We woke up early today (deja vu?) to catch the train at 7:10. It wasn't raining anymore, but it was still freezing. The hot coffee can I bought from a vending maching at the station felt really great. I find it pretty useful to have vending machines with hot drinks. I mean, in the winter, I can't imagine anyone who wants to drink a cold coke when It's several degrees celsius below zero outside...
At the station, we met an older japanese man we had already encounted at the ferry terminal on our trip from Wakkanai to Rebun and from Rebun to Wakkanai. He spoke English relatively fluently, and a bit of Spanish. When I say a bit I really mean he could speak it. I've already encountered several people who said "I know a bit of [insert language here]" meaning "I can say hi in [insert language here]". We also met the other freign guest at Momoiwaso YH. Later on, on the train, we met another tourist we had seen on our way to Wakkanai. It's really incredible how, with so many people moving around everyday, and so many possible connections, you always manage to meet the people you know :D .
On the train, we tried to sleep for a while, although I wasn't too succesful... I finally could see how we entered the tunnel that runs underwater and connects Hokkaido with Honshu. It was somehow unimpressive, though :P.
Anyway, the further we went to the south, the more buildings there were in sight. For me, it somehow symbolises that our slow way back to Tokyo, and thus home, has already started. It's both sad and relieving. On one hand, I love it here, and would love to stay for much longer. On the other hand, after almost two months out of home, I'm already missing having absolutely nothing on my schedule, just free time to sit on my couch and relax. Yeah, I'm pretty lazy... :D
Anyway, here in Japan, you can either get a reserved seat ticket, or just get on a train and hope for some free seats. Since we always get to the train station some time before the train arrives, we like to get the reserved seats, just to make sure that we can sit together. For this trip, however, the guy at the counter told us that, for the last train we had to get, there were no reserved seats. Hmm. We had already taken local lines in the south, and even those had reserved seats... How small must the place be if the train doesn't need reserved seats?
Well, when we got out of the train at Misawa station to catch the local line and looked around, we felt like we were somewhere in the middle of nowhere. There were some high school students, however, who made the place look a little bit more... crowded. The train from the local line had only two small cars, and they were pretty empty.
When we got off at our station, Mukaiyama, it became worse. We don't really know the amount of population of this place, but, by the looks of it, we estimated it at around 300 people and a lot of cows, sheep and horses... Look it up in the map. Zoom on it, and you will see that it's empty...
Our hostel is actually part of a farm. The facilities, however, are way better than we imagined. They have a huge kitchen, washing machines and dryers, and even a computer with broadband internet access.
The only thing you should really keep in mind if you decide to come here: do so during the day! Don't you dare coming here at night unless you want to end up with your whole body covered with mosquito bites... No, it hasn't happened to me, but when I looked out of the front door (which is made from glass) an hour ago, there was a massive swarm of mosquitoes flying around...
At the station, we met an older japanese man we had already encounted at the ferry terminal on our trip from Wakkanai to Rebun and from Rebun to Wakkanai. He spoke English relatively fluently, and a bit of Spanish. When I say a bit I really mean he could speak it. I've already encountered several people who said "I know a bit of [insert language here]" meaning "I can say hi in [insert language here]". We also met the other freign guest at Momoiwaso YH. Later on, on the train, we met another tourist we had seen on our way to Wakkanai. It's really incredible how, with so many people moving around everyday, and so many possible connections, you always manage to meet the people you know :D .
On the train, we tried to sleep for a while, although I wasn't too succesful... I finally could see how we entered the tunnel that runs underwater and connects Hokkaido with Honshu. It was somehow unimpressive, though :P.
Anyway, the further we went to the south, the more buildings there were in sight. For me, it somehow symbolises that our slow way back to Tokyo, and thus home, has already started. It's both sad and relieving. On one hand, I love it here, and would love to stay for much longer. On the other hand, after almost two months out of home, I'm already missing having absolutely nothing on my schedule, just free time to sit on my couch and relax. Yeah, I'm pretty lazy... :D
Anyway, here in Japan, you can either get a reserved seat ticket, or just get on a train and hope for some free seats. Since we always get to the train station some time before the train arrives, we like to get the reserved seats, just to make sure that we can sit together. For this trip, however, the guy at the counter told us that, for the last train we had to get, there were no reserved seats. Hmm. We had already taken local lines in the south, and even those had reserved seats... How small must the place be if the train doesn't need reserved seats?
Well, when we got out of the train at Misawa station to catch the local line and looked around, we felt like we were somewhere in the middle of nowhere. There were some high school students, however, who made the place look a little bit more... crowded. The train from the local line had only two small cars, and they were pretty empty.
When we got off at our station, Mukaiyama, it became worse. We don't really know the amount of population of this place, but, by the looks of it, we estimated it at around 300 people and a lot of cows, sheep and horses... Look it up in the map. Zoom on it, and you will see that it's empty...
Our hostel is actually part of a farm. The facilities, however, are way better than we imagined. They have a huge kitchen, washing machines and dryers, and even a computer with broadband internet access.
The only thing you should really keep in mind if you decide to come here: do so during the day! Don't you dare coming here at night unless you want to end up with your whole body covered with mosquito bites... No, it hasn't happened to me, but when I looked out of the front door (which is made from glass) an hour ago, there was a massive swarm of mosquitoes flying around...
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A few hours before leaving Hokkaido
Information pannels about the tunnel from Honshu to Hokkaido at the train.
Back to Honshu. We could finally see the sun again!
On our way to the hostel in Mukaiyama. When the lighting is bad, my camera tends to do some weird stuff. This is actually the only picture I have that looks well enough to be uploaded...
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