fallen in love...

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have fallen in love with japan... think we both have!!

don't know quite where to start... seems like ages since have written here.

at the moment we're in a place called tono - it's in a valley and very rural - the area is full of rice fields with the surrounding mountains caught in the reflections. our hostel here is fab and has a giant manga library and an outside bath - so was lazing in that last night under the stars - 109 doesn't quite compare i'm afraid! we've hired bikes today and been cycling all around the valley - like it here as is all flat so not too much effort required.

after leaving osaka we travelled to hokkaido the island furthest north in japan. we spent time in two places called furano and biei. both so so quiet sleepy places.. funny arriving on the trains as the last one we caught was a local one - which we decided was like some kind of toy town / theme park ride, as it consisted of one carriage and took us through the landscape chugging away on the toy tracks.

our hostel in furano was funny as it was like a barn, totally constructed of wood - but also appeared as though the couple who owned it were building the place as they went along! mad handwritten signs pinned up everywhere telling you about the showers / toilet / drinks what always seeming to lose the meaning. a box of leaflets regarding info about the area was labelled as 'useless information leaflets, please take one'
our place in biei was special - called the potato hostel (potato!!) seemed like the potato was a big deal in that area
it was like we'd checked into a retreat - quite hilarious! music playing on a loop for the duration of our stay!! meals times with the sound of a bell!! fun stuff - the owner mr.matsuda what a star!! seemed like all the other vistors were regulars - they all visit several times a year! they even had some room with tons of photo albums recording the hostels history and other albums full of pics from vistors and their stay!! cute! had fun here... survived the mother of all bike rides!! many a hill...

we caught a ferry to two islands we visited off hokkaido - the first was called rebun - the place we stayed there wasn't really a hostel more like staying with a family... the lady there was fab she just looked after us from the moment we arrived - we found it funny that even though neither us nor her could speak the same language we still managed to roughly communicate... from our arrival a fish feast began lasting our entire stay there!! seriously we were dining on all living things to be found in the sea.. for breakfast, lunch and dinner!! we were waking up for breakfast at 6am stumbling downstairs to discover what had been caught for breakfast that morning!! seriously i don't think there's much left related to the sea that we haven't eaten... the funniest part was that we were just pitching up and hoping for the best as the meals were decided for you... we just turned up to eat them - so part of the fun was trying to work out exactly what we were eating... and sometimes it was was best to just not know. some of the more exotic creatures we think we had though were... snails, whale, roe, possibly starfish and uni (sea urchins!) the uni was funny actually because we'd read about them and the fact that they were supposed to be a delicacy - so was cool when our lady asked us if we wanted them for dinner the next day.. we agreed but just made us laugh as the next morning as we were heading out for the day a guy pitched up with a crate of the urchins fresh from the sea... don't think i'll ever probably eat fresher seafood than all the treats on rebun!
oh tofu has to get a mention too... seems to be paired with most things here... not a fav!
on our last day in rebun our lady had kind of explained that she'd arranged for a friend of hers to drive us to the southern end of the island to show us the sights (all the people we've met here will go out of their way to help you or make sure you're ok!!) so off we set on our drive... it was going well until on top of some mountain a fair way away now from our home the guy pointed to a map and explained to us that he'd be going now as he had to go to work... and that we were to set out on some two hour hike and then catch a bus back to our home after!! oh dear.. we survived it wasn't bad at all (views were stunning along the coastline) but just a bit of a shock to realise we were being ditched in the middle of nowhere with no map - just pointed in the right direction!! also another factor to this was that it was only 8am - so come 10am our day had already panned out with our usual sushi breakfast at 6am - driven around the coast for an hour or so - been ditched on a mountain by 8am - hiked for two hours and returned home by 10am. for us who are both not early birds just quite a lot to take in - a busy day me thinks!!

rishiri was the second island we stayed on - which is basically what we'd taken a million photos of from the other island - a mountain in the sea! you could walk the entire outskirts of the island in about 8hours. we stayed on a campsite here.. no tents involved for us - very cute all wooden we had our own little cabin.　the island was very quiet and yet we stumbled across what seemed to be the most happening place going - a funny little bar that had some deal going.. by the looks of our fellow bar mates we were obviously a few rounds behind - hilarious in the corner the karaoke was in full swing!! some japanese people who insisted we join them for a drink.. despite the lack of japanese spoken on our behalf we muddled through and a fab if somewhat random night!!

making our way gradually back down to the south, as we'll leave by osaka for another ferry journey but this time in reverse!! so we stayed in a place called hakodate - had a particularly lazy day there... partly due to the fact that it rained the entire day.. found ourselves a cute cafe there to while away the day and went up on a ropeway (cable car) to the top of the mountain there - mt.hakodate!

next we'll be heading for matsushima - a famous natural beauty spot along the eastern coast and after that down to tokyo!! exciting!!

write again prob from tokyo as planning to stay a night in a manga cafe - 24hour internet cafe with your own room, reclining seats and library full of dvds... going to be interesting!

love to everyone
.love steph.xxx

have to just mention the toilets... they're called warmlets or the more full service ones washlets - attention for your behind - they can do all types of things heated seats - wash and blow dry anyone..?!?!?

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Comments

[Sandra]

update
Hi Steph and Dan. Have just spent a very amusing 15 minutes or so reading your blog. Seems like you're having an amazing time - I think by the time you reach us here in HK you'll be in need of some serious r and r! Ha ha. Let me know when and where you will be arriving nearer the time so we can meet up and get you to Lantau. Keep up the good times girls but please take care. Sandra xxxx