Weather: Pretty good. Today was
certainly the less cloudy of the previous three; plus there was a
breeze.
MP3 track of the day: Importance of being idol - Oasis
I hadn't set an alarm and
so I found myself waking up at 10am! Now, on any other day I would
have been annoyed with myself however, as I had very few plans for
today, I was indeed glad that I had slept for eleven hours as I
obviously needed it. Even though I'd slept in until 10am, I didn't
rush. I checked my emails and today's weather forecast before heading
for a nice long shower. As I looked in the mirror I did indeed look a
lot better; my eyes were not blood-shot and the bags had decreased.
After having my usual morning chat with the receptionist, I found
myself heading out at the respectable time of midday.
Having missed breakfast I
went straight into town where I killed an hour walking towards the
old Russian Consulate before heading for lunch. I, of course, went to
the 'Lucky Perriot' for another burger however, this time I went to
their more famous branch right on the harbour front. There were two
problems with this; firstly, this was the more famous outlet and
secondly, I found myself having lunch at the same time as everyone
else (instead of my usual 3pm lunch time). This resulted in a
huge queue which I would have normally walked away from ... if I
wasn't trying to kill time. I therefore stayed in the queue and
ordered the teryaki burger (delicious). Due
to the place being swamped, I had little choice but to take a table
located within the smoking second. This 'stand alone' room was
actually not as bad as you would think. Firstly it was located at the
rear of the restaurant over-looking the waterfront. Secondly, due to
the volume of people, it would appear that 60% of the smoking section
were not actually smoking and finally, due to the smoke, the
ventilation system was better than anywhere else in the building
making it the coolest room. Sadly all of these benefits didn't speed
up my order which took about an hour - from when I first joined the
queue - to when it arrived on my table. Still it was delicious and it
was a little sad that it was probably my last.
With
lunch consumed I went back into the 'warehouse craft stores' I'd
visited two days ago to look for a photo book, and to kill two more
hours. I was successful in neither of these aspects; after an hour
and a half of shopping the time was 3:30pm and so I decided to climb
the mountain an hour earlier than I had scheduled.
In
all bar one aspect, the climb up the mountain was so easy that I
couldn't believe more people weren't doing it. It only took thirty
minutes or so, the path was well looked after and there were loads of
signs so it was hard to get lost. The only downside was that due to
the mountainsides vegetation closing in, it was very, very humid. Not
to put a too finer point on it but, the back of my shirt was
saturated with sweat that, even six hours later, the 'sweat ring' can
still be seen. Sweat was dripping off my face and every-so-often I
stopped to drink water wondering why I just didn't 'skip out the
middle-man' and pour it on my back. Luckily when I finally arrived at
the observation platform - on top of the mountain - I was greeted by
a strong breeze, a cloud-covered sun and an amazing view. I stopped
and looked over the railings;'this was going to be good' I thought to
myself.
Slightly
ashamed of my present appearance, I stayed within this area and
allowed the breeze to try and dry out my t-shirt. I waited for at
least twenty minutes, taking an occasional shot of the view below.
The whole of Hakodate could be seen. Hakodate is a long thin city
which is at a kind of peninsular. As it stretches out into the sea,
it looks as though someone has pinched it in the middle as, at one
point, the sea almost cuts Hakodate off from the mainland. I stared
at this view until my t-shirt had gone from 'drenched' to 'moist'. I
then headed to where other 'rope-way users therefore, not sweaty'
people were congregated. I made my way onto the observation deck
which gave a more impressive view than the other place. Finally I
went inside to checkout the shop (dull),
the restaurant and the café … which didn't open until 5:30pm (why
Japanese people!). On my way up
the mountain I'd promised my 'sweat-stained' body that I would take
it to the café for a nice drink and a slice of cake; as the time was
only 4:30pm this would have to wait therefore, I bought a bottle of
water, from a can machine, and consumed it quickly.
The
time rolled on to 5:15pm and I decided to move from my position
over-looking the sea, to a position over-looking the city. Though
nightfall wasn't due for another two hours, people were starting to
erect tri-pods in the best spots meaning that, I decided to follow
suit. At first there was plenty of room for people who just wanted to
take a photo and leave however, as we moved closer to dusk space
started to fill up.
For
the first hour life was pretty dull. It was only at around 6:30pm
when the sun started to set that things got interesting. Between 6pm
and 6:30pm bus loads of Chinese tourists had swarmed the area and my
elbows had never been so busy. It was a constant battle trying to
keep the space I had stood at, for over an hour, 'Chinese free'. It
was at this point that I learnt another benefit of being able to
speak two languages. Instead of using language to connect and bring
people together, I managed to successfully do the opposite by
switching the language I spoke, to the one the current Chinese person
- who was using to ask me to move – couldn't speak. This was great
and it allowed me to remain in my position until 8pm when I decided
that it was time to depart.
The
constant fighting had been worth it. It would appear that, for every
inch the sun fell, another set of street lights came on. I've never
seen a city go from light to dark in such a commanding position
before and, I made sure that I photographed throughout this period.
When
darkness fully descended, is when I took most of my photos. Once I
was content I decided to hog the space no more, and retreat inside to
head towards the restaurant. You see; I'd checked the café menu and
the restaurant lunch menu and, from what I could see, if I paid an
extra £5 I could have a full meal instead of a drink and a small
cake. The restaurant also had tables next to the windows however, all
of these seats had been taken and there was a queue of people
waiting. I decided that it wasn't worth queuing therefore, I headed
back up to the café.
Once
inside the café I noticed that the place looked as though it was
closing. I inquired and soon discovered that the café would be
closed in forty minutes. I also noticed that they were serving the
same food as downstairs and that, if I was out in forty minutes, I
could have whatever I liked and I could practically sit at whichever
window seat I wanted. I ordered the lamb, and a drink, and two small
cakes for dessert. Due to being famished I had to try and slow myself
down; I had plenty of time and I wanted to make the most of the view
out of my window. Outside Hakodate was all lit up and looked
incredible; I couldn't believe how lucky I'd been.
By
the time I had eaten my meal, the staff had put a 'closed' sign
outside of the café door. The queue for the rope-way was huge; it
went up two floors and did a loop on the forecourt behind the
observation building. With little else to do I bought a 'one-way'
ticket (using a discount coupon) and
joined the queue realising that it would probably had been quicker to
walk down the mountain … if the path was lit.
Given
it's size the queue moved incredibly quickly, probably due to the two
gondolas working overtime. In twenty minutes I found myself in a
gondola and in another five, I was back on the streets of Hakodate
walking towards my hotel.
I
got back around 9:30pm and told the receptionist all about my day. I
then inquired as to what time I had to vacate my room which, as it
happens, gives me plenty of time to grab breakfast before
checking-out and going to the train station to get my train to
Tomakomai.
So
this ends my first stop on my Hokkaido tour; Hakodate. It has been a
great four days however, any longer than four days and I think that I
would have been seriously bored. Hakodate has almost killed me with
it's fireworks, parades, mountains and national parks. This has
certainly been the busiest start to one of my trips however, it has
also been one of the best. Tomorrow I move onto Tomakomai; a place
famed for nothing. This is just a small town with excellent rail,
road and ferry connections. It will be my base for the next four
nights as I travel around the southern-central part of Hokkaido …
well it will be if I get up on time!
Toodle
Pip!
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