Weather:
dry but cloudy over the lake. Temperature was great; at one point I
actually felt cold.
MP3
track of the day: sitting on the dock of the bay - Otis Redding
Now
before I go on, I suppose I should explain what 'snap shot' means
within the title of this blog. It basically means that this blog will
be a shortened version of my usual blogs, due to a variety of
reasons. It is, in effect, a 'snap shot' of my trip.
________________________________________________________________
Due
to today's lake – Shikotsu-ko – being a lot closer to Tomakomai
than yesterdays, I felt that an alarm wasn't needed and I should
awake whenever my body felt like it. This still resulted in a, pretty
reasonable 9am start. Once breakfast had been consumed I got in my
car and proceeded in a northern direction back into the mountains
and, annoyingly, back into the clouds.
Once
at the lake I had a question all drivers have when they reach a lake;
do I go clockwise around it, or anti-clockwise. Sure it's not the
most important question however, by choosing to go clockwise I had,
somehow, made the wrong choice. You see, though my road map showed a
clear 'driving route' around said lake, the car's satellite
navigation had a great big cross through one part of the road I
required. Being me, I ignored this and, as mentioned earlier, I
proceeded in a clockwise route seeing nothing but trees all along the
road-side.
The
'big cross' was at the lake's most northern edge and I, unluckily,
had approached the lake from the south. This meant that I had to
drive a good fifteen minutes, seeing spots of blue through a mass of
trees, before I came across the reason why the satellite navigation
had indeed put a cross through this road … it hadn't been finished.
Once
I'd driven fifteen minutes back to the southern part of the lake, I
proceeded in my now anti-clockwise route. I flew past the road I
entered on and, after three minutes a tourist information centre –
with a huge amount of shops – appeared on the lakeside where the
trees had finally retreated away from the lake. Due to the £2.50
parking fee I decided not to stop, with the aim of finding a few good
places to take photos for free. Sure enough, on the eastern side of
the lake the trees had gone altogether. Also, free stopping places
had been created allowing me to take photos of the lake. Due to the
blanket of cloud in the sky, the lake wasn't that spectacular
however, the temperature was fantastic; once I'd reached the northern
part of the lake again I was actually so cold that I put my jacket
on.
With
the lake circled (well, as much as I could do)
I finished photographing it and headed back into my car. The time was
only 11am and so I opened my guidebook to see what else around here
could keep me entertained. Apparently most people hike up
Tarumae-zan, my guidebook said; it also mentioned a beautiful moss
covered gorge and a nature walk which started at the tourist
information centre. Though my guidebook mentioned these additional
activities, it didn't really specify where they actually were in any
great detail. My road map was useless as that was all in Japanese
therefore, I turned my engine on and proceeded back to the tourist
office where I would have to pay the parking fee.
It's
unusual for a tourist office to have a parking fee therefore, I felt
quite reluctant to pay it. I was pretty sure it was mostly due to the
fact that this area not only had the tourist office, but it also had
shops, restaurants and attractions which made this place an area most
Japanese people would probably spend the day, and a fortune in doing
so. I was adamant that I wouldn't spend a yen at the stores. I was
probably only going to be here twenty minutes or so; all I needed was
some decent information.
I
couldn't believe it. I was stood within Shikotsu-ko's beautiful new
tourist information office, looking at a huge map of the area with
information in Japanese, Chinese and English. Every attraction my
guidebook had listed; EVERYONE a part from the nature walk had a huge
cross through it. A number of reasons were given however, the main
reason seemed to be that a huge amount of rain had hit this area last
September washing most of the hiking routes away (though
why, in the eleven months since the incident, had they not been
repaired beats me). With not
other choice I inquired into the nature walk.
I
walked out of the office and followed the map given to me. At first I
headed towards the lake where I took more photos of said lake, plus a
bridge and the whole area. I had to admit; the parking fee seems to
have been put back into the place with excellent facilities including
many benches, paths and disabled access. As I walked further around
the lake my hatred towards the parking free reduced until it was gone
altogether when a group of Japanese school children came running
towards me. They were from the city I was currently staying in –
Tomakomai – and they had designed an A4 poster (which I
could keep) about their town and
the surrounding area. Once they had finished explaining about their
poster, they asked for a photo and I asked them if they studied
English at school. A resounding 'no' was given, which promoted me to
speak in Japanese telling them that I was an English teacher, and
that I knew that all Japanese school children their age had to study
English. This made them laugh and we parted company on a good note.
The
nature trail wasn't beside the lake at all. In fact, I had to climb
up a set of steps to the top of an over-looking cliff. This cliff was
covered in vegetation making the ascent hot and humid. Once at the
top, I started the walk realising that the path hadn't been cared for
in a long time. I also realised that I wasn't really interested in
the nature trail and that, the only reason I was contemplating it was
due to the fact that every other activity had been washed away. After
only fifteen minutes I turned around and headed back down the set of
steps and back towards my car.
Once
back in my car, I turned the engine on and set the air-conditioning
to 'Arctic'. Once again I opened up my guidebook to try to find
things local. I then realised that yesterday, I had failed to get to
Jigokudani due to time. I therefore put my guidebook away, selected a
route and off I went.
Jigokudani
is a bubbling wasteland of volcanic activity. There is a 'one-hour'
walking path, which allows tourists to view the steaming luna-like
valley which was created by an ancient volcanic eruption. What I had
failed to read was that this was Hokkaido's top hot spring area
therefore, when I arrived, huge onsen hotels had been built choking
the area to death. I think it was a combination of the sheer amount
of tourists (walking, cycling and driving),
the unsightly onsen hotels and yet another 'pay parking' which made
me turn around almost as soon as I got there. Yes, Jigokudani sounded
interesting however, not if I had to share it with a billion tourists
and, in any case, I'd seen volcanic areas before (in New
Zealand for one). Even though it
had taken me an hour and a half to get here I decided that the view
of the smouldering crater, from my car, was enough for me so I turned
around and headed home.
Once
back in Tomakomai I zoomed past my hotel and proceeded to a shopping
centre I'd found the previous day. Without a car my restaurant
choices had been limited but now, I found endless places to eat.
Within this shopping centre there was a 'restaurant street' and so I
choose to eat within my favourite Japanese restaurant (Ootoya).
With dinner over I returned to
my hotel to spend the evening relaxing and pondering what might have
been.
So
today hadn't been perfect. The lake was okay but, I'm guessing it's
true value lies within those places which were closed. Still never
mind, tomorrow I would be driving from the south of Hokkaido to the
north, getting myself ready for Monday where I would be visiting
Shiretoko Nation park; reckoned to be the best national park in
Hokkaido.
Toodle
Pip!
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