Tuesday, wednesday and Thursday.

On Tuesday we got up for breakfast at 7am had breakfast and then when back to sleep. After a long sleep in we settled in for a lazy morning of drinking coffee and uploading photos in the communal lounge room. Around midday we went out for a walk in the woods around the hostel. In the afternoon we up to our room to drink more tea and it started to poor down with rain. It pored and pored! I felt very sorry for the hikers that may be on the mountain and the people that we had met that were doing the overland hike ( a hike from Asahikdake to another mountain in the Dizetzuzan national park, it takes between five and eight to do). While it was still raining I went down to the outdoor onsen and got to sit in hot water while the cool rain fell down. It was a very pleasant experience indeed! 

Wednesday 

On wednesday morning we had to pack up and get the bus and then a train to Sapporo. After breakfast we went on another walk around the hostel until our bus arrived. After quite a bit of snoozing on trains and busses we arrived in Sapporo and hound our hostel. The wether was very overcast and rain was threatening even so we went out and spent the afternoon in the city in Odori park. The highlight of the day was going to a restaurant called the Iki Laboratory that as situated in the basement of a building. The food was terrific and the pis of reisitonce  was the mock meat that was made into Japanese dishes. Oh yum!! It was nice to sit down and drink saki and eat yummy food it felt very special. 

Thursday (yesterday, gosh I am nearly up to date!! ) 

We took at train and a bus out Moerenuma park that was designed by the sculptor Isamu Naguchi.  It was a very strange park with large man made hills and large sculptures.  The park was a tip that the Sapporro local government had targeted to turn into a green space once it stopped being a landfill sit. We rented some bikes and road around, walked up strangely shaped hill, went into a big glass building, looked at the wacky play equipment (I climbed on the equipment, David just took photos of them so you can have a look). We also saw the water feature that went on every couple of house. The strange part was when the water feature stated filling  up with water that was sloshing about, creating an interference patten. It was a very interesting park. In the afternoon we went back to Odori park and joined all lots of other people that were enjoying the sunshine and the grass. We then went a drank beer under the Sapporo radio tower. For dinner we went to a small restaurant/bar near our hostel where we were told that we could get vegetarian food. It was reminiscent of an Izakaya restaurant were you sit at the bar and get served food that is cooked in front of you. David and ai had a real feast! And David got to tast shoco for the first time, fermented potato alcohol. 

Anyway we are now in Tokyo and about to go get some food. 

All the very best,

Acushla. 

Climb every mountain..... Or maybe just Asahidake

It has been quite a big week! we have been in Asakidake and Sapporo and I write this as we fly from Sappror to Tokyo. There is so much that we have done and I would like to write in detail about it but I an feeling wuite tired so we will see how far I get. 

I would like to start by telling you about the hike we did to the top of Asahhidake. On monday David and I packed our bags, strapped on our hiking boots and hiked to the top of Asahikidake - the tallest mountain in Hokkaido. It took us three hours to hike up and an hour and a half to two hours to hike down, and we spend half an hour at the top. 

We started the day by taking the ropeway up to a higher point from whick we could stat the walk. At this rope way station there was a seanic  walk that could be done that passed some of the small lakes or ponds and had lovely views of windflowers. We could also see the fumaroles and the discolouration of the snow from the sulphur. After ringing the bell  for good luck it was time to climb the mountain.  It was fairly steep climb which was made more difficult by me have hiking boots that I had not worn for a while which gave me some grief and getting a saw leg about half way up through the climb which meant that I couldn't raise my leg  very high making climbing difficult and slightly painful. There is a chance that we should have turned around but I really wanted to get to the top and while I am not  overly fit I am very determined. So with rest breaks and gritted teeth I made it up the mountain. The view all the way up and from the top were just amazing. We cold look up the path and see other hikers, sometimes a clouds would obscure the hikers and the top of the mountain. Wile we were high up for the first three quarters of the hike it was still very warm and sunny. Unfortunately for me I missed a spot when applying sunscreen and burnt my right shoulder in the most magnificent way. 

Making it to the top was such a great feeling and I am so glad that we didn't turn around. We had a big lunch of miso (with that fresh tofu that we got in Asahikawa), snow peas and avocado and crackers.  I got ot do a sketch of the view and just look out the view. 

The way down we quite tricky as the rocks on the trail would slip from beneath you and as we were walking on a ridge there were big drops on either side of us. Oh I forgot to mention that on the way up we sore people almost jogging down the mountain! It look very scary. We also sore lots of people with hiking polls which would have been extremely useful on the way down. I only managed to fall over twice on the way down which I thought for me was quite impressive. 

It was strange on the way down because you would look in front  to you and be amazed at how far we had walked and you would look up to the peaks and be surprised that we had really climbed that was an hour or two ago.  Back on the platue we had to walk through snow and a small stream to get to the cable car,  and back to the hostel. By the time we had walked to the hostel My leg was so saw and stiff that I couldn't climb up hostel entrance stairs and had to walk up the ramp instead! But we got to the pouch and purchased beer from the vending machine and just stat there from an hour before dinner drinking and resting. After dinner it was time for a long hot soak in the Onsen and an early night. 

An apology of sorts.

I have lots and lots of things that I would like to write about, but  have been so buys and I am just too tired to make coherent sentences.

I would like to tell you about hiking/climbing up Asahikidake and our amazing youth hostel in the mountain. I would like to tell you about bear bells and over-land hikers and our lucky escape from a Big rain storm. But as I said I am too tired to do it tonight and so I apologise and will try and do better tomorrow.


Acushla.  

Good bye Asahikawa

On Sunday morning there was a  flea market on the shopping street outside the hostel. We had a look on and found some really neat things. I would of liked to spend longer looking but we were on a mission to find a thermos and stock up on food as we were off to Asahidake at midday and we needed to get food for lunches as there would not be access much food and no certainty of the availability of vegetarian food. Hence the thermos so that we could make miso and take it with us each day. We could not find a thermos at the department store and we were running out for time before we had to get the bus - we decided to have another look at the market because I thought I had seen a small thermos when we were looking before. Fortunately I spotted a big thermos that still had the instruction book and the box it was bought in. This was an extreamly good find as it cost ¥400 compared to the Tully's thermos that was ¥3,500 that we has saw earlier that day. 

With packs on back and a quick stop and a market stall to get omomomiyaki and a Japanese donut-like pastry it was time to get the bus up the mountain. Eating the omonomiarki while on a bus and trying to pick put the slice of bacon was quite a challenge as it is a messy food at the best of times. I have to say we did extreamly well and managed to not get any food on ourselves, our cloths or the bus. We arrived at the youth hostel and were shown out tatami mat room. The room is a traditional Japanese style room so we get to take the beds put of the cupboard each night and them fold them away in the morning. This youth hostel is the very very  nice. There is an Onsen downstairs and the food for dinner and breakfast is lovely. I feel very pampered and I feel like the chef has done a great job in accommodating David and I not eating meat. 

We went for a walk up to the visitors centre to see what walks we could do while we are up here. The woman at the centre gave us some advice about which paths has too much snow on them and which bridges were unsafe to cross, ( as a side not she had a very hypnotic voice that was a pleasure to listen too). We went on two of the short walks that were suggested before heading back to the hostel for dinner. In the first five minuets of walking we saw a dear run into the forest, which was such a surprise to see. There we signs on the second train that asked people to not pick the flowers on leave any rubbish ( these are the sign with the little mouse like creature on them - the Pika). 

After dinner it was time to try the Onsen, which I had been looking forward to for quite a while. The water in this onsen is very very hot and it is hard to stay in the water for long. So saying it was still lovely. 

Ok i think that is enough from me for now. We are traveling from Asahidake to Suporro tomorrow so I should have time to fill you in on the last two days then. 

Lavender and more bike riding.

Saturday 29th

On Saturday morning Yukari walked us over to a tofu store. It was housed in a big building that used to hold a large number of tofu shops now there are only a few left open and we could only see one in the building that was open that day. It seamed as if the shop was run  by  a elderly  couple. They make the tofu on sight and sell it from out of big sinks of water that have been casted into the floor ( I didn't bring my camera so I dont have a phot but Yukari had a camera so i will see if I can get her pictures). We bought a large chunk of tofu wrapped up in  bamboo paper as well as some fried tofu and some potato starch noodles. The noodles were truly strange, they were in water and as they had nearly the same refractive index as the water it was very hard to see them, it was not until we put the sauce into the water that we could see them. It was strange though as the noodles were the absence of the brown water. 

After putting the tofu in the fridge covered with water we took the Norokko to Farm Tomita ( we had to get off at a temporary station called "lavender field station" that is set up just during the summer while the flowers are out). We walked around the farm and felt very much like tourist, but we were in good company as there were so many other tourist the vast majority of which were tourist from Honshu. We got to sit quietly by ourselves up at the top of a hill and look over all the different farms. There were lots of shops in the farm and it was amazing to see all the different lavender paraphernalia. From your usual suspects of soaps, postcards, oils and lotions to lavender flavoured cheesecake and  lemonade ( the latter two we tried).  Back on the Norokko we too the train further down the line to Furanno. After a  alfresco lunch in the park next to the train station we hired bikes and too a ride out of town via the river and through the farm land. We got off our bikes at one point to walk along a stony path. To one side were wheat fields and to the other were very tall planes ( just over the top of my head or a little higher). On these tall plants were vast numbers of grass hoppers and it brought me great delight to run ahead and scare the grass hoppers so that I could see so many of then moving at once. Compared to the day before this bike ride was a dream as it was so very flat. The five o-clock tran took us back from Furanno to Asahikawa. The plan was to go back to the hostel and then later go out to eat big bowls  of veggie soup from Chaos=Heaven ( see earlier post), but very sadly this was not to be. We got back to the hostel and after making friends with a Australian, Tim, satdown to have drink with Tim, Isao and some of the other travellers. We invited Tim to come and eat with us at Chaos=Heaven but where we got there it was too full, the waiter said to come back in half an hour. We went off to the den an Australian bar at the top of a very dark and unmaintained staircase and had a beer. After 45 minutes we went back to Chaos =Heaven but it had closed!!  With no desire to try and find vegetarian food late at night ( it was about 9pm at this time) David and I fell back to making food from supplies bout from Lawson's. back at the hostel I cooked us dinner with input of two Japanese university students that were trying to help me find something to season the stir fry with, they found it funny that David had used BBQ sauce to season our food the night before and wanted to help me make a better decision. 

All the guests of the hostel we in the communal area and it was lovely to spend time talking. Yukari and Isao went out and prepared a. Pice of cake as it was one of the guests birthdays the next day. We all sung happy birthday and there was lots of clapping. Such a nice gesture felt very typical of Yukari and Isao's hospitality, going out of there way to make peoples stay pleasant. We stayed up until 12 or so when most people had gone to bed.

Sunshine and small hills.

A little bit more about Friday. 

The country side around Biei is just beautiful, i had the most pleasant day. After riding back to the town centre and returning the bikes we went off to try and find a restaurant in which to find a nice cold beer.  We walked up and down the main street and it wasn't looking like we were going to find any where as most of the cafes were closed. After a while we found a small yellow painted building that looked somewhat like a cottage house, that was selling beer. Two chilled glasses of Sapporo Star were a perfect end to our time in Biei. 

The train from Biei to Asakikawa was a the Norokko, a scenic  train that was a little slower then the local train, had windows that you could open and seats that faced the window so that sightseers don't strain there backs turning to look out the window ( ok that is not the reason but the seats did face the windows). Traveling by train is so mu ch fun, it is nic e to b able to look out of the window and look at the towns we pass, and the tiny little JR ( Japanese Rail) huts that they have at each station. Some of theses buildings  are just little boxes with seats in them with a big green sign that says JR on them, but they are all slightly different looking and I enjoyed spotting them as we went through each station. 

Back in Asahikawa we went to the supermarket to but groceries for dinner. So far we have decided to cook our own food when posable to save the hassle of finding vegetarian food and ensuring that we are eating protein. Back at the hostel we cooked up a stir fry which was very tasty if I do say so myself, we have been very fortunate that all our self cooking has worked out well so far.  Although I found out last night that one of the sauces we out on the stir fry is meant for putting on BBQ meat and when I tried to use the same sauce on Saturday night, the two Japanese university students that were in the hostel keep giving telling me that it was not for stir fry and were politely persistent that I not use it in my stir fry. Over dinner Isao offered us saki and we sat around drinking saki, eating the rock mellon I had bought and  talking with him a the other guests until 11pm. It is so nice to try out my limited Japanese with our hosts and the Japanies guests, it is so great to have David here as I he has a better knowledge of Japanese then I do and so I can ask when I don't know or forget a word, or am worried about the pronunciation. 

Friday 28th.

Friday the 28th. 

Friday felt like our first true day as sightseers. After a sleep in that I have been looking forward for the last week or so and the purchase of a sunhat we went off to Biei, a small town surrounded by farming land. 

We rented bikes and road around the country side for the rest of the day. 

It was an extremely pleasant day, riding, eating  mystery baked goods ( I did well with a cheese role and a pumpkin role but David did not fair so well). I got to sit beneath birch trees and paint ( which always makes me happy) and having a travel companion is lots of fun - I can understand why The Doctor always finds a companion to travel with. Anyway I have tot go to eat dinner.

Lots of love,

Acushla.