TeetooShortly after midnight, we were woken up by an announcement speaker from the station (which kept repeating). Then our fan started to move. Electricity is back! yahooooo!!
Water was also running and we had our bath at 1am. Charging our devices – we promptly went to bed.
Next morning, we went down to get some breakfast. The hotel kitchen only had curry rice. Lo and behold – it was the BEST curry rice ever!! ….at the most unexpected place. Coupled with hot black coffee, bliss. Kitchen refused our payment saying it was on the house ! Wu sim (got heart).
Checking out, Sun Hotel Wakkanai again refused our payment saying it was their privilege to help us out in this situation. Service was not sacrificed even though it was complimentary. That is Japanese hospitality in a nutshell.
We were out on the streets again… and had to go kacau our friendly tourist officer again for some help. We learnt that the transportation situation might be longer than expected since trains and rental cars were grounded. Limited buses still run but only to few selected places. We even contemplated taking the bus to some far flung place called Omu (East Hokkaido). Unsure of the future, we decide to stay in Wakkanai till the transportation system gets sorted out. Cancelling all our other hotel bookings, we booked 3 nights at Hotel Trunk Wakkanai just along the coast and will just go with the flow. It is time to find out more about our new home, Wakkanai town.
Using google maps, we surveyed areas of interest within walkable distance. To our surprise, there were quite a few. We started with the closest being Wakkanai Park. Walking from our hotel to the small summit, wee passed thru lots of quaint homes, quiet temples and foraging deers – it was a nice and relaxing stroll.
The summit of Wakkanai Park offers an amazing view overlooking the town and clear blue seas. With loads of time, we had ice cream and sat up there admiring the view.
After our faces were numbed from the constant cold winds.. we went back down using another route. Unknowingly we even pass Hokumon Temple which we didn’t know was on the Top10 place to visit in Wakkanai. Devoid of humans, it was tranquility and beyond.
After reaching town, we went to a restaurant, Yumehiroba, just inside an orange building just next to the train station for some food. We had sashimi but it was not very fresh (Japan standard) and their restaurant setup seems to be catering for tour groups that grab n go. So not really recommended although the presentation was quite good.
With that little adventure, the day ended.