I had bread, jam and coffee milk and made my own breakfast cheaper and so didn't have to eat weird Japanese breakfast. I got hungry early because there are so many hours between dinner and breakfast. I left before the hostel served breakfast at 0730.
First to Akan-ko to see the marimo, a strange spherical algae that lives in the lake. There was an Eco Centre there and they showed a beautiful film of Akan in four seasons. This town is quite touristy, there are several hotels and you can take cruises on the lake.
More Foot Soup.
Er, Hand Soup?
Next to the Tancho (Red Crowned Crane) Centre. The place looked too touristy so I let myself be distracted by a fete happening across the road. The local people were having fun running competitions, etc.
Looked like they were also judging local produce.
Seeing a vendor of boiled corn I bought one. It was big, juicy and sweet, what corn should taste like. I was reminded of the recipe for the freshest corn: first set a pot of salted water boiling, then run to the field and pluck the corn for it.
Then to the Kushiro Marsh Observatory. These marshes were once sea after the last ice age. Now they are RAMSAR protected wetlands where the Tancho breeds. It is very rare; it was thought extinct in 1924, then discovered here. Now they are carefully protected as they are national symbols. The centre had a fascinating film about the yearly cycle of the Tancho. Their courtship dance is something else to behold. I suppose it was too much to ask for them to be visible through binoculars in the middle of the day.
After eating a bento lunch, I spied a forest walk. It is a circular track close to the observatory and there are good explanation signs in English by the Ministry of the Environment, unlike inside the centre.
I reached Kushiro about 1400 and ran into snags. First I had to get a bus ticket for the night. I was under the impression I had to buy it in a shopping centre called Moo (sic). Finding temporary parking for the car was an ordeal but I eventually found a station. A helpful postal worker I asked explained that some bus services did pass here on the way out, but the bus terminal next to the railway station was where tickets were sold. So I had wasted all that time searching for parking.
Ok, might as well return the car first. Easier said than done. When I asked at the JR office in the station, the employee looked at the documents and sent me to an office a couple of blocks away. At that Nissan rental office, they said no, you have a JR rental car. Frustration. Back to the station and taking a chance on a different entrance, I found the correct office. Seems the first girl just looked at the make of the car.
Ok, now to buy the bus ticket. Bugger, the clerk said they were sold out. Ah, now I remember the Canadian woman saying something about this Monday being a public holiday. Many people must be returning to work tomorrow. I was hoping to save a night's accommodation by travelling by night bus. I should have booked this leg, but I suspect tickets were sold out ages ago anyway.
So I would definitely have to pay for a train ticket. So with the help of the tourist information I found a 7-11 to get a bit more money, something I was hoping to avoid. As luck would have it, both shops were equally distant, a dozen blocks away.
I had two choices. I could take the 1617 train, arrive in Sapporo in the evening and get into one of the backpacker places or a hotel. Or, spying a hotel of the same chain that I had stayed at in Abashiri, I could get a good night's rest here, with Internet and breakfast included, and take the express to Sapporo and thence Otaru early in the morning. I took the latter, might as well get to see Kushiro in the evening. It isn't rated highly in the guide because people pass through to somewhere, but it is a medium sized city and looked moderately attractive.
(To be continued.)
When I looked out my hotel room window in the morning, I realised how lucky I had been with the weather the last couple of weeks. Now it was gloomy and raining, so it was just as well I was travelling by rented car now.
Breakfast was buffet style in the hotel dining room. It was a mixture of Japanese and Western food. I went for the Western option. I'm used to oats or at least bread for breakfast, not rice. Also I made the most of the fruit salad since fresh fruit is expensive in Japan.
My steed is huffy pink and the smallest model I could get; it's got doughnuts instead of tyres. It's basically a small car with a big motorcycle engine. I had forgotten to ask for an English GPS, which may not have been available in any case, but the lady from rentals showed me how to enter the code of a desired destination. It's pretty obvious from the graphics which direction I have to go, even if I don't understand the Japanese voice.
Abashiri town is compact because many shops are found along the highway, like shopping strips in the US. Only the strong winds and white breakers from the Sea of Okhotsk on the beaches to the north remind you that this is the north coast of Hokkaido. Intrepid surf fishermen were braving the winds. To the south of the highway is farming land with fertile brown volcanic soil.
The road picked up bends and altitude, a sign that I was entering Shiretoko National Park, the wild northeast tip of Hokkaido. Most of Shiretoko is legally out of bounds, and the brown bears also help keep it this way. If you look at a topographic map of this part of Hokkaido, you see that a range of mountains forms the spine of Shiretoko and intrudes into the bulk of Hokkaido. Unfortunately I didn't have time to do a round the cape cruise to see the sheer cliffs.
Deer can be seen all over in Shiretoko, e.g. grazing at road verges. Curious motorists stop and take photos of the first few, and after a while they realise that they are everywhere. There were even a few outside the hostel that evening. Mind you, I saw some Japanese at the roadside taking photos with cows in the background. A novelty for city dwellers I suppose.
I went to the Five Lakes. There were tour buses galore. I attached myself to a tour group, so that any bear would eat a tastier Japanese person. In any case no self-respecting bear will be seen around here, the trail is well maintained and much treaded. The lakes were so-so. They would be more spectacular on a crisp cold day, say in winter.
I drove up Shiretoko Pass, which is the divide between the western and eastern halves. This pass is often closed in winter. It was still raining hard and tourists dashed out of their cars to take whatever misty shots they could get and then get away.
The hostel's facilities have seen better days. However the evening's highlight was a special charcoal grill dinner with fish, scallops, king crab, chicken, lamb and noodles, for which a special price was levied. Half a dozen of us were seated around a charcoal pit. The big fat scallops and king crab were particularly good. But I think a Chinese chef would be able to do more with it than grilling. I am now satisified that I've had enough Hokkaido crab.
