Weekend in Monbetsu

So this weekend, I went to visit my man, Steve, in Monbetsu. I had a lot of fun. We saw a taiko group from Sodo. Apparently, they are VERY famous. It was a great show...powerful music and a great performance. Not just banging on drums, there were dances, some acting, and a little comedy. I had a lot of fun.

Afterwards, we went to an izakaya and we had some Japanese tempura. It was my first time eating tempura in Japan. It was very good, and the miso soup was great. It wasn't incredibly salty like most miso soups I've had, but it still had a lot of flavor. We also had fried scallops, but they weren't as good as the tempura.

Then we went to a karaoke bar. I drank my favorite, melon soda float and a wine. We sang a bunch of great songs too. We had some Avril Lavigne, Backstreet Boys, Little Mermaid, RENT, Celine Dion, and of course, Hilary Duff. You can't have a proper karaoke session without Hilary Duff!

The next day, we went to Okhotsk Tower and had ramen. I tried a Hokkaido origial, milk ramen. It wasn't that bad. I would actually order it again! I still prefer my miso ramen with corn and extra cha shiu, but it was a treat. I recommend milk ramen to anybody that comes up here!

Next Steve and I went to the seal hospital. This was actually the highlight of my trip. The seals didn't look too sick; they definitly looked happy.

Next to the hospital was this horrible looking statue. Very scary...and not too far down the road, they have a giant crab claw statue. Very realistic, it looks like it will come to life. I don't have any pictures of the crab claw, because it really does look that frightening...and I don't want to visit the crab claw alone (You think I'm joking...I'm not).

I'll visit Steve again, so maybe next time I'll get him to take me to the giant crab claw.