Hokkaido – Rusutsu to Sapporo – (Day 5)

We started the day going round the mountain we saw the previous night while stopping by the side of the road a few times to take pictures.  That mountain really look magnificent as a back drop against the various foreground. In fact … the view is so stunning that I simply had to stop the car, set up the tripod and include my wife and myself in the picture ! ha ha

Following the GPS, we reached Fukidashi Park soon after. This park is famous for its spring water which gushes out forming a mini water fall. The water is said to have originated from the ground water of Mount Yotei. Before we even reach the park, there are hawkers setting up stall by the entrance selling water bottles of all shapes and sizes for people to take away the spring water .. can you beat that !

Although the spring water is the main attraction, the scenery around the park is not too bad either. We spent some time walking under the thick canopy of trees enjoying the serenity. Before we hit the road again, we filled up a full water bottle of fresh spring water for the journey ahead… tastes even better than Evian.

To reserve more time for Otaru town,  we decide to skip the next stop on the itinerary, Nikka Whiskey Factory.  Anyway .. I would not drink and drive at the same time and my wife is not a whiskey fan… so not much loss.  By skipping this stop, it made the journey to Otaru town horrendously long.  Luckily we took frequent breaks along the way …and we chance upon a Cherry blossom plantation. Could not resist it … so I made a small detour into the plantation to take a few quick shots!

Reached Otaru town close to 1230. Located the car park which Prime Travels had indicated …. I realized that Prime Travels had already did their leg work for us .. the car park indicated is one of the cheapest in the area (100 yen for every 30 mins block).  I later found out that you can save a bit on car park charges by parking your car at some of the local restaurants while having your lunch … but I found it too troublesome to ship the car here and there .

Ok … Town of Otaru … it is definitely a tourist attraction.  The interesting places to visit are limited to 2 streets.  There are plenty to look, from glass ware factories (for a fee, you can even make your own glass decoration / accessory – from the melting, blowing, cooling and coloring of the glass bits) to music box factory to art gallery and museums.  There is even a few hello Kitty coffee shops where you can enjoy a hot cuppa and later bring home the hello kitty coffee cups and saucers as souvenirs.

The stalls and buildings are a juxtapose of ancient Japanese and European (Victorian to be exact) architecture.   This made the whole street very Disney land like and very dreamy. Hack .. they even have horse carts and rickshaw pullers ferrying tourists up and down the street.  This is definitely THE place to visit.  For first timers, I would recommend you sparing 2 to 3 hours for this little town. You will not regret it.

This site provides a 2007 map of the little town.

For lunch we headed to a small authentic family restaurant highly recommended by our friendly tour guides.  I can no longer remember the full name.. it is called Fu Shi something … by the main road … got pic (though not very helpful .. haha) The lunch although simple was one of the tastiest I had … I had Salmon roe again .. and this time round I find that the taste is even better than the one I had in Kani Ichiban.  Yum yum … be ready to fork out about S$50 plus for a meal for 2 though …

We lost track of all time in this beautiful little town, especially in the music box factory and glass ware factory. By the time we leave Otaru, it is already close to 4.  We were rushing to go down to Ishiya Chocolate factory before it closed. Luckily the journey did not take very long and it was made shorter by the express way. (We were going at 120 to 130km on the expressway ).  Parking was free at the factory … but that was because we bought the chocolates … not sure if it will be free if we left empty handed … well ..

The factory is famous for their Shiroi Kibito (白色恋人）chocolate.  Do not worry about the ban on its chocolates (for more regarding the ban, read here) .. it had been lifted. The compound is big with a nicely decorated garden and the flowers were in full bloom.  Viewing of the chocolate manufacturing process required money and timing.  So we decided to give the chocolate making viewing a miss.

Dusk is approaching and temperature is falling fast … so we decided to move on to our next and last destination for the day .. Sapporo Grand Hotel in Sapporo … of course.

Sapporo is the capital of Hokkaido and it is not difficult to see why … traffic slowed considerably due to the exponential increase in numbers of cars by the road.  Parking is expensive and gone are the open parking lots… They make use of a elevator system the maximise the use of parking land. Trust me .. if you have trouble with parallel parking .. parking into an elevator is worse… the allowance from the wall to each side of your car is only 3 to 5 cm and you can only be guided by a mirror.

Anyway … once when we reached Sapporo it is already 6 30 pm.  Dinner is not catered for today and we made our way to the famous ramen street.  Sounds grand .. but it is actually a very narrow alley filled with only ramen stalls. You get to sit in front of the chef while he prepares your ramen ..  Competition is steep and so every stall’s standard is more or less there.  We just choose one that is not too crowded or fully booked or reserved and tuck in…

After dinner, we walked around the town.  Sapporo is easy to navigate as the streets are referred to as coordinates instead of given fanciful names.  So a building at North 2 East 3 can easily be located once you find out which street you are at.  This is the first real town we see in Hokkaido with restaurants, shopping malls and sophisticated office buildings, bathed in colorful neon lights. The people here are also dressed differently.  It is like a big CBD area.  Anyway it is late and freezing .. so we head back to the hotel to plan our route for the next day … Next day is going to be exciting as we are deviating from the planned itinerary and extending the trip on our own. Sorry guys .. no shots of the hotel as I think the website’s photoes are better than mine.

The rest of my pics are here.