To live outside the law you must be honest ?!

Riding on the Super Hakucho with Tim and Che and Shiobhan heading from Shin-Aomori to Hakodate. Interesting talking about fast trains, Sake, hotels and the crime scene in Japan. In fact Tim told me about a guy who was arrested in a bar the other night. Police came in and they didn´t care about handscuffs. No, they just put the man into a bag! Just only his head looking out, he was trapped in a bag, can you imagine? They just carry him out to the police station this way. A friend of Tim was selling tickets in front of a venue where the mafia was in control. Since he didn´t want to deal with them they grabbed him right away and brought him to cage so small, that he just could sit in it. Then they left him alone there for few days, just water and rice. Coming in from time to time, yelling at him, kick him and so on. No one talked english. He did not understand anything, they scared him to death. After a few days he was put in a van and got kicked out somewhere in the streets. So don´t get in trouble with these guys. On the other hand it´s really safe in Japan. As long as you live according to the rules. But as we all know, to live outside the law you must be honest :-D Tim stayed in a capsule hotel, these places where you have just a bed in a box, some of you maybe reminded of Mr. Skinner. Of course he would highly recommend such an accomodation :-D The restrooms are shared with all the other guests, but as Tim says, it´s really quiet since the japanese guests are so gentle and respect privacy. So do it there way and everything will be fine. This is a perfect way to keep your travel costs low, just around 18 Euros a night. Fair trade! Arriving in sleepy Hakodate, which for sure is a nice little old town, but nothing really going on, checked in at the Hakodate Grand Hotel and went for a wals through the deserted streets. A bit of San Francisco touch, up and down you know. The waterfront docks has turned into tourist spots with restaurants and gift shops, the usual stuff nowadays. Nothing catchy for me. So went into a grocery store and bought me a sushi box. few cans of beer and a bottle of sake. Back in my hotelroom it was dinner time.

Later that night Julia and Alrik arrived from Tokyo and we just went out to have a drink. Talking about past travels, music, Bob and Bob and Bob. Alrik had a burger as big as a shoe, too much for him so Julia has to he take over.

We three agreed that following the Bob tour in Japan was much easier then we first thought. Even you´re lost in translation, the gentleness of the people is overwhelming and keeps you out of trouble. This together with the perfect transportation system, the cheap hotels and food is making our journey a very pleasant one. So, tommorow isn´t been a long time, we walked back to our hotel, empty ancient streets. Unfortunately I woke up that night shattered by nightmares. Too much ghosts of the past filled my dreams, not funny at all. Maybe I should stay away from the sake? And maybe I shouldn´t stay away from the women whom I given lots of room in the past as you know :-D Travelling alone is easy at daytime, but in the night it´s a totally different story. Laying awake and listen to the sound of pain, that´s what it is. In need of company, sometimes a man must be alone. Yeah, sometimes, not all the time. Well, I better getting used to it. Or I better have to stop these dark thoughts. Monologues are lonely conversations, aren´t they? Well, let´s see what tomorrow brings?! We are bound for Sapporo.