The only downside to hostel life, is when you’re in a room full of people who snore! I was awake multiple times, and by around 5:30am I decided to grab a shower and head out for the day. I got the metro down to Sapporo central station and wandered around the business district until 8:30 as I wanted to make a reservation for a train to Sendai before I did anything else. It was a nice to see that part of the city with hardly a soul around, and grabbed myself a 7-11 coffee and a packet of maple pancakes (¥318) and took a few photos of the snow covered city.
After the JR information centre opened I got my train booked, then used my JR pass to get on the Hakodate Line to Otaru for free, as this is a JR line. On arrival there was a mild breeze but it sure had a chill, so quickly back into the station to add a fleece layer – 4 layers total now. The small harbour city is on a hill, and the station is near the top, I looked down towards the ocean and headed there first, straight away noticing the canal cruise place was about to open. I joined the small queue, but at 10:30 they opened the doors and informed us that due to weather (high wind) the cruises (usually ¥1,800 for 40 minutes) were cancelled for now, and I should check a website for later in the day! It didn’t seem like high wind to me, but I decided to walk along the front and see what was on offer.
First port of call was another coffee and some Panju, which is something local to Hokkaido, I kind of ball shaped spongy pastry with a firm flat base, filled with various sweet things like red bean or chocolate. I got three and a coffee (¥650) to keep me going for the next few hundred yards 🙂
There were the usual tourist trinket places along the bottom of the harbour, lots of food choices and plenty of tourists too. Finally I succumbed to my stomach and picked up some Hokkaido fried chicken from a young guy with a stall, Six or so pieces of tender fried chicken seasoned with s soy based vinegar. Delicious. After a little more wandering the front, I went up the hill to check out the back of the town, I love Japanese architecture!
