Heading to Hokkaido

Day one (10-02-2012) on what promises to be an adventurous two weeks in Hokkaido has followed through. Rising groggily out of bed after a long night of packing and googling, I eventually lugged my bulking gear down to Otsuka station. That giddy excitment of leaving for a vacation was substituted for an insular relief. Relief from the grey abyss that Tokyo can easily assume. My obvious backpacker/snowboarder image was vividly juxtaposed to the swarms of white collar salary men on the 13:13 Yamanote bound for Ueno. At Ueno I sorted myself out with a quick sandwich and milk then a ticket for the Super Express 35 bound for Mito. The train  sped North and within 45 minutes or so, the dense Tokyo landscape seemingly changed abruptly to agricultural property set around small mountains. At Mito I changed onto a small two carriage diesel locomotive to take me to the Oarai ferry terminal. At the station I walked through the back street's past various weathered homes, garages and a bustling kindergarten. I passed an elderly woman in a narrow path and her surprised facial expression was the evidence for me that not many gaijin walk Oarai backstreets, luggage in tow; And so the adventure begins. Through the trees I could a first glimpse of the Sunflower Ferry, and its massive size was a welcome surprise. I contacted Bojan and Dejan to see where they where at, and they had just arrived by bus (they took the package route, no snowboards allowed on buses!) I passed through the freight truck area, met the fellas, bought my ticket and waited to board. After stuffing my bag with beer and sandwiches we hustled in line to get jump on board. I couldn't remember the last time I had been on such as large boat, I think it may have been when I was much younger when Dad took me on a docked BHP cargo ship in Wollongong. We where escorted by the hostesses who where dressed impeccably in their uniforms to cattle class; which was a room of 30 small mattresses each with sheets and a pillow lined up against the perimeter of the room. I had read that most of the passengers will be truckers, and without fail we had about 8 haggard Japanese truckers with us. In order to make peace I introduced myself to a few of them and gave them some beers (superficial insurance against theft). They where quite the characters, in particularly a young fella with long dyed blonde hair and his rather plump friend who challenged each other to a one sided sumo battle. Entertaining to say the least. Then a pillow fight threatened to erupt, I threw a pillow and knocked over my beer in the process...damn. Things calmed down and it was time amuse ourselves for the long journey. So for the next 19 hours, we each attempted to sleep, played skill tester, braved the freeze outside, played dress ups and wandered around the ship sparking up conversations with other passengers - Yuta was a local Sapporan on his way home who laid down some of Justin Timberlake's top shelf lyrics in English (he had a skewed vision as to what would pull the foreign ladies). I headed back to the room where Bojan was sprawled out over three mattress in a deep coma, I managed to find some quality sleep for the next 4 hours or so. As the sun rose, the distant land began to appear. Stunning white rocky cliff faces pierced the overcast atmosphere and the extreme winter climate into which we where headed was now becoming a reality. Something very new to me. The ship docked at the Tomakomai ferry terminal and we transferred to the bus bound for Sapporo.