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Big trip (IV): Chiletag:www.invisiblecompany.com,2007:/gullsway//9.23132007-07-25T13:45:05Z2008-07-15T13:48:26Zchile part 2invisiblecompanyhttp://www.invisiblecompany.com
Day 24 to 28, concluding my trip to Chile.
Wine train tour
We met up with our bus at 8am which took us downtown. Changed to another bus for a 1.5 hour ride to San Fernando. This was were we boarded the antique steam train for a memorable wine train tour. It was raining all day but it didn't spoil the atmosphere and fun. The engine was built in 1913 and this tour had been going for a few years, with very little interruption. All I cared was, steam train! (resists temptation to go choo-choo.)
The 1.5 hour ride was in a 1923 carriage, with dark wood and plush velvet seats. We'd been warned that it would be cold cos the train had no heating. Didn't matter. Almost as soon as we set off we were treated to cheese and fruit. And then they came through with the wine trolleys. This was the Red Program II, so primarily we were served red wine. By the time we reached our destination of Santa Cruz most of us had a good 3 glasses already. I tried a Cabernet, a Cab/Merlot mix and an organic syrah. Nice.
We were welcomed by a folk dance by local children, then it was off to the Museo Colchagua, a private museum containing a lot of artifacts from all through Chile's history.
Lunch was at the Hotel Santa Cruz Plaza, belonging to the same family and next to the museum. A pretty hacienda like hotel, and the sun peeked out just enough after lunch for some pictures.
The final part of the program was a visit to the Viña Santa Cruz. I'm guessing it's the only vineyard in the world that has its own cable car, indigenous village display, llamas and giant telescope.
The actual wine tasting at the vineyard was a short affair -- just a couple of glasses. The vineyard is only about 10 years old but it has an old name since the owners bought the brand name of an older vineyard. Main production includes syrah, carménère, cabernet sauvignon and malbec. Nothing too extraordinary, nice tasting.
An interesting six degrees type of tidbit is the astronomical centre has a piece of space junk -- a part that fell off a satellite. The same satellite now sits at the Air & Space Museum at Washington DC where I was only a couple of weeks ago. Hee.
The Coast -- Zapallar, Concón, Viña del Mar, Valparaíso
The rain yesterday meant today was sunny. Perfect day for the coast. Only 2.5 hours' drive from Santiago and it was the coast already. I hadn't been to a beach for a while so it was refreshing to watch the waves hit the rocks and smell the fresh breeze. Although the sun was out it was still cool, around 9-12°C.
We stopped at Zapallar, an absolutely pristine cove surrounded by rolling hills. The beach was sand, the waves striking and the sky the deepest blue. The houses on the hill were swanky, the place felt like a fishing village nested in a high end resort. We sat on the beach for a while, and it was very pleasant. Definitely a place for weekend home if one has the money.
We turned back and drove towards Concón for lunch. On the way stopping briefly at roadside fruit stalls. Each sack of apples, avocados, oranges or whatever fruit was 1,000 pesos ($2).
Lunch was at one of the many seafood restaurants in Concón. We had empanadas as starter -- I had crab and cheese and the others had scallops, razor clams as filling. Very yummy. I was too hungry and ate most of mine before I remembered about pictures. I did take a picture of my main course, a mountain of seafood. There were machas (razor clams), baby scallops, mussels, shrimps, loco (like abalone), crab and piure, an orange slimy clam-like local delicacy.
The drive down the coast was breathtaking. I don't think I'll ever get tired of looking at the sky, the sea and the beach.
Mid-afternoon we reached Viña del Mar, which oozed money. Even on a winter's day the promenade was full of people walking around and being seen. With a posh hotel, casino, palm-lined streets it had a Monte Carlo feel to it. Part of being out and about in the cold was having ice cream, of course. The shop we went to was having a promotion -- get 2 scoops and have either one free topping or an extra scoop. I had orange, aloe vera and mixed berries. Yummy.
It was almost sundown but we had one final stop -- the hills of Valparaíso. To get up there we rode in a rickety Victorian funicular, the Ascensor Concepción built in 1883. At the top are museums and a nice walk (if only it weren't getting dark). Valparaíso is distinctively known for its sprawl up its hills.
A quiet drive back to Santiago. It's been an incredibly full 5 days, and K&P went 200% to take me to all these places.
Santiago
Day 26 was a domestic day. I sorted, uploaded the weekend pictures and wrote the days up. Ventured out on foot to the local Lider Express, a supermarket. It was about 20 minutes' walk, in the rain and it was cold.
The main purpose of going out to the store was to get cream to make chocolate mousse. I also bought artichokes and wind-dried beef/ham for lunch. I said I'd make dinner so I bought a whole chicken, potatoes and mushroom. Did the usual spatchcocked chicken, rubbing in an olive oil concoction with rosemary, lemon zest, garlic and shallots under the skin. It was a larger chicken than I'm used to, but we still managed to finish 2/3.
Most of the afternoon was cooking. I enjoyed it very much, a small thanks for my hosts.
Day 27 I ventured out on my own. Walked about 20 minutes through the suburbs to the metro station. Fare downtown was 380 pesos, which I paid for using the bip! card K&P lent me. The metro system was straightforward, clean and efficient.
I got off at Baquedano station and walked up the Pío Nono. We were there last week visiting the souvenir markets and I recognised the street. At the top end of the street is the Cerro San Cristóbal, at 880m the tallest point in Santiago. The whole area forms part of the Parque Metropolitano and consists of the zoo, open spaces, gardens, a funicular and a cable car.
A return ticket on both funicular and cable car was 2,300 pesos. The main attraction of the hill is the Virgen de la Inmaculada Concepción, a 22m statue of the Virgin Mary. There was a small altar inside the pedestal of the statue and a helpful guide gave out small prayer cards.
It rained yesterday so it was sunny and relatively clear. Haze had begun to settle so the view of the city was not as clear as expected. Spectacular though, I could see most of the big city from the foot of the statue.
The other side of the funnicular was the cable car station. Small cable cars brought us down to the Oasis station, which was a park and a car park. However there was a stop along the way, Tupahue, which had a swimming pool (not open obviously), a viewing fort, children's playground and more nice views of the city. I just find palm trees backed by the Andes an interesting contrast.
I retraced my steps through the cable car, funicular and side street. Had an Italiano -- a hot dog with tomatoes and avocado -- at a street stall, together with a fried pastry. Bought some more souvenirs and took the metro back to the apartment.
Santiago was great. South America is very far away, regardless of where one lives. I feel so lucky to have friends who opened their home to me and allowed me to experience the country in a non-touristy way. Yes I could have packed my days with lots of sightseeing, or even took an overnight trip. I could have stayed longer and visited Easter Island. But that is for another trip. I like the easy-going pace of the last couple of weeks.
Some pics that didn't make it to the travelogue, because they didn't fit into the commentary or there was a more representative pic.
The orange tree inside the grounds of the Government Palace.
A lone cellist in the park. He was literally just playing; if he was busking there'd be a hat or tip jar somewhere right?
Palm trees and the moon at Viña.
A typical suburban house in Las Condes. If it weren't for the licence plates on the car I'd say I was in the UK.
And finally something special. K always told me about the beautiful view from her balcony. I'd seen pictures and was amazed. But seeing it myself adds to the amazement. This rotates through morning, sunset and night views.
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Hokkaido 2008 (I)tag:www.invisiblecompany.com,2008:/gullsway//9.23782008-09-09T13:23:46Z2008-09-09T13:28:13Zhokkaido 1 - sapporo, furano, tokachigawa, akan, mashuinvisiblecompanyhttp://www.invisiblecompany.com
Sapporo
We visited Hokkaido in 2002 and were awed by the beautiful scenery. We've talked so many times in the intervening years about going back, and it's taken 6 years. Even though we are missing the peak tourist season, July, when lavenders flower, we figured there will be so many other things to see and experience.
The flight arrived early but the long queue at immigration ate away the time advantage. We wheeled our bags to the Toyota Car Rental counter only to discover that, hee, it's affliated with Hertz. No wonder when we reserved online that it was so efficiently English. In a procedure that reminded us of Heathrow, we registered at the counter and then were taken by van about 5 mins' drive offsite to the main rental location.
Our car was a Ractis, class P2 (similar to group B or C). For 8 days it was ¥75,600 including insurance. Automatic and came with GPS. I'd emailed them previously to ask for an English-speaking GPS and that was what we got. The people who got the car next to us at the parking bay obviously didn't make that specification and had to change their car.
First thing I noticed when I got into the car, I didn't know where the handbrake was. How embarrassing. Turned out it's a foot pedal located where the clutch would have been if it were a manual car. :blush
Second thing about the GPS. It spoke English but the dashboard was still in Japanese. There were English instructions but we managed with the kanji anyway. Programming a location was dead easy - just key in the phone number!
The last time we'd rented a car on a long holiday was New Zealand, although I'd driven in the US in the last couple of years. But driving was easy, it helped that Japan is on the right side of the road and the roads are in good condition.
This first night we stayed at the Keio Plaza. Location was perfect, a few minutes' walk from the JR station. We hadn't booked all our nights for this trip, and were hoping that the tourist information office could help. We took bundles of brochures off to dinner to talk about options.
By the time we remembered that we had a car, we were at the ticket machines in the subway station. Hee. It was only 2 stops to Susukino the nightlife district. We had conveyer belt sushi and our first indulgence was to order a bunch of uni nigiri. Yummy. Dinner came to ¥3,276.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped off at Robinson's (a decidedly un-Japanese name for a department store) and ogled at the displays of greenhouse fruits. Amazing. Artificial, but still amazing.
First impressions. Seemed to me that there are more tourists than we remembered, especially from other Asian countries. Hokkaido has always been the Japanese people's best kept secret but now more and more people are learning about this. Sapporo probably isn't the best example cos it's the largest city and the starting point for visitors.
Sapporo-->Furano-->Tokachigawa Onsen
We got up early to visit the tourist information office. We'd decided to revisit a favourite and spend 2 nights at Furano. Yes, it's another tourist mecca but it really is very pretty. Disappointly the tourist information office couldn't help us book accommodation; and neither could the travel agency we were directed to. We decided to stop off on our way to Tokachigawa to make the reservation ourselves. With the sheer number of hotels and b&bs in Furano we weren't worried.
That settled, we headed off for brunch at the seafood market. The more popular one is Nijo Market near Odori Park but we went to the Central Wholesale Market which was just 10 mins' drive away. The advantage was the less crowded location and easy parking. We'd also seen a leaflet for Kaisen-ichiba Kitano Gourmet which reassured us that a) there'd be some English and b) it had a phone number for GPS direction. We weren't disappointed, the prawn looked like it was gonna jump off the bowl, the seafood was so fresh. Two chirashi plus a grilled conch came to ¥6,750. No need for drinks, a jug of cold tea was on every table. Watched the finish of the woman's marathon, so impressive when the runners enter the bird's nest stadium.
Dessert was yubari melon from a street stall, Japan's version of luxurious cantaloupe melons. To give a perspective on just how luxurious, the best pair in this year's first auction fetched ¥2.5 million in May. Ours were more modest, at ¥100 a slice.
The drive to Furano was just under 2 hours. Would have been faster if we hadn't gotten stuck behind some truly sloooooooow drivers on the single-lane A-roads. The speed limit was 50km/hr, so okay, we were above the limit. Then again, so were 98% of the other drivers. Not sure of the purpose of setting such a low speed limit only for it to be broken by almost everyone.
It was straightforward booking the hotel, even with the language difficulty. We went for a pension near the ski lift that mentioned an in-house onsen. Stopped off for an ice cream and then we continued on our way to our destination for the next 3 nights, Kangetsuen at Tokachigawa Onsen.
This was the highlight of the trip. The Japanese-styled room was simply furnished but roomy. The sizes of the rooms are measured by the jo. Ours was 8-jo which converts to 12.24m2. The futons were put away in the closet during the day, and the hotel staff set them out on the tatami during dinner. Originally we wanted to book the rooms with en suite spa, but our agent couldn't secure them.
Our stay included breakfast and dinner. The dinners were traditional Kaiseki style, consisting of a multitude of delicate courses carefully cooked and presented. The attention to detail was amazing, from the small glass of pre-dinner drink to the orientation of the plates.
After dinner was another highlight, the onsen. After thoroughly showering, it was time to try out the different baths. There was a main mineral bath with whirlpool section, a separate whirlpool, waterfall, stone walking pool, sauna and an outdoor bath. My favourite was the outdoor bath, overlooking what looked like the fields outside the hotel and further, a nearby bridge (hard to see without glasses, hee). Rocks form the boundary of the bath and there were submerged areas to sit on when the water got too hot.
The Olympics were on tv. We watched volleyball, basketball, gymnastics and other games. Commentary in Japanese was interestingly incomprehensible. Naturally they focused on the Japan team, and it looked like they were doing very well.
Akan-->Mashu-->Sulphur Mountain
Breakfast was in the large dining room and self-service. All the traditional items were available - rice, fish, noodles, pickles. There was a local item that was like semolina with croutons that was interesting. Yogurt was more sticky than what we were used to, and had a mild taste. The tea from a teabag was awful so I stuck to oolong and green teas.
The drive to Akan was under 2 hours. We had our first petrol station experience on the way. It had been years since we'd been to a fully serviced place. They even cleaned our windows, and directed traffic to guide us back out to the road. Talk about great courtesy and service.
Lake Akan is one of three lakes in the Akan National Park. We just missed the hourly sightseeing boat so we took the speedboat option.
The main attraction of Lake Akan was to see marimo, slow-growing algae balls that populate the bottom of the lake. Marimo was declared a national treasure and there is a concerted effort to preserve them. The Marimo Observation Centre is located on an island at the top end of the lake. The round shape of the marimo is formed through gentle rotation of waves, and one of the exhibits replicated this action. It's just like a relaxed version of lava lamps. [hurray for flickr video]
Back on shore, we walked the length of the village of Akankohan. The main industry being tourism, there was an abundance of souvenir shops. But hidden between buildings were hand or foot baths. Temperatures ranged from cool to too-hot-to-put-your-foot-for-more-than-5-seconds. Very enjoyable and relaxing.
The far end of the village behind the Ainu tribal museum was a 30-minute nature walk that led back to the lake. The end of the walk was the Singing Marimo monument, from what we could gather it had song lyrics carved into a rock.
Lunch was rice bowls at a local family place. Pork for mm and ebi for me. As with many Japanese we came across on this trip, we communicated through a combination of hand gestures, pointing and lots of nodding. The Japanese has a cute tendency to continue talking in fast Japanese even though they fully understand that we understand 0% of what they are talking about. It's as if by talking even more, some of it will get through.
We hurried to Lake Mashu. The drive took longer cos of slow moving vehicles. We ended up at Observatory No 1, and a nice view. Apparently the lake is often covered by mist from the Kushiro wetlands but today it was open though overcast. Apparently also the view from Observatory No 3 is better (there isn't any No 2) but we didn't have time.
The next stop was Io-zan, or sulphur mountain. Similar to the hellmouth at Noboribetsu but on a smaller scale, there was a short path that led up a little into the mountain where we could see, feel and smell the sulphur seeping out from the rockface.
Another fully loaded, beautifully cooked dinner course and hot spring evening followed. Heh, we even did laundry.
I didn't realise until mm told me that we were going too fast, even worse than a tour group. Sorry, mm. Let's slow down and take our time.
[Note: USD vs JPY is currently 109.597, but for quick rule of thumb use 100]
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hokkaido 2008 (II)tag:www.invisiblecompany.com,2008:/gullsway//9.23792008-09-09T13:28:48Z2008-09-09T13:32:18Zhokkaido 2 -- kushiro, takachigawa onsen, obihiroinvisiblecompanyhttp://www.invisiblecompany.com
Kushiro
Long drive today to Kushiro not helped by the poor weather. It rained and was cloudy all day. We missed the wetlands train by a few minutes, but we were only half-heartedly rushing for it anyway.
We made the tour of the wetlands by car instead. The Hosooka Viewpoint gave an expansive view of the meandering Kushiro river below us. This panorama was stitched from 6 photos, click for larger image.
Lunch was at Washo market, a non-descript building housing a wet market of about 80 stalls selling fruits, vegetables, seafood and other produce. The reason for the visit wasn't because it is one of the three largest seafood markets in Hokkaido, it was to sample the katte-don, or "make-your-own" chirashi. It was simple. Buy your rice from one of the many stalls, picking the appropriate size. It's sold by weight so no issue about scrimping. Next, go to one (or several) of the many seafood stalls and select the various items you want on your rice. That's it. As was our focus on this trip, ebi, salmon roe and uni formed the main selection. Two chirashi plus a plate of uni came to ¥5,050.
The next stop was the Tancho Reserve that is home to a flock of red-capped cranes, Japan's national bird. From pictures we thought it was an open nature reserve and were a little surprised to be confronted with high wired cages each housing a crane family. Strange. It could be that most of the cranes had migrated elsewhere, since they were only supposed to be on site during the winter. The theory that the ones remaining were in captivity was quickly debunked when a couple of them flew out of the cages and starting hanging out on the footpath. Clearly if they wanted to fly away they could, and these few chose to stay. It would still have been nice to see them in their natural habitat but it was also reassuring to know that they weren't prisoners. They were tame though, we walked past them very close and they weren't bothered.
We had coffee and ice cream at the small (rather deserted) souvenir shop off to one side of the carpark. The service we received was as usual impeccable.
There was just enough time to pay a short visit to the Kushiro City Marsh Observatory, another lookout to the wetlands.
Guess what? Our third beautiful dinner and more relaxing soaking in the onsen followed by Olympics. That's the life.
Tokachigawa Onsen-->Obihiro-->Furano
Time to pack up and leave the Kangetsuen, sniff sniff. What a lovely place. Before heading out of the area totally, we explored the town around the hotel. Behind the visitors centre we enjoyed a foot bath and a few minutes' drive away was the huge flower clock at Tokachigaoka Park.
Then it was time to head out in the direction of Obihiro and the Tokachi Millennium Forest, a nature reserve that is an eclectic combination of wilderness, agriculture, ecology, education, art and technology. The owners expect the site to be sustainable for 1,000 years and aim:
to nurture and maintain the natural woods where various animals and plants live. By planting conventional species of trees, we are restoring the original Tokachi forest. We welcome our visitors to come and discover the abundant nature of the forest, and to ultimately enhance their knowledge of agriculture.
The park was designed by Dan Pearson who was also responsible for Roppongi Hills and Millenium Dome. There were distinct zones - forest, grassy plain, agriculture garden and even a cheese factory. Located randomly in the park are works by various artists, the most famous being Yoko Ono.
We spent a bit of our money at the cheese factory on goat's cheese. Got to sample fresh milk from this morning too.
We would have stayed at the forest for the whole day if not for needing to move on...and find lunch. We headed back to Obihiro, parked, and found out that most shops and restaurants were closed. It was only just after 2pm. Sigh. By sheer luck we came across Kita no Yatai which was a narrow alleyway of small stalls that looked interesting. These open at night for drinking and chatting so we wouldn't get to experience them, what a shame.
One of the restaurants that were open nearby served buta-don, which is associated with the area. The options depended on the number of slices of pork on rice. We chose the smaller 4-slice portion and supplemented with a vegetable tempura.
Next stop after Obihiro was Furano. Funny thing about GPS, not all roads are registered on satellite. When we got to one of the toll booths the attendant tried very hard, with lots of words and drawing on a map, to explain to us that a new highway just opened. It was only driving on it, and freaking out the GPS (driving through a blank screen was hilarious), that we figured out what was happening.
We checked into the b&b and drove to town for dinner at Kumagera. Its speciality was raw beef don, tofu cheese and beef hot pot. mm had the beef don and I opted to try the bear set meal. Yes, bear meat. They warned that since it's difficult to hunt bear, it may not be available all the time but they had it tonight. It tasted gamey but not as strong as venison, a little chewy like jerky but in general quite nice.
The restaurant also had a large selection of sake, so it became impossible for us not to try a glass.
The pension had a small onsen bath and we enjoyed that for a while. The best thing actually was the open shower area and we could talk and share the bathing experience. No wonder the Japanese talk about the social aspect of going to the onsen. There is no embarrassment about being naked with other bathers, unlike what might occur in other countries. No staring, no judging, no lewdness. Stripping away clothing is like leaving social barriers and other stresses of real life behind. Once in the baths, the flow, the heat and the sound of the water has a cleansing and peaceful effect.
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Hokkaido 2008 (III)tag:www.invisiblecompany.com,2008:/gullsway//9.23802008-09-09T13:30:13Z2008-09-09T13:34:29Zhokkaido 3 -- furano, biei, bibaushi, otaru, sapporo, homeinvisiblecompanyhttp://www.invisiblecompany.com
Furano-->Biei
Today was all about reliving old experiences and sampling new ones. Furano, Biei and Bibaushi invoke images of rolling hills, vivid flowers and lone trees like no other place in my mind.
The cheese factory was a new experience. It was a little out of town and we didn't have a car last time to reach there. There were free samples, including a black cheese made with cuttlefish ink, as well as hands-on cheese making sessions.
Next to the factory was an ice cream factory. We didn't try it cos it was too early in the morning. A short walk to the back led us to a photographer's gallery where the owner sold me one of his books.
Then it was off to Farm Tomita, arguably the biggest tourist attraction in Furano. The lavender had wilted by now, but there was still plenty of other flowers. Lavender inside the greenhouse if photographed a certain way gave the impression that it was outside.
The famous slope was bare, compared with full bloom last time.
Between Furano and Biei was the Trick Art Museum [English translation of Japanese site] where 2D paintings gave the illusion of 3D. Fun stuff.
Yet again we missed the narrow lunch window and most places in Biei were closed. We ended up eating instant ramen from 7-Eleven in our car. Sometimes we splurge out on expensive meals and yet sometimes we go back to poor student mode.
The starting point of the Biei circuit is Pension Ken & Mary with its distinctive tree. They charge ¥300 entrance to the café, or we can buy something to drink and sit on the terrace. No brainer, duh.
The sun was almost setting when we reached the Shikisai Hill otherwise known as four seasons hill farm. The hay figure was a memory from last time, as was their pumpkin ice cream.
We had dinner at an izakaya - drinking places that are part pub and part tapas bar. We ordered sushi, yakitori, fried camembert, and beef on hotplate. I had a beer and mm a sake. Such a pleasant way of spending an evening.
The softball gold medal match was on. I saw the first few innings at the bar and caught the final few after getting back to the b&b. To see the elation on the faces of the winning Japanese team was gorgeous. When the last US hitter got run out, one of the commentators cried and squealed, even not knowing Japanese I could tell her excitement.
Bibaushi-->Sapporo
We found ourselves lingering, not wanting to leave, because Bibaushi is so stunning. We traced our route from the station to Takushinkan, this time by car. I've tried over the years to try to find more works by Shinzo Maeda and realise his son Akira has taken up his mantle. We bought a big stack of postcards, wanting to buy the whole lot.
A side note is that Takushinkan charged for parking, but only a minute away was a service area with free parking. We wondered why they even charge when every single car parked at the service area. Just as well because we had the sweetest sweetcorn and juiciest cherry tomatoes at the small shop there. The hospitality of the shopkeeper was amazing, she even gave us small doughy rolls to taste. May be our poor student persona was showing again.
The GPS directed us back to Sapporo via Asahikawa, weird. It was lunchtime and we stopped at a huge shopping mall. Had more buta-don and quickly looked around the giant Jusco supermarket. Food was amazing.
We took the fast, and expensive, highway to Sapporo. Instead of wasting time checking into the hotel we headed straight for Sapporo Factory for a little shopping. Not far away was the Sapporo Bier Garten. The beer museum was closed by the time we got there, but dinner had just begun.
Wow. Talk about vast and organised. The speciality is jingisukan, the romanji spelling for Genghis Khan. No surprise that it's barbequed lamb. There are several different restaurants in the complex and the choices are - full buffet, 100 minute all-you-can-eat, à la carte and a grill. We opted for the AYCE, which for ¥3,570 included beer and soft drinks. I had 3 glasses (500ml each I think) of draft and a half-half mix of draft and black beer. Followed with a glass of oolong tea.
Another shopping mall next to the beer garden and the main attraction was the Uniqlo store. We both managed to buy something, woot!
When we checked into the Keio Plaza we were told that we had a standard (smoking) room for one night and had to move rooms for the second night. We were really, really annoyed. I mean, if a customer requests an additional night before their original booking, wouldn't it make sense to have one room for both nights instead of treating it as two separate bookings? Not sure if it was the problem with our travel agent or the bureaucratic hotel.
Otaru
I didn't think we'd make it back to Otaru. In my mind it's got shopping and more shopping and how many pretty glass ornaments can we buy?
I'm glad mm insisted to return. After all, it's only 30 mins drive from Sapporo. We had a great day. Tired from all the walking, but still good. Parking was difficult, at least for the free variety so we parked for the whole day. ¥100 for 30mins, max ¥1,200, we were prepared to pay the maximum price.
No visit to Otaru can be complete without a stop at the canal. I've never really gotten why it's considered to absolutely stunningly beautiful. It's pretty, but...I dunno.
Early lunch of uni rice at a food stall. We thought the place would get packed later but the crowds never appeared. They must have stuck to the restaurants on the main strip. And what a main strip. Took us the whole day to walk from one end to the other and back. Mostly glassware, music boxes and ornaments. There were repeats which suggested similar sources. Still, the handiwork was impressive.
I didn't buy much. mm bought sake sets from the outlet, an award winning bottle of sake, music boxes and other souvenirs. We learned something new today at the Otaru Music Box Museum. Normally music boxes are 18-note, so are limited in the range of music they can play. High end music boxes have 36-, 50- and even 72-notes. One of the curators at the museum showed us the difference, and it was remarkable. The 72-note box played Ave Maria with both treble and bass, just like on the piano (same number of keys). Naturally the price increase is exponential.
Food-wise we had a heavenly day. The seafood stall offering grilled scallops on the shell for ¥100 was too good to pass up. We had one each, then returned to have 2-3 each. At Kitakaro where we got a tea set of coffee, ice cream and puff for ¥500 was equally value for money.
Dinner back at the wholesale fish market in Sapporo. By then it was dark and the stalls had closed, but not the restaurants. For this last dinner we totally gorged ourselves, I had the crab set meal and mm had sushi and tempura.
The new room at the Keio Plaza was way better, so much so that I was impressed (or relieved) enough to take pictures.
home
Flight was at 4.40pm so we had the whole morning for shopping. Breakfast was ramen at the JR station. First time we had ramen this trip and it was a good one.
mm went crazy and bought a handbag and a couple of purses from Burberry Blue Label. Blue Label is exclusively licensed to Japan and seem to have a more contemporary design. We even got the tax refund immediately in the store, very convenient.
I didn't buy anything, unless ice cream and gumi sweets count.
We were very late returning the car, mm was cornered by someone on a customer satisfaction survey. We were spared the pain of check-in cos of my gold card but everyone was treated equal at security. For the 3 flights leaving around that time there was one security checkpoint so imagine the queue.
The lounge was tiny, more like the waiting room at a train station albeit with better seats and free drinks. The flight was fine, we had 3 seats to ourselves.
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Lots of tuktuks, like Bangkok. They're called ricksaws here. Driving takes nerves of steel, lots of honking and cars just swerving out of the side road. Actually there's no difference between main road and side road, there are no road markings.
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There is a big difference between the suburbs and downtown Mumbai. Downtown is just like any big city, may be busier and dirtier, but I felt fine walking around even in the dark. Outside was poorer and more "local".
India is a land of contrasts -- the poverty of the children sleeping on the streets vs the opulence of my hotel suite; the streetside stalls vs the modern shopping malls.
There was a cow outside our office building. Not in some suburbs or village ... right outside the business district.
The American Indian Museum is the newest museum, with a beautifully curved exterior design that strangely reminded me of Easter Island. The interior design was based on a curved central atrium and there was hardly a sharp angle or straight line in place.
