Ferry Nice!

We were up and out at 7 to get some food at the konbini for the trip (there was only vending machines on the ferry, we were told) and make sure we didn't miss the bus or the ferry, as there were only two a day. Breakfast was at Mister Donut! Sumi was a little disappointed that they didn't have "real" donuts, and just varieties of cake donuts. They were still making the donuts when we got there and left, so I'm assuming the "real" donuts were forthcoming. The bus was right on time at 9:10 and got us to the port at 9:35.

Lots of cargo space.

The ferry didn't board until 11:10, and we couldn't get our tickets until the ticket windows opened at whenever they felt like it (it said 9:30 on the sign, they opened at 10:30). Despite specifically telling the woman at the counter that we had a regular "nitto" reservation (open room that you slept on the floor during the trip) even though we filled out a "nitto shindai" form (because that's all that was out there), which is a private room for $20 more per person, she happily gave us the private room (and charged us the extra). We figured it wasn't worth trying to explain it again and headed to the ferry to see what kind of room we were given.

Aye aye captain!

It was far better than we expected. A room for two with OUTLETS! The bunks were pretty hard, but comfortable, and the privacy was a bonus. Definitely worth the extra $20 just for the electricity. Once settled, we headed out to check out our new "cruise ship".

Definitely a cargo ship. We couldn't stay out on the deck and see the view due to the exhaust fumes from the ship's engines.

The "Plaza" which housed the vending machines, microwaves, tables and chairs chained to the deck and a TV.

So, all in all, the ferry was quite nice. There were several commons areas, a little convenience store, tons of vending machines, a few TVs and clean bathrooms. We estimated the passengers to total about 20, on a ferry that can hold about 400, so it was largely deserted, which was nice. We checked out the vending machines and found a number of full meals being offered. Not wanting to eat konbini snacks for a meal again we braved the vending machines, because really, where else will you find a frozen spaghetti dinner in a vending machine?

Well, it LOOKS like spaghetti...

They weren't that bad, again expectations being as low as they were, and were better than the potato chips and (yet more) granola bars we had in our room. As we got further out to sea, the ride got significantly choppier, and we headed back to our room. I'm thankful I don't get seasick, because this was the type of trip that would do it. The ship would rock at various angles and rise and fall several feet at irregular intervals. It had started raining, which a) killed the weather forecasts hitting streak of one b) added some nice gusty winds to the mix and c) kept us inside for the remainder of the trip. The rest of the trip was spent sleeping, watching some anime I brought along for just such an occasion (the very well done Natsume Yuujinchou, for those interested) and sleeping some more. Our first actual "recovery" day after the cycling.

We docked at about 5:30AM in Tokyo, meaning the whole city, except for the port, was still asleep. We tok a shuttle out of the ferry to the bus stop (all of about 300m, but I guess they didn't want us walking around the cargo), and another shuttle to the train station. By now it was about 6:30AM and the trains were starting to run, so we made our way up to Ueno, our home in Tokyo. The only thing open in the station when we got there was the Hard Rock Cafe, which we knew from past visits had good breakfasts. Eager for real food, we settled in to waste some time before the city decided to get up. Hamm, eggs, hashed browns and salad was a good choice.

And Comfort Sugar, for your ill at ease coffee

There was a free wifi spot in the cafe, for some reason, so Sumi logged on to work for a bit while I watched old 80's videos and did a little blog work until about 9. By then things were starting to open up. There was a Chiba farmer's market and promotion event going on in the central square of the station featuring fresh produce and, of course, mascots.

Meet Mukkun, Chiba's mushroom mascot

We still had hours before we could get in to our hotel, so we decided to leave our bags in a coin locker and take a walk down to Akihabara and do some shopping. It was, as usual, loud and chaotic. We spent about two hours (our limit) looking for various things before escaping the noise and grabbing lunch at the local Coco Curry house on our way back up to Asakusa. We also hit a few Book Off stores, and I've been amassing my Final Fantasy Ultimania collection (more about that in my next post).

Back up in Ueno, we grabbed our stuff from the locker and headed to the hotel, the Oak Hotel (more on THAT in my next post, as well). We dropped our stuff in our rooms, cleaned up a little and took a walk out to Kannon-ji, one of the more majestic temples in Japan.

The shopping street in front of the temple was  crowded with tourists

The big, white dog was attracting a lot of attention. Japanese in the city don't have large animals, for the most part. Here, he and his human are getting some ice cream. Seriously, the guy bought it for the dog. Also, I loved the American tourist in the flag dress. Classic.

Now THAT is a main gate.

The gold trim was really shining brightly in the afternoon sun.

Our last trip out here, we stayed in a hotel right next door to Kannon-ji, and would walk through here every morning. It was always quiet and peaceful. Not today. Thousands of tourists, school field trips, vendors and the occasional Buddhist clamored around the temple grounds. We did a little more shopping here (the shops have some great fresh foods) and headed back to the hotel to do laundry and crash after a long day. We miss cycling already, but all good things must come to an end. Tomorrow we are set to brave Ikebukuro and Sunshine City!

Tokushima, Where It All Starts....Or Ends

For most henro, the pilgrimage starts in Tokushima, as there are 5 temples within easy walking distance of the city and each other. Kind of lures them into a false sense of security ("This pilgrim thing won't be so bad!") until they have to circle around Ashizuri on foot. By then, it's too late.

For us, it's the end of our time in Shikoku. But before feeling sorry for ourselves, we needed to GET to Tokushima. Getting up early, we stopped at the front desk to ship our bikes and duffle bags to the airport ahead of us ($65 for all four bags. I still can't get over that) and headed over to the station, we caught the first bus out to Matsuyama, which was about two hours long and almost as comfortable as our overnight bus down here. Our layover in Matsuyama was a little longer than we anticipated (about 90 minutes), so that gave us enough time to stop at a konbini and get some food for the longer trip (about 3 hours) to Tokushima. The whole journey was quiet, uneventful and the easiest we'd had since getting to Japan.

Getting into Tokushima at about 12PM, we were several hours early for check-in, but we headed to the hotel first just in case we could get in early. Unfortunately, the hotel lobby actually CLOSES from 11-3, so no luck. Back in the town square, we put our bags in a coin locker and surveyed our lunch options to kill some time until 3. Across from the station, Sumi spotted an Oushou Clear, a rather famous gyoza chain. We went there to satisfy her gyoza deficiency, and were not disappointed. Oushou has some of the best cheap food in Japan. Gyoza, fried rice, ramen and salad all for a reasonable price.

Two of Sumi's three favorite Japanese foods, even though they are both really Chinese originally

With several hours to kill, we hopped on a train headed west to Bandou station to visit Temples 1 and 2, Ryouzen-ji and Gokuraku-ji. On the train, there were several PSAs, including how to sit on a train

I love the one on the left

After getting off the train, we walked about a mile to the first temple, Ryouzen-ji. This was a rather different kind of temple. The mannequins were our first clue.

Everything for the stylish henro, including high heels.

I can't imagine what possessed someone to donate old fashion mannequins to a temple, but they graciously accepted them and put them to use.

The interior of the temple was more normal, with the exception of the occasional mannequin. They had an amazing koi pond with more koi than I had ever seen in one pond.

There was also a monster koi, about three feet long who ruled the pond. 

Buddhas on Lilypads?

We realized as we approached the temple that Sumi had shipped her stamp book to the airport already, so she wouldn't be able to get her book filled in at these temples. Somehow, the temple still got some of our money, and we headed to Temple 2, Gokuraku-ji. On the way, we passed a small citrus farm that hand hand-covered every fruit in the orchard to protect it, most likely, from insects, birds or sunlight.

Gokuraku-ji was about 1km from Ryouzen-ji on the same road, and was lacking mannequins, which was somewhat disappointing. What it was not lacking, however, was artwork. There were various statues, idols, carvings and buildings strewn across a rather large area.

Impressive main gate

Beautiful carved dragon building to house the fountain of water to purify oneself before praying.

water spout in the foutain

Buddha with a bunch of kids. This temple had numerous statues with Buddhas and children...

and sleeping pilgrims.

On the way out, we passed one of those shrines you see in movies or anime. The ones that are set on top of a mountain with hundreds of stairs leading up to them. Yes, they do exist.

No, we didn't climb up there. Sumi was pretending to be a Buddhist pilgrim, not a Shinto one.

It was about 3PM at this point, and we had wasted enough time so that our hotel would be open again. Walking to the nearest train station, Awakawabata, we were reminded how small the towns here were. The station had one track that ran "Wanman trains", which is Japenglish for One Man Train, where there is only a driver for the train, no conductor, no station staff, just the guy or girl at the wheel. They reminded me of the tiny trains we took in Taiwan to get to the center of the island and some of the small mountain villages there.

Getting to our hotel, a smiling little woman greeted us and had all sorts of Tokushima tourist literature for us, as well as some handwritten English directions for using the TV that she must have spent an hour on before we got there. When she found out we spoke Japanese, she pulled away the English she had written (I'm thinking she wasn't too confident in her English. I totally understand. If I had done that for a Japanese speaker, I'd be rather embarrassed to give it to them if they spoke English). She was very pleasant and helpful and had given us what passed in this hotel as the Grand Suite.

This room was as big as the room at the temple we were just at that easily held six pilgrims

The room was beautiful, with it's own full bathroom (a luxury in these smaller hotels) a small window garden and all sorts of space. One thing it did not have was internet. We asked her about wi-fi and she said it wasn't very good, and we'd need an extra USB antenna to get it in our room. She got one out for us, reminded us that it wouldn't work on a tablet (heh!) and away we went. Even with it, I couldn't connect to anything in our room. Oh well, I guess we just had to enjoy our beautiful Japanese room instead.

There was a famous Awa-Odori (Awa festival dance) that Tokushima puts on every year, but also has nightly performances for tourists by professional dancers. The front desk lady urged us to go, and told Sumi she needed to get up and dance with them (they pull people up from the audience at the end of the show and teach them how to dance). We had every intention of going, but a combination of stage fright  from Sumi and the fact that we couldn't even stay awake past 7:30 (the dance started at 8), we had to make due with a 10 minute preview we saw on TV before we fell asleep.

Tomorrow we board the ferry for an 18 hour trip to Tokyo!

Going Back To Uwajima

Well, finally they got the weather right. Forecast was for sunny and 82 and we finally see the sun again! That makes exactly twice in the two weeks we've been here that the forecast was correct. We're off for our last ride back to Uwajima. This ride was mostly on one of the larger highways, since there really no other way to get there that wouldn't add a lot of extra miles and mountains.

That didn't mean it wasn't picturesque

Love these bike tunnels. They all have unique designs on the outside and some have murals on the inside

Part of the highway went along the coast

A rocky beach right off the highway where some people were taking scuba lessons. We took a walk down

And out on the rocks. The water was so clear you could see to the bottom, even when it got pretty deep.

Various warnings. This one cautions you against touching the crabby looking sea life.

Yet another manhole cover, this one in front of a bike tunnel

THIS bike tunnel, to be exact

A mural inside the tunnel

All in all, a pretty uneventful trip, thankfully. We made it into Uwajima early, and had some time to kill before our room was ready. This gave us time to dismantle our bikes in the parking lot, get them packed up and get ourselves cleaned up and organized. Dinner was at a nice little cafe in the lobby of the station, which served a good Indian/Japanese curry with vegetables

Some big vegetables for Japan.

We spent the rest of the night getting out duffle bags packed, putting only what we needed for the next few days in our backpacks and watching some bad Japanese TV (really, unless you get cable, it all really sucks. Even worse than American TV.) We once again had no internet in the hotel. Apparently, Shikoku is not a very connected part of Japan. Tomorrow we get up early and hop on a few buses to Tokushima, where we'll get a ferry the next day (Thursday) to take us to Tokyo.

One Night In Kanjizai-ji

After a great night's sleep, we woke to very cloudy (but not raining) skies. I seriously want to be a weather forecaster in Shikoku. A drunken dart thrower would get it right more often. The hotel provided breakfast, so we went, with some trepidation, down to the cafe area they had and gave them our meal vouchers and got

Wait, no fish?

a small, but nice meal. I can't drink the miso soup they make in Shikoku. They must use an entire bonito for "flavoring", but the rest of the meal was good, even the baby hot dogs that pass for breakfast "sausage".

Then we were off to the cycle shop (sans trailers, which we locked up at the hotel) hoping this small town had a decent bicycle guy. Boy, did they!

Yamamoto, at your service!

So, we get there and the grandfather who can barely hear is sitting in the back, reading a paper. Sumi almost had to walk into the office and yell to get his attention. Shortly thereafter, the grandson came down and we explained what we needed. He brought out the proper brake pads (thank God!) and proceeded to start working on Sumi's bike. While he was working, a young family came in with a flat tire and the grandfather set to work finding the leak and patching it for them ($10), a woman came in with her very elderly mother and the grandson brought out a walker(!) and was showing them the work he did on the brakes. Yes, Japanese walkers have brakes, wheels and baskets. They seemed happy. Later another guy came up with a flat. The guy took about an hour to do both bikes, but he didn't just replace the pads. He tightened all the brake cables, oiled them all, recalibrated the gears and shifters, oiled them, as well, tightened the brake levers and a few spokes on Sumi's front wheel. He did a full tune up and more AND replaced all four brake pads. Parts included, $30 per bike. I want a Yamamoto Service in Milwaukee. He was awesome. They didn't have an extra tube for our strange little bikes, but I'd have been surprised if he did. While he was working, Sumi found her next bike

I love the handlebar "bag" and bell.

So, off we went with new brakes that actually stopped our bikes. We picked up our trailers and proceeded to ride the shortest and most difficult route of the trip, to Ainan. This was a costal route, which usually meant less severe climbs. This was an exception and then some. The grade was a sustained 8% at times and climbed on and off for almost 5k, the last 1k being the steepest. We walked that last 1k almost entirely, pushing our 60# of bike and trailer up almost the entire way. I reflected that every time we wanted to see some beautiful vista, it usually required us to spend a good hour killing ourselves getting up a mountain. This was no exception.

Around one corner was a small graveyard. Probably for those who didn't make it up the hill.

Overcast, but not raining. 

OK, see all the road winding around down there? Yeah.

A secluded beach in one of the valleys. The house on the bluff probably owns it and the little beach shack in the foreground.

After the last, killer climb was almost 5k of downhill, some of it as steep as the uphill. With so many switchbacks and only one lane almost the whole way, we had to take it slow instead of cut loose and enjoy the ride down, but it was quite a relief. When we hit the bottom we stopped at an intersection that turned out to be some poor woman's driveway that we were blocking. She stopped and spoke with us for a minute about where we came from and where we were going (she agreed where we came from was pretty steep) and went inside. While we were figuring out where to go next, she came out with two big, fresh Yuzu and told us "Ganbatte"! What are Yuzu, you ask?

These are Yuzu. 80% Grapefruit, 20% Orange, grown here in Shikoku, used for many things, including fueling poor, tired cyclists,

We found a shop with a vending machine and a place to sit down and dove in. We decided to be a little different in our drink choices this time

Fruity Vegetable. Tastes as advertised. Fruity, with some vegetable.

Made In Shikoku Hachimitsu Yuzu! Erm, 1% juice. Tasted like it, too.

So, refreshed and somewhat sticky from the yuzu (no water faucet to be found), we set off for the last, mostly flat, leg to Ainan, where we were going to stay at one of the temples along the henro path, Kanjizai-ji. Along the slightly busier road we turned on to were several tunnels, including some Bike Only tunnels

I love these things!

Finding the temple was pretty easy, thankfully, so once we were there, Sumi did her pilgrim thing and we were shown to the henro quarters, which were nicer than most hotels we stayed at and we had the all to ourselves! A very large Japanese style room usually used for six to eight people for the two of us.

Pilgrim at the gate! This pilgrim is too embarrassed to ring the bell, though.

Frog temple this time. Each of the 88 temples have their own unique emphasis.

First of the eight Indian statues that flank the henro temple

Second half

Great clock in the washroom of the temple

View outside our window of the temple grounds

There was no food at this particular temple (sometimes they provide shoujin ryouri, a vegetarian meal that the Buddhist monks eat. It is amazingly good) so we were on our own. Down the street a little way was a Japanese family restaurant. These resemble a Denny's in the States and are popular in more rural areas. This one was called Joyfull.

Now, being Japanese, there are certain differences. There is the usual Drink Bar that they advertise. All you can drink hot and cold beverages. Most of them are usual fare, soda, juice, coffee, hot cocoa, tea, etc. The food is usually a "Japanized" western menu, where things aren't quite what you'd expect, but close. Sumi had a spaghetti, which was fairly good and I had a baked penne dish, which also was all right. Expectations being low, we weren't disappointed with the food.

One unique feature of Joyfull that we hadn't seen anywhere else was the Soup Bar. Now, I know what you're thinking, a salad bar-type buffet with soup. No no no, that would make too much sense. THIS soup bar is right next to the drink bar and, unless you looked carefully, you would mistake it for more drinks. That's because you DRINK soup in Japan. What they had was a dispenser and some mugs (no spoons) that some odd watery, liquidy soupy stuff would squirt into. There were three choices: Corn Soup (corn chowder), Beef Soup (beef broth) and Cream Chowder (clam chowder without the clams, cause clams would be, you know, chunky). As unappetizing as it looked, we HAD to try it. Here is what it looked like

(will be uploaded when we have better internet. Please stand by...)

It was actually not bad.

So, full on questionable fare, we walked back to the temple and retired. Sumi passed out immediately (she's quite good at that) and I worked on the blog offline (no internet at the temple, go figure). There was some sort of school sporting event at the nearby high school, and from the high vantage point of the temple, I could hear the cheering (organized, of course) and the occasional city loudspeaker system announcement about the event would echo across the valley in a rather spectacular way for several seconds. It was as if the whole town were at the event, except us, and that very well may have been the case.

Tomorrow is the last cycling day of our trip (boo!) as we return to the comatose city of Uwajima to see if it has awoken and to get ready for the cross-country bus/ferry trip back to Tokyo over the next few days.