Zhou Zhuang 周庄 (29-30 Dec 2013)

Zhou Zhuang - a popular day trip out of Shanghai city ~1+ hour drive. Charming ancient water town, though some might say it's becoming too commercialised. I didn't really find it an issue. Love how the Starbucks totally fit the "ancient" theme. Since the folks were in town for the New Year, we decided to stay a night with Tasha in tow. Accommodation was quite traditional and it was freezing cold. Enjoyable nonetheless and I felt I was taken way back in time..

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An umpteen-course dinner at Kahala**. What an experience! Worth the hole in the pocket ;)

Our stay at St Regis Osaka. One flaw (and a rather big one) was that they screwed up on a restaurant reservation made on our behalf. We arrived at the restaurant all excited but was finally turned away. Turned out they booked us at another place by mistake. By then it was too late to head over to that place as lunch time was almost over :/ St Regis made it up however by offering us a fully paid meal at their own restaurant (which is actually quite highly rated) and even covered the wine (which we didn't expect). Food was pretty good and so was the wine. Apologies accepted! They also sent coffee and chocs to our room the next day as an extra gesture. 气消了～Regis also has a nice chill lounge. Below, just bumming around the streets and trying for the first time teppanyaki abalone!

Lunch at Ippoh Honten Edobori*, a tempura restaurant which has been awarded 1 star for consecutive years since 2010. Private room with private cook freshly frying up tempuras in front of us. Pretty good. Except the fact that I had a really serious bout of allergy attack right after leaving the restaurant.  Nothing to do with them at all. S was perfectly fine. For me it might have been the prawns, or maybe the oil...I don't know. Happened before at another fine tempura place. *confused*

Chanced upon Xmas markets near the Osaka main station. Lovely atmosphere~ And this marks the end of our Niseko-Osaka trip!

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Early next morning, we woke up to a pleasant surprise. The snowy conditions cleared up that morn and a mountain peered out in the distance from nowhere! We later found out it is Mount Yōtei, an active stratovolcano. The following day the weather cleared up even more and we were presented with the entire view. Take a gondola up and enjoy~

Greatest achievement of the year: Skiing all the way from the top after just 1 day of lesson! V

And of course, Ezo Seafoods (twice) as reward ;) Thumbs up!

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Our first and last r&r trip (inside story). Really made the most out of it! Off to a good start on board ANA. Where else can you find such appetising plane food?? On econ at least. Stayed a night in Osaka first before catching the morning flight to Hokkaido. Sheraton Miyako Hotel was perfect as it has direct airport bus transfer, and it's right next to a shopping mall (can't do without our usual supermarket sashimi fix). Next day, easy internal flight to Chitose. First meal in Hokkaido - a crab-ikura-uni bowl. Airport food already so yums! The drive to our ski resort took ~1.5 hour.

          

Arrived at Akazora Resort. Got upgraded to a 2-bedroom apartment and the place was absolutely lovely. Spacious and bright, looking out to a blanket of white. Love love love.

  

By the time we settled down it was late. Time to eat again! Randomly chose a restaurant round a corner. Everything we ordered was so good. Even though it was only our 2nd meal in Hokkaido, we concluded Japanese food is at its best here. Just look at that mountain of uni. Took all the limelight away from the abalone. Hands down the best rice bowl I ever had. *drooling while blogging*

  

Signed up for private ski lessons and it was well worth it, for me. Skiing's not really S' thing so she pretty much left me alone with the coach. Which was super as I soon progressed to doing rounds on the bunny slope. Bunny slope may look like chicken feet but for a absolute beginner like me, can be quite intimidating :S Skiing makes me hungry. Can't remember which slope we were at but there's a hotel just beside (prince?) that serves really good sashimi and tempura (once again my love for Hokkaido food grows).

     

Back on the slope for a few more rounds and I was done for the day. Definitely a must to follow with onsen~ And then of course, a hearty dinner. Small packed izakaya place. Another awesome meal. Seriously. I could grow fat if I lived here!