So, we left Otaru in the morning, and unfortunately had to backtrack to Sapporo. But still, that was only about 45 minutes on the train - gosh, I love the trains here! We took the train the Tōya station, but then had to figure out what bus to take to Tōya Onsen, which is actually where all the fun stuff is. Luckily, a nice bus driver took pity on us, so we managed to get there, find a ryokan, drop off our bags, and get some food. Remi and I were craving ramen by this point, so Mom and Dad got to have their first ramen meal at a very nice shop where the proprieters seemed quite interested to see foreigners during the off-peak season. Mmmmm!
Tōya has two volcanoes near it - Shōwa Shin-zan and Usu-zan, which is of course why we decided to go there. After lunch, we tried to figure out how to get to the ropeway, and after much wandering around finally learned that the buses stop running after October 15. So, we cabbed it. After a cable car ride and a bit of a walk, this is what we saw…
Hee hee! Steamy!
Of course, then we had to walk back (in time for the cable car, as Mom really didn’t want a repeat of Tengu Mountain. Okay, probably none of us did), up the 707 stairs. Ow.
By the time we got back, a cloud was beginning to descend on the mountain. See the little lone tree that survived the original volcanic massacre? (Okay, probably it started growing afterwards, but I prefer to think of it as a mutant tree, growing strong off of sulphuric fumes.)
While we were waiting for our cab on the return trip… Remi tried some Bubble Man II!
Here’s the tasting…
It’s delicious! :D
We returned to the ryokan in time for a massive, delicious meal.
We were going to go for a walk following the meal, but as it was pouring rain we just went upstairs and had a nice soak in the ryokan’s mineral baths before going to sleep in our nice futons - on tsunami mats, as Dad calls them.
October 31st, 2006 at 1:27 am - Edit
The tables upon which your massive meal rests are amazing.
October 31st, 2006 at 4:49 am - Edit
Weird, my Dad was saying the same thing. They’re a single piece of wood, so it was a pretty massive tree before it was cut down!