Back from Land of the Rising Sun! *edited*

I am finally back from Japan!! Went for a 7 days tour to Hokkaido and then extended 4 days in Tokyo. My, my, my, it was kind of a gastronomical adventure there, such that I gained 1 kg and it’s all around my tummy. Sigh.

It’s summer in Hokkaido and during noon the temp can reach 30deg while it drops to 20deg at night. Poor me brought quite a few long sleeved tops and jeans and long pants and was feeling quite warm during the day even though there was a cool breeze blowing every now and then. So I had no choice I had to wear some of my short sleeved clothes apportioned for the Tokyo part of my tour. If not, I will just burn.

The scenery there is simply beautiful, with seasonal flowers like sunflowers and lavender in full bloom. The Japanese take great pride in their flower/ produce farms and it was just so soothing to see fields and fields of yellow cheery sunflowers or purple lavenders or even some red flowers (of which I don't know the name) and marigolds, daisies, etc.

The roads there are very clean, wide and not bumpy at all. You see more greenery, more hills and mountains than vehicles and people. However, at tourist attractions, there were plenty of food stalls selling all kinds of delicious food from soft serve ice cream with flavours like green tea, lavender and melon, potato croquettes, raw fresh corn cobs etc. Vending machines were aplenty with lots of different beverages that cannot be found in Singapore. The Japanese are really innovative in that sense.

Oh, by the way, once you tried the ice cream there, you won’t want to eat ice cream back home for a long time. The ice cream is just so deliciously tasty and light. I ate like 1 ice cream each day, especially the green tea flavour. 1 cup of ice cream or cone does not come cheap, at least $4 each but it was worth every lick. Haagen Daz cannot compare as Meiji brand is too delicious! I am drooling even as I type. Wow.

Of course besides ice cream, we ate peaches and rock melon, which are in season in Hokkaido right now. The melons are super expensive, depending on quality and size – it can cost as little as $25 to $90 for one! I had the opportunity to try one miserable slice during one of the meals but it was the one and only one.

Anyway the peach is also very expensive. I bought one for about $4 – which I think is quite worth it for the size, easily 300-400g. The peach is so juicy that once you bite into it, the juice just flows out. It literally flows out and not drip out yah.

During the trip to Hokkaido, I tried Kobe beef and abalone as well. The Kobe beef just melts in your mouth, though it’s a tad fatty but it was delicious! And I am not a big fan of meat but this was really really really good. One 200g piece of Kobe beef costs $63 in Hokkaido, not sure if that is expensive but don’t pass up the opportunity to eat that! One piece is too much for 1 person to savour though. Oh, the abalone was very fresh and had no fishy smell. Mind you, there wasn’t much seasoning, or none that I could taste.

Of course, included in the tour was a meal with Hokkaido hairy crab. The hairy crab was fresh and sweet but I hated its hairs that poked my fingers and made it very difficult to eat it. In addition, I also had crab bento set and the crab legs were very big and long. Lots of meat! Yum yum!

Then of cos, we went to soak in the hot springs… had a chance to go to the hot springs like 3x but only 2 were fun, cos 1 hot spring was super old and I was quite disgusted… The best was this sulphur hot spring, though the smell of sulphur is quite nauseous. There was this big hot spring area in the hotel with all kinds of baths, like for beauty, for injuries, for illnesses… (with varying degrees of heat ranging from 38deg to 42deg)… anyway it’s very HOT, I dun like hot spring… burn my body… I had to sit there like 10mins and splash my body before going in gingerly… AND we all went in naked lo… There’s this area for you to bath and wash up then go inside the hot spring and soak… but shiok lah… but it’s too hot for my liking… come out like red lobster… hohohhohoh… In any case, you see so many naked people, you are no longer shy. Haha! Of course I must clarify that females have their own section and males have their own section.