Day 5 – 19/10/19
We had a simple breakfast at Toyoko Inn, and visited the Hakodate morning market that was literally just next to the hotel. As we were all not fans of raw seafood, we gave most of the food stalls a miss and literally just walked around the market looking at what they were selling. My mom started comparing the prices of the dried scallops against the ones that she bought yesterday… and she was gleefully telling me her purchase was so much cheaper.
We then took the Hakodate Line to Onumakoen station to visit the Onuma Quasi National park. It was raining slightly and it was so foggy everywhere – which was a bit disappointing as we weren’t able to view the dormant volcano (Mount Komagatake) that lied beyond the national park. Although we weren’t able to see the mountain, the fog literally added another layer of mystery and beauty in our photos. I wasn’t that interested in the short cruise, but Bruno managed to convince me to go on one – and I’m glad he did. The boat actually brought us out of the fog and we managed to the silhouette of Mount Komagatake! Yay~
We went back to Hakodate station and grab some seafood (cooked) lunch at the morning market restaurants. I ordered the Gindara set – still a lot of bones, but the fish was really fresh. Grilled fish (with bones) just not my first choice of meals if I can help it…
We took a coffee break and rest over at Pronto cafe (now permanently closed in 2022) in Kiralis Mall while charging our phones… It was a really nice cafe with clean toilet. Their coffee was okay-ish and the cake was good! Unfortunately when I checked the map in 2022 when I posted this, it shows that this cafe is now permanently closed…
After the break, we took the city tram to the red brick warehouses to stroll around and hopefully buy some souvenirs… but we ended up not buying anything at all. LOL. We did discover an odd cigarette bin with Singapore’s Merlion printed on it……….
I wanted to have dinner at Lucky Pierrot, which is a fast food chain exclusive to Hakodate only, but it was still early and we were all still so full. That and the fact that Lucky Pierrot allows smoking within the premises. Although there’s “non smoking” area, I honestly don’t believe that non-smoking area won’t smell any cigarette smoke wafting through the air. So… I’ve only took a pic… guess I’ll try the food some other time…
We ended up going back to Hakodate station empty handed… and because the food at Tsutsuiken was so good, we went back there for dinner for the second time. This time, I took the Miso ramen while my mom ordered the fried rice and Bruno ordered the yaki soba. We were all satisfied with the food again… the owner recognised us from yesterday too! My mom dropped him an “Oishii!” compliment, which had him grinning and thanking us.
This would be our last night in Hakodate, so we got back to the hotel and packed our day packs and rested for the night.
Day 6 – 20/10/19
Today we’d be heading to Sapporo from Hakodate, but we are stopping at Toya station for a brief day trip at Lake Toya.
This is one part of the entire trip which I wasn’t super sure of the itinerary because it was just too hard to get accurate information on the transport around Lake Toya.
The weather this day was so clear, and while we were on the train to Toya station, I managed to capture a very clear shot of Mount Komagatake from the train. This is honestly my favourite photo from the entire trip, I think.
By the time we reached Toya station at 09:31, we were supposed to take the 10:44 bus but there was really nothing to do for 1 hour around the station. In order to save time, Bruno decided to take the cab and he offered to pay for it. So we grabbed a cab (after dumping our bags into the locker at the station) and got off at Lake Toya. The wind was cold, but the sun was warm. The scenery was so beautiful… I would have enjoyed myself if not for the swarm of little black insects flying against my face THE ENTIRE TIME. Geez…. all 3 of us ended up wearing masks to block these insects from going into our mouth and nostrils, but I honestly really hate the feeling of these insects hitting my face like trucks and getting in my hair etc…. ugh! Bruno and my mom seemed less affected by them.. and they still enjoyed soaking their feet in the public footbath along the lake’s pathway…
We took a quick lunch at 岡田屋 (Okadaya) (temporarily closed in 2022), and the food was actually rather good. I ordered their butadon, which was very nice. They also had English menu. Their toilets were old style though… squat toilets, haha.
We then walked a bit more, before seeking refuge in an old style cafe/restaurant Smile Garden (temporarily closed as well in 2022). They don’t have latte or cappucino…. so I ended up getting Au Lait (even though I know it will be very bad), which I regretted… honestly, I’d rather drink canned sugary coffee from vending machine instead… Bruno ordered matcha latter, which he didn’t really enjoy either.
I certainly don’t want to waste money to grab another cab, so we made our way to the Toyoko Onsen Bus Terminal to wait for the bus that will be going to Toya station. While my mom waited at the station for the train that we’ve booked seat reservations on, Bruno and I made our way to Patisserie Violet to grab a cake to munch on while on the train later. I bought a slice of rum and raisin and it’s SO GOOD! Rich and creamyyyyyyy~ I also managed to capture a very nice sunset photo while in the train to Sapporo…
We finally reached Sapporo station, and we made our way to the hotel that I’ve booked for our Sapporo stay – JR Inn Sapporo. Can I say it’s the best hotel that I’ve booked amongst all our stays in Japan? The price was so reasonable and the twin room assigned to me was so big! My mom absolutely loved this hotel. It was also very near to Sapporo station – with 3/4 of the walk under shelter and safe from the cold winds outside.
I brought them to a soup curry restaurant Hiri Hiri 2 just opposite the hotel and the curry was so good too! I ordered 0 level spice (I really can’t take spicy stuff), my mom I think ordered level 2, but Bruno butt itchy and ordered level 3… in the end it was too spicy for him and he almost got a heat rash from it. Literally 屁股痒…. roll eye….. My curry was redder because I didn’t add coconut while my mom added coconut into her curry. It was really good though – I really like Hokkaido soup curry. I should have eaten more when I was there…
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