Travel Itinerary

Travel Dates: 2023.07.01 – 2023.07.06

Visits: Sakaichan Hill, Shirahige Falls, Aoike (Blue Pond), Patchwork Road, Farm Tomita

5 nights and 6 days in Sapporo, Day 3

Summary of Itinerary

Records from Day 1 of the 5 nights and 6 days in Sapporo: Noboribetsu Hell Valley, Yuyado Kiyomizuya Hotel, Onsen Market…

Travel Dates: 2023.07.01 – 2023.07.06 Visit: Noboribetsu Hell Valley, Yuyado Kiyomizuya Hotel, Onsen Market…

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Records from Day 2 of the 5 nights and 6 days in Sapporo: Richmond Hotel Sapporo Ekimae, Suage4, Odori Park, Maruyama Zoo, Lamoo, Round One…

Travel Dates: 2023.07.01 – 2023.07.06 Visit: Richmond Hotel Sapporo Ekimae, Suage4, Odori Park, Maruyama Zoo…

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Breakfast

On the morning of Day 3, Richmond Hotel Breakfast!

Except for the first day, all breakfasts are included. Haha!

If you go to the right of the front desk on the first floor, you’ll see a door that leads to the restaurant.

You can choose one from the menu to eat.

It was also stuck to the elevator so I chose it in advance!

After finishing the meal, there’s a sign or coated paper that you need to flip over before leaving.

The drinks were self-service.

I think there were water, milk, grapefruit juice, apple juice, and orange juice.

And there was tea and coffee too!

My sister had the toast set, and I had the Japanese style set.

(Unfortunately, the children’s set was not available – maybe because I’m not a child, or there was a shortage, I couldn’t understand.)

The side dishes… were a bit too salty for me.

I decided to eat bread types tomorrow.

Fortunately, the salmon and salmon marinated in soy sauce, and the pickled radish were edible.

(Surprisingly, the salmon marinated in soy sauce was not salty at all)

We gathered at Sapporo Station around 8:30 a.m.

I arrived a bit early but didn’t know where everyone was, so I wandered around for a while until I found the guide wearing Hokkaido Lab (Biei Tour) clothes!

(Even though I knew he was wearing those clothes, he was hard to spot…)

After checking the attendance list, we boarded the bus!

Since all highway buses are from similar companies,

make sure to remember your bus number! ★★★

Heading to Furano

The journey to Furano took almost about 2 hours?

The outside scenery was refreshing like a blue barley field and had a great countryside feeling.

At around 10:30, we reached Furano Marche and I may not have taken any photos…

It was just like a market (probably a rest stop feeling) and I think I passed it by.

It seems that they have items only sold at the Marche.

Butter Potatoes were said to be delicious and they are packaged in vacuum,

so the guide recommended it as a souvenir. Haha!

But I didn’t buy it because I was worried about my bag getting heavier and asked if I could buy it somewhere else,

and he said they do have it but didn’t know if it was the same kind or product? (In the end, I didn’t buy it Haha).

Masaya

As soon as we arrived in Furano, it was time for brunch.

(About 2 hours from Sapporo Station)

Among the recommended restaurants, we came to Masaya, which is a teppanyaki (iron plate cooking) place.

We arrived early at 11:00 and thought we could look around, so we got there 10 minutes before opening.

Then suddenly there was a waiting list… Oh wow!

But there were quite a few tables, so we could go in right away.

To keep up the life of opening a restaurant, quick ordering is key!!!!

I ordered almost as soon as I sat down to avoid waiting.

And they served salad and milk as basic service!

The milk was quite mini-sized Haha, just one bottle.

I also ordered melon soda additionally.

The omu curry is so delicious!

I ordered the curry with an omelet on top <omu curry.

My sister ordered, what’s it called, the fried noodles yakisoba?

But is the signature dish omu curry here?

While sitting in front of the iron plate cooking, they kept making omu curry. Haha!

But it’s true, the eggs were super soft…

Of course, the yakisoba was also super delicious.

I’m so excited that all the food on this trip has been a hit.

It’s only Day 3, but I’ll be saying this for all six days! Haha.

(I hate that my eyes seem sad 😔)

Arriving at Sakaichan Hill

We’ve arrived at Sakaichan Hill!

The guide went ahead and got tickets for us.

In the entrance building, they sold various snacks, and among them, pure white corn is only available here, so we decided to buy some on the way out!

Also, because the area is about 45,000 tsubo (~149,000 square meters) large, we decided to take a tractor bus to get around.

It was about 500 yen per person!

Taking the tractor was definitely a good choice.

The weather was a bit warm (the bus), but there was a nice breeze, and it was comfortable. Haha!

After a round trip, we had lavender ice cream. (I think the photo is with my sister.)

The ice cream was light purple and had a really strong lavender scent.

However, it didn’t taste like a flower or anything strange, it was delicious!

I wanted to take a picture of the flower fields while walking!

The lavender was stunning, so beautiful~~

There were also very dark purple flowers that were pretty, called salvia.

I guess I liked salvia..?

The day was so cloudy; I edited the photo of the lavender (too lazy 🙄).

Even though I edited it, can the sky be that different!?!!

It’s so beautiful ..

Next destination, Shirahige Falls!

We could see it from a high place, and it was truly a spectacular view.

It’s amazing how the water can be such a blue color.

Also, the sunlight was blazing, so it was super hard to take photos with my eyes open;;

If I look a little squinty, that’s right. Haha!

The stream on the opposite side of the falls was also very clear and beautiful.

It may seem like nothing special, but everything was pretty and overwhelming. Haha!

Is it the travel buff?

After a 5-min drive from Shirahige Falls, we arrived at Aoike (Blue Pond).

The water contains minerals like aluminum hydroxide, which makes it this blue.

Also, the straight-standing birch trees were imposing.

It felt a bit eerie.

I took some pictures here, but my sister hasn’t sent them yet. Haha!

Is there a similar place in our country?! I wondered, but it turned out to be artificially created in Japan to prevent volcanic disaster.

This is Patchwork Road.

It wasn’t far from Aoike either.

The sun was quite hot, but with many clouds, it wasn’t too hot.

The weather was just right! As soon as we got off the bus, I couldn’t help but say, “Ah, that’s cool!”

The oak tree in the second photo is the Seven Star Tree.

The name comes from the packaging of a tourist cigarette called Seven Stars.

This is right next to Mild Seven Hill.

It’s also related to that cigarette, right?

When I arrived, I thought, “Huh? Is this just a street? Did I come here to see this?”

But the photos came out amazing!

At Farm Tomita, I had a bite of melon ice cream.

Salvia and the like had a similar vibe to Sakaichan Hill.

There wasn’t much excitement, but there were objects worth taking pictures of, so I snapped quite a few!.

This was my first personal purchase in Japan!!

I bought a handkerchief and a lavender soap set, following my older sister’s lead. Haha!

But honestly, that was pretty much all that was worth buying. Haha!

They also had an air freshener spray that smelled nice, but I passed on the liquid as it seemed cumbersome.

After finishing the last agenda, we rode back for another 2 hours to Sapporo Station.

It had been such a fulfilling day! I realized how convenient and great guided tours can be. Haha!

But I was feeling super hungry.

We headed to Stella Place at Sapporo Station to have some pork bowl.

We decided to try a place called Ichipin, which is famous.

Even though we arrived a bit late at around 7:30, there was still a line!

But we didn’t have to wait more than an hour.

It’s clear that it’s a well-known restaurant among Koreans, with great Korean language support.

We both ordered the basic pork bowl.

It was great that we could adjust the meat and rice portions separately.

It would be nice if other restaurants had this too!

It was my first time trying pork bowl here, and it was incredibly delicious. ;;;;;

(I’m in shock)

After finishing the meat, I sprinkled some spicy furikake on the remaining rice from the table.

The rice already had a bit of seasoning, so it was so good even just eating it plain. Haha!

The portion wasn’t small, but I ate every single grain of rice. Haha.

I’m so sad that this is an itinerary I can’t have again after tasting everything, especially since there’s so much more food to try!