Last Sapporo Update

Actual date Oct 25th 

  So I decided to be moving along outward of Hokkaido.  Tomorrow morning I'm catching the 5 1/4 hour bus at 10am from Sapporo to Hakodate.  I was telling Fuji about my plans, and he looked for cheap places for me to stay.  Apparently, when searching on those asian travel and accommodation booking sites in English, they only list the expensive places!  When Fuji looked in Japanese he was able to find a couple really cheap hostels and capsule hotels, but when I looked in English they weren't there!  Ha, so anyways, basically I decided where I wanted to stay and he helped me book tomorrow night in a capsule hotel, and then three nights in a very cheap single room in a business hotel.  So that will be interesting.  I've wanted to try a night in a capsule hotel, but I didn't want to risk booking more than one night, and then I'll be able to have an entire room to myself!  Also, capsule hotels are often about 3000 yen per night, but this one is 1500!  And the business hotel I found for 2900 yen.  The hostels I've been staying at have been about 2500 to 3000 yen per night, and hotels go up from there, so I think its a pretty good deal.  Ha, my birthday will be in the hotel, so maybe I'll get myself a pizza or go to a buffet or something!  Ha, I dunno, it'll be fine though.  If I really can't find anything, maybe I'll just do something for myself when I get back.  Where I'm staying though, I'm pretty sure I'll have access to internet, but maybe no wifi or LAN connection.  Just courtesy lobby desktops to use, at least.  So after Hakodate, Fuji was actually able to find a 3 1/2 hour ferry for me that will be much cheaper than taking the train, to Aomori.  I think I'll be okay with only a 3 or 4 hour trip, but I guess it depends on the weather, and it was like, less than half the price of taking the train through the tunnel.  After Aomori though, I still don't know, but I'll figure out something!  Also, right now I'm booked to be departing Hakodate this friday, but I could still stay an extra day or two.

Today I stayed in and researched and finally decided to not say too much longer in Hokkaido.  I could definitely spend the whole 9 weeks just here, hiking and going to onsen and bicycle touring and even snowboarding in their legendary powder, but maybe a different trip.  For now, I got a lot of Japan to see!