Hokkaido part 1

We left Sapporo and took a pretty long, slow train up to Wakkanai, and managed to find a rider house called Midoryu. Rider houses are basically small hostels run by a family, where bike riders and hikers stay on their way to do outdoorsy things. When we got there there were like 10 people all sitting around a table and it was a very family-like feel. We were told to introduce ourselves, which we did, then a bunch of Japanese people introduced themselves, and we all sat around for a bit talking about our plans and whatnot. The proprietor, Iwasaki, was extremely nice, and he was literally just eating a raw fish off the bone when we were there. We told him we wanted to go to Rebun the next morning, and he made sure we had lodging plans and we were ready. Then he told us that oba-san (the old lady who I don't think was actually married to him but helped run the place) had a husband who would drive us to the ferry in the morning, which was extremely kind. We also met a German named Klauss who said he would come with us to Rebun. We were pretty exhausted, so after eating a little, including some gross fish-paste cakes they offered us, we went to bed.

In the morning Klauss said he would come with us, but that he was feeling too tired to do the 8-hour hike we were planning on. Iwasaki went with us to the ferry terminal and showed us where to buy a ticket and explained the timetable for us, and gave us his number in case anything happened. He also let us leave most of our stuff at the rider house while we were there for free. We took the ferry over, which was beautiful. There weren't chairs in the second class area, so everyone was sitting on the floor. After some spending some time on the deck and talking to Klauss, I went in and fell asleep on the floor. When I woke up and went to leave the ferry, a middle aged lady asked if I was travelling alone and where I was from, and then said I was cool (in Japanese). I think it was because I just went and slept on the floor like everyone else. In general everyone in Hokkaido has been extremely nice - much moreso than the people in Tokyo. And they're more interested in talking to us because I think it's rarer for white people to go up to Hokkaido. Rebun has a beautiful view of Rishiri, which is a perfect looking volcano rising out of the sea. Rebun itself is called the isle of flowers, because there are a lot of alpine flowers that grow there and some are unique to the island. However, when we got there we discovered that the campsite we were planning on staying at was on the other side of the island, and the ferry we had to take back to keep our schedule was at like 8 in the morning. The bus schedule there is weirdly out of sync with the ferries as far as convenience, too. We told them we would just hike across the island, which they said would be like 11 hours, and take thue bus back, but they said it was dangerous and we would die. Oh well, we started going for it anyway because time wasn't on our side. The terminal info lady ran outside once she realized we were actually going to do it and told us we could als try renting a bike. Honestly it ended up being as expensive as taking a bus both ways, but we rented bikes.

We road our bikes on the sea-side road toward our campsite, and it was awesome and beautiful. About 2/3 of the way we stopped and did the 4km Rebundakeyama hike, which leads to the highest point on the island. It was pretty intense, especially since I'm not in the best of shape, but it was really cool. My knee is and was pretty messed up though so it was pretty painful for me. I was lucky that the biking motion didn't really hurt my knee that much. Anyways it was pretty exhausting. The peak of Rebun was awesome and extremely windy. You can see grassy hills and trees everywhere that move like waves in the wind. It kind of reminded me of Hayao Miyazaki movies. After the hike we biked up the road a bit more and I iced my knee in the ocean, then we road the rest of the way to our campsite by a lake. I was pretty close to my physical limit I think. But the campsite was immaculately kept and we met Klauss there. Together we rented a little cabin for cheap, then cooked some instant ramen with his camping stove. Instant ramen is delicious here by the way. Anyways we got some sake and fanta to make some chyuhai, because they didn't have strong at the convenience stores around there. We also met a guy who was on Rebun fishing and in the cabin next to us. He looooved talking. We couldn't get him to shut up in fact. But he came over to our abin and gave us some cooked salmon he caught which was delicious. Then later in the night when Garrett and I were brushing our teeth he came to talk our ears off, but also gave us some octopus sashimi (never frozen) which you can only get in Hokkaido. It was actually pretty good, although chewing it was totally futile so you pretty much just swallowed it whole. Sleeping in the cabin was pretty difficult though because hardwood is not comfortable and both Klauss and Collin snore. Plus the night before we didn't sleep much because we had to catch the ferry. And then we wanted to watch the sunrise, which meant getting up at 4am. So we got up while it was still dark and biked over and up a hill we had ridden down to get there to take pictures. The wind was against us the whole way back, so it was a pretty difficult ride. Our little 3 speed bikes were... amusing to say the least. But we made it back to the first ferry with plenty of time to spare and slept at the terminal and on the ferry. Then we had to walk like 45 minutes back to the rider house to get our stuff, then over to the station for another 5 hour ride here to Furano. Tomorrow we're starting a 2 day hike which should be awesome. But damn I'm tired.

I also forgot to mention what we did in Sapporo itself. We walked around a bit and saw a miniature (still pretty big) version of Tokyo tower with, amusingly, a digital clock on it. Sapporo itself is really nice and I like it a lot. Definitely will put it down as my number 1 wanted place for JET as I continue applying. It's a bit bigger than Boulder, but not as big as Denver. We also went to the Sapporo beer museum, which was pretty neat. They had a whole history of the factory and everything, as well as all their old advertisements, TV and poster-wise. I got something you'll like from there if you're reading this, Akemi. They had a beer tasting floor where you can get a pretty decent size of 3 beers for like 400 yen. They were pretty tasty. There are I guess several drinks there, mostly sodas but also beer, that you can only get in Hokkaido. Sorry I don't go into more detail about a lot of the stuff here but it will all be better to explain when I can put pictures up. Tomorrow morning I'll write about all the other stuff we did in Hokkaido. Right now we're staying in Kyoto for a few days before heading over to Osaka for a day to meet Tomoko and hopefully Errol.

On a more personal note, I've been getting a little homesick, mostly for friends and stuff. I've been spending virtually every moment of every day with Collin and Garrett, and we're certainly not having any problems or anything, but it's nice to think of home. It's hard not to think of Colleen and how at one time she was trying to save money so we could go on a trip to Japan together. Not only is that one of the nicest thoughts or intentions anyone has probably ever had toward me, but I wish I could share this with her because I think she would really like it. I've been having a lot of crazy dreams since I got here, and usually my friends are in them. So I miss all of you and I'm excited to see you again. Not that I'm in a hurry to leave; I'm really enjoying it here. But I wish I could enjoy it with all of you. Maybe if I make it as an attorney someday I'll be rich enough to take my friends with me on these adventures. I'll probably talk more about it later, but I had my first real lucid dream in Wakkanai the other day, and that was really cool. Anyways you're all in my thoughts. I have very little money left to make it through this last week so I don't know what kind of gifts I can get you, but I'm thinking of you anyway. If I can't get some of you cool stuff I'm sorry, but it's not personal. I just have some kind of voice in the back of my head telling me to be a little more responsible here and not spend too much.

Finally, you may not have notice, but back on my post about the concert in Tokyo I posted a video.