Day 1:

The long awaited trip that we were so looking forward to - our 5 days trip to Hokkaido. The inspiration to go Hokkaido came one fine day when we chanced upon a magazine cover that featured Hokkaido. Without much deliberation, we started the planning and booking of flights and accommodations and finally, the day arrived.

I reached Taipei at about 6am for the transfer of flight to Hokkaido. Emma was already in Taipei for her work trip and we met at Taoyuan airport.

The flight to Hokkaido was three over hours. The plane took off at 840am and by the time we reach Hokkaido, it was about 1pm (Hokkaido's time is one hour ahead of Singapore's time). At the New Chitose airport, we took the JR train to Otaru and that took us almost another hour.

The hotel that we stayed in Otaru - Hotel Dormy Inn - was only a stone's throw away from the train station. It took us only about two minutes to walk from the station to the hotel. After dropping off the luggages and ensuring that we were fully prepared to brave the cold and harsh winter weather, we went in search for its famous sightseeing attraction in Otaru - the Otaru Canal.

We barely walked for 15 minutes and we arrived at the Otaru Canal. The promenade speaks of nostalgia as old, brick-walled buildings flanked along one side of the Canal and with the faintly-lit gas lamps along the stretch, the atmosphere was indeed romantic. And yes, thanks to HL who lent us his tripod that now, we were able to take pictures of the both of us (we had very few pictures taken together while holidaying in the past).

We then took a leisurely stroll to Otaru Music Box Museum which was stunningly beautiful. It is a three-storey tall building and inside, it contains many various exquisite items that function like a music box. Even a cute little soft toy, upon close scrutiny, spots a tiny pin-like apparatus that when it is turned, produces melodious music. In its collection, there are empty photo frames, beautiful pictures and many miniatures which have all the mechanism of a music box. We bought a picture that has the melody of the song, Edelweiss. It cost us ¥3,000 plus which is about S$50 plus. And just as we were about to pay, we heard the song "Canon in D". As we enquired at the counter, we were shocked to find out that to change the music to "Canon in D", it'd cost us another ¥50,000 (about S$850). Jaw-dropped, we paid without making any change; one of the most incredibly ridiculous deal I've ever heard. But then again, I'm not surprised that there'd be people who will be willing to pay for the change.

It was about 6pm plus then. It was about time for dinner. Having no particular agenda in mind, we continued to walk along the streets. Finally, we settled in one of the restaurant and had our first Japanese meal of the day. It was my favourite tempura with rice, accompanied by hot-soup soba. Bearing in mind the weather condition, the dinner filled our stomachs and combatted the cold at the same.

It was really a cold and quiet winter night, with snow falling on us and the day turned into night pretty quickly and perhaps the reason why there isn't anything much to see as most shops were closed rather early. I guess most shop owners don't expect many people to patronize their shops during such time of the season. As we didn't foresee anything much to see, we returned to the hotel and rested for the night.

Though the cold was almost unbearable, I couldn't deny that we enjoyed our time together very much. Maybe it is the feeling of Christmas; Christmas songs were played wherever we went. Maybe, it was the snow. Or maybe a combination of both and hence, our theme - a white Christmas holiday.