Seeing Flowers in Hokkaido, in the Most Beautiful Season - Asahiyama Zoo

July 5th - Asahiyama Zoo Day Trip

The weather is really nice today, perfect for going out. Came to the lobby on the first floor, which houses a café and breakfast room. The simple breakfast included rice, natto, side dishes, and bread. For a three-person room at this hotel costing only about 550 RMB per night, having breakfast provided was an unexpected pleasant surprise.

Walked 5 minutes to the bus depot in front of Asahikawa JR Station. Everyone quietly lined up, waiting for bus number 41. The departure time was written on the bus stop sign, very punctual, so you can arrive just a bit early to catch it on time.

Along the way, vast endless green farmland, blue skies, fluffy white clouds - the refreshing natural beauty struck my vision. About 40 minutes later we arrived at the terminal, fare was 440 yen per person.

Asahiyama Zoo is currently the most popular zoo in Japan. In addition to various common animals, there are also animals from cold northern regions such as seals and polar bears. However, what really impressed me was the way they display the animals. Asahiyama Zoo advocates showing the animals' natural living conditions, allowing visitors to see the animals happy and full of energy. The zoo uses a method called "behavioral exhibit," meaning each animal's enclosure is almost designed as a multi-dimensional display space, from underground, underwater, ground level to the air, allowing observation of the animals' living habits from almost every angle.

We were very lucky to see the penguin feeding show. I imagine if it were winter, with white snow in the background, the experience would be even better. Today's temperature in Asahikawa was 22 degrees Celsius, but it still felt very hot under the sun. The penguins and polar bears must have been uncomfortable too.

Compared to Shanghai Zoo and Shanghai Wild Animal Park, the animals here are clean, lively, and there is none of the usual zoo odor. We could get close and see the animals in various poses. The most memorable were the red pandas, orangutans, and a family of three monkeys. 800 yen, about 65 RMB, was well worth the ticket price. Originally this was an attraction arranged for my daughter, and we thought the two adults would finish visiting quickly, but unexpectedly we happily spent several hours there.

When leaving, I remembered the zoo's management philosophy I had seen online: "We hope every visitor takes away from Asahiyama Zoo a feeling for wild animals. Through firsthand contact with wild animals, understand the beauty of the animal world, appreciate the preciousness of life, thereby arousing more people's concern and attention to their local environment and even the global environment. Only then can wild animals and the Earth's environment be truly protected. Only in this way does Asahiyama Zoo have its reason for existence, and the true success of Asahiyama Zoo lies precisely in this point."

Before getting on the bus, I ate an ice cream and a heated corn on the cob as usual, delicious and nutritious. This has become a standard routine these days.

Asahikawa has relatively few drugstores. Fortunately, I bought most things in Sapporo a few days ago, so I only needed to restock before leaving. Suddenly I saw the famous Tenkin Ramen, so I tried ramen and pan-fried dumplings again. The two of us ordered one bowl of salt-flavored ramen and one serving of six dumplings. The ramen was of very good quality, with noodles of moderate firmness and good texture. The soup was pork bone broth, slightly salty, with moderate oil, and the char siu had a good taste.

Then, satisfied, we went across the street (9-chome, 4-jo-dori) to what is said to be the largest drugstore in Asahikawa to stock up.

For dinner, we went to the Tenkin Restaurant recommended by the front desk, which is said to be very famous for seafood and sashimi. We ordered a large sashimi platter; the taste was indeed fresh, but the king crab hotpot was quite different from the one at Kani Honke in Sapporo. However, there were two tables in the same private room, and we met a couple from Tianjin. We exchanged travel experiences, and the atmosphere was warm.

I learned that it takes about 2.5 hours by train from Asahikawa to New Chitose Airport. I checked and found there is a SK14 limited express train that goes directly to the airport (some terminate at Sapporo JR Station) from 8:55 to 11:02. The flight was at 2 PM, so this arrangement was both time-saving and allowed plenty of time at Sapporo Airport for souvenirs and lunch.

At New Chitose Airport in Sapporo, you have to watch the time when browsing specialty shops, otherwise you might easily miss your boarding time. The airport was bustling with people. Highly acclaimed items like Shiroi Koibito, cheesecake, baumkuchen, Jaga Pokkuru (limited to five boxes per person), Royce' raw chocolate, etc., were overwhelming. When passing through the international-to-domestic corridor at the airport, I couldn't move past the Sapporo Agricultural School dessert shop. I recommend the ice cream, 330 yen each. It was super rich in the mouth, the ice cream was like cheese, you could bite it with your teeth, very thick, not fluffy like regular ice cream! It blows away all Häagen-Dazs and DQ in China... I think this was the best soft serve of the entire trip.

Besides these pastries, various seafood products at the airport were very tempting. For lunch, we ended up buying a few Japanese sweets, a box of five-color seafood rice, and a bottle of fish roe for 1000 yen. My rice was covered with red fish roe, which is unimaginable in Shanghai. I tried my best to taste all kinds of delicious food! I'll worry about my weight when I get back.

When we were at Narita Airport, I finished buying various skin care products and foods that friends had asked me to purchase. Then I temporarily said goodbye to my husband, waiting to see him in Shanghai a few hours later. Our unique travel arrangements ended smoothly, and I want to see our sensible child soon!

This first trip to Hokkaido really made me fall in love with this place! Before my eyes, I seem to see under distant mountains, a mix of green and yellow - that is harvested wheat fields and green rice seedlings. Further ahead, the sky is especially blue, clouds especially thick, by the roadside there are yellow, purple, red flowers, unknown, with small farmhouses! And of course, the most unforgettable sea urchin, crab, fish roe, and melon!