A Greenhouse in Farm Tomita

One of the places I visited in Hokkaido was a flower farm located in Nakafurano, called Farm Tomita. Early April probably isn't the best time to visit since the weather is still very cold and there is still so much snow. Normally, the vast fields of unadulterated snow are filled with streams of colorful flowers. But during the winter time, Farm Tomita keeps their flora inside a greenhouse, so anyone can visit at any time and still enjoy a beautiful array of flowers, including lavender, poppies, and marigolds.

Visiting the farm early in the morning was just amazing, The greenhouse was very cozy. I could have spent hours inside there, just looking at the flowers and sitting on a bench. It would have been absolutely amazing to sit there with a book and a cup of coffee, different from the usual coffee shop, ha ha! I was a little bit sad because I was expecting the room to smell like lavender, but the lavender was still in the process of blooming. So instead, the air was cool and crisp, and very fresh, as if the little greenhouse was a box of spring. There was also a little brick well covered in moss. I was taken aback when I read a sign that said "Do not feed the fish." There were fish in that well!

My Favorite Place

First order of business upon landing at the airport: stock up on Lipton Milk Tea at Lawson, my water for the trip.

My family and I ate at this cozy hotpot restaurant, where we had ourselves some seafood hotpot. The place was completely barren; there was only one other table occupied. Two if you count one of the staff handling some papers. Snow began to fall heavily while we ate, what a great way to start the trip! My restless nephew kept himself busy while waiting for everyone else to finish their meal. Afterwards, we bought ourselves some soft-served ice cream. Blueberry for me.

Traditional Japanese toilets, nyehe. How ominous looking.

As a travel agent, my mom organized the trip as part family vacation and part familiarization trip. A lot of time was spent inside a bus as we moved from one area to the next. Sometimes it would take up to three hours to get to the next destination, but I don't think I slept once on that bus. The snow kept me busy. There were times I'd stick my camera out of the window to take a photo of the scenery and pull back quickly as if I were shooting bullets at some zombies, then quickly hiding to reload. Although in reality, I was hiding to prevent frostbite. I'd love to open my window and feel the icy breeze on my face. You can't get that in the Philippines. I was like a dog sticking its head out the window, but that didn't matter. It did not matter at all.

A sweet, sweet surprise

A few weeks ago (or was it months, I can't remember), I received a little, pink parcel from my friend, Chrissie. To my surprise, I found two little red velvet cupcakes! Even better, it was frosted with Nutella buttercream and sprinkles! Oh, how delectable and scrumptious they were. 'Twas even tastier with a glass of cold milk. My boyfriend and I tried our best to resist devouring them in a few seconds. I think that says a lot about how good that cupcake was, considering that my boyfriend doesn't enjoy eating Nutella (how weird, right?).

Chrissie and I plan on joining forces someday, exploring the city for places to eat and drink, taking photos along the way. And I may even start posting on her blog as well! I'm crossing my fingers that we don't end up being lazy pieces of crap.

And a little message that my boyfriend left on my carpet. 

Take care everyone!