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We walked into a restaurant and because we didn't speak Khmer and were unable to read the menu, we just pointed at what other people were eating I have no idea what it was, some kind of stir fried meat and vegetables topped with a fried egg on top. It was delicious! And so glad they also had our favorite beer in stock: Black Panther! Yesssss! What a great end to a fabulous day of dirt-riding! That night, we slept the sleep of the dead. So exhausted! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3492-L.jpg The next morning. Preparing to leave Pramaoy https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3503-L.jpg On our way out of the Cardamom Mountains. The Chinese have graded the gravel road back to civilization. Nice! What a ride! A little bit of adventure, plenty of beautiful untouched nature, delicious mystery meat and exciting dirt roads. This was hands-down one of our favorite experiences in SE Asia! |
Bonus Blooper Reel at the end :) |
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/387.html
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map387-L.jpg We wheel into the bustling city of Battambang feeling weary, dirty and exhausted. Did I mention we were tired as well? From here, it's merely a day's ride away from the Thai border and good thing too: our export license on our bike expires in three days. Thailand want's our Thai-registered bikes back in the home country. Such a strange rule... It's been a hectic ride through Cambodia, but we made it! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SC_0549-XL.jpg View of the temple next door to our hotel Battambang is the second-largest city in Cambodia, but it doesn't have nearly the same amount of traffic and congestion. We like that. Our hotel that we booked online is right downtown on the main street. Close to all the shops and restaurants, nice buildings in the area, but we're not that happy with the noise from the trucks passing by our window and the rooms are not that nice or clean. We don't like that... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0534-L.jpg After checking in, we go walking around Battambang. This is not our hotel... |
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Market in downtown Battambang https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0541-L.jpg Pulling a U-Boat in front of the fish https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0545-L.jpg Tentacles and insects, yummy! |
We found a stall that served some fluffy crepes with bean sprouts, chicken and vegetables stuffed inside.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SC_0547-XL.jpg Although her English wasn't that good, the woman cooking was cracking jokes and making us LOL! Her English was much better than our Khmer, and it goes to show you don't need to master a language to have your good humour show! Great food too! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0548-L.jpg Neda found a cross-stitching friend in the market! We spent one night in the hotel on the busy main street. With a couple of days left on our motorcycle export papers, we went out in search of a nicer place to stay. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SCN3516-XL.jpg Relocation time |
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Look what we found! It has a pool! We found another place a bit further from the centre of town, it was like a resort! Perfect, tranquil setting! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3534-L.jpg Neda gets a chance to work on her cross-stitching. It looks like she's almost done! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3521-L.jpg Wheeling the bike out to go in search of food |
There are very few tourists walking around Battambang. It doesn't have the cosmopolitan appeal of Phnom Penh, nor the pull of the magnificent temples in Siem Reap, and it doesn't have the beaches that the sun-seeking Barangoes flock to in Sihanoukville. We like that a lot!
https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3527-L.jpg A local restaurant around the corner On the menu we saw "Happy Pizza" and "Happy Milkshakes". What makes it so "happy", you may ask? Cannabis! Although marijuana is technically illegal in Cannabodia, it seems to be tolerated and there are some restaurants and bars that spike their food and drinks with pot. Then they label it "Happy" and the authorities turn a blind eye to it. That's pretty dope. The best kind of Happy Pizza is vegetarian, since it's specially made for Herbivores. Each pizza comes with 2 cans of Pringles, and a whole tub of ice cream. You know, for after... Besides getting stoned, there little draw for tourists to do in Battambang. The biggest attraction is Phare Ponleu Selpak, the Cambodian circus! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0553-L.jpg We sneak backstage to watch the young performers train before the big show. Phare Ponleu Selpak is more than a circus. It had its roots in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge genocide, which decimated the adult population of Cambodia. In 1986, a French humanitarian worker came to work with the kids left behind in the refugee camps. One of her approaches was art therapy, allowing the children to express their trauma through drawing. That small group of kids grew up and eventually went on to found an arts centre here in Battambang. In 1996, a music program was added. In 1998, a circus was added and it has grown in leaps and bounds (pun intended) since then. Graduates from the circus program eventually go on to perform around the world, ending up in world-class troupes like the Cirque du Soleil, and then often returning to give their time back and teaching the next generation of kids at Phare Ponleu Selpak. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0559-L.jpg Every evening, the school puts on a show, showcasing the young students performing talents in music, dance and acrobatics |
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Taditional Cambodian dance https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SC_0568-XL.jpg And then the circus begins! After what this country has been through, watching these kids fly through the air, I felt a bit proud to be supporting them in some way. Our admission fee and donations from sponsors allow 1,400 students a year to receive free schooling and basic education, plus the ability to attend any of the arts, music and performance classes. If you feel like supporting them, please visit their site: https://phareps.org/make-a-donation/ |
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Some music, some slap-stick comedy, very entertaining! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0596-L.jpg And then more eye-popping aerial gymnastics! Tomorrow we leave Cambodia and re-enter Thailand. Then one final push and we'll be in Chiang Mai. Although we're really looking forward to the long, extended break, we're also a bit sad that we're leaving this beautiful country. Something about it really resonated with us. It had just the right amount of exotic appeal and adventure, it was friendly and inviting, but most of all, it seemed undiscovered and under-the-radar - due in part to the complications in overlanding across the border. And we also enjoyed the pace! Over the last few years, we've either felt too rushed or too slow. The perfect pace seems so elusive. And despite our initial misgivings about only being given 14 days to see this country, it was actually the perfect amount of time for us, just enough calendar room to give us a goal to ride towards, but not short enough to make us feel rushed. Strange, isn't it? Thank you, Thai customs people! |
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/388.html
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map388-L.jpg The yo-yo is coiling back up the string, returning to the hand that spun it out so long ago. For non-nomadic travelers, every trip is a loop. Whether by motorcycle, car or plane, you always go back to the place you started. Just like a yo-yo, what goes out, must come back in again. Because we're storing bikes in Croatia and Thailand, we now have places where we know we'll have to return. So now we've gotten little bit of that yo-yo mentality. Different if we had stored cellos in different places. Then we would have the Yo-Yo-Ma mentality... (Cello, is it me you're looking for?) That start/end point is now in sight. It's been over ten long months since we left and Chiang Mai is now only a handful of days away. It's looking like an oasis of rest in this desert of fatigue that we've been crawling through. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SCN3539-XL.jpg We're reversing our route out of Cambodia, so back to that funky motel that we staged at the day before crossing over The O'Smach border post, the same one we crossed to get into Cambodia, falls behind us without incident. After worrying so much about customs, corrupt border officials, etc. the whole thing turned out to be so anti-climactic. Not complaining. In the morning, before we embark on this final leg, I replace the fuses on our bikes to re-enable the daylight running lights, the reverse of what I did before we entered Cambodia and that sense of unwinding returns. The mood today is a quiet weariness. We pack in relative silence with the end of our long travels within sight. We should be in Chiang Mai within two sleeps. It's comforting to be back in Thailand after two weeks in Cambodia. Although it's not as exotic and alluring, there's a certain familiarity to all the 7-11s, PTT gas stations, smiling Sawadee-kahs, driving on the left once again, etc. Also, the food is a lot better. I remember the first thing we did yesterday upon crossing the border was to find a food stall and order our favorites, Pad Thai, Pad See-Ew... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...IMG_5100-L.jpg Lanna temples, lit up at night in Kohn Kaen It's a long day's ride to the city of Kohn Kaen. The last time we were here, we stayed a bit outside of the city. Now, we find a place right in town. Gotta change *some* things up a bit! |
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The new king's face is adorned on shrines everywhere in Thailand https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3543-L.jpg Christmas tree in the lobby of our hotel https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...IMG_6947-L.jpg Because we've been in Kohn Kaen before, we know all the good places to eat! Aside from the peppercorn crab in Kep, Cambodian food was unremarkable. There are a lot more tastier options in Thailand, and we've really missed the good food here! |
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BMW riders can be such snobs! :D I think there was a Thai Big Bike club staying at the same hotel we were in. They brought their own signs... In hot climates, you put a piece of cardboard or cloth over the seat otherwise it's baked buns when you hop back on your bike after it's been sitting in the sun for hours! The nicer hotels will sometimes do this for you. Another long riding day brings us back within Chiang Mai city limits. However, we're not exactly home just yet. Because it's Christmastime, the apartment that we usually rent has jacked up it's rate by over double, so we've temporarily found a cheaper place outside of the city. We've booked our favorite apartment for the New Year when the prices are more reasonable. Yes, sometimes things *are* expensive in Thailand... Especially when the rich farangs descend into town for their winter vacations! Damn farangs, ruining it for the rest of us. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3547-L.jpg The neighbourhood where we're staying in https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SCN3552-XL.jpg Our temporary digs We're booked in this place for about a week, about 10 minutes ride away from the centre of town. It's nice and comfortable but I feel like we're refugees or something, counting down the days till we're able to settle into our long-term apartment rental. I just want to unpack everything right now, park the bikes and not worry about moving for a very long time. And it would be nice to be able to walk everywhere again, instead of having to ride into town whenever we want to eat or go shopping. Still... we're in Chiang Mai. After ten months of non-stop travel, we're finally back where we started and again, that anti-climactic feeling clings to me. Like getting walked over the plate instead of dramatically sliding safely into home after a sacrificial fly. I don't know anything about football. Did I say that right? |
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More delicious Thai food https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...IMG_6960-L.jpg All across the city, we see these baby elephant statues, painted in different colours They're a part of an art project called the Elephant Parade. It's the world's largest collection of painted baby elephants. 89 of these statues are stationed all around the city. In addition, hand-crafted replicas and other merchandise are offered for sale, a portion of the proceeds going to elephant sanctuaries and other conservation efforts. This exhibition has traveled all around the world. In total, 1350 artists from all over have painted 1500 elephants, raising millions of dollars for Asian elephants! Baby elephants have a special place in Neda's heart. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...MG_6964-XL.jpg Did I mention the food choices in Thailand are excellent? Big Burger Time! Big burgers have a special place in my stomach... |
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Neda finally has time to work on her cross-stitching. She's almost finished her latest project! Although we are tired of riding, we aren't tired of talking about it, or meeting other motorcycle travelers! There's a motorcycle bar in town, and every year they host an evening get-together inviting overland bikers to talk about two-wheeled travel. We volunteered to do a presentation! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...743217_n-L.jpg We got a chance to share our experiences with a slide show of our pictures running in the background Sometimes while you're in the middle of a long journey, bogged down in the mundane: the visas, the vehicle import permits, the language difficulties, the fatigue of it all, etc. you lose sight of the larger picture. Stepping back and talking about why we did this trip, the preparation, our state of mind when we first started -- it really brought back the joy and wonder of it all. It was very enjoyable for us, and I think it rubbed off on the audience as well - there were many enthusiastic questions after, as there always are. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...772416_n-L.jpg Looks like Neda is doing Karaoke! "Near... faaaaaar... whereever you aaaaaare...!" It was a great evening getting to meet other motorcycle travelers. However, there were more ex-pat locals than foreigners. Thailand has recently instituted a rule where foreign vehicles now require a permit and a hired Thai guide to escort them through the country. I've heard these rules were put into effect specifically to curb the influx of careless Chinese drivers, who have caused several high-profile accidents in the country. Unfortunately, these rules have also affected overland travelers. Previous annual meetings here used to boast a much larger attendance of foreign bikers passing through. Not this year though. One of the organizers told me this would be the last annual meeting of its kind. Sad. I think for some overlanders, it's a very romantic notion to travel with the same vehicle all over the world. But in retrospect, it was a very good decision for us to buy motorcycles in Thailand, instead of riding or shipping our bikes in. We've gained trouble-free access to and from many SE Asian countries without requiring permits or carnets, but most importantly, we're able to stay as long as our visas allow us to, and not be constrained by a vehicle permit. And the new rules only allow for a 30-day vehicle permit in Thailand. 30 days! I can't even imagine that! We've been here close to a year in total with our Thai bikes!!! |
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Hey, look who also showed up in Chiang Mai! Our fellow nomadic friends, Yaw and Hélène! We missed them the last time they flew through Bangkok, but now we've got a chance to hang out with them in Thailand! They're in town for a month doing that digital nomad thing, so we've got a social circle once again! Yaw and Hélène have the distinction of being a couple of only a handful of people that we've met up with during this journey on three or more continents: We first met them in Seattle, then Marseille, and now Thailand! I love our little network of world travelers! "Let's do lunch in New Zealand next month!" So awesome...! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...IMG_6996-L.jpg Celebrating the new year in Chiang Mai with good friends and great local music! We are also moving into our apartment this week. That frenetic pace of constant travel, packing and unpacking, being in unfamiliar surroundings, having to hunt and scrounge for food and shelter, it's finally over! Is that a good thing? It feels like it. |
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/389.html
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map389-L.jpg We've been craving a place to settle down for a while now. But that Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO) has kept us moving until we just got completely sick of traveling. If you had talked to Neda about travel anytime during these last couple of months, she'd get this glassy look in her eyes and then she'd stare off into the distance somewhere past your left shoulder. I knew exactly what she was staring at: Chiang Mai. If you listened closely, you'd be able to hear her murmur under her breath: "Just gotta get to Chiang Mai", "Everything will be better once we reach Chiang Mai". It might as well have been called Shangri-La. I didn't feel as strongly, but I did want to stop and take a long rest and Shangri-La was not a bad place to do it. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3581-L.jpg Shangri-La. Or Su-Thep. Close enough. While visiting Chiang Mai, everyone goes to the golden temples at the top of the Su-Thep hill overlooking the city. Apart from the annual lantern festival, Doi Su-Thep is probably the top tourist attraction in the area. To get there, most visitors take a 10km long, twisty, stomach-churning, vomit-inducing ride in the back of a songthaew. What is lesser known is that there is a smaller, more secluded temple closer to the bottom of the hill. It's called Wat Pha Lat, and there's a steep, but scenic, hiking path called the Monk's Trail to get there. You just have to mention the word "hike" and Neda is all over it like a fit kid on a quinoa salad. There were only two problems. The first is obvious: I hate hiking. The second is that Neda's ankle is *still* sore from that trip-up at the Tomb Raider temple in Cambodia. She went to the doctor here in CM and discovered that it's quite a serious sprain. They've got her going to physiotherapy to fix it. Thankfully, healthcare is very cheap in Thailand! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SCN3573-XL.jpg Let's see now... Who do we know that likes hiking...? If Yaw is my "Are We There Yet?" Anti-Hiking Brother from another Mother, then Hélène is Neda's Active-Lifestyle Sister from another Mister. Soy-slinging Health Nut? Check. "We should *totally* do another hike... RIGHT NOW!" attitude? Check. It's so perfect that they're in the city the same time that we are! |
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As you can tell from the pictures, Neda never lets anything trivial like a sprained ankle stop her from doing a steep hike Others (not naming any names), can come up with any number of reasons not to go hiking. "Can't hike today. Still bummed that the Leafs haven't won a Stanley Cup in a while". I don't know anything about football. Did I say that right? https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3596-L.jpg Scratching the elephant belly at Wat Pha Lat https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3613-L.jpg Ham it up, ladies! Although it's quite hot in Chiang Mai, it's nothing compared to the scorching temperatures of April. Speaking of which, we've managed to extend our tourist visa an extra month in Thailand, which lets us stay till the end of March. Perfect timing to leave Chiang Mai! Not just because of the scorching temperatures, but also because that's when burning season starts as well. However we have no idea where we are going after that. If you ask us right now, because we're so sick of traveling, the feeling is that we're done. We'll wrap up this little motorcycle trip of ours. Because we have no idea where we want to end up, the default is probably back to Toronto for the summer and then figure it out from there. Then relocate the BMWs to wherever we decide to settle. But we really don't know. It's still too early to make any decisions or even talk about the future. We're just enjoying being in Chiang Mai. So what are we going to do here for the next three months? |
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Welcome to my office The blog has been severely neglected. People e-mail me all the time: "The last update was from months ago! Where are you? Are you okay!?!" It does get updated. Just slowly. Like the way we travel... Now that we've got some free time, I try to catch up on the picture editing and the writing. But I just can't get the motivation. Sitting in our comfortable apartment is just not conducive to blogging. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3679-L.jpg I like this quote. Except replace "painting" with "riding". "I dream of riding and then I ride my dream" No, that makes no sense at all. Nevermind. So I get this idea: Yaw and Hélène are digital nomads. So while they get to travel all over the world, they are still working at the same time, just that all their work is online. Like many digital nomads, they don't work in their apartments. They check into "co-working spaces". The internet is faster there. It's air-conditioned. But more importantly, there's no TV or other distractions and everyone else around you is also working. It's a very conducive environment to get work done. Or to get blogging done. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3683-L.jpg One day, Neda joins me and the digital nomads at our usual spot, the co-working space on the top floor of Maya Mall I've got quite the daily routine going on, which is quite unlike me. Honestly, I've never had a 9-to-5 office job even before we left on our trip. I was always on an airplane or rushing to and from a different city or country for my previous jobs. But now, every day I wake up early so I can walk to Maya Mall, which is about a km away. You have to get there early otherwise it gets too hot to be outside for too long. Also, all the good seats are taken up by 10AM. The mall doesn't even open till 11AM, so you have to take the service elevator to get to the co-working space. For every dollar you spend at the coffee bar/restaurant, you get a coupon for two hours of Internet time. The stacks of Internet coupons pile up between the three of us faster than we can use them. Yaw and Hélène are so hard-working and diligent. Sitting beside them every day for 6-8 hours a day really provided me with the motivation to get cracking on the blog. But really it's because I would have felt so guilty watching cat videos on YouTube while they were hard at work. Thanks to them, I'm pumping out entries almost every day. The blog is quickly catching up to real-time! It is very disorienting to spend a few hours sorting through pictures and writing about Eastern Europe (yes, that's how far behind I am), then at the end of the day, look up from the laptop and ask the people around you, "Where am I? What country are we in right now?" |
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While I am playing Digital Nomad, Neda has her own daily routine. Yoga classes three times a week Also physiotherapy for her ankle a couple of times a week, and she also started volunteering at a dog shelter - also three times a week. This is Shangri-La for Neda. This is the reason why she was so eager to get back here. Well, everything but the physiotherapy part... It's like we've got some kind of semblance of a normal, sedentary life again! It's not bad. I kind of like it. Motorcycle travel is *THE FURTHEST* thing from our minds these days. Because everything is walking distance from our apartment, the CRFs have stayed parked since we arrived. My domestic bliss is rudely interrupted though: https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3633-L.jpg Neda is like a drill sargeant! :) Somehow, the women convinced/blackmailed Yaw and I into going on the Su Thep hike with them. I guess they felt bad for having so much fun that they wanted to inject just a little griping, moaning, grumbling and complaining into their hikes. Which is where Yaw and I come into the picture... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SCN3639-XL.jpg Proof that I did indeed do the hike as well |
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The drill sargeant congratulates us for reaching the top. "Now drop and give me 20!" I was a bit ambivalent about the whole thing. Although I hate hiking, it was nice hanging out with friends outside of a mall or coffee shop. I was like, 50% Namaste, 50% F*ck Outta Here. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...IMG_7003-L.jpg So back to the coffee shop... We digital-nomad (it's a verb now) at different places around the city, trying out swanky diners, funky coffee shops. Still, the co-working space at Maya is the most conducive to work. And the cheapest option too. This one place above had really good cakes though... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...IMG_7006-L.jpg Another hippy cafe we tried. They had hammocks and mats on the floor for you to lie down on. I don't think we got much work done at this place... The digital nomad subculture is fascinating. The idea is that since your customers and work are all on-line, you gain the benefits of a western income, but keep your expenses low by living in a low cost-of-living country. The more complicated version of this is called "Three Flag Theory", where you plant different flags in different parts of the world based on three criteria: 1. Where you pay taxes, 2. Where your business pays taxes and 3. Where you actually live. If you renounce your residency, you don't have to pay income tax (unless you're an American citizen). If you incorporate your business in a tax haven country, you don't have to pay corporate taxes. And if you live on tourist visas and never establish a new residency, you get a sales tax refund on everything you purchased every time you leave the country for the next place. It makes sense if your business is location-independent and you're adventurous and your travel ambitions extend past visiting the Eiffel Tower and sitting in cafes in Paris. Flag Theory is slightly controversial, because if everyone ducked taxes, how would a country be able to run? However, it's such a small subculture that I don't think western countries are in any danger of running out of people and companies to tax. Just as a disclaimer, Yaw and Hélène are actually still based out of the US and pay US corporate and personal taxes... |
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Yaw and Hélène introduced us to their Chiang Mai social circle: other digital nomads and assorted ex-pats The digital nomad lifestyle is not all milk and honey though. It makes sound economic sense, and there are lots of people rushing to Thailand (specifically Chiang Mai because it's so cheap) trying to set up a business here and reap the rewards of a luxurious, low-cost lifestyle. However, you also have to possess a skill that's marketable that you can perform on-line... programmers are able to do it. I've also met accountants, translators, writers, illustrators and graphic artists succeeding at the digital nomad thing. But the Facebook DN groups are abuzz with horror stories and cautionary tales of Digital-Nomad-wannabes who arrive in Chiang Mai with no marketable, location-independent skills. And because their tourist visa prevents them from getting a legitimate job, they end up working in hostels and bars for under-the-table pay, barely able to even afford the Thai low cost-of-living. Unable to return to their home country because they can't afford a plane ticket, they dodge immigration officials because their tourist visas have run out. These people are also prey to pyramid schemes. A popular one is the "How to become a Digital Nomad" course you can purchase online. It advertises that after taking the course, with very little technical skill, you too can become a successful Internet marketer. In reality, the course merely teaches you how to create your own "How to become a Digital Nomad" video and curriculum and how to sell it to the next Greater Fool willing to part with their money... :( Keywords: "Crushing it!" Visuals: Hire women in bikinis to pose next to you to prove that you are indeed, "Crushing it". Sell the lifestyle. Sell the course. We've traveled the world to experience different cultures. Sometimes there are some interesting ones that lurk just beneath the surface of geography. |
Happy Anniversary!
It's become a yearly tradition to celebrate with chocolate cake and candles. Today we're marking Six Years (!) on the road. Big hello to everyone following our trip. We've taken a little break from the blog, but we'll be back soon with more stories and pictures! Thanks for all the comments and encouragement, we really appreciate it! Neda & Gene https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...iversary-L.jpg |
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/390.html
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map389-L.jpg It's a sad day today. After spending a month with us in Chiang Mai, Yaw and Hélène are heading to their next Digital Nomadic destination: Indonesia! In all of our travels, we've always been the ones to leave. Now the tables are turned, and we are the ones waving good-bye to friends. So excited for them, but sad for us. Does this mean we are ready to continue motorcycle traveling? Nope. Nothing has changed on that front. Still travel-fatigued. Still enjoying the sedentary, scheduled lifestyle in Chiang Mai. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2..._170502-XL.jpg At least *somebody* still loves us This is our neighbour's dog. Every day when I am walking back from the co-working space, or when Neda comes back from yoga, this little guy runs up to greet us, tail wagging happily behind him. It's kind of nice being spotted as a regular in the neighbourhood, even if it's by a dog. There's a hole in the gate that he slips through every day after his owner leaves for work and he always makes sure he slips back in before his owner returns. So funny. We don't know his name and he wears a different colour bandana every day, so we call him "Bandana". I suggested "Antonio Bandana", but Neda didn't like that one. One day, he followed us all the way to the mall. I was a bit concerned because I didn't know if he could find his way back home. But the next day, Bandana re-appeared where he always was, outside his house, tail wagging and everything. We did meet his owner one day. Bandana has a Thai name. We couldn't pronounce it. So we kept on calling him Bandana. Despite Bandana being advanced in age, he was still very well loved and taken care of. I'm so glad, because so many dogs are abandoned after they cease being cute and cuddly toys. This is an especially bad problem in Thailand. Puppy-breeding is a thriving industry. There's big business in selling fluffy puppies to Thai owners, who then promptly abandon them without a thought on the streets or at the closest temple when they grow out of their cute phase. :( |
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Neda volunteers at a dog shelter called Care For Dogs Thankfully, there are organizations that take in these stray dogs, house and feed them, and also spay and neuter them to keep the stray population down. Three times a week, Neda rides 20 minutes out of the city to the dog shelter to help take care of the strays housed there. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3624-L.jpg Hard not to fall in love with a face like that. The puppy is cute too... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3625-L.jpg OMG! Cuteness overload!!! |
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More volunteers at Care for Dogs You know those beautiful Instagram pictures of the girl in the pretty dress leading the guy by the hand in exotic locations all over the world? If not, you can Google: "Murad Osmann Follow Me" https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SCN3686-XL.jpg Well, this is my version... :) The main duty of a volunteer at the dog shelter is to help the dogs burn off excess energy. You need to play with and also take them out for walks. The day I visited, I was allowed to take a couple of the more tamer dogs out. You need to undergo special training to handle the larger, more rambunctious dogs. In fact, just the other day, Neda was taking a couple of boisterous canines out and they yanked on her leash so violently that she tripped and sprained her ankle. Yep, she messed up the other one now, so it was back to physiotherapy for two sprained ankles... *SMH* https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3699-L.jpg The reward for volunteering. Playing with the puppies! We talked about the kind of dog we want to get when we settle down and hearing about all these problems with abandoned older dogs in Thailand, we're totally amenable to adopting a senior dog from a shelter. As a first dog, they are easier to take care of, most times they are already house broken and they don't require as much walking. Neda can't wait! She loves dogs so much. Here's more information about Care for Dogs in Chiang Mai, if you feel like helping out. |
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Presenting "The Kiss" by Klimt. It's a birthday present for Neda's sister in Italy. Neda finally finished her cross-stitch. This one took a whole year because we've been traveling so often, there was little time to work on it. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SCN3720-XL.jpg Well underway on her newest cross-stitch project https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3730-L.jpg We're no longer doing a lot of riding, so Neda has retired Ellie, her baby elephant keychain mascot. She's been promoted to pincushion duties now! I copy our blog entries to a few motorcycle forums on the Internet. On one of them, ADVRider, I received a PM: "Hey, were you guys at Kad Suan Kaew mall in Chiang Mai?!? I could have sworn I just saw you guys there!" LOL! What a small world! |
We made plans to meet up with Cleaver for drinks later on, and he brought his friend and business partner Millie along. Turns out they are both Digital Nomads too! *AND* they're both from Toronto as well! Small world, indeed!
Since Yaw and Hélène left, my blog writing efforts have stalled. I still go to Maya, but without people sitting beside me working hard, I just default to watching cat videos on YouTube. So after awhile I just gave up on going to the co-working space. I can watch cat videos in our apartment... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3722-L.jpg Digital Nomading with Cleaver and Millie. Because I invited myself to their co-working space. The blog is back on track! We go to Maya sometimes, but they prefer going to a whole bunch of different Internet cafes around the city. I don't mind. I'm getting lots of work done! Cleaver's also a biker and after this stint in Thailand, he's off to Taiwan to do a scooter tour of the island. Cool! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3701-L.jpg Our time in Chiang Mai is coming to an end. We are cleaning up the bikes to sell them and getting ready to say good-bye to Thailand and SE Asia We end up selling the bikes to one of the local rental agencies. No mess, no fuss. If you see them on the road around Chiang Mai, e-mail us and let us know! :) |
The countdown has started, ticking down towards the expiry dates on our tourist visas and then we'll have to leave Thailand yet again. We don't know when we'll be back, so it's best to get rid of the bikes now, and if we ever return we can always pick up another couple of bikes for fairly cheap.
So... after three months of rest we do another group huddle: What's the verdict? Go home (wherever that is) or continue motorcycling? We both agree. I think we're done. Are we sad? Not really. We've been on the road since 2012 - that's quite a long time. I think when we started out, we had visions of ourselves conquering countries and continents, our rear wheel painting an imaginary red line behind us, blazing a confident path across the globe from north pole to south, lines of longitude falling fast in our wake. In reality, rather than a smooth, efficient and flowing path, our plotted travels look like they were left by a drunken sailor trying to execute a football play in the middle of a line-dance... and falling asleep a couple of times along the way. The line goes back and forth, doubling back on itself as if that drunken sailor forgot his wallet at the last bar, even criss-crossing itself oh so many times...! Then it skips ahead a continent, then returns and does another weird loop-de-doo... https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...n_sailor-L.png We often tell people that we have no plan and they never believe us. Then when we show them our route on the map, they tell us, "Wow, you guys have no idea where you're going, do you?" (I feel it's worked out quite well!) With that said, we have settled on a plan: after a half-decade on the road, we're finally going to end this motorcycle trip and return to Toronto. But it's still snowing there. It'd be nice to wait out the North American winter somewhere a bit warmer. "Where's the one place you had really wanted to go on this trip, but we never made it?", I asked Neda. I already knew the answer... |
I shall miss the moments of glee when an email arrives with your latest blog update notification and sitting down with a coffee and reading of your adventures.
Thank you for spending so much time creating a record of your journey together and for letting us share it vicariously with you. It's introduced me to new places and people and also allowed me to remember my own visits to some of the places you've been. I hope you'll still occasionally blog with your next adventure in life but I wish you both the very, very best of luck with whatever comes next. Justin. |
Thanks both for a doing a great trip and sharing it with us its been inspirational
Enjoy your last few stops before home. Wishing you both all the best for your future and when is the book and film coming out? beer Dave |
Thanks guys!
Quote:
Only one has gotten back to us so far... http://i63.tinypic.com/vwvgcj.gif |
Done too! Know how you feel. It was 6 years since we left Kamloops June 22, 2012! We arrived to the last country of the WWR today in Brunei. We ship from Sabah to KL and then JFK. Maybe you will be in TO when we roll thru on the way to Kamloops? Neda I have even almost finished my cross stitch that I started in May last year! Cheers Sara
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Updated from Mar 10 2017: Tokyo: Robots, Sushi and... Elvis?
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map391-L.jpg Our flight lines up on its final approach when we see the bright lights of Tokyo gleaming below us. It's 7C outside (OMG COLD!) when we touch down at Haneda International Airport. Ha-Neda. Ha ha! Neda! All throughout the flight I was ribbing Neda whenever the attendant mentioned Ha-Neda. She found it funny the first seven or eight times, but the Ha's quickly FADED away from Ha-Neda... We're so excited to be in Japan! It's been at the top of our bucket lists since the very beginning of our trip and now we're finally here! Neda's #1 item on her list was, "See Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan". We are arriving at the tail end of winter, so perfect timing for that! I'm a bit of a Japanophile, but not in the manga/anime way. I remember watching a Michael Keaton film in the 80s called "Gung Ho" about a Japanese car company executive who is sent to America to help turn around a failing auto company. It was a comedy and the humour was based on the cultural differences between Americans and Japanese. Ever since then, I've been fascinated with how different Japanese culture is to the west. Everything from their food, their entertainment and their way of thinking. I'm looking forward to seeing and experiencing all these strange, weird and wonderful things first-hand! I was prepared for Tokyo to be very expensive, but Neda managed to find an AirBnB apartment for $40! And it's surprisingly quite spacious as well! We thought we'd be sleeping in cramped tubes in Japan! LOL! We're making our temporary home in a north-eastern suburb of Tokyo called Sumida. It looks to be an older neighbourhood, very quiet, about 15 minutes train ride from the downtown core. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3735-L.jpg Our place is on the fourth floor of a building right next to the Tokyo Skytree tower In the morning we were awoken to some kind of alarm: PRM-PRM-PRM-PRM-PRM... What the heck?!? Fire alarm? No, it's coming from outside. I step out onto the balcony. Our apartment is right next to the train crossing. The "alarm" was the warning signal when the barrier comes down to stop traffic from crossing the tracks. The signal goes off every 15-30 minutes: PRM-PRM-PRM-PRM-PRM. This is what it sounds like: <audio controls> <source src="crossing.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"> Your browser does not support the audio element. Browse to source </audio> Hmmm, perhaps this is why it's only $40/night...?[/COLOR] |
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Still, it's a great place! This is our living room. There's also a kitchen/dining room the same size, and a bedroom, also the same size We've gone from the blistering heat of Thailand to the still-shivering thaw of early spring in Japan. It's sooo cold, we need to crank up the heat in our apartment, even during the days. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...L/remote-L.jpg Uh oh. All the appliances and remotes are in Japanese! Fortunately the AirBnB host left us a manual with English translations! Also, there doesn't seem to be a shower, just a really deep tub for one person to sit cross-legged in. Is it just our apartment or do they only take baths in Japan? Unfortunately, there are no manuals for the toilet! There are a million buttons on the side of the bowl! Which one is the flush button?!? It's then that I realize that I can actually read a bit of Japanese! I know the Chinese characters for "big" and "small" and Japanese uses the same Kanji characters. Neat! So I quickly locate the buttons for "big flush" and "small flush". Now what do the rest of the other buttons do...? I press another one and instantly get surprised by a stream of warm water squirting up in my face. Oh. Somewhere outside, the train crossing laughs at me: PRM-PRM-PRM-PRM-PRM https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3736-L.jpg Yoshinoya! Our new favorite restaurant in Japan! We want our stay in Japan to be as non-touristy as possible, so I did some digging on where the locals go to shop and eat. Yoshinoya is one of the most popular fast-food chains in the country. It seems like there's one on every street corner, like McDonalds, except that the food is actually healthy. Lots of rice and fish dishes. Delicious and cheap! Also, you know tourists don't go to Yoshinoya because - no English menu. We spent a long while with the waiter as he translated all the items for us. Also thankful that the menu is all pictures! We're going to have to commit them to memory because I have a feeling we're going to come back to this place over and over again! |
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One thing I read about is Natto. It's a very popular Japanese breakfast dish Natto is fermented soy beans. My first impressions were: OMG, it smells horrible! Like yeasty old sneakers... And the texture looks like the slime coming out of the creature's mouth in Aliens... and it has a really sharp, fermenty taste. *BLECH* Japanese people are weird! But then a funny thing happened. We go to Yoshinoya the next morning and I order natto again. Just to confirm that I really don't like it. This time, I mix in the soya sauce and hot mustard that it comes with. It's not that bad. We make Yoshinoya our default breakfast place and the next day, I find myself actually looking forward to eating Natto. And shortly after that, we go to the grocery store and pick up a 5-pack of Natto so I can eat it at home as well. I love natto now! Japanese people have really good taste in food... Neda is not so easily convinced. Until I show her all the vitamins and nutrients that are found in fermented soyabeans. Natto is actually a superfood! Very high in Vitamin K. After hearing that, Neda starts eating natto begrudgingly. She'll do anything if it's healthy... Neda is weird. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0031-L.jpg We got ourselves a Pasmo train card! Living like a local! Everyone wears face masks in Tokyo. At first, I thought it was because of flu season, but after some reading, I found out that they wear these masks year-round. And it's not because they're afraid of *catching* germs. They're all wearing face masks as a courtesy, so they don't spread their *own* germs to other people on the subway or at work. This was our first important insight into Japanese culture. That all their behaviour is governed by being courteous and thoughtful to the people around them. Tokyo is one of the most crowded cities on Earth. It just makes sense to make the extra effort to try to co-exist and make life easier for your (cramped and close-quarters) neighbour. How very un-Western like... I like it! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SCN3774-XL.jpg Girls in pretty kimonos on the subway We're finding a lot of the traditional mixed with the new in Tokyo. There are many women, young and old, wearing the traditional kimono out in public. It's nice to see. We're both liking Japan very much! Oh, another misconception we had about Tokyo: the subway is not crowded at all. At least not during non-rush hours and outside of the business district. Those videos and pictures of subway attendants shoving people into cars like cattle are only in specific stations in the downtown during peak times. We never had a problem finding seats on the Tokyo subway station! |
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Today is errand day. Our first stop is Akihabara - the shopping district Akihabara is the place to go to in Tokyo for all electronics. And the reason we are here is because my DSLR camera is not working anymore... It started acting up in Thailand, and I've been suffering from shutter withdrawal symptoms ever since. But now we are in NikonLand where the cameras are less expensive, and tourists pay no sales tax... That in conjuction with a rebate if you use your credit card add up to about a 15% discount from what we'd normally pay overseas. Not bad! I look into repairing my old D3000, but it will take six weeks to fix. So I end up getting a brand spankin' new D7200. Bigger megapixel and it does video too. Sweet!!! Also picked up a couple of SIM chips for our phones so we can have Internet as we travel through Japan. Although Tokyo is very good for English-speaking foreigners, I think we are going to be using Google Translate once we're out of the big city! Walking through the streets of Tokyo, I was struck by how clean everything is! No trash on the ground! Coming from SE Asia, this was quite a change. We're both very impressed! Loving Japan so far! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3773-L.jpg The Uniqlo robot welcomes us to the flagship Tokyo store. Japanese love their robots! We are not prepared for the cold weather! We came straight from Thailand and all our cold weather clothes are in Croatia inside the panniers of our BMWs. Uniqlo is one of the most well-known Japanese clothing brands and they have a hi-tech line of base layers called HEATTECH. We stock up on the long underwear and long-sleeve undershirts. Because no sales tax for tourists! Although we are kind of splurging on this last stop on our journey, we're still mindful of costs and we contemplated camping while we are in Japan. Surprisingly, there is a big camp culture in the country! We downloaded a guide showing camping spots all over the islands. But after some debate, we decided it's still too early in the season in Japan to camp. Still snow on the ground in some areas! So hopefuly we'll manage to find cheap AirBnBs just like here in Tokyo. Neda's favorite kind of stores are outdoor equipment shops. We found another well-known Japanese chain called Montbell and picked up some fleece sweaters and gloves there. I am feeling more like a local shopping at all these Japanese stores! Us and a million other Gaijin tourists! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0061-L.jpg We decided to walk back from Akihabara to Sumida. Some stuff we saw along the way |
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¥100 (100 Yen) stores are very popular. ¥100 is around 1 US Dollar ¥100 stores are not one specific chain, they are a type of store that sell everything for a dollar or less. The most common ¥100 stores are convenience stores like this Lawson's above, but there are other stores that sell little kitchen knick-knacks, stationary stores, etc. They are popular in Japan not only because the products are cheap, but because the quality of the merchandise is very high as well. Good value for your ¥100! I've become addicted to Chinese moon cakes at the Lawson Stores. One thing I quickly noticed: there are no trash cans anywhere in Tokyo! The only ones I could find are outside the convenience stores, so you see a lot of people standing around, eating and drinking their goodies right outside the store so they can get rid of their wrappers and packaging immediately. Like what I'm doing above. I feel so Japanese! I did some research and I found out that after the Sarin Gas terrorist attacks on the Tokyo subway back in 1995, the government banned trash cans so terrorists can't hide their bombs in them anymore. I guess this now makes convenience stores *the* most dangerous places in Japan... Ever since the ban, everybody stuffs their used candy bar wrappers and empty pop cans in their pocket and disposes of them when they get home. You would think such a system would never work and everyone would just litter everywhere in response to not having any trash cans around. But the ultra-clean streets are a testament to that Japanese be-considerate-to-everyone mentality. It's these little things I'm discovering that make me admire this culture so much. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3757-L.jpg Also we found so many different flavoured Pocky in the convenience stores!!! I couldn't resist getting the blueberry flavour Pocky is a really popular snack, I think they can be found world-wide. They're these cookie biscuit sticks with one end that's dipped in chocolate. However in Japan, where they originated from, there are so many other flavours besides chocolate. I've never seen some of them, like almond crush and blueberry! Have to try all of them! Also, need to go back to Uniqlo to buy larger-sized clothes... It totally reminded me of when we went to Dijon in France and there were all these different flavoured Dijon mustards that we've never seen, like strawberry mustard, blue-cheese and white wine mustard... French people are weird! :) https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0482-L.jpg This is our neighbour. He's rich. GT-R in Japan. Classic! One thing I'm looking forward to seeing are all the cool Japanese cars and bikes that were never imported outside of the country. |
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Can't go to Japan and not eat sushi We love our Yoshinoya and natto and everything, but sometimes you gotta splurge! This was one of the more recommended sushi places, right underneath the Tokyo Skytree around the corner from us. We had to line up 45 minutes before the restaurant opened for lunch to get a seat! Well worth it! The fish was so fresh, and we finally ticked off one of our long-standing bucket list items: "Eat sushi in Japan"! Very touristy though. We were handed English menus the moment we sat down. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0218-L.jpg Vending Machines everywhere! Everywhere you go, vending machines line the streets of Tokyo. It's rumoured that there are more vending machines than there are people in Japan. And there are a lot of people in Japan! What's strange is that there are vending machines outside restaurants and convenience stores. The restaurant vending machines make sense: you order your food and pay for it at the machine, it spits out a coupon and you redeem it for food inside. That way the workers inside never have to handle money. However the machines outside convenience stores are strange. They sell the exact same product as inside the store. It seems that people would rather buy a soda or snacks from a vending machine (and pay a bit of a premium) than walk into the store and have to talk to the clerk. I saw many people doing exactly this and the store wasn't even closed! Japanese people are weird! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0255-L.jpg So we promised ourselves not to do any touristy things. We failed. Takeshita Street is where all the young people go. But it's also where all the tourists go to see youth culture We wanted to do some people watching and Takeshita Street in Harajuki is supposed to be filled with young people wearing crazy costumes: Japanese Goths, Anime characters, and Harajuku Girls (the ones you would see in a Gwen Stefani music video). The street is lined with fashion stores selling those clothes, as well as brightly-coloured crepe and ice-cream stores. However, when we were there, all we saw were wall-to-wall tourists, who were perhaps also looking to catch a glimpse of some Harajuku Girls. So crowded! We had to get out of there! |
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Shinjuku Gyoen Park is the perfect place for us It's Tokyo's largest park right in the heart of the city. It kind of reminds me of Central Park in New York City. Since it's the weekend, there are tons of people enjoying the beginnings of warm weather after a cold winter. Lots of locals too! We like that. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0276-L.jpg Every Sunday in nearby Yoyogi Park, there is an Elvis Dance-a-thon Greasers in leather and denim jackets gather around in a circle and swagger, sneer, swing and sway their hips to songs from Elvis and other Rock'n Rollers from the 50s. Nearby, a group of women in poodle skirts cheer them on. The dance-a-thon goes on for hours, and you can tell they do this every week because all of their leather boots are all falling apart and held together with duct tape! Very entertaining! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0383-L.jpg A bit more mellow music being played in the park It's a hammered dulcimer. I checked to see if it was Japanese in origin. Nope. Everywhere but, actually... |
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Everyone enjoying the park in their own way Guy groovin' on the bass alone under the trees with a face mask on was a bit weird... but cool. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0248-L.jpg No RideDOT.com blog post would be complete without pictures of doggies https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0389-L.jpg Dog owners taking their pups out for a walk in the park. Hey... the Japanese are just like us. |
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and then... squirrel on a leash. LOL... whut!? Japanese people are weird again. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3752-L.jpg We end the day with a cold Asahi at our local neighbourhood Izakaya, which is kind of a Japanese pub. So thankful for the English menus! After dinner, we retire back to our awesome Tokyo apartment. I get the courage to try out some of the other buttons on our SuperTechToilet. When I press one of the pink buttons, a little melody starts playing! So I go on the Internet and I discover that this function is for shy women who don't want others to hear them go tinkle or doo-doo, as the melody masks the un-lady-like splash-downs. LOL! Japanese people are weird! On another note, I can't believe I just wrote "tinkle" and "doo-doo". Because I'm easily amused, I press the tinkle-doo-doo-cloaking-soundtrack button again. And then faintly in the background, as if in harmony, I also hear: PRM-PRM-PRM-PRM-PRM... What a welcome to Japan! |
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/392.html
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map392-L.jpg PRM-PRM-PRM-PRM-PRM The trains have started running for the day. Despite our daily 6AM wake-up call, we are still enjoying life in Tokyo. We don't venture into the busy downtown too often, but instead walk around our quiet neighbourhood of Sumida. We go to the ¥100 store for supplies, also hit up some of the Izakayas in the evening for dinner and beer. We really like where we're staying. Not that our daily Yoshinoya breakfasts are getting boring, but we decide to venture out and try out some other restaurants that are popular with the locals. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0481-L.jpg We present to you our secondary go-to fast food chain in Japan: Coco Curryhouse! Of course, Neda has eggplant with her curry. I opt for the much more healthier pork sausages with mine... Just like everywhere else in the world, curry has been adopted as one of the national dishes of Japan. Curry was first imported onto the island from Britain back in the 1850s, so it's twice removed from its Indian origins. The Japanese have changed and refined it to their own tastes ever since. Today Japanese curry is sweeter and more sauce-like than Indian curry. The way it's served, with the curry on one half of the plate and the rice on the other is so quintessentially Japanese. Lay a piece of breaded chicken cutlet (Chicken Donkatsu) on top of everything and you have one of the most popular and instantly recognizable dishes in the country. But yet, virtually unknown outside of Japan! |
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Walking off the curry back to our apartment, we spy a motorcycle. Hmm. That wouldn't be a bad way to see Japan... Our apartment is on top of a four-storey building, which is one of the taller buildings in the neighbourhood. We discovered that there's a lot of flex in the structure. Every time a large truck passes by on the road in front of us, the building shakes quite a bit and since we're on the top floor, we feel it the most. The first time it happened, I thought it was an earthquake! But that's exactly the reason why the structure flexes so much - to absorb an earthquake's shaking. A more rigid structure would just snap and topple. Eventually, we got used to the shake and sway of passing trucks. But late one night (I'm a bit of a night owl), the building shook and rumbled. It was 5AM, there were no trucks, let alone any traffic, outside on the streets. I waited for the shaking to subside, but instead, it got worse! Plates clinked in the cupboards. The chair beneath me felt like it wanted to move across the floor. This went on for over 2 minutes. That's a LONG TIME! This was a real earthquake!!! Finally, the building stops shaking and my chair doesn't want to creep out the front door anymore. You know after something exciting happens, you just want to turn to the person next to you and exclaim, "Holy Shit!" But Neda was fast asleep, so I PMed her instead. I said exactly that in the PM... Then I looked it up on the Internet just to confirm it: https://www.earthquaketrack.com/quakes/2017-03-11-19-57-46-utc-5-4-40 5.4 Magnitude! In Fukushima. Fukushima... Fukushima... why does that name sound so familiar...? Oh well. Back to eating... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0227-L.jpg These guys were hyping up the Annual Tokyo Gyoza Festival. The girl in the back looks like she is wearing a gyoza on her head! :) Since we like gyozas (Japanese dumplings), we decide to go. Its held at the old Olympic Stadium at Komazawa Park. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0230-L.jpg Ate so many gyozas! Some of them weren't very good and it was very expensive. Not worth it. About 20 restaurants set up booths in the park outside the stadium. You bought coupons at the entrance of the park and then lined up at each booth to sample that establishment's gyozas. There were different types of dumplings: some fried, some boiled, some with seafood, others with meat, so many different sauces. It reminded me of this food festival held in downtown Toronto every summer. Restaurants would set up stalls in the square in front of the civic centre and charge a lot of money for you to sample a little bit of their food. Overpriced and very small portions. The gyoza festival was exactly the same. Our neighbourhood izakaya in Sumida had cheaper and better gyozas! Still, it was nice to get out and experience what local Tokyoans do... |
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On a particularly clear spring day, we walked across Sumida River over to the next neighbourhood of Asakusa. The Tokyo Skytree dominates the Sumida skyline https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0100-L.jpg Another Japanese tradition: Buying fresh melonpan at the store Melonpan is a popular sweet bun that you can find everywhere: convenience stores, grocery stores. I think it's named because it's shaped like a melon, but there's no melon in there. And Pan is the Spanish word for bread. In some places, they'll sprinkle some green sugar powder on top to make it look even more like a melon. It's delicious but mucho calories! I can't believe the amount of food we're eating here in Japan. Everything is soooo tasty and we want to try *everything*!!! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0114-L.jpg Of course the best melonpan is bought fresh from a storefront that actually makes it. We eat it straight out of the oven. As if the sugar bun didn't have enough calories, a popular thing to do is to make a macha (green tea) ice cream sandwich out of melonpan. OMG, I can feel my waist blowing up just by inhaling the sweet aroma emanating from the kitchen! *GAAAAH* sooo goood! |
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Asakusa is a well known district because of the magnificent Sensō-ji Buddhist temple The original temple was built in 645AD, but was destroyed by bombs in WWII. It was rebuilt and today stands as a symbol of rebirth and peace for the Japanese people. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0090-L.jpg Again, we see women in the traditional kimonos walking around everywhere https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...6_144747-L.jpg I was taking a picture of these cherry blossoms when Neda taps me on the shoulder and says, "You know those are fake, right?" Uh, of course.." I reply Still too early in the season to see cherry blossoms! I knew that! :) All around the temple, there are shrines, prayer candles and bundles of incense adorned with the Buddhist swastika symbol. |
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Prayers inside the temple https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0143-L.jpg A gathering of kimonos in the courtyard https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0153-L.jpg Consulting the oracle at one of the o-mikuji stalls inside the temple We watched some people do this, so we quickly learned how this works. For a small donation, you get to shake a metal box containing 100 sticks. Then you pull one out by random and look at the number on the top of the stick. Again, I was surprised to realize I knew how to read the numbers because I know them from Chinese. "Hey, that's number 93", I exclaimed excitedly! Then you find the drawer marked with the number on your stick and pull out a sheet of paper. Good thing there are many foreign tourists that visit the temple, because the back of the paper is written in English. Many generic fortunes are written down on the piece of paper, but one stuck out: "It is good to make a trip" You don't say... |
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Sensō-ji temple is a very popular place to visit in Tokyo https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2..._152741-XL.jpg Trying out my new camera! So happy with it! One of the streets leading up to the temple is Nakamise-dōri. It is tradition for shops to set up there to sell trinkets, food and snacks to the pilgrims walking to Sensō-ji. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0200-L.jpg So, like the many pilgrims before us, we buy some Japanese Manjū cakes. They're made by pouring buckwheat pancake mix over red bean paste I don't know why, but I feel like I'm gaining weight with every single step we take here. Maybe we should just stop walking then? Perhaps there's a better way to see the rest of Japan... |
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But walk we do. I notice that there are some differences in some of the kimonos that the women wear around town Then it hit me. Most of the women at the temple wearing kimonos weren't Japanese! They were other Asian tourists - Chinese, Korean, etc. and they had rented kimonos to walk around town for the day. I realized this when I saw the real Japanese women wearing kimonos with understated colours and patterns. Most of the tourists rented loud and flashy patterns. In the picture above, who do you think the real Japanese woman is? Exactly! Good thing Japan doesn't care about silly Politically Correct notions like cultural appropriation... We head back to our apartment. Too much excitement for one day. And by excitement, I mean walking... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2.../missile-L.jpg Here's a different kind of excitement on the news today... North Korea is testing its long-range ICBMs in its bid to get a nuclear-tipped warhead to reach the continental United States. Unfortunately for us here in Japan, we are right in its flight path... For the past few days, Kim Jong-un has been lobbing missiles into the Sea of Japan, some dangerously close to land. All the news programs are broadcasting emergency procedures for what to do in the event of a nuclear strike. They inform everyone that a loud siren will sound outside. However, recommendations like: "Find shelter, hide under a table" are laughable. It's a nuclear bomb... Ain't no table going to save you from that... Still, I guess if the public has specific instructions and a set plan to follow, it will stop them from panicking in the streets? Crazy stuff happening in the world today. I just hope the emergency sirens that warn of a missile attack don't sound like this: PRM-PRM-PRM-PRM-PRM... August 2017 edit: No more joking around anymore. The siren actually sounds like this. OMG. How terrifying that must have been! :( |
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Another evening, we decide to head to Shinjuku for more sight-seeing Shinjuku district is the site of the famous all-way pedestrian crossing that's in all the TV shows, movies and documentaries set in Tokyo. All the traffic lights flash red for all vehicles and pedestrians are allowed to walk straight or diagonally across the intersection. A cool sight to watch, but to actually do it - it's about as fun as... um, walking across the street... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0471-L.jpg Pedestrians doing the "Shinjuku Shuffle", as it's known We make our way back to Shinjuku station. But we're not going home yet. In the yokocho (alleyways) surrounding the train station, there are the famous sake and yakitori bars frequented by salarymen after work. The alleyways are tight and narrow, and the establishments are tiny - some only able to fit four or five people at a time. I can just picture the Japanese businessmen getting drunk here and missing the last train home. Then having to rent one of the capsule hotels downtown so they can go back to work again the next morning in the same clothes as the day before. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0441-L.jpg Finding a nice sake bar in Nonbei Yokocho. Another gaijin couple just left the bar, which made just enough room for us to squeeze in! :) Some of the names of the alleyways are quite funny, but are probably very apt. Nonbei Yokocho means "Drunkard Alley". We were actually trying to find Omoide Yokocho, which means "Piss Alley". LOL! It's one of the more ramshackle ones in the area with a lot of character. With a name like "Piss Alley", how can it not have character? But the alleyways here are like a maze, so we settle into a nice-looking sake bar in "Drunken Alley". I've tried sake many times and I'm not a big fan. I just don't like the taste of it. But this bar had a fruity sake, bubbly - like champagne. It was delicious! |
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Our sake bar experience. Very expensive... With only seating for four people at a time, they have to make their money somehow, I guess! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0466-L.jpg We spill out onto the streets of Shinjuku The Drunken Alley is still empty when we leave. We're here so early, the locals don't really hit the bars until much later, but we're not really night people. Time to head home for the evening. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0468-L.jpg On the way back to the train station, we see Mario Karts racing by us! What?! Apparently you can rent these go-karts and the Mario Brothers costumes to go with it. Then they take you on a Mario Kart tour around the streets of Tokyo. OMG! How cool!!! I want to try that! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0416-L.jpg A Ninja on the streets of Tokyo! Not very silent though... Mario Karts and Not-So-Stealthy Ninja bikes! Oh, it's getting our touring juices flowing once again... So.... we pick up our own motorcycles tomorrow. So excited! |
Amazing
6 years on the road what a fantastic story and well presented.
|
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/393.html
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map393-L.jpg We're renting motorbikes and seeing Japan on two wheels! I really wanted to hire some Japan-only motorcycles, like a Honda CB1300 or something that's never been sold in North America. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3794-L.jpg This was all the rental company had left... BMWs. Haha! Oh well. They explained to me that since everyone here already owns a Honda, nobody really rents them out. Instead, they specialize in more exotic machinery, like BMWs and Yamahas. Huh? Yamahas are exotic?!? Apparently, the MT-07s (they call them Tracers in Japan) are a very popular model. Before the rental company let us loose on the roads in Japan, they made us watch a short orientation video and undergo a quick briefing. They went over stuff like how to drive on the left hand side (which we've basically been doing for the last couple of years), which of the cryptic Japanese documents were insurance and ownership papers in case we get stopped by police (very strict speeding laws here!), how the toll highway system worked and how to say basic motorcycle phrases in Japanese. The most important one: how to ask for "High Octane Gasoline" at the gas station. It's "Hai-okutan-gasorin". When I heard that, I literally LOLed! "Really? It sounded like you just said 'High Octane Gasoline', but with a mock Japanese accent... Isn't that offensive to Japanese people?" But apparently there are some words that don't have Japanese translations, so they just phonetically sound the English words out, taking into account that Japanese people can't pronounce "L"s. For example, "McDonald's" becomes "Maku-dona-rudo". I think that's hilarious! But in a totally respectful way, of course. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3934-L.jpg The bikes we got are current-model, low-mileage F800Rs, lots of luggage space now that we don't have camping gear! Pulling out onto the Tokyo streets, I was struck by how leaned forward the seating position is. The F800R is not a sportbike, not by a long-shot. But having ridden sit-bolt-upright dirt bikes and adventure bikes exclusively for the last 5 years, my back and wrists were killing me after only a half-hour hunched over in traffic. Plus no fairing and the tiny little flyscreen above the headlight gave me no wind protection in these chilly conditions. How am I going to survive on this thing riding all over Japan? Ugh! Speaking of traffic, we leave the rental place after the morning rush hour has subsided, but there are still a lot of cars on the roads in Tokyo. What makes it worse is that there are stop lights every friggin' 50 meters in the city! You know how in North American traffic, you can catch a sequence of green lights when going the posted speed limit? We call it riding the "Green Wave". Well here in Tokyo all the traffic lights are programmed to deliver the "Red Wave"... OMG! So annoying! |
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"Stoplight" in Japanese is "Sutoppuraito". Say that out loud and it becomes awesome! :) The rental agency guys told us the speed limit in the city is 40 km/h. This is not enforced by police. The "Sutoppuraito" do that for you... It is physically impossible to accelerate faster than 40 km/h and then have to slam on the brakes to haul you down to a full stop, all within 50 meters. Trust me, we tried... Sutoppuraitnow! At that speed, it takes us forever to get out of Tokyo. Once outside of the city limits, we pull into a strip mall to grab some lunch and nurse my aching back and wrists. Neda doesn't seem to have any problems with the seating position. She took to the F800R like a natural. We park in the lot with all the other cars but an attendent approaches us and starts talking to me in Japanese. I get this alot in Asian countries, it's because I look local. However, in Japan, Japanese people keep talking to me in Japanese even *after* we've both established I don't speak or understand Japanese. But Why?!? They just keep talking at me, as if I will magically learn the language in the next 30 seconds or so. And not a few people, almost all of them do that. It's so strange... It's like they are telling me, "It's incomprehensible that you look Japanese, but don't speak Japanese!" :) https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SC_0486-XL.jpg It took us awhile for us to understand that the parking lot attendant wanted us to park here, off to the side. Cool! Special parking! Just like there's a Gringo Trail in Latin America - which is that route where all the tourists travel on, I get the feeling that there's a Gaijin Trail in Japan, which is basically all the major cities on the Japan Rail system: Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto... Anywhere outside the Gaijin Trail, there's no need for any locals to speak English anymore. And none of the signage needs to be in English either! Well, we're off the Gaijin Trail now. |
I doubt many non-Japanese-speakers embark on a self-drive journey across the country. This is confirmed by the automated sushi restaurant that we've chosen to sit down in for lunch:
https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...hi_order-L.jpg The ordering system is totally in Japanese, no English whatsoever! AHHH! Once you've ordered, the food shoots out on this conveyer belt and is routed to your table. Cool beans. Everything is automated! Unfortunately, we can't figure out the system at all. We try to use Google Translate's optical recognition app on our phones but it spits out gibberish. "Ladies Lunch" was one dish it translated. Whut? We're just mashing buttons as if it's a video game, hoping that we're not ordering one of everything on the menu... Finally, we give up and flag a woman from behind the counter over to help us, but she doesn't speak any English either. She demonstrates to us which buttons to press to order and pay, which is good enough to get us by. Then we use the only Japanese phrase we know: Arigatogozaimas! (Thank you very much) https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3799-L.jpg Success! Neda did order the "Ladies Lunch" in the end! :) This was not as frustrating as it sounds. We're so enamoured with Japanese culture that our floundering in this total immersion was actually fun! We giggled with delight at just about everything from the button-mashing, to Ladies Lunch to the way the trays popped off of the conveyer belt. We're having a great time not being able to read or understand Japanese! However, this is only our first day on the road. I hope this sense of wonder doesn't fade too fast... One small thing I liked is the wrapper that the chopsticks come wrapped in. We've learned that you can make a chopstick rest from the wrapper if you fold it right. In this restaurant, they've designed the chopstick wrapper so when you fold it, it ends up looking like Mount Fuji! See the picture above. Mount Fuji is the national symbol for Japan and has important cultural and spiritual significance in the country. But more about that later. We hit the road with full tanks and full stomachs. |
As always, we don't have a concrete plan, but the general idea is to keep on heading south, towards the warmer islands, because it's so cold up here in the north. We are thinking that we may be able to see some Cherry Blossoms bloom sooner since it starts earlier in the south. And then follow the blooming season as it moves northwards throughout April.
Since the surface roads are sooooo slow, we hop on the Tomei Expressway and pay the toll. Holy Expensive!!!! The average toll for cars in Japan is ¥24.6 or $0.25 per km, so about half that for motorcycles!!! But it's the only way we get to go faster than 40 km/h... On the highway, I see familiar names on the road signs. Yokohama flashes by. Isn't that where they make the tires? After a couple of hours heading SW at glorious triple digit speeds, we exit around Mount Hakone, just north of the Izu Peninsula. I read that there are some great twisty roads in the area. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3811-L.jpg There are indeed twisty roads in the area. And snow on those twisty roads: Mikuni Pass Here's a quick lesson we learnt. In late winter/early spring in Japan, don't go motorcycling close to anywhere that has "Mount" in the name... We tiptoe through wet and slushy roads, unable to apply our sportybikes to their full capabilities. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3821-L.jpg From where we are near Mount Hakone, we are less than 50kms from Mount Fuji. We can see it looming large in the distance https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3826-L.jpg Gran Dorifto! If you've ever seen the Fast and Furious movie, Tokyo Drift, you'll know that the car guys all go up into the mountains at night, backing in their souped up Skylines and Hachi-Rokus at every turn on the twisty roads. On Mikuni Pass, the evidence is there: you can see black rubber marks behind Neda's helmet in the picture. In front of the scenic lookout, Neda points to where someone did donuts. LOL! Hooligans! |
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Neda grabs a cloud drifing past Mount Fuji. Stone marker: 三国峠 reads Mikuni Pass https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0509-L.jpg Glamour shot of our steeds https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3830-L.jpg There's a little diorama showing where Mount Fuji is. It's right behind you, Neda! Ah, Mount Fuji. Subject of countless poems and paintings. The spiritual and geographic symbol of Japan, it is the largest mountain in the country (it's actually classed as an active volcano!), perpetually capped in snow all year round and is perfectly symmetrical from all sides. The main religion, Shintō, has the belief that gods or deities exist in nature, residing in trees, lakes, the rain and the wind. No wonder the Japanese have such reverence for the mighty Fuji. If the weather is clear, you can see Fuji from Tokyo. If that happens, the Japanese believe that indeed, it will be a good day. Today for us, clouds shroud Mount Fuji, but it doesn't dull our excitement about riding motorcycles in Japan! Despite the cold weather, our Uniqlo HEATTECH underwear is doing an adequate job. |
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Lake Ashinoko below me and the town of Hakone on its shores https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0516-L.jpg There are cruises decorated like pirate ships that tour around Lake Ashinoko, to give visitors a view of Fuji from the waters https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3832-L.jpg Back on the road! |
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From the Mikuni Pass, we head back south away from Mount Hakone and towards the Izu Peninsula We are only here for one thing: https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0525-L.jpg The Izu Skyline! One of the most popular motorcycle roads in the area, some argue that it's the best in the country! (Oh yeah, we parked beside a nice-looking Africa Twin) The Izu Skyline runs along the eastern side of the peninsula through some very mountainous terrain. It's very twisty, as if designed by a motorcycle rider, and there are many scenic pullout stops to view the coastline and the Sagami-nada Sea below. Of course, it's a toll road. You gotta pay to play. It's divided up into sections and you pay to ride each section. A popular thing to do is only pay for one toll and turn around before you hit the next tollbooth so you can ride your favorite section over and over again for the price of one toll. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3843-L.jpg Outside the washrooms at the toll booth, there are many posters targeting motorcyclists You don't have to be able to read Japanese to get the dorifto. Ride safe, it says. Too many accidents here. The third poster says you win a prize if you can maintain a minimum speed of 110 km/h in the corners... what? Sutoppujokingarown! |
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More bikers returning from their last run of the day on the Izu Skyline Because it's so early in the season, the days are still very short. We'll have to zoom through the road without stopping otherwise we'll be riding in the dark very soon. Sorry, the light wasn't good enough for pictures and we didn't stop at any of the scenic pullouts. Too busy having fun!!! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3849-L.jpg Here's a little example of the Izu Skyline. Not the best corner, just one where I was able to pull out my camera and do a quick snap With dry roads ahead of us, we attack the Izu Skyline with zest, getting a good feel for the rhythm of the curves on the road. In the absence of traffic and other obstacles, you can really get into the mindset of the road designers: what speed the road was designed to take comfortably (and uncomfortably!), how far you can safely push the bike in the turns, etc. For the first time today, I'm glad we're on these sportybikes instead of our staid GSes. The aggresive seating position feels much more natural as the digital speedometer steadily ticks higher, allowing you to lean more confidently into the corners. The 800cc engine is the same one as Neda's F650GS, but it's tuned a bit better for the street. Good power and feels more revvier than my R1200GS. Oh, I've missed sportbikes so much! And the road! So nice and wide, and the pavement is in excellent condition. After riding for so long in developing countries, it's such a relief not having to worry about potholes or cows lurking around the next corner! WHEEEEE! |
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The Izu Skyline is about 40km long, I stop for a quick snap on the bikes and then we're off again! We made it to the end of the Skyline just as the sun disappeared below the Izu mountain range to the west of us. Despite the interminably slow start trying to escape the gridlock of Tokyo, our first riding day was most excellent once we made it out to the countryside! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3856-L.jpg No AirBnBs in the area, so we're forced to stay in a hotel just off the Skyline a couple of kms outside of Itō. Nice little shelter for our bikes Super-nice accomodations and the price is not that bad - about $50. Prices in Japan are a lot cheaper than what I thought they'd be! Tomorrow we head further south, in search of warmer weather and Cherry Blossoms! |
Updated from Mar 23 2017: The Izu Peninsula
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map394-L.jpg We're up bright and early to try to make as much of the short daylight hours as possible. Except that's it's not so bright this morning. A bit overcast and very chilly! Other than the bikers at Izu Skyline, we haven't seen a lot of other motorcycles on the road. Still too early in the season, I guess. We hop back on the Skyline where it turns into a non-toll road and continue south into the interior of the peninsula. Our bikes take in more twisties in the mountains, but it's nowhere as scenic as the coastline views of the Skyline. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0530-L.jpg Until we see this fantastical structure in front of us! The Kawazu-Nanadaru Loop Bridge! The high elevation road we're on needs to connect to a smaller one 45 meters below us. The problem is that we're in a narrow valley between two steep mountains and there's only about 80 meters of space to achieve that vertical drop. A ramp of those dimensions would give you a 56% grade, which is venturing into elevator-shaft territory. So the Japanese engineers have created a circular ramp. In fact, they built two of them, one on top of the other, spiraling down to the valley below. This weird gigantic corkscrew looks so out-of-place set in the middle of the wilderness! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0545-L.jpg The ramp is over a km long! When you're taking a corner on a motorcycle, typically, you're only ever leaning for the duration of the turn for no more than 180°, which is a hairpin. A popular activity for sportbikers in urban areas is "ramping", where you find a cloverleaf ramp on the highway system to get your lean on. But still, the turns are at most 270° before you need to straighten out and zoom over to the next ramp. The Izu Loop Bridge is a 1080° turn - three full circles, ultimately spitting you out in the same direction you went in at! It feels so weird leaning a bike for over a kilometer! If there's no traffic in front of you and you keep a constant speed, you don't even need to provide any additional input at the handlebars to keep that lean angle going for what seems like an eternity! So cool! Thankfully it's not a toll ramp, because we did it three times! Once going down, then back up and then down again! Each time going a bit faster to get a more entertaining lean angle out of the bike... :D |
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From Kawazu, we head back out to the coast https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0557-L.jpg We follow the coastline to the tip of the peninsula https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3860-L.jpg Stopping for a little break in the town of Minamiizu. Neda is saying, "I'm going to the washroom, you stay here and watch the bikes" We're parked in front of the train station, and while I'm waiting, I see what looks to be a little fountain at the front of the entrance. But it's steaming! And there's a handrail and steps leading into it. If I didn't know better, I'd think this is a foot bath? Nobody else is using it, so I do a little what-the-heck shrug, slip off my boots and socks, plonk myself down and submerge my frozen feet into the hot water. AHHHHH! SO GOOOOOD!!!! Japan has a lot of geothermal springs, and in fact the Izu Peninsula is a popular spot for Tokyoans to take a holiday and relax in the many hot spring resorts in the area. Resorts that are probably too expensive for us. This little tiny hot spring resort for my feet is totally free! |
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Honestly, I didn't really know if this was a footbath or not until an old Japanese lady came by, slipped off her shoes and sat beside me and nodded approvingly! Hot Springs Footbath Confirmed! When Neda came out, she looked at us and laughed. "Looks like you made a friend!" she said. Haha! Maybe the old lady didn't know it was a foot bath either until I sat down in it! Probably not. Looks like she brought her own towel to dry her feet... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0564-L.jpg We're riding north up the west coast of the Izu Peninsula and we spot a neat fishing village, so we stop to explore a little bit https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0566-L.jpg Neda takes the opportunity to make us a little brunch. Sandwiches on the road! A RideDOT.com staple! How many sandwiches have we eaten in the last half-decade? LOL! |
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You can't see clearly in this picture, but Neda goes hiking around the coast with a sandwich in her hand https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0611-L.jpg Fishing boats in the small marina where we've stopped to take a break https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0615-L.jpg In the bushes nearby, I spot some peculiar plants Surprisingly, Neda the botanist couldn't identify these flowers, so she went online to her Instagram community to find out. While other women follow fashion designers and celebrities on Instagram, she follows gardeners, hikers, dogs and cross-stitchers online... A Japanese gardener that she follows DMs her back: "Early Spiketail". Indigenous to Japan. Cool! |
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Suruga Bay is home to hundreds of these tiny islets, evidence of earlier volcanic activity It struck me that Japan is very much like Iceland, with its geothermal activity and volcanoes. Just with the addition of earthquakes beneath us and nuclear missiles flying overhead... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0618-L.jpg Suruga Bay shoreline https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SCN3879-XL.jpg Time to suit up and head out We really miss our electric liners that we left in Croatia. You can see above the gloves we got from Montbell, that Japanese outdoor equipment store in Tokyo. It has a waterproof outer layer, which is great for blocking the wind. When we arrived, we decided against buying motorcycle-specific gloves and got some snowboarding gloves instead. That and our Uniqlo warm underwear makes the near freezing temperatures bearable while riding! We're really impressed with the Japanese clothing and outdoor equipment gear. Good quality stuff and not that expensive either! |
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Passing more coastal villages on the west coast of the Izu Peninsula https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3891-L.jpg Hey! Fellow motorcyclists braving the cold weather as well! First ones we've seen today! We wave enthusiastically Sadly for us, Road 136 - that scenic, winding coastal road we've been following all morning - ends at the town of Toi in the northern section of the peninsula. From here, it cuts back inland and curves around Suruga Bay. From looking the map, we see that the large urban metropolis of Fuji sprawls menacingly ahead of us on the northern shores of Suruga Bay. I remember what a slog it was getting out of Tokyo. A more palatable option is to catch a ferry across the bay, thus by-passing Fuji. From my rough calculations, taking the Tomei Expressway would probably be the exact same price as the cost of the ferry (¥2000 or $20 each). The ferry would be a heck of a lot faster as well. Plus we get to warm up inside the cabin! Sign me up for that! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3906-L.jpg Waiting to get onto that warm ferry |
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We've heard about tatami rooms in Japanese houses. There's also one aboard the ferry! Cool! Tatami mats are made of compressed rice straw and is a popular covering for floors in Japanese houses. I guess the Japanese people are so accustomed to resting on tatami mats that the ferry companies have to offer a special area for their passengers to lie on them during the crossing. The Sugura Bay ferry is only 70 minutes long, and this is our first time on a ferry in Japan, so we were too busy exploring the boat to test out these tatami mats. Next time! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3916-L.jpg 70 minutes fly by way too fast. Gahhhh! So cold. Slapping back on all the layers to head back outside again So early in the season! What were we thinking? Oh well, our quest for Cherry Blossoms in the south continues. Riding off the ferry at Shimizu, we jump back on the super-expensive Tomei Expressway. It struck me that we were paying more in tolls than accommodations in Japan... Crazy. I'm starting to understand why the Japan Rail system is so popular. It's really the cheapest *and* quickest option for traveling around the country. Driving your own vehicle is super expensive and time-consuming! This section of Shizuoka prefecture is home to some mountainous regions in the north. There is probably some really good riding up there, but due to our earlier experience outside of Mount Fuji, we suspect that those higher elevation roads will still be covered in snow. So we're toll-ing past them for now, but the idea is to hit those routes on our return trip back to Tokyo. Hopefully the weather and the surface conditions will be more motorcycle-friendly by then. |
We are running down our first tank-full of gas since departing Tokyo. Since I am the one taking point on all communications, I am rehearsing how to ask for High Octane Gasoline in my head as we pull up to the gas station:
"Hai-okutan-gasorin. Haiokutangasorin. Haiokutangasorin." However, there's no one at the pumps. All we see is this: https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3920-L.jpg AHHHH! Everything is automated and entirely in Japanese! This is what we get for stepping off the Gaijin Trail. There is no button for English. I don't know even know which button to press for assistance. I have to walk around to the back of the station to try to find a gas attendent. He seems surprised that someone is seeking him out. I'm probably the only person he's talked to today. And I don't even speak Japanese... Obviously he doesn't speak English. "Haiku-ramen-gasorin", I sputter out. He looks at me strangely. I don't think I said it right. "Haiokutan?" he asks. I nod my head vigorously, afraid to say anything else that will confuse him (and me) further. He fills up for us, then punches some buttons and shows me where to insert my credit card: "Kah-doh" Yes, I know that word! "Arigatogozaimas!" Phew! What an ordeal. I hadn't realized just how much we've gotten by during the last few years not knowing the different languages of the countries we ride through, simply because we are still able to pantomime or muddle through with our limited vocabulary. However, this is going to be much more difficult in Japan now that we're dealing with automated computer screens everywhere! Robots are taking over, and it's not a good thing! Back on the bikes with a full tank of haiku-ramen, we hop back onto the expressway and continue south-west. Prefectures fall fast behind us as we leave Shizuoka and enter Aichi Prefecture. I see the sign for Hamamatsu flash by us and I'm glad that we're by-passing yet another large city on our quest for good motorcycling roads. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...SC_0628-XL.jpg We stop for the day at an AirBnB in the small town of Tokoname on the eastern shores of Ise Bay Is it my imagination or is it getting sunnier? |
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/395.html
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map395-L.jpg I know it's only been a couple of days on the road, but we are taking a little one day rest break. We're feeling very conflicted and guilty doing so since we're on rental bikes and every day we're not riding feels like we're just wasting money. But we've got to balance that with our travel fatigue. We want to savour Japan. We don't want to speed through it and not be able to properly absorb everything we've seen. Also, my back friggin' hurts. Damn F800R sportybike! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3922-L.jpg We are staying in an AirBnB in the suburbs of Tokoname. This is our neighbour's dog below Tokoname is a small town in the western part of the Aichi Prefecture. Japan is divided up into 47 Prefectures, like States or Provinces. Tokoname is known for it's ceramics, and tourists visit the giant kilns in the area. But we're not doing that. Our AirBnB host, Warwick, is an ex-pat from New Zealand, and we chat for a while about his experiences living in Japan. He's been here 17 years and seems to really like it. From what we've experienced in this country so far, we are really loving it as well. I can totally see ourselves living here! Warwick married a Japanese woman, and when we asked about how easy it is to immigrate here, he regaled us with the long and complicated process to obtaining Japanese residency. Citizenship is an even more tortuous process! He mentions the other big tourist attraction in Tokoname: https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3923-L.jpg Aeon Mall just opened up and the locals are very excited about it. This is more our speed! :) Special parking for our bikes! Also, these boxy cars are the most popular vehicle on the road. With their small engine housed inside the stubby hood and their vertical slab backs, they're so space efficient. Especially when you see them in traffic! There's virtually no wasted space when they're queued up bumper-to-bumper. In Japan, they have to make use of all the space they have! |
Visiting the mall, we get to see what the local Tokonamans do, as well as grab some non-touristy lunch.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3926-L.jpg So, the most popular stall in the food court serves Roast Beef Ohno. I had to line up for 20 minutes to get one! In Japan, beef bowls are a traditional dish, it's simply rice underneath slices of cooked beef. However, in Akihabara (yes the electronics district in Tokyo), a restaurant just started serving up a little twist: beef bowl volcanoes, called Roast Beef Ohno. It's all the rage in the big city! They build a mountain of rice and then wrap the sides with slices of roast beef. Then they hollow out the top and pour a raw egg yolk in the crater to simulate the fiery eruption. To complete the effect, white mayo sauce flows down the side, like lava! LOL! It's totally kitschy, but the Japanese people love it, and the locals here finally get a restaurant in Tokoname that serves Roast Beef Ohno, so they can see what the fuss is all about in Tokyo! :D I'm sure giant ancient kilns are nice and all, but this is the kind of Japan I wanted to see. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3932-L.jpg The AirBnB we stayed at was only available for one night, so for our next rest night, we booked another place in nearby Taketoyo Taketoyo is only 15 minutes away from Tokoname. The names sound so similar, it's kind of confusing when people ask us where we are coming from. Takenamo? Tokotoyo? Tokyodorifto? Also, the roads in the residential neighbourhoods are so tight! We got lost trying to find both places. When you miss a street, the road is so narrow that it's impossible to make a U-turn. So we end up having to circle around over and over again, trying to find the right street. It's easier for me to just get off the bike and walk around to search for our accommodations! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3935-L.jpg Try making a U-turn on this street! |
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Found it! So cool! It's a Japanese style guesthouse! Our AirBnB yesterday was super nice, but it was also modern and westernized. Our new place is very traditional-looking. It's run by a Japanese lady who speaks a little bit of English, but after we are welcomed into her guesthouse, we are checked in by a young girl from Germany who is volunteering in Japan. She does checking in and cleaning duties, and in return, she gets a free room. It's a common arrangement we've seen all over the world, since volunteers, students and long-term tourists can't legally get paid to work in the country without a proper work visa. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0642-L.jpg We get shown up to our room. To our delight, it's a tatami room! High on our bucket list for Japan is to stay in a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) and sleep in a tatami room. Although this guest house is not really a ryokan, more like a hostel, we do have a tatami room! There rooms are actually called washitsu, but we call them tatami rooms because of the tatami compressed straw mats laid down on the floor. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0638-L.jpg Oh. My. God. I've just discovered my new favorite thing in the whole entire world - A Kotatsu! These old Japanese houses don't have any heating at all. All of the rooms have some kind of gas heater that you lug over to where you are sitting. In a large room, this method of heating is not very efficient. So a common piece of furniture in a Japanese house is a kotatsu. It's a heated table! There's an electric element under the table that heats your legs. A soft fluffy blanket is curtained over the sides of the table, and that is electrically heated as well! And to top it off, there's a heated pad underneath that you sit on! These cold early spring temperatures are chilling us to the bone, especially when hunched over that damn naked motorcycle all day. For that reason, I have fallen madly in love with the kotatsu and wherever we settle down, we have to get one in our house! I know you're not supposed to do this, but I curl up under the kotatsu with only my head sticking out from under the table. Then I crank up all the heated elements to max and take a long nap. AAAAAH! SO GLORIOUS! |
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Our sleeping mats were initially rolled up in the corner. In Japanese they're called 布団 - Futon! Haha, I didn't know that was a Japanese word! Traditionally, the washitsu is devoid of any furniture, just tatami mats. It serves as an all-purpose room. You can use it as a living room, a dining room or a bedroom. You just bring in the furniture as needed based on the time of day or function. So you normally unroll your futon and prepare your bedding every evening. Then in the morning, you roll your futon back up to make space for the rest of the day. Other elements of a washitsu that you can see above are the sliding doors (fusuma). Also, there is an alcove in the corner (tokonoma) where they sometimes have a decoration like a vase of flowers and a hanging scroll that is changed seasonally. Above us is a ranma, a supporting beam that separates the room, but is intricately carved to let light and air through. So cool! We are in love with our tatami room! :D Another reason we are staying an extra night in Aichi Prefecture is because we are meeting up with a fellow motorcycle rider! Michael contacted us on ADVRider, one of the forums we copy our blog to, and he lives in Nagoya, not too far from where we are. He offered to come down to see us and asked us where we'd like to meet. So I gave him the address for the Coco Curryhouse around the corner from us and he laughed! That's like meeting at the local McDonald's. Or I should say, the Makudonarudo. I told him we are living like locals! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3938-L.jpg Hanging out, having a nice Japanese curry lunch with Michael and his girlfriend Nori It's so nice to talk to another motorcycle rider, and they've both traveled extensively as well. Michael is originally from South Africa, and Nori spent some time working in Singapore. We exchanged a lot of stories about life in Japan and on the road. I'm not sure if they realized, but we were really picking their brains on how to live in Japan. Because we really like it here and had a million questions like how hard it was to learn the language, how accepted you are as a foreigner, etc. Nori told us that it is a very closed culture, and not just for gaijin. She was born here but upon her return after a few years working abroad, she was treated very differently, not as a nihonjin - 100% full-blooded Japanese person - anymore. She said that the expectations for foreigners are very low. They just presume that you're not going to be as smart or as hard-working as a futsu-no nihonjin (term for "ordinary Japanese person" meant in an exclusionary manner), and that her years living in Singapore pretty much branded her a lazy gaijin when she returned. Also, Japanese culture is very patriarchal, and that they don't treat women as well here as in other more progressive countries. I think as newcomers to Japan, we've seen this country through some rose-coloured glasses. It's always interesting to get more in-depth insight from people living here full-time. But it's also telling that despite their criticisms, Michael and Nori have no plans of moving out of Japan either... There's good and bad in every place. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...rryhouse-L.jpg There are *some* good things in Japan! :D |
Michael is hooking us up with the local motorcycling community. This is what we always search for on our travels, but it's so difficult getting in touch with the right people when you don't know where to look for contacts.
When we first left on our trip so many years ago, I was an active member on lots of motorcycling web forums. But over the years, their popularity has declined and it's all social media now. I haven't kept up with the times, so I still post requests up on the forums but there's no response anymore. In fact, one of the boards that I copy our blog to has just recently shut down due to inactivity. I feel like such a technological relic! Michael gave us the name of a Facebook group he's on, dedicated to motorcyclists in the Kansai region (this area) and recommended that we join up. I pull out my iPhone 4 from 2010 and start taking notes... http://i65.tinypic.com/34e556t.png He tells us that the Facebook group gets together regularly for rides and meets up every month at a bar for a social. He asked if we would do a presentation at their meeting next month. Of course, we'd love to! When we leave the restaurant, he gives me the name of another motorcycle rider in Wakayama, further ahead on our route. Over lunch, he had PMed his friend and asked if he could put us up. So now we have a place to stay and another motorcycle rider to show us around in a few nights' time! Wow! That's awesome! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3946-L.jpg The next morning, when we leave Taketoyo, it's pouring. Of course it is. Of course... From inside, our Japanese host and her German help look so sorry for us, packing our bikes in the cold and miserable downpour. We tried to assure them that this is very familiar motorcycling weather to us and that we've ridden in much worse conditions, but that did nothing to assuage their looks of abject pity and worry. SMH. I was wondering when the RideDOT.com rains would figure out that we're in Japan and come join us...:( Bah... Sutoppuraining! |
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Hitting the highways again in the downpour. ETC is the Electronic Toll Collection system for Japan's super-expensive toll expressways Today is another relocation exercise as we leave the Aichi Prefecture and head to the Mie Prefecture. This region has protected areas and is less crowded than the more populated Aichi Prefecture. *This* is where our real motorcycle journey starts and we're looking forward to spending less time paying ETC tolls and more time taking in some beautiful scenery. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3953-L.jpg ....aaaand we can't find our AirBnB once again. Stopping under an awning to stay dry so we can double-check the reservation instructions We are staying overnight in the tiny village of Ōdai-chō, on the east side of the Mie Prefecture. There are a lot more traditional-looking buildings here than compared to the larger towns of Tokoname and Taketoyo. Although we are a bit lost in the pouring rain, it still doesn't dull my excitement at seeing all these cool traditional Japanese houses surrounding us. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3954-L.jpg I think this is our place? The address is right, but the pictures don't look the same... We ride around a bit more... |
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Tea bushes growing in some sort of community garden. Cool! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3958-L.jpg Turns out that house was where we are staying. This is the garage! Even our bikes have a Japanese-style roof over them. Cool! All of the AirBnBs run by Japanese people are self-check-in. They e-mail us specific instructions in English for where to find the key, how to operate all the devices, etc. The Japanese love automating everything, including AirBnB checkins. I suspect that because most of them don't speak Engish, it's probably easier this way. We find the garage door opener, but there's no garage next to the house. So we walk around the neighbourhood clicking the button until one garage door opened up a few buildings down. :) To our surprise, we discover we are not staying in the house itself, but a log cabin beside it: https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0670-L.jpg It's beautiful inside! All wood floors and walls and tatami mats and everything! We love it! After unpacking, Neda turns on the kotatsu and settles down for some very heated cross-stitching Oh man, we are only here for one night, but we want to stay longer! Now that we have more than one washitsu to compare, this one is a lot better than the one we stayed in yesterday! |
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Our futons and bedding are all set up, ready for unrolling for the evening You can see the tokonoma (alcove) with the flowers and the hanging scroll. The tatami mats are brand new that's why they are green. They will dry up and turn straw-coloured over time. Some people love the smell of fresh green tatami, like the scent of grass. Others prefer the aged look of the yellow-brown straw. You can buy them in both colours. On the right hand side, you can see the Japanese translucent sliding door panels, called shoji. It's light-weight, lets sunlight in, but also protect privacy as well. This place is way swankier than last night's tatami room! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3967-L.jpg In the morning, the rains have left us and we are free to explore the grounds of our AirBnB log cabin. |
The owners of the house have cultivated a beautiful Roji, or Japanese tea garden in their courtyard. Wow! This was one of the nicest AirBnB places we've ever stayed at!
https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0680-L.jpg Nice little touches in the Japanese tea garden https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3964-L.jpg I have to forcibly pull Neda away from the garden, she didn't want to leave! We have roads to ride, Neda! |
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/396.html
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map396-L.jpg Today marks the first day of our freedom. Freedom from the Soul-Sucking, Yen-Gobbling ETC (Electronic Toll Collection) Expressways. I hope we don't have to take another boring, scenery-less toll road for quite a while! It emptied our wallets at such an alarming rate! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3970-L.jpg Very excited to explore the Mie Prefecture! The Mie Prefecture is located on the eastern coast of the Kii Peninsula. It's a nature preserve of sorts, with a heavily forested interior, the Nunobiki Mountains running through its backbone, and over a thousand kilometers of squiggly coastline packed inside its 200km length. In contrast to the dense urban centers, only 6% of the Mie Prefecture land is populated. Perfect for motorcycling! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3976-L.jpg Passing through one of the few villages nestled in the mountains of the Mie Prefecture |
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We stop in front of a house to consult the map, and suddenly a couple of yappy dogs come to the window to greet us with some very enthusiastic barking! Oh hush, puppies! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN3997-L.jpg Getting ready to make a pass on the windy mountain roads Road 42 is a great north-south route that takes you up into the mountains and then back down to the coast along the east side of the peninsula. At the seaside town of Owase, we decide to be a bit adventurous and explore a very tight and squiggly road that we saw on the map. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN4003-L.jpg Road 425 from Owase starts out great, the narrow pavement is smooth and cuts through some dense forested areas It's obvious this backroad is not used very often because the road quickly devolves into a rough, pot-holed mess and our average speed drops to 40 km/h as we try to dodge all the debris on the ground. To make matters worse, the thick foliage overhead hasn't allowed the rainwater to dry so the roads are still wet. In some areas, the turns in the road become so tight it's like maneuvering through a gymkana course! This is not so enjoyable. Our sportybikes like to go fast and they're much more suited to smooth pavement. At one point, the road runs straight into the side of a small mountain. Thankfully there was a rough-hewn tunnel to take us through. We pass by some construction machinery abandoned half-way through the tunnel. Not even sure a car could have squeezed by... |
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Road 425 opens up again and follows a shallow river to Shimokitayama. You can see Neda waiting for me in the far right Along the road, we see signs for Shimokitayama Onsen (hot springs resort). These seem to be a big thing in Japan. We *must* try one of these onsens while we're here. But right now, the thought is to abandon this too-narrow road and head back down to the main road. At Shimokitayama, we take 169 which spits us back out to the coast in Kumano, one of the larger cities in the Mie Prefecture. *whew!* We don't really have a set route through Japan, we're just winging it by looking at interesting lines on the map. But this was a good lesson in what kinds of roads to look for... Our slow and plodding ride has eaten up much of morning, and speaking of eating, we're getting hungry! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN4015-L.jpg One of the first buildings we see as we ride into Kumano looks like a restaurant https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN4009-L.jpg We walk inside and discover that it's a sushi restaurant! Our favorite food!!! If you think those stacks of dishes were high, you should have seen my pile. To our relief, this place wasn't automated at all. It didn't even have one of those snaking conveyor belts that you grab plates off of. You ordered directly from the sushi chef, and then you watched him prepare it in front of you. Now, we don't know much Japanese, but when it comes to sushi, we know *ALL* the names of the various seafood. We were totally in our element here, requesting our favorite dishes with confidence: "Saba sashimi! Toro! Ebi nigiri! Maguro! Ikura maki!" To the untrained ear, it sounded like we were native Nipponese. Every time we ordered a dish, our sushi chef laughed in delight at these gaijin speaking fluent sushi. The fish was so fresh! It tasted just as good as the highly-rated, fancy-pants sushi place we went to in Tokyo. Towards the end, we were just ordering dishes not because were hungry anymore, but because we were so happy speaking Japanese! I looked at the bill. To my surprise, it was half of what we paid for in Tokyo, and we had ordered so much more as well. Wow, this place was great! We were all smiles and waves as we left and we thanked our chef on the way out: "Arigatogozaimas!" |
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Just outside of Kumano, we find a stretch of rock along the coast called Onigajo There's a promenade that's roughly carved into this rocky coast. It lets you walk about a kilometer into this peninsula, made of soft volcanic rock that's been pitted and scarred over the millenia by waves and winds. Legend has it that demons (oni) live in this spooky-looking rock. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0761-L.jpg Onigajo means Demon's Castle. Very apt! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0729-L.jpg Sitting on some demon rock, looking out into the Pacific Ocean |
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"It's fun to stay at the Y. M.... K... um... X..." They must sing it differently in Croatia... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0781-L.jpg Love the way the mountains of the Mie Prefecture are layered, one in front of the other, in the distance https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0806-L.jpg Legend has it that the demons that live in these rocks sport horns that grow out of their noses... So silly, Neda! |
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I'm getting good at deciphering Japanese. This sign reads, "Do not sit on the rocks" The spring daylight hours are still very short and our whole timeline is a bit shot because of our slow morning ride. There are a few things we want to see in the area before we head to our AirBnB but it looks like we might not have enough time before nightfall. From Kumano, we hop back on our bikes and rush back inland. 15 minutes later, we come upon a scene that could have been set in ancient Japan. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0826-L.jpg These are the Maruyuma Senmaida, a collection of hundreds of rice paddies decorating the hillside So beautiful! Especially with the sun setting in the background. We are here at the absolute right time! Speaking of the sun, these terraces are actually angled in such a way to catch as much sunlight as possible during the day. With over 1,340 rice paddies, Maruyama is one of the largest Senmaida (rice terraces) in Japan. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...7_165946-L.jpg The setting sun glints off the rice paddies at Maruyama. And yes, that's a Japanese scarecrow in the bottom-left |
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We are here before the planting season, which begins in Mid-May, so the terraces sit empty, reflecting the sun during the day Maruyama is a very old senmaida, dating back to the 1600s. It fell into disrepair in the 1950s, but the government has since subsidized the farmers in the area to rehabilitate the senmaida for historical and touristic purposes. Every May, the farmers get dressed up in traditional clothes from the era and perform dances and ceremonies to ensure a bumper crop. That would be so cool to see! We would have loved to stay and watch the sun set behind the senmaida, but there are still things we want to see before the day is over, and now we're feeling very rushed! It's another 30 minute ride further into the interior, racing against the setting sun, and we arrive at Kumano Hongu Taisha, a traditional Shinto temple. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0885-L.jpg But first, 158 steps to get to the temple. But we're in a rush! Hey, cool flags! Okay, let's go! In addition to the flags, we also see little wooden cards affixed to the railings on the way up. These are called goma. People write their wishes on them and then the cards are burnt by monks. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0905-L.jpg Me: "Let's see the temple!" Neda: "Wait! Before you go in, you need to cleanse yourself!" Neda's done all the research into this Shinto temple thing. We stop at a little hut called a Temizuya. We have to perform a cleansing ritual to purify the body before we can enter the temple. First you take the hishaku (dipper) and wash your left hand, then your right hand, and then take a sip to wash out your mouth, then you wash the dipper itself. |
The sun is slowly disappearing behind the mountains. Despite nobody else being around, we still try to be respectful of the Shinto traditions. Also, it's pretty cool doing what the locals do.
It could be worse. This cleansing ritual is actually a shortened version of Misogi, which requires devotees to cleanse their entire body before entering the temple! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0911-L.jpg We finally make our way to the shaden, or the main Shinto shrine The Hongu shrine is one of three Kumano shrines. This temple is the head shrine for over 3,000 other shrines in Japan! Pilgrims make the trek, called the Kumano Kodo, between all three shrines, which are scattered all around the Kii Peninsula. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0916-L.jpg The yellow lights from lanterns above cast a nice glow on these beautiful wooden temples in the evening https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0932-L.jpg The shrine is host to many ceremonies and festivals throughout the year The spring festival is associated with the Kumano Kodo pilgrimage and ensures a good rice harvest. There's another festival in late summer called the Fire Festival, where huge 100lb pine torches are carried up the steps to the shrine. Wow! We have to go to one of these festivals, they sound hardcore! |
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Nope, still no cherry blossoms. These are plum trees growing outside the temple. Going to have to travel further south, I think It's already dark when we leave the temple. The GPS informs us that we are only 30 minutes away from our AirBnB which is in the town of Nachikatsuura, back on the coast. Without the sun warming us, the cold night air permeates through all of our layers on our ride back via pitch-black roads towards the Pacific Ocean. We shiver uncontrollably as there's no windscreen on our naked bikes to hide behind. :( There are no street lights on these mountain roads, but instead, reflective discs are set on both sides of the road and median in regular intervals, which reveal the upcoming twists and turns. They are spaced so evenly that it's like playing an old driving video game from the 70s - you see nothing in the darkness but white dots rushing towards you. All you have to do to win the game is stay in the middle of the reflectors, dodge Godzilla, rescue the princess... pew pew pew... Oh wait, no guns in this game. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...20driver-L.jpg Reminded me of an old Atari game I used to play called "Night Driver" As fun as playing video games on the motorcycle is, I don't want to be riding at night again. Not because it's dangerous, but because it's FREEEEZING! We go even slower than the GPS expects us to and it actually takes us over an hour to arrive at our destination because we can't find the AirBnB in the dark! We call the phone number when we get there and a Japanese lady drives up within a few minutes to let us in. This is surprising as most Japanese hosts prefer to deal with their gaijin guests through self-check-in. |
Riko is our host. She's friendly and her English is very good. She actually works as an interpreter which explains why she is so comfortable with us. She's very interested in us and our motorcycles and asks us a lot of questions as we unpack and bring all our bags inside.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN4034-L.jpg Riko had a map of the world pasted onto the wall and she asked us to show her where we came from https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0939-L.jpg Our AirBnB has a tatami room! Not fancy or anything, just everyday Japanese living! After our freezing ride, Neda is very much enjoying the kotatsu (electrically-heated table) and a hot cup of matcha tea! What an action-packed day! Old 70s video games, demon rocks, temples and rice terraces! And more sushi and kotatsu tables! So very cool! We are loving riding around Japan, especially now that we're away from the crowded cities! |
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/397.html
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map397-L.jpg We have some unfinished business to attend to today. Having visited one of the Kumano grand shrines (taisha) last night, albeit in the dark, we are going to see another one of the three in the area, the Kumano Nachi Taisha. We had planned to see it yesterday, but ran out of time. Hopefully we'll see more things during the light of day! :) https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN4057-L.jpg Mountains and rivers on the Kii Peninsula Kumano Nachi is very close to where we are staying in Nachikatsuura, just less than 15 minutes ride back into the interior of the peninsula. All the names in this area are a derivitive of Nachi, possibly after Mount Nachi: Nachi River, Nachi Katsuura, Kumano Nachi. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_1111-L.jpg As we approach Kumano Nachi, we pass by all sorts of pay-parking lots. However, at the temple, an attendent ushers us to a primo spot away from all the cars. Motorcycle parking is free! :D |
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As we climb the steps towards the taisha, we pass beneath a Torii, a traditional Japanese gate Toriis are found at the entrance of all Shinto temples. Walking under a Torii is supposed to signify crossing into a sacred, magical place. This reddish-orange is a very popular colour for Torii, and the paint is made from a mineral-based pigment called Vermilion. The colour is said to be able to ward off evil spirits. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN4043-L.jpg Walking right by the temizuya, just like a clueless barbarian gaijin https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0957-L.jpg Neda has to remind me once again to do the cleansing ritual before we enter the temple. Shes so geeky that way... First wash the left hand, then the right, then rinse the mouth, in that order. The Japanese culture is so etiquette-oriented, it's not enough to perform a task, there's a right way to do it and a wrong way. |
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Wooden wish cards (goma) decorate the railings here, waiting to be burnt by the monks https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_0978-L.jpg A Miko (Shinto Shrine Maiden) performing Kagura-Mai - a ceremonial dance involving bells and chimes The Shinto Shrine Maidens (that would be a cool name for a heavy metal band), dressed in white kimono jackets (haori) and red, pleated skirts (hakama) are involved with the daily running of the temple. They sweep up around the temples, perform cleansing rituals and sit at reception counters, selling incense, goma and other religious trinkets to visitors. It's a popular part-time job for many Japanese girls and doesn't require any sacred vows that the priests and monks have to undertake. Mikos have been featured prominently in a lot of recent animes and have sparked interest in foreigners who are enamoured with Japanese culture. So much so, that there are now miko-for-a-day programs run at some temples, where you can learn what a Shinto Shrine Maiden does, get dressed up in the haori and hakama, and perform the kagura-mai ceremony yourself! Girls only, though! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_1029-L.jpg Walking around the Kumano Nachi complex |
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Learning how to light incense (osenko) and placing it an incense burner Like all things Japanese, there is a specific ritual that needs to be observed when burning incense. You light the incense, wait a few seconds, then extinguish the flame using your hands. It's considered improper to blow it out with your mouth. Every Japanese kid learns all the rules for how to be a proper nihonjin very early on. After you extinguish the flame, the smoke is supposed to have healing powers, so you fan the smoke towards you or a part of your body that hurts. I need a few of these incense sticks for my feet... you know, for when we go hiking... https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_1048-L.jpg Rows upon rows of Chõchin - red paper lanterns - are a symbol of celebration. Ringing the bell at the temple is part of the praying ritual The ritual for praying goes like this: first, throw money into the offering box. Then tug on the rope to ring the huge bell above. This calls the diety's attention. Then bow twice, make your wish or prayer, clap your hands twice and then bow once again before leaving. So interesting watching all the Japanese visitors do this! Clapping the hands also calls the god's attention, but also wards off evil spirits. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_1088-L.jpg A falcon flies high above our heads. Do you know what the Japanese word for falcon is? It's Hayabusa... For years, the German falcons were in competition with the Japanese falcons to see who could be the fastest. Fears of a backlash due to safety concerns forced the falcons to come to an informal agreement to limit their top speed to 300 km/h, but right before this agreement was put into place, the Japanese falcon topped 312 km/h, securing its place in history as the fastest production falcon ever. And by falcons, I mean motorcycles... |
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Looking for candy The Laughing Buddha, or Hotei as he is known in Japan, is actually not related to the religious Buddha. In most Asian mythologies, the Laughing Buddha was a monk who carried around a sack that is either filled with candy or gold - depending on whether you're telling the story to a child or not, I guess. The word for monk "budai" is very similar to "buddha", so he's nicknamed The Laughing Buddha. He symbolizes wealth, contentment and cavities. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_1051-L.jpg This is what everybody comes to see: The Seiganto-ji temple, on the same grounds as the Kumano Nachi Taisha The Seiganto-ji temple ia three story pagoda and is very popular with visitors. There's a waterfall in the background (named Nachi Falls - nachirally!) which makes it a favorite shot for photographers to frame the pagoda. In a couple of weeks' time, the bare Cherry Blossom tree in front will bloom and provide a nice pale pink contrast to the orange-coloured temple. Our quest for Neda's Cherry Blossoms continue. Still too early and cold. Gotta head further south! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN4064-L.jpg Back on the bikes, we delve deeper into the mountains of the Kii Peninsula We have actually now crossed over to the next prefecture, Wakayama, which is situated mostly on the western side of the peninsula. We are taking a bit of a detour around Road 425, the narrow, nasty broken pavement path that we got stuck on the day before. I just found out the Japanese call these kinds of roads 酷道 - Hidoi - or literally translated "Cruel Road". Haha! For fun, here's a Google Image search for 酷道 to show what we were dealing with! :D |
Our detour on the much wider and more well-paved 169 is more suited to our kind of motorcycle.
https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_1113-L.jpg From the road, we can see Komori Dam in the distance From 169, we get on a fun and amazing winding Road 371, which climbs up Mount Gomadan. We're on our way north towards the town of Koya, nestled in the slopes of Mount Koya. I remember the lesson we learnt on our first day of riding - not to go anywhere with "Mount" in the name during the early spring: https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN4074-L.jpg We didn't learn our lesson... SO COOOOLD!!!! At the highest point on Road 371, at the Gomasan Sky Tower lookout It doesn't get much warmer as the twisty road winds its way down the valley and then back up to Mount Koya. We're in the town of Koya because we heard there was a nice temple here. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_1118-L.jpg We ride past a pathway leading into a very old-looking cedar forest. Pilgrims in white jackets with black Japanese characters written down the spine gather at the gates leading to the temples. Before we join them, we have to eat! It's well past lunch-time and I can sense we're both getting a bit hangry... |
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Is that a noodle bowl on his head? We figure there must be food nearby, and our hunch pays off! Thankfully the vending machine that you buy your meal ticket from has pictures, so we order a couple of ramen bowls without any linguistic difficulties. Just like all things Japanese, there is an etiquette to eating as well. In a strange twist, slurping your soup is considered good manners. However, clinking your chopsticks on the table to straighten them is very rude. Oh no! I do that *ALL THE TIME*. You have to straighten them using both hands. Ugh. Everyone must think we are such barbarians! And because I look Japanese, I can't even play the Ignorant Gaijin Card unless I start speaking... :( This is one of the drawbacks to Japanese culture. Because they are so etiquette-centric, you don't know what rules you are breaking just by simply walking down the street, entering a temple, burning an incense stick, or even eating... There's a lot of peer-pressure in this society to follow these rules, and if you break them, you face immense judgment and social ostracism. This humiliation or "loss of face" is the worst thing in Japanese society! Although I find the Japanese way of doing things fascinating, I can't help but feel a bit self-conscious all the time here - it's a continual sense of "What am I doing wrong now?". Often we find out about these rules of etiquette *AFTER* we've broken all of them! We're constantly observing how everyone around us does things to make sure we're not committing any egregious faux-pas! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_1129-L.jpg The temple in Koya is a bit different from the Shinto temples we've been visiting the last couple of days Kongobu-ji temple is a Buddhist temple, but of the Shingon Buddhism sect, which also worships dieties found in nature, just like Shinto. It's the closest Buddhist sect to Shinto-ism. The architecture here is slightly different from the Kumano Shrines. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_1128-L.jpg Even off the bikes, walking around the temples up here in Koya, it's freezing. Neda says I look like a ninja! Just trying to fit in, Neda. Just trying to fit in... |
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On our way out of Koya, we pass by this giant shrine on the side of the road It's getting very late in the afternoon and we're about an hour away from Wakayama, where we are meeting Michael's friend that we're staying with. We definitely don't want to be riding after sunset, especially up here in the mountains. We'll get hypothermia for sure! From Koya, it's just a single road that leads us back down the mountains to the big city of Wakayama. Because of the traffic, we arrive much later than we had anticipated and Warren has to find us in the dark after we call him up. Warren pulls up in a scooter and after some brief introductions (making sure that Michael hasn't referred a couple of axe murderers to him), he leads us back to his house. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_1147-L.jpg In addition to his Honda scoot, Warren also has a cool Harley. The first one we've seen in Japan! (picture taken the next morning) |
After settling in, we hop back on the bikes and ride a few streets away to Warren's favorite izakaya where he treats us to dinner and beer as we talk about our trip. In turn, we quiz him on what it's like living in Japan. He's an ex-pat from Australia and he works in a local high school.
"Oh, are you a teacher?" I ask. "No, I just hang around the school talking to students." Huh? That's an actual job? Warren proceeds to tell us about the ALT position in schools. ALT stands for Assistant Language Teacher. As an ALT, you don't actually teach lessons officially (although some ALTs do it), but you are what's known as a cultural and language ambassador. Basically, an ALTs presence in a school is meant to make the students feel more comfortable around gaijin, so they can practice their English and prepare them for dealing with foreigners if their future professions call for it. How interesting! And it's an actual paid position! I wonder if there's a Japanese job that pays you to ride around the country. So Japanese motorists feel more comfortable with crazy western motorcyclists not accustomed to riding on the left hand side...? I would settle for just free tanks of Haiku-Ramen-Gasorin. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...533360_o-L.jpg Speaking of ramen, in the morning, Warren makes us his favorite breakfast dish - Nabe! Nabe means "hot pot" and is short for Nabe-mono (mono from the English word for one or single), so it means throwing everything in one hot pot. It's a popular dish in the winter months because the stew or soup is kept hot on a burner throughout the meal, as everyone gathers around it to eat. It's a very Japanese social tradition. Very cool to experience these little things. I like that Warren has adopted all of these local customs and practices. I think if we ever lived here, we would do exactly the same thing. Neda really likes the citrus Ponzu sauce that goes with Nabe. Also lots of vegetables in the broth, so Nabe with Ponzu is now Neda's favorite breakfast dish too! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...86959086-L.jpg After breakfast, we go riding around town and Warren introduces us to the guys at the local motorcycle shop He explains to them how we're riding around the world on motorcycles. I feel like such a celebrity! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN4079-L.jpg Warren escorts us to the ferry terminal Because we're leaving the island today... |
Not every day you read a ride report containing the words "egregious faux pas"! Still enjoying reading about your lives on the road and appreciate the time and effort you put in to sharing your experience.
Ride safe, Simon. |
Lovely to see all the pictures of Japan, we were in Japan with our campervan up to last christmas, it was fantastic!
May I suggest to put Google Translate on your phone? The camera function is not perfect but very helpful. And you can always type in some English word to be translated. |
Thanks guys!
We tried using Google Translate's camera function, but there's something about Asian script that makes everything come out gibberish. I think the combination of all the characters is so contextual, their algorithms haven't figured out how to decipher it properly. |
Updated from http://www.RideDOT.com/rtw/398.html
https://photos.smugmug.com/Motorcycl...L/map398-L.jpg You may know that Japan is made up of many different islands. You may not know that there are a total of 6,852 islands in the Japanese archipelago! Here are some more interesting numbers: Only 430 of the Japanese islands are inhabited. However, the entirety of the population (97%) lives on just 4 islands: Honshu, Shikoku, Kyushu and Hokkaido. All this time, we have been riding around on the main island, Honshu, where Tokyo is located. Honshu is the most populated island. 80% of the population resides here, concentrated in the large cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto and Nagoya. In fact, close to half of the entire Japanese population is packed into just 17% of the land area! This last statistic is borne out by our motorcycle travels through Honshu. Once we are out of the cities, the landscape opens right up. Vast tracts of mountainous land lay out all around us with few people or vehicles around to be seen. The myth that Japan is super-crowded is only applicable to small pockets of tight urban centers. https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSCN4082-L.jpg This ferry takes us to the next island, Shikoku Although we've already taken one ferry, it was to cross Suruga Bay to bypass the Fuji megapolis. Ferry-bypasses are a fact of life when traveling on the big island because the cities are just so congested to attempt to drive through, and the route across the water seems to be priced about the same as taking the ETC toll expressways. However, now that we are leaving the island of Honshu, we're really looking forward to experiencing a lot less traffic and more open spaces! https://photos.smugmug.com/Archive/2...DSC_1152-L.jpg Bye bye, traffic! Farewell ETC! |
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