Day 5 (19 Oct) :Sounkyo (昙云峡) - Otaru (小樽) - Sapporo (扎幌)

Leaving Sounkyo behind us, we headed for Otaru (小樽) and the first tourist attraction of the day was the Otaru Canal (Otaru Unga). As extracted from a website: "The canal used to be a central part of the city's busy harbor in the first half of the 20th century, when large vessels had to be unloaded by smaller ships, which then transported the goods to warehouses along the canal. The canal became obsolete, when modern dock facilities allowed for direct unloading of larger vessels. Thanks to a citizens' movement, however, a part of the canal was beautifully restored in the 1980s instead of being landfilled, while the warehouses were transformed into shops, cafes, museums and restaurants". The canal used to be longer and now just 400m of it remains.

The tour guide brought us to this small, cosy restaurant situated along the coastline for lunch. The winds were so strong that I felt an uplifting below my feet (my teeth were knocking against each other).

Our lunch... There was also a grilled fish - no seasoning was needed except for a dash of salf; the freshness was distinct. We paid for the sashimi out of our own pockets (8,000yen/S$101.16) - I don't think you can get such variety, quality and value back in Singapore. The red pieces above the prawns were tuna belly - yum yum ('melted' away in the mouth)! It takes a local to seek out such "gems" (ie point us to such places).

Next, we visited the Otaru Orgel Doh which houses the Otaru Music Box Museum, and Kitachi Glass reputed for its antique lamps and hand-blown glassware.

A map of the entire area:















Musical "boxes" of all sizes, shapes, make and era...

MEOW... This installation was just next to the traffic junction/road but I wouldn't want to miss this photo opportunity. Cats seem to be well-received in Japan, all thanks to the auspicious Maneki-neko ( 招财猫).

A building opposite the Otaru Music Box Museum. See the cat figurine on the facade?





"Hi, welcome!" (look at these cuties sitting on the staircase inside the building above)

I got this from one of the shops, a "Hello Kitty" (HK) speciality store. HK stuff are widely sold in a lot of the places we went to during the trip. I'm not a HK fan. I needed a new spectacle box for my sunglasses and this looks pretty.

Next, we proceeded to the Asahi Beer Factory (local beer).

The making of beer:

Bits of Asahi's history:









Modern-day packaging of Asahi beer:





Poster girls, from yester-years to current times:

Cheers! The tour wrapped up with an unlimited flow of beer in the visitors' area. No worries, we were sober when we walked out. The beer warmed me up nicely for the cold weather :)

Our last stop of the day was Susukino, Hokkaido's night life district. Look out for the top of Grimlock's head towards the end of the clip - yup, that was the only bit of him caught on film in all the postings, hee hee...



There was a row of alley streets, written in kanji as "狸小路". I dunno why but I find the name cute and kind of like it, ha ha ha...

To our delight, we came across a pet shop but we were dismayed to see the sale of live breeds. Puppies and kittens were each kept in isolation :{ - don't think encaging at such a young age will have any positive impact on their overall development. Hope they all go off to good homes soon...

This litter of puppies was "showcased" right in-front of the shop:

An interesting tri-coloured puppy:

Two glum-looking kittens:

I think the puppies have been drawing more human attention than the kitties. When we walked near the enclosure, this kitten (a Somali tagged at 158,000 yen/S$2,006.60) got so excited and started to get very playful (he/she did a couple of somersaults). We didn't want to give him/her any false hope so we moved off right away after I finished the very short video clip.

Dinner was on our own. We popped into one of the restaurants there, named "初代一国堂". It proved to be the right choice because we saw a regular stream of locals coming in and the ramen was good (the noodles were springly and level of cookness was just right)!

Grimlock's order, soy sauce chashu ramen (900 yen/S$11.43):

My order, miso pork cube chashu ramen (1,000 yen/S$12.70):

A close-up shot (the pork 'melted' away in the mouth):

Gyoza on the side (300 yen/S$3.81):

We went to one of the shopping malls and on one of the floors, there was a shop selling cat-themed gifts/精品店 (http://www.catworks.gr.jp/). The shop owner has five ragdolls - he pinned up their photos on a notice board (they look gorgeous!). There are photos of his cats and of fellow cat lovers on the website. Again, there was a language barrier. I bought a pair of cloth coasters (I'm using them now in my office, each costs 367 yen/S$4.66)) and Grimlock bought a drawing (840 yen/S$10.67) which he has pinned up in his office. The cat in the drawing resembles Skoda; the big, round eyes and when Skoda does her 'bunny' rows, she likes to put up her paws too.

Hotel: Apa Hotel & Resort Sapporo. This hotel sits on a hilltop with beautiful, lush surroundings. Again, we didn't wake up early enough to take a walk around the premises.