September 17th - 18th: Toyohashi to Numazu

September 17th: Toyohashi -> Shimada (~80km)

The highlight of today was me getting my first puncture of my journey! And contary to popular (family) belief, i do know how to fix a puncture, even though this is probably only the 2nd time in my life i had to do so. Quite quickly too, by my low standards, it only took 15 minutes inclusive of unloading and reloading my bags. Well anyway, this is a load of my mind. Now at least i know i can handle flats.

If you like quiet towns, then Shimada is probably a good choice. The streets were so quiet and deserted at 8pm it felt like a ghost town. And dark too; without my front light on my bike i couldn't make out the pavements. Anyway i had Japanese curry rice for the first time. Better than i expected, and compared to regular curry back in Singapore, more my taste cause its less spicy.

September 18th: Shimada -> Numazu (~80km)

3 days after leaving Nagoya, i found myself once again in the Fuji region. And once again Mt Fuji is hiding amidst the clouds:

Mt Fuji from Kawaguchiko city, Sept 14th. At least i can make out its shape.

Mt Fuji from Fuji city, today. I can just make out its slope before it disappears into the clouds.

Frankly i don't think i want to hang around and wait for Fuji-san to show itself. So instead of going up to Fujinomiya as i planned yesterday, i went ahead and am staying Numazu for today. Had a delicious meal in Fuji for 1050JPY. And the shop lady was kind enough to give me 2 photographs (not postcards) taken off her shop wall of Mt Fuji in all its glory. And as has been the case for my entire trip, whenever i mention Singapore, the first thing that comes to everyone's mind is 'Ah, Merlion!' I never knew the Merlion was so famous.

Tomorrow: Should be a short trip to Yokohama and i'm going to look up a friend of my Uncle.