I woke up at the Sapporo House Youth
Hostel in Sapporo refreshed. Although the YH left much to be desired
in terms of atmosphere, it still beat spending a night outside in the
rain. I was saddled up and ready to leave by 8:30. There were
other bikers there but they weren't anxious to get moving since it was
raining pretty good at that time. I had donned my rain gear.
Though it wasn't particularly pleasant driving in the rain on a motorcycle,
I could at least keep relatively dry. The only thing that gets wet
when I'm riding in the rain are my hands; I was using warm water
diving gloves with suede palms and synthetic backing which are made for
getting wet and worked well. Of course they wouldn't have worked in
cold weather but for the summer rains they were okay.
I had plans to meet another friend this day, this time
in Asahikawa. Asahikawa is in the middle of Hokkaido and not that
far from Sapporo so I had enough time to stop in nearby Otaru and take the
Sea of Japan side before cutting back across. I had already given up
on going to the far northern city of Wakkanai. There just wasn't
enough time if I was planning to traverse all four of Japan's major
islands.
I made it into Otaru by 10:00 and was ready to find
some breakfast. Nothing jumped out at me and, finally, I found
myself in front of the Otaru train station. Train stations are
always good areas to find a variety of shops. I parked the motorcycle
next to a pedestrian overpass and went inside the building where there was
a little strip of shops of various types. I found a little cafe
offering "morning service" -- exactly what I was looking
for. I was dripping wet but avoided getting the velvet seats wet as
best as I could. The breakfast was good but obviously not memorable
because I don't remember what I had now. However, I do remember the
coffee. The coffee was served with an unusually shaped sugar
dispenser, or so I thought. It was shaped like an upside-down
funnel. It was only after dumping a bunch in my coffee that I
realized it was salt! Ugh. Salt-water coffee is not something
you want to drink twice. In Japan the bottomless cup of coffee is
only found at American-style "family" restaurants such as
Denny's and Jonathans. I was too embarrassed to admit my mistake
even though the proprietor probably would have had pity on me and given me
another cup, particularly if I pointed out that the salt was served along
with the coffee. (There was, however, sugar on the table after all,
I just hadn't noticed it.) So I made do with water and left the cup
of coffee. The poor owner probably thought I didn't like her
coffee. Now I feel like I should have said something but it's too
late for that now.
Otaru is known in Japan for its fresh seafood,
waterfront canals lined with old warehouses constructed of stone, and arts
and crafts galleries specializing in hand-blown glass and music
boxes. The reason for these particular crafts seem to stem from the
various foreign influences in the city's history as a port city for over a
century. The weather was just too crummy for me to stop so I just
rode past the waterfront and warehouses and headed north along the Sea of
Japan stopping only for a gas and then a snack at a 7-11 in Ishikari around
11:45.
The weather remained threatening and overcast with off
and on (mostly on) rain. The Sea of Japan remained)
on my left, in view much of the time. On my right I could often find
rocky cliffs. Japan, being volcanic, is full of mountains and
cliffs. )
Those
next to roads were usually covered with a concrete facing or with
fencing to protect against the falling rock. I came upon a road
construction crew working on one of these cliffs -- the first time I had
seen them in action in this manner. It certainly didn't look like
the safest job in the world. It wasn't raining at the time so
I pulled out my camera and took a couple of shots.
A short while later, I happened across a beach which
probably would have looked wonderful and inviting on a bright summer day
but on this day looked somewhat dark and desolate. Dark sand and )
overcast
clouds over dark water did not make for much of an invitation to enter the
water. Nevertheless there were a few brave souls (kids anyway) who
were enjoying a day at the beach. The air temperature at 25C (77F)
was warmer than you might guess and must have been downright balmy
relative to the other seasons in that area. The water looked
cold. I should have walked over to stick my hand on it but I felt
like I was in a bio-hazard suit with all my rain gear on and didn't feel like walking that far.
I stopped at a ramen shop for a late lunch at
4:00PM. Probably I was trying to make up for not eating in Ramen Row
in Sapporo the previous day. I had a "soup spaghetti"
which hit the spot. I made it into Asahikawa a half hour later and
was able to navigate to my friend, Hiroko's, area in town before
calling her for help in making it the rest of the way. She drove out
to meet me and I followed her back to her house.
This was only our second time meeting in person.
We had met the previous winter in a gondola whilst I was on a ski trip to
nearby Furano. She was a friendly person and we had chatted a bit before
skiing our separate ways. But we happened to meet again later at the
lodge where I joined her and her friend for lunch. We exchanged
contact information and, when she found out I was coming to Hokkaido,
kindly extended an invitation to me to stay at her place.
She had a nice little house -- luxurious by Tokyo
standards where most people, especially single mothers, wouldn't dream of
owning their own place. After washing up, we went out for
dinner. She took me to a local yaki-niku place where you grill meat
and vegetables on a grill built into the table. Yummy. I
managed to make a fool of myself by knocking over my entire glass of
(cold) oolong tea, much of it landing on her son. But they were good
sports and helped me over my faux pas.
Later that evening her son showed me how to play the
Pepsiman video game. I gave it a shot but was no match for
the 12-year-old. An enjoyable evening ended in me bedding down for
the night in her spare room, a tatami-mat room where I slept on the floor
on a futon. Certainly the most comfortable night I had had yet. There were no other
people to share the room with as in the youth hostels and much more
padding than in my tent. I was finally able to catch up on my sleep.
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