Asia-Europe Express: From the southernmost point of continental Asia in Singapore to Cape Nordkinn, the northernmost on continental Europe; one rail road to link them all.
你转身向北侧脸还是很美
我一路向北离开有你的季节
The first time I was in Sapporo about 12 years ago, a heavy downpour basically kept me in my hostel, doing nothing but to sample the Sapporo beer.
Fortunately, after the rain on the previous day, I arrive in Sapporo from Wakkanai on a sunny day. With a chance to walk about, I headed for the Sapporo Beer museum. The museum is actually in the compound of what used to be a brewery. Apparently, small batches of beer are still brewed within the museum. Most of the buildings here are handsome-looking red brick buildings, some with hop plants crawling on their facade.
The kind I imagine I would like to be in during winter, with fire crackling in a corner.
Because this is Hokkaido, even a beer museum will emphasis on the spirit of exploration. Beer is not just a golden drink, but rather the result of some men's great effort in building up a brewery industry during the Meiji period.
This is it. If you are travelling north in Japan, this is the furthest you will get. Any further, and you will be in the sea. And judging by the rain, the wind (one guy has the whole plastic part of his umbrella blown away, leaving the 'skeleton) and the temperature, it wouldn't be a pleasant little dip.
Surprising, the monument that mark this northernmost point wasn't really grand. Beside it, there was a statue of Mamiya Rinzou, an explorer. The only other buildings around the cape were a Jinja shrine, some restaurants, souvenir shops and a public toilet. Of course, each of these establishments proudly proclaim themselves as the northernmost.... Shrine..... restaurant.... souvenir shop..... Although the toilet did not claim as such, I guess other than pissing right into the sea, it would have to be the northernmost spot in Japan to do one's pissing. And did I do the pissing? Mochiron, for obvious symbolic reason.... Across the road from the northernmost-point monuments is a little hill where you can find more monuments. But this time round, monuments for world peace. Further down the road is a restaurant in a wind mill (making me feel like Don Quixote) which dishes out the supposedly-famous Souya Misaki Black Bull beef. When I was there, sheltering from the rain, drying my windbreaker and eating my lunch, the restaurant was playing a enka-style song about Souya Misaki. And it was looping on and on and on, such that every 2 minutes or so, the singer was going "....Souuuya...Miiiisaaaaaki...." The visitor shelter next to the bus-stop has a little notebook for visitors to note down their thoughts about their visit. It seems quite a number of visitors come here as some sort of pilgremage. There are those who came by walking all the way from some other part of Hokkaido, others who did the trip entirely on a trusty bicycle, and some more who did it to complete their Easternmost+Westernmost+Southernmost+Northernmost-points-of-Japan grand slam. Surprisely, quite a number of Hong-Kongers made their way here.
Being just one station away from the northestmost train station in Japan, it would have make sense to take the train from Minami-Wakkanai to Wakkanai station. But I enjoyed my morning shower a little too much. And by the time I rush to the train station, I could only see a sleepy-looking school girl walking out of the station. I knew I have missed the morning train. The lady and her customer at the train station kiosk confirmed that, gesturing at the time table, telling me the next train would be about an hour away.
I decided to take the bus. And by the time the bus arrived, the clear morning sky has given way to an overcasted one. By the time I reached the Wakkanai train station, it was drizzling. And the rain did not stop until much later in the evening. Anyway, I have missed the morning buses to Souya Misaki (Souya Cape, the northernmost point of Japan), so have to check out Wakkanai central while waiting for the 1pm bus to the cape. I didn't expect much, but the Wakkanai Park on a hill overlooking the sea was a pleasant little hike. Too bad the weather was bad, and the rain was really bringing the temperature down quite a few degrees. And I was more or less in my summer clothings. The Wakkanai Park has some monuments, and being a fishing port, the crab and other seafoods were the other attraction of the city/town. I still dream of the seafood Don. The train station itself is probably another attraction. Various signs mark it as the northern most train station in Japan. And it come as no surprise that tourist were taking pictures of themselves by these signs. Speaking of signs, many of the traffic signs in Wakkanai are in Russian, although I did not see a single Russian-looking person when I was there.
I am not sure what planted the idea in my brain. Ever since my first trip out of Singapore to Malaysia on the Malaysia Railway, I have been wondering how far north I could push on overland on trains. When I did really sit down and study it, it seems very far north: all the way to Europe. And so, the whole idea of jumping on a train in Singapore, getting off and jumping on another all the way until the last one pulls up into a platform somewhere in the Scandanavia continues to fascinate in the next few years.
When I do talk about this ideas to friends, some find it totally impossible. The whole seperation of Europe from Asia has made many think that it is a true geographical seperation rather than a political one.
[[The 2 pix of Sentosa and Noth-Cape above are from someone else's blog.]]
Fortunately, after the rain on the previous day, I arrive in Sapporo from Wakkanai on a sunny day. With a chance to walk about, I headed for the Sapporo Beer museum.
The museum is actually in the compound of what used to be a brewery.
Apparently, small batches of beer are still brewed within the museum. Most of the buildings here are handsome-looking red brick buildings, some with hop plants crawling on their facade. 
Because this is Hokkaido, even a beer museum will emphasis on the spirit of exploration. Beer is not just a golden drink, but rather the result of some men's great effort in building up a brewery industry during the Meiji period.
