I've been cycling through Hokkaido for the past 4 days and am now in the capital of Sapporo for a day's rest. I'm dead tired today, moreso than i have been throughout this entire adventure of mine. I guess whatever my body had been running on (usually chocolate) finally ran out as i just used gravity/inertia to roll myself into Sapporo today. And it certainly didn't help that the entire length of coast from Otaru (about 30km east of Sapporo) served my tired legs a full course of hills and slopes. Man, i really need tomorrow's rest day badly... And since Kenneth asked, i'm only another 350km from Cape Soya. That would be another 4 to 5 days of cycling probably so i'll put myself at 85% complete.
October 2nd: Morioka to Ninohe (pics here) 80km
October 2nd: Morioka to Ninohe (pics here) 80km
R4's highest point in Ichinohe.
After leaving Morioka, it was just hills and small mountain passes all the way to Ninohe. Nothing particularly high to climb, just the sheer number of it. Passed the 600km from Tokyo mark today.
One thing i missed coming out of Central Honshu are the clean toilets; up North, every toilet i've stopped at is just filthy, some of the toilets are literally just a hole in the ground. Here's a sample. If you clicked on the link, just note how there's no flush lever or anything. And i didn't dare to use the tap water. This isn't just a 1-off example, i would say 7 out of 10 toilets i've been too are around this standard or just slightly better (but most do have flush levers, this one is particularly bad), a very far cry from when i was raving about how clean toilets are in Japan.
October 3rd: Ninohe to Aomoro, and ferry across to Hakodate (pics here) 125km
More time spent going up and down mountains. Fairly long ride today and i passed 2 key distance markers today, 666km and 700km from Tokyo. I was just wishing for a sign saying "Welcome back to Sea Level" and finally, 30km from Aomori i got my wish.
One thing i missed coming out of Central Honshu are the clean toilets; up North, every toilet i've stopped at is just filthy, some of the toilets are literally just a hole in the ground. Here's a sample. If you clicked on the link, just note how there's no flush lever or anything. And i didn't dare to use the tap water. This isn't just a 1-off example, i would say 7 out of 10 toilets i've been too are around this standard or just slightly better (but most do have flush levers, this one is particularly bad), a very far cry from when i was raving about how clean toilets are in Japan.
October 3rd: Ninohe to Aomoro, and ferry across to Hakodate (pics here) 125km
More time spent going up and down mountains. Fairly long ride today and i passed 2 key distance markers today, 666km and 700km from Tokyo. I was just wishing for a sign saying "Welcome back to Sea Level" and finally, 30km from Aomori i got my wish.
Man, it felt great to be back on level ground. About 15km from Central Aomori is Asamushi, the English sub-text was Sunset Beach so i hung around and watched the sun dip down and disappear into the horizon. Really beautiful place. I already checked the ferry timing in Morioka so i was in no rush to reach the wharf. The ferry across to Hakodate was for 8:30pm.
Unfortunately, once in town i chanced upon another 2nd-hand shop so i went for a look-around and by the time i came out, i was 10km away from the wharf with under an hour to go, so that meant i had no time for dinner. Rushed to the wharf, got my ticket and by the time i got to the pier it was just nice for boarding.
One thing i learnt is that you should buy your own food onto the ferry. There is cup noodles for sale on the boat (150JPY) but i had 2 and my stomach was still growling so i just slept for the entire 4 hour ride (110km from Aomori to Hakodate). Bike was tied to the side of the loading bay below where all the trucks were parked.
It's a good thing i don't smoke because the non-smoking room was empty except for me. All the smokers were in a seperate room drowning in their own cigarette smoke. Sleeping on the carpet was suprisingly comfortable, or i was just very tired; i had been up and cycling since 7am.
Reached Hakodate central at 1am and checked in to a random hotel. Room was cheap, 3500JPY (i later found out it was because the room had no window, but that's perfectly fine by me since the first thing i do everytime is shut the blinds).
October 4th: Hakodate (函館, can anyone tell me how to read the name in Chinese?) (pics here)
Unfortunately, once in town i chanced upon another 2nd-hand shop so i went for a look-around and by the time i came out, i was 10km away from the wharf with under an hour to go, so that meant i had no time for dinner. Rushed to the wharf, got my ticket and by the time i got to the pier it was just nice for boarding.
One thing i learnt is that you should buy your own food onto the ferry. There is cup noodles for sale on the boat (150JPY) but i had 2 and my stomach was still growling so i just slept for the entire 4 hour ride (110km from Aomori to Hakodate). Bike was tied to the side of the loading bay below where all the trucks were parked.
It's a good thing i don't smoke because the non-smoking room was empty except for me. All the smokers were in a seperate room drowning in their own cigarette smoke. Sleeping on the carpet was suprisingly comfortable, or i was just very tired; i had been up and cycling since 7am.
Reached Hakodate central at 1am and checked in to a random hotel. Room was cheap, 3500JPY (i later found out it was because the room had no window, but that's perfectly fine by me since the first thing i do everytime is shut the blinds).
October 4th: Hakodate (函館, can anyone tell me how to read the name in Chinese?) (pics here)
Morning was a visit to Asaichi, the local fish market, which had a lot of live crabs (and big ones at that, some of the legs were the length of my arm!), salmon (and salmon roe) and live squid (a Hakodate specialty) for sale. A lot of restaurants on the side were serving raw dishes (1000 to 2000JPY a bowl) and i just settled for the cheapest place i could find. Yummy!
Next, a walk along the bay and the nearby lower slopes of Mt. Hakodate. Supposedly from the brochure i took, alot of movies used this slope (below) because it offers a full view of the bay from the top. Lots of foreign churches and the likes around the slope. A really picturesque city.
Next, a walk along the bay and the nearby lower slopes of Mt. Hakodate. Supposedly from the brochure i took, alot of movies used this slope (below) because it offers a full view of the bay from the top. Lots of foreign churches and the likes around the slope. A really picturesque city.
It started to rain near sunset but since i already purchased the 1-day pass that included the bus up to Mt. Hakodate, i decided to just brave the rain and go up for the night view of Hakodate, which is suppose to be quite spectacular. I got soaked taking pictures (good thing the hotel had a very effective clothes dryer) but i didn't want to hand around cause there were a bunch of Taiwan and Hong Kong tourists crowding up the place.
I was trying to get back indoors from the rain but they just jammed the doorway (they were trying to come outdoors, they all had umbrellas) and refused to let me back in. One girl even said (in mandarin), "Look, he's getting wet. Let's hurry." You don't HURRY, you just have to stop for a second or two and let me through. Seriously... .
October 5th: Hakodate to Oshamanbe (pics here) 105km
Started out on Route 5 towards Sapporo today. I think this needs to be said (again), but Hokkaido is a really beautiful place. From lakes to open fields to mountains and to the sea, i really got to experience the full nature package in just 1 day of riding.
October 5th: Hakodate to Oshamanbe (pics here) 105km
Started out on Route 5 towards Sapporo today. I think this needs to be said (again), but Hokkaido is a really beautiful place. From lakes to open fields to mountains and to the sea, i really got to experience the full nature package in just 1 day of riding.
Not to mention that there are little cars on the roads and that the shoulder lane for half the way is about as wide as a regular car lane. Perfect for cycling. And i got to experience a light drizzle when the sky was completely blue without a single cloud. Afterwards, there were rainbows on both sides, 1 over the sea to my right and 1 in the mountains on my left. Truly amazing.
Ryokan tonight was cheap and the lady was telling me i was the first Singaporean she's seen. Very friendly and the tatami rooms were squeaky clean. No need for air-con because the night air just cooled the whole room. Cheap too, 3000JPY.
October 6th to 7th: Oshamanbe to Kutchan to Sapporo (pics here) 79km, 98km
In Hokkaido, it's not a question of how far can i cycle today but how far do i need to cycle to get to a town. There's long empty stretches of roads without a house in sight and some small sections of town are made up of a handful of houses and that's it, back to empty roads again.
A really tough ride through many hills today to Kutchan, which is a popular stop in winter to the Niseko ski region and also to Mt Yotei, which is pretty hard to miss when cycling because it has such a prominent shape (it looks like Mt Fuji, except it's about half the height at 1898m).
Ryokan tonight was cheap and the lady was telling me i was the first Singaporean she's seen. Very friendly and the tatami rooms were squeaky clean. No need for air-con because the night air just cooled the whole room. Cheap too, 3000JPY.
October 6th to 7th: Oshamanbe to Kutchan to Sapporo (pics here) 79km, 98km
In Hokkaido, it's not a question of how far can i cycle today but how far do i need to cycle to get to a town. There's long empty stretches of roads without a house in sight and some small sections of town are made up of a handful of houses and that's it, back to empty roads again.
A really tough ride through many hills today to Kutchan, which is a popular stop in winter to the Niseko ski region and also to Mt Yotei, which is pretty hard to miss when cycling because it has such a prominent shape (it looks like Mt Fuji, except it's about half the height at 1898m).
Mt Yotei from Kutchan Town.
Another stay at a Ryokan in front of Kutchan station (3500JPY) and then it was off to Sapporo. 50km later i was back on the coast and through hilly Otaru. Met a group of road-cyclists at a 7-eleven and they invited me to follow them to Sapporo. Yeah right. They dropped me 3km up the first climb.
BUT, it's probably good that i didn't hang around with a big group because when i finally caught up to them again, one of them had crashed into a car. I stopped to see if he needed help but from the looks of it he just had some cuts on his arm. My medic intuition told me he was fine so i just continued on.
BUT, it's probably good that i didn't hang around with a big group because when i finally caught up to them again, one of them had crashed into a car. I stopped to see if he needed help but from the looks of it he just had some cuts on his arm. My medic intuition told me he was fine so i just continued on.
Otaru Canal
Somewhere right after that, i just felt as if all the energy in my body drained out. The headwinds were strong and very chilly and i just didn't want to fight it. Checked into the first hotel i found on the way to town because i was too tired to do hotel-hunting tonight.
Coastline, Otaru
Tomorrow is a rest day in Sapporo and actually there's only 2 places i want to visit which would be the Clock Tower (a Sapporo landmark) and the Salmon Museum (who would have thought there would be a museum dedicated to a fish?). Might look around more (time-permitting) but i just know i'm gonna sleep in late tomorrow morning.
Did a little research on Wakkanai and there is no ferry back to Tokyo or Sapporo. My best bet would be a train back down to Otaru and then a ferry from there to Tokyo. Will go to the train station tomorrow and get more information on ferry routes. This is probably a good time to go hunting for a bicycle bag so i can bring my bike onto the trains. Good night (or good morning) from Sapporo!
2 comments:
the dirty toilet looks just like the scores i went to in china! what a coincidence!
do you actually buy anything at the 2nd-hand shops?
and hakodate is 'han guan', something to do with mails and letter writing?? are there lots of post offices at hakodate?
ok apparently there's more seafood than anything else.
'ok, let's hurry and siam!'
there is a pic of a slightly overcast sky with the sunlight penetrating through with a whole lot of rays. ... windows vista wallpaper?
seriously, what could your medic intuition have done for the crashed guy? personally i'm already in the arduous (but absolutely necessary) process of returning all my good found knowledge of medic skills to nms. i'm sure they will need it more than i do.
what's the max time you can stay in a ryokan for one night's worth?
and yes. everything looks so sunny and everything.
what's with that sophisticated lady wearing stockings and shorts, eating peanuts on a bench and not paying any heed to you shooting her?
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