After breakfast, we made our way to the Hokkaido Jingu Shinto Shrine.. I remember something about the emperor staying here before or somehting.. Sorry.. Too early in the morning to absorb history.. Haha..
See these little pebbles? Danny explained that anyplace that the emperor stays in will have these little pebbles because when people walked on it, you can hear the pebbles rubbing against each other and it will notify the guards of trespassers in the palace grounds.. It was so hard to walk on lah.. Like those exercise rocks in parks like that..
We're supposed to wash our hands and rinse our mouths with this holy water before entering the shrine..
Carp fish again! Haha..
We're supposed to throw money into these wooden bins, clap our hands twice and pray for anything we want.. Haha.. Like those movies like that..
See these plaques? Does it remind you of those scenes from idol dramas like MVP Valentine? Haha.. Wanted to write one but didn't know where they sold it.. Wasted..
Later, I paid 100 Yen for a divination and guess what I got? Excellent Luck! Haha.. So happy! A good omen.. If you got a 'xia xia qian', you can tie it to this post here and they burn it at the end of the year or something..
Next destination was the Hokkaido Winter Olympics Ski Jump.. A very bad jam to get there as it was the Golden Week.. It wasn't winter now so the jump was not in use..
We were given some extra time to ride the sky ride up to the peak of the jump.. As we had more than 15 people, each of us only paid 450 Yen for the ride instead of 500 Yen.. We even bought an extra ticket for Avril.. Danny got his complimentary ticket but he was so reluctant to ride it.. Haha..
The boarding area.. Some sort like the sky ride at the one in Sentosa..
The olympics logo..
"Be careful of oil in a steel tower at the time of rain".. Seriously, I didn't know what the sign means.. Haha.. The Chinese Words just meant "No Smoking".. So why can't they just write No Smoking? And I thought my English was bad.. Haha..
That's Avril there..
And that's Mr. Danny Diu, our tour guide.. He admitted he's actually very scared but he still posed for this picture.. Haha..
Cool View.. A day view of Sapporo City..
A group photo of just the girls in it.. Haha.. Don't we look like stars? Haha..
The guys trying to act macho.. Haha..
Danny still wanted to continue posing.. Haha.. So we took a single shot of him.. And I so think he looks like Dr. Finklestein from The Nightmare Before Christmas.. Haha..
These pictures were made possible due to great corporation among all the tour members.. Haha.. Each of us would pass our camera to the person sitted in front of us so that we could all turn around and help each other take pictures.. Haha.. Danny sat in front as he didn't want to take any.. This is me and KY.. We were like so busy lah.. Have to smile for ours and have to turn around to take for Linda & her husband.. Haha.. But this is new and fun..
Lunch was at a local ramen street.. The whole streets were just filled with ramen shops so just take your pick..
My grandma and I settled in this ramen store that had lots of artistes signatures.. Their ramen was nice except that it was too big a portion and they had too much bean sprouts in them.. We then proceeded on to the Ishiya Chocolate Lover Musuem or also known as 白色恋人.. It's a chocolate wonderland kind of place.. Lots of things to play and see.. I was like WOW when we first entered.. Haha..
I think I spent like almost SGD$70 in this museum just by buying chocolates lah.. Haha.. Mostly mainly gifts.. But at least I'm better than my father.. He spent $160 on 3 boxes of chocolates in Switzerland lah.. Now my whole house is filled with chocolates.. Haha..
This is some canal in a small town, Otaru.. Heard in Winter the whole river freezes up and snow covers the entire area.. Anyway, Otaru is known as a romantic city as there are many shops selling music boxes, crystals and glassware that mirrors the romantic atmosphere in this enchanting town..
Dunno what character this is but I thought it was rather cute.. Haha..
The Japanese Sumiyaki Coffee that bought at this shop.. I ordered tea cos I don't drink coffee.. Something special about this cafe is that you could bring home the cup after you drank finish the coffee..
A music box shop.. A very magical place as there were so many music box on sale lah.. My camera was lousy and took ugly pics.. Haha.. But I like these pictures of the ferris wheel.. You could even make your own music boxes for about 3000 Yen.. Customize your own skin and music..
A roadside BBQ stall that serve super cheap seafood.. The huge scallop that my grandma was eating only costs 100 Yen- SGD$1.30 lah.. So regret never order more..
And introducing the super expensive honeydew.. It's called Yubari Melon.. If you look closely, hte most expensive one costs 9500 Yen or equivilant to SGD$195! Haha.. The cheapest is also 3800 Yen or SGD$55.. Crazy.. Seriously, I don't have a clue why it's so expensive lah.. Maybe you guys can go Google it and see.. Haha..
Saw this lovely group of seagulls swimming in the canal river.. It's almost sunset! Time for dinner!
The main star of the dinner tonight.. Kobe Beef! Or in other terms, Wagyu Beef.. One slice of it costs 5500 Yen or SGD$70.. I ordered one of it cos I've heard of it in Singapore and so badly wanna try one.. It even has a birth certificate to go along with it.. Ok.. For those who dunno what's so special about Kobe Beef, lemme explain..Kobe beef (神戸牛) refers to beef from the black Tajima-ushi breed of Wagyu cattle, raised according to strict tradition in Hyogo Prefecture, Japan. These practices may include a diet of saké and beer, and daily massages to relieve muscle stiffness, presumably resulting in tender meat.. Man, I'll be the cow anytime.. Sake and beer everyday! And massages!
Again, the boss of the same restaurant came out to specially cook it for us.. Haha.. I think our tour group very da pai..
The theme of the dinner was BBQ! Seriously, I'm not a fan of BBQ food but the thought that it was not steamboat again was enought to whet my appetite.. Haha.. And they had so much ingredients as well.. That's a bip I'm wearing.. My shirt is white so you can't really see the difference.. Haha.. It was so funny to see the entire tour group wear bips for dinner like babies..
And this is the star! Kobe Beef! My god it was heavenly.. Completely melts in your mouth.. And super tender.. I finished the entire thing myself cos my grandma don't eat beef.. Haha..
After dinner, Danny brought us to the Red Light District of Sapporo.. And he cracked a stupid joke.. When asked where was the red light district as we couldn't see it, he replied, "There it is.. Red- Light- District".. zZzZz.. He was referring to the traffic lights as they were all coincidentally red at the time..Anyway, I think that Japan's red light district is so toned-down compared to Singapore or any other country.. The girls do not stand out on the streets beckoning customers and instead they place guys at the entrance! They hold placards with all the pictures and you just pick one and go up.. Hmm.. Funny method..
We passed by a Takopachi store and Linda's husband treated us to them.. 6 pieces for 500 Yen or SGD$7.. It's more expensive than Singapore but it's definitely much better.. And Danny cracked another joke.. We saw Arashi's commercial picture beside a red light district building and either he was just being funny or completely oblivious that they're superstars, he called them "gigolos".. Haha.. I'm glad I'm not an Arashi fan or I'll strangle him on the spot.. Haha..
Anyway, after going back to the hotel, some of us decided that we still wanted to go shopping so Bao Ling, Catherine, Jennifer and I headed off to the nearby shops around the hotel but to our dismay, so many of them close at 8pm.. =( But we still managed to capture a picture of the Sapporo Tower at night..
We passed by a pet store that had puppies for sale! And got lost on our way back as we forgot to remember some landmarks.. Plus the weather was like freaking cold.. Had to ask like 3 groups of people to find out a way back.. Haha..Whew! Long entry..
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