The other night Jack and I decided to do one final onsen soak. We were offered the chance to do a private onsen for $5 each at 11pm which we took them up on. At least with the other 2 places we’ve been to there’s a shower room and a place to keep your stuff. With this one I was a little unsure because it was basically a shed in the back of someone’s house with styrofoam sheets covering the water to keep it from cooling too quickly. I’m glad I did it, the view was amazing and you could see the stars.
This picture was a bit challenging to do since it was 25f outside and it took about 15 different tries of jumping in and out of the hot water and staying still for about 20 seconds. Totally worth it though, definitely one of my most favorite pictures from this trip.
Yesterday was the day the group split up. Jack and Gretchen took the train to Tokyo for their final leg of the trip before heading home. Kimberly followed with them and flew out of Tokyo to be in Singapore for a few days. Joanna and I went north to Sapporo for the last 1/3rd of our trip.
The distance is basically going from Oklahoma City to Minneapolis.
It took about 11 hours and 5 different trains to get from where we were outside of Nagano to Sapporo station.
The first blue and green parts were on the bullet train, it was fast and comfortable mostly driving through country areas and through mountain tunnels. The purple part was the scenic route. The mountains were on the left, ocean on the right with the sun setting behind it. My neck was getting tired from trying to take all of it in. I finally had some non blog related down time to finish the last 3 episodes of Westworld…omg so good.
Finally got to Sapporo, dropped off our bags at the hostel, and went out to get food. The amount of no f*cks given when it comes to their snow is kind of amazing to me. At home we declare snow emergencies, the roads are thoroughly plowed and salted. Here, I think they get so much snow, it’s easier to just ignore it because they have no where to put it all. The sidewalks are mostly clean but the roads have at least 4-5 inches of caked ice and snow on them to the point that you actually have to step up onto the ice to cross the street.
We didn’t have anything too specific we wanted to eat, just that we were hungry. There was a long street near the hostel that was basically just an outdoor mall. Joanna randomly chose one that had a line with the logic that if people are lining up, it must be good. And it was!
I’ve never had something like this before but I got a slightly spicy tomato soup base with a hamburger, veggies, and clams cooked in a clay pot right in front of you. Joanna got something similar but with a coconut milk soup base. Each was $9 and came with a salad and rice. The food here seems to be very warming and comforting given the weather. I’m looking forward to all the good eatings here in Sapporo as they are known for their milk to make ice cream, seafood, and something called Genghis Khan.
