Hokkaido Day 4

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View Road Trip in a larger map

Well just got back from Canada where I had planned to finish my road trip but instead I lounged on the beach and enjoyed myself. Here is the continuation of the road trip. We woke up early to take the ferry over to Rebun island. The ferry ride was uneventful but when we pulled up to the port were dismayed to see clouds and fog everywhere! Masaki, another guest from the riders house, was on the ferry with us and we decided to team up and tour the island by taxi!

As we drove along the coast the fog cleared away and we were gifted with gorgeous weather! The driver said it was typically for the southern port to be shrouded while the north was clear. We first went to Sky peninsula and were afforded beautiful vistas of cliffs and the sea.

Doing our karate kid

Climbing again!

There was a small shop at the bottom of the cliffs where we ate sea lion and sweet battered potatoes. The potatoes were great but the sea lion tasted like fishy meat.

We then headed to the most Northern point of the island Sukoton Peninsula.

After the scenery we had to stop in and get a taste of some fresh uni! Uni is sea urchin eggs and in my personal opinion is disgusting. I'm very much a texture person and the texture is a slimy mass that dissolves on your tongue. Ruu proclaimed it was the best place in Japan to eat uni so we went.

Sea urchin

To have fresh uni they had to kill it by cracking it open and clean all the guts out until they had the egg sack?

I will try anything once but I already had my disgusting experience with uni over so I left the tasting to Ruu and Naomi. They said it was delicious!!!

Japanese people like taking pictures of their food so here is Ruu's lunch.

The ferry back

We then headed to the most Northern point in Japan Soya Peninsula.

The Japanese on the sign below says Japan's Most Northern Point Soya not sure of the next kanji.

The places we've been.

Ruu bought some cute postcards and omiyage for Futoshi and sent them in the mail as well as a kiss.
We found a peace park at the top of the hill.

Showing off my karate kick.

A sign that said the distance to different places around the world. Shockingly Regina was not on it.

Some delicious Hokkaido softo cream.

Drove down to the middle of Hokkaido and stayed in another riders house. The restaurant was a train car and Naomi showed off her guitar skillz

Hokkaido Day 3

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Well we arrived in Hokkaido just before dawn and pulled off the ferry intending to get a bit of sleep in the car before we set out. Being such a horrible sleeper (is there such thing as being bad at sleeping?) I wasn't able to fall asleep and decided to head out while it was dark and Naomi and Ruu were dozing. On our way to the sea port of Otaru we were able to see the sun rise over the Uchiura Bay. When we reached Otaru Ruu found a nice viewing spot using our handy Rider's(motorbike) Guide and through the small maze of roads we eventually made it there.

We then left Otaru to drive along the West seacoast and were gifted with fantastic weather and gorgeous vistas. There was even a waterfall or two along the way!

Found about a sake factory in Rumoi and since Ruu and Futoshi are such sake connoisseurs we had to stop. It had an interesting little museum and free samples. I wasn't able to partake because even a speck of alcohol in the blood is considered over the limit when driving. Ruu claimed it was not as good as Niigata sake.

Naomi tried some non-alcoholic thick sake by-product of which I forget the name.

Good sake is made from only the freshest water. Ruu doesn't miss a chance to fill up.

We had lunch and then continued up the coast to Wakkanai. The further North we went the more open and vast the view became. Ruu was quite in awe but it felt just like home to me!

Some fish drying by the side of the road.

We knew it was going to rain so we decided to stay in a riders house which is like a hostel but cheaper and meant for riders. We searched for the bumble bee (or some name like that) for quite a while and then finally realized it was this dilapidated building below. Needless to say we decided not to stay there and found another riders house of higher quality.

We got recommendations for a nice onsen and went for a bath and supper at an izakaya.

Apparently riders houses are not only a place to stay but a place to meet other riders and so they often have a party every night with all the guests. We arrived back at the house with the party in full swing and the eight member all well inebriated. We were expected to join the party. make our introductions and take pictures. Normally this all would be entertaining and I wouldn't mind joining but at this point I was about ready to drop from little sleep, the men were drunk and some were being crude and we had to get up early to catch the ferry. I made an ungraceful surly exit and passed out. Naomi and Ruu were troopers and indulged their drunken questions.