Asahidake to Sapporo to Muroran

It rained pretty hard overnight - I like the sound of rain on a tent. Asahidake was cloudy and foggy. Went up the ropeway, decided not to bother with the peak, as there wouldn't be anything to see. Headed in the direction of Naka dake onsen, a hot pool on the side of the mountain, but soon enough the rain and wind picked up, and I just didn't feel like getting soaked - should've brought rain pants too...But I did see one of the rare Hokkaido wild animals. (Maybe not so rare, but I don't think they're found elsewhere in Japan.)

So I headed down and drove west to the Sea of Japan side of Hokkaido, through peaceful valleys and rice fields.

Enjoyed the scenery, but was starting to get tired of the driving. Drove into Sapporo under a rainbow, and looked for a hotel outside of the downtown area.

After driving around for a while, I ended up downtown anyway. The girl at the front desk recommended a couple of places for jingis kan (barbecued lamb), and I went with the "small place with really fresh lamb." It was fantastic. Go there. Yuki daruma (snowman) is the name.

In the morning, I wandered around near Sapporo station for a bit and bought a couple books for the ferry ride back. Drove out to look at the surf at Zenibako near Otaru, but it was junk (as the guy at Local Boy - a surf shop/cafe - put it).

Headed down towards Tomakomai (where the ferry terminal is). Muroran sounded nice so I headed down there. Saw some pretty crowded breaks at Shiraoi and Itanki hama.

Got to the youth hostel in Muroran (the white building in the pic below - stay there - the view alone in the morning or evening is worth it).

I was going to rush out and back to Toya ko to watch the fireworks, but the wind was picking up, and then the ferry company called to say that the ferry was cancelled because of the typhoon. So I headed back to the hostel and tried (unsuccessfully) to use the internet and try to find another way back. But when I talked to the office, they said might as well just wait it out. Chatted with a university student at the hostel (who didn't really like English, but at least tried a bit).

While I was wandering down near the bay in Muroran, I saw this factory, which looked cool. Turns out Muroran is a steel town, with a big bridge across the bay - I didn't find that out until afterwards, but it did kind of remind me of Hamilton.