Shikoku: Part 2

Now this part gets exciting. After we got our things together we took the train back to Central Shikoku up through the mountains. This area was so pretty. Reminded me of Colorado but there weren't any hippies getting high AF and ruining everything, thankfully. 

The Oboke Station was a good place to stop to head towards the Iya Valley.

Steeps hills now.

This guy was asleep for a really long time. Look at him, he's still sleeping. I bet if you come back here tomorrow he'll still be there.

Had a nice chat with some new friends. Here I am swapping war stories from my days as a Royal Marine.

I wished I had taken a pic of this meal that was advertised and thus made me stop to buy one. It did not look like this pitiful attempt at a meal. I ate this with a scowl on my face.

The Japanese animation and marketing department get 5 stars, easily. 

I found the Asian Pear. 

Steep ascents. Good thing I grew up in good ol' globe where I don't have a problem with biking up hills. Because if you can bike up 4th street as a 10 year old to go visit the Pennells Donk Donk, you can bike up anything. Even Everest! Yeah!

Nice scenery at the top.

See, they still have Ninjas here in Japan. Now will you believe me?

What'd I tell you about all the Naked statues here? They're nasty,

Look at him. He's draining his weasel.

Had HQC been here with me I'd have gone pee alongside this boy with my pants around my ankles, too. Now that would have made quite the epic pic. I hate that word epic. You guys use it way too much rendering it non-epic.

Met The Quay here on this bridge. She was happy. I loved it.

You have to pay the troll underneath this rope suspension bridge one gold coin to cross. 

Walking to go pay the troll.

Thankfully, the troll was out getting a soda so we didn't have to pay him.

Felt like we were in a treehouse. It was all neat. Look at the lanterns.

Fun building.

Holly is zooming down to the campsite. Plus I'm taking notes from my niece, Dana. the blurrier the pics the better. 

Biwa Fallas was all neat at night.

Here's a classic. Good thing I speak Spanish.

Humble, tasty food to eat for din dins.

Humble campsite too, when the real campsite decided to close #becausecovid or something dumb.

The Japanese are the professionals when it comes to redirecting water.

The early bird gets the worm! And the road to herself.

So much fun to bike down.

I don't even have to climb Mt Fuji this time to be above the clouds. Love it when this happens. 

Now we're below the clouds.

"aight, Imma head out now."

Central Shikoku AF.

Had we done this trip in Miserable August I'd have jumped in to swim.

Because it rains a lot here, landslides are a plenty.

Had to stop and use The Can at the store. This was a neat map (because I love maps) on the wall telling you of neat places to visit in the area.

If you drink one of these you get Pikachu's powers.

Look how soft the toilet paper is. And it has all that fun writing on it, too. But still inferior to a Japanese bidet.

I caught him opening up this soda machine.

This grocery store had a guy selling okonomiyaki 

For only 1 gold coin you get all this. Good deal.

There's the beep.

Rich canyon.

Japan has so many tunnels. They're fun and usually scary especially the longer ones. 

There's a citrus fruit here called yuzu. It's one of my favorites. I found this yuzu flavored drink. Wished the container was larger. 

Can't beat delicious rice cream on a long day out biking!

When I saw these bikers, I had to call my mom and tell her what I saw. Here's a fun video for reference.

When I moved to  Japan I thought it was silly that they install these little fans over the reflectors. I guess it's a way to clean them when cars and shaq-a-clauses drive by. They spin like crazy.

Time for bed. Long day.

Shikoku: Part 1

Geography lesson from your favorite Geographer:

    Shikoku is one of the four main islands of Japan, after Honshu (main island), Kyushu (the one south of Honshu), and Hokkaido (the northern one I'm going to next). I had a 50% chance of biking Shikoku island, but when I realized I had to complete a year on my apartment contract in order to get back my hefty deposit, I came up with a two week preliminary plan that you are right in the middle of viewing. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because it allowed us to climb Fuji, tour a bit in Kyoto, and take time to ride through Shikoku. And this island did not disappoint. 

So coolo.

    After we conquered Mt Fuji, we took the Shin back to Kyoto to shower and pick up our crap at the hostel then took a few trains down to Wakayama where we boarded a ferry to Tokushima. If you guys  would simply just look at my interactive map that I am updating on the left side of the page (Note: don't view the mobile version, either click on Web Version at the bottom of the page or use a dang computer and not your phones) you can see the detailed routes with vivid descriptions. The number next to each line is the day. 

Hurry up. 

Naked statues are starting to abound everywhere. 

We are eating some din dins on the Local Train.

Time for the ferry!

It's fun inside but this WiFi was crappy so I was less than productive, otherwise you'd have read this blog post by now.

You don't want to make the Ramen stuck in The Can.

Here's our campsite in Tokushima. The elderly like to wake up at the crack of dawn. When I poked my head out of the tent, they were already doing their exercises. 

Why doesn't America have this? Then I wouldn't have to make my regular blanket of toilet paper on the seat when I use a nasty Walmart bathroom.

First full day of real, actual work I mean, riding.

Japan knows how to make a variety of flavors of KitKat. America take notes because you're lacking in that department, which is odd because you invented the dang thing. 

These little pancake things are filled with custard, chocolate, nasty red bean paste that Hollly loves, etc.

I love not wearing a crappy helmet.

Look at the guy fishing on the bottom right. You don't need licenses to fish here. #freedoms

Japanese homes are so coolo. I love the rooftop and intricate designs they do. Sometimes they have fish adorning the ends which protects the house in times of fire.

Vending machines AF.

Found the mythical curry vending machine. It was really good too and for about half a Gold Coin.

"Would you just look at it?"

Next to the curry vending machine was this neat little arcade to play Nintendo.

My Endurance friend, Beau, likes to run to his jam.

Poor little urtle, gurtle, turtle.

Crops.

The farms are all neat.

Saw a few of these weird pink gas stations.

As the day progressed I was experiencing a very wobbly tire and more friction against the brake pad. I checked the spokes to make sure non were broken, because my America Cross Country trip I had broken a lot. But my spokes were intact save some were very loose. My spoke wrench was still getting shipped to me and I didn't have the means to adjust them. With our Rail Pass in hand we took the train north to the next city, Marugame, where there was a bike shop that trued my wheel for me in 15 minutes. Barely made the train in time and the bike ship before it closed. Many Tender Mercies were received this day. 

Pyramid in Marugame.

We camped in this park. No old people were around when I woke up this morning!

Since I do GIS Consulting - Quides GIS - as my primary means of income, there are times I need access to internet. Joyfull is a terrific restaurant that has big tables to spread out your work station, cheap food, refillable drinks, and decent WiFi. You can stay as long as you want, too. And they have nice classical versions of pop songs that are pleasant to hear. 

I love all the different drinks here.

This port-city had a different feel to it, as did much of Shikoku.

I see a lot of Old Bags that are hunched over, walking around town, just as mobile as you and me. I finally got a pic of a good one. I don't know why the elderly population are so hunched over.

Oops, I wasn't supposed to park here. Oh Quides.

Look at this fun place! We love Nintendo.

HQC and I decided to play some games. 

She's shooting zombies.

I whipped her at Mario Kart. See that candy in my mouth, some other kid left it behind so I ate it. "King's to me!"

Holly was baffled by this restaurant.

Alright, help me out here. "What...the H....is going on??" Why is she shooting the Sakura trees and why is her head replaced by a ball? These are all questions and more that demand to be answered.