Japan Day 2 - Expedition Sakura

04-May, approximately 0830 - The sun sure rises early in Sapporo. By 4.30am (local time), the sun is already up in the sky burning bright. Luckily, or should I say not so lucky, the sky is overcast with constant drizzling. One of our purpose to go Sapporo at this time of the year is to catch its last sakura bloom before it disappear in a week time. Overcast sky makes it a good day to go sakura viewing, but seeing nice flowers in the rain sure doesn't sounds good. Breakfast at the start of the day usually should be something light, but I opt to go for some heavy curry rice! Ossh!

After breakfast, its a journey to the Maruyama Koen for some sakura viewing!

And nice flowers that I found in the park, though the drizzle sure makes taking pictures a challenging task.

Sakura in full bloom!

Some of the stalls which looks like Singapore style pasar malam are open for the day and we decided to try some of their local food. Well, let me just say that I don't really know how to appreciate their sauce. Eating it plain might be a better choice to enjoy the food in my opinion. =p

After spending the morning at the Maruyama Park, up next is to take their subway to Odori park to catch their Sapporo TV Tower, which is one of the iconic structure in Sapporo.

And in the midst, we spotted one local feeding pigeons straight from his hands. Wow! According to guide books, one of the must try in Hokkaido is their ice-cream as apparently, the milk they use to make the ice-cream is unique to the area. As there is an ice-cream shop underneath the clock tower, we gave their ice-cream a try and I must say the taste is rather good and flavourful. The milk in the ice-cream seems richer to me.

Having done with the TV tower, we proceed to visit the Nijo fish market which is located some blocks down the road. The unique part of this market is that it has retain the old Japanese style building structure in the past and presently, this place is used by the locals to buy their grocery.

Feeling hungry from all the walking, we stopped by a Sushi stall in the market to have a light meal. The main ingredients of the sushi are nice, but I find that the rice is a bit too loose. It breaks apart when I tried to dap it in the light soya sauce. Hmm.

And we end the day with a big bowl of ramen in a shopping complex near the Sapporo train station. The ramen is simply oishi!