Distance cycled: 22.3km from Hibiscus port to Kagoshima and over to Sakurajima, Kyushu, Japan.
Average speed: 18.7Km/h
Moving Time: 1h11m
Elevation Ascended: 180m
Total Distance on Current trip: 3,197km
Distance until I have cycled the circumference of Earth: 9,093km
Money spent: $28
Last night was intense, it stormed like there was no tomorrow and I was very nearly stuck by lightning; I was inside my tent rapidly packing away my things before the monsoon like rain soaked everything when the lighting hit illuminating my tent blinding me. I know it hit right above me as the was no noticeable delay between the Lightning and thunder, also it killed all the lights in the toilet block I retreated to.
This all happened at 4am and there was no way I could get any more sleep.
I killed the 4 hour wait before my ferry departed the port watching the rain soak every hug around me and the very uninteresting sunrise brighten the grey and gloomy morning.
Finally getting aboard the ferry I instantly fell asleep and woke several hours later meeting an American man (Dan) who has spent the last 9 years teaching English in the country. An interesting guy with a worrying cycling trip story involving a truck resulting in his buddy getting brain damage and him with a broken vertebrae...
These types of stories I don't like to really heat about.
Arriving back on the mainland I made my way to a hostel but as I hadn't made a reservation and it was first day of a long weekend no beds were available but the staff were kind enough to direct me to an interesting guesthouse on the volcanic island on the other side of the peninsula from Kagoshima named Sakurajima.
The hostel was run by an older hippy couple and only had two beds to offer. This guesthouse being nothing like you would ever expect here in Japan was more to my liking, cheap accommodation, colorful characters running the place and in no way sterile (in a good way) like all other hostels I have stayed at here in this country.
A polish guy also staying at the guesthouse, Paul, join me to the onsen where I soaked my much in pain and aching joints and muscles in the volcanic fed and heated waters, it pure bliss for a short while but soon the steam and heat became to unbearable for me to handle. even after leaving i spent the next 30 minutes profusely sweating from every pore. This is what is suppose to happen in an onsen experience and it was relaxing at first but then my clothes I was wearing became very much wet like I was at the beginning of the day. In all honesty I prefer being dry.
The owners of the guesthouse offered a cheap dinner for their guests and it was pleasant for the first time to have a home cooked Japanese meal, it was generally good albeit the textures and flavors of things like a seaweed with tofu mix and a tasteless and fatty (insert some animal) rind is edible but not something I would ever order at a restaurant. Regardless of this everything was a valiant gesture of fantastic hospitality on the couples part. The name of the guesthouse that I highly recommend to anyone wanting to stay at a place completely the opposite of what you would expect in Japan is Moon Galammasala guest house.
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