Daisetsuzan 1

Since I would be taking the 0830 train to Sapporo changing for Asahikawa then a bus to Daisetsuzan, I would have to get up early. The time was imposed on me by the last of 3 bus services up the mountain. However this was no hardship because the sun rises early, around 0500, and I had to get breakfast outside the hostel.


I hardly saw the keeper or his wife during my stay. They had a hands-off attitude to the hostel and they only staffed the counter when somebody needed something. They did however provide tea and hand-made icecream at 2100 each night in the lounge.


I didn't feel like salmon roe first thing in the morning, even if it's a local delicacy. I ended getting some mystery savoury balls that had bits of squid in it from the 7-11.


The contrast between Sapporo and Hakodate was so marked when I stepped out of the station. There were waves of office workers and shoppers to wade past. Of course Sapporo has about 2 million while Hakodate has about 300,000 population but I'm sure it's more than that. Perhaps, like all big cities in Japan, Sapporo the big city sucks the people from the smaller places.

At Asahikawa I changed to a bus. This city has the distinction of being the coldest place in Japan, because it's near the centre of Hokkaido and one winter it hit a record bottom of -41C! Hard to believe that this scene would be very different in a few months. Fortunately it was a mild sunny day and temperatures all over Hokkaido were near perfect, according to the weather map on TV.


A foursome of Singapore women checked in just after me. They are here for a week or two and have been driving around. They were surprised I could get a month off. It seems that Singapore employers don't like employees taking a month off in one go.

The hostel is a beautiful lodge, the best that I've had in Hokkaido so far. It has both an indoor and an outdoor onsen. I preferred the outdoor one because I like to breathe cool air while soaking. The water in the indoor onsen was too hot anyway.

Shrouded in the evening mist, Daisetsuzan awaited me.