Sunday, October 11, 2009

Hokkaido Part V: Foot baths and new Taiwanese friends


On my last day in Toya-ko Onsen I explored the small town, the volcano museum and the remains of the destruction caused by Mount Usu's most recent eruption in 2000. Then I soaked my feet in a free "foot bath," or hot spring for the feet only, overlooking the lake and the most striking volcano.
In the evening, after watching a beautiful sunset, I met three Taiwanese tourists who had checked into the youth hostel, and they invited me to ride with them in their rental car to watch the evening fireworks on the lake shore. Afterwards we enjoyed another foot bath.

The Taiwanese tourists were an interesting group of two men and a woman who met on an internet site that helps people find travel partners. They emailed, decided to travel together, and met in person for the first time at the airport in Taipei! The woman, Sylvia, told me that she has traveled that way several times in the past.

Sylvia had an electric heating element which she plugged in and stuck into a pot of water and vegetables to make fresh soup in the hostel dormitory!
Meeting other travelers is one of the reasons I enjoy staying at youth hostels.

In the morning I flew over a typhoon and back to Tokyo, in a Pokemon airplane!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kool!

Anonymous said...

Very cool.