How to Properly Eat a Penguin.

    Here's the video I promised you about. It's a fun way to eat these. Holly has opened my eyes. Who'd have thought?

 

Onto Kyushu

     We've been blessed with a variety of entertainment this year such as fun natural disasters, that Tiger King Show you guys loved, riots in the streets, etc. Now here I am giving you all three months of wholesome, quality content with a bicycle view of exploring another country. Say thank you! 

You also owe me a lot of money, too.

    We're wrapping up things for the island of Honshu. If you remember your Geography lesson I gave you years back, Honshu is the main island of Japan. Kyushu is the large one of it that we're aiming for next. For some odd reason the last month has felt like a day. And I don't like that. 

HollyQuayChiu's sister sent her some goodies from England. They're all good. See that Penguin on top? I'll show you how to eat that later. 

But nothing beats eating mickans. My favorite.

Which reminds me, we need to find another tree. Our stash is out. 

I don't know why I didn't post this before, but Holly's friends met up with us. We had a nice little lunch with them in Nagoya. They work on a persimmon farm by Nara. It's all neat. 

I don't have as many flats as the last trip. I think some of HQC's Beginner's Luck is still with us. Her first biking trip in Japan she only experienced one flat. I was outraged.  

Who wants to guess what I'm doing her. Let's her your responses. 

Nice view. 

Here's a fun shrine. 

They take good care of their temple grounds.

The gods watching over us. 

Old Cemetery Gates.

Here is the inside of the temple.

The difference in used vs new brake pads. 

Night riding. It's darker than this. 

The Quay is harvesting some mikans for us. This lone tree was loaded with them.

Almost time for the Second Coming. 

This bridge connects Honshu with Kyushu But they don't allow cyclists on there.

Nice hostel overlooking the fast flowing strait.

I visited this temple last year on one of the base's ITT trips. It's pretty coolo.

I think Big Bird has a quote about riding in the morning or something. How does it go again?

Here's the little pedestrian tunnel that goes under water as we cross over into Kyushu.

Rated R.

Dead Sprint to Happy Thanksgiving

    Since we've been biking from north to south, it's been downhill the whole time. A little trick of the trade I call it.  The bad part is that the trip has been going by way too fast. The only thing worse than a vacation ending, is dreading your vacation ending before it actually ends. "Put that in your book." 

    After walking my bike down the mountain pass from Nara because my brakes were so bad, HQC and I strolled into Osaka. I like how a lot of the cities have a similar feel, IE Osaka is a smaller version of Tokyo, Hiroshima is a smaller version of Osaka, Iwakuni is a smaller version of Hiroshima, etc. Haters will disagree. 

    Fun fact: The Status Quo and I spent last Christmas in the Osaka-Kyoto area without even realizing it. Makes you think, huh?

I had to force Holly to get in this pic. Sometimes in life you have to twist people's arms. That's the moral of the story. 

Last stop to get Japanese Taco Bell and I wasn't going to pass this up. The fast food chains that frequent America are subtly different in other countries. So while you may be outraged that I'm eating junky fast food. It's OK.  

Look how good it is. You can't beat Taco Bell.

Here's Osaka style Okonomiyaki. FYI: Hiroshima style is better IMO.

This sweet old man changed my spoke. He had a very high pitched voice.

Look at the statue. 

This apple costs a dollar. It was huge and very delicious. 

This nice old lady sells takoyaki for cheap. 

One gold coin. I love it. Takoyaki have octopus inside.

Around this area. we got cussed at by a Japanese bicycle rider. He was waiting at a red light and we went around him going through the light (as we typically do). He catches up to us and goes around us spewing forth the loudest, meaning Japanese swear words not normally uttered. 

No one in America wears clothes like these. 

Hiimeji Castle. One of the better castles in Japan.

Look how well-behaved our bikes are.

Nice little port city.

These are all solar panels. I love it. Wished they didn't have to be so intertwined with dumb politics. 

Here's your Japanese Kanji lesson for the day. from left to right, that's how you read each word. Michi is the first character, then no is the second, then eki is the third. And Mitsu is written out in Hirigana. Pretty neat, huh? Now you're fluent in Japanese. Michinoekis are my favorite. 

At this time, The Asian Pear and I had a choice: bike up north to Tottori and follow the northern coast. Or book it hard and make it to Iwakuni in two days (over 300km) just in time for Happy Thanksgiving with coworkers. We chose the latter. 

The forecast called for rain up on that northern coast. And we also wanted our resupply food from Brand and Jill. Say thank you!

Now that means we have to leave in the dark.  

It's fun to ride in the pre-dawn hours. Mixes things up and keeps us on our toes.  

Look at her go.

Here's a manhole for the sword museum we visited outside Okayama.

Swords take two weeks to make. The sheath and handle take three months.  

City lights over the water are always dazzling.

Empty streets at 8PM.

Even an empty Hondori. They're fun to ride through when no one is there. 

Finally after 14 hours of riding we can go to sleep.

Oh, hey there Iwakuni. It's been a while. Now that I've been biking for a few months, things in the city stand out differently than they did before, primarily signs and 7-Elevens.

Time for Happy Thanksgiving with all the friends! Yep. Definitely worth the 300 km.