Sights, Smells and Gateways to Hell, Hokkaido

I saw a lot while I was in Hokkaido (the Northernmost island of Japan) last week. Some places, like the Ryusei and Ginga waterfalls in Daisetsuzan National Park's Sounkyo Gorge...

...were so dazzling I couldn't contain my excitement. This was taken just before I danced (yes, danced) down about 30 flights of stairs:

Other highlights of the natural world included ann extremely large pine cone

and the view from the top (well, as close to the top as the chairlift would take me) of Mount Kurodake

At a park in the middle of nowhere, I found architecture that turned me into a giant...

...and then, I vowed never to eat eggs again after being blasted by the acrid smoke rising from a place everyone calls 'Hell Valley'

Far more hellish than this, though, was the place the train dropped us off on the way. Just outside the station, in the middle of the busiest season of the year, was a completely, utterly deserted fairground:

I was a little unnerved - especially when the next place we arrived looked equally like a lot of people's (including my) version of purgatory

Tomakomai Ferry Port

Gulp.

A night and several beers later, though, we finally made it to the famous Matsushima Bay

...which, of course, called for a Japanese-style celebration!