Day 1 Obihiro here we come

I’m catching up on a lot of trips I’ve made over the years but was usually too tired at the end of the trip to blog about it. I kept saying I’d get it done until I lost all my photos when my phone was stolen on one particular holiday. Now I only have a few photos left which I had thankfully saved when I journaled on the app ‘Journey’. Real worth getting it if you love to journal.

This was a trip Theo and I took to Hokkaido in the spring of 2017. We had thought that the weather would be milder by then but boy were we wrong!

On board TZ216 headed to Chitose, Hokkaido with a short transit to Taipei. This is our fourth trip back to Japan for a short vacation, just Theo and I before the PSLE madness sets in. The next time I travel will be end of the year. Our flight took off at 6am after a brief screw up at the check in counters as all the systems were down. The plane is just more than half filled so there is ample space for us to lie down and take a quick nap before reaching Taipei.

Once we landed, we stepped out into the familiar sights and sounds of Japan. It felt like coming home. After settling our JR tickets to Obihiro, we joined the queue to buy the cheese tarts, soft serve ice cream and potato farm snacks. After catching our train that brought us out of the shelter and warmth of New Chitose Airport, I’m reminded that it is still winter. I can see my breath fog again.

We arrived at the freezing cold streets of Obihiro at 830pm. Compared the usual busyness of cosmopolitan Tokyo, I was a little spooked to be greeted by the quiet and empty streets of the town. And then I remembered that we are somewhere in the middle of the countryside in freezing winter. Our hotel was just a short walk from the station so we were spared from being out in the cold for too long.

From APA Hotel where we would be staying for the night, a short walk would lead us to the ‘downtown’ which is made up of a two quaint alleys of houses which are small little eateries and pubs where the locals run off to chill out after work. We found a nice little restaurant to have our first meal in Hokkaido. It was delicious. And a bowl of special miso soup cooked with fish cost only ¥39!!