After leaving the hotel I found a small park next to it were I decided to sleep for the night. Better places to sleep was plentiful had I continued 20 minutes down the road. Next time I go homeless I know what to look for. Bus stops have resting houses, some are heated, have vending machines and come with a toilet too. Fancy.
I saw many fishing villages and ruined houses today, looking at the coastline and all these small houses I realized what a remote place I was. Nature was claiming back its lands and it was a mixed sensation watching the many ruins of all houses where fishing was all that matter for survival. People must have moved to the city of something.
After biking for a few hours I got hungry again and decided to stop at the first 7-eleven I had seen on Hokkaido. There sat a man in front of the convenient store smoking while eating an ice cream. Little could I do while eating my katsu - sandwich and bananas when he came and started talking to me. Something about ww2, grenades and weapons in general.
I didn't really want to talk to him, but nevertheless I made the right noises in agreement at the right times to respect his courage to talk to me in the first place. His Japanese was very rough and informal and he was a bit hard to understand. But the conversation moved to castles and when I told him that I was going all the way to Cape Sata the suggestions of castles to visit became numerous.
Last topic was food and then I felt inclined to take flight once again fearing the man would ramble on forever.
Getting to Rumoi was easy, it's the cities that are difficult to maneuver in. I placed my bike at a corner of some houses and not 2 minutes after I was met by a police officer. He was very kind and asked a lot of questions. Now, being non-Japanese sometimes mean you have to do a little extra. I showed passport while explaining my situation and he was kind enough to point me in the right direction. When he asked if it was okay to take a picture I was sure he meant of me. Surprisingly it was of my passport. Never have I seen someone excited about a passport. A word out to the designers back in Denmark. He was very impressed.
He even leaded the way to the nearest 7-eleven for free WiFi. And he came back with a map later. Unbelievable! First real encounter with the law here and it was a good experience! The thank you of the day price goes to the police officer for his kindness!
After meeting the police officer I decided to go all the way to Sapporo. Which meant that although I was close to my original goal in Takikawa, I was quite far away from Sapporo still.
But the thought of saving a day made me stubborn and since I was in a good condition I decided to move on to my new destination.
I met some new people at the local seicomart in a smaller town. I decided to rest for an hour before continuing and as I was lying on my back look on at the sky someone called out "hello".
Didn't take much notice of it the first or second time, but she called again and I looked in her direction. She then asked me if I was okay. And whether I was just sleeping. She then continued asking the same questions you would expect people to ask a non-Japanese person in a rural city and after explaining myself she began asking questions about Denmark. Her family came back, she told what I had told and we said goodbye.
The rest of the trip to Sapporo was long and the road was being renovated some places making it crucial that I made sure not to go over something that might cut my tires. I went on long after it got dark and 25+ km before I reached Sapporo I could see the lights from the buildings.
Sapporo is a nice city, but I hope to get to a more unique part of the city because downtown is just like any other big city in Japan. Crowded, cars everywhere.
As for my urban survival I chose to go to a manga café and sleep there instead. It's cheap enough and you get showers, a computer, manga and free soft drinks.
Thought I deserved it.
Tomorrow is sightseeing.
Distance: 210 km
Time spent biking: 10.30 hours
Top speed on flat stretch: 47km/h. That's almost as fast as the cars are allowed to go. (They go a lot faster though...)
Condition: feeling accomplished
Quote: Sun, please stop..
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