With numerous parks and wide, tree-lined streets, Sapporo is not only aesthetically pleasing but also friendly and relaxed. Although it is Hokkaido’s largest city and Japan’s fifth, it is less hectic than most.
A mere trickle of melt water emerging from the parched landscape of the Tibetan plateau, the meagre source of the Mekong river belies the deluge that will eventually pour from its mouth into the South China Sea.