will i am's delayed diary

One night was all we had at Lake Toya. Got up early and had a simple breakfast of eggs at the AirBnB. Upon checking out, we finally had a chance to greet our host's dog. Didn't hear a single bark since yesterday. A two-hour drive ahead of us to Hakodate. We were in a little of a rush because we had to reach Hakodate before the seafood market closes at 2:00 PM. The first stop was at Yakumo where I realized that we were running low on fuel. Asked Bro to probe ahead for highway oasis ahead and he came up empty. Unlike Malaysia, the highway in Hokkaido does not have many petrol stations on it. In our region of travel, there were only four highway oasis that have more complete amenities. Seeing how critical our fuel level was, we had no choice but to exit the highway at Kutchan. Bro went to talk to the guy manning the highway exit. Good thing that the staff had a phrase book for all sorts of emergency situations. He handed us a map to the nearest petrol station in town. Phew! We w...

Early in the morning, we got dressed to pay a visit to the Fish Wholesale Market . It was not a fun day to be out. Wet and windy. Much more windy than wet really. When the angle was right, we felt 'helped along'. At pedestrian crossings, we held on to the lamp posts to avoid being blown onto the road. Crazy. Along the way, we saw tsunami warning signboards marking all tall buildings that have been designated at tsunami shelters. Hotel Chocolat was one of them. The Fish Wholesale Market is something like Kuromon Market in Osaka, but bigger and less centralized. From one glance, one can tell the King Crab is king in Hakodate . Nearly every shop sells it. Other specialties are live squid ( fish your own ) and scallops. Filled our high cholesterol breakfast quota with grilled giant scallop, boiled hairy crab and grilled King crab legs. My favourite was the boiled hairy crab. They boil the whole thing in salt water and serve it to you whole with a pair of kitchen shears. T...

On the last day in Lake Toya , I automatically woke up at 3:30 AM! Since I was already up, I dragged myself out of the futon to catch the sunrise. Unfortunately for us, the weather was too misty for a good view. We gave it another thirty minutes before going back to sleep. Three and half hours later, the serenity of the lake was broken by the voice of an elderly gentleman singing "To-yaaaaaa, To-yaaaaaa... " over the lake's PA system. More effective than my alarm. Ate our morning meal downstairs and checked out soon after. One more crater trail to finish before leaving Lake Toya-- the Nishiyama Crater Promenade . The trail head happens to be where the Konpiriyama trail ends and the area was as deserted as it was yesterday. A lone park ranger waved us in while the trees rustled wildly around us. Seemed that the weather was changing. Like the day before, we were the only visitors on the trail. The Nishiyama trail is a boardwalk, hence easier to do. Along the way we s...