I may not have internet over there, so please dont get worried if I dont blog for a couple of days.
Uncategorized
On my way to Yakushima!
Posted in
Uncategorized
At peace
(Picture taken two days ago when I went walkabout near Cape Sata.)
Today not everything went quite right, as you may have guessed from the last post. But first, let me tell you a bit about my travel buddies. Both of them have recently quit their jobs and have been traveling around for a while. We reached the southernmost point of Kyushu at around the same time, and I guess we were all thinking about what to do next, but didn't feel quite satisfied yet. Being in similar situations we got along quite well, and we decided to extend our journey a bit by going to Yakushima island, a place famous for unspoilt nature, beautiful scenery and a lot of rain.
Yesterday morning we noticed a group of children playing in the bay in front of our camp site. They had kayaks and tiny boats and were playing around. We went closer for a bit to see if it was possible to rent the kayaks for a while. I made a miss in my Japanese, asking the owner if we could "use his kayak" instead of "rent his kayak". A bit rude of me, but he agreed! 30 minutes later we were in the water, peddling around happily. A good start of the day! Since it was all quite sudden I completely forgot to take pictures until after we took the kayaks out of the water though.
In the afternoon I was planning my route back to the ferry in Shibushi and Fumi was getting ready to continue his trip on foot. I went to bed early that night before, but it seems that in the middle of the night two fisherman showed up in a van, changed into wetsuits and went into the water to catch some kind of shellfish with their spears (are they called spears? I dunno). They returned with three of them, which they ate together, all while I was sleeping... The next day we made soup out of the remains, which tasted quite good.
Yummy
It seems that you're not allowed to catch these things, because the local population lives off the profits of selling these to big companies. Seems like a big one like this could cost you 1000 yen. But I guess it's ok if you catch them just for eating and don't sell them.
During lunch we got to talking about what to do next, and we were all kind of reluctant to go back, me not in the least because staying in Tokyo is expensive and camping is a much cheaper lifestyle. Both Nishi and Fumi seemed interested in seeing an island called Yakushima, which is apparently quite famous for its beautiful nature. Since I have a lot of free time also I decided to tag along. We took Nishi's car and went to Kagoshima city, as Nishi's cell phone didn't have a signal at the southernmost point and he had to confirm his schedule. In the city we checked the ferry times and price and had a most excellent ramen, one that I can easily say is one of the best I've ever tasted.
Oishilicious
Then, deciding on where to stay for the night, I was thinking youth hostel, but it was already fully booked. If we wanted to stay in the city then that pretty much left us with either an expensive business hotel or camping in a park with the risk of getting caught. Both not really nice choices. Since Nishi had time anyway we drove south again to a place called Ibusuki, where we found a camp site that was unfortunately not in operation and barred off with a fence. Thanks to some creative driving involving a football pitch, driving in reverse on a narrow road in pitch black darkness, and a generally large amount of bumps, we managed to reach a suitable place to camp. Fumi and I set up our tents and Nishi decided to go back to the city, where we will meet again a couple days later to take the ferry to Yakushima.
The place wasn't that great though. We arrived late at night in pitch-black darkness, so we basically chose our camping spot at will, which turned out to be next to the only working toilet building. As it turns out, that building was not in fact part of the camp site, but rather part of the neighboring tennis and gateball courts. I woke up in the morning at 5:30 by some very old people playing gateball, making a very loud noise every time they hit the ball. An hour later the manager of the place came along and told us to sod off as we were supposed to camp on the camp site, and not next to the gateball court toilet. Oops. We cleaned up our tents and I checked my e-mail in the shadow of a nice tree as Fumi took his time packing his luggage. Right around that time old people started to appear like lemmings out of nowhere. First two old grandmas appeared, who decided to sit next to me for some reason. Then a grandpa, then two more grandmas, and then a whole stream of them appeared from behind the toilet building, all deciding to sit somewhere next to me in the tree's shade. They heard me speaking in Japanese, but somehow they kept making comments about me as if I wasn't there. "Oh, he looks quite young.", "His hair is pretty", "Oh, it's a foreigner" etc. etc. It was at this moment that I decided to eat my breakfast elsewhere.
We went back to the campsite, had a nice breakfast there, and then decided what to do for the day. There's a little island called Chiringashima next to the camp site, which is connected to the mainland by a strip of sand that you can walk on when the tide is low. We were thinking of camping there tonight, but we had to wait for the tide to go down. We went into the town and found (after a rather long walk) a place to recharge our electronics. We only took our most important luggage with us, hiding our heavy luggage as best as we could in a building on the camp site.
Arriving back at the camp site before Fumi (I was by bicycle) I found that all my food was scattered on the grass! Upon closer inspection, it turns out it was food remains: empty packaging of cookies and bread, presumably eaten by whoever stole it. The thief ate all my food except my bananas, which pretty much rules out the possibility that an animal did it. Feeling rather pissed off by this I went to look at the island. The tide was low and a wide strip of sand was visible, with a lot of people walking on it. On the way totthe sand strip Fumi and I noticed a homeless guy fairly close to the camp site. I mentioned to Fumi rather loudly that I would 'definitely kill whoever stole my food', after which we didn't see the homeless guy again.
Unfortunately our uninhabited-island-camping-party stopped right there. As we got closer to the sand strip we noticed a small booth and a lot of old people who were counting the people going to and from the island. No camping allowed. Feeling rather bummed out by this, I decided to step on my bicycle and start cycling again, something that I haven't done for several days now. And it felt good. Really good. Somehow life is very easy when you're on your bicycle following the road, listening to music and letting traffic pass you by as you climb up the hill and relax on the downhill. It all just makes sense somehow. Don't need to think about anything.
I was planning to head halfway towards Kagoshima and find a place to camp, but the road was very flat and I was rather enjoying myself, so I made it well into the city before dark, where I found a cheap business hotel and enjoyed my first hot shower in about a week. The camp site had a shower but only the most optimistic person in the world would call it a hot shower..
This is only mildly related to the storytelling, but here's some ridiculous safety instructions that I came across today.
How to use the toilet
Yes, using a toilet IS that difficult in Japan. But you'll be oh so glad to sit on a nicely heated toilet seat with more buttons than your remote control, because the alternative is crouching over a hole while hurting your knees. Japanese style toilets are definitely not my thing.
Well duh
This plant can kill you
The Japanese on this plant says 'There are thorns. Be careful'. It takes longer to read the warning than to glance at the plant to see the thorns. Japan is idiot-proof.
Tomorrow I'm taking care of some things, like laundry and money (the two are unrelated :O). The day after that I'm planning to do a day trip or something, as I still haven't grown tired of my bicycle. Being in the city, I finally had a chance to pick up replacement brake blocks, and I can mount them whenever I feel like it. So far the old brake blocks are working quite well, now that I've adjusted the wire. I'll use them up a little bit more before replacing them.
(As you may have noticed by now this blog is just as much a memory assist for myself as it is a travel blog :P)
A homeless guy ate my bread!
WTF?! The bastard! While I was out exploring he ate my food. Of course I have no proof, other than that he is the only other person on this campsite. grrrr
Posted in
Uncategorized
A new adventure!
Just when I thought it was over... :D
Yesterday I was thinking about what to do before taking the ferry back to Tokyo on the 31st, when Nishi and Fumi, my two jobless camping buddies came along and asked me: "Wanna go to Yakushima?".
Now that's certainly an impossible proposition, I thought. Nishi travels by car, Fumi on foot, and I by bicycle. Fumi could take the bus, but getting to the ferry by bicycle would take me three days. Unless...
Whoa
We're not on Yakushima yet cause Nishi had some business to take care of first, so he sent me and Fumi to the other southern point of Kyushu, where we are now. I have a lot of stories to tell, but I am suddenly surrounded by a bunch of old people who want to play some kind of silly game that only old people play. It's early in the morning and normal people are still asleep, but old people here are playing a golf-ish type of game since 5AM. Insanity.
Next time perhaps I will tell you about the sudden free kayak adventure, the nightly fishermen who suddenly showed up and gave us three huge crabs, how Nishi's car became infested with bees and how he got rid of them, and many other stories. Right now I have to go because the oldies are starting to comment on my hair... o_0
Oh, right, the schedule. I'm taking the next ferry to Tokyo on June 5th or 6th, and going to Yakushima with Nishi and Fumi on June first!
Posted in
Spirit of Japan
,
Uncategorized
Better
- "Do you think the grocery store is still open?"
- - "It's only 5PM, but in villages like these you never know."
- "Ok. I'm going out for a bit then."
- - "Bring me back a pretty girl, please."
- "If there was a pretty girl in this village I'd keep her to myself."
- - "They might sell them at the grocery store."
- "They don't even have plain bread, and you think they will have pretty girls?"
I'm still at Capa Sata, enjoying the great weather and relaxing a bit. I walked from the camp site to the southernmost point today, which was quite a decent hike. It felt great to walk on a road that was nearly impossible to climb with my heavy bicycle, yet easily conquered by a weightless hiker. Every hour a single car passes. The scenery is beautiful and I am walking to the southernmost point of Kyushu. For the first time since I've been here I feel like it was worth it to come here.
(I'm still camping and my battery is running out again, so I will save the photos for next time. Sumimasen!)
Posted in
Spirit of Japan
,
Uncategorized
Alternate ending
First of all, thank you all for your comments during the trip! It's great to know that people are following my travels :) That being said, I should tell you all that I will definitely continue blogging during my journey home and after that. There might not be great adventures for a while, but I"m sure I can find something to write about.
That being said, let's make yesterday's post a little bit more positive, shall we? Yesterday night after blogging I hung out with my new buddy Fumi, the image recognition expert who walked here. Another guy appeared too, called Nishi, also about the same age and knows a lot about CG modeling. They both work in the Tokyo area. It's quite funny to see how 3 engineers from Tokyo somehow ended up in a tiny fishing village in the southernmost point in Kyushu. That said, I guess we all felt relieved to talk to people we could relate to, and we quite enjoyed ourselves.
Darkness, Fumi and Nishi
View from the campsite during daytime
Today I woke up around 8AM, sweating as the sun turned my tent into an oven. The weather was awesome today, great temperature and a slightly cloudy sky. In the morning I went out with Fumi and Nishi and walked around the village, shouting 'Good morning!' loudly to everyone and discovering that even in the morning there is no plain bread in the tiny grocery store. After a while we went back to the camp site and hung around for a while. I used the time to adjust my brakes and managed to get them to work reasonably well again. I think they'll hold at least until Tokyo. After that we climbed the rocks at the seaside, which offered some pretty interesting sights along the way.
Birdie
Since it was getting pretty hot, I suggested mildly that we go to a nearby beach and swim, which my companions thought was a slightly crazy but acceptable idea. Nishi took us there in his car, saving us a good 30 minutes of walking time. When we finally got out in our swimming attire we realized that it was actually quite bloody cold, but we swam anyway, in a beautiful blue ocean at a great southern beach. It was great. Oh, and I took photos of monkeys on the way.
A nice swim!
After that we stuck with Nishi and his car since he had to go to the supermarket anyway, which was way too far to reach on foot or by bicycle. We looked around for an onsen (public bath), but found out that there used to be one but was now closed. We then searched for a ramen place but found that the closest ramen place was at the other side of the ocean and we had to take a ferry to go there. Yay countryside... We gave up on ramen and headed back to the campsite.
On the way back we saw a big colorful sign about something that I didn't quite understand. I asked Nishi and Fumi what it was about, and they told it was some Buddhism-related place, but I didn't quite get their explanation. Perhaps they were not sure what it was either. We decided to check it out and took the side road, which turned out to be a very narrow road going into the mountains (and basically jungle, at this point) for several kilometers. On occasion a monkey would cross the road, which became more frequent as we got higher and higher. Then suddenly, in the middle of nowhere, on top of a mountain, there was a huge gate.
We went further along the road, and eventually found this weird place of worship, as you can see in the photos. We couldn't quite figure out what the huge square white building was meant to be, but climbing a nearby hill we found out what was lying asleep on top of the building. Here's a Google maps link so you can see it from the top.
Resting peacefully on the roof of a building
That's right. A huge statue of Buddha facing the heavens. What's incredible is that this place is nearly impossible to find, the statue nearly impossible to see, yet everything is so huge and expensive. Some important guy must have paid a lot of money to have this made in the middle of the mountains.
Zeitaku
The area close to the big Buddha building was off-limits, but there was nobody around so we decided to take a peek. As we took the road up to the building a construction crew suddenly appeared within view. We asked them about the building and what's inside of it, and they told us that they weren't allowed to enter the building and were only hired to fix the outside. It's a big mystery that will have to remain unsolved..
Divine elephant
I want to post more photos, but I'm very tired, so maybe later. Tomorrow is supposed to be good weather so I've decided to hang around here for one more day. I'm not in a hurry now, and this place is actually quite nice if the weather is good and there are people to talk to.
In the meantime, I've been looking for cheap accommodation in or near Tokyo for longer periods of time. If you're staying in Tokyo for longer than a couple of weeks it's very expensive to stay anywhere. My recommendations were a company called Leopalace, which rents furnitured apartments on a weekly or monthly basis, but even that is quite expensive in the long run. Then again, staying under a bridge in my tent is not an ideal solution either.. Oh well, still a week time to decide, and I can always stay in a youth hostel for the first week or so.
The end
31 degrees latitude
The sign notes other cities on this latitude: Cairo, New Delhi, New Orleans, Shanghai and Karachi.
The road to this sign was one of the most dreadful experiences I've had on this trip. Being so near the end, my mind was already there, but my body still had to climb several incredibly steep hills. I can only remember the road to Mount Fuji ever being this steep, and I was weaker and heavier at that time, so this might be worse. I cursed at anything and everything. The weather, the road, the monkeys, the monkey shit on the road, Cape Sata, my bicycle, the trip, and so on. The road signs kept lying to me, saying Cape Sata was 20 kilometers away, then after cycling 20 kilometers a new sign appeared with a subtle difference, saying that the real Cape Sata is still 10 kilometers further ahead. This really pissed me off. There's a Cape Sata area, natural park, village, and then there's the actual southernmost point, which is perhaps 20 kilometers further away than the first sign made me think. Curse you sign-making-person.
The wind is the strongest ever. It's blowing me off the road sometimes forcing me to stop. It's slowing me to a halt on downhills and making me sweat and curse on the uphills. There's no land to block the wind here, as the land just stops. Can't go any further. This is the southernmost point, and I did make it here on my own strength. I am proud of my achievement in general, but I am very disappointed and frustrated at today's events. The weather was sunny for 5 minutes and then became darker and darker again. Then the wind picked up and it's still getting worse. My tent is not very good against wind, and I'm worried about tonight. I'm camping out in the open this time, no roof to cover my tent. I'm pretty confident now that it'll be okay against the rain, but the wind might be an issue.
I'm going back. Finally. After cycling over, through and between mountains to get to the southernmost point, I finally reached a one-way road that would only go to Cape Sata and end there. There were barely any tourists or other human beings, and I had the entire road to myself. Well, except for the monkeys, which were everywhere. I saw more monkeys today than people. Finally I could go no further and had to step off my bicycle, pay 300 yen for an entry ticket and continue my journey on foot to the southernmost point. I passed a small shrine (or temple, whatever) where I bought an omikuji (fortune telling slip), which is very uncharacteristic of me. I usually despise those things but today I felt like getting one. I haven't opened it yet, and I'm not planning to open it until I feel like it.
Finally I reached the real southernmost point of the Kyushu island, and it was shit. Passing an abandoned restaurant building I reached a concrete building with an old lady inside screaming "NI HYAKU EN! NI HYAKU EN!". I had to pay another 200 yen to climb up a boatload of stairs to get to the lookout point, and as expected, I saw nothing but ocean. It is the southernmost point, after all! It's surrounded by water.. Perhaps it would have all felt a little bit more glorious if the weather was sunny and nice, but the sky looked very angry at me and I quickly ran away back to my bicycle.
I cycled back to the nearest village and had my first conversation in days with a normal human being: a guy from Tokyo about my age, who used to work in image recognition and just quit his job because he didn't want to do the same job for the rest of his life. He's now hiking around Kyushu. Imagine that. Substitute the word 'hiking' for 'cycling' and 'image' for 'voice', and there's my story. He also told me how to get to the village to buy some food. It turns out they really don't have a lot here. At the grocery store I picked out some random bread snacks as they didn't have regular bread, and the old guy owning the shop threw away half of them. Past the expiry date. Yup, this is countryside. I went to another shop and bought some more, but still no plain bread. Oh well, it's snackfest tonight then.
I'm feeling slightly relieved, I guess. I'm on my way back now. I felt this change in mood very strongly right after I walked to the stupid concrete building at the southernmost point. Walking out again, I realized "I'm going north again. I'm going back now". Thanks to that I've received a new superpower: clairvoyance. I can see the path that I will take from now and I know more or less how things will turn out. I'm staying at a camping site at the nearest village to Cape Sata. When I first decided to take the ferry on the 31st I made great plans, thinking of going back to the west coast of Kyushu and catching a ferry to some random island, then passing by Kagoshima on the way back. I'm not doing that. After reaching Sata all my motivation is gone, and I only want to go back to Tokyo. I still want to cycle, but I'm not going to create more distance between myself and the ferry place. Instead, I'll just cycle slowly and explore a bit more along the way. If the weather is good, that is. If not, I'll shut myself in in my tent and sleep for the whole day. I'm done.
Side note: my brakes are completely fried. They're barely working and I need to tighten them up a bit before going back. I really need to replace the brake blocks, but there's no bicycle store anywhere near here, so I'll have to put up with it until I get to a more populated area. Too bad it's the unpopulated areas that have the highest mountains and require the most use of my brakes...
I dunnit! Meh.
I made it
Sata Misaki. This is the second-worst I`ve ever felt in my life.
Now I can go back.
Posted in
Uncategorized
Full of holes
Trousers
Glove
Shoe?!
I am on a tiny little beach in the middle of nowhere. You're not allowed to swim here because it's too dangerous. It's raining for the whole day and the only place to take shelter is a small roofed building under which I've parked my tent. Besides me there are two other people, both not very talkative. We really don't have a lot in common and barely speak. Tonight the three of us basically spent our time staring at the rain without saying a word to each other, occassionaly making comments like "horrible rain, desu ne?", or "I wish the rain would stop...". The cat from yesterday came along to keep us company, but no baumkuchen today. Eventually I gave up trying to strike a conversation and went into my tent.
I have to admit I'm a little out of my comfort zone. No shower, no bath, and the rain preventing me from going outside for too long. At least there's a convenience store for which I am very grateful. I spent most of my day reading manga on my laptop, which then ran out of battery and I had to find a spot to recharge. There was only one suitable spot in the area.
Borrowing power
For reference: Asus 1101HA charges about 60% of its battery in one hour, while I waited under the tiny roof and looked at the rain.
I really feel bad on days that I don't cycle. Life is just so simple when I'm cycling. I have a goal and I need to get there before sunset. It's that simple. I create a larger goal by nominating Cape Sata as my final destination, so that I have something long-term to work towards. Cycling towards that goal is just a great feeling, no matter if it rains or if the road is uphill or if its moist and hot, moving toward a goal is satisfying. Yesterday morning, enjoying the few minutes of good weather while cycling on a flat road between two mountains, enjoying the scenery as I cycled along, I truly felt at home. It's as if my natural state is to cycle, and to stop feels unnatural. On a rainy day like this I grow restless.
On a completely unrelated note, a would like to wish my little つんでれブラザーコン sister a happy birthday! I'll be back soon, sis :D
Stuck
The weather today is incredible. It's a full-blown rainstorm. I reinforced my tent again but it's still not liking the huge winds. The roof that I put my tent under did not help one bit as the winds just blow the rain in from sideways. Thanks to that I did find out that my tent is rainproof, one day before reaching the final destination.
I bought some food at a nearby convenience store and goat soaked in the process. I'm not leaving this place again today, the weather is just too bad. Cape Sata will have to wait until tomorrow..
Picture obtained from the JMA. I'm slightly south-east of the main storm, but there's another one forming and heading this way...
In the meantime, my two camping buddies also woke up and seem to be mainly staring out into the rain in disbelief. They don't do much else. They're not very talkative either, so we're all being bored inside our respective tents while waiting for the rain to stop. I guess I should take a nap...
Posted in
Spirit of Japan
,
Uncategorized