#GeraTravels: 21.03.2016: Forever and Ever, Babe

21 March 2016 – Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

So from my previous post, Mark and I officially made our way to Hokkaido!

It was about 3 degrees there; strong winds and snow-filled streets! Put on our layers, booted up…

And off we went!!!

So since we’re in Japan, simply must have some Japanese fast food right?

Believe it or not, I was getting a tad sick of fresh sashimi… #FirstWorldProblems

I was craving some cheeseburger and fries!!! SO OFF TO MOS BURGER WE WENT!

The food was wonderful, as usual. 🙂 Satisfaction fulfilled, thanks!

I love how FLUFFY the pigeons were!

Okay, so today our plans were to see the Hokkaido Shrine, Maruyama Zoo and the Hokkaido Ropeway! All geared up to be touristy.

Just the day before, it was Mark’s first winter. He was still going all happy over the white, fluffy things!

The surroundings of the shrine were very serene and calm. Even with the existence of man walking around; it was like as if the nature of man was programmed to respect that serenity. No one was loud, nasty or even nasty.

It was really quite amazing.

…Or maybe it was really the culture of Japanese people. If it were Singapore, I won’t be confident of the same result.

When we walked in, there was this little shrine. You have the option of throwing money in and then saying a prayer. Then you bow.

I really just watched how some locals did it, then mimicked them. I prayed for love, health and peace to be with the people I care about. ❤ And I said my thanks for having Mark love me.

After that little shrine, we walked through more gorgeously snow-covered fields. You could tell spring was on its way, because while most trees were still bare from winter – some already had little bits of green sprouting from their branches.

The main shrine was rather huge. And outside was this little hut where you ‘cleanse’ yourself.

There’s this water fountain, and you pick up a little scoop. Take some water from the fountain (it’s amazingly refreshing and clean!), pour on your hands gently, then pour some onto your cupped hand and drink some.

Probably psychological – but I felt cleansed inside-out! 😀

The inside of the shrine was spacious and glorious! I didn’t really want to snap so many pictures, because everyone looked like they just wanted to enjoy the serenity of the place. Pointing my camera lens around wasn’t going to respect that, I felt…

So anyway, after that we went to Maruyama Zoo!!!

To be honest, I’ve gotten quite sick of zoos. But Mark totally got me into believing that the animals are trained to bow like Japanese…

And the pathetic part of it was; even though I knew it was obviously a lie… A huge part of me wanted to believe it. Ugh.

As a Singaporean, I’m ashamed to say this… I’ve never been to the Jurong Bird Park. So when I saw this HUGE eagle in real life, I was amazed.

He was later fed a bald smaller fowl… Mark told me to go away, or else he must rip the animal apart and then splatter some juice on me through the cage.

There was a petting zoo area!

Which smelled really foul compared to the fowls… Hehehe, wordplay!

But really, the area smelled like a million hamster cages combined. And it was in the winter air! Things smell nicer during winter.

Didn’t see many of the enclosures in the petting area, Mark looked like he was going to barf. You’d think he’d have more tolerance for the stench, since we have a cat litter box in our room.

I was wondered why this little fella was called red panda instead of racoon…

A distance away from the snow leopard enclosure, we heard rather loud sounds… And they were coming from this one right here!

Sounded very much like she was squealing, whining and crying at the same time. Some other people thought she was feeling lonely because she was separated from the others… but Mark and I guessed otherwise.

Y’see, that’s the sound Meowster (our female cat) makes when she’s in heat.

We got her when she was very young, so she wasn’t sterilised – and there were moments when she would make such sounds to get Oreo and Milkie (our male cats) to screw her. We watched some cat documentaries on it… It was basically her screaming, “SCREW ME NOWWWW~~”

They should put a sign outside that cage saying, “We’re not abusing her – she’s just horny.”

And it makes sense because during the winter to spring, they’re in heat and all. She went up to the gate that separates she and her peers a couple of times, making a lot of sounds… but they just continued sleeping.

Probably going like…

Snow Leopard 1: Oh gawwwd, she’s horny again. It’s that time of the year…

Snow Leopard 2: Don’t move… She’ll think we’re asleep!

Horny Snow Leopard: SCREW MEEEEE!!!

Snow Leopard 1: I’m too tired for this shit…

Just reminds me of Futurama, death by snu snu!

That enclosure had another pussycat!

This huge tiger was easily 200KG. And he reminded me of my own Oreo… #CrazyCatLady

Animals aside, I thoroughly loved the ambience of the zoo itself.

The area was clean and air was reinvigorating!

I love how adorable those stands are!

And I love how Mark just obliged when I told him to pose like the bear… 😀

And while the horny snow leopard, huge hungry eagle and other animals were quite adorable… The cutest things I saw were this set of twins!!!

SO FREAKING CUUUUUTE!!!

After all that touristy stuff, my feet were killing me.. and my stomach was lodging a complaint of neglect.

So we headed to Ramen Street! A whole street filled with different ramen stalls… It was like a dream come true.

It was to our final stop at the Sapporo Ropeway Mount Moiwa!

Rode on the street car to the base of the mountain… Where we still had to climb up a steep slope to get to the cable car.

I was positively dying. I’m not used to all the walking… And melted snow becomes water; then water freezes over to become slippery ice. Walking around during winter isn’t all pretty and nice… I slipped a few times and had to grab onto Mark for my dear life.

My uncle always called me 不倒翁… Because I keep on rocking back & forth… And round & round. Simply cannot keep a straight stance. 😦

But anyway, we managed to get there!

But we got up there and everything was worth it.

Just look at the spectacular view!!! Everything that night… The view and the company I had was perfect.

I sometimes cannot believe how lucky I am; because I’m so used to people leaving me. But for whatever that’s within his power, Mark stayed by me and has promised me time and time again he’ll never leave me.

Thank you, God. ⭐

XOXO, G.