Hokkaido Day 5 - Otaru (小樽)

The weather had a sudden change and was drizzling in the morning. We had a 2 hours coach ride to Otaru town, which are famous for its canals(小樽運河).

Lunch was seafood steamboat. There was a seafood mart below the restaurant and we can buy extra fresh seafood to add on to our provided meal. I ordered the famous Alaska crab. which cost JPY 16,000. My sis feels that the well-known crab tasted similar to the hairy crabs and soft shell crab, except that its legs were longer, and more meat.

This was sashimi Alaska crab and scallops.

We then went to Otaru Music Box Museum(小樽音樂盒堂), built in 1912, for the beautifully crafted musical boxes. There was a steam-operated clock tower standing right in front of the museum and it was a replica of the one in Canada. Along the streets, there were many shops selling famous cakes, biscuits and chocolates. There was a shop selling biscuits and chocolates called 六花亭and I saw many locals buying baskets full of stuff. Some of the shops had assistants standing outside the entrance with food samples and I had a great time having the pleasure of doing the sampling.

After the light shopping, we went to Shiraoi Ainu Village(白老愛奴族村), a recreated village where the aborigines of Hokkaido live. A glimpse of their livelihood - the simple musical instrument(mukkur, a mouth harp made of bamboo and a thread that creates a strange, resonating sound), the dried salmon, and the huts. The women in this tribe had to tattoo the surrounding of their mouth drawing a bigger mouth, by slicing the fresh, let it recover and repeat the process again. This signified growing up and it took about 5 years to finish the project.

Tonight we had one of our best nights in whole trip. The weather was cooling and although the hotel room was again without air condition, the room did not feel warm. This was a hot spring resort called Noboribetsu Takimoto Inn and the hot spring was really an eye opener. It was a very big public bath, with 4 outdoor hot spring pools and at least 7 indoor pools, all pools with different temperature or therapeutic effects. The bath area was very well equipped with branded shampoo, bath cream, moisturizer, facial cleanser and scrubs. There were shared bath areas, individual cubicles, low stool or chairs for you to pick where you want to have a relaxing long bath. The dressing area was also well equipped with sanitized combs, hair dryers, facial toner, moisturizer and even cold tea and a chilly area to cool you down after hot spring bath. By the time we finished our bath, it was close to midnight.

Sis and I then took a walk down to a nearby convenience store in our Yukata and Geta, under the light drizzle. I love the cool weather!