北海道に行くぞ～！ (Part 1)

Before I forget, Happy V-Day~!!! Ok, list blog, STAATO~!!!

31 Jan 09:
I met up with Mitch, Michelle, some of their friends, and Andrew in Kobe Chinatown for a Chinese New Year celebration. It was weird. I'm used to seeing real kung-fu demos and lion dances and stuff like that. It was a very tame day, but at least I was able to meet up with the peeps.

*** NOW THE MEAT OF THE BLOG~!!! ***

6 Feb 09:

Went home right after lunch at school to prepare for my trip to the airport. Met up with Andrew around 7-ish @ Kansai Airport and headed out for 北海道 (Hokkaido). WOOHOO for the 60th Anniversary of 札幌雪祭り (Sapporo Snow Festival)~!!! It was strange, though, because the flight attendants kept saying that we were going to land somewhere else because of the weather. Thank goodness we were able to land where we were supposed to, but we were circling for about 45 minutes because of ice on the tarmac. We eventually landed, though REAL late, and met up with Yoli, Mitzi, and Tricia at the hotel. Man, there was SO MUCH SNOW~!!! It was so cool to see all those white fields from the train. After we dropped our stuff off, we went to a little 焼き鳥 (yakitori) shop for dinner and a コンビニ (convenient store) to buy some beer.

7 Feb 09:

I LOVE SNOW~!!! Woke up early to meet our tour group for 札幌市 (Sapporo City). Little did we know that the tour guide was a volunteer that didn't know where the hell she was going. Here are all FIVE things we did:

1. Went to 大通公園 ,(Ōdōri Kōen - Ōdōri Park) to look at snow sculptures for what felt like 2 minutes. Was able to eat some super DE-LE-JUSS 北海道 crab siopao at the Hokkaido Winter Food Park.

2. Met the rest of the tour group at the base of the Sapporo TV Tower. The 5 of us skipped out on going in. We took pictures with some of the mascots that were runnin' around. Even ate some 花畑牧場生キャラメルソフトクリーム (hanabatake bokujo nama caramel soft cream). THAT WAS SO BOMB~!!!

daNpa - WE LOVE NATURE~!!!

u:go mascot...he's a...colon (of the punctuation variety)...

花畑牧場生キャラメルソフトクリーム

3. People started getting hungry, so we took the subway to a shopping mall called ESTA; went to the upper most floor where the Ramen Republic was. However, we ended up going to a Chinese restaurant because we weren't given enough time - or so we thought. We felt rushed, so we wanted to get something quick to eat so the group wouldn't leave us behind. Turned out the tour guide was the person ALL of us ended up waiting for. The hell...for real.

4. Took the subway to hit up the Chocolate Factory in 白い恋人パーク (Shiroi Koibito Park). It was pretty cool, I suppose. Home of Japan's probably most famous omiyage - 白い恋人 (shiroi koibito - White Lover...yeah...White Lover), a cookie sandwich snack with white chocolate in the middle.

Bought our tickets to get in (yeah, wasn't part of this "tour deal" we paid for prior to the start of the trip). They gave us a free sample of 白い恋人. It was weird because I KNOW I've eaten something similar in the States; for me, it wasn't something to get excited over.

A Box of White Lovers HAAAHAHA~!!!

The beginning part of the museum was pretty, but to people who don't speak Japanese, it was non sequitur to the fact that we were supposed to be in a chocolate factory. Why were there a bunch of glass cases with tea cups and spoons and junk? No clue. Literally ran through that part to bypass it.

A Pretty Fountain. Nice.

There was a 3D video thing about the history of the place in Japanese...bypassed that.

Ah, the good stuff. The actual factory! Saw all these people taking care of the little 白い恋人 being assembled. Yep, no Oompa-Loompas or chocolate rivers to drown in...DAMN.

Mmm. Delicious sterility~!!!

There was this movie screen, too. Reminded me of Wonka Vision.

Next was the cafe and cookie making section. In retrospect, we should've just stayed and made cookies. Anyway, we chilled at the cafe and ordered some desserts. They tasted great.

My Selection (Yoli ordered the same)

Tricia's Selection

Mitzi's Selection (no pic of Andrew's)

Lastly, the omiyage section...of course. Bought a whole bunch of 白い恋人 for my schools. By the time we finished, we noticed that the rest of the group didn't make sure that we were all together...meaning they booked it without us. This is the reason why I said that we might as well have just stayed and made FREAKIN' COOKIES~!!! I mean, who the hell doesn't check to make sure all bodies are present before you leave...whatever.

5. Ended up going back to the hotel. To our surprise, we saw our tour group there. Supposed to go to a beer garden; apparently, "no one was interested in going." I don't blame them.

Regardless, we all had fun. Overall, however, the "Sapporo Tour" was a waste.

Andrew, Yoli, Mitzi, and I wanted to do our own thing, so we took Sapporo's Electric Railway/Streetcar to get to 藻岩山ロープウェイ (Mt. Moiwa Ropeway). Tricia didn't go because of her fear of heights.


It was a winter wonderland up there. The winds were blowing snow every which way. Wanted to see the city from the top of the mountain, but as we suspected, the weather prevented any viewing pleasure. We did play in snow, though! We also rode up the mountain in this weird snow bus with tank treads. On the way down, we rode on this open-air seating area behind a snow plow. We were the only 4 people brave enough to sit outside in the snow. IT WAS SO COLD that my eyeballs were freezing~!!! It was AWESOME~!!!

We finally met up with Tricia back at the Ramen Republic for the long awaited 1st ramen experience. Birdie num nums.

Later that night, we decided not to go to sleep. Rather, we met up with a friend of mine and Andrew's, Kat (from Tokyo Orientation). We met her at a club called Booty. She was already faded by the time we got to Booty. At Booty we danced until...

8 Feb 09:
...the next day. Andrew got REAL drunk at Booty (notice I like typing the word "Booty"). I realized that maybe J-folk don't really know how to get down with the get down. I mean, people in Booty were walking around more so than dancing. And when they DID dance, it wasn't good. I've never seen a group of GUYS dancing together before, either. That's just weird. Every time I was trying to dance with my ladies and some random Japanese girls, some random dude always tried to dance with ME! I'm all, "Get wit' yo girls HOMIE, not ME! S'wrong wit'chu~!?" Booty. We finally got back to the hotel and got some sleep before breakfast time.

Woke up and went to breakfast - who the hell serves french fries during breakfast time? Gathered our belongings and left our baggage near the front desk. Headed out to 新千歳空港 (Shin-Chitose Airport) on our way to 支笏湖 (Lake Shikotsu). Btw, we ate some cheese ramen (ramen experience #2) at the airport before taking a bus to 支笏湖.

The initial plan was for the 4 others to go to an onsen (I don't onsen because I hate hot places, let alone bathing for long periods of time in boiling water). The plan changed when we found out that the prime spot for onsen was clear across the way from where we were, and the taxis didn't want to take us there at the time we wanted. Instead, we ended up taking pictures, playing in the snow, and going to the ice festival there. Andrew was the only one that ended up going to onsen at a youth hostel. Ate いももち (potato mochi)...that was tasty, too.

Pre Giant Snowball Punch

Post Giant Snowball Punch

My Original Snow Owl

Finally took the bus back to the city. Parted ways with Mitzi because she had to fly back home that night. Moved from our first hotel to our second. Headed out to すすきの (Susukino), a red-light-esque district, and hit up 札幌ラーメン横丁 (Sapporo Ramen Alley). I had カニ味噌ラーメン (crab miso ramen - ramen experience #3). SO GOOD TIMES~!!!


Saw some of the ice sculptures of the 29th すすきの氷の祭典 (Susukino Ice Festival) before heading out to meet some of Yoli's friends. We joined them at an izakaya, did a 飲み放題 and got drunk. Went to a foreigner bar called Rad Brothers Bar after that. Good alcohol times.

Yeah, REAL ramen in there~!!!

I'm a clione~!!!

9 Feb 09:
Ate breakfast in the subway; a place called The Don - a donburi shop.

THE 丼
Healthy and natural.
With quality seafood
from round
the world,
Neptune
new wave taste
- THE DON.
Ooooh, almost normal~!!!

Got a rental and took a day-road trip out to 洞爺湖町 (Tōyako-cho) - was supposed to be a trip to 函館 (Hakodate), but it was still fun.


Rode a boat called the Espoir (looked like a castle) that went around 洞爺湖 (Lake Tōya). Andrew, Yoli, and Tricia went to go to an onsen finally. I stayed in the lobby writing out a ton of postcards.


Drove back, grabbed our stuff from the hotel and made it to our hostel, Ino's Place. Btw, Ino's Place was the NICEST, cleanest hostel I've been to in my life. I want to go back. Ate dinner at a Yoshinoya-like place.

Together @ Ino's Place w/ Ino-san

Part 2 coming soon. Enjoy this picture of me as Hokkaido crab.