Japan - Niseko to Sapporo

We made the most of our last day in Niseko by getting in as much skiing as we could (Andrew is a machine and pretty much went until we had to get our transfer bus), and I managed to get in one more Onsen after lunch at the King Hut (up the Boyo gondolas). Frozen beer is pretty cool.







We arrived at our hotel Excel Tokyu, and again I'm pleasantly surprised at the size of the room and bed. They're both really generous, I'm yet to be disappointed by a room. Kyle was extremely excited there were pyjamas provided.

After dropping our stuff we made our way to find Ramen Alley, which turned out to be at the end of a street filled with "love" hotels (where young people can hire rooms by the hour or two).



This part of Sapporo is so different from the first time we were in the city. It's so lit up and bustling! We saw lots of salary men, and a lot of girls sporting the fashion of boots and tiny skirts… in 0 degree weather. I just got a full set of goosebumps as I typed that.



Ramen Alley was awesome. We chose a place close to the entrance where we were the only people in the small restaurant of about 8 seats. The young and cool looking chef made us each a bowl of butter corn miso ramen, and kept his cool demeanour until he saw Andrew's cheat sheet of Japanese terms (including "that was delicious!") at which point he giggled and seemed quite delighted at the effort. We all loved it, it was a very different (more authentic) experience than Ramen Yokocho where we went for dinner on our first stay in Sapporo.





Tomorrow we're off to an early start to catch a coach to the airport and to our Air BnB in Tokyo. It's all of our first times using an Air BnB and I can't wait to see what it's like!