Oct 28 - Alisan National Forest Recreation Area

Alishan (阿里山) is one of the places Fei has not visited in Taiwan, therefore we made an effort to visit it during this trip.  It was high speed bullet train then local bus type of day trip again.  The ride of the local bus was 2 and 1/2 hours each way.  However, the scenery at Alishan is worth the effort.  

We chose Alishan National Forest Recreation Area (阿里山森林遊樂區) as our day trip destination. It is famous for its giant cypress trees (檜木).  The most famous one was named “Sacred Tree (神木)” .  Unfortunately it was destroyed by lighting and fire many years ago.  Now it is just a tree trunk lay down nearby the Sacred Tree Train Station.  However there are still a lot of old and giant cypress tress along the “Giant Trees Trail" (巨木群棧道 near Sacred Tree train station) with identified number IDs to track their growth by the National Forest Services.  There are well maintained interested parks (such as Zhaoping Park - 沼平公園), trails (such as Giant Trees Trail - 巨木群棧道) and lakes (such as Two Sisters Pond - 姊妹潭) in the park.  They even have a cherry tree park along with cherry blossom observation trail.  It must be great place to enjoy their cherry blossom during the season.  

The other famous attractions in Alison are the sunrise, sunset and "sea of clouds".  Since we only stayed few hours during the daytime there, we did not have any chance of seeing the sunrise or the sunset.  However, we were luckily to see the "sea of clouds" on our way back.  The bus driver were nice enough to stop for a couple minutes for us to take some photos.  We ran into some other tourists there and learned that the Alishan House (阿里山賓館) on top of the mountain is pretty nice.  We believe if we ever have another chance to visit here, we will stay over night and try to enjoy either the sunrise or the sunset.  

Alisan is also famous with their High Mountain Oolong (高山烏龍).  Prior to boarding the local bus back to city, we did have some time to visit and purchase some nice local produced High Mountain Oolong. 

Oct 29 - Visited Family and Shopping in Taipei

Due to the early flight schedule for October 30 from Taipei to Sapporo, we had to move from Just Sleep @ NTU to Howard Grand Hotel, so we can catch the early airport shuttle.  

After the hotel move,  we visited one of Fei cousin’s family in the morning and then we did some shopping in the afternoon.  One of the item we brought we the non-tip-overable cup we saw a few day ago.  

Oct 30 - Travel to Hokkaido

We got up earlier to catch the airport shuttle to airport without any issue. We got to Sapporo around 1:30PM and met Signet’s tour guide Sophie. However, we had to wait at the Sapporo Airpot for a couple of hours for some late arrival tour members.  

Good thing was that Sapporo airport has a lot of different shops including many shops offering free tasting of their products.  We walked around to experience the different airport setup and try different free tasting.  It was not too bad to spent a couple hours at Sapporo airport.  

Then we got to Sapporo Grant Hotel which has basement access to the Sapporo Underground Streets.  This underground was designed and built to help Sapporo residents to move around in the city during their bitter winter weather.  It was rainy and cold on the day we got Sapporo, therefore, stalking in the Underground Street was a pleasant experience for us.  There are all sorts of shops in the Underground Street.  However, they are all geared up for Japanese customer with Japanese on display only.  It was hard for us to figure out regarding to how to shop there.  Therefore, we went Uniqlo which is one of familiar stores to us for more shopping for the grand kids.  

Our welcome dinner was at Tsurugabiffedainingusapporo (鶴雅) which is accessible through the Underground Street from the hotel.  It is a buffet style with many delicious Japanese dishes.

After the welcome buffet dinner, we all need to walk around the Underground Street to help us to digest the wonderful food we had.

Oct 31 - Otaru, Sapporo City Tour

This was actually the first day of our tour in Hokkaido. We had our breakfast at Garden Dining Waraku(環樂) which has a beautiful Japanese garden next to it and it is on the 4th floor of Sapporo Grand Hotel. We enjoyed the typical Japanese 10 dishes set menu breakfast. The setup is outstanding with the wonderful view of the garden just outside the window.

The 1st attraction was Otaru (小樽市).  Otaku is famous with its canal, musical box shops and glass shops (they mimic Venice, Italy).   This attraction appears to be a preserved reminder of how ships arrived in this port city in the 1800s bring their goods to trade. Along the canal is a line of what seemingly are the original warehouses which have now been turned into restaurants and other business establishments. Unfortunately, it was rainy on that day.  We had to try to enjoy the walk along the canal in rain.  It was famous with the scenery in the famous Japanese movie "Love Letter" “Love Letter” is a film released in 1995 in Japan and was shot mainly in Otaru.   

With the rainy condition, we had to try to stay indoor as much as we can, therefore we had opportunity to acquire a couple nice survirnirs names Special Hello Kitty cups for Talia and Lucy, and a glass pen set for Theresa.  

We had lunch at Minatomachi (運河倉庫) next to Otaku canal.  It was charcoal grill of all sort of seafood.  It tasted great, the only thing is that the ventilation is lacking. 

Then we went back to Sapporo for bus tour of the city.  After the bus tour, we ventured out ourselves to the campus of the Former Hokkaido Government Office Building (北海道庁) 

 to see the fall foliage.  It was rainy and cold, we only could stand for about half hour for taking photos. Immediately we noticed that Japanese’s foliage is different than US Northeastern’s foliage.  Japanese’s foliage has many different maple leaves and other green vegetation make the whole scene prettier. 

We had dinner at dinner at Sapporo Kanihonke (小江料理) with all sort of crab dishes (螃蟹全餐) including sea crab hot pot (海蟹火鍋), baked king crab (烤地王蟹),及 fresh sea crab sashimi (海蟹刺身).

After dinner, we did more walking in the Underground Street.  We even got to witness the market with a lot of different types of dinner boxes for sale at discounted prices when it got closer to the closing time.  It was amazing to see the variety of products and their nice packaging styles.

Nov 1 - Hokkaido Shrine, Okurayama Ski Jump Slop, Shiraoi Ainuzoku Village

We have our breakfast at Garden Dining Waraku(環樂) again.  After the breakfast, we walked to the Sapporo Clock Tower (札幌時計台) near the hotel for some photos. It is a symbol of Sapporo and is the oldest building standing in Sapporo. The building was constructed during the early period of Sapporo's development in 1878 as a drill hall of the Sapporo Agricultural College. In 1881 a clock purchased from Boston was installed. Our tour guide mentioned that this is a popular spot for young lovers to take a photo.  According to legend, if you take a photo here as a couple, the chance of successful marriage will be dramatically increased.

Then we visited the Hokkaido Jingu Shinto Shrine (北海道神宮). Until the late 19th century, Hokkaido was known as Ezochi, and was where the ethnic Ainu people developed their own unique culture. In 1869, when the government abolished the Han (feudal domain) system and replaced with prefectures to make progress in centralizing political authority, Ezochi was renamed Hokkaido and became a directly controlled territory of the government. Then, Emperor Meiji selected three protecting deities of the reclamation of Hokkaido (“God of Okunitama,” “God of Onamuchi” and “God of Sukunahikona”) and enshrined them here. In 1964, the “God of Emperor Meiji” was also enshrined here, and the name was changed from “Sapporo Jinja” to “Hokkaido Jingu (Hokkaido Shrine).” Its 180,000-square-meter precincts are also known as one of the best cherry blossom-viewing spots. The shrine burned down in 1974 and was restored in 1978.

Since we visited the Hokkaido Jingu in Fall, we had an opportunity of witness it's beautiful fall foliage. 

There is a Six Flower pavilion which provides free mochi on the 1st Tuesday of each month, therefore we all got into the line and enjoyed some free mochi and tea.  

Then we visited the Okurayama Ski Jump Stadium (大倉山滑雪跳台競技場) which was built to host the 90 meter skip jump competitions of the Winter Olympics 1972. Nowadays, when the stadium is not being used for world cup or other ski jump events, the Okurayama Observatory at the top of the hill can be accessed via a chair lift for spectacular views of Sapporo. We all took the ski lift to the top and even enjoy the famous ice cream there. 

Then we had lunch at Yan tei (羊羊亭) in Hakodate (函館) for Korean lamp hot pot (韓國羊肉火鍋).

Then we visited the 白老愛奴村 (Shiraoi Ainuzoku Village)  which is one of the country's best museums about the Ainu, the indigenous people of northern Japan. We enjoyed a Ainu culture and lifestyle show with traditional Ainu folk dances, songs and mouth harp demonstrations. It also explained how they prepare dried salmon and how they traded their salmon for house goods.

After the Shiraoi Ainuzoku Village visit, we drove to Jigokudani Hell Valley (登別地獄谷) for a walk.  When we got there it is almost dark, therefore we just walk around for few minutes and took some photos. Jigokudani Hell Valley is a 24-acre smoking crater of geothermal activity, created by a volcanic eruption 20,000 years ago. Steam vents, geysers, and boiling lakes abound in this park that can usually be smelled (sulfur) before it is seen.

Then we checked into Noboribetsu Grand (登別溫泉旅館).  After buffet dinner in the hotel, we all got a chance to enjoy the spa (溫泉).

Nov 2 - Lake Toya, Shyowashin-zan, and Mt. Hakodate

In the morning, we went to Lake Toya (洞爺湖) to ride the Usuzan Cable Car (有珠山纜車) to the Mount Usu Ropeway Summit Station and than we had a relaxing hike to top of the Usu Outer Rim observation Platform to see the panorama view of nature Mount Hsu Crater Basin .  After the hike, we went back to the base station and had a nice view of the Mountain Shyowashinzan (昭和新山) which is a volcanic lave dome created between December 28, 1943 and September 1945. Initially, a series of strong earthquakes shook the area, and wheat fields were rapidly uplifted. Lava broke through the surface and the current peak was created. The peak is now 398 m (1,306 ft) tall, and still actively smoking. 

Our original itinerary called for riding The Pleasure Boats of The Lake Toya (洞爺湖觀光遊覽船), however the weather condition caused too much wave in the Lake Toya and the boat company cancelled the ride.  We had our lunch at Harvester Home Kitchen (八雲) with beef patty or chicken with self served drink.  They have nice backyard facing the Lake Toya and it was nice for photo opportunity.

Then we drove to Onuma Seminational Park (大沼國定公園). We had a boat ride to enjoy the fall foliage around the lake, then we went to visit a spot where was the originated spot for a famous Japanese song "The Sound of Wind (千風之歌)".

We checked into Yunokawa Prince Nagisatei where we have a private spa in addition to the public spa.  It is on the balcony facing beach and ocean with nice view of sunset.  We took the opportunity to have a nice spa prior and after our buffet dinner in the hotel. 

After the dinner, we had one more activity to visit the Mt. Hakodate Ropeway.  We took the 3 minutes ride of the ropeway to the top of Mt. Hakodate to enjoy the exotic city night view.  With the overflowing lights, we can see the whole city and its harbors.  

On clear days and nights, in particular, the views from the mountain are spectacular and included among Japan's three best night views alongside the views from Nagaski's Mount Inasa and Kobe's Mount Rokko. 


After the wonderful Mt. Hakodate Ropeway ride, we got back to hotel and enjoy one more time of our own private spa.