Hokkaido / Sapporo - Day 1 & 2

FREEZE and EASY

HOKKAIDO / SAPPORO - DAY 1-2

New boots from DD :)

& Ready to go..

I got the air tix last Oct. The air tix was my birthday gift for DD as we missed our last trip due to the earthquake in last march.

And we went hk instead.

So his soul is still after Japan somehow hahaa.

And he was so surprised & happy after i broke the news to him that we are gtg to Japan again!

So when it was Oct, I did think much about the weather or temperature at then.

So here it is....mainly snow when you viewed down in the air.

After 7hrs flight + almost 2 hrs transfer from Narita airport, we finally reached New Chitose and hopped on the train, yes and looking pretty shack ahaha. I almost had no make up & my double eyelids were even so uneven ...

Kinda excited as I been wanting to come here.

Chitose to Sapporo ride on train is about 30-40mins and the view is mainly like that from train during the typical winter.

There was qte abit of hard work not captured on cam but we got lost abit while searching for our hotel, Sunroute New Sapporo which is in btw stations of Odori and Susukino.

Scattered snow & the frequent wind played with our mind made our search longer as we have to find anywhere to slip in to check our map hahaa...very difficult.

Finally we reached!

Okie the twin beds choice is not on purpose but I chose a bigger room (twin bed was only choice for bigger room) at a yummy rate of just S$77 nett per night (add breakfast another 1,100 yen /pax per day)!!

Can you imagine fancy getting a 3+ stars decent hotel room and its actually their business chain hotel at just S$77 nett?!? It is more than 2x what we get in Tokyo hotel.

Here it is - the room is alittle bigger than their typical super small double room.

Bath room is small as usual. But I like their choice of indivudal SHISEIDO range of shampoo, conditioner & shower cream. Bathrobes are available too.It is really not necessary to bring bathing toiletries to Japan.

View from hotel! On 3rd floor so not much view.

Finally came out to test the cold wind & grab a warm drink from vending machine. Snow had stopped.

Walking around the surrounding and getting familar with the snow city.

Mmm everywhere looked the same, don't you think so?

I cant stay out long as I was wearing only the tights so it was pretty cold.

You know what?

We took a early meal and went back to hotel to bath and nap ahaha and we went out again late around 9+pm and grabbed some stuff from their pharmacy.

And yup instant noodles - jus in case.

Also I havent try Kanebo's new collagen "Collagen Deep In" so far. It mainly target to work best at slp, so got in some to see if nice. Collagen level was at 2,000mg if I didnt rem wrongly, slightly higher than Shisedo's. 

Indeed DD got hungry and need to eat again!

We tried the hokkdaido limited instant noodles. And yes its nice!

So cosy in our hotel eating hot noodles with cold air out there.

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THE NEXT DAY

Rise & shine!

But its still freezing. We got up slightly earlier ahhaa and get to the Nijo fresh Seafood Market, just about 10 mins walking distance from our hotel.

We are not early persons - everyday when we get out, it was oredi 11+ am Japan time, so we were abit worried that the market was closed like past bad experience at Tokyo.

And I must warn, be aware of the frozen snowy especially a pedestrian crossing area since it was been stepped like 1000 times, its flat & slippery!

While reaching Nijo Market....we thought this area looks great covered in white.

Here is NIJO FISH MARKET - 二条市場, Nijō Ichiba

NIJO FISH MARKET - 二条市場

The history of this market dates from 1903, when it started retailing seafood. Crabs, scallops, sea urchins, fish, other fresh and dried seafood, and vegetables and other seasonal bounties of Hokkaido await shoppers. For residents and sightseers, Nijo Fish Market is the place to find these. Bargaining is part of the fun. Vendors explain how to cook your purchases. Many restaurants near the market serve rice topped with fresh sea urchin gonads or salmon roe.

Address: South 3-jo East 1- to 2-chome, Chuo-ku, Sapporo
Hours: 7AM – 6PM (varies by shop)

Access: A 5- min. walk from Odori Subway Sta. (Namboku, Tozai, and Toho linea)

Or a 5- min. walk from Bus Center-mae Sta. (Tozai Line)

Contact: 011-222-5308 (Nijo Fish Market Promotion Assoc.)

We bargained and bought some good deals L size dried scallops for our mums.

They actually marked up about 1x more.

Settled our brunch in the fresh seafood market of course ;)

The place is not big so we just randomly went into a shop to take our meal.

DD's order!

Grill fresh Hokkaido crab meat don with butter. Its sooooo yummy!

I got this - fresh sashimi & Hotate + crabmeat don.

Oh the hotate is sooo fresh and naturally sweet, I fell in love with the sashimi hotate there...

So fresh - something I nv get to taste this way in our island.

After lunch - Odori area.

The Sapporo TV tower is landmark of Odori area.

Almost minus 6 on such a sunny day.....

Beautiful & dangerous as it is unknown what hides beneath the snowy white coverage.

While searching for the the Sapporp clock tower, came across this small beautiful church.

After almost half an hour of search...finally found the famous clock tower.

Went across Odori Park and ya ice scruptures were in progress for their annual ice festival which we will miss from 6 Feb.

Many places at the Odori Park had been covered up to avoid sabotage.

And winter always made us hungry....

Walked about 20 minutes through underpass to Susukino station for the famous Ramen alley!

We were told that we must go heee...

See the small small shops side by side squeezing along this small alley?

Some shops had been blocked at dinner hour like 6-7:30pm by some tour groups.

So we randomly hopped into one and try.

The shop was souless except the staff but surprisingly the soup base was quite good just too bad its alittle salty. I added some water in when the staff was not looking hahaa....

I like the egg and scallops but crab meat was not as fresh as the fish mkt ones.

The menu were made easy to order for foreigners.

The is suskino at night, the entertainment town that gets bright and vibrant when night falls.

Spotted this pencil building that got our eyes hooked on for awhile.

Some structure i guess sunny island will nv permit.

Thats the wonder of Japan!

Will update on Otaru & Jozankei, Hokkaido next :)