HOKKAIDO [A Travelogue] - limwhow & SereneXMM

[limwhow]

Sapporo: In search of the elusive...
IRORI RAMEN 爐拉面 (いろりラメン）...

Our trip was coming to an end.
But on this second last day of our vacation, there was a very important mission.
We were on the quest for that hard-to-find Ramen shop that the Grandmother read soooo much about from her research from her guide books... The Irori Ramen shop.

[Translation: "We are going to look for a ramen shop, one that I heard is very hard to find..." said the Grandmother]
I had to search the internet to find the exact GPS coordinate of this shop.
Apparently this shop was located in the basement of an office building, a bank building or something like that.

What it was famous for was this Special Dark Soy Sauce Ramen.
For that purpose my Garmin was put to its task again... and (luckily for me) it didn't fail in its job!

We finally found it, about 1 km walk from the JR Sapporo Station...

... and the old, wrinkled lady here was one of the MOST courteous and MOST hospitable Ramen old lady!
She kept serving us soya sauce, cold drinks and was smiling and bowing from beginning to end...

Honestly, I found the Char Siew Ramen here one of the tastiest in Hokkaido.

... and here, its prized dish - the Special Soya Ramen at 1050 yen...
I would say, in my personal opinion, this is the BEST ramen I have tasted on the whole Hokkaido trip!
Well worth walking and looking for this shop!

 

[divinemoment]

My friend,

How many ramen shops have you all tasted? Must be so enticing.

Is there any local equivalent to their std?

 

[limcs11]

Just a crazy candid shots of the children going absolutely berserk with their snow ball throwing.
The elder sister was holding too huge a snow ball for her to throw ahahaha...

(Clicking on the photo would yield a bigger one.)

Yeah. ;p I never expected snow to be so heavy... but then again, it's big.:bigeyes::sweat:

 

[zeunice]

Nice series of photos.. Keep coming...

 

[Janetleeyj]

Fantastic travellogue, feel like i was also there. Hehe

 

[limwhow]

My friend,

How many ramen shops have you all tasted? Must be so enticing.

Is there any local equivalent to their std?

Haha... divinemoment, every day we ate ramen over in Hokkaido.
Kind of gone crazy over ramen when we were there!
Honestly, we tried several ramen set ups back in Singapore when we came back from Hokkaido but none that came close.
What to do? Hahaha...

 

[limwhow]

Yeah. ;p I never expected snow to be so heavy... but then again, it's big.:bigeyes::sweat:

Yah... who asked you not to train and exercise harder?
Then perhaps you would be able to throw your huge snow ball a teeny weeny bit of a height up..!
Well.... next time lah, OK?

 

[limwhow]

Nice series of photos.. Keep coming...

Why, thank you so much for your kind words, zeunice!
It is really nothing much... merely a simple record of our trip only. Haha..

Fantastic travellogue, feel like i was also there. Hehe

Thank you Janetleeyj, for your encouragement!
I am glad you like what you see.

 

[RawNaw]

Nice series & write-up! Now am poisoned...haha...already in the progress of planning my trip next Feb...^^

 

[daredevil123]

Bro, saw on the news this morning that Hokkaido is quite affected by the quake. The hot springs are all out of commission.

 

[DMajor]

where can I read more about the damage done in Hokkaido? I've already bought tickets to go in July.

 

[daredevil123]

where can I read more about the damage done in Hokkaido? I've already bought tickets to go in July.

I saw on the Taiwan news channel. Hokkaido tourism dept just advised travelers to cancel their trips last night.

 

[limwhow]

Nice series & write-up! Now am poisoned...haha...already in the progress of planning my trip next Feb...^^

Thank you so much, RawNaw for your encouragement. I am not experienced in writing travelogues as compared with many of our much more senior members here in ClubSNAP. I merely paint in thought bubbles and anecdotal remarks... if these could be consider a form of '-logue' at all... Hahaha...

Bro, saw on the news this morning that Hokkaido is quite affected by the quake. The hot springs are all out of commission.

Wow, that is really sad to hear.

where can I read more about the damage done in Hokkaido? I've already bought tickets to go in July.

Yes, that was also my thought when I read brother Daredevil123's reply.
It's one thing about going, but if there is a trail of destruction, the aftermath would be certainly too sombre a mood.

I saw on the Taiwan news channel. Hokkaido tourism dept just advised travelers to cancel their trips last night.

That sounds seriously serious.

 

[stevepow]

A rather belated post to your this travelogue thread but did really enjoy reading it.
And now looking forward to your forthcoming Nepal's thread

 

[droozy]

Chanced upon it till now..
Lovely travelog which I cant make it as nice as you..
Nice pics !! My pics are not as crisp n nice as yrs !

oh where is this IRORI RAMEN ? next time u try soup curry in sapporo too nice !

How did u mapped out the maps in yr gps .. though I always use paper maps.. but i think yrs is better as it wont lead me the wrong way lol

got any steps to it ? Pm me if u can... thanks so much for sharing !

 

[desmondcheong]

I just came back from Hokkaido a month back and one of my tour members told me that the Ramen at this ramen restaurant in Millenia Parco is just as good...

 

[limwhow]

A rather belated post to your this travelogue thread but did really enjoy reading it.
And now looking forward to your forthcoming Nepal's thread

Stevepow, thank you so much for your kind encouragement!
Really happy to have you on my thread!
Which reminded me of something I still owe you... Kekeke...
Aiyoh.. That Nepal trek yah... Wah Lau eh... Don't know if I will be the first one to succumb to altitude sickness... Hahaha...

Chanced upon it till now..
Lovely travelog which I cant make it as nice as you..
Nice pics !! My pics are not as crisp n nice as yrs !

oh where is this IRORI RAMEN ? next time u try soup curry in sapporo too nice !

How did u mapped out the maps in yr gps .. though I always use paper maps.. but i think yrs is better as it wont lead me the wrong way lol

got any steps to it ? Pm me if u can... thanks so much for sharing !

Why, thank you so much droozy for your praises!
The irori ramen is not far from the JR station Sapporo.
The pasting of overlay in the Garmin GPS is, I'm afraid, not something that can be described in a PM.
It requires at least a 3-4 hours of intense demonstration together with loads of practicing again and again before one can say with confidence that he has successfully overlay correctly.

I just came back from Hokkaido a month back and one of my tour members told me that the Ramen at this ramen restaurant in Millenia Parco is just as good...

Thank you for your recommendation, desmondcheong.
Actually come to think of it, I am sure there are very many delicious ramen joints in Hokkaido.
But how many shops can one try out in a mere single short trip?
Hahaha... Thus I dare not say any of the shops is the best. But more so, the best that I have ever tasted.

 

[droozy]

oh isee.. any links to learn from ? ^^

 

[dev2k8]

What to say....such wonderful pics and so full of useful tips n info! Though i've nvr been to Japan ( and i doubt if i can ever afford ) ur travelogue is pro as close as one can get to the real thing. Kudos to the photographers and the willingness to share!

 

[Redantckc]

Thanks for sharing. Love the photo specially the balloon text box.
Can share what software you used.