Japan - Hokkaido

Last grad trip before I start work. This time we are took up the tour package with Hong Thai to Hokkaido. This will be a 7 day 6 night trip but the actual tour only consists of 5 days. Woke up really early in the morning to catch the flight to Tokyo, followed by transiting at Narita Airport for evening flight to Chitose Airport, Hokkaido.

Day 1: First stop of day 1 is to Lake Shikotsu-ko, the deepest natural volcano lake in Japan. We enjoyed a breezy cruise ride on the lake.

We then visited the Shiraoi Ainu Village, here we experienced the culture of the Ainu minority race in Hokkaido.

After lunch, we continued to embark on our bus trip to Hakodate (函馆). Stopped by Konbu-Kan to see how the Japanese harvest the Konbu (seaweed) from the sea. Upon reaching Hakodate in the evening, we visited Meiji-Kan to look at some souvenir and seafood and then had a really satisfying Japanese set dinner. The main attraction of Hakodate is it's panoric night view that is ranked top 3 in the world. We took a cable car ride to the top of Mt. Hakodate and the view was indeed spectacular.

Day 2: Time to get used to daily morning call at 6:30am. After buffet breakfast at the hotel, we visited the Hokodate seafood market. We then toured Fort Goryokaku where my sis, Kaixin and I dressed up in traditional Japanese costume for some photo shoot.

We had lunch at the base of Mt. Uzu and took the cable car to the top of the mountain for some great view.

We then drove by Lake Toya for a brief visit before reaching Hell Valley. The Hell Valley is a sulphurous boiling spring valley where a lot of hot spring hotels are located there.

Our hotel was located near the valley and I had a satisfying hot spring experience at night.

Day 3: Another long morning bus ride towards Sapporo. Along the way, we visited the Sapporo Beer Factory for some free Asahi beer. Reached Sapporo and bought some White Lover Chocolate and then had lunch.

After lunch, we toured the Ishiya Chocolate Museum. The bus then brought us to Otaru where walked around the romantic city and its famous canal.

Stayed in Otaru Grand Park hotel and had some great buffet dinner with panoramic view of the sea.

Day 4: Another long morning bus ride towards Furano to see lavender (薰衣草). Along the way, we stopped by some Cheese Workshop for a short visit. Had pork cutlet rice for lunch and we continued our ride to Farm Tomita at Furano. The plantation at Farm Tomita is indeed a great place to chill and relax.

After leaving the farm, we drove by Biei for great views of wide fields and hills before reaching the Ice Pavilion. The temperature inside the Pavilion is kept at -20 deg all year round and we were given winter jacket before entering. Stayed in a Japanese style hotel for the second time and experienced the hotel spring again.

Day 5: Last day of the tour. We will be heading back to Sapporo to visit the city. The tour guide first brought us to the waterfall beside our hotel for some morning breeze. Upon reaching Sapporo late in the morning , we visited Hokkaido Shrine, a traditional Japanese worship place. After an awesome Shabu-Shabu with Long Legged Crab buffet lunch, we headed to Odori Park located at the main streets of Sapporo. This time we checked into our hotel early, then our tour guide walked us to the JR Tower building, which is the city center. We finally had our famous Ramen at Ramen Republic for dinner. After feeding our stomachs, we went up the JR Tower for one last glance at the city.

Day 6: Woke at 4.45am to catch our 7.50am flight to Tokyo. Visited some premium outlets near Narita Airport before flying back to Singapore. Guess everything has to come to an end and it's time to start work.