[Road Less Traveled] Hokkaido: Cute Little Monster and Drift Ice from Abashiri

Frozen Lake Abashiri

Suddenly the staff (guide) handed over a warm blue wet towel for us after she explained briefly about the drift ice. I didn't know what she talked about since it's in Japanese, until she told us to see a digital thermometer before the museum tour began. I was sure it showed the temperature inside the room right before our eyes which the temperature was in -16°C. At first, I thought she gave the towel to keep our hands warm inside the simulation room. Then, she asked us to perform a little experiment. We swung the towel continuously in the air and within seconds it became like a cracker chip. Hory shitto!

A few hours earlier.....

After a night stay at a resort beside the scenic beauty of frozen Lake Akan, that morning we headed to Abashiri. This city is located far enough to the north at the Sea of Okhotsk coastline which took about 2,5 hours car driving. Just like in Kushiro, since it's winter, the well-known Hokkaido farmland turned into a vast white land. With just a few cars passed by and no one seen along the trip, the roads seemed deserted. From left to right the roads looked similar. For some reason I confused about the direction and wondered if we only traveled in a circle. Even our driver, Kihirato-san followed a guidance from smartphone maps.

Tiba-tiba staff/guide museum memberikan kami handuk biru hangat yang basah setelah ia menjelaskan secara singkat tentang drift ice. Saya sendiri tidak begitu mengerti karena ia berbicara dalam bahasa Jepang, hingga ia memberitahu kami untuk melihat termometer digital sebelum tur museum dimulai. Saya yakin temperatur itu menunjukkan suhu di dalam sebuah ruangan di depan kami yang suhunya mencapai -16°C.

Awalnya saya mengira handuk itu berguna untuk menghangatkan tangan kami selama di dalam ruang simulasi. Lalu, staff meminta kami untuk melakukan sebuah eksperimen. Kami mengayunkan handuknya berulang kali di udara dan hanya dalam beberapa detik handuk itu berubah menjadi kerupuk garing. Hory shitto!

Beberapa jam sebelumnya.....

Setelah semalam tinggal di sebuah resort tepat di sebelah pemandangan indah dari Danau Akan yang membeku, pagi itu kami beranjak ke Abashiri. Kota ini berlokasi cukup jauh ke utara, di garis pantai Laut Okhotsk yang memakan 2,5 jam perjalanan dengan berkendara mobil.

Sama seperti di Kushiro, karena musim dingin, Hokkaido yang terkenal akan lahan pertaniannya itu berubah menjadi daratan putih nan luas. Dengan hanya sedikit mobil yang berlalu-lalang dan tak ada "batang hidung" yang terlihat selama perjalanan, jalan raya ini tampak seperti ditinggalkan. Dari kiri ke kanan jalanan terlihat hampir tak berbeda. Untuk beberapa saat saya sempat bingung arah dan bertanya-tanya apakah kami hanya berputar-putar di jalan yang sama saja. Bahkan sopir kami, Kihirato-san mengikuti panduan dari peta di smartphone.

Abashiri is located here

(Source: www.city.abashiri.hokkaido.jp/english/overview.html)

The road looked similar

(Source: http://www.yunphoto.net/en/photobase/hr/hr3248.html)

It was almost midday when we arrived at Abashiri, and the first destination was Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum. This museum offers hands-on experience with the drift ice. For those who don't know, drift ice is the floating chunk of ice carried along by winds and sea currents. It became the tourists attraction since it's a seasonal event in the Sea of Okhotsk.

The museum has 5 exhibition rooms including a theater depicting the four seasons of Abashiri on a large 300 inch screen; and a space where visitors can see sea angels (clione) and other mysterious creatures. Cliones really stole our attention and curiosity since they have tiny and cute-looking body. Those marine mollusk dwell in the depths of the cold Sea of Okhotsk. They have transparent body and keep floating by flapping its "wings" so that's why they called sea angels.

Sudah hampir tengah hari ketika kami tiba di Abashiri, dan destinasi pertama adalah Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum. Museum ini menawarkan pengalaman langsung dengan drift ice. Untuk yang belum tahu, drift ice adalah bongkahan es yang mengapung yang terus terbawa oleh angin dan arus laut. Drift ice menjadi daya tarik turis karena di Laut Okhotsk hanya terjadi selama musim dingin saja.

Museum ini memiliki 5 ruang pameran termasuk teater yang menggambarkan empat musim di Abashiri dalam layar besar berukuran 300 inci; dan ruangan di mana para pengunjung dapat melihat sea angels (clione) dan makhluk misterius penghuni kedalaman laut lainnya. Clione benar-benar mencuri perhatian dan rasa penasaran kami karena tubuhnya yang kecil dan imut. Moluska laut itu menghuni di kedalaman Laut Okhotsk yang dingin. Tubuh mereka transparan dan melayang-layang dengan cara mengepakkan "sayapnya". Itulah mengapa mereka disebut sea angels.

 Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum

(Source: commons.wikimedia.org)

 Clione limacina

(Source: www.debbzie.com/2013/05/hokkaido-things-to-do-in-mombetsu.html)

I could barely believe to witness a clione in different form as it gobbles its prey. That cute-looking creature transforms into a monstrous form, which two horns on its head turn into tentacles to ensnare its prey. Once the prey caught, the head will gulp it up into its orange visceral sac. Well, that was surprising!

Saya hampir tak percaya saat menyaksikan clione dalam wujud yang berbeda ketika ia melahap mangsanya. Clione yang tadinya lucu berubah bentuk menjadi monster yang menyeramkan. Di mana kedua tanduk di kepalanya terbuka dan berubah menjadi tentakel untuk menjerat mangsanya. Begitu tertangkap, tentakel menarik masuk dan kepalanya menelan bulat-bulat mangsa ke dalam organ yang berwarna oren itu. Bener-bener mengherankan!

The monstrous side of cute clione

The most interesting is the drift ice exhibition room where the temperature sets below -15°C. In here, visitors can experience the freezing and touch the real drift ice. As we entered into the room, the chill temperature felt through my hands since the room surrounded by many big-scale drift ices. There are taxidermied winter animals and also there is a glass tube filled with small drift ices from 1980s.

To make it more real, the cracking and collision sounds of drift ice echoing entire the simulation room. I asked the staff guide about the screeching noises that sounded again and again. I thought that was dolphin or maybe whale sound, but she told us that was a sound from the friction of drift ice.

As I told before, we did an experiment with a freezing wet towel. In order to make it stiff like a cracker chip, we swung the towel continuously and within seconds it became frozen. That was cool and.... freakingly cold!

Yang paling menarik adalah ruang simulasi drift ice, di mana suhunya disetel di bawah -15°C. Di dalam, para pengunjung dapat merasakan hawa dingin dan menyentuh drift ice asli. Kami pun memasuki ruangan dan langsung saja hawa dingin terasa "menusuk" mulai dari tangan, karena ruangannya saja sudah dikelilingi oleh banyak drift ice berukuran besar. Terlihat beberapa hewan-hewan musim dingin yang dibekukan dan juga terdapat tabung kaca yang berisi drift ice kecil dari tahun 1980-an.

Agar terasa lebih nyata, suara-suara retakan dan tabrakan drift ice bergema di seluruh ruangan. Saya bertanya ke staff pemandu akan suara lengkingan yang terdengar berulang kali. Awalnya saya pikir itu suara lumba-lumba atau mungkin paus, namun kemudian ia menjelaskan bahwa itu adalah suara yang dihasilkan dari drift ice yang saling bergesekan. 

Seperti yang sudah saya ceritakan sebelumnya, kami melakukan eksperimen dengan handuk basah yang membeku. Supaya handuknya jadi kaku kayak kerupuk, kami mengayun-ngayun handuknya berulang kali dan tiba-tiba menjadi beku hanya dalam beberapa detik saja. Keren abis dan.... dingin gila, coy!

 -16°C Simulation Room

(Source: commons.wikimedia.org)

"It's a crispy towel! Hory shitto!"

We ascended the spiral stairs up to the observation tower. Just like the lighthouse at the coastline, the tower has 360° aerial panorama. The museum itself located on top of Mt. Tento. Even though it's just 207 m high, but the vista from the summit is unbelievable. There is nothing blocks the vision. We can enjoy the panoramic views of Lake Abashiri, Lake Tofutsu, Lake Notoro, and Lake Mokoto as well as the mountain range in Shiretoko Peninsula beyond the Sea of Okhotsk.

Kami pun menaiki tangga spiral ke atas menara observasi. Sama seperti mercusuar di pinggir laut, menara ini memiliki panorama 360° yang tinggi. Museum ini sendiri terletak di atas Gn. Tento. Meski tingginya cuma 207 m, namun pemandangan dari atas puncaknya sungguh luar biasa. Tidak ada apapun yang menghalangi pandangan. Kami dapat menyaksikan panorama Danau Abashiri, Danau Tofutsu, Danau Notoro, dan Danau Mokoto. Begitu juga dengan rangkaian pegunungan di Semenanjung Shiretoko yang berada di seberang Laut Okhotsk.

Sea of Okhotsk from Observatory Tower

From this museum, we learned about the importance of drift ice for the Okhotsk nature ecosystem. Drift ice brings microorganism and organic foods from the land-river for every marine creatures. The ice originates from the Amur River, which forms part of the border between China and Russia. In late November cold Siberian air begins to freeze the river water and resulting the ice floe slowly fills the Sea of Okhotsk until mid March, when as much as 80% of the sea surface is covered in ice.

In recent years, the amount of drift ice and length of the drift ice season has decreased due to global warming. As the only place in Japan where drift ice is seen, the Okhotsk area works toward preventing global warming to protect drift ice. Seals give birth and raise their cubs on drift ice. What will happen to them if drift ice disappears?

Dari museum ini, kami belajar banyak tentang pentingnya drift ice untuk ekosistem alam di Okhotsk. Drift ice membawa mikroorganisme dan makanan organik dari sungai di daratan untuk setiap makhluk laut. Es tersebut berasal dari Sungai Amur yang berada di perbatasan antara China dan Russia. Di akhir November udara dingin Siberia membekukan air sungai dan menghasilkan es yang mengapung. Perlahan es ini memenuhi Laut Okhotsk hingga akhir Maret, di mana sebanyak 80% permukaan laut tertutup oleh drift ice.

Dalam beberapa tahun terakhir, jumlah dan musim drift ice kian berkurang disebabkan oleh pemanasan global. Sebagai satu-satunya daerah di Jepang di mana drift ice dapat terlihat, area Okhotsk berusaha mencegah pemanasan global untuk melindungi drift ice. Anjing laut beranak dan membesarkan anaknya di atas drift ice. Apa yang bakal terjadi pada mereka jika drift ice hilang dari muka Bumi?

We left the Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum with new knowledge about how nature works. That was an inspiring experience for greater world understanding. Still in Abashiri where wide-scale of forest without its foliage seen due to winter. The snow and slippery road caused our van ran slowly at 40-50 km/h. And once again I saw a culture difference for Japan (Hokkaido) and Indonesia (Jakarta) in driving.

Hokkaido drivers majorly always stop their cars when they come to every intersections. Then they try to look from left to right of the road to ensure no cars passing or will pass in high-speed. It also happens when they're about to pass a railway. In Jakarta? Some people just turn away without turning on the turn signals. And some of them will keep speeding as the railway portals are lowering down. Hmm... let's not say it as culture, but habit I mean.

We arrived at the hotel close to the Lake Abashiri to do check-in and some preparations first before to do next activity. We were about to do an exciting winter experience in Hokkaido, it's smelt fishing. This activity took us to walk in the middle of iced Lake Abashiri. It's 7,2 m depth, but it freezes over from December to April with ice up to a meter thick. The staff brought us to the fishing spot near the visitors campsite. All of fishing tools including little chairs for sitting already provided, then we waited the staff to drill a hole into the frozen lake.

Kami beranjak meninggalkan Okhotsk Ryuhyo Museum dengan pengetahuan baru tentang bagaimana alam bekerja. Benar-benar pengalaman yang sangat menginspirasi kami demi memahami dunia ini lebih baik lagi. Masih di Abashiri di mana terlihat hutan yang sangat luas tanpa dedaunannya karena musim dingin. salju dan jalanan licin menyebabkan van kami melaju lambat di 40-50 km/jam. Dan sekali lagi saya melihat perbedaan budaya antara Jepang (Hokkaido) dan Indonesia (Jakarta) dalam hal berkendara.

Mayoritas sopir Hokkaido selalu memberhentikan mobilnya ketika mereka akan melewati setiap persimpangan. Lalu mereka menengok kiri dan kanan jalan untuk memastikan tidak ada mobil yang lewat ataupun yang akan datang dalam kecepatan tinggi. Hal ini juga berlaku ketika mereka akan melewati rel kereta. Di Jakarta? Beberapa orang akan langsung menikung begitu saja tanpa menyalakan lampu sein. Dan mereka bakal tetap "menarik" gas meski di saat itu portal rel kereta hampir tertutup. Hmm... coba jangan sebut sebagai budaya, namun kebiasaan maksud saya.

Kami pun tiba di sebuah hotel yang bertepatan di sebelah Danau Abashiri untuk check-in dan melakukan persiapan terlebih dahulu sebelum lanjut ke aktivitas berikutnya. Kami akan merasakan salah satu aktivitas musim dingin di Hokkaido, yaitu mancing ikan smelt. Kegiatan ini membawa kami untuk berjalan di tengah-tengah Danau Abashiri yang membeku. 

Kedalamannya mencapai 7,2 m, namun permukaannya membeku dari Desember hingga April dan membentuk es setebal 1 m. Staff pemancingan membawa kami ke spot mancing dekat dengan perkemahan pengunjung. Semua peralatan pancing termasuk kursi kecil untuk duduk sudah tersedia di tempat, lalu kami menunggu staff yang akan mengebor untuk membuat sebuah lubang di danau yang beku.

Frozen Lake Abashiri from hotel window view

Walking in the middle of frozen Lake Abashiri

Bait was lowered down through the hole, and then we waited for a hit. It isn't fishing in the ocean or river like a professional that sometimes that you have to wait for hours to get only 1 fish. Smelt fishing is a mere fun activity, even newbie like us no need to wait long to get 2-3 fishes in one attempt.

Even though everything around was covered in white, but the panorama from here was heavenly. I could enjoy the quiet and serene atmosphere with some white hills and forest dominated the landscape. Crows was cawing as they hunted for food around the lake. I could also witness some eagles soared above the lake while their screams echoing through the cold air.

Umpan diturunkan ke dalam lubang es, dan tinggal menunggu sampai ada hentakan di mata pancing kami. Aktivitas memancing ini bukan seperti di samudera atau sungai layaknya profesional yang terkadang kamu harus menunggu berjam-jam cuma untuk mendapatkan 1 ikan saja. Smelt fishing hanyalah sekadar kegiatan menyenangkan saja, bahkan pemula seperti kami tidak perlu menunggu lama untuk menangkap 2-3 ikan smelt sekaligus dalam sekali coba. 

Meskipun semua pemandangan di sekitar diselimuti salju putih, namun panorama di sini sangat-teramat indah. Saya dapat menikmati suasana yang tenang dan sunyi dengan perbukitan putih dan hutan yang mendominasi pemandangan. Burung-burung gagak terdengar berkaok sambil mencari makan di sekitar danau. Saya juga dapat menyaksikan burung-burung elang melayang di atas danau sementara jeritannya menggema menembus udara dingin.

Superb scenery

Crows are common here

Just staring at the hole

Syelfie got two fishes in one caught! Mancing maniak, mantabh!

Maybe I was daydreaming at the moment until I realized something pulled down my bait. Not only me, my friends also got fishes in a bait almost at the same time. All the small smelt fishes we caught can be cooked into Tempura on the spot. It was fresh from the ove.. from the lake obviously. The taste of the fish we caught ourselves is out of this world. Well, there are more activities that you can experience during winter in Abashiri. And of course I will tell the stories on the next posts.

Mungkin saya agak melamun beberapa saat hingga saya menyadari sesuatu telah menarik mata pancing saya. Bukan cuma saya sendiri, teman-teman juga berhasil mendapatkan ikan di waktu hampir bersamaan. Semua ikan smelt yang kami tangkap bisa digoreng jadi Tempura di "TKP". Cemilannya benar-benar fresh from the ove.. dari danau yang benar. Rasa dari ikan yang kami tangkap sendiri tentu saja enak banget. Pastinya ada banyak lagi aktivitas yang dapat kalian lakukan selama musim dingin di Abashiri. Dan tentu saja saya akan menceritakannya di posting-an berikutnya.

Our snack today (tempura smelt fish)

We ate tempura from the fishes we caught

Another stories in Hokkaido:
- Mission From Japan: WakuWaku Reporter 2015 (Hokkaido)
- Hokkaido: Asahiyama Zoo, The Northernmost & The Most Innovative Zoo in Japan
- Hokkaido: See How Japan Introduces Its Freezing World
- Hokkaido: The Famous Small Station of the North
- Hokkaido: Cruising the Sea of Okhotsk on the Icebreaker Ship
- [Road Less Traveled] Hokkaido: Soup of Freedom and the Prison Break of Japan 
- [Road Less Traveled] Hokkaido: Cute Little Monster and Drift Ice from Abashiri
- [Road Less Traveled]: Hokkaido Everything All White in Kushiro
- [VIDEO] Hokkaido Trip: Let's Report Japan!!

Photos of Hokkaido:
Hokkaido album on my Flickr

-----------------------------------------------

Good! Hokkaido!

Hokkaido well-known for its vast farmland and stunning nature landscape. An island which is not only famous for skiing, but it has many special attractions that can be enjoyed in every seasons. I believe... everybody will be enchanted by Hokkaido's charm after recognize how amazing this island is.

This website introduces natures, hot springs, foods particularly to have a foreigner and people lived in outside of Hokkaido recognize that Hokkaido has surprise and splendor in the concept of "Nature, Onsen and Tasty" Why did I intend to do something like that? If you are interested, please do have a look.

Good! Hokkaido! Homepage

"It's not just about the destination, but the journey"

(January 2015)