Day 1 in Hokkaido - 8th July 06

Our flight took off at around 12am on 8th July. Breakfast was served as early as 5am+, cos by the time we reached Narita Airport, it was already about 6am+. Yawnzzzzzzzzz...... Japan is one hour ahead of Singapore. Hence, by the time we reached Narita Airport, it was already 7am+ (local time).

The flight to Narita Airport was quite bumpy and noisy, and the air-con didn't seem to be working. The seats were quite cramped and uncomfortable too! Thought advertisement portrayed ANA as a very good airline... hmmm... Had a hard time trying to catch a wink!! Argh....

Breakfast was ok. What can you expect from airline food... It contained salad (eeewwwweee... I hate raw tomatoes!), dessert, crossaint, orange juice, & rice + fish slices + few sticks of green veggies.

Saw a cute security guard at the 'declaration of duty goods' counter on the way out. He stopped to ask me for my passport. I thought he looked a bit like Takeshi Kaneshiro - fair, tall, and cute!

We met our local tour guide, Liao-san, at the Arrival Hall of Narita Airport. We had to take a coach to Haneda Airport for our internal flight to Chitose Airport in Hokkaido. The coach ride took us almost 1 and a half hours to reach the airport.

Liao-san advised us to buy a bento at Haneda Airport and eat it on board the plane, since we had an early breakfast, and they only served drinks on the internal flight (it only took us 1hr15mins to reach Chitose Airport from Haneda Airport). We went to shop around Haneda Airport and bought a bento each. Wow... must kowtow to the Japanese for their very very nice packaging!!!! Even the bentos were packed so nicely!!! But the prices were of course quite steep!

We were so tired on board the internal flight to Chitose Airport (Hokkaido) that we fell asleep instead of eating our 'lunch'. At least this Boeing 747-300 plane was so much more spacious and less bumpy than our ride from Singapore to Narita Airport. Some cute young Japanese guys boarded the same flight as us.

It was almost 1pm by the time we reached Chitose Airport. We only started eating our bento while travelling on a coach to our first destination - Sapporo Beer Museum. There were nice 'stamps' at the places of interest we visited. We stamped them in our passport ;P

The museum was huge! They have 4 levels. A japanese guide brought us around the museum. Liao-san had to do the translation cos the guide spoke Japanese to us. We tasted the 'hops' used to brew beer. Hmmm.... tasted quite alright lah...

After that, we went through some galleries where they showcased the first advertising done for Sapporo Beer. As well as all the packagings!!! Damn cool!!!!

We were given a small cup of beer for tasting purposes. The brewery came up with this "Sapporo Beer with Fruit Juice". Yum... but I could feel the effect of the beer within seconds. My whole face flushed!

As there's this 50yen discount coupon attached to the brochure for the museum, we used it to purchase ice-cream cones :) Slurp.... I ordered 2 scoops - Black Sesame & Lavender - since the price for 1 scoop & 2 scoop were the same - 300 yen. After using the discount coupon, we just had to pay 250yen! : ) Yummy... the ice-cream tasted good... Slurp....

After visiting Sapporo Beer Museum, we moved on to visit this Underground Shopping mall near Odori Park. Located in the downtown area, Sapporo Chikagai is an underground shopping mall filled with about 140 shops, including those specialising in clothing and sundry items, as well as restaurants.

We only managed to shop at Aurora Town, cos the place was like a never-ending tunnel... Dunno when we could see the light at the end of the tunnel as well.... after all, we had to meet at 5:30pm for dinner since we had an early breakfast and lunch. Dinner would be at a restaurant near the NHK Tower. Bought bra at this shop called "Takasho". 2,100 yen for 3 pairs of bras!! One pair even came with a matching panty!! Quite good bargain, especially when the bras were quite comfortable, and the designs and colours were so pretty!!!

Had tempura set meal for dinner. Shiok man!!! The taste was so different from the ones I've eaten in Singapore!!! Slurp Slurp Slurp!

After dinner, we went to Mount Moiwa to see the night view. Brrrrrr... it was quite cold up there... the way up was quite tedious as we had to walk up some uneven steps, and up a slope, and climbed dunno how many flights of spiral staircase before we reached the 'lookout point'. Since it was still early, the night view wasn't that terrific, as most of the buildings were not lighted up. Took a few pictures and quickly went to take refuge at the souvenir shop, where I bought a lot of postcards!!!! Would be sending 1 to myself, 1 to Yanshan, 1 to Yuanyuan & 1 to Xueling. Saved 2 for emergencies... dun think I will send back to my nieces as they'll most probably misplace them : (

Going up to Mount Moiwa was quite challenging for the driver as the road was like a meader, with lots of turns and the roads seemed quite narrow. Reminds me of "Initial D"... ahh.... But the view was quiet scenic. By the time we reached the hotel, it was already 8pm. Had a quick shower before rushing down to the nearest shopping from our hotel.

We stayed at APA Hotel for the night. Our room number was 1165. The view was pretty ok. There's this Pachinko Centre right opposite our hotel. We had to walk around 10mins to reach the BEST denki store, where there was a DAISO and a supermarket inside, not forgetting uncle Ronald & KFC. We bought some foodstuff from DAISO, and bought a few bottles of drinks from the vending machines :P

Then we went to this Fresh Food Market and bought cup noodles!! Liao-san said the instant noodles here tasted better than the ones imported by our home countries.

Went to the Pachinko Centre to see what Pachinko is all about. Why everyone is crazy about this thing??? But after seeing people (mostly old folks) loading balls into the machine and shooting them from all directions, and then the balls fly all over the place and drop into the various holes, occasionally you'll see nice animation appearing saying its "Bonus round" or some kind of rewards or warnings, I really don't understand what's so fun about Pachinko... Some machines even had Bae Yong Jun on the screens!!! Yucks.... You should see those aunties drool at the sight of Bae Yong Jun....

It was already 11+ when we went back to the hotel. Darn!! There's no fork or chopsticks to eat the Cup Noodle!!! anyway, we found a way to eat it :P The noodles was ok : ) but I didn't manage to finish it, cos I don't have the habit of eating supper.... and to eat cup noodles in the middle of the night was too jia lart for me, cos I can't sleep if I am too full!!! In the end I had to dump the noodles into the bin that says "Cannot be burnt".

Sometimes I felt a bit 'retarded' when I had to think hard before throwing rubbish. Its like an exam question - "Place the rubbish in the correct bin." Aiyoh.... headache leh.... is plastic burnable?? Help!! My brain cells are diminishing!!!!

My bento from Haneda Airport : ) Cost 714 Yen!! Oishi desu.


Sapporo Beer Museum. Very nice architecture.

NHK TV Tower. This was one landmark near Sapporo Chikagai.


Tempura Dinner... Slurp!

City view from Mount Moiwa. Too bad we were early... or else the lighted city would be very pretty!!!