Sapporo and Otaru

Now.. on to my next destination: Sapporo.
I had to buy the train ticket from the ticket officer on the train. That's like S$68.
This was the train bound for Sapporo.
This is a REALLY nice hotel.. 4 or 5 stars, i think.
My hotel room for a single bed.
The spacious toilet. I just LOVE the toilets there! Warm seats :)
View from room.
Chanced upon a bicycle parking area covered with snow.
Thought I'd head to the basement level of the departmental stores to buy a bento for lunch... WOW.. the Japanese really knows how to make food look pretty! Makes you want to buy LOTS!
Great packaging.
Everything looks so appetizing.
The food does not come cheap. Especially the bigger set meals.
Preparing a bento.
Drooooooooooooool.... The portions here are wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy better than the ones in Tokyo. (Upon comparison when I got to Tokyo. Then regretted not buying more of these for my meals.)
Christmas tree-themed bentos.
My bento lunch.

So, after a satisfying lunch, I rushed out to the tourist information center at the train station to find out how to get the Ishiya factory.
Along the way, taking in some of the sights in Sapporo. Like this old government building.
One of the main streets in front of the train station.
This is the subway station at Sapporo. notice the people queuing in front of automated gates. There were even station masters instructing people on which queue to queue up at.
Subway ticket.
By the time I got to the chocolate factory, the sun has set.
The tour of the factory includes a big collection of cups used for consumption of chocolate drinks, toys from the past... etc etc. But the main attraction is the factory itself.
From the observation deck, can see the biscuits travelling from the oven all the way to the packaging boxes.
There's a cafe at the top floor of the factory. I took a break and ordered ice-cream.
Yummmmmmmmmmmmmmmy
View from the Cafe. The park within the factory compound was decorated with lights for the holidays.
This brand of chocolate biscuits is famous in Hokkaido and a MUST-BUY when anyone goes to Hokkaido.
Lights :)
Sapporo at night.
Sapporo is also famous for its ramen. There's a street which has lots of ramen stores. It was a difficult decision as to which to pick from. In the end I picked this and it turns out that a lot of tour groups from HK come here for its ramen. Hmmmm so that's good, right?
It's a BIG bowl of ramen. with a big slab of cha siew, bean sprouts, and I had asked for the corn. Corn's really nice there :) The spring onion there is nice and spicy too :)
Noodles are done just right too.. but the soup is a bit oily. Well, can't be helped. Still, a nice meal. :)
Odori Park is a stretch of green park in the middle of Sapporo. There's a radio tower at one end. It's famous for its snow festival in February. For now, it's just a lights festival for Christmas.
Some of the light displays at the park.

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Breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast here was much better than the one at the ski resort. (not that the ski resort one wasn't good)
Day trip to Otaru. This was on a JR train.
Otaru - a railway crossing.
One of the tourist attractions in Otaru is the Musical Box Museum.
VERY BIG STORE with lots of variety of musical boxes.
Pretty carousel ones.
Close-up.
It's the year of the tiger in 2010.. so these kitty figurines are very popular.
These look so real!
Cute musical ones.
These are the type I like. But these cost a couple of hundred of dollars!
These musical boxes are filled with the music from the respective cartoons.
Took a little tea break at a cafe across the road- Le Tao - famous for its cheesecake.
Cheesecake - a must-try!!! yummy!
Otaru is also home to artists for glassware. Beautiful pieces but pricey too.
SEAFOOD is a MUST-EAT in Hokkaido. There are even all you can eat crab restaurants here.
Live crab
Steamed crab on display.
Sea urchin
Stall selling hotate and other shellfish, grilled on site.
My plate of scallop cost 500Yen. Seasoned with whatever sauce the man poured onto the shell.
Nice steaming hot plate of hotate. yummmmy.
This is a famous canal in Otaru. Errmmm nothing much. Just walked there to take a photo before heading back to Sapporo.
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Gotta have crab in Hokkaido. So went around to look for a good deal.
First.. Appetizers. Sashimi crab.Tofu with a bit a steamed crab. Salad.
Grilled crab (This is the feature of the entire set, i think) Lots of meat in the leg.
Nabe.
Tempura. The two bigger chunks are some portion of the crab.
Maki. Wasn't too wonderful but this is the only rice item. Miso soup had crab in it too.
Dessert.
Next day, flight to Tokyo. I got a seat on the upper deck! cool! never been "upstairs" before!