Utoro - Rausu - Abashiri I think at this point it's a good idea to show the map of the Shiretoko region.

Woke up very early as per usual here to a sunny morning. Still felt feverish though my forehead felt normal leh. Packed our stuff and down we go for breakfast at 7am. Can smell the breakfast even before we entered the dining room. Oh yeah we also saw a lot of fugitive photos in the minshuku and even in Abashiri. I think it's because Hokkaido is considered the wilderness of Japan and fugitives come here to hide.


After paying around Y7000 each for the lodging and dinner + breakfast (compulsory), we bid farewell to this minshuku and drove over to the town center to pick one of the numerous cruise outlets there. It was then we realized we forgot to return the room key. -_-" Anyway, we decided to return it later and first choose one cruise company called Fox which is also a cafe which offers free internet access. The Shiretoko peninsular is mountainous and its impossible to see its coastal side by anything other than from the sea. Thus a cruise is a must-try for anyone visiting it. There are two kinds of boats. One is a big ferry kind which is shown below. The other is a smaller speedboat type which is faster and costs more but is able to go nearer to the coast. We chose the latter for around Y3000. For each type of boat there are also 2 courses. One is the 1.5 hour trip and the other the 3-4 hour trip. The former has up to 5 trips per day while the latter embarks only once per day (in the late morning). We chose the former, which went halfway up the peninsular. The longer trip would have taken us right to the end of the peninsular (and burnt a larger hole in our wallets).


We still had 30mins to spare so we explored the port area and saw an enormous rock covered with seagulls. Think we spent too much time shooting the birds and returned back to the cruise area just on time. Quickly rushed to the boat and was unpleasantly shocked that the boat was kinda packed. Turned out that all the outlets basically share the same boat! Sian... no more window seats. As we were reaching the u-turning point of the trip, the captain informed us that there was a bear in the cliff. Wah... at first I couldn't see it. Only until KS pointed to me several times did I realize that that black thing is a bear. Didn't take too many photos along the way because the boat was rocking and I had on my 70-300 lens which was useless for sceneries. Oh well...



Returned back to the port and poked around the town. Then we returned the keys and drove to explore the hot spring region of Utoro. Basically it's quite near the town center except that its in a mountain area, so walking there might not be such a good idea. There's a lot of big hotels there and bus-loads of Jap tourists. Saw a bus leaving the compound and the mandatory waving by all the hotel employees.



As it was still early, and I was so enamoured by the 5 lakes, I drove back to the mountain area towards the 5 lakes. KS was unaware of my plan though. Haha... anyway as we reach the nature center we saw that the road to Rausu was open! It was closed yesterday due to bad weather. So off we went, and boy was it the best ride we had. A few moments after we drove up towards Shiretoko Pass, the scenery started to become snowy. We passed an uncle in full combat hiking gear and as we stopped to take photos, he caught up with us. Heh he was amazed that we came from Singapore because our car plate was from Kitami and apparently he thought we were Japs. In fact, we got mistaken for Japs very often in Hokkaido. There was another young chap hiking up too, but his pace was much faster than the uncle.




As we got higher and higher, I passed the wheel to KS. Which initially was kinda troublesome because he hadn't got used to the sharp brakes and he can't drive with his shoes on. -_-" After a while we couldn't stand it anymore... the scenery was just sooooo beautiful. We had reached rather high up the mountains and everywhere was snow! I hadn't expected this at all while I was researching for this trip. Thankfully there was a place for us to park by the roadside and we actually climbed over a short fence and up the slope! You can see our location and where our car was in the photo below.


Spent quite some time frolicking in the snow and up the slope. It was so tranquil and beautiful. Really speechless.



But all good things have to come to an end. We continued our way and reached Shiretoko Pass soon after. There was a parking area and lotsa tourist buses also. This is the highest point of the road linking Utoro to Rausu and its just spectacular. I went to the mobile toilet there and boy was it the smelliest toilet in Japan. Whew... rushed out in record time and off we go again. It's nice to be in the passenger seat and enjoying the scenery. :P



Nearing the foot of the mountain towards Rausu, we came to an rotenburo (outdoor hot spring) called Bear's Hot Spring. Maybe bears like to dip in hot springs also? Anyway got this guy bathing and we can see him from the car park. -_-" Actually I wanted to try, but KS wasn't too keen. Oh well. The female bath was covered with wooden walls though. :P Which actually if you climb up the slope a bit you can peek in. Erm... actually there was a lady inside. But I think she finished bathing liao and was dressed. But hey, it's Japan where nudity is so common, see until sian liao unlike prudish ol' Singapore.



Anyway finally we reached our destination. Although I must say this whole Japan trip is tightly planned, this trip to Rausu was totally spur-of-the-moment. I never imagined the drive from Utoro to Rausu would be so stunning. Ok enuff... in Rausu we saw a river which salmons swim upstream when they wanna spawn. Salmon is a native fish in Hokkaido. Contrast it with Tokyo where you won't find salmon in any sushi-ya. Wanted to eat lunch at this place recommended by our Taiwan guidebook but of all days it had to close on Monday. So we looked around the seafood shop (seafood is considered as omiyage [souvenirs] in Hokkaido) and got treated to small pieces of king crab leg. Holy macaroni... this was the first time we ate king crab and its delicious! The meat was unlike normal Sri Lankan crabs we have here but its more like lobster meat. Then one guy wanted to tell us something but erm.. we don't really get it. After some mismash of communication, we finally got the idea that he was recommending us lunch at this restaurant near the shop. Since the sealion meal served at the restaurant above the shop didn't sound too enticing we decided to take up his recommendation.


The place as can be seen below is wooden. It's by the coast and has a blue flag as its signpost. The food was displayed in an open fridge and we could choose what we want. Being thrifty we chose the moderately priced hoke set meal, when people around us were eating uni (sea urchin), kani (crabs) and ikura. Anyway hoke is grilled semi-dried fish and tasted pretty good. Lotsa bones though after you finish the meaty parts. This took us quite some time devour. Saw this couple who came in after us who were also on the same boat ride as us in the morning at Utoro. We also saw a tall hot babe there with some funky looking guys :P



After lunch, we walked back to our car, grabbed some drinks from a kombini (dunno why at this moment KS started to be enthu about cheap beers in Jap) and began the journey back to Abashiri (passing through Utoro). As we passed foot of the mountain, we saw a digital sign saying the road will be closed at 3.30pm. We were indeed lucky as it was around 2pm+. If the road was closed it would have taken us maybe an extra 2 hours drive back to Abashiri. Along the way we also saw the hiking uncle. He was maybe 75% on his journey to Rausu. Gambatte!


To be continued...  F-ed by me at 10:48 PM

.....