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Japan-Bike Trip

September 2016
A 19-day adventure by Bodo Read more
  • 31footprints
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  • TravelerJapan-Bike Trip
    Day 8

    Fuji: Downhill Thrill

    September 18, 2016 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    Roukan = japanese style hotel rooms

    We cycled further to our motel in Fujii. Fujii is at the east coast of japan, so it went downhill from here on. Such fun! We were cycling so fast and had to keep on breaking along the way, that by the time we have arrived, the brake pads were already worn out. The motel was nice, it is a traditional roukan styled hotel with futon beds. At night we ate Ramen and Gyouza and a local japanese taught us how to eat them properlyRead more

  • TravelerJapan-Bike Trip
    Day 9

    Shizuoka: Underwater hotel near Ghana

    September 19, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    We started the journey at Fuji by having a delicious Udon. We then stopped by at noon by a town at the outskirt of Shizuoka, a big habour town. We then planned the place to go next for the day and booked a hotel at the next town in Shimada. When we entered in the gps-coordinate of our hotel in our navi-system it told us that the hotel is located in the ocean near Ghana......I dont think we could make it to ghana in a couple of hours....Read more

  • TravelerJapan-Bike Trip
    1
    Day 9

    Shimada: Lost in Translation

    September 19, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Having figured out the location of the hotel, we cycled further, thinking it was going to be an easy ride...nothing could be further than the truth! A couple minutes after we started it rained profusely. We were wet and the visibility was poor, but we cycled further, since we would like to reach the hotel before it gets dark. Time after time, we met either a dead end or the road that we supposed to take does not allow bicycles...In the end we found an alternative road at the coastside. It was beautiful and we could smell the ocean, the road was quite steep though, we had to cycle up and up and up...along the way there were big signs with alot of japanese writing on them, but without any picture. They seem to be some kind of warning signs, but since we can't read japanese we decided to ignore them. Not until we were near a town called Obama, only then we understood what all the signs was about! There appear to be a huge landslide and a huge chunk of the road is now missing! What a dissapointment, neither our bike Navi nor Google Navi knew about this..theres no other way, we had to turn back and since that was the only road available we had to turn back all the way down. By then it was already pitch black and we were nowhere near the Hotel. Just to fuck with us it started to rain again, alot! We met a couple more dead ends but after hours of cycling we arrived at the town where the Hotel was. We then asked the locals around about the Hotel, they were so kind to walk us to it! After 9 pm we finally arrived at the Hotel. What a day! We were so tired, we didnt have any lunch that day and was not in a mood to go out for dinner..we just grabbed some instant noodles and breads from the covenience store and slept like babies....Read more

  • TravelerJapan-Bike Trip
    1
    Day 10

    Kakegawa: A good feeling of place

    September 20, 2016 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    I have never slept better than last night since the last 6 months..We were completely exhausted last night and apart from that i got a picture of a very fine red rainboots and everyone know how i love rainboots. We saw on the television warnings about the coming typhoon and it had already hit south of japan, alot of casualties and flood. It was predicted that the typhoon will arrive to the area we are currently today. So we decided to just cycle a little and stop early at Kakegawa, a city nearby. Since we had ample time to spend, we went to the bike shop and buy some spare parts. We changed all our brake pads too; they were used up from all the braking while decending from the fuji-area!
    The following morning we met Andy from England who quitted his job and walked all the way from Hokkaido (Upper North of Japan) to down here! It took him more than 60 days to arrived Kakegawa and he will travel further to the very south of Japan. What an interesting guy, i guess its his way of meditating, maybe i should try that someday... Kakegawa is famous for its castle so we decided to give it a look. Beautiful architecture, but everything was written in japanese, so we had no idea what it was all about. Before cycling further we ate a delicous local golden fish    Read more

  • TravelerJapan-Bike Trip
    Day 11

    Toyohashi: Gangster Town

    September 21, 2016 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    We left the shizuoka district and head to Toyohashi. It rained like usual. While cycling my bike carrier snapped and tilted a bit sideways.We stopped an took a look seems like a screw that hold the carrier fell off. We tied the carrier with some cable ties. Amazing how well it holds the carrier since the bags are quite heavy! The roads in Toyohashi are very narrow and the drivers are quite inconsiderate to bicyclers, compared to other cities. There were a couple times where we felt that we were nearly get hit by the cars. We arrived at the Hotel and the receptionist were rude and snobby. We didn't like the town so much. Thankfully we are not staying there that long.Read more

  • TravelerJapan-Bike Trip
    Day 12

    Nagoya: Sayonara

    September 22, 2016 in Japan ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    rinko bukuro = bicycle bag

    After two weeks cycling non stop we were starting to get used to the routine: wake up, breakfast, climb up hills, get wet from the rain and arrive to the next check point fully exhausted, dinner and sleep. Well this was our last routine. Two weeks of cycling yet it felt so short; we obviously were having alot of fun. By tomorrow Kei had to travel back to Tokyo and fly back home and i will stay and continue the journey...
    We arrived to Nagoya at night fully wet. Nagoya is the fourth biggest city in Japan. Suprisingly unlike any places we have been it is not so clean. I bet its the fault of the tourists that came here...we have seen any japanese litter before.
    We had a delicious meal that night. The waitress spoke with an accent, so we asked her where she was from. She told us she was from Tibet. Since then we noticed a fair amount of Tibetans in Nagoya.
    We stayed there a day longer, and we walked around Nagoya. We generally dont like cities that much, so there were nothing much to see. We walked through an alley behind our hotel and there were alot of prostitutes with yakuza-looking japanese guys nearby.
    We dismantled Kei's bike and pack it inside his rinko bukuro. His passed his other bags to the hotel service and they will send the bags straight to the airport for him to pick them up.
    On the next morning it was time to said goodbye...Kei's carried his rinko and headed to the train station. These two weeks have been fun for me. Till next time....sayonara!    Read more

  • TravelerJapan-Bike Trip
    Day 14

    Kameyama: Ebi-Sandwich

    September 24, 2016 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    Ebi = prawn

    I cycled further, this time alone. I didn't know it is that different to cycle alone. I felt lonelier and more vulnerable. But for the same time i was more efficient, since there were no one to talk to. It was all about going forward. Its weird how mind works though. Since i was alone i began to make conversations with myself. I started to think about things that trouble me and things that i want to do in life. Sometimes i caught myself talking out loud, smiling or frowning.
    I reached my first checkpoint, Kameyama. After Kameyama i would have to cross a hill. To prepare myself i decided to stop by a small japanese restaurant and had the best Ebi sandwich ever! It was soo gut that i ordered the same dish twice...and then one more as a takeout in case i'll get hungry again during the ride. During the time I managed to charge my phone back to 100%.
    And then it came, the anticipated hill. It felt like forever til i finally arrived at the peak of the hill. On the peak was a relatively old village and they look very beautiful. There were tourists visiting the town, i guess it must be quite famous.
    I then climb down the mountain and reach the next town, Iga. By then i already covered around 100 km. Being satisfied with what i have achieved so far, i plan to cycle further. Then I saw Nara on the map, around 40 km ahead..seems doable. I booked a hostel in Nara and continued cycling...    Read more

  • TravelerJapan-Bike Trip
    Day 14

    Nara: Alone in the Dark

    September 24, 2016 in Japan ⋅ 🌙 23 °C

    The road to Nara was beautiful. I could here the river flowing at the side, i could see forests and mountains evwrywhere. It was nice. Slowly i felt that i have drained out all the energy that i got. And it was going to get dark soon.
    After a while it was extremely dark, and i was forced to climb up into a next hill. I didn't want to. Not because i of slope so much, rather because i could see the road i was heading was narrow and it was heading me into a forest up the hill and it was extremely dark in there. For the same time since I did not have any internet connection it was risky to try out an alternative path. So i gave it a go...I turned on the lights and climb up the hill. It was so dark i could only rely on my front lamp which is not that bright. Whenever the bikes shakes the light flakes. A couple times it completely turned itself off. Then it was completely dark, i could here the river flowing but nothing else. I stopped. I hit the light a couple times and it turned back on again...what a relieve! This happened a couple times and even though i dont believe in ghosts the forest was kind of eerie. I wanted to get out of the as soon as possible!
    The climb seemed to take forever. My Navi said i shpuld be arriving the peak soon, but i still kept climbing up. I dont have much energy left, but for the same time i wanted to get the hell out of the forest.
    After some time i cycled down the hill carefully, since i was still in the forest. All of the sudden i arrived into what seems to be a rice field, i could see the sky and it was a bit brighter. Soon after that the road got wider and i saw cars passing by. At last! I survived the scary hill. The last Kilometers was pretty easy, i could not wait to arrive at hte hostel.
    The hostel was quite cool, it was a soya-brewery factory about 100 year ago, turned into a youth hostel. I was glad that i arrived.
    I ate at the Hostel and it was expensive but not that good. The waitress explained to me that she like Malaysia and had been there for several times and will be going to Kota Kinabalu in 1 month.
    I took a walk around the hostel, tring to clear my mind and had some drinks. After a while i went back to the hostel and tried to get some sleep    Read more

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