Back to Lake Kusharo

Lake Kusharo, July 24th, 2007
I have to admit cold and the winds and the hills have gotten the best of me. And being absurdly unprepared and having grossly underestimated the mileage around Hokkaido (turns out the ruler function on Google Earth doesn’t translate well when it comes down to real road distances) I’ve booked a flight to Chitose from Nakashibetsu. This way I can take a rest day on my route, try and dry out and stop for 'meron icea-creamu' as often as I like and not have to worry about missing my flight back to Taiwan. After all I am on vacation.

So armed with time to account for more of the same bad weather, I was greeted with sun all the way through the Biratori pass back to Lake Kusharo. In the valley by the lake I saw a sign in English for a cafe. It was run by a cheerful Philippina who recommended a hamburger. We talked about my trip. " You must be very strong, you must drink lots of milk!" she said. I ended up ordering the fried chicken which she also recommended as delicious.

That evening I braved the mosquitoes and took a dip in the corner of the lake where some geothermic miracle was heating the water. Then slept like a baby.