Hokkaido Trip Day 2
Off to prison
I woke up bright and early, looking forward to seeing the sunrise over the lake. I opened the window to disappointment. There was a thick layer of clouds over the lake, hiding not only the sun but also Mt. Oakan, the mountain we can have a great view of on clear days. le sigh . . .
My travel buddy woke up a little while later, so we headed down to the communal onsen for a quick soak before breakfast. Breakfast was a buffet, mostly Japanese food but there were yogurt, muesli, rolls, scrambled eggs, salad, and sausages. I went for rice, miso soup, grilled salmon, and yogurt with peaches. The milk they served was rich and pretty good. My travel buddy really liked their milk (she likes to try regional milk wherever she visits).
Off we headed to the Abashiri Prison Museum. The buildings in this open-air museum was built in the 1890s, housing violent criminals in that era. The actual prison was modernized in the 1980s, so the historical buildings were moved to its current location to serve as an open-air museum to showcase how the prisoners lived. Back in the Meiji era, barring the death penalty, being sent to the Abashiri prison was the harshest sentence a judge could hand down. Prisoners were used to build roads and other infrastructure under harsh conditions and many didn't make it.
One thing I noticed was that there were a lot of prison guards posted in various areas of the prison. You can get startled by seeing a guard standing just inside the doorway. Of course, these guards and inmates are life-sized figures. Another thing was that many of the guards sported mustaches. The main building was the prison blocks, five blocks extending from a central guard house. There were a few tiny structures that looked like outhouses, but they were cells for solitary confinement. Once the doors are closed, it's pitch-black inside. Yikes! Those were used for the worst offenders. Touring the museum took a couple of hours and I got to see a fox streaking across the grounds as if its tail were on fire. LOL
Next stop was the Tentozan Observatory and Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum that was just up the hill from the open-air museum where there's a museum exhibiting actual ryuhyo (drift ice) taken from the sea earlier this year. I wasn't in the mood to pay $10 just to view some ice so we went up to the observatory deck. Man, the view was fantastic! We could see the coast where the drifting sea ice was floating near the shore. If we get the chance to visit the area again, maybe we can go to the Okhotsk coast to actually see and maybe walk on the ryuhyo. It's gonna be freezing cold, but it should be fun. Sadly, the thickness and amount of ice that floats in the Sea of Okhotsu is shrinking due to climate change.
There was another lake that my travel buddy wanted to visit, but we settled for visiting a michi-no-eki (roadside station) that boasts a great panoramic view of the lake. To actually get to the part of the park where we could actually see that view was to climb a bunch of snow-covered stairs. Uh, no thanks. We already saw people slipping and sliding while coming down the stairs. We were happy to see the view from the lower point. It was still a great view. Visiting this shop also served as a pitstop. Plus, my travel buddy saw a bowl she fell in love with. Guess who got an early Xmas present? LOL
Now, the panoramic view should give you a clue as to how high up the mountain we were. The drive back was literally downhill going through a narrow and winding road. I was driving one of the tiny kei cars Japan is known for, so I had no problem taking on the winding curves. It was late in the afternoon, so the sun was starting to go down behind the mountains. It was a beautiful view from what I could see in the rearview mirror and from the side. The road was too narrow to pull over to take pics, and there was a car behind me, too. My travel buddy was like, shouldn't we be taking pics of the beautiful sunset? I responded that I was a bit busy, negotiating the curves, yo. Man, it would've been a blast if I were driving those winding roads in my 5MT car. She did manage to get a few pics from the car. The road widened a bit so that I could pull over. Although we couldn't take pics of the sunset, we did get to take pics of a buck grazing by the side of the road. I told my travel buddy that it's OK to open the window to take pics since the deer wasn't all that close to the car.
The sun setting means that the deer will be coming out of the woods. And yup, I came across a few congregating in the middle of the road. There was a heart-stopping moment when a couple of deer ran out onto the road. One made it across and another one was following but managed to stop in the middle of the road so I didn't hit it. I also managed to brake in time. We were both like WHEW!! Man, it was like driving in Michigan, except the deer in Michigan are twice the size of the ones in Hokkaido. Still, the rental company wouldn't be happy if I returned the car with a huge dent in it.
We got back to the hotel near dinnertime, but we asked for a later slot so we could go soak in the bath before dinner. I made a beeline for the outdoor bath. Although the air was a bit chilly, the bath was hot enough to be comfortable and it was more relaxing since I had the bath all to myself. We were happy to learn that they changed up the menu for those who are staying for more than one night. Dinner was another nice spread. We had plain rice, hot pot with meatballs, grilled steak, sashimi (which I cooked in the hot pot), deep fried flounder, appetizers with grilled fish and baked clam, marinated smelt, Japanese pickles, and melon for dessert. It was really good. We were both pretty tired from all the walking around and long drive. I pretty much passed out soon after we got back to the room. I woke up in the middle of the night finding myself half on and half off the futon. It's not uncommon that I roll around the bed during the night, especially if I'm not sharing a bed with anybody. The next morning, my travel buddy said that she saw how I was sleeping half on the tatami mats when I mentioned it to her.
. . . to be continued
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