Otaru & Shiroikoibito Park

Second last day in Hokkaido~

We went to Otaru Canal.

Once again, it's was another rainy day with dark, grey clouds in the sky.

We had mostly rainy days on this trip and it was too cold for spring.

They have some cute buildings with small shops opposite the canal.

As it was raining, it was hard to explore the area.

The rain actually got heavier and heavier as time passed.

I managed to grab some hot and fresh fish cakes in one of the shops. No picture of the fish cakes.

Aunt had to buy some gifts and we stopped by this interesting soy sauce bottle shop. Apparently, none of their soy sauce spill.

This part of the town looks nice.

Found a shop with an interesting shop name. And there I am, happy with my LeTao goodies~!!! They're were all super delicious. I wish I had bought more.

After that, we sorta "bumped" into J's Uncle and Aunt.

They happened to be on a tour in Hokkaido and it so happened that their tour organised a trip to Otaru on the same day that we planned to visit.

After Otaru, we drove to the Shiroikoibito Park which was still super popular despite the bad weather and the fact that the factory was closed for renovations. We didn't know that it was closed till we arrived. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been there.

While it is hard to find a carpark, there are many guards around who will guide you and there are even umbrellas that you can use for free. There, we visited the cafe for some more ice cream, quiche and chocolate tart.

Honestly, the place was super packed with locals and tourists alike. While it is easy to get Shiroikoibito goodies at any gift shop in Hokkaido, there are some limited edition items which you can only get from the store here at the factory.

The park of course comes with an actual park with rides for kids.

Then there's also the garden area, which should be nice on a fine day.

I guess I will be back here the next time to visit the factory and for the limited edition items, which were delicious and make for great gifts.

Hotel Wing International Chitose (ホテルウィングインターナショナル 千歳)

For our last 2 night in Hokkaido, we stayed at Hotel Wing International Chitose (ホテルウィングインターナショナル 千歳).

Website: https://www.hotelwing.co.jp/chitose/

Here's how the room looks like.

It has pink wallpaper, with a pink head board and red carpet.

The room has a standard unit bathroom that's of a nice size.

They also provide free shuttle services to Chitose airport starting at 6.30am. My aunt and cousin used the service but unfortunately, it stated too late. My flight is at 7 am, so we just walkted to the nearby station and caught a bus from there to the airport.

Hakodate Asaichi (函館朝市) & Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse (金森赤レンガ倉庫)

Early in the morning, we went to the Hakodate Asaichi (函館朝市) or morning market.

We wanted to have some good donburi. We spotted this stall that had a long queue and decided to try it.

Unfortunately because of the bad weather, they didn't have uni for the don that we initially wanted to order, so the replaced it with salmon.

This was supposed to be the uni, crab, ikura and hotate don. Well unfortunately for me, this was serve on piping hot rice and I don't like when my sashimi don uses piping hot rice as it warms the sashimi too and cooks it slightly. Didn't enjoy the breakfast at all~

After that we walked to another restaurant section which seemed to have more promising cooked seafood. Will come to this area instead next time.

After that, we dropped by the Kanemori Red Brick Warehouse (金森赤レンガ倉庫).

There are many souvenirs shop inside. 

Everything's a little cramped and there's a lot going on.

Had to take this pic with Lucky Pierrot when I saw it. Didn't get to try it on this trip as there were just too many other food that I wanted to try.

This side here has less people compared to the morning market. Not sure if it's because of the rain or if because it's quite a distance from the market.

After that, we started our journey back towards Chitose.

Along the way, we stopped by the same rest stop again for some ice cream before we continued our journey.

For dinner that night, we stopped by RAMAI (アジアンバー ラマイ千歳店) for some soup curry.

Website: http://www.ramai.co.jp/menu.html

This place seemed pretty populat as there was a 30 min queue there even though we arrived at 5.30pm.

The shop has an interesting interior design that seems to be heavily influenced by Bali.

Even on the menu, the level of spiciness has Malay words.

I ordered the vegetable soup curry which was delicious.

You can request for additional toppings, like fried fish.

This soup curry is really good and it's such a hearty meal.

They also serve desserts here and we ordered a chocolate lava cake to share.

After searching online, I found that they have a franchises in various areas throughout Japan. I will definitely visit them again.

湯の川温泉 ホテルかもめ館 Hotel Seagull Museum

At Hakodate, we stayed at the Hotel Seagull Museum (湯の川温泉　ホテルかもめ館 ).

Website: http://kamomekan.net/

As we couldn't go up Hakodateyama that night, we checked into our hotel early. Also as we had late lunch, we weren't hungry yet when we checked in. But we did drop by a convenient store nearby to grab food for later in the night.

The hotel is old as you can tell by the decorations in the room. However, it does have all the things you would find in a normal business hotel room. Including a unit bathroom.

It was hard to find a hotel room in Hakodate as it was Golden week and many of the hotels were fully booked. I'm glad that we were able to get this place through a Japanese website. Though it wasn't cheap due to the season the we were travelling.

There is also onsen at this hotel but it was old and small. YL and I did go for a quick soak.

This hotel does have a microwave at a corner between the elevator and the lobby if it's required. We didn't use it as we bought cup noodles from the mart.

Lol, we did spend more time in this old room compared to the fancy room that we got the night before. I guess it was worth it even though this was more expensive than the previous hotel.

Goryōkaku Tower (五稜郭タワー)

After lunch, we drove to Goryōkaku Tower (五稜郭タワー).

Website: https://www.goryokaku-tower.co.jp/

I've wanted to visit this place ever since I first saw it on TV.

While sakura were in full bloom, the weather was horrible.....It was windy and drizzling the whole time. The sun was also hidden behind clouds. Hence, the pictures all have a grey tone to them.

That aside, we still enjoyed our time there.

Once indoors, we had to queue for about 25 mins to get on the elevator to go up the tower.

It was super packed inside but we manage to get some wefie.

That mountain covered behind the thick clouds is Hakodateyama which we planned to visit that night. Unfortunately, they had to close the ropeway because of the bad weather.

While you do have to pay to go up the tower, the view is amazing~! And we manage to find a nice spot for pictures. :D