Hokkaido Road Trip Day 2

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We were awoke early on Day 2 since the sun rises around 4:30!!! Naomi and Ruu had a breakfast of Peanut Butter chocolate and banana sandwich I left the disgusting bananas to them. We were feeling grungy after a day in the car and a night in the tent so we decided to onsen first thing! Ruu knew of a famous onsen nearby so we decided to check it out. The road there was quite windy and not paved which shocked me to hell. Almost all roads in this country are paved. In my town the most random roads into the mountains that lead to nowhere are paved and this was a famous onsen! The Nyuto onsen area is famous for it's milky smooth water and we were not disappointed. We went to the Tsurunoyu Onsen which had rooms you could stay in that were 350 year old samurai guard quarters. It was quite rustic but I had the sense that it represented onsens of old. There was even a line-up to partake in the bath!

Entrance

The guard house rooms are the thatched roofed buildings on the left.

some of the hot spring water

Ruu and I hanging out waiting for the baths to open! The bush behind us partially shelters the mixed bath from view. While waiting in line for the baths we saw many a naked old man walk by covering his groin with a small towel. Of course we saw much more when we decided to brave the mixed bath. The women had an entrance of their own and the water was so milky that not much was visible but we got quite a few stares nonetheless. Many people may have not seen a foreigner before let alone a naked foreigner!

The line of people after we left!

The water was great and the experience was memorable. We were lucky to have Ruu with us or we never would have known!

We then took off to Oga peninsula to check out the cliffs!

Apparently the mascot of Oga!

Most Northern point of the peninsula

We were going to hangout and wait to watch the sunset over the water but a thick bank of clouds rolled in and we decided to get a head start to Aomori where we taking the ferry at 2:00 am. We arrived at the ferry port around 11:00 and were lucky enough to get room on the next ferry at 11:30. The ride was three and half hours long and Naomi and Ruu got some precious shut eye. I unfortunately was kept awake by the snoring old man a few metres away. I even tried kicking his feet to make him stop but he was oblivious and I didn't sleep.