Minggu, 01 Maret 2020

Otaru: The Serene and Charming City of Hokkaido


It's heartbreaking to hear that Japan is now listed on the avoid-travel risk level in connection to the current virus outbreak, with many of the cases happened in the island of Hokkaido. This post is one of my last few posts about Hokkaido, and I wanna share with you about my visit to Otaru.


Otaru is only less than an hour train ride from Sapporo, which makes this city a perfect half day trip destination from Sapporo.


It was rainy and gloomy when we went to Furano & Biei the previous day, but it was all sunny and bright when we visited Otaru. We arrived on Otaru Station around lunch time and went to have our lunch right away.


This was where we had our lunch: Naruto Honten. Naruto Honten is a famous fried chicken restaurant in Otaru. From the outside, we thought that there won't be much people inside, but as we entered the place, we could see that it was packed with customers.


As you entered the restaurant, you gotta order and pay at the counter and wait for your order at the designated table.


You could see a glimpse of their menu above. Other than chicken, they also serve other menu like sushi and sashimi.


I ordered the set menu #1 for JPY 1,050.  This set meal consisted of a bowl of white rice, half chicken, miso soup, tofu and pickled radish. 


And yeah, it was plenty for one person. If you like boneless chicken better, they also have karaage chicken. Well the chicken was not battered or deeply marinated, although it was deep fried, the taste was pretty clean. It was on the salty side, but not that salty. The meat was juicy and tender, and as a true Indonesian, I thought that 'sambal bawang' or 'sambal geprek' would made it taste even better.

After the meal, we started to walk around the town with Otaru Canal as our first destination.


15 minutes walk from Naruto Honten to Otaru Canal was not bad at all. You could spot many interesting buildings around while enjoying the walk. I kinda love the atmosphere of this city. It was quiet, serene, with a historical feel. 


Otaru Canal is the main attraction of this city. It was a central part of the city's port in the first half of the twntieth century which was restored in the 1980s and the warehouses along the canal were transformed into restaurants and museums.


I'm not really into museums, but if you're a museum-goers, there are pretty much museums nearby the canal like Stained Glass Museum, Music Box Museum, and others.


A visit to Otaru won't be complete without stopping by for some dessert at LeTAO, the famous Otaru originated confectionery. There are several brances of LeTAO in Otaru, and each branch has its own special menu that might not be available at other branches. 


I had this parfait which included a small piece of the famouse Double Fromage. Yum!


After another round of walk, we encountered this interesting non-operating railway called The Temiya Line. This line was in operation until 1985 and used to transport coal and marine goods. The line became a popular tourist attraction in Otaru, where could take some instragammable pictures here.


A short video to summarize my few hours trip to Otaru:



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JAPAN TRIP SERIES 2019
Otaru: The Serene and Charming City of Hokkaido
Furano-Biei Day Trip: Farm Tomita, Shikisai No Oka, Blue Pond
Sapporo: The Food Journal
Sapporo: The Vibrant City of Hokkaido (And Where to Stay)
Falling in Love with Yokohama's Charm
Starbucks Reserve® Roastery Tokyo
Reasons to Stay Around Asakusa (or not)
My Third Japan Trip - The Intro

JAPAN TRIP SERIES 2017
Konnichiwa! I'm back!
JAPAN AUTUMN TRIP 2017: Preparation and Cost
JAPAN AUTUMN TRIP 2017: Back to Dotonbori
JAPAN AUTUMN TRIP 2017: Fall Foliage at Minoo Park and Quick Visit to Kuromon Market
JAPAN AUTUMN TRIP 2017: Autumn in Kyoto
JAPAN AUTUMN TRIP 2017: A Day In Takayama
JAPAN AUTUMN TRIP 2017: November Snow at Shirakawa-Go


JAPAN TRIP SERIES 2015
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Rabu, 19 Februari 2020

Furano-Biei Day Trip: Farm Tomita, Shikisai No Oka, Blue Pond



Since I decided to visit Hokkaido on this trip, Furano & Biei has been on the top list of my itinerary. From the first time I looked at the pictures of Farm Tomita and Shikisai No Oka, I was sold. So here goes my day trip to Furano & Biei.

I researched here and there, and I found out that it was quite a hassle to visit most spot on both cities by public transportation, the best option should be taxi or car rental which will cost quite a lot. When I looked up for places to stay around Furano, there wasn't many options either. But since I already made up my mind to visit those places, I tried to look for another option. And this was the best option I could find (you might want to note this): Hokkaido Chuo Sightseeing Bus!

Hokkaido Chuo Bus run by reservation to various famous sightseeing spots. They have various courses which might be different for each season. And the good news was, they had the course which included the spots I've been wanting to visit. You could reserve right through the web from the link above, or you could check another travel web like Klook - where I booked the same course for cheaper price because of the ongoing discount code at that time.


The day trip started from the Sapporo Station Bus Terminal, that's why I mentioned that staying nearby the station was one of the best option. I just have to walk for a few minutes to get here and waiting for the departure time.


It was mentioned that the departure time was 8.40 AM - and the bus really headed off at 8.40! So, don't even think of being late for a minute cause they'll leave you like that. I love Japanese punctuality!

So the bus was like a regular bus, and you gotta sit at the destined number on your ticket. Each seat got a headphone which you could set to the language of your choice (Japanese, Chinese, Korean, and English). There was a driver and a Japanese speaking - bus assistant, but you can wear the headphone to listen to the audio guidance system which helped me a lot during the trip. It was really nice to look around the scenery while listening to the interesting story about the places, also several other stories about Hokkaido and its specialties.

So the course I chose was the [O] course which was available until October 14th last year. The highlight of the course was Farm Tomita, Shikisai No Oka and Aoi Ike (Blue Pond). For JPY 7,400 (the price listed on the web), other than the day tour itself, lunch was also provided. Actually this course is best traveled around summer, best time to visit Hokkaido for flowers sightseeing. The turn down of visiting this course on October was the weather. It was rainy and cloudy the whole day.


After two hours and a half, we arrived at the first stop, Campana Rokkatei. Rokkatei is a famous confectionery in Hokkaido with over 70 shops all over the island, and Campana Rokkatei in Furano is one of them. This place is located in the middle of a vineyard, and here you could shop for Rokkatei's best product like Marusei Butter Sand or enjoy some desserts with a view. We were only given 20 minutes at this stop, so I didn't do much here. I didn't shop here also, cause you could also find their products in their shops in Sapporo.


From Campana Rokkatei, we headed to Furano Wine House for lunch, which was already included in the tour package. Though it was cloudy and rainy, we were so thrilled to witness the beautiful rainbow on our way. Way too beautiful.


Both Campana Rokkatei and Furano Wine House locations were kinda in the middle of nowhere. So, I guessed most of the customers for these places were day tour tourist like us.


The restaurant was nice and cozy. When the weather is unfriendly outside, being indoor is the best option.


Since the lunch is included in the package, there was only one option for all the tour participants. We were served a plate of cheese fondue each, and also rice with beef hamburg. You could also choose between coffee or tea for the beverage. Well, Japan is an Asia country anyway, where you eat your steak with rice, haha! No complain about the lunch, It was quite satisfying and fulfilling.



Next stop was Farm Tomita. This flower farm is famous for their lavender flowers, they even got a shop with various lavender products, and snack stalls that also sells lavender taste food, like the lavender ice cream. 


Since October was not a perfect month for flower sightseeing, I already expected that some area would be flowerless. But you could still witness some colorful part of the farm. It was still beautiful!



From Furano, we headed to Biei - the neighbouring city. Our first stop in Biei Was Shikisai No Oka. Here, you could witness a carpeted-like hill garden, and also dozens of sunflowers. Since the sky was cloudy, the sunflowers looked down to the ground. Well, visiting flower farms on Fall is not the best option anyway, but I didn't regret it.


Our last stop that day was Shirogane Blue Pond (Aoi Ike). Blue Pond is just one of a number of ponds that were artificially born as a by-product of said construction of a dam constructed on Biei River which was intended to prevent the destructive effect of volcanic mudflow when Mount Tokachi erupted in 1988. The pond displays various hues of blue depending on the season and the weather, and it was a bit greyish and greenish the day I came, maybe because of the gloomy weather.



So, was the day tour worth it? Yes it was! As I said before, most of the locations were not easily accessed by public transportation, and they were in the middle of nowhere. So I think day tour is the best option to visit these places! Second, well yes, these places are best visited on summer. I might want to visit again if one day I visited Hokkaido on a summer day.

A highlight video:
PS: Yeah I know, I need to invest on a stabilizer.


-------
JAPAN TRIP SERIES 2019
Otaru: The Serene and Charming City of Hokkaido
Furano-Biei Day Trip: Farm Tomita, Shikisai No Oka, Blue Pond
Sapporo: The Food Journal
Sapporo: The Vibrant City of Hokkaido (And Where to Stay)
Falling in Love with Yokohama's Charm
Starbucks Reserve® Roastery Tokyo
Reasons to Stay Around Asakusa (or not)
My Third Japan Trip - The Intro

JAPAN TRIP SERIES 2017
Konnichiwa! I'm back!
JAPAN AUTUMN TRIP 2017: Preparation and Cost
JAPAN AUTUMN TRIP 2017: Back to Dotonbori
JAPAN AUTUMN TRIP 2017: Fall Foliage at Minoo Park and Quick Visit to Kuromon Market
JAPAN AUTUMN TRIP 2017: Autumn in Kyoto
JAPAN AUTUMN TRIP 2017: A Day In Takayama
JAPAN AUTUMN TRIP 2017: November Snow at Shirakawa-Go


JAPAN TRIP SERIES 2015
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