Japan. Onsen Explorer Day 7

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Onsen Explorer Day 7. June 7 2019
Today was a short train ride to Aomori where we caught the Shinkansen to Kikonai, Hokkaido under the Tsugaru Straight. A pleasant journey on a sleek and quiet train. After getting changed into our cycling clothes we headed south and around the coast up to Matsumae. The first stop was at a Shinto Temple where we were told about how they operate and how to pray. Ring the bell, bow twice, clap twice, pray and bow once before the final ring. About 25km further on we saw our van and trailer nosed into a deep ditch and Ken looking on in puzzlement. Apparently he had stopped to take photographs and failed to apply the handbrake whereupon it chose the path of least resistance- vertically downwards. Ken rang for assistance but fortunately after an hour or so a passing lorry pulled him out for him to proceed on his merry way. Meanwhile we had stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant in Fukushima. The egg noodle soup was noodles and bean sprouts in soy sauce with a slice of pork floating on top with no sign of any egg. As we were about to leave Ken arrived in the van with a slight split to the plastic front bumper, otherwise unmarked lucky man. We shot along the coast with a tail wind at a great speed of knots - whay. We eventually arrived at our Onsen at 3.45pm and went to see the Matsumae castle before it closed. Then into the outside Onsen for an unwind before going into the inside onsen to be pickled before dinner. After dinner we had another Japanese lesson before our briefing of tomorrow, which looks quite flat along the coast. We had a surprise at dinner with a large array of maybe 10 dishes of various meats, fish and veg. The biggest surprise was a spiky anemone creature with a hole in it with a small bit of flesh inside to eat. The worst part was that the creatures were still alive and moving their tentacles. Just as we were getting stuck into this another dish arrived with a large squid on it, which I was told was quite tasty by some brave souls. I am afraid I did not feel like experimenting today. All in all a good meal and quite filling. Bed beckons and nightmares of deep sea creatures wiggling across the covers.

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