Otaru - Town

Continue on the Hokkaido adventure of 2017, the weather finally cleared and we could finally make our way to Otaru, a romantic town slightly off Sapporo. We wanted to go earlier, but due to the blizzard, all train services was stopped. From Sapporo to Otaru, you can take a direct train there as a day trip, which is what we did. The view there was icy-ly beautiful as the train track was along the coast with the sea just right outside the window. 

Taking the train in Japan is one of the best way to travel cause you get fantastic view along the way, especially if you are venturing out into the country or coastal town. Above as shown, the sea is just outside, and the path was still covered in thick snow.

Just like the coast of Wakayama, there were also beautiful rock formation along the way, especially when we were approaching the town. The winter scene added the icy cold feel to the photo.

The train does snow along some small towns, and you can see the charming station all covered in thick snow. The ride is around 1 hour. 

Once you alight at Otaru station, just follow the group of people as they made their way to the town centre. Being such a touristy town, it's hard to visit this place without a bunch of tourist getting into your way. As the snow was thick, the path was kinda slippery, especially since the town was rather sloppy itself. Above is the crossroad of the town centre, just outside the music box museum. If you love music box, this is the best place to come buy one. There are so many varieties that can be found here. But since this was my 2nd trip here, I had other things I wanted to do. So we skipped the music box museum.

Above is taken later in the afternoon. It's a small shopping street which is rather cosy if you walk inside. The street inside mainly sell snacks, but the road inside is so narrow that it was great to hide there in the winter from the bitter wind.

We spend a full day exploring Otaru, eating and shopping. I will write individual blogs on those. As night fall, we actually took the bus back. I can't remember whether it was because the train was late into the night, whereas the frequency of buses going to Sapporo was more. When given a chance to travel like a local, always take it! The bus took the highway, via some rather bendy roads. In the snow, you wonder after a while whether it was the wisest decision since it was a sloppy path and all. But it was rather interesting, to see the town from above the hillside expressway as the sun started to set. You can see so much snow covered houses, and also the chilly sea at the back drop.

The bus does stopped along certain bus stops, and above is one of them. It was unique to me cause the snow was so high, and the shelter was so small to keep the passenger warm inside. 

Here to end the post, another photo of the famous Otaru channel. Most tourist will take a similar photo of this as Otaru is famous for this canal. It doesn't really look that fantastic in real life, but it sure does show up nice in photo. What with blue skies in the winter too!