Hokkaido is known around the world for its natural beauty, delicious food, and their four seasons. If you are perhaps planning on visiting Sapporo during winter or snowboarding in the nearby mountains of Hokkaido, there is one town you don’t want to miss during your stay: Otaru. The second thing I wanted to do while in Sapporo was visiting Otaru.
Otaru is a port-town in western Hokkaido, about 30 minutes by train from Sapporo. Interestingly, most of the city’s architecture is designed with a Western-style in mind, which is unusual compared to other architecture throughout Japan. However, while visiting Otaru, you won’t feel like you are in just another Japanese tourist town. Otaru is a city of hidden treasures that will make memories to last a lifetime. And through the centre of it all, lay the beautiful Otaru Canal a quiet, gentle body of water, mirroring the façades of the low rise buildings standing alongside it, delicately covered with snow. I could just sit by the canal on a cold stone bench for a moment of rest and think about how perfect this town seemed to be. 北海道的小樽市是一座迷人的历史港都,从1910年开凿的小樽运河,赋予了她灵魂,也使她一度成为日本明治、大正时期重要的海运贸易中心。如今这座城市尽管已褪下旧日的繁华,然而以运河为中心的市街,仍保存着许多历史建物,宛若童话里的浪漫景色,让今日的小樽成为充满魅力的观光城市。到小樽来晃晃,如果没有来小樽运河走走,会让人觉得好像没有真的去到小樽逛逛一样。因为这个小樽运河可是这里的重点景点。
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Hello, Hello and Happy New Year!
I hope you all had a truly wonderful start of the year with your loved ones, a bottle of red wine and a heck load of sparkles and laughter. I thought my first post of the new year ought to be a little look over the past 12 months, but I realize I have so much to catch up on my travelogues and I can't waste anymore time but to keep travel writing whenever I can. I wanted this post to be a somewhat photo heavy blogpost, a post full of snow snaps that you may not have ever seen before.
Japan is probably one of my favorite places in the world, which is kind of remarkable considering I spent the past two years exploring many areas in Japan. In fact, I only spent one week in Sapporo, but it instantly stole my heart and continues to be at the top of my list of places in the world I want to return. It is just so cool, especially during winter. I visited last month, which was heaps of fun, and honestly I think anytime in the winter would be magical there. I loved the food, I was fascinated by how different the culture up there was from the rest of Japan, and since Japan has such a wet climate, I think Sapporo had the most snow I’ve ever seen in my life. In fact I’d say if you want to enjoy a truly beautiful winter in Japan then head to Sapporo! The year 2016 was another good travel year in my life. So now I turn my thoughts to the new year. This year I've made only one. And I do think that it's the most important one of all.
Keep traveling. Continue to be an avid traveler. 2017 is the year that I refuse to let my new year's resolutions be boring. "Travel more" is a great goal, it's the kind of resolution you can review in 12 months, decide that two trips home was good enough, and check that one off the list. Resolution fulfilled. Obvious and simple, yes. But in this age of increasing terror and decreasing travel abroad, for many it's become harder to keep this resolution than ever. I always hold the belief that travel is a choice. Travel is actually a big part of that for so many of us. And I’m going keep going out there, to be able to fulfill my life as best I can. I wish All of you a happy new year 2017. Stay happy always ! |
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