Sapporo

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The main city of Hokkaido.

Sapporo was like the gateway to many parts of Hokkaido since it had good train infrastucture and an international / domestic airport. However, we didn't go further than Sapporo. Time was a determinant and I was less enthusiastic abt seeking koyo (autumn foliage) any more.

Last bid in finding koyo was a visit to the Hokkaido Uni which was right opposite our lodging. At least, this wasn't a futile trip. There are green, yellow, brown, red all over the campus... this was more like the scene I wished for...

My stay in Sapporo was marked by great food & cool weather at night. (Pics only shown half of the stuff I had eaten) Sadly, I couldn't take in many more meals. At this point in time, I also had to satisfy my coffee craving.. no japanese coffee though. I was elated to see Starbucks even though it wasn't a fav of mine. At least it was smtg that I know would have a consistent taste regardless of which land it was on. It didn't let me down.

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Photos

Soba
This was a really HUGE bowl of soba. Couldn't finish it but wish there was even more tempura mushrooms. Very tasty and they didn't turn soggy quickly. Available Sapporo's station and New Chitose Airport.

Soft-cream
This chocolate flavour with tiny bits of chocolate was yummy ;p slurp slurp.

Hokkaido Uni
One of the very few flame-red trees I seen there.

Ramen @ Sapporo Ramen Republic
Chose this out of the many stalls because it was near one of the 2 entrances and it had a queue and it seemed to have all the basic ingredients we were looking for. It had thick soup base with miso. Looked oily but didn't taste too oily when. This was pretty good to the extend it was coveted the title of the best ramen we had thus far.

Free curry rice at hotel
We specially returned to the hotel early on the last night in Sapporo so that we didn't miss out on the free meal. The curry was oishi but seemed like a meal with just gravy and rice. Seemed pathetic without other dishes, MX & I went to the convenience stall next door to buy oden to add to the less "meaty" curry.

Queue @ New Chitose Airport
The queue started to form at around 9am for sale of some caramel food stuff which will only be available at 11am. Being tourist, I didn't have that much time to spare to verify the product. Next time lah.

Mailing stuff home
extreme measure to send goodies home so as to ease the load we would face in carrying a heavy load back to tokyo via several trains. This was not a purse-friendly attempt for sure.

Red bean pancake
My gosh! I liked the version sold in sapporo or was it just this stall. The crust was very thin and crispy with delicious red bean paste. ;P