When we transferred from Tokyo Narita airport and arrived at Chitose airport in Hokkaido, it was already noon time on 1 Aug 2011. We wasted some time waiting for the travel agent who never turned up, and in the end decided to collect our car (A Toyota Vitz!) and rely on our own plan. Driving was a breeze, partly thanks to the super capable GPS system. By the time we settled all things and arrived at Otaru, it was already 4.30pm. It was a lovely place but Xiao Yee was quite anxious and wanted to clear the list of pastries that she wanted to purchase asap. I told her not to worry as I do not think the shops packed with visitors would close by 6pm. How wrong I was! After we took our time to enjoy our afternoon tea at Pathos, we found many shops had started to close! Some pastries high on Xiao Yee�s check list have already long sold out. After another delay in taking pictures of the famous Otaru Canal, we found most restaurants have closed too. In the end, we took fried chicken (instead of some sumptuous Japanese cuisine that we had expected) as dinner since that was the only restaurant open.
Xiao Yee's blog on Otaru: http://xiaoyeelee.wordpress.com/2011/09/01/%E6%83%85%E4%B9%A6%E9%87%8C%E7%9A%84%E5%B0%8F%E6%A8%BDotaru/