yakushima

Good morning :) I have some catching up to do.

It's 7AM right now. I'm at a family restaurant downloading stuff to watch while on the ferry to Tokyo. I found out that the Docomo USB dongle has a bandwidth cap that lies around 150kilobyte/second. If you download more than that, the speed will drop instantly and will only get back to normal by reconnecting. Rather evil if you consider that they advertise with speeds of up to 7.2mbps.

Yesterday morning I woke up and I could hardly move my legs, left and right. It seems that during the hike I tried to use my left leg less because it hurt a lot, so my right leg took the hit. Result: nasty muscle pain in both legs. Yay me. I've been trying to move as little as possible ever since returning from the hike two days ago, but some things are hard to avoid. Things like getting to the ferry terminal to catch the ferry to Tokyo, for example. You can imagine my happiness when I stepped on my bicycle, cycled around a bit, and felt no pain at all! It seems that I'm not using the muscles that I hurt during hiking while on my bicycle, making small circular movements that don't stress the legs a lot.

I was planning to return, but my other three buddies were planning to rent a car and travel around the island together. I did a lot of verbal translating while hanging out with them because Miro did not understand Japanese, and my Japanese buddies' English was not that great either, so communication was a bit of a problem. Renting a car turned out to be more expensive than they thought, so eventually they gave up and each went their own way. We split up and I got on the ferry back to Kagoshima, but not after getting a flat tire. The pump that I'm carrying with me and used to praise so much failed today, and couldn't get enough pressure in. Fortunately there was a bicycle rental shop nearby with a proper pump that I could use. At least I didn't puncture it this time.

Yakushima port side youth hostel

Yakushima is one hell of a weird island! Did I mention that before? Even if I did, I really should emphasize this again. I have to admit that I was biased against Yakushima when I first arrived, for two reasons. The first reason is that everyone I met on my trip recommended Yakushima and said it was great. From past experience I generally know that I will be disappointed in such places. The second reason is that I've been to Yoron island, south of Yakushima. Yoron was a true tropical island with beautiful blue oceans and white beaches, and I had a great time there. It would be hard for Yakushima to live up to that experience, and when I first laid eyes on the coastline of Yakushima I was disappointed even more. It's just an island. It's just Japan. There's nothing special about it. There's the same towns, the same mountains in the background, the same ocean in the foreground. Plain. Boring.

Well, until you get to know it. Yakushima has a lot of character, and it's definitely worth it to dig a little bit deeper to bring out its personality. For one thing, all the people on the island are crazy. Crazy, but not in a bad way. There's a lot of strange people wandering around, and the impression they gave off made me reluctant to talk to them. Like suspicious old weird guy who gave us a ride two days ago: his manner of speaking when you first meet him immediately makes you want to get as far away from him as possible, but after you get to know him better he turns out to be a nice guy, and quite easy to get along with. The same goes for the old guy we met in the park who didn't stop talking for two hours, but also offered us to stay at his place and drink some sake with him. I guess it's the way things are done in Yakushima. If you're used to cold-hearted Tokyo people who are always in a hurry then the island lifestyle is quite a change, and a welcome change it is too. The people are great, the nature is great, the experience is great. But the outside of the island is just like anywhere else in Japan.

The pink ferry

Thanks to the people I met and traveled with on Yakushima it turned out to be an experience that I will not soon forget. I will always remember Yakushima as a place where I met great people and did crazy things, a true place of adventure. When I think of Yakushima my mind immediately flashes back to the second day of our hiking trip. Early in the morning, it was very cold, and we were hiking towards the highest point. Walking through small streams, soaking our feet wet and using ropes to climb the huge rocks on our way, we didn't say a word for almost an hour. Silently walking in the rain. A moment I will remember for a long time. I didn't expect such an event to happen, and to be able to hike Yakushima with my three buddies was simply amazing. When I got on the ferry back to Kagoshima I sat on the back deck, listening to music while Yakushima faded away in the distance. At that moment I realized that I had finally found the Spirit of Japan that I was looking for.

WHARGARBL

Approaching Kagoshima I had another surprise waiting for me: Sakurajima was erupting again! And this time the ashes were going towards the city. Everything, literally everything was covered in a thick layer of dark volcanic dust. I can imagine nobody ever bothers to wash their car any more in Kagoshima, because there's really no point. How can people live in a city like that? It's so hard to breathe that you basically can't be outside when the volcano erupts. I'm sure that if nobody cleaned the city it would look like Pompeii within a month. I cycled a bit southward and caught another ferry to take me across the bay, cutting 20 kilometers off my journey. Cycling Sakurajima would have been a painful experience with such a huge ash cloud everywhere.

Ash cloud on Sakurajima

A city covered in dust

At the ferry port I had to wait and took some photos of the ashyness.

This car is white. Really.

That's not carbon fiber

The ferry arrived at a city called Tarumizu at around 6PM, and I started cycling. Usually I stop cycling well before this time. It turned out to be a pleasant change. I saw a great sunset while on the road, and enjoyed the cooldown that the evening brings. I had nearly two hours until it got dark, and I stopped at a random sushi restaurant which turned out to be delicious. Everything on the conveyor belt was fresh and awesome. It was dark when I went out again. For a moment I considered finding a place to stay for the night, but I thought it would be better to make a final race to the finish line. Well, it wasn't really a race, as I went slower than usual, but it felt like it.

Cycling at night is interesting! It's the first time during this trip that I've cycled at night, and it's quite an experience. Countryside roads in Japan have no lighting at all and my front light is rather weak, so at times when there are no cars near me I can't really see the road. All I can see is the white line, which was my marker for the whole way. At times the road would suddenly become bright and a car would appear behind me. I can use the car's headlights to go back to the sidewalk at times like that, but when the car disappears I'm riding blind and can't see anything, so I usually just stay on the road, slightly to the right of the white line. That's where I belong.

I arrived at Shibushi, where the ferry to Tokyo leaves from, at about 10PM, much earlier than I thought. I passed through here about a week before, on my way to Cape Sata, so I knew my way around. It was very dark though, but I managed to return to a park that I had spotted earlier, in the middle of an industrial area near the ferry port. With no one around it wasn't difficult to find a good spot for my tent, and I set up camp there. I slept better than expected, and woke up just in time to see the sunrise.

Good morning again

Nobody home

Perhaps I didn't mention this before, but I'm way too early! The ferry leaves 6 hours later, so I didn't really have to cycle at night. But I wanted to. It's the one thing I hadn't done yet on this trip, so I'm satisfied now. My knees are starting to feel better, and I think that after two days of rest they'll be okay. When I get back to Tokyo I'm planning to cycle to Yokohama, and from there along the seaside back to Atsugi, along the road that I used to train myself on. Taking that road as my 'victory road' is just something that I have to do. It's the only way to go back for me. Any other road would feel less good.

Amazingly, yesterday it did not rain when we set off for our trip. Four men: ultra-light Fumi, super-lively Hou, mega-pro Miro, and slightly-fat me. We set off for a two-day hike through the mountains of Yakushima. That the island is not as small as I originally thought became clear as the ferry approached the island: huge mountains could be seen from far away, surrounded by clouds. This is no small island, and the highest mountains are about 1800-1900 meters high. The island is famous mostly for its almost never-ending rain in the center of the island, but also because it has almost all of Japan's vegetation, from Hokkaido to Okinawa, spread out on different altitudes in the mountains. The mountain forest is really old, and is filled with mysterious places to see, with similarly mysterious names like Joumonsugi, Kigensugi and Shiratani Unsuikyou.

We took the bus in the morning and arrived at the starting point of the hiking trail at around 8:30AM. We took about an hour to confirm our route with the guides, and to file an 'intent-to-travel' form. This form is required so that people know where you are going and how long you will take, so that they can look for you if you turn up missing. My first time. o_0

Shiratani Unsuikyou

Hiking in the dry

We started from Shiratani Unsuikyou and spent the whole day hiking towards a mountain hut called Shin-Takatsuka Goya where we would spend the night. The hike was amazing. We started out at the place where the anime called Mononoke Hime was based on. A very strange place, but unfortunately it didn't last too long. After that we hiked a long way through the forest until we came to a huge rock in the middle of nowhere and could go no further. It offered us a beautiful view of the valley below. We backtracked a bit and found the abandoned railway tracks along which a small train used to run that belonged to a wood-cutting company. It seems that it's rarely or never used these days, but it's one of the most important hiking routes in the center of the island.

Abandoned railway

Old rail

On occasion a wild deer would appear alongside the hiking trail, not afraid at all of people until you got too close to them.

Beer

The hike along the train tracks took long, a bit too long for my taste, but eventually we reached the first mountain hit, which we would skip in favor of another hut about an hour away. The smell coming from the hut was incredible: an intense toiletty stink that I have never smelt before. Fortunately our hut turned out to be less smelly, although the nearby toilet was the dirtiest and smelliest toilet I have ever used (for reference: it used to be a public toilet near the great wall in China). The best part of being high up in the mountains with nothing else around is that you can drink the mountain water right from the river. And it tastes more delicious than any mineral water I have ever tasted.

As we walked along we passed along many beautiful natural sights, during the second half of the day the number of hikers got less and less. We had passed the point of no return where it would take too long to go back and catch the last bus. From there on we only saw people who were planning to spend the night.

Slow motion waterfall

We reached a tree called Joumon Sugi, which is the oldest tree in the forest and supposedly between 2000 and 7000 years old.

Joumonsugi

Irregardless of whether it's the oldest tree in the forest, just being around it is impressive. I really enjoyed sitting there in the middle of the forest, breathing the fresh air, looking out at all the old trees. As lame as it sounds, I don't think I've ever felt as close to nature as I did that moment. That nature can be strange sometimes was proven shortly thereafter when we witnessed a deer chewing on a dead deer's skull.

Yummy?

Walking on, we eventually reached our sleeping place: Shin-takatsuka hut.

Our place for the night

The water supply

Our lack of preparation started to become apparent as the night fell, and three of us (four) had no mats to sleep on. Fortunately the mountain hut had some leftovers that we could use. Being at an altitude of 1500 meters the night was cold, very cold. I've experienced colder nights at the beginning of my trip, but this is not something I was prepared for on a sub-tropical island. When we woke up at 5AM the rain was pouring down, and the island finally showed its true nature.

Fumi and I were worried about the distance we were about to travel, which was about twice as much as yesterday, and we would have to travel in the rain. Miro quickly convinced us that the trip was absolutely possible, and off we went. The hike took us up many slopes until we finally came close to the highest mountain of the island: Miya-no-ura-dake. Climbing the bit between 1500m and 1900m was interesting, and the scenery changed a lot. The trees became less sub-tropical and more like the ones near Tokyo, and strange flowers started to appear that you would otherwise not see at such an altitude. Eventually we climbed above the trees and found only low foliage and huge rocks on our way. The rocks were so steep and slippery that we had to use ropes to climb them. And during all this time the rain kept pouring down.. By this time most of us were completely drenched.

From the highest point the trail followed a mountain range, involving a lot of consecutive uphills and downhills, all of them more difficult than any mountain I've ever hiked in the Tokyo area, but none of them extremely difficult. We were all kind of in a hurry for the whole day because the only bus would leave at 4PM, and after that there would be nothing. The map and the people we met told us that the hike would take 7 to 8 hours, but we did it in 6 and a half. And we could have done it faster if I had not injured my knee.

My left knee had hurt a little bit yesterday when we arrived at the mountain hut, but I thought it was just muscle ache and went to sleep. The next day everything was fine until long after we passed the highest point, but just before reaching the marsh the pain suddenly got worse, and I had a lot of trouble going downhill. The only thing to do was to go forward so we could reach the nearest exit, but by the time my knee seriously started to hurt the exit (Tozanguchi) was still two hours away. The pain got worse and worse as I went along, and the final kilometer cost me a lot of energy and a lot of pain.

Because we had arrived at the exit about 2-3 hours earlier than we expected, and because we had no other options, we called suspicious old weird guy to pick us up, and negotiated a fee cheaper than the bus fee. He took us back to the town and the youth hostel, which is where I am typing this from now. When the guy finally picked us up we had waited at the bus stop for half an hour in the pouring rain, and we were all soaking wet, tired and near hypothermia. But we made it. An extreme experience brought to a good end!

Well, good end... I have to catch a ferry to Kagoshima tomorrow, and then cycle 80 kilometers to Shibushi. I hope my knee can handle that. If that plan fails, I can still send my luggage to Tokyo via post and take a train, so there's no real pressure. I'll just see how it goes. More later!

(You will notice that I have no photos of the second day. This is because it was raining the whole day and I actually did not take any photos, a first on my trip.)

The colorful wolf

The true spirit of Japan

The final challenge