Last Thursday was a national holiday and we decided to take the Friday off as well making it a four day weekend. What better opportunity to visit the northern island of Hokkaido before Tamie’s belly was too big to walk and the weather was too cold to… walk?
Our plan for Thursday morning was to take walk to the train station, a train to Hon-Atsugi, a bus to Haneda Airport, a plane to Asahikawa, and then a rental car to our hotel. The reality was it was raining so hard when we got up we had to call a taxi and skip the walk, we got on the bus but it was delayed so we had to scramble at the airport to catch our flight. Luckily in Hokkaido the weather was better, but we did just miss the bus that took us to the rental car shop.
Standing around in shorts and sandals in the colder weather of Hokkaido made the wait seem even longer than it was. Eventually the bus came and we got our car. A Honda Fit as it turns out (sorry Nissan). After driving the island for three days I’ve come to the conclusion that Honda owns all the rental car companies in Hokkaido because we saw a LOT of Fits there. While the rental car lady explained something to Tamie in Japanese, I took the opportunity to change into jeans and shoes (not because it was cold but because I couldn’t drive in sandals!) When the lady finished explaining, some ten minutes later, Tamie handed me the keys and we were off. I asked her what was explained and she shrugged… couldn’t have been important, I guessed.
Our first stop along the way was a garden full of flowerslookout over some fields because someone missed a turnoff. The lookout wasn’t much to look at (probably would have been nicer if the weather co-operated), but there were croquets (potato-based foodstuff) and tomatoes for sale. Hokkaido is famous for potatoes, plus Tamie loves the stuff, so we had to try them and they didn’t disappoint. We moved on quickly after a tour bus full of people showed up.
Our second stop along the way was what was supposed to be our first stop. We hit the expansive garden with more flowers than I’d ever seen. I’m not much of a horticulturist but I was impressed. They were big fields with lots of flowers. Layla was more impressed with the soft-serve ice cream they sold.
The first garden was nothing though compared to the next garden we visited. Words can’t do justice to the array of colours and flowers that were there so check out some pictures here. Here’s a brief sample:
The highlight of this garden was the photographer who came up to us when we first got there. He tried to say something to me and I told him “No Japanese” not wanting to buy a picture. He persisted and so did I. Finally he held up a sign, in Japanese. I smiled, nodded, and went back to what I was doing. He laughed, flipped the sign over and showed me the English version offering to take our picture with our camera if he could also take one with his. We did, although by this point Layla had enough of this guys antics and didn’t want anything to do with him.
After the gardens, we drove for what was predicted to be an hour or more drive. 25km, even the way I drive, shouldn’t take over an hour especially when the speed limit was 60km/h! I’m not sure how google maps calculated that one, but it was a bit off. Actually, all driving predictions were off by a fair bit – I guess they’re probably calculated for worst case conditions in the middle of winter or something? Although, at one point in our trip we did get stuck behind an old (and seemingly asleep) local who weaved back and forth at a leisurely 18km/h.
After checking into our hotel, we found our hotel room had three single beds! Awesome! I guessed Hokkaido people, despite the cold, just never sleep together or something. It worked out pretty well, though, because while Tamie laid beside Layla singing her to sleep I dozed off in the second bed. I woke up later in the night when someone crawled in beside me — it was Layla! In the morning Tamie explained I took up too much space in the bed so she took one for herself. Fair enough, I guess.
The second day in Hokkaido was planned for the zoo in Asahikawa. We got up early because it the drive was going to take more than two hours. An hour later we were there. Thank goodness for the worst case scenarios. =) We actually lucked out getting there early as we found a space for our little car in the free parking section. Win-win! The only problem was the weather as dark clouds loomed and the rain started. On the bright side, we got good souvenir umbrellas that Layla has been proudly using since we got back.
The zoo was indeed interesting, highlighted by the penguin and seal tunnels and the lion and monkey windows. The penguin tunnel is just as it sounds, an underwater tunnel you walk through while penguins zip around you as you walk. The first time through the penguins were pretty active and it was really cool. So cool we had to go back later in the day. Unfortunately the second time through the penguins must have just ate or something because there was only one or two penguins lazily swimming on top of the water.
The seal tunnel is quite famous in the zoo – I’ve come to learn that “famous” is Japanese for overcrowded. It was the opposite of the penguin tunnel. Instead of us walking through a tunnel surrounded by seals, it was the seals that floated up a column of water surrounded by people. Lots of people. All pointing cameras and posing to get the perfect shot with the animals. I, too, tried to get that perfect shot but gave up quickly as more and more people kept coming in and Layla got more and more frustrated with them.
The lion cage had a thick glass window that you could look through. Layla found one for kids and scoped it out, waiting for the lion. He actually came to her, and “roared” which sounded more like a barking or wheezing. While Tamie watched from the bigger window, the lion came to see her too, scratching on a big log the zookeepers put down obviously to attract the big cat. Both Tamie and Layla were elated with their lion experiences, as was I. The monkey window was a similar window near the chimpanzees, high up where they were swinging around. There was a baby chimp who was active, chasing what appeared to be his Dad around on the monkey bars. We all got a kick out of watching it.
After the zoo, we climbed back into the car for another multi-hour drive down to Sapporo. We made great time on the highways but the city itself was covered in street lights and they all seemed to want to be red for us. We were actually later than the google prediction, all because of the traffic. Who could have predicted a traffic jam around 6pm on a Friday?! Eventually we made it to our hotel, found our room and then called the restaurant we were planning to eat at to see if we could get a table. We couldn’t. The whole place was rented out! We did find another place and had a nice crab meal before heading off to bed.
Saturday we stayed in Sapporo, exploring the city and the food festival that was being held that day. The city held several sights, including a big market for melons and crabs, including a TV tower, a clock tower built in 1878 (according to Wikipedia), a government building of some sort and a caramel shop! The market was huge, with thousands of crabs being sold in row upon row of shops. The crabs freaked Layla out enough that she eventually just didn’t want to shop anymore. Thank goodness I had an excuse! 
The clock tower was the most famous, being built in 1878 which also meant the most crowded. People were lining up to take pictures in front of it. The big thing at the caramel shop right now is caramel covered potato chips which we tried, but didn’t buy.
At the food festival, Tamie found a “hurricane potato”, a festival food she’d had several years prior and been unable to find since. Her eyes lit up bigger than Layla’s with ice cream so we had to get one. I’ve never seen anyone so happy to find a potato!
Also at the festival was a ramen section right next to the alcohol section. Funnily enough, the dessert place we got Layla’s ice cream at was also next to the alcohol section. Nothing goes better with a Sapporo beer than a Very Berry Parfait! If that wasn’t the slogan of the festival, it should have been. Tamie chowed down on two separate bowls of ramen. She must have really liked it as you had to line up twice just to get a single bowl — first you had to line up to buy a ticket for a particular kind of ramen… then you had to line up at the particular ramen stand to give them the ticket and claim your bowl of soup. She did that twice, and both times came out smiling!
After the food festival, we headed back to the hotel to pick up our car and head out to the final stop on our trip, the city of Otaru, famous for the canal that runs through it. We checked into the last hotel before heading out to explore the city, seeing many sushi shops on the street called “sushiyadori”, which translates funnily enough to “sushi shop street”. We’d hit it up later for supper after exploring. When the sun went down, the temperature dropped quickly. Before hitting the sushi restaurant, though, we went to see the famous canal. It was indeed famous, with many people crowding around to take pictures of themselves with it in the background! We did the same before succumbing to the cold and heading for supper.
The sushi place we ended up eating at was decent, but I’m quite sure they ripped us off. We’d eaten our fill of sushi and the last bill we saw was for something in the neighbourhood of 11000 yen, quite cheap by sushi standards. When the final bill came up, though, it was over 21000 yen, nearly double what we thought we had to pay. Conveniently, the 21000 yen bill was hand written on a piece of paper with no price breakdown. I tried to do some quick math with the menu and some ten minutes later figured it should’ve been somewhere in the middle, around 15-16000 yen. When we stormed up to the cashier to duke it out with the waitress, she pre-emptively apologized and gave us a bill for 16000 yen. I’m still not sure what the mix-up was and they never really explained it, but it seemed reasonable… I’m still never going back… If I’m ever in Otaru again… And remember where it is we ate.
The final day in Hokkaido was Sunday and we had most of the day to explore Otaru. When we were first planning the trip I suggested the aquarium to Tamie but she wasn’t too keen on the idea. After exploring the city the day before and with little else to do in the small town we ended up going there. Luckily we did because it turned out to be a great, if old, aquarium. It sat right on the ocean and a lot of the animal pools were actually built into the coast. The sea lion was worth the price of admission as it was the biggest thing I’d ever seen. The fact they made it climb up a flight of stairs and jump into the cold water below just made it all the more worthwhile.
Actually I think the best part of the day for the girls was the opportunity to actually feed the seals. The aquarium had a hospital for seals so there were a lot of them in the ocean pools, and for 500 yen you could buy a bucket of fish to throw to them. I’m not sure who enjoyed it more but both Tamie and Layla had a great time flipping fish to the seals waiting below.
When we finished at the aquarium, we took a walk around the area beside it looking for a place for lunch. There was what I thought looked like a temple on top of a big hill that Tamie said was not a temple at all. (what do I know?) She said it was a famous fishing house and served lunch so we headed up to see if we could get a bite to eat. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a place that served lunch (what does she know? 
) but it was a decent view. Once we were done taking in the decent view, we headed back down to see if we couldn’t scrounge up one last decent lunch before heading to the airport to fly home.
We walked past a restaurant with fish cooking over a fire that looked somewhat interesting. Inside there was only one family and a lot of empty places to sit. We continued walking, though, wanting to see what else we could find. Right next door there was another fish fire outside a restaurant, only this restaurant was brimming with people. I could only attribute the difference to the quality of the food so we tried, and succeeded, to get a table at the busy restaurant. I did wonder if it was famous. It turns out that it was just the lucky restaurant chosen by a tour bus operator when deciding where to drop their tour group for lunch. Midway through our meal nearly the entire restaurant got up and left. It was kinda funny.
After lunch, we headed back to the car for the long drive to the airport. It wasn’t long in the sense that it took time, it was long because we knew that it meant our vacation was coming to a close. The flight home was rather uneventful, as was the bus ride after that and the train ride after that. Sleeping in our own bed again was nice, but truth be told, I’d take a hotel bed on a vacation any day of the week.
So long, Hokkaido, it was nice to finally meet you. We’ll be back again someday.
) and we were off for a nice day of hiking.
Saturday
Sunday
Monday