Japan 2016 Day 12: Hakodate, then Sapporo...

Updating 18 Days Graduation Trip to Japan posts (finally, after eons) - Day 12/18! And... this happened more than a year ago. Time passed waaaay too fast!

Day 12 - 31 May 2016, Tuesday

Overall itinerary of our twelfth day

1000 - 1300 : Hotel Kikuya >> Hakodate Morning Market (函館朝市, Hakodate Asaichi)

1300 - 1456 : Check out of Hotel Kikuya >> "Free & Easy" Time

1456 - 1841 : Hakodate >> Sapporo (JR) Station

1841 - 1915 : Sapporo (JR) Station >> Check into Best Western Hotel Fino Sapporo, Sapporo

1915 - 2030 : Dinner at Sapporo Ramen Republic

2030 - 2100 : Shopping at Esta Shopping Center

2100 onwards : Walk back to Best Western Hotel Fino Sapporo, Sapporo & rest

On our twelfth day, we had initial plans to visit Mt Esan. However, fatigue has set in and we just needed that few more hours of sleep. Repaid our sleep debts and we paid Hakodate Morning Market (函館朝市, Hakodate Asaichi) a visit for our breakfast.

Since we were at Hokkaido, we had to have their seafood rice bowls and there are several restaurants selling them at the Hakodate Morning Market. We went with "Donburi Yokocho" Restaurant Arcade which is located right at the entrance of the market. You definitely would not miss this restaurant with the many 'food models' displayed outside. Even if you do not understand their Japanese menu, you would be able to order by looking at all these pretty 'food models'.

I went with the '5 colours' rice bowl which I assumed it was a rice bowl with 5 types of seafood at 1,800yen (expensive, but hey it's fresh Hokkaido seafood!), while my friend had a rice bowl with sashimi and fish roe with strips of egg. Featuring my 'colourful' rice bowl... it makes me drool just by looking at it.

By ordering this rice bowl, you get to try fresh juicy pieces of sashimi, sea urchin, scallops, crab meat and big popping fish roes. To be honest, I am not a big fan of raw seafood. I have tried them in Singapore and I just found them so-so. However, this rice bowl is just so different? Like, you can literally taste the freshness and they go so well together.

This deserves a close-up, so here it is! This superb rice bowl made me a convert (for Japanese rice bowls). Now, I know why people rave about Hokkaido seafood.

On to my friend's rice bowl, it also has both the fish roe and sashimi (you got to eat the sashimi when you are here, okay!). Also, another photogenic rice bowl.

After breakfast, we explored the market itself where more seafood can be found if you want to try more variety of seafood such as fresh oysters. There are also stalls selling scallops, vegetables, beans which you can buy back home with you.

Oh, there is even a stall where you can catch a live squid!

I was tasked by my mum to get some scallops. Hmm, they costed a bomb though just by looking at the price tags on them.

We visited several stalls and I finally got them after bargaining while I was on the phone with my mum (going 'there is a packet with xx grams & it costs this much, oh the owner says she can give me discount.. wait ah, she's pressing the calculator...') while the owner was pressing her calculator non-stop as I pointed to different packets of scallops. Really, like a duck and chicken (can't speak the same language) but it ended well and the lady was super friendly, haha.

For some reason, squid is everywhere in Hakodate. Yesterday, we had squid gyoza. Now, I see live squid and then... squid ice-cream? Black ice-cream looks interesting and we wondered what it tasted like, so here we go.

Actually, there is not really a distinct taste. It just tasted like ice-cream to me. Maybe, slightly blander ice-cream.

After spending some more time at the market, we went back to our hotel to retrieve our luggages. The owner was kind enough to hold onto them while we spent our morning out. We made our way to the Hakodate JR station, and since we were pretty early, we wondered if we could get tickets for an earlier Shinkansen ride to Sapporo. It turned out that the seats for the earlier Shinkansen were fully reserved. Then, I realized it was a good thing we had our tickets reserved way advance. Imagine we had not reserved our train seats early... we might be stuck in Hakodate for one more night. Planning early helps a lot, do check out the post here for more information on booking the Shinkansen rides early!

With some time on hand, we walked around Hakodate station. They do have a few stores selling desserts and snacks. My friend went to Snaffles (ペイストリースナッフルス) Café and tried their Strawberry waffle. I think you can find Snaffles in Singapore as well, at Plaza Singapura. Not sure if they sell the waffle as well.

When the time came to board the Shinkansen, I could not miss the opportunity to have a photograph taken with the Shinkansen again (somehow every Shinkansen looks kind of different?). This Shinkansen was packed as well, with the carriage next to us filled with students. Throughout the entire ride, we could hear them (perhaps it was a school trip?).

Spent 4 hours on the Shinkansen and we finally reached Sapporo. It was cold and drizzling. Luckily, our hotel was pretty near to the station - about a 10minutes walk. Also, we got lucky at Best Western Hotel Fino Sapporo, Sapporo. I think we were given a free room upgrade. I remembered booking a room with a queen bed and upon checking in, they asked if we want 2 double beds instead. Finally, each of us can enjoy sleeping in a bed by ourselves tonight haha. Anyway, this was my favourite hotel out of all the hotels we stayed in Japan. Definitely coming back to this hotel if I visit Sapporo in the future!

Leaving our luggages at the hotel, we went to Sapporo Ramen Republic, at Esta Shopping Center for dinner. Located on the 10th floor, you can choose to have any types of ramen from the many ramen restaurants.

We chose to go with Ramen Sora as we were craving for some Miso Butter Corn Ramen (バターコーンらーめん) at 930yen per bowl. We were feeling pretty hungry after the long ride, so we got the plate of gyoza at 400yen.

Man, the ramen was good especially since it was cold outside. We enjoyed the gyoza too, really crispy on the outside.

As I received another shopping list from my dad, we went to Uniqlo again. This time round, this Uniqlo was not as packed as the one in Tokyo. It was so much better, except that they have a smaller variety of shirts. It was okay anyway, I rather shop without having to squeeze with so many people.