. I wanted to but then changed my mind because like 90% of the participants were children >,< basically, it was like visiting willy wonka chocolate factory in the movie!

The only gambar yg sesuai utk tatapan umum, despite of..my face :|

supposedly enjoying their chocolate drink. But no, I had to have my coffee. But we had chocolate cakes :D

The chocolate factory I just described. I don't feel this interesting at all. But, what interest me was looking at husband analyzing the processes, etc. geez..

 

The inside of the building was like a French Royal Home gitu. Cantik!

 

This is no option. Before you can enter the building, you will be given a pasport, and your picture would be taken. Don't worry, you can ask them to use your camera instead :')

Finally, some of the views for you :)

 

Ok, till then, I'll see you for what is the ultimate purpose for you to come to Hokkaido:)

 

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To Hokkaido

So, we've been to Hokkaido during the Golden week last May.

Er..actually it wasn't even the Golden week. We went like a few days before the Golden week. simply because I was so..tak faham la bila actually cutinya >,<

Hokkaido is a very nice place if you plan to come. Offering you something different for those who are residing in Japan and crave for something different other than shrines and matsuris. hehe..you know what I mean :p

Anyways, despite of that, I had a hard time to focus and enjoy the moment as I couldn't take my mind off of work. With the emails constantly came in, and the thought about the viva and conference. Nonetheless, I had a great time with the love of my life, who kinda try to compensate the times he's been missing for work. How sweet :')

At first, I feel reluctant to write on the journey. But while I was doing research for the trip, I had a hard time to find reviews. So, I decided to add into the search engine. Nice or not, belakang kira :p

Second reason being, isn't it nice when I browse through this blog, and I can read the memory :) Don't you think the same too?:)

Lastly, my biological clock for sleeping went haywire since viva week, i fell asleep around 830pm everynight, wake up at 10pm and only sleep again at 2. So, yes, I have free time from 10pm to 2am. I don't know what's happening, but I guess circadian genomic clock can explain this.

Well, ok, enough with mukaddimah :p

The train from Nagoya city to Nagoya Airport.

Look! look! it has 'chiketto horuda' (translation: ticket holder). I don't know how you guys, but I feel impressed by this small thing!Really made my life easier:')

Nagoya Airport located like in the middle/by the sea:) Awesome view!

hehe..We flew by AirAsia Japan Domestic.

Ok, this is important. Trip in Hokkaido shall startas soon as you step down of the plane. The attraction starts in the airport. Even I should pesan to you to just buy your souvenirs there. Seriously, the airport has eeevrything! It's better too so as you don't need to carry your stuff all the way to the airport and jeorpadozing their integrity. Boleh jumpa semuaaaa semuaaaa sekali di airport k!Even more stuff!

Another thing, there's a entertainment area at the airport; The smile road (I bet the name given on purpose:p)

Dekat sini je ada banyak sangat attraction, especially....

Tadaaa!!! Royce' Chocolate World!

#Royce chocolate was found in Hokkaido.

So, inside the chocolate world, there's a small museum where you can see most of the history of Royce chocolate and exhibition on the chocolates from the 'ancient' days. I don't find it interesting though :p But just immerse yourself with it k.

Also, the factory was there surrounded by glass wall. So, you can see the making from outside. Kids will find this amusing. Me?

 

This is totally for me!!!The only one thing I came for! But husband made me see everything first before I can step into the store (store kat depan sekali, k:/ I think he should let me get what I want first before dragging me into those museum:/)

And, this was our favorite:) white chocolate with cranberries toppings:)

 

Besides that, there's Doraemon skypark (comel sgt cafe dia :'))

And Hello Kitty World!

So, as I told you, it started as soon as you arrived!

 

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