Saturday, October 20, 2007

October 8th - Present: Sapporo to Rumoi and back HOME


Well i'm done with the cycling trip and back in Singapore. I should have updated earlier on the last part of the journey but due to a couple of reasons (mainly, personal disappointment at not reaching Wakkanai, among others), i wasn't in a right frame of mind or mood to write up. For the last time, my route map above is updated with my entire journey's route.

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Farewell from Hokkaido (more pics here)

I did post that i was feeling a little tired upon reaching Sapporo, and that's why i probably i, to put it simply, gave up at Rumoi, about a 130km north of Sapporo. I took 17 hours worth of trains (6 trains, 5 changes) from Rumoi Station back to Tokyo, and then to Yokohama (Ichikawa-cho Station) for another night stay with the Queks (read this post if you don't remember/know who they are).

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1 bicycle, 4 bicycles bags tied together and my 2 other carry-on bags.

People on the train do not seem to mind the amount of space my bicycle and luggage were taking up, but that was actually the least of my worries. In case you didn't notice, i'm packing ALOT of baggage and it was a big hassle getting on and off the trains and moving around the platforms to change trains. The worst bit was when i had 7 mins to cross platforms via an overhead bridge to change trains. I don't know how i did it, but like i have done all this way on this journey, i just somehow managed to clear this last hurdle.

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The train arriving at Sapporo station.

I spent a night in Yokohama, including a great shabu-shabu dinner treat courtesy of the Queks and then the next morning it was another 1 1/2 hours train ride from Yokohama station to Narita Airport Terminal 1 for my flight. Thankfully, the Thai Airways check-in counter (like the one in Changi Airport) waived off the extra charges for my overweight luggage and bicycle.

It was an non-eventful plane trip back to Bangkok Airport for transit (and a boring 4 1/2 wait for my flight to Singapore) before finally arriving back in Singapore. That's it i guess. End of the road and suffice to say, this will be the final post on this blog and i wish to thanks everyone, friends, family, people i've been blessed to get to know through this blog for sharing this adventure with me. Thank you very much for reading.

On to my next big adventure! And by that i mean starting to work.

Sunday, October 7, 2007

October 2nd to 7th: Morioka to Sapporo!


I've been cycling through Hokkaido for the past 4 days and am now in the capital of Sapporo for a day's rest. I'm dead tired today, moreso than i have been throughout this entire adventure of mine. I guess whatever my body had been running on (usually chocolate) finally ran out as i just used gravity/inertia to roll myself into Sapporo today. And it certainly didn't help that the entire length of coast from Otaru (about 30km east of Sapporo) served my tired legs a full course of hills and slopes. Man, i really need tomorrow's rest day badly... And since Kenneth asked, i'm only another 350km from Cape Soya. That would be another 4 to 5 days of cycling probably so i'll put myself at 85% complete.

October 2nd: Morioka to Ninohe (pics here) 80km

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R4's highest point in Ichinohe.

After leaving Morioka, it was just hills and small mountain passes all the way to Ninohe. Nothing particularly high to climb, just the sheer number of it. Passed the 600km from Tokyo mark today.

One thing i missed coming out of Central Honshu are the clean toilets; up North, every toilet i've stopped at is just filthy, some of the toilets are literally just a hole in the ground. Here's a sample. If you clicked on the link, just note how there's no flush lever or anything. And i didn't dare to use the tap water. This isn't just a 1-off example, i would say 7 out of 10 toilets i've been too are around this standard or just slightly better (but most do have flush levers, this one is particularly bad), a very far cry from when i was raving about how clean toilets are in Japan.

October 3rd: Ninohe to Aomoro, and ferry across to Hakodate (pics here) 125km

More time spent going up and down mountains. Fairly long ride today and i passed 2 key distance markers today, 666km and 700km from Tokyo. I was just wishing for a sign saying "Welcome back to Sea Level" and finally, 30km from Aomori i got my wish.

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Man, it felt great to be back on level ground. About 15km from Central Aomori is Asamushi, the English sub-text was Sunset Beach so i hung around and watched the sun dip down and disappear into the horizon. Really beautiful place. I already checked the ferry timing in Morioka so i was in no rush to reach the wharf. The ferry across to Hakodate was for 8:30pm.

Unfortunately, once in town i chanced upon another 2nd-hand shop so i went for a look-around and by the time i came out, i was 10km away from the wharf with under an hour to go, so that meant i had no time for dinner. Rushed to the wharf, got my ticket and by the time i got to the pier it was just nice for boarding.

One thing i learnt is that you should buy your own food onto the ferry. There is cup noodles for sale on the boat (150JPY) but i had 2 and my stomach was still growling so i just slept for the entire 4 hour ride (110km from Aomori to Hakodate). Bike was tied to the side of the loading bay below where all the trucks were parked.

It's a good thing i don't smoke because the non-smoking room was empty except for me. All the smokers were in a seperate room drowning in their own cigarette smoke. Sleeping on the carpet was suprisingly comfortable, or i was just very tired; i had been up and cycling since 7am.

Reached Hakodate central at 1am and checked in to a random hotel. Room was cheap, 3500JPY (i later found out it was because the room had no window, but that's perfectly fine by me since the first thing i do everytime is shut the blinds).

October 4th: Hakodate (函館, can anyone tell me how to read the name in Chinese?) (pics here)

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Morning was a visit to Asaichi, the local fish market, which had a lot of live crabs (and big ones at that, some of the legs were the length of my arm!), salmon (and salmon roe) and live squid (a Hakodate specialty) for sale. A lot of restaurants on the side were serving raw dishes (1000 to 2000JPY a bowl) and i just settled for the cheapest place i could find. Yummy!

Next, a walk along the bay and the nearby lower slopes of Mt. Hakodate. Supposedly from the brochure i took, alot of movies used this slope (below) because it offers a full view of the bay from the top. Lots of foreign churches and the likes around the slope. A really picturesque city.

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It started to rain near sunset but since i already purchased the 1-day pass that included the bus up to Mt. Hakodate, i decided to just brave the rain and go up for the night view of Hakodate, which is suppose to be quite spectacular. I got soaked taking pictures (good thing the hotel had a very effective clothes dryer) but i didn't want to hand around cause there were a bunch of Taiwan and Hong Kong tourists crowding up the place.

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I was trying to get back indoors from the rain but they just jammed the doorway (they were trying to come outdoors, they all had umbrellas) and refused to let me back in. One girl even said (in mandarin), "Look, he's getting wet. Let's hurry." You don't HURRY, you just have to stop for a second or two and let me through. Seriously... .

October 5th: Hakodate to Oshamanbe (pics here) 105km

Started out on Route 5 towards Sapporo today. I think this needs to be said (again), but Hokkaido is a really beautiful place. From lakes to open fields to mountains and to the sea, i really got to experience the full nature package in just 1 day of riding.

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Not to mention that there are little cars on the roads and that the shoulder lane for half the way is about as wide as a regular car lane. Perfect for cycling. And i got to experience a light drizzle when the sky was completely blue without a single cloud. Afterwards, there were rainbows on both sides, 1 over the sea to my right and 1 in the mountains on my left. Truly amazing.

Ryokan tonight was cheap and the lady was telling me i was the first Singaporean she's seen. Very friendly and the tatami rooms were squeaky clean. No need for air-con because the night air just cooled the whole room. Cheap too, 3000JPY.

October 6th to 7th: Oshamanbe to Kutchan to Sapporo (pics here) 79km, 98km

In Hokkaido, it's not a question of how far can i cycle today but how far do i need to cycle to get to a town. There's long empty stretches of roads without a house in sight and some small sections of town are made up of a handful of houses and that's it, back to empty roads again.

A really tough ride through many hills today to Kutchan, which is a popular stop in winter to the Niseko ski region and also to Mt Yotei, which is pretty hard to miss when cycling because it has such a prominent shape (it looks like Mt Fuji, except it's about half the height at 1898m).

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Mt Yotei from Kutchan Town.

Another stay at a Ryokan in front of Kutchan station (3500JPY) and then it was off to Sapporo. 50km later i was back on the coast and through hilly Otaru. Met a group of road-cyclists at a 7-eleven and they invited me to follow them to Sapporo. Yeah right. They dropped me 3km up the first climb.

BUT, it's probably good that i didn't hang around with a big group because when i finally caught up to them again, one of them had crashed into a car. I stopped to see if he needed help but from the looks of it he just had some cuts on his arm. My medic intuition told me he was fine so i just continued on.

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Otaru Canal

Somewhere right after that, i just felt as if all the energy in my body drained out. The headwinds were strong and very chilly and i just didn't want to fight it. Checked into the first hotel i found on the way to town because i was too tired to do hotel-hunting tonight.

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Coastline, Otaru

Tomorrow is a rest day in Sapporo and actually there's only 2 places i want to visit which would be the Clock Tower (a Sapporo landmark) and the Salmon Museum (who would have thought there would be a museum dedicated to a fish?). Might look around more (time-permitting) but i just know i'm gonna sleep in late tomorrow morning.

Did a little research on Wakkanai and there is no ferry back to Tokyo or Sapporo. My best bet would be a train back down to Otaru and then a ferry from there to Tokyo. Will go to the train station tomorrow and get more information on ferry routes. This is probably a good time to go hunting for a bicycle bag so i can bring my bike onto the trains. Good night (or good morning) from Sapporo!

Monday, October 1, 2007

September 28th to October 1st: Fukushima to Sendai to Morioka

Tomorrow morning marks exactly 1 week since i packed and left Tokyo for the north and in the past few days i've stayed in all 3 capitals of the 3 prefectures i've cycled through. I'm just really thankful for excellent weather (no rain this whole week! that's amazing!) and i'm 2 days (or 208km) away from Aomori (Aomori Pref.), the northernmost city of Honshu. From there it's a 4 hour ferry ride to Hakodate in Hokkaido. I'm a bit disappointed i won't get to go through the Seikan Tunnel (the longest rail tunnel in the world, 2nd would be the Channel Tunnel between Britain/France).

September 28-29th: Fukushima to Sendai (77km, all pictures condensed here)

I actually spent an extra night in Sendai to recuperate. So for this past week in 7 days (6 if you minus the extra day in Sendai) i covered 529km in total. Sendai is well, just another city to me. I've passed through so many cities that they all look the same. Supposedly, it's supposed to be 'greener' (it's known as the 'City of Trees') than all the other cities, and to its credit i did notice more roadside trees than anywhere else, but compared to the greenery in Singapore, it's really nothing.



Door to Aisaki Ryokan, 3990JPY a night.

The city logo on the way in, was however, the nicest one i've seen so far (it beats all the other city logos of flowers and animals). And before you go thinking "that's just a guy on a horse!", that's Date Masamune, founder of Sendai city, and distinguishable by the trademark cresent-moon on his helmet and also his eye-patch that earned him the nickname the "One-Eyed Dragon". To me he's the 6-sword wielding guy in the PS2 game "Basara 2". Yup, 6 swords.

And because i didn't want to walk the city, i took a train to the nearby towns for a walk and lunch. Much more comfortable riding the trains here than having to always squeeze in the trains like in Tokyo. It's pretty funny how i was waiting for the doors to open but somehow it didn't. Then someone came up and pressed the "OPEN" button on the side for me. And it was in English as well. I just didn't know you had to open the train doors yourself.



September 30th: Sendai to Ichinoseki (85km)


Less houses and more open fields now.

I like how there's much more fields and plantations than houses on the roadside now. It's a nice change from the roads in Central Honshu. The air is also 'fresh', that is, if you consider fertilisers and the smell of cut grass 'fresh'. At least it beats having to smell fumes from factories.

Ichinoseki is the first city in the Iwate prefecture and a nice quiet stop for me. Nothing much to do at night but the fruit stalls on the street were nice. Bought a bunch of bananas for my breakfast the next day and had an early night's sleep cause i planned to start my day earlier from tomorrow onwards, mainly because it's getting dark around 5:30pm.

October 1st: Ichinoseki to Morioka (90km)

Overnight stop at Morioka, capital of Iwate Prefecture and for a change i'm not seeking accomodations near the train stations but in the outskirts of town beccause there seems to be alot of supermarkets and big 2nd hand shops here. I can't resist browsing around 2nd-hand shops, especially for DVDs and CDs, which are about the only things that are cheap (when 2nd-hand) compared to Singapore.


The 'magic' 500km sign. And the many spiders hanging their webbing on it.

Temperature tonight is 11 degrees, which is not as cold as it sounds..until the wind starts blowing, then i start wishing i didn't come out on the streets. Going to rest for a 100km ride tomorrow.