Japan 2009, Day 3 - Yamagata -> Hakodate

Day 3. It's time to travel to Hakodate.

It took about 7 hours including 3 transfers to reach Hakodate from Yamagata station. We started the journey at around 8am.

Transfers train details:
Yamagata station (local train) -> Sendai (Hayate Shinkansen) -> Hachinohe (Super Hakucho no. 9) ->Hakodate

Ticketing machine to order Soba.

A common sight in Japan. After selecting your Soba choice, you insert the correct amount into the machine and the machine will dispense a ticket. You just need to take the ticket and pass it to the staff in the shop and wait for your Soba. A lot of times, you need to stand to eat your meal just like this Soba shop.

Arriving at freezing Hachinohe station. We had about 40 mins of waiting time to transit to Hakodate. The main heated waiting room were full.. we had to sit outside of the room and share the tiny heater which is almost useless. Luckily the crowd cleared in 15 min when their train arrived. We get to wait in the heated room which is almost a life saver.


An example of eki bento. Bento sold at train stations (eki)

A stationary train next to ours. See the chunk of ice at the bottom? Looks like a part of freezer.. lol

Finally boarded the train to Hakodate! So glad... !!

See the load of onigiri we bought? lol.. For the starving bunch of people.. lol

Reading in the train

Short stopover at one of the station

We were travelling along the coastline. A little truck moving along side our train :)

Finally we reached Hakodate!! More snow waiting for us.. This looks like a giant donut.. hehe.. They don't seem to clear the snow as fast as other cities. The streets are really hard to walk as most of the streets are covered in thick snow. See the thick layer of snow in the background?

We had to lug/drag our luggages around and walk to our hotel which is about 10 mins away. Worst of all, we checked into the wrong hotel after walking for about 20 min trying to bulldoze our way through the snow. Think my travel mates wanted to strangle me at this point in time.... *speechless..

Took another 20 min to reach the correct hotel.. by the time we reached, my face already felt numb. Felt like i just dipped my face into a bowl of curry..