Hokkaido (05.-09.07.)

After two weeks of quiet in Hong Kong, or rather, I have done quite a bit and made, none of it would have been interesting enough for this blog, finally we went out of the humid heat. The three of us flew with our favorite airline, Peach (who needs legroom), to Sapporo. The flight took two hours and we were taken to the car rental by a free shuttle bus from the airport, where I had reserved a car in advance. To everyone's relief, the vehicle was not one of those very Japanese cube cars, but a 'reasonable' car. Automatic, cruise control, turn signal, steering wheel, everything was there, just reversed, which initially caused some confusion. But after some time, we got used to it and even though we constantly confused the turn signals, it was really fun to drive a car again. Granted, the permission for this was not cheap at 3000 yen, but without the car, we probably could hardly have done anything in Hokkaido and the luxury that comes with having a car should not be underestimated. It really felt like you had more time, simply because you didn't have to constantly check the time and rush to the next train station, and we could stop anywhere we liked. Our first stop was the northeast coast, where the wind blew in our ears, but we enjoyed the cold and the whipping air that brought tears to our eyes. The landscape is simply breathtaking. Green and rocky hills, some of which extended like a winding, overgrown snake several hundred meters into the sea. We walked to the steep coast of this peninsula and enjoyed the gray clouds, the rugged rocks, and the solitude. No one else had ventured this far forward, probably because of the large closed gate over which we climbed to be able to walk all the way to the front... We spent the night in Yoichi, which is strategically located for our onward journey, and treated ourselves to a hot sake (much better than the cold one!) at the inn, prepared our futons, and went to bed soon, as we planned to climb Mount Yotei the following day and wanted to get up at 6 o'clock (which we actually accomplished btw).

So at 7 o'clock, we headed south to the foot of the volcano, which is an impressive 1898 meters high. And we wanted to hike up there in jeans and street shoes, well, that's going to be tough! The path consisted of 10 stations, each one steeper and more exhausting than the next. It had rained, so it was slippery and large rocks, roots, fallen trees in the way, and an incredible steepness made us sweat and made me curse quite a bit. Between the fifth and ninth stations, I wondered why I was actually doing this, but when I arrived at the ninth station, I got my answer. The darkness of the gray clouds had disappeared, the sun radiated a pleasant warmth and brightness, the sky was deep blue and we could look over the infinitely wide sea of clouds that now lay beneath us. Suddenly I felt better and had new energy, with which I not only made it to the summit but also climbed around the volcano crater. We received surprised looks from all the well-equipped Japanese people, we, the only westerners and the only ones without hiking shoes, backpacks, pants, or any other hiking equipment. Well, what can I say, we still made it. Granted, after that, we were pretty exhausted, because the circuit did not consist of a normal path but of rough rocks protruding upwards, over which we climbed to the highest point and back to our starting point, where we first ate our packed lunches and then lay in the sun for a while, but didn't stay there long because it was very strong up there and we had one redhead with us and didn't fancy getting sunburned. So we soon started the descent, which was physically less strenuous than the ascent, but demanded a lot mentally because it was very slippery and rough. Gradually, we reached the stations in reverse order until we finally arrived at the car completely dirty, tired, and still totally happy, where we had to change before we continued to our next accommodation in Niseko.

When we arrived there, we treated ourselves to a shower, a big bowl of sesame-soy ramen, and an evening in an onsen. The hot bath worked wonders on our tired legs and the dreaded muscle soreness turned into a kitten (considering what we did, we did suffer the next day though). The onsen we went to had an outdoor bath with illuminated steam rising into the night sky, framed by large rocks and dense deciduous trees. After that, we felt a thousand times better and could actually imagine doing something the next day. And that's what we did, we drove to a waterfall, where we could fill our water bottles, looked around the associated park, and at a very young volcano that formed only at the end of World War II. In the same region around Niseko, we took the cable car up another mountain to explore the volcanic area from there, which was opened up by a trail with over 700 steep steps. So no rest for the legs. But here too, the climb was worth it, the trail led us on a high plateau past the active steaming volcanoes and a valley that connected to the coast. The view was breathtaking and here too we were alone, as the rest of the visitors stopped at the viewing platform, but we continued all the way to the end of the trail. That's what I love about our trips, that we always get the most out of them and were rewarded with such fantastic views, even though we all froze like crazy. This prompted us, of course, to visit an onsen. After that, we continued to Lake Toya the next morning, where we looked around and explored the associated, very sleepy little town. It is very interesting to get to know rural life in Japan because you really don't have a big city nearby and much of it looks a bit rundown and old-fashioned. In the evening, we ate at a small restaurant run by an old lady and her daughter, who prepared dishes without speaking to each other, which was quite impressive, as was the food, which was really delicious. Then we went out to the lake to watch a fireworks display, which takes place every day in summer (poor environment). Due to its regularity, we expected a small, cheap fireworks display, but the Japanese love fireworks and we were treated to beautiful rockets and a light show with water and the sky. A small boat raced across the lake and threw rockets into the water, which ignited directly at the water's surface and created golden patterns. I have never seen such a fireworks display before, and rockets that ignited two or three times after the explosion and changed shape and color again for a special surprise moment were not uncommon either. We spent the penultimate night in a relatively large inn, where apparently we were the only guests, but as I said, we found this solitude very refreshing.

The next morning, we continued to an onsen village, where there was a small national park full of gray-orangish volcanoes, geysers, hot springs, lakes, and streams, which we explored before taking a bath in a huge onsen. By then, it was already time to drive back to Sapporo, back to a bit of civilization after all the nature. We walked around the city, treated ourselves to an all-you-can-eat buffet, and then returned to the hostel. There, we stayed in an 8-bed room with three other travelers, and I was very happy with the comfortable bed, as the last futon was very thin and therefore quite hard. However, as soon as I closed my eyes, the disaster began. A snorer sawed away with what felt like 200 decibels in a room of only 12 square meters. Seriously, I have never heard anyone snore so loudly! And snoring is one of those things I can't ignore and it eventually really makes me aggressive, which is why I woke up the snorer after an hour and a half of unsuccessful attempts to ignore him and asked him to please sleep on his side. In the end, he slept in the common room, but at least five people had their peace and quiet, so there was nothing standing in the way of a pleasant night and in the morning, we relaxed and drove to the airport at 9 o'clock, returned the car, and flew back to Osaka. I was lucky enough to have a window seat and during the last three quarters of an hour, when the plane was flying relatively low, I enjoyed an incredible view of Japan's coastal region, the wooded hills, the port of Kobe, and Osaka, which made the end of our Hokkaido trip perfect.

Long story short: Hokkaido is simply fantastic!