today money bought me happiness

and no, i'm not mistaking happiness for mere enjoyment. today really made my hike way out here to the japanese boonies seem less of a waste of time than it thus far has been: i was really getting tired of seeing all sorts of cool stuff i could be doing, but having it closed either because it wasn't yet april or because the winter was too warm. there's nothing more downheartening than doing what i seem to love most (travelling) and having all the gems of the places just out of my reach. until today northern japan has been largely like this.

i'm in abashiri, in the north of northern japan, and this town came through for me at the eleventh hour. at first i was really pissed because the ice-breaker cruise i was psyched for was pointless due to there being no ice (bloody warm winter), but later today i was able to don a dry suit and go for an 'ice walk' (apparently there was ice in this one bay where it was too shallow for the ice breaker to go). this meant scrambling over the drift ice, which toppled and see-sawed beneath me, swimming around in near-zero degree waters, try to not fall off my chunk of ice (don't i look like a super hero in this photo?--->>) as waves come crashing in, and jumping from floe to floe doing my best to stay above water (and occasionally not - whereupon a just slid in and bobbed around for a while). if you've ever watched the MXC skit where people have to run across a pond on rocks which may or may not give way, resulting in hilarious bails - that's just what this was like. some of the pieces appeared small, but turned out to be enormous, while some were just the opposite and dumped me straight into the sea. i got to give my waterproof camera a good test drive, and it performed admirably.

this is where it got really good: hearing the sound of all those huge chunks of ice crash against each other was impressive - such deep, throaty thwocks coming from all around me as i heard the waves rolling in had me grinning from ear to ear. i got to hop all the way out to the edge where the ice stopped and the open ocean began (also where the waves made the ice chunks especially tippy) and gaze out over the bay, with the snow-capped mountains in the distance, and not a single manmade sound to be heard. talk about an ideal setting, one that i'm not likely to encounter again. there was also a tiny island nearby made of crazy hexagonal formations of volcanic rock that i was able to have a quick scramble over. when my guide said it was time to head back to shore i made sure to take the longest way back i could think of. i was actually sweating by the end of it after all that swimming and hopping around.

the rest of the day was spent at museums that were actually worth going to: i got to see the old prison that abashiri is famous for (it's apparently noted as being especially cruel due to the harsh winter cold), and it actually had english information plates. man those old time criminals had to do a lot of manual labour in flimsy grass shoes. the gift shop there featured all sorts of things made by the inmates, so i thought that made for a pretty cool souvenier.

the other museum of the day followed today's ice theme: the museum of drift ice. apparently the sea of ohkutsuk (in which i was just swimming) is the planet's southernmost sea where salt water freezes. it happens here because, if you look at a map, it's enclosed by islands (making water circulation happen much slower), and it's also apparently relatively shallow (and thus less heat is able to get trapped beneath the surface, causing the water to drop in temperature faster). i thought that was kinda cool. certainly explains why there was ice in the bay and not out where the ship sailed: there was a rock shelf about 4 feet under that stretched way out from the coast. by the way, in the above photo i'm holding a frozen towel which the museum staff hand out soaking wet just before you head into the minus-17 degree room. they recommend you twirl the towl around like a lasso, and it turns out like this. good times. side note: the seal is stuffed, and suffering from a vandalized arm...

so with that i leave you to ponder: with all the opportunities money opens up, might it just be that, spent properly, money can buy happiness?