Hokkaido Summer Trip 2017 Day 2 (2/6/17)

I woke up around 6.30pm when the first stream of sunlight came in through the curtains. I headed down to the onsen for another soak and was surprised that there were other ladies there this early. We washed our clothes in the washing machine the previous night to get rid of the BBQ smell, but had no chance to dry them, so I left them in the dryer before I went to wash and soak.

Breakfast is not included for our stay in this hotel and Mum does not really mind since she likes to snack on titbits more than having proper meal. After her short nap the previous night, we went to a 7-11 to get more snacks and some breakfast stuff. It was still raining then but I was glad that the sun was out shining strong and bright this morning. She made some noodles, even cooked some curry udon while I updated the blog of the previous day's adventure. 

Subway heading to Makomanai Station

Before setting off to Hokkaido, I came across people sharing pictures of tulips blooming at Takino Suzuran Hillside National Park and the pictures look so pretty. This is the Hokkaido I always wanted to visit in summer! We are in luck as the tulips are only blooming for merely 20 days before they wither away. I researched online to find out how we can get there and it seems easy enough. We set off quite early around 8.50am as the local bus ride from subway station makes its trip hourly and the next bus will be at 9.45am. We managed to get to Makomanai Subway station around 9.30am, Mum even went to pick up more snacks since we still have time. After exiting the station, we found bus stop 2 on the left and there were already a long queue waiting in line. I was surprised that the bus came slightly late as bus and trains are known to be punctual in Japan. Most of those taking the bus are actually locals and not tourists going to the park. It actually took us about 30min before the bus finally arrived at the right bus stop (Takino Suzuran Hillside Park East Entrance), the park is so big that the bus actually stopped at a few stops within the park before it came to the bus stop we were supposed to alight. All the remaining people on the bus also alighted there.

A map at the entrance of the park

There were many Japanese elderly going into the park with us and we realised there is a special rate for those above 65. Mum is eligible for this special rate (210Y) and a very friendly staff came to help us purchase the tickets at the machine. He also offered maps in English and Chinese. I paid twice the amount (420Y) but it was still considered cheap.

Tulips in the field

Tulips, tulips and more tulips in different colours

After a short walk from the entrance, we saw a colourful patch of tulips some distance away and I knew this was what we were looking forward to.  There was a friendly Japanese volunteer who wanted to tell us more about the flowers, but unfortunately we did not understand her. To see flowers blooming in this typical Hokkaido fashion is really a spectacular treat and I'm glad we were able to make it. I could see the tulips were starting to wither, so I guess they will not stay this way for too long, probably another week.

Tulips-mania 

This is my favourite pic as there's a mixture of colours

It was a nice feeling to finally view the grandeur of nature in Hokkaido (after all the snow the previous time), everything is pretty much seasonal and I guess tulips are good enough for a treat although I'll never get to see sakura or lavender blooming as long as I'm still in the teaching service. The flowers turned out so nice and pretty as the staff of the garden were giving them a lot of tender loving care. As I toured around, I could see staff busy planting the next plants and flowers that will be in their season to bloom soon. Its hard to believe, but this very same park will turn into snow sledding hills once winter is here, although I could not imagine how it would look like from where I was standing.

Guess how many little waterfalls in this picture

That's my mama

I almost could not catch up with Mum as the tulips were so instagrammable, and she was also busy with her own selfies. Finally we reached this rest area where there were a lot of little waterfalls for people to sit down and admire the scenery. Another thing I loved about the park was the plentiful rest and sitting area and the nice weather we had today. We were blessed with dry weather for the whole day and the outing to the park was also cooling and breezy.

Elderly artists

As elderly could come into the park with a concession pass/price, there were many Japanese elders at the park resting, chatting and catching up with friends. I also came across this group who were leisurely painting in the park. The whole scene looked so completed with them focussed and busy working their paint brushes.

Mini camping ground lookalike 

We took our time resting at the park and it was almost noon when we had enough of the park and decided to make our way back. As our main aim of going all the way there was just to see tulips, 1-2 hour at the park was enough for us. The friendly staff at the entrance had also given me a slip of paper with the bus timetable so we could catch the next bus from the same bus stop around 12.30pm. We had an early day and breakfast so we felt a little hungry by noon, luckily mum had a lot of snacks in her bag so we just feasted on those.

Cute little onigiri with the park logo and mascot

There were a few eateries around the place and I thought they were closed as I did not see anyone entering the place. But I was wrong, there were just too few tourists around the place but these places were already opened and selling some foodstuff. We skipped the elaborated western food cafe and went to the simpler cafe next door selling typical Japanese snacks. I had not had any onigiri this time round so we decided that we could get this to fill our stomachs while waiting for the bus. To my surprise, the onigiri was quite big and they made it on the spot so the rice was still warm. It was quite yummy. However, we were also surprised that the fillings were quite pathetic (mine only had one sour plum) so we were practically just enjoying the rice.

My favourite Kinotoya cheese tart

We had an early start so both of us fell asleep on the comfortable bus on the way back. We decided that we would go back to our hotel room to charge our phones and get ourselves recharged before heading out to Otaru. On the way back, we picked up more food stuff as we were not going to have a proper lunch, we'll just eat these snacks in the hotel room instead.

Home sweet home

I was looking forward to get a good nap of just about an hour and we'll head out again at 3pm+ but I ended up sleeping for two hours instead and we only got out at 4pm+. It was a good rest for me but we went into a situation almost similar to my first trip to Otaru, the shops would be closed by the time we get there. The only thing was the sun setting later in summer so there was still daylight when we got there. 

Reserved seats for us

The feeling was certainly different without all the snow around, but the weather for the night at Otaru was also quite cold at 14-15 degrees and I felt like I could use my down jacket there. There were still some tourists around when we reached and I found the way to Sakaimachi street withtout crossing to the canal side this time round. 

This railway is no longer in use in Otaru

Took a picture in daylight this time round

I did not noticed that Otaru specialised in kelp (a kind of seaweed health food) but mum was interested in those and she bought a few packets at very reasonable price. We also wanted to try their soft serve specialty in matcha favour but most of the shops had closed at 5pm+. The streets were once again quite deserted but I saw many sushi shops and seafood store selling uni don and I remembered I did not have the chance to try it the previous time as P does not like raw Japanese stuff.

Interesting sign outside the kelp shop

One of the shops selling seafood in Sakaimachi

We spotted one seafood shops still in operation across the street where Mum bought her kelp, the smell of BBQ meat and seafood was really good and it was also crowded with patrons. We went further down the street and saw that the other shops had closed so we decided to go back to this shop for our seafood fix. 

Quality of food quite disappointing

The price of the salmon roe don and uni don was cheaper than other shops, just 1000Y to 1500Y while the prices we saw at other stalls were twice of that. I had tasted good salmon roe don at izakaya previously so I was confident that this will be really fresh since seafood is a specialty in Hokkaido. Mum had wanted to try the BBQ squid as she saw the staff BBQ-ing one at the entrance but we ordered the wrong dish and we got the squid sashimi instead. When the food was served, I was surprised as the salmon roe and uni did not look fresh at all. Instead of bright colours like they were supposed to be, it looked dull and unappetising. I had not eaten uni before so I still found it quite delicious, but the salmon roe was too salty and the texture was not as good as the one I've tasted in hokkaido previously. Seeing so many tourists around me, I realised that this is a tourist trap in a way, selling food at a cheaper price compromises the quality of food. When I was walking out, we saw them selling uni in small packets and these were priced according to freshness. The cheapest and most unfresh ones looked like the ones we had ate. The unfresh seafood literally left a bad taste in my mouth and I felt a little sick on our way back to Sapporo, there were only local train options after 7pm so it also took us longer to travel back.