chasing flowers

well, we check the cherry blossum report the other night (updated daily. oh yeah, sure. only in japan), and realised that there was a pretty good chance that we'd miss them in sapporo, which is one thing that we'd all talked about doing in japan. it was make or break. we could get from kyoto to sapporo, but it would take us twelve continuous hours of train travel to get there. we ummed and ahhhed for a little while, but ended up deciding to go for it. well, a more realistic version of the plan was to catch three separate trains (nine hours on trains in total) up to hakodate, stay the night, and then train the last three or four hours the next morning to sapporo. the journey up wasn't as bad as we had thought, and we only really realised the size of the days journey, when a japanese family bought us rice and drinks, after asking us what the hell we were doing in the middle of nowhere, waiting for a train. we arrived safe and sound in hakodate at about ten at night, and had a brisk stroll around in the crisp night air, before getting some shut eye.
elise woke us early for a quick trip to the fish markets next door. we could smell the seafood from our window, but i don't think we were prepared for what we saw. massive tanks of crabs, and odd looking squid just laying about. it didn't create the hunger for seafood that we'd all hoped it would. in fact. none of us really feel like eating seafood today at all. funny that.
hakodate has lots of beautiful gardens and trees scattered around, and we ventured out to an old fort, that has lots of the cherry blossums, that we'd travelled almost the whole length of the country for. although sapporo will no doubt be the main course in our cherry blossum feast, hakadote was a really nice entree. we're now on a train headed for sapporo to see the last of japan's cherry blossums for this season. it'll be nice to stop travelling (even for a night), and appreciate the natural beauty, that japan is so famous for. more blossum updates soon, flower lovers.


in hakodate, they have these weird bronze sculptures on the streets. they remind me of tim burton's animations, but less disturbing.


at the fish market, this guy was standing in a vat of crabs, yelling about the bargains to be had. not sure why he couldn't do this on dry land, but it seemed authentic.


there's a star shaped fort in hakodate, that dates back along time, and has something to do with battles. now it's full of cherry blossums, and is really stunning place to visit.


once i found out the vending machines in japan, had hot coffee in a can for about two dollars, i've become hooked. well, i was hooked to begin with, but this makes it easier for me. they really are hot cans. brilliant.


crabs gallore at the fish markets. this one was writhing around, whilst being weighed. who's a big boy...