melody

（すみません、日本語があまり上手じゃない。） I called to make a reservation (Japanese only) for the tea-picking experience at 11AM. There's only one timing on weekdays and two on weekends: 11AM and 2PM. It costs ¥820 (I think, I can't remember the exact amount). I opted to dress up in tea lady costume 茶娘衣装 (cha musume ishou) so we arrived at 10:30AM for me to get dressed. I was instructed over the phone to bring a t-shirt to wear inside. Rental of the costume is ¥880. It's for women only. 平日は午前１１時しかない。週末は午前１１時と午後２時がある。電話で予約することができる。茶娘衣装も着たいので、１０時半に着いた。茶娘衣装（女の人だけ）のレンタル費は８８０円だ。 There was a short briefing on which part of the leaves to pick and a demonstration on how to pick it. If you pluck the right part, the tea stem snaps easily. The fresh tea leaves can be brought home and they gave a recipe for tea leaves tempura but we were told to use them ASAP so this is really just for experience if you're an overseas tourist because there is no way you can cook it unless you're accommodation has ...

（すみません、日本語があまり上手じゃない。） Since we've never been to Yamanakako area, we decided to do a detour hoping to catch cosmos bloom with Fujisan as the back drop.   Although it was rather cloudy and the elusive Fujisan was hiding behind the clouds, the cosmos and sunflower fields were glorious! 初めて山中湖の花の都公園へ行って、富士山と向日葵を見たかった。花が咲いたのに、曇りだから、富士山が全然見えなかった。残念だった。。。 We got the Fujisan soft cream and a box of grapes. The green grapes are exceptionally sweet and I found a heart-shaped one!!! 富士山ソフトクリームとブウドウを食べた。この心みたいブウドウは珍しい！ Since Fujisan couldn't be seen at all, we skipped the lake and headed to our ryokan at Shuzenji, another 2-hour drive away. 富士山が見えないので、山中湖へ行かなかった。修善寺で旅館へ行った。 Access:  2-hour drive from Tokyo アクセス： 車で東京から２時間かかる

（すみません、 日本語があまり上手じゃない。） A 2-hour drive from Yamanakako brought us to Shuzenji onsen, a quiet onsen town that has not been invaded by international tourism so it was really a relaxing time for us. This chateaux relaix brand hotel truly did not disappoint. Service was impeccable from the moment we made the reservation. They emailed to check whether we had any allergies or food we don't eat.   Once our car was spotted, a staff came running out and greeted me by name. How they know who I am baffles me (we noticed that there were only 3 other groups of guests after us). We were shown to our room, Akenobo, immediately and served tea and mochi. I am reminded that the mark of a really top notch establishment is that there is no need to stand in line to check in. Once we were settled and refreshed by the tea, we filled in the check in form in the room. No passports were required, unlike in most other establishments. We changed into yukata and hung around the ryokan for a while, taking in th...

Sapporo 札幌 Accommodation: Century Royal Hotel The weather didn't hold up again so we didn't manage to get on the nature cruise at all during our stay in Shiretoko due to the strong winds and waves. That means I can use it as an excuse to come back another year. We checked out of Hotel Kifu Club and brave a 2-hour drive in the rain to Memanbetsu Airport, returned the car and took a domestic flight to Shin Chitose Airport.  As I have mentioned in my first post, on hindsight, we could have rented the car starting from Sapporo, head to Furano, Biei, Asahidake, Sounkyo, Shiretoko, Akanko and back to Sapporo as it would have been much cheaper to pick up and return the car at the same place but that means an entire loop of driving which can potentially be tiring for the driver. The way we did it was more expensive but at least my husband didn't have to do the long drive back to Sapporo. It's shopping in Bic Camera and Yodobashi and dinner at Ichi Nii San! I've written abou...

Sapporo 札幌 This is our last day in Sapporo before going back to reality tomorrow... We were torn between making a trip to Noboribetsu onsen 登別温泉 to do the walking path leading to Oyunuma footbath お湯沼足湯 or the Sapporo Beer Museum 札幌ビール博物館 (Sapporo Biiru Hakubutsukan). We decided to just take it easy and go to the beer museum and were so glad we did because we chanced upon the most amazing supermarket beside the museum!! The beer museum tour was so-so for us cos we are not fans of beer. We bought one glass to try and nope, we still don't like it haha we definitely enjoyed the supermarket much much more than the beer museum hahaha!  It's at a building called Ario and has a good variety of fruits at very reasonable prices!  Check out their variety of limited edition Haagen Daz flavours! Lockers that are mini refrigerators! Gasp! Dry ice dispenser. Not just ice. Strollers that are just too kawaii I got these kawaii rice molds We also found the Evita rose facial wash from Kanebo ...