On Sunday we both had the day off and decided to go to the next nearest city, Asahikawa, for an explore. The train took 1 hour 20 mins to get there passing through lots of snow covered farmland.
It was lunchtime when we arrived so we walked to Hachiya Ramen house which has been in business since 1947. It is famous for its shio ramen (salt based broth which is from chicken, pork and seafood broth) which you choose how smoky you want. I had the smoky char sui version and Pete went for a spicy ramen.
It was very tasty and set us up for a chilly walk to Tokiwa Park.
The shrine at the park looked gorgeous in the snow.
The bridges over the frozen river and lake looked beautiful too.
And look at the benches …
The 15cm plus of snowfall the night before made it a bit tricky to go off the main path but it was lovely to see. The snow started to get pretty heavy so we decided to head back into the city and towards the train station. The snow got heavier and the wind became pretty brutal blowing the snow into our eyes. There wasn’t any locals out and about anymore and just the odd tourist.
We headed to the shelter of the mall, warmed up with a cuppa and cake (well I did) and we set off for the 16.30 train back. And this is where the real adventure begins…..
Trains are never late in Japan so the fact that the train left about 20 mins late signalled all was not ok. The train eventually set off and the wind was buffeting the carriage. The snow was being blown at great speeds past the very slow moving train.
We could see the main highway with lots of cars crawling along with their hazard lights on, then the odd works vehicle clearing sections. We continued to pootle along and then an announcement (in Japanese) which we gathered was saying the train was likely to only go about half way to Biei and then return to Asahikawa as the track was impassable to Furano. Biei is not a huge place but there was a possibility of a bus to take us on, or a hotel room for the night. Eventually we crept into Biei, trudged through calf deep snow along the platform only to be told the train was going to try to go to Furano. So we hopped back on, now right behind the train driver.
Now we could see out of the front of the train and how little the driver could see through the heavy snow storm. Apparently the wind was over 100kmph. You couldn’t see the tracks at all. There’s no way the trains would still be running in the UK!
Eventually two and half hours later we were very relieved to pull into Furano Station – the last train going anywhere that evening.
We escorted a young lady from Cambodia to her newly booked hostel in Furano, as her original plan was to get a late train back to her hotel in Asahikawa which was now impossible. And joined our colleagues in the apartment next door to ours to welcome our new team member, Luke, from New Zealand.
What an adventure!
