Hokkaido! Day 2

Day 2: Hakodate --> Onuma Park --> Otaru --> Sapporo

I was able to get a good, sound night’s sleep and make it out of the hotel and to the train station in good time. I now had the laboring task of taking all local trains from Hakodate to Otaru (I believe 3-4 transfers, a total of 6-7 hours commuting). Well, I made it to Onuma, where I was supposed to transfer to another train, but NOOOOO, I’m the dumbass that stays on the train. So I found myself at Onuma Quasi-National Park, a mountain overlooking a lake with over 100 islands. It was nice to see from the train, but unless you want to go hiking or take a bike-trail, it’s not worth the visit. Furthermore, trains do not frequent here often. So once you get here, you are stuck for a while. Ugh, damn my luck!! What made this even more frustrating is when I asked if they had a time-book here so I could re-route my schedule, they didn’t have one either! WTF NIHONZ, GET YURSELF TOGETHER! So I had to take the next train ALL the way back to Hakodate, and then start all over. Unfortunately I didn’t have a time chart with me, and I was running behind schedule, so I checked how much a Limited Express train was to Sapporo… and just gave in LOL. F’in a man I almost fee like my Hokkaido pass was worthless when I did that. But I learned, and had to pay for my mistake, both literally and figuratively. I had a very comfortable ride though, was either in-and-out of sleep or reading my book. Yes, it’s a friggen miracle, I’m back to reading. And GOD I loooove The Incarnations of Immortality series, wewt to being a fantasy nerd!! X3.

I made it to Sapporo in great time, and then had to figure out how to get to Otaru. There was a train leaving relatively soon , so I threw my luggage in a coin locker, walked to the infamous Clock Tower, and made my way back to the station before it left. I like it when I can kill two birds with one stone, woohoo! I felt stupid on the train, because after I was sitting for about 5 minutes, I realized that I was in a “priority seat”, technically for people who are old (the image had a person with a cane PLUS his spine is bent oddly. Damn Japan, you are mean), injured, pregnant, or with a small child. I really don’t fit in that category, and my gaijin powers weren’t helping me at all! Even better, I didn’t realize there was a transfer at one station, so once I was at the last stop, a man was leaving but he kept staring back at me. At first I was “yes yes, I’m a foreigner, huzzah, no big whoop really”, but then I realized he wanted to tell me I needed to get off LOL. Gaijin smash can lead to loss of speech for native Japanese speakers. Oddly enough, while I was waiting here, a random guy asked me in English a question about the beach. I couldn’t answer his question, but he brought to my attention the summer Beer Festival (which I had no idea about LOL LOL LOL), and invited me out once I got back to Sapporo. Huzzah, no being alone! Foreigners, unite!

I still made my way to Otaru though. I was determined to see the canal and make it to the music shop. So I left the station, picked up a rental bike, and flew downhill towards the canal.. Yeup… it’s a canal… sadly, it wasn’t that impressive. Plus I was kind of disappointed that I got a bike when there were a ton of guys pulling rickshaws >0< Oh well, make due with what you have. I found the Otaru beer factory, and sat down for a small glass, which was pretty tasty. Once I went to pay THEN the lady (who saw me with my bike), “uhm, since you did drink, you cannot ride you bike”. O_o. hubbidah! Excuse me Ms. Lady, but I have places to go, things to see. So as she watched me walk out, I just walked… and once I was out of sight, I was all over my bike XD. I wasn’t drunk , c’mon. Anyways, I was finally able to find the steam clock after searching for a while. I thought it was going to be a big tower, but its easily shorter than a house. Still pretty neat though! It plays a chime through the steam…tubes on top, and then the actually time for every hour. Inside was pretty fantastic, a ton of music boxes! Most were in the classic European style, with vines of flowers, or victiorian woman, ect ect. There were a few that were more “Nihon-poi’ though. I had already purchased one during my first visit to Japan so I’d thought I would go for the other type. I found a really nice jewelry box that plays the melody ‘Rabu Rabu Rabu” lol, or in English, “ Love, Love, Love”. But man, I heard some melodies that were totally nostalgic; “Canon”, from I&C’s wedding, “Anpanman March”, “Tottoro”, “and a -ton- of Disney. I was still able to find a nice one, along with some omiyage for others. Once I finished shopping , I realized that I had 10 minutes to get back to the bike rental before I was late. Let’s just say that I was definitely huffin it. Thank goodness I made it in time. The only thing I regret is not being able to eat some Tomato ice cream.

So I headed back to Sapporo, dropped off al my crap, and went on the hunt to find Tyson. I first got some more pictures in (cock-tower again, and Sapporo Tower), and then as I was central park, I realized the mayha that was in front of me. OMFG it was soooo crowded!! Each block of the park was represented by a different beer. Sapporo, Asahi Kikrin, Suntory…. They were all over the place. And the people were abundant too!! Soo many drunk people in one place, it’s scary. After feeling hopeless for a while, I finally met up with Tyson and the gaijin crew; 2 French men, bikiing all over Hokkaido, a scool teacher named Ben and the most popular tall-white guy Tyson. They all let me partake in some of their beer… well, it looked like a huge-ass bong but it wasn’t. Just look at the picture, LOL. I got there pretty late, so once I had my first beer, they were already making last calls. Oh well. I think I convinced everyone to try and get to Ramen Alley. It took a bit of effort but we made it there!! Omg butter corn miso ramen… I may of found a new love. SERIOUSLY, freakin fantastic!! I wanted more when I was done. Once we left the alley though, I realized how much my pooch puffed out hahaha. The rest of the group planned on going to a club, but knowing I had to leave the next morning at 6:02am, I had to pass. I was glad I had some idea of where I was at, lol. Everything in Hokkaido is in neighborhoods, according to number and direction. For example, my hotel was in South 2 West 3 I believe. Anyways, so it was back to the business hotel for me, LOL.