Going back to Taipei

Aww.. it is time to go to Taipei again…

In-flight Meal

This time, I tried salmon past. It was pretty good.

I am… coming back to Sapporo soon…!!! (This trip was in 2011, Feb..)

Field Trip: Otaru

(Visited in February, 2011)

Sapporo is the capital city of Hokkaido Prefecture, and from here, it takes less than one hour to get to one of popular sight-seeing spots called Otaru (小樽). “Otaru” means “River running through the sandy beach”, in Ainu origin. (Most of city names in Hokkaido are from Ainu language.) This day, my friend and I took a train and went to Otaru, just hanging out.

Lunch at Very Very Strawberry

Otaru faces the Ishikari Bay, and people always enjoy fresh seafood. My friend took me one of popular Italian restaurant in Otaru, called Very Very Strawberry. This brick house restaurant has special atmosphere; once we entered the restaurant, warmness of the restaurant and good smell of pizza wrapped us.

Pizza Margherita

Pizza Margherita, 1180 yen, was a bit smaller than I expected, but it was delicious. It would have been better if there were a bit more basil on the pizza. Simple, but good.

Tagliatelle with Jumbo Fresh Shrimp and Tomato sauce

This Botan Ebi (ぼたんエビ) was from Mashike area. Tomato sauce was in perfect condition, but why they cut the shrimp in half? Sorry to say, but this costs 1680 yen. I was expected to eat a bit more shrimp… Can they use at least 3 or 4 shrimps?

I really liked this restaurant, but I thought it was a bit pricy. Did I expect too much for their fresh seafood?

Walking on a street

Main street. There are many souvenir shops, especially Otaru’s famous arts and crafts. Everytime I visit Otaru, I always go to this Otaru Orgel Doh (小樽オルゴール堂: Music Box Museum). Some historical music boxes are displayed, and workers sometimes explain the functions and history for us, if you are lucky, you can hear the music as well. This building looks small, but once you entered the building, you will surprise how many music box you can try and buy as a souvenir. Don’t forget to check out this building, which was built in 1912.

Otaru Orgel Doh

http://www.otaru-orgel.co.jp/english/e_index.html

Some Yukidaruma (ゆきだるま: snowman) was displayed on the street. Cute!

Don’t forget to eat some seafood snack!

Besides music box, Otaru glass craft is also popular activity in Otaru. Taisho Glass House has several stores in this area, and my friend chose this Tombo Dama store to try out some small glass work. Yeah we made a bracelet with a glass ball~!

Taisho Glass House

http://taish847.tempdomainname.com/

Here is the bracelet I made. First, I chose one colored ball, which is sky blue. Then, choose two colors for added patterns. I chose green and pink. Under the instruction of a worker, I added 4 cute patterns on blue ball. My friend also made a same bracelet with different color patterns, and we chose small accessories to decorate besides the blue ball. We waited for a while to cool down, because we used a gas burner to heat up the glass ball. I am very satisfied this work. It was fun!!!

After all those, we stopped by at a small café and chatted for one hour. It was a nice weekend with my friend. If you have a chance to visit Sapporo, please don’t forget to stop by at Otaru.

Travel #04: Taipei to Sapporo

(February, 2011)

It was about time to go back home and enjoy white snow and delicious food. In addition, it was a great chance to visit Sapporo Snow Festival. It was a first time in five years to see snow, so I was very excited!

In-flight Meal

Chicken

As usual, I couldn’t eat in-flight meal… I really tried, though… Pork or chicken, I always choose chicken. I should try pork next time…

After four hours of flight, I was already in Sapporo Int’l Airport. It was still clean and neat. I arrived at noon time, so head to Sapporo station to have lunch~!

Taking JR (Japan Railway) to get to Sapporo downtown, 40 min later, I was at downtown to eat Tonkatsu (とんかつ).

To be continued…

Travel #03: Sapporo to Taipei

I have to apologize that I couldn’t update any information for a while. Although I don’t have many readers, there are still some who may wonder what I’ve been eating everyday. Ha ha. Taipei’s temperature and humidity went up quite a lot, and I have been struggling with headache and some skin problems these days. Compared with Sapporo, humidity is quite high, and I guess it cause the headache constantly. Anyway, I am still alive, but I don’t eat well… Or I should say I have been cooking by myself, which is… pretty miserable. (I am not a good chef…)


I would like to update about Sapporo trip back in May. On the way back to Taipei, I was happy to see the new international airport just opened a few months ago. It was a brand new, clean, organized one. The only thing I was a bit disappointed was that the flights were limited between Asia. They used to have a flight to Hawaii and Amsterdam, but not anymore… A flight to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea… pretty much that is it. It seemed that the city built for an Asian tourist, not for a citizen of Hokkaido. I hope they will have more flights to other countries later on.


After getting off JR train, the international gate became a bit far, but don’t worry. A lady took me with a cute cart to the gate. Of course, it is only a few minutes for a walk to get to the gate, but I had some souvenirs and wanted to try the cart, so I enjoyed the short ride.



On the way to the gate, you would see some booths displaying each country, such as Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Russia, Australia, Thailand…





The departure gate is in upstairs.



This time, I used my mileage for business class, so I enjoyed the lounge. Here the lounge was small but pretty! Less people, so I could relax…


Food was less, but these tiny breads were so delicious! I especially loved the sesame one on the top right. I enjoyed those with a cup of corn potage.


On the way back to Taipei, the business seats were almost empty; flight attendant was friendly, but too casual.






Basically the food was almost out. I wanted to try the Western style lunch, but they said already out. So I had no choice… I ate Sukiyaki. Compared with the food from Taipei to Sapporo, this sukiyaki lunch was MUCH BETTER! OK here is the tip. From Japan to anywhere you go, basically Japanese (or Asian) style meal would be better than western style meal. Their beef was tender, the taste was appropriate. Sukiyaki came with shiitake, negi, carrot, spinach, shirataki and tofu. A piece of sushi made me smile. A cup of rice was warm and fresh enough.

It was only a three-hour flight, but I enjoyed their food and service. In-flight movie was “Invictus”; yeah, my favorite actor/director, Clint Eastwood!!! It all made me happy~!

If you have a plan to come to Japan, please make a few extra days, come and visit Hokkaido!

Travel #02: Taipei to Sapporo

Yes, Sapporo trip! I miss Sapporo~! Several direct flights from Taipei bring us to wonderful city in Japan, Sapporo. I took China Airlines this time by using my friend’s mileage. Therefore, the airfare was for free this time. In addition, I could take a business class.


The privilege for flying for business class is that the usage of a lounge. I enjoyed the lounge at Narita last year, and their foods were pretty good. This time the lounge at Taipei international airport was okay. Unfortunately, there was no onigiri, but they prepared three kinds of noodles, pork, beef and vegetables. I tried vegetable noodle and some pieces of steamed dumplings. Noodle was good, the soup was simple and light flavor, but tasty enough for me to relax before the flight.


This flight was Boeing 737, so the business class is not quite same as the international flights. I thought the flight attendant was friendly and served us properly. The food was… interesting. I chose chicken as a main dish, with Takana rice and steamed veggies. Rice was in good condition, so as veggie. Chicken was too salty for me, though.


Salad was delicious. Lettuce was, I believe, fresh, and the crabmeat was wrapped by a slice of fresh ham.


Dessert looked fine, but I only ate fruits because I don’t eat sweet stuff.

After 4, 5 hours of flying, I safely arrived at Shin-Chitose Airport. I took a train and headed to meet my friend!

Travel #01: Narita to Taipei

I was lucky in this Taipei trip. I took China Airlines this time. I ordered my air ticket on the Internet, and they gave me a priority coupon, which allowed me to have a priority check-in, a pass to their lounge, and a priority tag on my luggage. My flight was at around 2pm, so I left Shin-Yokohama at around 9:30am, and then went to YCAT to take a Limousine Bus (shuttle bus) towards Narita Airport.


At 11:30am, I arrived at Narita Airport, but the check-in counter was still closed. So I bought new batteries for my camera to be ready to take some pictures and walked around a little bit to see if anything interesting. Narita Airport was not crowded on this day.


The check-in counter opened at around 11:45. I immediately checked in my big luggage, and rushed to the lounge. I used to have a chance to enjoy United lounge, but now they charge us to use it, so I barely take United… I miss their better services. The lounge was actually empty. I was the first one, and then one business person came in right after me.


Their food menu was alright. They had some cookies, breads, onigiri, noodles and so on. Reasonable, but nothing special. Regular drinks were ready. I was hungry, and I knew I could not eat an airline meal, so I picked two Onigiri (rice balls) and a small cup noodle. Too much? ^^;

I stayed there for an hour--writing articles for the blog and killing some time, then headed off to the gate. It was relaxing time at the lounge... It only took for four hours or so to get Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, and as I predict, I couldn't eat an airline meal.


Yes, I am here in Taipei now, and it has passed a month already. I am trying to stay here for 6 months or hopefully a bit longer to improve my Chinese skills.

If you know good restaurants, especially "good" Italian Restaurant, please let me know!