Two months gone, one more to go..!
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Nicole
29 Mei 2014 | Japan, Miyazaki-shi
After some easy days which miraculously seemed to be much longer than the days I spend on my bike, I will take the ferry to Osaka tonight. Only one day is left to fully take advantage of being on my own, because tomorrow night I will pick Arnoud up from the airport! :D
The past few days have been pretty cool but also pretty crazy, hectic and relaxing all at the same time.
My tour of Kyushu was simply amazing. A lot of immensely beautiful scenery with a lot of volcanoes, interested and very kind people and a lot of warm weather (except for the two rainy days).
Leaving Nagasaki on a bright sunshiny day was awesome, and although I took exactly the same road back for the first 60km or so it felt completely different. I guess a bit (or a lot) of sun changes the scenery quite drastically. I bathed my feet in the Obama free foot bath which was incredibly hot and from that moment onwards have only worn my flipflops: AWEsome! After another ferry ride I set off on the island of Amakusa, trying to beat the ferocious headwind but obviously failing miserably. I had slightly miscalculated the frequency with which I would encounter spots to up my water reserves for the night, so ended up cycling furher than anticipated. However, after a very welcome stop at a very local convenience store, I rounr a nice sports field to pitch my tent on. A curious young Japanese girl then quickly approached me to find out more about the odd, sweaty stranger that had appeared when she was routinely hanging out with her friends. Despite the limited conversation that we could manage, we had a nice chat. When I was getting hungrier and slowly fed up with the chitchat, she left and went to tell her mother what had just happened. Her mother then rushed over to me and the story-telling started all over again. As has mostly happened until now, she was amazed and impressed by my cycling tour, but she was also relatively unsettled over the fact that I was going to sleep outside. She told me "chotto matte, kudasai" (just a moment, please) and rushed off, returning after a few minutes telling me to re-pack my tent. Her friend, living in the adjacent appartment building had agreed to host me and was thrilled that an actual English-speaking foreigner was staying over. I was a bit shocked but did long for a shower, so happily joined her into the very small appartment that would now sleep five people instead of four. Food, a trip to the local (big and beautiful!) Onsen was included, as was a lot of fun conversation, information on the next ferry's departure time and a lunch. Oh, and also a Kumamon-mug (the local happy bear-mascotte) which is slightly inconvenient and heavy to carry around, but the gesture and their hospitality was so nice that I guess I'll just carry it for the rest of the trip.
The ferry information was helpful to be exactly on time (with a bit of rushing) to catch the boat, and back on the mainland I continued my way in the heat. The rushed-but-lazy morning had somehow worn me out, and near a scenic lake I called it an early day around 3PM. After a lovely afternoon and a blissfully long night's sleep the next day was again hot, and quite tough given the three passes that I had to climb before reaching Kirishima, a another volcanic national park. I did manage to still squeeze in a little run around the three crater lakes near the centre of the park and finished the day with my first flat tire of my trip (!!) on the rewarding downhill.
I reached Kagoshima the following morning, but decided to cycle on after a short early-lunch break. The dust (actual ash spewn out by Sakurajima, the very active volcano just across the bay) was annoying me terribly and the weather was more enjoyable on the bike (riding draft yay!). Off course I ended up cycling further than I had envisaged, but I saw a massive crater lake (Lake Ikeda) and a beautiful perfectly cone-shaped volcano (Mt. Kaimon) before I took a hot sand bath in Ibusuki, at the (almost) southernmost tip of mainland Japan.
The ferry to cross the bay wasn't findable in the dark, and when I did arrive at the port the following mornjng it turned out that there were only 5 ferries a day, so I wouldn't have made it to the other side of the water that day anyway. While waiting for the boat to leave (I was 1,5 hours early) an old fisherman came up to me and offered me a box of delicious mild seashell-slugs to accompany my sushi-breakfast.
Originally I had planned two easy days of cycling from this point to Shibushi, a small town on the east coast, but the weather forecast mentioned severe rain for the following day and I was slowly getting tired. Therefore I decided to slightly shorten my route and make it to Shibushi that same day. When there was only another 10km or so to go, I was kindly halted at the side of the road. A man in his fifties with his son asked me "if I already had a place to stay for the night". Mildly surprised I answered that the WarmShowers-host that I was supposed to go to hadn't yet responded, so technically speaking "no". The man invited me to stay in his small guesthouse, for no better reason than that he liked to have as many foreigners stay over as possible. I followed them to their place, thinking that it was still early so if it was to turn out really dodgy, I could always still leave. Of course it was just another awesome example of Japanese hospitality, and a semi-desperate attempt to obtain more exposure to the world outside Japan. My hosts had travelled a large part of the world and were clearly very internationally oriented, but due to their relatively remote location they didn't see a lot of abroad on a daily basis. For me, it was the perfect occasion to have a thorough shower and to charge the electronic devices whilst making use of the internet. =)
The following day it indeed rained heavily, and I had been in touch with Daniel (the WarmShowers-host) and he was happy to accommodate me, some 15 km's down the road. And so it became a nice short day involving a lot of wetness, food and coffee. I got invited to a dinner with Daniel and his friends, we played some board games and I had another lovely evening.
The last two days I ended up in Miyazaki. A day earlier than expected, but that was the fault of a Japaneses man who randomly took me out for dinner and afterwards, on my request kindly, pointed me to the nearby (huge!) park to pitch my tent.
That did mean, however, that I've been extremely lazy and haven't even been able to get myself to do all the things I wanted here. I failed (for the third time, even though I really looked!) to find suitable postcards, did not manage to wash my clothes yet and also didn't go to an internet cafe to upload more photos/download the GPS-track for the coming month. Well, I guess that leaves me with some additional chores for tomorrow, except for the sightseeing in Osaka. xD
All in all the solo-part of my trip is already (?) (almost) over. I loved it, but once again realized that I love (sharing experiences with) my friends too much to be able. I definitely wouldn't want to do stuff like this on my own all the time, but am also at the same time tremendously greatful for all the valuable alone-time and wonderful experiences that I had, including the lovely people that I met.
And yes, I did more than 3000km before arriving in Miyazaki. (Small hurray!)
The complete route that I have cycled (yes, I know, the link is a bit long, apologies for that) is this:
http://www.afstandmeten.nl/index.php?id=1337266,1337265,1337264,1337267,1337262,1337261,1337260,1330428,1330382,1330390,1330387,1330385,1315959,1315958,1330422,1330420,1330416,1330412,1330414,1330411,1330409,1330394,1306727,1306724,1306723,1306722,1306721,1306720,1306718,1299342,1299344,1299340,1299338&kmStep=0
Sorry for the insanely long update, I guess that's what happens when you have all day for doing stuff like this. ;)
Cheerio, and of course I will also try to keep you updated of Arnoud's and my new adventures every once in a while!
The past few days have been pretty cool but also pretty crazy, hectic and relaxing all at the same time.
My tour of Kyushu was simply amazing. A lot of immensely beautiful scenery with a lot of volcanoes, interested and very kind people and a lot of warm weather (except for the two rainy days).
Leaving Nagasaki on a bright sunshiny day was awesome, and although I took exactly the same road back for the first 60km or so it felt completely different. I guess a bit (or a lot) of sun changes the scenery quite drastically. I bathed my feet in the Obama free foot bath which was incredibly hot and from that moment onwards have only worn my flipflops: AWEsome! After another ferry ride I set off on the island of Amakusa, trying to beat the ferocious headwind but obviously failing miserably. I had slightly miscalculated the frequency with which I would encounter spots to up my water reserves for the night, so ended up cycling furher than anticipated. However, after a very welcome stop at a very local convenience store, I rounr a nice sports field to pitch my tent on. A curious young Japanese girl then quickly approached me to find out more about the odd, sweaty stranger that had appeared when she was routinely hanging out with her friends. Despite the limited conversation that we could manage, we had a nice chat. When I was getting hungrier and slowly fed up with the chitchat, she left and went to tell her mother what had just happened. Her mother then rushed over to me and the story-telling started all over again. As has mostly happened until now, she was amazed and impressed by my cycling tour, but she was also relatively unsettled over the fact that I was going to sleep outside. She told me "chotto matte, kudasai" (just a moment, please) and rushed off, returning after a few minutes telling me to re-pack my tent. Her friend, living in the adjacent appartment building had agreed to host me and was thrilled that an actual English-speaking foreigner was staying over. I was a bit shocked but did long for a shower, so happily joined her into the very small appartment that would now sleep five people instead of four. Food, a trip to the local (big and beautiful!) Onsen was included, as was a lot of fun conversation, information on the next ferry's departure time and a lunch. Oh, and also a Kumamon-mug (the local happy bear-mascotte) which is slightly inconvenient and heavy to carry around, but the gesture and their hospitality was so nice that I guess I'll just carry it for the rest of the trip.
The ferry information was helpful to be exactly on time (with a bit of rushing) to catch the boat, and back on the mainland I continued my way in the heat. The rushed-but-lazy morning had somehow worn me out, and near a scenic lake I called it an early day around 3PM. After a lovely afternoon and a blissfully long night's sleep the next day was again hot, and quite tough given the three passes that I had to climb before reaching Kirishima, a another volcanic national park. I did manage to still squeeze in a little run around the three crater lakes near the centre of the park and finished the day with my first flat tire of my trip (!!) on the rewarding downhill.
I reached Kagoshima the following morning, but decided to cycle on after a short early-lunch break. The dust (actual ash spewn out by Sakurajima, the very active volcano just across the bay) was annoying me terribly and the weather was more enjoyable on the bike (riding draft yay!). Off course I ended up cycling further than I had envisaged, but I saw a massive crater lake (Lake Ikeda) and a beautiful perfectly cone-shaped volcano (Mt. Kaimon) before I took a hot sand bath in Ibusuki, at the (almost) southernmost tip of mainland Japan.
The ferry to cross the bay wasn't findable in the dark, and when I did arrive at the port the following mornjng it turned out that there were only 5 ferries a day, so I wouldn't have made it to the other side of the water that day anyway. While waiting for the boat to leave (I was 1,5 hours early) an old fisherman came up to me and offered me a box of delicious mild seashell-slugs to accompany my sushi-breakfast.
Originally I had planned two easy days of cycling from this point to Shibushi, a small town on the east coast, but the weather forecast mentioned severe rain for the following day and I was slowly getting tired. Therefore I decided to slightly shorten my route and make it to Shibushi that same day. When there was only another 10km or so to go, I was kindly halted at the side of the road. A man in his fifties with his son asked me "if I already had a place to stay for the night". Mildly surprised I answered that the WarmShowers-host that I was supposed to go to hadn't yet responded, so technically speaking "no". The man invited me to stay in his small guesthouse, for no better reason than that he liked to have as many foreigners stay over as possible. I followed them to their place, thinking that it was still early so if it was to turn out really dodgy, I could always still leave. Of course it was just another awesome example of Japanese hospitality, and a semi-desperate attempt to obtain more exposure to the world outside Japan. My hosts had travelled a large part of the world and were clearly very internationally oriented, but due to their relatively remote location they didn't see a lot of abroad on a daily basis. For me, it was the perfect occasion to have a thorough shower and to charge the electronic devices whilst making use of the internet. =)
The following day it indeed rained heavily, and I had been in touch with Daniel (the WarmShowers-host) and he was happy to accommodate me, some 15 km's down the road. And so it became a nice short day involving a lot of wetness, food and coffee. I got invited to a dinner with Daniel and his friends, we played some board games and I had another lovely evening.
The last two days I ended up in Miyazaki. A day earlier than expected, but that was the fault of a Japaneses man who randomly took me out for dinner and afterwards, on my request kindly, pointed me to the nearby (huge!) park to pitch my tent.
That did mean, however, that I've been extremely lazy and haven't even been able to get myself to do all the things I wanted here. I failed (for the third time, even though I really looked!) to find suitable postcards, did not manage to wash my clothes yet and also didn't go to an internet cafe to upload more photos/download the GPS-track for the coming month. Well, I guess that leaves me with some additional chores for tomorrow, except for the sightseeing in Osaka. xD
All in all the solo-part of my trip is already (?) (almost) over. I loved it, but once again realized that I love (sharing experiences with) my friends too much to be able. I definitely wouldn't want to do stuff like this on my own all the time, but am also at the same time tremendously greatful for all the valuable alone-time and wonderful experiences that I had, including the lovely people that I met.
And yes, I did more than 3000km before arriving in Miyazaki. (Small hurray!)
The complete route that I have cycled (yes, I know, the link is a bit long, apologies for that) is this:
http://www.afstandmeten.nl/index.php?id=1337266,1337265,1337264,1337267,1337262,1337261,1337260,1330428,1330382,1330390,1330387,1330385,1315959,1315958,1330422,1330420,1330416,1330412,1330414,1330411,1330409,1330394,1306727,1306724,1306723,1306722,1306721,1306720,1306718,1299342,1299344,1299340,1299338&kmStep=0
Sorry for the insanely long update, I guess that's what happens when you have all day for doing stuff like this. ;)
Cheerio, and of course I will also try to keep you updated of Arnoud's and my new adventures every once in a while!
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Je kunt nu ook Smileys gebruiken. Via de toolbar, toetsenbord of door eerst : te typen en dan een woord bijvoorbeeld :smiley
