Well, it's 4:45am, jet lag is a pain, and at this point I'm writing this more for my own benefit than anything else... However if anyone is still checking this, enjoy!
Firstly - the final map (a big two days worth of riding!)
where from Tokushima, we took an 18-hr ferry right in to Tokyo. (Cheating? Perhaps! The ferry meant we got to spend the last two weeks in Kyushu and Shikoku, rather than in the suburbs of Tokyo.)
Secondly - I'm counting up the kilometres. July, in Hokkaido: 1839.14km.(July 2 - July 27) August, Honshu, Oma to Hiroshima: 1990.63 (July 31 - August 30) September, Hiroshima -> Shimonoseki, Kyushu, Shikoku: 1314.87 (Sept 2 - Sept 18) GRAND TOTAL (Since the calculator application is already open) 5144.64km with the longest day being 139.84km.
And, I guess a few more pictures while I'm at it:
-Matt at Cape Muroto, Shikoku's second most southerly point, and a fine stand-in for Cape Sata I might add, which ended up being too far and quite frankly not interesting enough to be worth going to.
Our final campsite on the road - sheltered, serenaded by the crashing surf, with a beautiful natural rock formation a stone's throw away! The only problem was the thousands of weird bugs running around everywhere. Technically they weren't "bugs" as they had about a dozen legs each, but they weren't centipedes either which was fortunate....I had dubbed them "Land Shrimp." They were large, creepy, and unexpectedly slow to escape my stomping foot. (Gross.)
-Looking inland up one of Shikoku's alluring, mysterious valleys. Damn it...next time.
And, lastly -Our FINAL night on the road. We spent the night at this 24hr internet cafe before getting on the ferry the next morning. If you can get past the cigarette smoke and lack of actual GOOD video games (grindy Japanese MMOs were all we had to go with) it was actually a pretty good place to spend a night!
Anyway, at this point after 2 weeks of no updates I imagine I'm mostly writing to myself, but if anyone IS out there, thanks again for reading, and stay tuned for a comprehensive ranking of Japan's various convenience store chains.
As I mentioned earlier, we've reached Kochi, which is regrettably our last stop before we wind down the trip in Tokyo! Map:
View Larger Map To all you Matt Peterkin fans: yes, he is still alive, he's sitting next to me eating peanuts and drinking a bottled latte or something.
In any case, the days since Kyushu have been some of the most exciting, cycling-wise, of the trip. In a previous post, I mentioned the active volcano Sakurajima, which, in my own words, "supposedly dumps ash on you now and then." Our day started with a ferry ride across Kagoshima harbor and a ride around the foot of the volcano.
It was a pretty enough ride as it was, however, when we got to the "lava observatory," things got interesting.
The mountain rumbled, and smoke began to pour out the top! We observed this for a little while, until we actually started to feel flecks of ash hitting us from above.
Figuring it would be prudent to leave before the ash-fall became too heavy, we departed. Naturally, the ash-fall then became too heavy.
I had to tie a towel around my face to keep the ash out, but the going was still slow due to poor visibility. (Matt, who is too cool for even sunglasses, had a less enjoyable time!)
Fortunately this was not the city-destroying type of eruption and we managed to escape the mountain without being incinerated by lava or cooked via pyroclastic flow.
Arguably the alternative wasn't much better, as I then proceeded to take us up the absolute steepest hill I could find on the island. (Check point B on the map in terrain view for an idea.)
Exhausted, caked in sweat and ash, it already seemed like a long time since we'd woken up fresh in a business hotel that morning. Fortunately a Japanese bath awaited us at the campsite! Here we met Eric and Kayoko, veterans of a far more impressive Lhasa - Kathmandu bike trek, with whom it was a joy to hang out with for a bit. (I'm absolutely doing that some day!)
The next morning found us in an incredible landscape - a volcanic plateau (called the "Ebino Tableland") which somehow felt (and was, really) miles above the rest of the landscape. Clear, cool air, a stark blue sky, and low, scrubby vegetation; completely different than the typical Japanese landscape we've seen so much of.
After scrambling around on the rocks, checking out some of the caldera lakes and taking in the view, we screamed down the other side of the mountain and soon found ourselves on the coast once again. We found a beautiful free campsite by the water, and the next morning I got up super early to watch a Pacific Ocean sunrise. A uniquely Japanese sunrise, accompanied by music...
I can't really explain why the town would play music on an empty beach at 6 in the morning, but there you have it.
Further on up the coast, we tackled another ridiculous hill, this time with the road looking more like a paved hiking trail than a national highway..
and when our planned camping spot turned out to be ON TOP OF A FREAKING MOUNTAIN we elected to move on, and instead found a beautiful little park in a tiny fishing town. Another chance for a sunrise...
The best part about getting up so early and watching the sun rise is that you easily pass out from tiredness by 8:30pm. Life is good!
Anyhow, a short ferry hop landed us here in Shikoku, and after the usual beach sunrise/sunset combo, here we are!
Kochi is a nice, laid back city with an absolutely beautiful castle dating to the 17th century. A good place to take a break before the final leg of our journey.
Hard to believe, but a mere 3 days of riding (only two nights camping!) remain to us before we hop on another ferry (this one not such a short hop) and head for Tokyo!
Thus, this may end up being our final entry from the road (unless Matt posts tonight!) after which point this blog will focus on the various Japanese toilets and convenience stores.
Thanks again to all for reading and so long for now!
The scene? Kagoshima, Japan's most southerly city. A city of palm lined avenues and dark, seedy alleyways. A city of hot, steamy days and long, raucous nights. A city under constant threat of total volcanic annihilation.
-Sakurajima, as viewed from Kagoshima ferry port
This constant reminder of the frailty of human existence makes Kagoshima's citizens among Japan's most uninhibited; most eager to embrace life and all of its varied experiences.*
Armed with this knowledge, Matt and I ventured out in to the night, hoping to find an exciting night spot and capture a piece of that recklessness for ourselves. . . . . . As usual, we failed completely at this, and so instead ended up at an arcade where we played Street Fighter IV for 2 hours.
-Matt, eager to embrace a Dragon Punch
This arcade in particular was medium-sized; two floors, with an interesting decor - blown up pictures of American newspaper sports articles and other weird stuff.
Normally when entering an arcade, in order to reach the floor with the cool, manly games like Street Fighter and Melty Blood, you need to pass thru dozens of "Crane Games" where the objective is to win a cute stuffed animal or something by manipulating a mechanical arm.
-Some of my crane game winnings. The key is actually to use the arm to knock the prizes in to the hole; the arm is usually far too weak to actually pick anything up
Anyway, as I was walking thru this particular set of crane games, something caught my eye:
A SLUM DANK uniform? Like a moth to a smoldering volcanic crater, the attraction was fatal. I HAD to have one.
In retrospect, what was it that made this so attractive? Was it a uniquely Japanese basketball-related souvenir? (Slam Dunk, the manga these jerseys were inspired by) Was it the the silly misspelling? In any case, while Matt was upstairs being pummeled by Japanese kids at SFIV,
...I was nudging my prize closer and closer to the hole, 100 yen at a time. Roughly 2400 yen later (and I'll let you convert that yourselves)....
...on a steamy night, with a volcano breathing down your neck, you throw caution to the wind and live life to its fullest.
Alright, time to shut up and post pictures: -The definitive Eggplant Curse stance on the nuclear issue: It never hurts to not nuke people.
-The Shimonoseki Straits from a distance.
-A misty mountain valley. (This was right after we spent 40 minutes huddling in a parking shelter waiting out a downpour)
-Approaching top of the Aso crater, the landscape becomes decidedly Hokkaido-like (barren, wind-swept and cloudy)
-Glamour shot! With the three active volcanoes of the Aso caldera in the background
-"What? I have to go UP that?" The Hitoyoshi Loop Bridge - all things considered, the gradient wasn't too bad and there was ample shoulder space. (And the whole typhoon rain thing kept the sun off). All in all I've done worse climbs.
If the rain clears up today, we may venture out (it's hard to venture out anywhere when you're in an internet cafe drinking free green tea and corn chowder) and take a picture or two of Sakurajima, which is an active active volcanoe - the kind that supposedly dumps ash on you now and then. Until then, signing off!
A couple of conversations in Japanese (With my translation of how each sentence would probably sound in English in brackets)
Scene 1: Yesterday evening, a dreary, slightly rainy campsite outside the town of Hitoyoshi, our tent is up and we're eating convenience store food
Woman at Campsite: Ame ga, daijoubu desu ka? (Is it OK that it's raining?) Me: Chotto! Chotto ame desu. Daijobu desu. (A little! It is a little rain. It's OK.) WoC: I forget the entire wording of this sentence, but picked out the important words: Ashita(tomorrow) and Taifu(typhoon) Me: *incoherent astonished noises* WoC: Domo! (See ya later, suckers!)
Scene 2: This afternoon, after walking in to a convenience store, completely drenched, to buy a hot can of coffee
Me, attempting to project false confidence: Chotto ame ga arimasu! (There is a little rain!) Cashier woman: Sou desu ne! (Yes indeed, there obviously is) *the transaction is completed* Cashier: Ki o tsukete! (Have fun out there, sucker)
Despite hitting the tailings of said typhoon right as we entered the city, we have safely reached Kagoshima. I'm now standing in the lobby of the hotel in my biking tights, waiting for all of my clothes to wash. Matt is watching Japanese TV in his underwear. We're taking the day off here tomorrow, so pics and maps will be up then!
It's going to be ANOTHER short update - more to come when we're not on computers using Internet Explorer 6 or planning on going to sleep at 9:30.
Two days of hot, traffic-heavy riding (with an enchanting evening sandwiched in between, but that story shall be told later on) have found us in Shimonoseki, on the very tip of Honshu. Tomorrow we strike out for Kyushu, the southern-most of Japan's main islands, where I'm sure the temperatures will drop down to a reasonable level in short order.
Our plan as of now is to head for Kagoshima (where we should arrive in 4 days), take a break, and then head for Cape Sata - Japan's most southerly point (of the main islands anyway).
Then we head back North and East, ride the southern coast of Shikoku along the Pacific Ocean, and then attempt to catch an 18-hr ferry from Tokushima all the way back to Tokyo, which, if luck is with usm, will occur by the 17th or 18th.
Confused by all these place names? More google mapas will be posted! Like I said...IE6, sorry.
Since I seem to have become the city correspondent and Zack the road correspondent, it seems I have some catching up to do.
Since I last posted we've been through Kyoto, and now it's our last night here in Hiroshima and we've seen and eaten quite a few things. Unfortunately I haven't had the time to sit down and write anything about them, mostly because the places we've been staying have been pretty busy, so I feel bad tying up the computer for hours. There is of course the Internet cafes, but trying to accomplish anything with free soft servce icecream available is almost impossible.
Japan has still been treating us well. Both Kyoto and Hiroshima are a lot more touristy than we're used to. I think my Japanese has actually gotten worse since we arrived in Kyoto as it seems that almost everyone can speak some english, all the signs have english translations, and we no longer get excited and yell "White guy!" when one walks past.
But with the tourists come the tourist attractions, and there have been no shortage of temples, restaurants and various other sights to be seen.
We headed to Kiyomizu-dera on our first day in Kyoto which was pretty impressive. After a long walk through a massive greaveyard in the blistering heat, we headed into the basement of the temple. We weren't even sure what we were going to see, but there was a line so we stood in it.
It turns out that we weren't actually supposed to see much of anything. The basement of the temple was completely and utterly dark. We stumbled along the corridor using the handrail for guidance, turn after turn I kept expecting my eyes to adjust and to see... something, but there really was nothing, just suprisingly cool temperatures and crushing darkness. Eventually we twisted around another corner to find a rock, dully illuminated and on something that allowed it to spin. I gave it a spin and made my way back out into the blinding daylight. Even though I have literally no idea what the significance of it all was, it was an interesting experience.
Heading further into the temple gave us a fantastic view of the city while we looked at the various charms available, including one specifically for leg muscles, which seems particularely well suited for us.
Coming down the other side of the temple we saw the three streams of spring water that give the temple it's name. The three streams of water are said to provide you with widsom, health and longevity, but some people consider drinking from all three to be greedy. I went with the middle one, and have no idea which of the three it was. I also paid two hundred yen for a plastic cup and stood in a line in the blistering heat for fifteen minutes to do it, so let's hope it was the wisdom one.
Our next day in Kyoto took us out to a zen garden that backed onto a bamboo forest. The carefully manicured garden, as well as the rock garden within it was impressive, but somehow I found the simplicity of a forest full of bamboo even more conductive to quiet contemplation than the zen garden we had walked through to get to it.
On our way out of the bamboo, a Japanese man stopped us and asked us each to write something in a notepad he had. He asked us to write any english proverb we could think of, which is surprisingly hard to come up with on the spot, if anyone has any suggestions let us know.. it would be nice to be prepared in the unlikely even that it happens again. If I remember correctly, Zack wrote "It's raining cats and dogs" and I wrote "Do or do not, there is no try". Either way he seemed appreciative.
We made our way across the nearby river and after a 30 minute hike up a mountain we arrived at the the monkey park, which actually turned out being worth the hike. Not only did we get to see monkeys, but we had a chance to feed them too. They seemed much happier than the monkeys stuck in a cage that we saw in Hokkaido. Jumping in and out of the nearby pool and lying aroud in the shade, they had it pretty good up there.
Most of the rest of our time in Kyoto was spent doing what we do best. Wandering around the city with no clear goals, only to end up at at an arcade or an Internet cafe. The city proper does seem quite nice, but doesn't have much of a personality of it's own. The one interesting section is the typical night life area where a quiet river runs down the middle of a street lined with neon signs. Hundreds of people slowly walking along enjoying the warm night, past places that somehow all seem to remain empty.
There's probably more that I'm forgetting, but due to the aforementioned bike touring time compression problem, it already feels like Kyoto was months ago.
Several long days later, and we're now in Hiroshima. While there's not nearly as much to see here as there was in Kyoto I'm really becoming fond of this place. It's touristy but not quite so much as Kyoto was. It seems to retain more of a Japanese feel, while still offering all the ameneties of a modern city.
While it feels a little bit awkward referring to something like this as a "tourist attraction" Hiroshima is of course known for being destroyed by a nuclear bomb on August 6th, 1945 and while the city has been completely rebuilt now, the A-bomb dome was left standing, and is continually preserved as a world heritage site in the state it was in after the explosion.
The peace park, the A-Bomb dome, and the Peace Memorial Museum are all well worth seeing and while from what I've read there was some debate about whether or not to leave the building standing, I have to say that it really does make you stop and think. Every time we have gone downtown we walk through the park, and every time I see the dome I'm reminded of what happened. Especially after seeing everything in the museum it's not exactly an easy thing to think about, but it's not something that should be forgotten.
Being here in person gives you a much more tangible idea of just how terrifying nuclear weapons are, especially when you factor in that the bomb dropped on Hiroshima was considered small, by today's standards. I'll leave it at that, as this is really a whole other topic. Suffice it to say that it was one of the most memorable things I've seen in Japan.
Today being our last full day in Hiroshima, we made the trek out to the ferry station largely on the recommendation of Saeko and Dominic who highly recommended the fresh water eel that the area is famous for.
It was definitely worth the trip, thanks for the tip! I managed to track down some additional eel in bun format, which was also quite tasty.
Since we were right beside the ferry terminal, we made our way to Miyajima to see what it was all about. It ended up being a nice enough place. Had we been so inclined we could have hiked up the mountain on one of many hiking paths, or taken a cable car up to the top but we instead spent some time checking out the local craft shops, and the scenic spots closer to sea level.
Probably the most interesting thing about the island was the deer that seem to inhabit the town. While they are wild deer they're completely used to people, and more or less do their own thing and ignore us, except when they're trying to steal our bags and eat our maps.
We then made our way back to the hostel, did what bike maitenance we had to and headed out for Okonomiyaki, which is apparently famous in Hiroshima. It's sort of... well, it's whatever you want, all mixed together with noodles and fried into a sort of pancake with poor structural integrity. Sorry, I'm running out of time again and that's about the best explanation I can think of right now. This particular one had cheese, corn, squid, pork and some other things I can't remember buried inside.
I probably left some things out, but it's getting late so that's going to have to be all for now. We head out bright and early tomorrow morning, so once again this will probably be the last update for a few days. I'm not even entirely aware of where we're going at this point, but I'm sure Zack will fill you in.
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