So we went on a tour of Hakodate this weekend. it was really weird finally getting a tour of our city. At first i was hesitant to go. i was told the government subsidized the fee so it ended up being 10000 yen in the end. It was a lot of money to spend so i was still debating it. The reasons why i wanted to go were the onsen & the food. In the end, i decided i may as well go for kicks.
So the first day we got picked up in front of our school. Courtney a.k.a Bosley brought a big suitcase so we kept joking about her missing her plane soon.First place we went to was the same soba making place we went several weeks ago. One of the women there recognized us. I didnt mind. i was hungry and the soba was really nice. :)
The next place was a lake where we were supposed to go ice fishing at oonuma park but we couldn't that day. i was disappointed.
Before checking in at our lodge that night, we visited a kelp museum.
The main thing i remember from it was all the free samples. i wanted to buy some seaweed white chocolate for my family. it tastes just like regular chocolate but there was seaweed inside... maybe next time.
We headed to the onsen ryokan after. The Onsen ryokan was located in yunokawa.
It is easily accessible by tram i believe. I got paired up with Li, a chinese student who is studying in Tokyo at the moment. He was a really nice guy. After entering the room, i enjoyed how it looked. We also got to wear yukatas. Loved it & wanted to keep it for myself.
We headed off for dinner and it was like from the movies. Dinning room had two rows od those mini tables with a variety of plates on it. We had several things to eat such as scallop rice, oysters, roast deer, takowasabi, salmon & clam soup. It was VERY filling and really tasty. The alcohol was unlimited for 2 hours. The sapporo beer went down really nice with the meal.
After the meal we all went to the onsen. It was my first time in an onsen. I was hesitant with the whole nude public bath thing but it wasn't that bad. it was nice! The indoor bath was too hot.. i enjoyed the outdoor one instead. It was too bad i couldnt take a picture of it to show everyone. It actually felt refreshing. They say people play ping pong a lot after leaving the baths. So we did....
At night we got to sleep on our futons with mattresses under them. Way more comfortable than my futon at the apartment. it was one of the best sleeps i have had in a while.
We woke up in the morning and Li & I headed straight for the onsen. A morning bath was just what we needed. Had a japanese style breakfast afterwards and eventually had to leave the ryokan. it was a shame. I was sad to leave the wifi behind... and the yukata.
My roommate Li
Day 2, we went to visit a convent... is what i would like to say. but we only visited the garden because the buildings were off limits.
We then were taken out for Lunch at a spanish restaurant.
We were first handed the bread which we ate with butter. The bread had an extremely crunchy crust.. It was heavenly. The first course we got was made up of several hors d'oeuvre such as beet mousse, sausage, crab/shrimp popper & so on.
2nd course was some home made ham on crustinis.
It was really tasty. The chef told us it was made like cheese. The 3rd was the soup course. I chose the garlic soup and it was similar to an egg drop soup.
That was quite good as well. The 4th was the main course. I couldnt decide from lamb or squid ink dish. I ended up getting the squid ink dish since Hakodate is famous for squid.
It tasted REALLY GOOD. The squid was stuffed with it's tentacles and covered with a sauce made from it's ink.
The last course was dessert.. of course. Framboise sorbet, rice pudding, creme brulee & custard creme. Really nice.
That 5 course meal itself probably would have costed around 5000 yen ish..
We then went to a candle making session. it was really fun! i made 2 candles. A Mauritian Flag candle & a christmas candy cane candle.
Right-Candy Cane
The rest of the night was made up of things we have done before. We went to goryokaku park, Hakodate yama, the christmas tree and so on.
After checking in at the hotel, we went to a cafe not far from the area. It was a really fancy cafe.
We received champagne & again.. all you can drink ^^" menu.
They prepared a buffet style meal for us. There were dishes like Gratin, deer, beef, gnocchi, couscous, crustinis & salad. Was really nice.
Most of the desserts were gone but i asked for a slice of cheese cake.
I would like to point out that japanese cheesecake is more cake than creme cheese.... yes you heard right. it was not very creamy but very firm. still tasty but i miss cheesecakes from back home.
That night i took the tram to meet my circle who were having an after party at a karaoke place.
I later left because my roommate was waiting for me to get back to lock the room & just like that 4000 yen spent in one night from karaoke and a cab right.. i was sad about that.
I felt really bad because my roommate had to wait for me to get back and it was around 5 am i believe. ^^"
Before i knew it, it was morning and i somehow managed to wake up. had breakfast at the hotel. Wished we had more time at the buffet because there were a lot of things i wanted to eat but we didnt have time so i had to hurry it up.
We left for the morning market in Hakodate. it was my first time there and it was quite exciting. So many people selling seafood and such.
There was an indoor squid pool where you pay 800 yen, fish for your squid and then they cut it for you sashimi style. i will try it eventually. The first squid squirted someone.
We ran into a nice lady who was selling crabs and she was trying to sell us some but we joked about being poor and she gave me a light punch on the shoulder while laughing. she pointed out that they were giving crab soup outside for free.. needless to say i headed straight towards it.
it was really nice! Ramin almost slipped and spilled some on himself. i later swallowed a shell piece and struggled with that a but it was nice.
We walked around the top of the mountain and had a tour of the old magistrate office. it was quite impressive.
You could see the ocean from the building and we were told that it was so that they can monitor all the port's activity. There were also a few churches up there. i intend to go to one one day. It was beautiful especially with that one street going down to the port.
Later on, we went to the same place we had dinner the previous night. This time the owner gave us a tour of the house. it was a mix of western & japanese style. He also had his own katanas and real samurai armor there. I was very impressed. There was also a huge door frame at the back which i really liked.
We had lunch at the back in their family room. You could see the garden from there, it was quite enjoyable.
We started with a clam chowder soup,
followed with a plate of salad, chips and sandwiches... oh and salmon bagel with creme cheese.
The owner told me he goes to ottawa often and he really likes canada.
but there were also caramel and berry. It was really nice! perfect way to end the trip. Then we boarded our tour bus again and headed back home. We joked about not being able to go back to cup noodles anymore because the meals we've had this weekend was pretty nice... especially that it all only cost 10000 yen. :)
