16/6/25 Mon: Woke up at 8.30am and PotaTOHs ate our Mentaiko pasta with a view at the lounge hehe~ The sky looked a bit overcast and the clouds were thicker than the past two days, but it's also the day we check out of Hotel Cocoa resort. *The air-con in our room leaked badly since last night~*
Drove off at 10am towards Hakodate and it took us about 2.5 hours. *toll was 3,390 yen* Tried the melon-flavoured milk (278 yen) from Family Mart but it was too sweet. Parked across the road from Goryokaku Tower (500 yen) and the four of us walked to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant for lunch because it's been a while since my in-laws had conveyor belt sushi.
We got a table pretty quickly at 12.30pm and the interior was huge. The selections was huge. Had so many sushi they ordered haha~ The scallops were good! Sweet shrimp, some shellfish and sea bream were nice. They had beef too. Finished eating in 45 minutes and Potato paid for it... 11,561 yen.
Met LL and Dexter and we bought tickets (1,200 yen each for adults) to go up the Goryokaku Tower at 1.30pm and the lift brought us up in no time. It's a fortress apparently, and served as the political, diplomatic and defensive base of the Hakodate area since the 1800s. It was opened to the public as a park in 1914 and in 1952, designated as a special historic site by government.
We saw Hakodate from 90m above in the observatory. There were miniature displays that explains the history. Saw Mt Hakodate from afar too.
After that, we took a stroll in the park below. There's 1,500 cherry trees planted here during the Taisho era~ so people can see cherry blossom during those months!
*Somehow the sun is very bright here even if it may not be hot.*There were a few ancient buildings around, but otherwise mostly greens and slopes. After spending two hours in the area, we drove to our Airbnb and checked in at 3.30pm. Had the whole unit to ourselves again! (S$858.45 for 6 pax for 2 nights)
LL and Dexter took the big room near the living space, my in-laws took a smaller room in the corner nearby while the bedroom Potato's slept in meant we had to walk a longer aisle in. There's a cafe connected to and just below this Airbnb, which we did not visit though. Played the vinyl music and PotaTOHs played with some building blocks.
FIL was also being a big kid outside the balcony too~ but I think he also stepped onto some small nail from the wooden flooring ouch. The family had some fun playing jenga together in the afternoon as LL and Dexter took a rest. *MIL looked so focused haha!*
At 5.15pm, we decided to go walk around the neighborhood. Could see road signs showing "tsunami warning" and that area was only 3m above sea level... makes me uneasy always seeing those signs. We were very near the port and some buildings around had some European feel to it.
In the evening, we made a short drive over to Asari Honten, an old sukiyaki restaurant I made reservation for dinner at 6.30pm with the help of my Airbnb host. We had to remove all our shoes on the first floor upon entering and there was a private room for every table of guests on the second floor!
Each of us chose either pork or beef sukiyaki. Think only LL and I had the kagoshima pork sets. The waitress served us in two pots, but I didn't mind having LL and mine mixed with Potato's A5 wagyu beef, which my in-laws and Dexter had too (some A3 beef I think) in their stew.
We love them when they soak up the flavours! The waitress served us all the way, and the sukiyaki and the broth were really delicious! No wonder the shop’d be around for 124 yrs now! Everyone enjoyed their dinner and even if it's expensive (FIL paid 29,680 yen in total), I'd recommend anyone who visit Hakodate to go for this sukiyaki.
The hojicha was very nice and that's Potato’s A5 wagyu you see up there. I also loved the yuzu sorbet a lot! Easily the best meal I ate in Hokkaido... really satisfying!
Got to Hakodate Ropeway station at 8.15pm and parked for 600 yen. Took a big cable car all the way up for the night view and it was drizzling.
The wind was very strong and it was quite chilly. There's the view towards the sea which was pretty though. We also walked to another side of the sea for photos. There were quite a number of people up there. Walked around their souvenir shop for a bit before we ended our one-hour visit.
Potato bought milk beer to drink at the Airbnb after that lol, and also chatted late till 11.45pm. *He also bought a bunch of hair ties secretly knowing I lost my one and only hair tie lol~ thanks mao!*
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