Hakodate

We exchanged our JR Rail Pass orders the other day and embarked on our three week rail across Japan. We headed towards Japan's north most island, Hokkaido, couch surfing in Hakodate. Our host is this British fellow, Ben, who has lived in Japan for five years and is making a living here teaching the locals English. It's my first time couch surfing and so far it has been great and very convenient.

Today we took the tram down the the pier and climbed Mt. Hakodate located at the peninsula. At first we didn't find the path leading straight to the top so we just rummaged through the steep forest for a while until we found a serpentine road leading to the top. Half way through we found the path and continued on that. At the top the view of the city was magnificent. We let our eyes rest on the beautiful view and took the cable cart back to sea level.

It was getting a bit nippy and we figured we might as well go to an Onsen, a hot spring bath house. The place where we went to was famous for its rust brown water. We bathed for about two hours, feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. It kinda felt the same as getting out of a sweltering hot sauna. This was my first Onsen experience and there will be more come since especially Hokkaido is dotted with Onsens all over the place. If you ever come to Japan you have got to try an Onsen. If you don't it is the same as going to Finland and not going to a Sauna.

The best thing happened the other evening. We had just arrived at Hakodate and we were walking down to Ben's house. We got a little hungry and went into this random shop that seemed like a restaurant. Inside there was a man, his wife, and their four children. The place seemed something between a restaurant and someone's living room, making the place quite cosy. We had sushi and talked with the locals for about two hours. They didn't speak English almost at all but I used the little Japanese I knew and we got along great. I think I understood almost a half of what they were saying. At the same time I had one of the best moments in meeting people and I got to practice my Japanese a little. They were so friendly and welcoming and I shall treasure them in my memory forever.

Tomorrow we are taking the train to Muroran where we will meet our next host, Jude. We are staying in Muroran for a couple of nights until heading on again. It feels good to be on the road all the time, you don't feel like wasting time since there is basically no opportunity to stop moving about. We are leaving around noon to see what the future holds for us.