Weather:
The morning sky was filled with clouds and then, during the
afternoon, the heavens opened which signalled an early finish to the
day.
MP3
track of the day: Thriller – Michael Jackson
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.
__________________________________________________________________
I
was quite sad to be leaving my Comfort Inn hotel room as the past two
days had been exceptional. I always have mixed feelings when I leave
a town, city or area where I have had a superb time. I'm excited to
be going somewhere new but, at the same time, I always wonder if it
can live up to what I have already witnessed. I was pretty sure that
today wouldn't 'live up to' either yesterday or Monday, due to the
fact that there was very little to see between where I was currently
located – Kitami – and where my next hotel is – Asahikawa. I
therefore got ready slowly, had breakfast and checked-out around 9am.
Once in the car I planned my route.
Today
I would be heading west, to Hokkaido's second largest city. As it was
only a two hour drive away, I'd decided to head north first to visit
three lakes. This proved to be the worst decision of my entire trip.
As
I had no idea about what was to come, I happily headed north towards
my first lake. Though, on the map, this lake seemed quite close to
Kitami, in reality the drive was quite long. I went past a
medium-sized airport where there didn't seem to be any flights either
taking off or landing. Eventually I made it to the first lake where
views of said lake were difficult to come by and, stopping places
were non-existent. With the sky filled with dark grey clouds the
photos would have been poor anyway therefore, I moved on.
I
wish I'd not found the second lake (named 'notoro-ko'); I wish
I'd just driven past the lakes 'scenic spot car park' however, I
didn't. I pulled into the car park and, as soon as I'd turned off the
engine, the car was plagued with small insects. If I'd taken a closer
look, I would have noticed that, these insects were actually
mosquitoes however, I was far too busy identifying the lake in my
guidebook. Apparently the lake in front of me was quite famous
because, every autumn, the long grasses which cover the lake turn
red. Every autumn; it was summer therefore the lake looked like most
other lakes except, there were huge patches of brown marshland
covered with brown grass. I ventured out of my car and took a few
photos; I knew that they wouldn't be good however, some part of me
wanted proof that I'd visited this lake.
As
I drove away the results of my decision started to show. Now, I have
no idea what type of mosquito lives in Hokkaido however, all I can
say is that there bite is excruciatingly itchy. As I looked at my
legs, I noticed that I'd been bitten about five times. Most of my
bites were around my ankles and both ankles had become red and
swollen. I drove away from the lake as fast as I could.
Once
I'd put a bit of breathing space between the lake and I, I stopped
the car immediately for three very good reasons. Firstly I went into
the boot of my car and opened my bag; inside was a medical kit with
some mosquito cream. I instantly felt a little better though, I had
to re-apply many doses throughout the day. Secondly, when I had
opened my car door at the lake, I noticed that at least four
mosquitoes had decided to board. I therefore went systematically
through the car and didn't stop until I had at least four dead bodies
within my piece of tissue (one of which, I am sure, had bit me
during the short car journey). Thirdly,
I'd stopped my car because the
view wasn't too bad; rolling hills flowed out in front of me ending
to form a sharp coastline. Bails of hay were in the fields and the
sea was quiet pretty too; sadly though the sky was still grey. Though
the sight was lovely, it could not distract me enough to allow for me
to forget about my bites. I therefore took some photos and got back
in the car before venturing on towards the final like.
I
must have paused within the final lakes car park for quite some time.
I needed to apply more cream to my bites however, the main reason for
the pause was to make sure that this lake wasn't also infested with
mosquitoes. It was not. Once the coast was clear I got out of my car
and proceeded to the edge of the lake where the view, though not
staggering, wasn't ugly either. The lake was currently quiet low and
a lot of the lake bed was showing. I cared not; the gentle breeze was
soothing my legs and so I stayed for quite a while just looking out.
After
about forty minutes the rain came down. I rushed back to my car and,
with yesterday being pretty tiring – plus today's attractions being
less than impressive – I decided to call an early night. I
therefore drove to Asahikawa which took about another hour.
I
hit Asahikawa at around 3pm. Though today had been pretty bad, things
were looking up. Being Hokkaido's second largest city, Asahikawa was
quite big however, it was probably no bigger than the city of Bath
within the UK (and no way near as pretty). It
did however provide the biggest smile of the day when, as I was
getting close to my hotel, a round-a-bout appeared. Now, in Japan
round-a-bouts are very uncommon; this is a guess however, I think
that there are less than twenty in the whole country. What was even
more pleasing was that this one was being used correctly. I put my
brain back to 'UK driving mode' and made it safely around this
wonderful invention … only to be stopped, three hundred meters
later, by a set of traffic lights. Finally I made it to my hotel and
parked within their car park, still raving about the round-a-bout.
Unlike the Comfort Inn, this hotel was twice as expensive with no
free parking and no free breakfast. When I checked-in, I'd been told
that I had been 'upgraded' and, if the room I had was indeed an
'upgrade', I'm glad that I hadn't seen the room I'd originally
booked. Though bigger than the comfort Inn hotel, this room was old;
it had a sofa, TV and a desk however, all looked dated. A part from
the front entrance the whole hotel reeked of past glory days and I
was glad that I was only spending a night. I put my stuff in my room,
freshened up and put more cream on my bites.
As
mentioned above, this is Hokkaido's second largest city and yet,
there was only one main shopping street. It was a lovely long
shopping street; but there was still only one. It was flanked by
medium-sized buildings until it made it to the new Asahikawa train
station. Now this was a beautiful building. 'L' shape in design, it
had a long wing which was a huge shopping centre with three floors.
The station itself was tiny however, it served its purpose and was
spacious enough. Lots of glass had been used giving the whole area a
modern and open feel. In sharp contrast to the size of the station,
it's paved area outside was huge and, currently, it housed a small
summer beer festival. I had a poke around the station before going
into the shopping centre trying to get ideas for suveniors. I left
with a few ideas though, none of which had culminated into actually
buying anything. I then went to a ramen restaurant for dinner –
where all the staff, including waiters, seemed 'retirement age' –
before walking back to my hotel.
I
love my holidays and treasure each day. I did have fun today however,
and I am sure that you will agree, today will not be regarded as one
of my best days. Now tomorrow should be another story. Though there
is a lot of driving, I shall be heading north to the port town of
Wakkanai – Japan's most northern town. Here I will visit the most
northern point of Japan. Now that does sound fun!
Toodle Pip!
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