Holy cow. That was certainly an agressive advertiser for a 'special massage.' Was trying very hard not to take no for an answer. o.O All I have to say is.. ew.

Certainly an interesting red light district my hotel is in the middle of. :)

I am referring to mountain cycling in general, not that specific mountain.

At the cafe, I told the owner I had come from Kumamoto. He asked me why I was so fat then. Sigh.

RIP my odometer. No accurate distance/speed info from here on. Not that theres much further to go! Taking a train in to Tokyo from Mt. Fuji area. Riding in to Tokyo would annoy me too much. :)

Did about 75 kms today. Unlike my prediction, the mountain was just a tiny hill, it really was almost entirely downhill the whole way. Shameless.

Tons of bikers cooler than me. At least two dozen were taking on the mountain uphill. I know its not something I can do now, but one day...

It still looked pretty dark behind, so I wasn't too annoyed about leaving when I did. I had waited up there for 2 hours, and needed to carry on. 20 kms of winding down hills, photo taking and the skies clearing a bit, and I was close to the bottom. The road merged with the more direct road from Takayama, and I entered tunnel country. Big big thanks to John for finding me an air filter mask!

Am now stopped at a little diner. Uphill begins, so I actually have to pedal. Hmph!

Well, so much for getting above the cloud line. Rainy and windy and cold at the top, about 20m visibility. No Alps for Eric. :(

Bought waterproof gear, and hiked the alpine flower walk. Pretty but also spooky. That done, got some warm food in me, and started down. So much fun. Want to do it again! I thought it would be hard on the arms, but no problems. About 10 mins into the ride, a patch of sky cleared up, allowing me a great view of the road down. Utterly gorgeous.

They let me on the bus with my bike. Yay!

On the bus today are two British girls I met yesterday- helped them out at the tourist office yesterday. Also in the seats next to me is a friendly man whose been to Yictoria. :)

A bit cloudy today, but it should be clearing up soon. If I'm lucky, there'll be a sea of clouds effect from the top.

Feeling much better today. If weather is good, a hiking I will go! Make up for not doing Fuji or something.

Argh. Why do I ake up so early every morning？ Stupid messed up internal clock.

It was an interesting place, you could walk though most of the houses, and they had lots of artifacts on display too. However, I was still groggy. I sat down to rest in one building, and woke up a few minutes later. Even walking uphill was difficult. I rushed through the rest, and came back to my hotel to rest.

Later in the evening I went out forraging, and found an excellent restauant near my hotel. after searching for an hour or so first, of course.

All for now. Night!

Today I took in a morning market, wandered some of the old market streets, visited the only remaning Tokugawa era (1603) local government office in Japan (a kind of mini castle for bureaucrats), and looked around Hida folk village. This is an excellent collection of historical buildings from the local area. Different from anything else I've seen- most were made to withstand heavy winters. Roofs were made of a thick straw covering, which needed to be replaced every 3- 4 years.

Many towns in Japan with old buildings still standing, "is sometimes called 'little Kyoto.'" (mostly by city tourist boards I suspect) Takayama is the closest I've seen to actually deserving the title. Lots of traditional styled buildings and interesting temples, set against impressive mountains. The comparison ends there though. Takayama's mountains are way more impressive, and the buildings have a more rustic feeling. Doesn't make it better or worse, just a different flavour.

Man alive, the number of whiteys in this city. Big Obon festival tomorrow in the city I was going to (heck, most cities in the country), so in Takayama I stay. Not killing myself going up crazy steepness to sleep in my tent, no sir. Take a bus to 2.7 kms above sea level. I MAY do the aditional hike to a mountaintop temple nearby, buT we'll see if my legs have recovered by then. May just do the alpine flower walj instead.

Weather dramatically improved. Time to explore!

Of course its a foggy day as I plan to go into the Alps... :(

I was considering another night here, mind you. The town I was aiming for is a tourist onsen village, so room avaliability was potentially a problem. The bus goes to the top of my mountain from here too.

Though if its still foggy tomorrow, cycling down a 2.7 km mountain would be insanity.

Been getting the best 'oh my god a foreigner!' reactions today. A guy came off the elevator as I got on, and did a leaping double take. Not as funny as the look on the face of a girl on a tricycle as I zoomed uphill past her house. Priceless.

Of course, I do look pretty weird with all my kit on. The look on drivers' faces when I wear my air filter mask..

Did a bit of staring myself. Stopped to gawk at a dozen kids unpacking bikes for some kind of tour. Offroading, probably.

I've known Japanese TV to be weird, but a drama about a girl who has shrunk to 2 inches tall (don't know why), and her romance with a normal sized childhood friend, who carries her around in his shirt pocket？ I won't even describe what happens in an average episode.

Beats yesterday where over 2 10 minute or so bouts of channel surfing, 5 people suffered stab wounds to the gut.

Yes, I've been reduced to watching Japanese TV in the evening. Too tired to go walking about..

I'm in a restaurant that features many forms of raw beef. The vegetarian appetizers look great. Pretty fancy Danplace- I think they are quietly annoyed at my not ordering a mains. :)

Ah, whinge off chest. I honestly am having a ireat time! Relaxing in my hotel, which thankfully has a coin laundry. But first, food. I am famished!

Second complaint- if u r going to have sidewalks, maintain them! I went through some areas in serious need of a few meetings with a weed whacker. While we're at it the sides of the roads could use a trim too. Got a couple of welts today from plants, and a dizzying slap across the throat.

Seriously, 1 ft is not wide enough for sidewalks in tunnels.

Why does the sidewalk change sides of the road so often, and why is there not a crosswalk there？ Why 100m back, if at all？

I did walk my bike twice, but at the top of two really steep slopes, and not for long. I did take a lot of breaks, some might say overmany. But boy I needed them. These last 3 days have been pretty heavy!

I have 2 complaints about Japanese country roads. 1, would it kill the highway budget to cover the drains on the side of the road？ I live in fear of falling into one of them and breaking limbs. A paranoid fear, yes, but see how much u like being between one and a Mac truck.

Day
Goal: Takayama (which means 'high mountain' btw)

Estimated distance: 97
Distance traveled: 101

Average speed: 18.11

Mountains: it was ALL mountain, mostly up
Tunnels: 7 (longest being 1.2 kms long)


The road to Takayama is marvelous. For cars. The view is wonderfully scenic- outside the towns. It slopes very gently, but 90 kms uphill gets pretty painful.

This was precisely the kind of challenge I needed- one I could actually do.

Holy crap I made it. 3.5 hours later than expected, but that was a ludicrous guess.

This is beautiful and all, but almost getting boring... been steadily going uphill for a while now- was woefully optimistic in my arrival time.

And in answer to Will's comment, I think it had more to do with my full on cycling gear, not just my whiteness. Besides, not really so white right now...

Hee hee. The ryokan lady wants to take a picture of me. :)

I can honestly say this is the first time I've found a grasshopper in my room!

She showed me my room and said, "I have no bed."

At first I thought she was giving up her bedroom, but just meant I had to sleep on a futon. :)

Air con is totally old school. Window has to be open, cause it sits on the window sill. Thank goodness I brought bug spray!

Once I was out of the cities though, magic. The road to Takayama winds alongside a river, working its way up at an almost unnoticeable angle. This is easily the best road of the trip, making up for Gifu big time. It even has a sidewalk most of the time! At one point I had an old highway all to myself. Cars got a tunnel, I got river views and saw a weird temple on a rock outcrop beside the river. Very cool.

Am now in unknown village at a cheap ryokan. Owner has cute English.

Day 17
Goal:

Estimated distance: 75
Distance traveled: 87.3

Average speed: 18.1

Mountains: 0 (I'm in the Alps？)
Tunnels: 3


Getting to Gifu and out of the towns that followed was one of the most miserable stretches of the trip. Ugly, terrible side paths and rarely much of a curb not used by truckers. Took me till 4 PM just to get out of the cities. Of course, the super tired legs and constant breaks probably didn't help for that.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but now that the days have dipped to 30 degrees, riding is a lot easier. The breezes off Lake Biwa didn't hurt either.

Forgot to mention yesterday that I saw TWO big thunder storms, one in the morning and one in the evening. Not near me thankfully, but I did race a raincloud in the morning (and won. It was going over at 90゜ to my route).

Anyway, heavy lightning at night = cool. When it's far away. :)

Wow. First time my legs have felt tired in the morning.

I think people misunderstand my intentions. I am still entering the Alps, just from the south and around the middle. There's a road that pretty much goes straight north to Takayama.

My original plan was to come from the south west tip and work my way up and down the Alps to Takayama. Pretty crazy really.

I decided it wasn't a challenge to take a route that I'd walk more than bike. The idea is to cycle lots not push!

Thus, now in Ogaki, at the hotel beside the station.

I feel good for all the cycling, just could have done without the stresses! Am very tired though. G'night!

That mountain experience confirmed the south route for me. I began to search for a train station. At the station, I found nothing for 2 hours. To pass the time, I backtracked in the dark to try and find my missing wallet. I did, thankfully, a fair ways back. To kill more time, I decided to carry on further, to the station where I would've made a transfer. Except I missed it. Had to double back a number of kms. Then I found the train didn't go as far as I wanted.

Leaving the lake was where problems started. I wanted to see as much of the coast as possible, but that meant a mountain climb. No problem, thought I. The map I had showed just one hill. Easy! Except this was a car only road, no trucks, beause of steep roads. Not so easy to cycle, so lots of stops which attracted bugs! Nothing that bit, but I was getting tramautized by their numbers and resilience. The mountain was resilient too. Kept going up. So more bugs swarmed. Miserable.

The trip to Lake Biwa was uneventful, and the lake was pretty unimpressive at first. Lots of development and industry, and few views of the lake. This changed about halfway along, as the big cities gave way to little towns and farmland. Wow. Could have sworn I was on the coastal Van Island highway at times. The Okanogan at others.

I stopped at one terrible tourist trap- a 'windmill village.' How could I not？ Was tempted by Gulliver's travels village, but in wrong direction.

Day 16
Goal: After some thought, Gifu (southern route)
Actual destination: Ogaki

Estimated distance: 70
Distance traveled: 150(!!!)

Average speed: 18.17

Mountains: Easy slope continuing from Sanzenin, mountain range from hell getting out of N Lake Biwa.
Tunnels: 6 (2 around 1 km)


So, Sanzenin was a lovely temple. Quite well arranged, very pretty. Unfortunately,all the other temples around had seperate ticket charges. Death by a thousand cuts. Left fairly quick.

Today can be termed as 'not good.' Still traveling, but on a train, thank goodness. Hope theres a train at the end of the ride, cause there ain't one here in Maibara! Another update wheneveq I find a place to fall over, or maybe even tomorrow morning. :)

Monkeys werea surprise, but crabs？ How'd it get up here？

Oh man. I do not mind having paid 25 bucks for breakfast. Absolutely exquisite. Probably the best meal I've had in Japan.

There is a third option. I could take a train north after Lake Biwa, that takes me basically to the base of the Alps. Decisions decisions.

My main problem with the southern route is that it looks like more ugly sprawl for half the way. I didn't take this trip to look at cities...

In answer to Sean's comment, I do have to take a bus to the top of crazy big mountain. But the smaller ranges are on local bus routes. Bikes are OK on tourist buses, but no such luck on local buses. I _could_ just stick my thumb out if the going got too tough...

Another concern is the state of the road. Would there be a sidewalk for me to ride on？ Probaaly not. Obon is approaching, when pretty much everyone returns to their home towns. Busy roads going uphill= no fun.

Oh yes. Got my hands on a better map of the Alps. The Northern route I planned has 2 mountain passes, one of them 324 m, the other being 963 m up. How could I say no to that？

...by being sensible, I suppose.

Also looked at the road I'll be coming down on from 2.7 kms above sea level. Let's just say, I think my max speed will be 5 km/h or so.

Really must start earlier in the day. Anyway, I took a special route to see the temple, so it seemed goofy to leave without getting a glimpse. Alas, my only option was a ryokan with valley views and 2 onsen. Really slumming it this trip, yes sir. But dang do I feel relaxed right now!

Leaving Kyoto was a real treat. Not 30 mins out of downtown the suburbs gave way to a lovely valley road.

The first gem of the day was coming across a group of wild monkeys! I was crossing a bridge, and there were 4 of them on the other side, sitting on the railing under the shade of a tree. Further on I saw one shaking the branches of a tree.

On I went to Omura and Sanzenin Temple, which I've wanted to see for a while. Too bad it closed half an hour before I got there!

Day 15
Goal: Shin-Asahi
Actual destination: Omura

Estimated distance: 65.5
Distance traveled:70.18

Average speed: 18.05

Mountains: All ascent since leaving Kyoto. A nice slow one, mind.
Tunnels: 0


So, I actually cycled from Itami all the way to and through Kyoto. Great cycling day. Light breeze and light cloud cover dulling the sun. The constant red lights just as I reached top speed and the crazy drivers really started to piss me off. Must've fingered 8 people.

Well, the pussyfooting around is over. Now comes Lake Biwa and then the Japan Alps. Or thats the plan at the mo.

Serious voting time folks- should I stubborn my way up and down REAL mountains to get to Takayama (hint: the name means 'high mountain'), or take a more southerly route and take a train _through_ the mountains？ I leave it to your hands. Please vote by leaving a comment!

The fact that an old couple thanked me sincerely three times for giving up my space against the wall of the train (none of the young folks in the priority seating were moving) says a lot to me about the supposed politeness of Japanese these days. A train worker was right in front of the couple, but said nothing. Grr. Wish I'd had the language ability to properly bawl the seated kiddies out. Now theres some good motivation for language learning!

Rather hypocritical of me to be writing it from a swanky organic foods restaurant in the downtown core, I suppose.

I feel sorry for them- they've got shade, but the heat and the humidity must be murderous. I'm glad they have something, but I find the sheer number of homeless people in parks here quite saddening.

A vegetarian and his money are soon parted. Or maybe it's just me. Too many good looking organicrestaurants in Osaka.

Taking it easy today. Did laundry, took a train to Osaka, looked around Amerika mura, and found my cuteness mecca, Chax Colony. Home of Gloomy Bear, if that means anything to any of you.

Also went to Osaka Castle. It was lovely, from the outside. What wasn't so lovely was the tarp/tent villages of homeless tucked into every bit of forest in the park around it.