A Simple Life: Sleep, Eat, Work & Play

Hitch Hiking

Call us crazy but despite being 2 relatively defenseless girls, KM and I went hitch-hiking from Hakodate to Kyoto, in an annual informal race with other fellow Hokkaido JETs. But both of us really wanted to do it and didn't know anyone else to ask. It might be now or never.

So we started on SATURDAY afternoon.
1700 Set off for ferry terminal. wanted to start hitchhiking then but too embarrassed to do so in "our own territories," so we took the bus instead.
1800 Got on the ferry. sunset cruise. Met a ojisan returning to Kagoshima from his round-Japan trip. Was hoping he would offer us a ride but as it turns out, he drives a small car stuffed with futons he sleeps in at night. Too bad.
2150 Arrived in Aomori. Met up with two other guys who just hitch-hiked from Sapporo and we had dinner together. Checked into capsule hotel for the night.

SUNDAY. Technically, we only started hitch-hiking from Aomori today.
0615 Woke up early and washed alongside ojisans.
0700 Breakfast at Mc before setting out to hitch our first ride. yappari kinda embarrassing.
0900 Got our first ride after 30 min. Nice cool family of 3. They meant to drop us halfway but decided to drive us all the way to Hirosaki Castle instead. Friendly people.
1015 Hirosaki Castle. The sakura's not in full bloom yet but still really beautiful. The guys caught up and we had lunch together.
1230 2nd hitch ride. Given wrong directions and ended up way off track.
1440 Thankfully, spoke to a helpful elementary school teacher in the convenience store. he offered to drive us to Odate but we declined as it was quite a far way off. So he dropped us off Hirakawa 平川 道の駅. Spent ages there where there are mostly ojisan and obasan.
1530 Finally a kind lady and her mother who can't bear to leave us waiting sent us to a bus stop on the expressway. Got picked up in 2 min by Takayuki, 32, truck driver from Hakodate, lives in Onuma, with a 1 year 2 month old daughter, a jealous wife who calls him every hour and he drives so often that he doesn't see his family much.
1600 passed Morioka. police car, duck!

Really sweet guy. Made space and tidied up for both of us.

2000 Reached Mito too early for unloading time. Waited on the truck.
2300 Woke up. Only KM and me around. Got

Woken in the middle of the night. Takayuki put jackets on us. So sweet.

MONDAY.
0800 Woke up on the truck.
0900 Breakfast and farewell.
1000 Dropped off at Interchange towards Tokyo. Soon picked up by couple of 3 years on their way to Tsuura for shopping. Dropped off at a expressway interchange (IC) entrance. Waited ages in vain. Walked for ages.
Picked up by a kind man, offered drinks and to another IC entrance further down.
Picked up by a worried man. Finally, we got on the expressway! Had lunch together at a Service Area (SA). He was so nervous in front of us two "bijin" (burst out laughing when he called us that. OMG!) that he kept taking his jacket on and off and on. Then he insisted that it was too dangerous for us to hitch hike and sent us to Chiba to take the train to Akihabara. Wished we were left at the SA.
1600 Set out to Route 16. Almost giving up when Kumi, Kaori and Minami picked us up after their trip of herb picking. Interesting family. Kumi speaks some good English too.

Saitama. Sent to Yuu Yu Land, Kawagoe, and took our bath. Ghetto area. Dinner and sleep in Internet cafe.

TUESDAY. Tokyo kept sucking us in. Escape from the urban black hole.
0600 Got out of internet cafe early and set out to hitch rides. Waited in vain at the IC entrance for hours.
1300 Finally called Kumi who sent us to another IC entrance in an seemingly industrial area. Still around Tokyo?
1400 Proved amusement for the people working around there. At a point, there were people watching us from their office windows bemused.
1415 Finally got our first offer of the day. Picked up by cleaning company guys and got to Yamanashi.
1530 Break in Yamanashi SA.
1630 Quickly picked up by 2 odd girls and dropped in a small SA in Nagano. Darn! It's high time we learn to discern the rides and not hop on every single offer we get.
1730 Getting dark. We really don't wanna sleep in that SA.
1800 Hope! Shuhei, a truck driver who drove us into Kyoto!
2400 And that was our last ride. Shower & sleep in internet cafe Kyoto!

Yes, we did it!!

For the rest of the week, we were joined by the rest of the hitch-hikers. After partying all Wed night, bowling and ktving, I think all of us deserve credit for waking up at noon to go to Nara. Friday was spent in Shiga, hiking around Lake Biwa. It was quite a tedious hike but it was great! After climbing up and down with chains, across rivers and rocks, past 12 waterfalls and 8 peaks, we can now truly say we have "hitched" and "hiked." Most of all, it was such good company.

Return by ferry from Tsuruga in Shiga back to Tomakomai in Hokkaido. 20 hours sounded long at first but really, slept through almost, if not more than, half the journey. And it was a nice relaxing peaceful ride too. It's nice not to think or do anything, once in a while. Finally, drinking at Liam's (not that I drank), stayed at Henry's, before Bry drove us back.

It was great and definitely one of my best weeks here. Now, I wish I recontracted.

posted by weiling @ 2:36 AM