After publishing yesterday's blog, I continued my meal at the restaurant, and the staff began asking me questions, in the limited English they knew (a lot more than my Japanese, it must be said). "Where are you from?", they asked. "England", I replied. "Oooooooooooooooooooh", was the response from Minami, the waitress, coupled with an excited-looking expression. The chef, whose name I did not find out, promptly placed his hands in an upside down 'V' shape over his head. "Beckham!", he exclaims. "Yes", I say, "he's my friend". Oh you should've seen the expression on his face..! Before he got too excited, I told him I was joking. The was a load of laughter and the conversation was quickly translated to those who didn't understand. This, in turn, prompted more questions... What was I doing here, how long was I here for, why have I come to Soja, and so on. There were more "ooooooooooooh"s as I explained where I'd cycled from and where I was cycling to. I left with waves of goodbye and smiles all round. I got Minami to write down the name of the place, someone remind me to review it on Trip Advisor when I get home.
And on to today.... I had an early start 6.30am on the bike and, after getting directions on how to find the Kibiji Cycling Road from the lady at the hotel (lots of Japanese and pointing and the words 'committee house' and 'police station' got me there), I was en route. The cycling road was magnificent, a tarmaced (is that a word?) path through fields and alongside villages.
The highlight, by far, was the Bitchū Kokobun-ji temple. This may have been because I veered off the trail about half way through, but I've read that this is the highlight anyway. And this is why:
The whole setting was so beautiful I was brought to tears! More photos on my Nikon. Lots of them.
So onwards went the journey. Through towns, industrial areas, more towns, more industrial areas, and the occasional town and industrial area. Then finally I came to the sleepy town of Wishicouldreadjapanese-ji, where the world suddenly became Japan, and a smile once again appeared on my face. Until I realised I'd gone the wrong way and had to backtrack, and onto the road of towns and industrial areas, though that had now been replaced with shipping areas and hills. Needless to say it was not the most pleasant of rides, and when my stomach started rumbling I realised that all I'd eaten all day (it was by this point about 2.30pm) was a sandwich and some chocolate peanuts. Oh, and I'd drunk a salt and lychee drink - step aside grape Fanta, we have a new king in town!! I had to find something to eat, and it had to be now! Of course, there was not a shop to be found. Well, I say that, but there was one, though it was unfortunately a hardware shop. Handful of nuts, anyone? So I kept going, my legs becoming more and more tired. Then finally I see an old sign that says 'cafe', but it looks really run down and the door leads straight in to someone's living room where a family are watching telly. The man of the house sees me peer in and pokes his head out. I quickly make the universal sign for eating and he sends me to another door, through a crappy looking fishmonger's establishment, and up some stairs. Shoes off first! I go up the stairs and through some sliding doors to this:
Looks ok so far... The man didn't speak English, so he pointed at an ornamental wooden fish and I nodded. He then said sashimi, and I nodded.
What a feast! I savoured every mouthful and by the time I finished I was absolutely stuffed. And all for just 1500 yen, that's less than a tenner. Where's that incense stick..? By the way, those aren't caramelised onions on that rice, they're little tiny caramelised fish. Like tiny tetras.
The remaining journey was hill after hill after hill but the scenery was nice. By this point, I had gone the wrong way twice, and, as I'd cycled through many towns (including Okayama, which I suspect is actually a city) I'd come across many workmen. Instead of STOP/GO lollipops they have at home, here they have white and red flags. And many flag men even bow as you go past. I began noticing these guys all over the place, everywhere there were road works. Even when they weren't on the road! That guy would never have used his flags! I also spotted men in uniform standing by the side of roads, as if waiting for something to happen. Still have no idea what they were there for.
Now, another memory of the day were the road surfaces. My hands are pretty much numb. The roads today were a far cry from those yesterday, and cry is exactly what I wanted to do. Luckily there were segments that gave me some rest.
Anyway, the goal of the day was to get to Himeji in time to see the castle, but that didn't happen, due to a slower average speed than yesterday. In the morning, I had booked a hotel (couldn't face the additional few kilometres to the campsite), so when I arrived in Himeji I checked in to the Dormy Inn. And there I made an executive decision. Instead of making the 147km ride to Kyoto tomorrow, which will take at least 8 hours, plus another 3 for breaks, etc., I'm going to spend some hours in Himeji, enjoying the castle under the blossom, and giving my body a break. I will get the train to Kyoto mid afternoon. This does mean that I miss out on the famous Sanda beef, but it means I actually get to see something other than industrial and shipping areas. Did I mention those earlier?
Dinner this evening should've been Shabu-Shabu, some kind of Japanese fondue, but, after a long-winded conversation with the waiter using google translate, it turns out I didn't have time before my massage. Hey, I deserved one! So I ended up eating a mediocre yaki soba at a place next to the train station. Yaki soba will need to do a lot to live up to the one I had yesterday!
Other stuff that happened today:
- I had a race with a kid on a bike. He didn't know.
- The lady you can just about see in the picture of the food downed a Smirnoff Ice and two beers with her sashimi and oysters, and burped loudly the whole way through. Her husband had a quick kip on the floor before the food came.
- Hand cramp. Sun burn. A pain between my sternohyoid muscles in my neck, similar to a feeling you would get if someone placed a blunt object on the area and pressed really hard. That lasted from about an hour in to the journey and lasted the rest of the way.
- A clicking noise from the bike whilst pedalling. Stopped as soon as I made a motion to check what was making it.
- Saw these:
Right, I'm hungry again so better get to sleep so I can have breakfast and a hot spring bath. Night all!
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