Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Our Future Holiday Home

Although this was a short first trip to Hokkaido, both pakdokter and partner were very impressed by the beauty of Hokkaido. Compared to Tokyo, Hokkaido is slightly rural with agriculture being its primary economic activity. It offers great food, many opportunities for outdoor activities like golfing, mountain climning, horse-riding and of course skiing and snow-boarding during the winter seasons. There are many onsens ( natural thermal baths ) all over the island. Cost of living is relatively cheaper than Tokyo.

The Pacific View Villas is a gated community with less than 50 villas to be developed. Pakdokter's partner and Rastam were surprised to catch sight of salmon swimming upstream at a nearby river as it was their spawning season. Being next to a National Park, pakdokter woke up one morning to catch about a dozen deers running in the grounds of the property as they were being barked at by the guard dogs of the project.

With the Pacific Ocean in front of the project, the morning sunrise was a beautiful scenery. And the Tarumae Mountain stands proudly at the back of the project. With water in front and the mountain at the back, any 'feng shui' master would strongly give a thumbs up to the project.

Our host who is the developer of the project did not have to do much to convince us that this is a lovely project. We finally made one of the bigger decisions of our lives - we decided to invest in a 'holiday home' here. Come next year, God Willing, pakdokter and family will most likely be spending more time in this lovely corner of Japan. 


 holiday homes come in several designs
we chose one from the designs but made some changes to fit our needs

 even the garden design will be of our choice
and several types of trees and flowers for the garden are offered for you to choose



 sunrise over the Pacific

 the Tarumae Mountain viewed from our lot


the Pacific Ocean beyond Tomakomai town

Back to Ebi-Ten in Chitose

Upon return from Sapporo, we went back to Ebi-ten in Chitose for dinner. Our host was so kind to take us back to this restaurant for another round of its delicious seafood. Rastam thoroughly enjoyed the spread of fresh seafood served at this fine restaurant.











A Brief Stop in Sapporo

As we had some time before our dinner appointment in Chitose we made a short stop in Sapporo. We went around the main shopping mall of Sapporo - first at a golf store and later to the main mall to get some items that Tokwan wanted to buy for his spouse.

Rastam and pakdokter's partner instead took a quick tour of Sapporo, walking to the nearby historical spots of the city. They also took a ride on a trishaw to view some parts of town.






A Day Trip to Otaru (2)




 chocolate cookies is famous in Otaru

 meat on skewers like satay

 local cookies

 old warehouses like this now houses boutiques and cafes


 fresh shells and mussels


 lunch at an old warehouse

 Hokkaido soft cream

The Car Park system in Otaru
Drive into an empty parking lot
Once car driven into space the blue/yellow metal plate will rise 
to prevent car being driven out unless parking fee has been paid
Once parking fee paid at machine on top with number of parking lot keyed-in
the metal plate will collapse allowing car to be driven out



A Day Trip to Otaru (1)

Otaru is a coastal town past Sapporo and is easily about 2 hours away by road from Tomakomai. It was a bright and sunny day and we spent half a day walking the old shopping street of Otaru 















A Barbeque at Pacific View Villa

Pakdokter's son, Rastam, flew in from Tokyo on Friday and was taken around by Morisan while pakdokter played golf at Tarumae GCC. A barbeque was organised in the garden of the Pacific View Villa. Food was largely organised by Morisan and Yashushisan, Dato Takahashi's son, who had completed recently a stint at Ebi-Ten as a sushi chef and would be operating a sushi outlet in Niseko come winter, cooked the tempuras for the group.

The barbeque was also to celebrate TokWan's ( Wan Azfar) birthday.

We also had delicious sweet rock melon from Tomita's Rock Melon Farm in Furano.



 these guards dogs were very friendly and playful

 Tokwan playing his string instrument and entertained us during the barbeque

 Morisan working on the beef burgers
























 succulent rock melon from Tomita's farm in Furano

 a birthday cake for Tokwan