//Day 8 (07/05/09) Sapporo – Otaru + Back to Tokyo //

Otaru is popular among tourists in Hokkaido, as we see Taiwanese and Caucasians throng the place.
It is definitely worth a visit, especially if you're shopping for souvenirs.
They have a lot of SEAFOOD!
Crabs, lobsters, octopus, cuttlefish, scallops.
Seriously, I did not buy enough seafood from there!
As a noob, I didn't even know their seafood was so cheap until my mum and aunt told me when I was back home.
Should have bought more! =S
A packet of seasoned scallops costing 1050 yen is selling for double the price in Tokyo.

Mr KFC..looks different in a foreign land. Lynette says he looks more like a japanese than ever...

Otaru has nice weather! A clear, azure blue sky =)
Humungous shelfish and crabs...A LOT of them.
By the famous Otaru bridge, can't believe we walked past it w/o noticing!

Roadside Artists... Elderly, yet talented.
It's 22.1 degree celsius. We were secretly glad to be away from Singapore's humid and hot weather. Hehe.
Ice cream mascots! And Lynette's infatuation with them =P

This exquisite piece is made of glass, can you believe it?

This is the music box museum, all music boxes are made of glass too! Otaru's specialty!
Tired? Call for a rickshaw.
Otaru post office. yubin kyo-ku. Haha.
A variety of pretty music boxes for you to choose! But they were super ex! =X

A day spent in Otaru, looking at glasswares, being made into anything possible, we actually saw a glass pen (and tested it out, cool!)
Looking at glass jewellery and bought some (the only ones we could afford!)
Looking at live seafood, looking at all sorts of music boxes, listening to their melody and tunes.

I'm mesmerised by Otaru... are you?

Caught a train back to Sapporo, had our favourite bento seto again!

Our train back to Tokyo was at 10pm but we were ultra early at 7 plus, i think you know the reason why.
Then we walked around the Sapporo stn, which was getting quite deserted as almost all the shops closed at 9pm!
What do you do when you're bored? Snap pics!

Tired from the lugging..

As promised, my green/black 'pillow' and lynette's red 'bolster'.

Looks comfy?
A whole load to carry!

//Day 7 (06/05/09) Sapporo - Furano//

Comfort Hotel is located near (ok, have to walk for 10mins w/o luggage) Susukino Subway stn.



From there we can take the underground subway to the main Sapporo Stn.
Our plan was to visit the marimo at Lake Akan National Park but there was no available route!!
If i remembered correctly, it's like almost 4 hrs to and to come back, another 4 hrs!

So, we had to go Furano instead.
Since our trains were due in an hr's time, we took off the the nearby clock tower and tv tower.
Wah, had a hard time trying to find both places, which we finally did, by engaging the help of a few passerby.

A real horse!!!

Panasonic TV tower.
No marimo =(
To Furano =D
After we reached Furano Stn, we had to take a cab cuz the sightseeing bus was not available on weekdays.
The meter started from SGD 9!
Our journey, which was about 10 mins, costed around SGD16... =S
But it was worth it as the cheese, milk, pizza factory is sooo nice.
The air is fresh, the sky is blue, there is no reason not to like this place.
Away from the hustle and bustle of the city, oh suddenly i feel like living as a villager.
The best ice-cream flavour goes to.... Cheese Flavour!
The taste is similar to that of chilled cheesecake!
Light and non-greasy =D

And I wondered why some others ordered asparagus flavour, sounds ew!
Although the prices of the pizza was not considered cheap, since we are here, why not?

Crispy Japanese Pizza, made with their specialty cheese!

Bye to Furano! It's a really nice place! Would return to visit if there's chance =P

At Sapporo stn, we couldn't resist the temptations of Dan Bao Fan, aka Omelette Rice.
Finally found one stall which does takeaway...
The stallholder, (an uncle in his forties/fifties) even asked me where I am from.
Once i said 'Singaporu-jin', he showed me his english menu, boy am i amazed that even he knows our main language is english.
Then as we waited for our food, he was talking very animatedly with his chef, and i could only catch the words 'Singaporu-jin” lol.
And they even served us iced water as we sat in the rather traditional-looking restaurant.
Too bad I'm not an anime fan, cuz i saw some copies lying at the corner for patrons to read.

Then, back to Susukino, we rushed into the 100 yen shop at 8.30pm (it was due to close at 9pm)
and, guess what happened?
Grabbing, grabbing and more grabbing!
Every item is only 100 yen ($1.60).
And we cleared their seaweed rack, which is not a lot by the way =)
We were so busy grabbing and filling up our basket that we forgot to take pictures!
In the end, i had one 'pillow' of the stuff, while lynette had one 'bolster'.
Stay tuned for the next day's journey to catch a photo of those two 'sleepwares' we had.
A perfect day accomplished =)

A not-so-perfect hotel room haha.