week 24_Sapporo, Japan

After our couple of days in the snowy mountains, we took a bus to the city of Sapporo for a change of pace. The island of Hokkaido is not all countryside. Even still, compared to Taipei - Sapporo seemed like a pretty sleepy town. It was great. :)

Street cars in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

Sapporo is one of the few cities I've ever been to that seemed completely walkable and completely drivable at the same time. In addition to the excellent public transportation systems and well-developed urban areas, they also had single-family residences in the city. Sort of like independent town homes lined up neatly next to each other with small sidewalks and alleys in between. These homes didn't have big suburban yards, but nonetheless they weren't actually touching each other either and they were centrally located for great convenience to all of the city amenities.

Our hotel was once again, quite nice. But the best part of Sapporo was the food! The resort food had been pretty nice, but once we reached the city, we began feasting...

Traditional Japanese breakfast, at our hotel, Hotel Okura
[From bottom left: White rice, grilled fish, miso soup
From left, behind rice: stuffed tofu meatballs, pickled ginger, bamboo shoots, omelet egg, side salad, orange slices]

I had never really eaten crab from the shell before. The kind where you get out the scissors and start cracking! It was so tasty! Mmm... wish I were back in this restaurant tonight for dinner again!

All you can eat, 3 crabs feast + tempura + sushi! So amazing!

And when we weren't chowing down, we mostly did touristy things. We toured a chocolate factory, and visited the local shopping district... then again, there was a lot of snacking during those activities too!

Ishiya Chocolate Factory

Chocolate cookie assembly line

One of the nice things about the trip - depending on who you ask - was the constant snow flurries. It snowed for the entire time whether we were in the mountains, the city, etc. Considering that most residents of Taiwan rarely see snow, and some of my co-workers had in fact never seen snow before - we had a special appreciation for the cold. Instead of being disappointed, I would say it really made the trip better!

Yay! Snow!