Hokkaido Day 9 and 10

This morning we tried the buffet breakfast. 

Yuanyi is the real foodie I tell you. At the Noboribetsu Manseikaku, he see the buffet spread, he sian sian. But at Keio, he see the buffet spread, his eyes lit up and ate very happily. 

Yuanze also approve the buffet breakfast here. 

So happy, so satisfied. 

Keio's buffet breakfast items stand out for the quality. The standout dishes are the king crab salad, hotate, king crab miso soup and the ramen. Especially the ramen. Yuanze and Yuanyi ate the ramen very happily. 

We check out of the hotel, and board the 11 am airport limousine to New Chitose Airport. The airport limousine bus stop is just outside Keio. So convenient. Definitely will stay here again if there is a next Hokkaido trip. For the airport limousine, on paper the journey is 1.5 hours, but it may drag to 2 hours, depending on how many stopovers to pick up passengers. 

We reached New Chitose Airport, checked in Air Terminal Hotel again, because our flight is very the next morning, at 8 am. 

So the itinerary for our last day here is exploring New Chitose Airport, that is like our Changi Airport, so many restaurants and so many shops to explore. We also bought souvenirs that are mainly food items. 

Yuanyi and I managed to go to the onsen as well, that is complimentary for guests staying at Air Terminal Hotel. This time round Yuanyi is more daring and more at ease in the onsen, as compared to the one at Noboribetsu. 

One whole suitcase of food items. Omg. 

The next morning, we were actually quite early, so the counter staff suggested for us to take an earlier domestic flight to Haneda Airport, so that we do not need to be so rush. Our original domestic flight timing was 8 am, and she changed it to 730 am for us. It was a good change, because the 8 am flight, it was operated by Air DO, a partner carrier, and the aeroplane was smaller with 2 2 configuration. The 730 am flight was operated by ANA, and it was a bigger plane with 2 4 2 configuration, so all 4 of us can sit together in one row of 4 seats. 

That's it for our Hokkaido trip! We will definitely be back! Hopefully exploring other places the next time! :)

Hokkaido Day 8

For Keio Plaza Hotel Sapporo, I booked the standard triple room for 2 nights, inclusive of breakfast, cost $659. Just to do a comparison, one night of Hana Toya cost $663. 

For the breakfast, guests have 2 options. Eat at the main restaurant that is buffet style, or go to the restaurant at 22nd floor that is set meal style. 

Since we are staying here for 2 nights, we tried the 22nd restaurant for the first morning. 

Omg, the food was of such high quality. We were all blown away. 

Wow $30 for each set. 

Check out the spread! Omg. So beautiful the presentation, and so filling. 

After breakfast, we went to take the train to Odori Park, to see the sapporo tv tower. 

And then we went back to ESTA, to let the kids play at the indoor amusement park. 

And we found out that there is Mister Donut at the basement of ESTA. Of course must buy. No queue some more. 

Mister Donut donuts really taste different, and taste so good. Yuan Yi can attest to it. 

That's it for Day 8, our second last night in Hokkaido. :(

Hokkaido Day 7

In the morning, we brought Yuanze and Yuanyi to Lake Toya to throw stones into the lake. This is what they like. They can keep themselves entertained for quite a long time. I discovered that, when they were happily throwing stones at Lake Tekapo in New Zealand. 

We then checked out of Hana Toya, and we went to a strawberry farm, that wasn't in our itinerary at first. My ex colleague happened to be at Hokkaido too, and he recommended this strawberry farm near Lake Toya. So off we went, and omg, we were so happy plucking strawberries and eating them on the spot. These strawberries were the sweetest I have ever tasted in my entire life. 

45 minutes, pick and eat as many as you want. $14 for each adult, $12 for pri sch kid, and $9.90 for 3 years old to 6 years old kid. Quite worth it, for the experience and for the eating of strawberries. And also thankful to our strong sg dollar, during that time was 1 sing dollar to 102 yen. When darling and I went to japan in 2015 for our honeymoon, it was 1 sing dollar to 70 yen. 

The tent where all the strawberries are. We can go to 3 different tents, tent 1, tent 2 and tent 3. 

Yuanze was more interested in hunting for big strawberries. 

Yuanyi was more interested in eating the strawberries. 

After the strawberry farm, we bid farewell to Xiaoyu and Yvan. Both of them are exploring other parts of Hokkaido, while the four of us are going to Sapporo. 

We realised that we have not gone to eat at a sushi conveyor belt restaurant, so I googled and found one at Noboribetsu. 

What a great find I tell you. The sushi were so fresh, so good, and the whole bill was around $45. So affordable. Thankful again for strong singapore dollar. 

And off we went to Sapporo! We chose Keio Plaza Sapporo hotel, because there is a toyota car rental office at the hotel, so return the car there, and we can check in immediately. Super convenient. 

Sapporo is solely for shopping, Yuanze went crazy at Pokemon Centre, darling and I went crazy at uniqlo.

Claw machines are practically everywhere in Japan. Yuanze was so happy to catch 2 cars, one for himself and one for Yuanyi.