191030-Mister Donut -Hirosaki Station

We enjoyed our coffee break at Mister Donut in Tokyo, Fukuoka, Hiroshima and Onomichi. The cafe was well served by staff in Mister Donut. Not only the cafe is nice to dine in, there will be free coffee refill for diners there as well. I like the feel in the donut cafe and so it has become a must do whenever we visit Japan.
We visited Mister Donut at Hirosaki Station since we need to have our breakfast before we head to Aomori. The only one that I managed to track down in Aomori within our itinerary.
For some reason, we do not really enjoy the breakfast experience here. Donut taste so so only compared to the ones that we bought from 7 Eleven. We do not see any breakfast set and there is no free refill of coffee as well. 

Not cheap for Mister Donut. Perhaps this store is a franchise store which is why the service was not that good? We were not sure too. Anyway, this will not stop us from patronising other stores in other parts of Japan.

191030-JR train from Hirosaki to Aomori

This is the train time table at Hirosaki Station

There are so many kinds of trains in Japan from
Bullet train - the most expensive and fastest to
Local train - the cheapest and slowest and it stop every. Though I have read and traveled quite a number of times in Japan via different kind of trains, I still got confused over the express train in Aomori.When we purchase the train ticket from the machine, it said express train ¥520 from Hirosaki to Aomori. We were stop by the station staff to get another ticket at ¥680. We then realised that the basic train tkt is ¥680. If we like to travel express, we need to pay ¥520 more.

Waiting for your train at the correct platform is also another factor note when taking train. The same platform can serve different lines. Always read the sign board and wait at the correct platform. Otherwise, we will miss the train and need to wait for another hour for it.

We expected for a normal train to arrive. But when this train arrived for Aomori, we were surprised and now we understand why we need to pay an extra of ¥520.

Another thing to note when you take such comfortable train. The layout is quite similar to Shinkansen (Bullet trains). No space for luggage on the isle. The best way is to travel light and have the cabin size travel luggage store at the compartment above the seat. For us, we look for space behind the train cars. So, if we are lucky, we can get a seat on the last row of the car. Have our luggage store behind us. Also do note that the space is only good for a 20 inches luggage. You will have problem storing something bigger. I am not sure if there is any luggage storage compartment at other parts of the train.
Another thing to note is, look out for cars that you have booked. If you have reserve a seat, you look for that car before you board. We did not make any reservation. We are lucky to see another group of Europe tourist and followed them for a non-reserved train car. No need to read too much. LOL. Also, the train is quite empty, so we can choose our prefered seat. Do note that we need to keep our train tickets properly. There will be inspector checking on our tickets while we are travelling in our train.

191029-Kuroishi, Aomori, Japan

Kuroishi JR train station

There is really nothing much at Kuroishi City Town. We were here for Nakano Momiji mountain. So we decided to walk around to explore since we are already here. Having said that, it is really a cultural experience walking around the town knowing the real Japan is in Aomori.

Even the tourist information staff give it away. From their expression, we can tell that they were so happy to see Singaporean visiting their city. We were lucky there is a staff who knows simple English to tell us more about the information we needed.

The streets were empty. Most of the shop shutters were pulled down. Wonder do they only start retail in the evening? But looking at the way of life in Aomori, most work day time, so street were quiet. From 5pm, you can see the streets were full of cars.

We walked to the tourist street where all the old buildings were. We were the only couple other than another elderly Japanese couple exploring this place by feet.

You will be surprised to see that this is their fire station. Look so olden, you may wrongly treat it as a tourist attraction. 

Takahashi Residence

We found Restaurant Miyuki just next to Takahashi Residence. The restaurant is set in an old building and we were given seats with tatami seating.  The thing that amazed us was, the street were so quiet. But when we enter the restaurant, it was crowded. Where did these people came from? Perhaps they drive here.
Oh we ordered via looking at pictures. Only when we tasted the food then we realised we are having duck ramen. Taste good though. Thanks to the staff that recommended us to this place at the tourist information counter.

In Aomori, I get to try different kind of pickle. This time there is this green pickle other than the normal white radish pickle. The green ones are wasabi pickles. Nice.

As usual, we need to wait for the next hourly train. So, the best thing to do is to explore the local supermarket. Look at the big bag of Persimmon. Only 1000yen for so many of these?

Like I said, nothing much here but still a learning journey for us touring places less traveled. Help to relax our mind. Still worth to walk around if we are here.

191029-Nakano Momiji Mountain, Autumn Leaves Viewing

Nakano Momiji Mountain of Kuroishi.
I saw this web page https://www.en-aomori.com/scenery-001.html out of coincident.
Understand it is a small place at the mountain side which is good for me.

I love travelling by train in Japan. When you are on top of the railway, you can see scenery like this. In Aomori prefecture and in Oct,  we will get to see fields and fields of edible plants like apples orchard etc. I also get to see random trees with orange fruits, I kept thinking they are oranges. Later part when I get up close to one such tree then I realised it is a persimmon tree with ripen fruits, not orange tree.
Nakano Momiji is located in Kuroishi. It takes 35mins to reach via train. So I have 35mins of "eyes travelling".

This is Kuroishi JR station. Coop is a supermarket located next to Kuroishi JR train station. The tourist infomation and bus station is located on the left side(when you exit JR station) of JR train station. So when you exit the station, turn left towards the Tourist information building.

I did not take a photo of how the tourist information counter look like but it is located on the left of this picture. This is the waiting area for bus. I do noticed there are always sheltered wait area in Japan's train station or bus station. It is very useful when the weather is so cold out there.

This place, if I am not wrong, is less traveled by Singaporean. You can see it from the excitement of tourist information staff. They gave you a very excited look when they heard we are from Singapore. Gave us each a packet of tissue paper as souvenir. 

One elder Japanese tried to make conversation with me while I am at this bus station waiting for my bus. Eventually, we gave up as we cannot understand each other.

The bus stop where we alighted for our autumn leaves viewing.

Immediated greeted with this beautiful stream next to the bus stop.

This road next to the stream is the road leading to the entrance of Nakano Momiji Mountain.  I was distracted by the apple trees and vegetables grown at the road junction. How would they trust that nobody will pick them home? 

The road leading to the tourist attraction were lined with houses where locals lived. I was wondering, how much would these tourist affect their life. Again, I can see locals drying up radish. A very common sight in Aomori.

The residents homes.

Love the garden. chrysanthemum and cabbage were the common plants they grow. 

A 10 mins walk will lead us to the entrance. A couple of stall selling street food for the hungry tourist.

These beautiful stream and maple leaves greeted us just less than 10 mins walk from the entrance.

Beautiful leaves with bautiful streams

These pine trees were very old

We followed the crowd to hike up these stairs

Effort paid. Very beautiful park at the top of the hill.

Was excited to see this tree from far. I thought it was an orange tree. Up close, realised it is a persimmon tree. 

Farmers product.

How to get there?

Take a Konan train from Hirosaki Station to Kuroishi Station. Take a local bus to the mountain. Train 35mins cost me ¥470. Bus ride at ¥650 for 25mins. Yes, the bus fare cost more than the train fares. To know when to alight from the moving bus, we just need to follow the name of the bus stop for the next stop shown on the TV screen located in front of the bus. If we follow closely, we will not get lost.
Also do take note of the returning bus timing so that we will not miss the last bus.

191028-CAFE Gusto, Dinner

Cafe Gusto. A family friendly restaurant. We were relieved that we are able to find another place for dinner at Hirosaki. Most of the place has diners smoking in the restaurant. So it is not easy to find a place without smokers.

Our dinner here. I ordered the Autumn ingredients rice, turn out so so only. Still, we are glad we are here because it gives us a very warm feeling.

So far our most expensive meal.

A look at their menue

Menu

Menu

This place is just like Sizeriya in Singapore. We press the bell button to request for waiting staff for order. Then water is free flow. We get them by ourselves. But price wise, a little higher than Sizeriya.

Where is this restaurant

Cafe Gusto is just across the street from Hiroro Shopping Centre. A 15 to 20 mins walk. There is a bus from Hirosaki Station to there too.