日本旅Spirited Away in Japan Episode 3

Previously....

We safely arrived at Wakkanai and met the wild Dutchman, Joran.

After the check-in, we met up and decided to go for lunch. Actually, we might had gone to get some money first. In North America, our debit cards can be used in Japan (you can check by looking at the back of your card by seeing if there is a PLUS sign.). We went to the local post office and while people were getting money, I was looking at the mail ordering for the different months of Hokkaido. I think there were sea urchin(going to refer to it as uni from now), melon, and all sorts of other food. Afterwards, we went a ramen place because I remember seeing the place in my guidebook.

悅Chan/悅將

I ordered miso ramen because I was in Hokkaido afterall. Miso right?

Miso ramen/味增拉麵

The ramen is a lot different than the ones I had in Vancouver. This one was so plain..... It used grind pork and onions instead of chashu meat. I thought this was a really weird ramen but it was still pretty good and I think someone ordered gyaoza (I think it was Joran).

We went for a walk by the dock and we realized how pretty and clean the ocean is. We also went to see Wakknai's famous building/structure, Wakknai Anti-tsunami Dome. I think it is one of the very few anti-tsunami structure built around the world. That was pretty much it for the tourist spot within the city center until I remembered there was the light house that was sort of a tourist spot. We decided to go there but and after seeing the sign that read 3km, there was some grumbling but we went for it anyway. We saw the light tower from pretty far away but no matter how much we walked, it was not like we were getting closer. The light house was just there, not getting any bigger. So, I think we spent more than maybe 2hours just to get there. When we were walking there, I noticed a large military base on the side near the mountains and I thought it was strange that a peaceful nation like Japan would need to build a base in a small town like Wakkanai.

After all the complaining, we got to the light house. At the light tower, there was also an arctic/Antarctic aquarium/museum but it was almost to closing time so we did not go in. I remember my Japanese friend telling me that it was possible to see Russia from the light house but unfortunately, it was really bright that day so we did not see any bears on unicycle. 

@Light House and Erin Bird too

We decided to catch the bus to get back because we had enough of walking for one day and all of us were dead tired from the plane rides. We waited in front of a bus stop that was in front of a shack which Joran appropriate named, rape shack. There was also a wanted poster on the shack and I thought, wow Japan has murderers too.

Rape shack and Seung-wan too

We got on the bus and it worked a lot different than Vancouver buses. In Vancouver, bus tickets usually have a fixed price but in Japan, ticket prices vary base on the distance traveled and you pay when you get off the bus. I accidentally paid 1000 and it made a fuss and the bus driver got kind of pissed. I got my change but the driver definitely gave me a look. 


We went back to our respective hotels and I went to sleep at around 8ish. Oh, I managed to wrote an email to Ms.*F by using Deidre's computer. I also read a mail from my mom asking if I had arrived safely. I replied, 


"I'm ok."




To be Continued...


ps this is where Wakkanai is.

箭頭指的就是稚內/Wakkanai is the one being poked by the arrow

上回
順利抵達稚內! 也和荷蘭野人Joran碰面


Checkin-in完後, 我們一行人先決定去領錢. 北美的提款卡幾乎都可以在日本領錢只不過限制與7-11跟郵局. 領完後我們決定除吃拉麵. 去的拉麵店是一家在我的旅遊書本裡有介紹的店. 我點了一碗味增拉麵畢竟我人在北海道嘛, 吃味增拉麵是天經地義的事. 上菜時我發現....裡面不是放叉燒而是絞肉而且裡面還放了生菜. 真的跟我吃過的味增拉麵差好多喔. 當時的我覺得這碗拉麵好樸素....不過我以後會拉麵慢慢地改觀. 

吃飽後我們跑去看有名的稚內港北防波堤Dome. 建立那個的原因是為了提防海嘯不過我覺得當時的人應該沒有想到311等級的海嘯過. 話說回來, 這是世界上非常少見的建築很少國家會特地為了防海嘯而去建造了這麼大的建築. 看完之後, 我們討論接下來該去哪裡才好. 我想到我朋友曾跟我說了一個燈塔的事而且我記得旅遊雜誌也說那是個景點. 大家同意了我的意見所以我們就沿著海岸往燈塔走去. 

Anti-tsunami Dome/稚內港北防波堤Dome

沿路我發現了2件很奇怪的事.....為甚麼大家都在瞪著我們? 然後我才想到稚內應該很少我們這樣的外國人吧. 雖然日本人可能並覺得我是外國人....只到我開口後. 哈哈. 我發現的另一件事是稚內有一個滿大的軍事基地. 當時我覺得為甚麼像日本這樣和平的國家要建一個基地在一個鄉下地方(大概不到一個月後我就會瞭解了. 大概8月的時候我反而會變得支持在哪裡建基地). 


走到燈塔時可能已經離我們吃完麵後有大概兩個小時了吧. 到的時候我們沒有看到甚麼觀光客, 我覺得好奇怪沒有觀光客拿這裡的人到底是靠甚麼維持生計啊? 一路上我們看到許多名產專賣店可是都沒有客人.....不過我想大家也一定有自己的生存方式. 我們到了一個廣場, 在那邊聽說天氣好時可以看到俄羅斯.殘念, 當天太陽太列了, 只看得到光而已. 去完後, 我們看到了一個神社. 這是我第一次看見所謂的神社不過大家都很好奇向前去看. 我原本想拜一下可是我想起來拜神社好像要拍手還甚麼的, 因為我不想遭天譴所以就想算了.

看得到俄羅斯的地方/a place where you can see Russia

神社/Jinsha 

我們回到hotel事業大概7,8點了, 雖然太陽還很l亮可是因為今天實在是做了太多事, 所以我跟Deidre一趟下來就開始呼呼大睡.


喔, 在那之前. 我有用Deidre的電腦發了封信給新*小姐. 同時,我也看到我媽寄給我的信說他看到我的班機delay很久然後問我還好嗎. 我用四個字回他.


I'm ok.




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