Midwinter Hokkaido Walking Trip 27 [Touring Monbetsu and the Seals]

Click here for the summary up to yesterday! The Sanzoku-yaki was delicious...↓

Day 53: I want to sleep in an inn

Woke up at 5:30 AM and set off at sunrise. The temperature was -13°C, another cold one. When leaving the inn that hosted us, "Yachiyo-kan", I was able to talk to the owner. Apparently, there is a place name called "Gifu" further ahead. It seems it was named by people who moved there from Gifu during the pioneering era, and it looks like place names from Honshu exist all over Hokkaido like that. When leaving the inn, the owner gave us a Coca-Cola as encouragement! Thank you...!

As I set off from the inn and moved forward, the sunlight began to flicker little by little. Then, I saw some kind of vertical ray of light extending from the top of the sun...

A sun pillar is a phenomenon that can only be seen in extremely cold regions like the north.
Sunrise or sunset, no wind, clear skies, and temperatures below -10 degrees—it's a phenomenon that occurs when all these conditions are met. I'm happy to have encountered such a rare phenomenon in the morning. I was thinking, "Maybe something good will happen..."

My sunglasses broke. It seems like deterioration over time, and it doesn't look like it can be fixed... But since my eyes would get burned on the snowy road in the sun, I'll just wear them as is, since I can at least hook one side over my ear.

As I was walking silently, a car coming from the front stopped on the shoulder. I wondered what it was... and as I moved forward... It was the mother of the person I met yesterday at "Sanzoku-yaki" who gave us scallop sushi! On her way back to Okoppe from an outing, she went out of her way to come to us, and even gave us a gift. When I looked inside, it was scallops, the adductor muscles!!!!
"I've gotten tired of eating them... so please take them," she said as she handed over a bottle of scallops that I found out cost 2,000 yen. And even warm tea. I'm just too happy, I want to give something back but I have nothing to give... Thank you~~~! As we were tearing up, she left the scene.

With that, we arrived in the city center of Monbetsu. This is the first time we've been in a city like this since Wakkanai City, 200 kilometers ago.

Now, where to go first...

Kentucky!I had decided I would definitely go. It's been all about chicken since yesterday. And then, the public bath "Monta no Yu".

The water temperature was perfect. It felt so good that all my fatigue blew away. It's been since Hamatonbetsu that I've been in a large bath, so the emotion is especially strong. And about the inn... surprisingly, there are no vacancies anywhere in Monbetsu. Apparently, there's an event called the "
Drift Ice Festival" coming up soon, and there are many people here for work, like setting it up. Because of that, we were forced to camp in a tent in a park in the city. Good grief...

Day 54: Mombetsu sightseeing, full of highlights

Woke up around 6:00... I had forced the tent onto the slope, but it seems it managed to stay upright surprisingly well. I wanted to take it easy, but this is a park in the middle of town. I decided to pack up the tent immediately and go for a little walk.
Here in the urban area of Mombetsu, there is something called Mombetsu Park on the hill in the center. When you climb to the top, there is an observation deck and a plaza, where I relaxed for a bit (it was cold).

At 9:30, I went to the nearby Mombetsu City Museum. This was also an interesting museum, with content far richer than I imagined, including the history of the gold mines that were opened and closed around Mombetsu, the seafood caught in the nearby sea and their fishing methods, materials on the railways that once ran through this area, and archaeological materials of the Ainu and Jomon people who lived here in the past. I was surprised. I really wanted to spend a whole day looking around here.

After finishing at the museum, I left my luggage at the Mombetsu Prince Hotel that I had managed to book, and resumed my outing with a daypack. My destination was Okhotsk Tokkari Center on the south side of Mombetsu. There are various facilities in this area, making it an optimal place for sightseeing.
First, I went to see the little one I came to Mombetsu for. That little one is...
a seal!

Here, there is a seal protection and tourism facility called Seal Sea Paradise, where you can observe them and experience feeding them. Thinking it would be a valuable experience, I immediately tried feeding them.

I gave one command for a trick, and if he did it, I gave him food. I did this twice. If you give him a command, he will perform a cute trick properly. Then, when I held a slice of fish over his head, he would open his mouth and wait, and when I dropped it in, he would swallow it whole.
Still, though...

I was thinking that, but apparently this Agu-kun is actually 36 years old. At this age, he's more of an Agu-san than an Agu-kun.
There are other highlights around this Okhotsk Tokkari Center. The first Garinko-go, an ice-breaking sightseeing ship that was used in the past, is on display, and...

There is a facility called Okhotsk Tower, and I tried walking along the seaside path leading up to it,

I checked out the giant crab claw sculpture at the nearby roadside station.

There are plenty of sights to see. You could easily spend a whole day just here.
At first, I couldn't find a place to stay in Mombetsu and thought, 'Damn it!', but the sightseeing turned out to be quite fulfilling.

Day 55: A Relaxing Birthday Celebration

I had planned to depart today, but I started feeling a bit unwell last night, so I decided to stay another night to be safe. Since every part of the itinerary is demanding, I really want to be thorough about managing my health.
I spent the day relaxing at the hotel until evening, and by the time I went outside, it was already night. I decided to try a sushi restaurant I had been curious about.

Scallops are truly delicious. They are even better because they are fresh and caught locally. I ate various other things, but I feel like scallops are the best thing in the Okhotsk region.
After finishing the sushi, the next stop was a pastry shop. Actually, it was my partner's birthday yesterday, but our schedule was so packed that we didn't have time to eat cake. Since we ended up staying another night today and she was feeling better, we decided, 'Let's eat it now!', which brings us to the present.
There was actually a stray cat at the entrance. And another one further inside. I was healed by these cats living tough yet cute lives even in this snowy country.

The cakes we bought were huge! And reasonably priced, too. I'm happy that these three only cost 1,400 yen. We celebrated her birthday in our hotel room.

And from tomorrow, I plan to head toward Abashiri. This will finally mark the completion of half of this Hokkaido trip. But honestly,

is what I also think. The 700 kilometers so far have felt long, yet they also passed in the blink of an eye.
I want to cherish every single day for the second half of the trip as well.