Japan Hokkaido Day 6

---

Day 5 Saturday

I was a bit premature yesterday when I was bragging about having a proper bed last night since it turned out to be no better than being on the floor. Painful shoulder and pins and needles syndrome was the order of the night. However, the breakfast was superb again with rice, soup, vegetables, fish, melon and tofu etc. This was very tasty and caused me to wonder why I brought my cod liver oil tablets with me since we are going to be 'oily fished' up by the time we get home. we had a group photograph before we set off with all 17 of us plus the Hostel Manager and his two young daughters. It was warmer today, at about 19 degrees, when we set off up out of town to tackle our next big climb to almost 1200 metres. We passed along many straight, wooded roads with some really colourful wild flowers ending up for a mid morning break in a field of lovely lupins. Here we had bananas, melon and coffee to set us up for the big climb of between 7 and 9% to Mikuni Toge (pass). Once at the top at 11.30 we had an early lunch of buckwheat noodles and a coffee before dropping through the tunnel on the mountainside. This was one of many tunnels today, two of the longest being at least one mile long, with very poor lighting on wet roads which made seeing difficult and the fear of meeting lorries a real threat. The terrain today was that of forests and rivers, which whilst now being quite small had signs of being raging torrents with boulders scattered over a wide area and damaged trees littering the river bed. The last stop for a snack was at another summit of 1041m at Sekihoku Toge where the local 'tourist tack' shop had three stuffed brown bears outside. The temperature had risen nicely to 26 degrees with the sun coming out at last giving a pleasant end to today's ride which was a 20 mile descent to Kitami City and the Shiobetsu Onsen with its natural 'hot spring' baths. There were baths both indoor and outdoor with really hot water which made you come out looking like a turkey at Christmas. Our guide Ken informed us of the etiquette for this traditional Japanese event. First of all you must wear the Toga with its woven belt and the front crossed 'right over left' across your chest. The opposite way is only done at funerals, apparently, so be sure to do it correctly. You are supplied with two towels, a small one about 24in x 8in and a normal larger towel. When you enter the bath area through a split blue towel hanging from the ceiling, for men, you take off your toga and leave it with your large towel in a basket. The small towel is used to hang over your groin, with one hand, for modesty whilst you walk about the bath area. There is a shower area where you sit down on a plastic chair and wash yourself down thoroughly before going into the Onsen (bath) up to your neck, at which point you put the small towel on your head until you get out of the water again. After you retreat to collect your towel you attempt to dry yourself with the large towel, which is difficult due to the perspiration ensuing from the high temperatures. One other thing, when you enter a traditional Japanese house or accommodation with a small raised step in the entrance you must take of your shoes and don a pair of their slippers, which must not be worn in any of the rooms with the floor covered in woven matting, but must go barefoot. When entering the toilet another pair, which are in the entrance, must be worn. Which leads me to another thing. Just about all the hotel/hostel toilets we visited were electric, many of which flush automatically when you rise from the seat. On the RHS of the seat there is an array of buttons which operates a series of Bidet functions catering for both male and female requirements and very efficiently too. Is this too much information? The Japanese think of everything and could certainly teach other countries,and especially the Chinese, some latrine etiquette and aspirations. Our dinner tonight was up to the usual high standard, with lots of variety and enough food to even have me balking. However, the food is not for the squeamish or faddy since there are things we do not know their origin but include squid, raw fish, strange vegetables and numerous squishy things whose identity we dare not ask. It must be healthy since you see very few fat Japanese. Whist at dinner our room ladies rolled out our floor beds and got them ready for another night of torment. Speaking of room ladies, when we arrived at the hotel the staff had paired our group for the rooms with labels outside each door. Not understanding western names they had me rooming with Shirley and Peter sharing with Joy, and it could have been too if the ladies had not put their foot down and refused to co-operate. Oh well! there is always another day.

---

Photos

Brown bears
At mountain top shop

Green tea time
Sat on floor - painful