Our last stop on Hokkaido. Hakodate is a fascinating slice of history. It was the first port on Hokkaido to open to foreign trade in the nineteenth century, and as such had a large influx of immigrants leading to an intriguing collection of western architecture in varying styles. The American influence is most obvious in the town, but there is a great Russian Orthodox church, and the former British consulate is also worth a visit (where you can by red buses, teddy bears and tea cups). The signs are often still in Russian as well as Japanese, and there is a even a cemetery for foreigners where gravestones can be read in a large number of global languages. The morning fish market next to the station shouldn't be missed, you can fish your own squid and have it barbecued (alive) in front of you. Being a functioning port there is a sushi everywhere, although we'd had better elsewhere. And the Daimon Yochoko (cluster of small restaurants) near the station was recommended to us, and turned out to look the part but actually be a tourist trap with annoying touts and average food. Last option on the food front popular in Hakodate is a group of chicken burger restaurants called Lucky Pierrot. Quirky, but not for the faint stomached. On our last day we took an easy half hour train out to the very peaceful and beautiful Onuma Park, a large lake with numerous islands at the foot of a volcano (apparently one of Japan's top 10 views). The lake was frozen over sadly, however you can still walk between the islands over bridges, and at certain times of year over the lake itself. There were also people ice hole fishing on the lake, a popular activity. Be aware that outside summer it's a ghost town, vending machines were the only thing still open.
Described as ‘romantic’ Otaru in the Lonely Planet as well as it being a bit of a foodie town, we thought it was worth a stop. It is almost entirely missable. Otaru was an affluent old port with 'Asia's Wall Street' as proof of their success. A large number of successful Japanese banks developed in the town due to the growing trade, however these have slowly been turned into mediocre hotels and cafes, losing any remaining charm they might have had. The (small amount of) historic brick warehouses attract very large swathes of tourists, however it's hard to fathom what exactly they're taking photos of. We had an absolute dinner fail - turns out that pretty much everywhere in Hokkaido closes at around 8pm. Not a single restaurant was still open on 'sushi street'. The famous canal view is nice but takes around five minutes to see. But to give them some credit, they do a good double cheesecake (for anyone interested, baked cheesecake on the bottom half, fresh cheesecake on the top).
The day has arrived, the Trump inauguration day. Sitting on a train to Hakodate, watching the sun set over the craggy mountains and feel genuinely sad at the state of the world. Maybe we should all move to Japan, they seem to be getting it right. Although the person sitting next to me just peeled an egg, so then again… Due to the crazily heavy snow, we decided to rent a car and take a day trip to Daisetsuzan National Park, and more specifically Asahidake Mountain. The journey was a little sketchy, don’t think the our parents would have approved of the driving conditions! We headed to the Ropeway (aka cablecar) to take us to the crater at the top to see the famous views. However, it was not meant to be, the top of the mountain was in the cloud and the expensive round trip would have been a waste of money.
So, Plan B? Cross country skiing of course! Bear in mind that neither of us had done this before, the description of a baby giraffe on ice wouldn't be far off from describing how we must have looked. But we had the trail to ourselves with plenty of fresh snow and it was peaceful (save for the occasional shriek from me) and would have been rather romantic had steam not have been billowing out of our jackets and sweat pouring down our faces - its really hard work! We almost got the hang of it, that is, until we reached the hill at the end (the very same sweat inducing one we climbed up an hour earlier). Then, everything went tits up. I laughed so hard I had tears streaming down my face - in part from exhausted delirium, part from the shooting pain coming from my backside. We both stacked it, BIGLY. The problem with cross country skiing is that there really is no way of slowing down, as soon as you snow plough, its game over. Rob had “absolutely no other option” other than to just plough straight, head on into the snowy bank (which was as tall as him), much to the surprised horror of the friendly Australians just setting out on their perilous journey. I came hurtling down next, arms and ski poles akimbo, a horrifying uncoordinated blur. Ice met bum and we were done. We hauled our aching, bruised body parts back into the car and headed to a gentler part of the national park, Biei. Biei is famous for its patchwork fields of flowers and acres of lavender, sadly the winter snow scuppered that but it was still a lovely drive round and offered some amazing views. We raced down to Shirahige Falls which were quite amazing, never seen a frozen waterfall. Made a quick stop to visit the not so blue Aoiike Blue Pond, which sadly was a white snow pond. Oh well, next time! The search for a blue lake continues. Phenomenal Globe blog helped us a lot with planning this part of our trip but we soon found out that getting around Hokkaido in winter is not easy. The roads are well maintained despite the heavy snow but there is little info with regards to what roads are open as many are closed during the winter months. The tourist offices were our saviours as they had the local area info that Google lacked. We decided to rent via ToCoo and hired a little compact 4WD car with snow tyres for a day and a half. Our route; Lake Shikotsu - Noboribetsu - Lake Toya - Sapporo. 7/11 breakfasts and lunches have kept us on budget these past few days - amazing selections and all so fresh and tasty. Not to mention fuelling our growing addiction to Galbos (little choccy biscuity delights). The attention to detail everywhere we go, even down to the way things are folded is amazing - the way people greet you, bowing down over and over to welcome you is very sweet but you automatically find yourself doing it in return so end up looking a little like Manuel in Faulty Towers (peace be with him). Noboribetsu
Hotel Izumi - a cross between the Grand Budapest Hotel (a great Wes Anderson film) and an old people's home. There was even a blood pressure monitor in the lobby! I made a serious faux pas on entering and didn't take my shoes off, I just rolled in, humongous bag in tow and stamped all over their pristine tatami mats before being shooed off. Japan fail. But the view from our room - beautiful. We may have been upgraded due to being on our ‘honeymoon’. Amazing outdoor onsen- natural hot spring water heated by volcanoes. Like spa towns in the UK but hot and they make such a thing out of them. There are a few rules when it comes to using an onsen: Most are segregated into male and female. No bathing suits, birthday suits only. You must wash thoroughly at the little seated shower station before you enter the bath, don’t splash others and wash your area down after. If you take your towel in with you, don't let it fall into the onsen water, either find a dry spot or fold it and place on your head like the locals do! I didn't do this as it makes you look silly. Jigokudani, aka hell valley, was really something and the walk up and around Oyunuma Pond was very romantic despite the shouty crowds of Chinese tourists. Lake Kuttara is supposed to be a stunning caldera lake and another must see, but it was inaccessible due to winter road closures. Annoying. Lake Toya The ropeway (cable car) was closed for maintenance (super annoying) so it was back to the tourist office we went where a friendly chap gave us an awesome tip. He told us to sack off the observation point and instead drive up to the Windsor Hotel on top of a mountain, and wow, he was so right, the views of the sea and the lake on either side of the cruise ship shaped mega-hotel were spectacular. We were a little naughty and pretended like we were staying there and skipped through reception to get to their garden area where the views just got better! Quick stop at a local dairy farm shop for some Hokkaido ice cream and we began our route (the scenic way) back to Chitose. Sad to say goodbye to Hugo (our car, named by me). The UK needs some lessons from the Japanese on customer service, everyone takes such pride in their jobs. At the petrol station, we were escorted in, whilst one uniformed gent filled us up, another was making polite small talk whilst the other cleaned our number plates then all three stood in a row to wave us out! Opted to stay two nights in a more traditional hotel for our first few days in Japan, at Nakomuraya Ryokan. Well situated but a bit of a walk from the station - my wheely Osprey rucksack (aka the best bag in the world) was not enjoying the icy snow-covered streets. A distant “I told you so” occasionally drifted through the icy air from several meters ahead by some random annoying bloke with a rucksack on his back.
Japanese style room - i.e. tatami mats and sleeping on the floor with pillows filled with plastic beans. Oddly comfortable but probably not long term! Samurai soup curry was our first port of call - you basically choose your level of spice from 1-30 (zero for me, Rob was bolder at five), your soup base - coconut (the best), tomato, miso, veggie and the type of filling, hamburger, pork belly, chicken, veggies. With a side of rice, it's not only delicious but hearty, comforting and warms you right up. So breakfast isn't really a thing in Japan, your options are traditional style, i.e. fish rice and miso, or coffee and a doorstop wedge of cheese toast. Mingus Coffee does an excellent version of the latter. Nijo fish market was a great tip from my friend Yuki, lead us to a little three-seater sushi stall for what has so far been the most tender, melt in your mouth fish we’ve ever eaten. A hidden gem and an absolute must. Morihiko - a tiny, super cute coffee house that’s basically the go-to of pretty much every Monocle reading Sapporo visitor - we made the error of visiting on a Sunday afternoon with the rest of the world. An hour and a half later we had specialist pour over coffees but was it worth the wait? Probably not. Best of all was the tiny bakery hidden just further on round the corner. Best chocolate croissant ever. Sapporo beer museum is certainly worth a visit, a little out of town but its the cheapest beer in town by a long way. Off peak season is going against us here - a lot of places closed for the winter months with little info as to what is actually open in our guidebook which has made for a few frustrating moments! Bit of a nightmare journey and an unscheduled overnight stay in Seoul, but also a night of free accommodation and two free meals at the expense of Korean Air, so every cloud etc.
Welcome to Japan - the land where the air is crisp and clean, where every surface has been cleaned and re-cleaned, where the people are incessantly polite, and where your bum meets a warm seat at every public loo! We decided to start our month long tour of Japan in Hokkaido, famous for its mountain vistas, wild landscapes and volcanic onsens (hot spring towns). We visited a very rubber looking Mao at his mausoleum. Note - you can't take bags in with you so instead of checking them in we just took it in turns. It is disrespectful to say negative things about the great Mao so I shouldn't tell you that I had a little giggle as I was ushered past him. Another thing ticked off the list.
My Peking duck dreams have been answered - Yao Yao took us to the best duck place in town and kindly treated us to dinner with her boyfriend Mark. They say good things come to those who wait - we had to wait an hour and a half but it was worth it for the feast that we were to experience! We have always said that its a shame they only offer the duck breast for the pancakes and often wondered what they do with the rest of the bird - turns out you can ask them to chop it up and they will deep fry it. It them comes back to you slightly disguised so you aren't really sure what part of the bird you are eating but its tasty! The Forbidden City - what a maze! It is just as described, beautiful temple after palace after temple. Luckily no queues again despite the amazing weather. Its big. Its like the guidebook says it is - vast and full of temple after temple. Impressive and awe-inspiring considering the efforts that went into building it. Art 798 District Really wish we had of spent more than an afternoon here because not only is it the Beijing gallery district, it is also full of artist studios, cool cafes and design shops. The whole area is full of disused factories which obviously make great spaces for galleries and it was so refreshing to see them make the most of each and every unique space. Yao and Ella were amazing guides, some of the galleries are really tucked away so you need to know where you are going. Kiwon Park at Galleria Continua, was a highlight, the artist clad their huge space in cardboard. Li Singsong at Pace Gallery was also dreamy. Check them out! We also tried our luck and rang Ai Weiwei’s studio doorbell, to our surprise, an assistant came out and unsurprisingly told us to contact his PA to arrange a visit. Had we have been a little more organised, we probably could have arranged this, but its good to save some things for the next visit! For our final night we were treated to a traditional Beijing home style hotpot- exactly what we felt like and made extra special as the lamb was fresh from Inner Mongolia! Thank you dear Ella and Yao Yao! N.B. Beijing airport old terminal is an utter nightmare, allow at least 1 hour for each queue you find yourself in. Japan here we come! 🇯🇵 After four hours on the train, this time in economy which was actually completely bearable, we arrived in Beijing, our final destination in China! And, zero pollution and blue skies! We were welcomed by my lovely friend Yao Yao and her friend Ella who was kind enough to let us stay in her beautiful new apartment for the four nights we would be there. It was so nice to be in a cosy warm apartment, Ella and Yao were the best hosts and stopped at nothing to make sure we got where we wanted to be! Our first night was a yummy Yunnan restaurant and on our way back, we stumbled across a super cool cocktail bar called Miles, a supermarket turned speak easy, just our sort of spot for a nightcap.
The Great Wall of China was undoubtedly one of our trip highlights so far. It stretches from the sea in the east to the desert in the west, 8,850km long and was built to keep all the baddies out. We were incredibly lucky with the weather, blue skies and clear views as far as the eye could see. There are several parts of the wall you can easily access from Beijing, we opted to book a driver via 'chinese Uber' (he took us there and waited for us, 600rmb round trip) to take us to Mutianyu which was reputed to be a little less Disneyfied but with some of the old charm left of the historic wall. It is a very mountainous section and for the most part there are few signs of civilisation in the surrounding vicinity. We made the right choice about timings and once again we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We walked around for three hours but could easily have stayed longer, the views were amazing and stretched as far as the eye could see. Breakfast the next day was at The Rug (another amazing Yao recco!) before we ventured to Lama Temple aka Yonghe Temple, the palace of peace and harmony. The most impressive aspect of this temple is the 26-meter tall Buddha carved out of a single piece of white sandalwood which was included in the Guinness Book of Records in 1993! We then went for a wander through the Hutong nearby which really is a must, just to see the way old Beijing used to be - little alleyways, private doorways and tangled courtyard residences. We then skipped to Jingshan Park (only 2 RMB entry) and climbed the hill to the pagoda just in time for sunset over the Forbidden City. The terracotta warriors are great, but Xi'an is worth visiting for the food alone. The city was uniquely positioned at the end of the Silk Road which unsurprisingly led to gastronomic influence from outside China, and in particular from the Middle East. A large Muslim population altered the cuisine introducing a preference for spiced lamb and beef (rather than the predominant pork and chicken found elsewhere in China). The best place to discover these amazing delights are in the Muslim quarter near the drum tower, where a bustling (albeit very touristy) street market with plentiful obligatory neon is in full swing every evening. There is enough choice to eat something different every day for a month, so we tried as many different things as we could in two nights (and one breakfast).
The most distinctive and delicious street food in the city is the rou jia mo (annoyingly described as a Chinese hamburger by the touts), which is diced lamb or beef in a steamed, baked pitta-style bread, with variations of chilli sauce. The other common sight is whole carcasses being butchered in the street and skewered on twigs, then barbecued with herbs and chilli, and brushed with garlic. There is probably nothing better for a carnivore than barbecued lamb on a stick. Another interesting dish to try was the liangpi, cold noodles with variations of peanut, sesame, soy and chilli sauces. The yoghurt is also excellent, creamy, slightly sweet and drunk through a straw from small glass jars. Definitely not to be missed are the persimmon doughnuts, sticky, sweet and fresh from the frying plate. Nothing like a normal doughnut really, but so delicious and the extremely low price will keep you going back again and again. A final interesting find was a small white steamed dessert on a stick, lightly flavoured with rose water, dipped in jam and nuts and eaten hot (hard to describe, and no idea what the name is). There are numerous sweet sugary offerings, dried fruits, and breads on display which we didn't really try as they are produced and packaged rather than eaten as street food, but these are the probably the most theatrical. The young men who stretch out and twist hot sugar on hooks across the street are the most impressive, and the boys with large wooden mallets (clearly the intern's job) are endlessly hammering sugar and nuts into shape. English is rarely spoken fluently enough to ask what you're eating, but that can be part of the fun. Unless it's obvious what it is (boiled sheep trotters being the clearest we saw), just give it a go. The persimmon doughnuts were our best test find, but as soon as we left Xi'an I was already concerned about what we might have missed. Opted to try to save some pennies with the next place and stayed in Han Tang House, a hostel but we had our own room. Let's just say the Lonely Planet were generous with their description and leave it at that. Oh, and our room was FREEZING.
On our first day we set off fairly to get to the Terracotta Warriors, took the bus, we read a tip somewhere that you shouldn't get the tourist bus as it stops at various points along the way in an attempt to make you buy a load of tat. Low season trumps came through again, zero queue. We went to the museum first which is firstly, incredibly dark, as in, walk into people dark but does provide you with some history into the discovery and the Emperor dude that built it. As per the LP tips, we did the three pits in reverse order, pit three first, saving pit one and the best for last. MIND BLOWN. So so amazing. It's incredible that some guy built all this just for his afterlife. And they have only excavated 30% of what's buried so there is so much more to discover. Always thought being an archaeologist would be so exciting, digging up treasures but in reality, it looks as if it's a pretty painfully slow process. We wondered how much of what's on display is genuine versus "heavily restored". Hot footed it back to the city and made a last minute decision to head to see the Big Goose Pagoda which was really worth it. Very peaceful, although don't think climbing up is really worth the effort. Especially as our legs are STILL aching after the Huangshan climb. And the best of the day was yet to come- Muslim Street food market! On our second day we had another stop at the food market for breakfast before we headed to the Grand Mosque of Xi'an which was another little hidden gem. A mosque but in a Chinese style which is odd but strangely worked! Another peaceful spot to get out of the hecticness of the city. Interesting to see Islamic script in such a place and most unique was that the minaret was a pagoda. Decided our next stop would be to Hanyangling Museum as it was a 'Don't Miss' in the guidebook. Emperor Jing Di and his Empress' burial site. Short bus ride away and in some ways, as equally as impressive as the Warriors. Thousands of freaky little armless (their arms were made of wood and have long since rotted away) doll sized warriors along with farms full of livestock, horses, pigs, piglets, sheep, goats, chickens. An emperor who was slightly more practically minded in his afterlife prep. And it was nice to see some ladies in this tomb too. The warriors were lacking any female presence- all about the fight, lacking the details. If anyone reading this does visit, make sure you leave time to visit the museum across the road, well worth it as you get to see the little figurines in detail and learn more about the excavation. We then decided to tackle the city wall which may have been a stretch too far considering how much walking we had already done but glad we powered through as we had lovely views as the sun was setting. |
AuthorsRob & Charlie's travelling adventures on their long journey back to London after living in Hong Kong. Four continents, twelve countries, lots of experiences. Archives
July 2017
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Robert Ware & Charlotte Nunn |