The day started annoyingly early again around 4am or so, unable to sleep much longer. I stayed in bed, awake for another 2h or so trying to fall asleep until I had enough of it at 6am. The weather forecast foretold a sunny and warm day with around 20C and I cam outdoors already see the rising sun blasting it’s rays through the half-open curtain of my room. Great start I thought!
I was already pretty hungry but only had some water as I am also trying to do some intermittent fasting and also try and limit my calorie intake on a daily basis, just to see what it would to my body, alongside the sustained exercise for the coming weeks. I then used the time to do some exercise, a bit of yoga and meditation before exploring the web on what to do in Fukuoka. The castle ruins from the 16th century could have been a possibility but they just didn‘t that exciting and they were pretty close. I wanted to do some cycling to test the bike and see how I get on with my make-shift gear leaver or whether I would have to go a bit more inventive on this. I searched the map for something interesting and far away enough to warrant a few hours of cycling. Eventually I stumbled upon Uminonakamichi Sea Park, in a half-Island directly opposite the city. It was a good hour and a half cycle or 22km, a decent 3h there and back! But as 3h journey would only keep me occupied for a bit, I decided to visit a few of the local shrines and temples as they looked pretty stunning.
On my way into town I felt pretty excited about the warm day ahead that I foolishly left the hotel in T-shirts and my cycling shorts. After about 5min I regretted this decision but pushed on, hoping it wasn’t Oulu eventually get warmer than the 13C that it was now. I was also on the lookout for some breakfast when I stumbled upon a small restaurant on my way to Hakodate main station. The place was small but busy, always a good sign. I tried to figure out what to do, so I sat down hoping to find a menu. A waitress came to me pointing me to a machine next to the door where I can see the English Menu and place my order, resulting in a small receipt, one for me and one for the waitress who then came to my table to pick up my order. Pretty neat I thought. The menu was pretty huge and not very expensive at all. I had a typical Japanese breakfast with rice, miso soup, fish, tofu, side salad and some tea. As I was longing for some more vegetables in my diet I went for another side salad. By the time my food arrived I was pretty hungry but when I saw the portion I was immediately regretting my second side salad. How was I gonna eat all that?
Eventually, breakfast behind me, I searched for the nearest Starbucks for some sitting down and blog-writing time. I takes about 1.5h to write one day’s worth of blog, using an iPad, without external keyboard. This took some getting used to but still far superior than using my phone, which is too cumbersome and takes event longer to write and especially trying to include any media/ photos is super annoying with this interface. Still a huge improvement to 2018, when I couldn’t even write natively on Blogger but had to use a third party interface and my notes for writing. I ordered my coffee, which is always such an experience and follows the same script: Decaf Mocha, Tall size, Cuppu (a mug and not throwaway cup), hotto (as opposed to iced), creme nashi (no whipped creme), onegaishimasu (a polite form to request something, similar to our please). 2 cups of decaf mocha later, day 4 was uploaded and I was ready to go to the first shrine.
Kushida shrine is about 10-15min walk from the station and with the sun blasting, I thought it’s time to get my good mood sunglasses out. The moment I put them on the surroundings transformed into an uplifting yellowish glow! With some electronic music blasting from my headphones, I reached the shrine in no time. It was a magnificent shrine, established 757 AD and worshipped by locals as “Kushida-sama” prominent for bestow business prosperity and youth to worshippers. Starting in 1241, the Hakata Gion Yamakasa Festival is one of the most famous processions in the city, lasting for 15 days starting 1st of July. There is also a well located on the temple grounds is supposed to bring youth and long life and worshippers are encouraged to drink 3 sips from it, the first for youth and long life, the second for the family and the third for blood relatives - no wonder the shrine was well frequented, even on a Monday! Who wouldn’t want to be live long and be youthful. On the temple grounds is also a 1,0000-year old sacred tree known as Kushida-no-Ginan, also symbolising long life. I used one of the prayer slogan boxes, available in many languages from Japanese, Chinese, Korean and English - not quite knowing what to expect. For the small donation of ¥100 a worthwhile investment - I got “Number 7 - Lucky - Like and Eagle entering the mountains”, cautioning me to be humble to receive good fortune. It also said that a “lost article will be difficult to find or will be found late”….hmmm…
The second place of worship I visited was Tocho-ji Temple, with the country’s largest wooden Buddha statue with a height of over 10m weighing 30 tonnes. Sadly, it’s only open for display once a month (and today wasn’t the day). Regardless, the temple grounds were spectacular, with carefully pruned trees and shrubs and a magnificent pagoda. The temple was built in 806 by the monk Kukai as the head of the Shingon sect in Kyushu. I strolled around the temple grounds, alongside local and foreign visitors and worshippers. The pagoda stood tall, glistening in the sunshine still more magnificent I think, thanks to my tinted glasses :)
From there I made my way back to the hotel to get my bike. By now the temperature was around 20C and I felt really happy with this first day of sightseeing and cycling being blessed by such good weather! I packed my bags for the journey, refilled my water from the lobby and headed out towards to city centre and then to the half-island to get to the park. I have never used a phone case on my bike, usually carrying my phone in my pocket. But as the phone gets warm over time, using GPS, I wanted to try having it attached to my handlebar in a waterproof case. This proved very fiddly and annoying as leaving the screen on all the time drains the battery but listening to the GPS instructions was at best indicative, at worst a nightmare as it sent me on roundabout ways just because it couldn’t figure out whether I was on a road, sidewalk or just being slow to update itself. In the city this is much worse than on country lanes as there is an endless choice of routes it can suggest. I’m 2018 there wasn’t a bicycle option but now there was, so I used it. The number of times I had to stop and get the phone off out, look at the map again before continuing was staggering and eventually I just listened to my intuition and followed what I believed was a sensible direction. Using main roads and “cycle lanes” was the way to go, even though I always feel that whoever was or is in charge of Japan’s cycling lanes is either a motorist, pedestrian or both or maybe just someone who doesn’t like cyclists. Often cyclists and pedestrians have to share the same paths without indication which one is which, pedestrian pathways are often more smooth vs the bumpy, uneven ones for cyclists and then there is the obstacles…from pillars to other obstructions, to raised curbs and paths that just come to a stop without any warning. This makes me use regular roads much more as I just cannot be bothered with such a terrible cycling experience that can shake you up or just get you really frustrated. There seem to be some improvements to many years ago, with Fukuoka having one dedicated cycle lane that I could spot that was carved out from a main road, vs being a pedestrian walkway.
Eventually I got to the park after a few more GPS-infused detours. The park was ideal for cycling, where you could either use your own, or borrow one from the many cycle rental places dotted around the park. What attracted me to this sight was that it was meant to be a beautiful park with a number of flower arrangements across the year. I’ve just missed “hanami”, the traditional Japanese custom of enjoying the transient beauty of flowers, in most cases referring to cherry and in some cases also plum blossoms. There were still a few around and they looked gorgeous but what stood out were the display of tulips and an unknown blue flower that was arranged into small fields. This felt a little bit like being in a cartoon movie or anime as the flowers provided a surreal backdrop. May people roamed around and took pictures. I hopped on and off my bike occasionally, stopping to see some of the sights in the park, for which you weren’t allowed to bring your bike in. My lunch consisted of a well-earned bottle of water. Not any kind of water but Pocari Sweat. I discovered it in 2018 and I don’t know what it is or what it does but it always makes me feel good and provides quick energy. I’m assuming it’s an isotonic sports drink and probably not good for you in large quantities, but a 250ml bottle couldn’t do any harm :)
After an hour or so I left the park and was looking for an onset or hot spring in town to soak myself and restore. Y aching muscles. This was the longest bike ride I had done years. And no, I did not prepare for this trip in any way, assuming that I will “get fit” on the go. A strategy that has not failed me since. Sadly the main hot spring was closed until Thursday and so I had to go with a local sento (public bath), which was described on google as “one bath tub” bath. I could pretty much imagine what that meant, very local, very small but definitely all that is needed for me.
As I cycled I was getting hungry as breakfast and pocari sweat had vanished er and were used up for cycling energy. I also longed for fruits and veg as I hadn’t eaten much of them. After another 20min and just as I was heading back into Fukuoka main town I saw a tiny veg shop stall along the road on the other side and I immediately turned around and stopped. I saw some mange tout (sugar peas) and something that looked like oranges. The shopkeeper came out to greet me and we exchanged a few words as he was curious what I was Japan and where I was going. I explained that I’m cycling around Kyushu and that I was looking for some veggies. I enquired about the oranges but he said they’re not oranges but I also couldn’t figure out what they were, so I just bought the sweat peas, just a small bunch for ¥100. I headed to my backpack to get my wallet but a small panic gripped me as I couldn’t find it. Was the fortune scroll already working, me looking for my lost item. I remembered it said after some intense searching it can be found. As I was searching my many pockets from jacket to trouser to backpack, all kinds of thoughts went through my head, did I lose it in the park paying for stuff? Did it drop when I got back into the bike or fell out of my trouser? All possibilities but all of them also involved going back to the park or calling them. I already imagined asking the shopkeep but, alas, eventually I found it in a pocket I don’t normally use that had some other stuff in it too. Phew…
Whilst I was fumbling for my wallet, the shopkeep went back into the shop and brought me some hot sweat potatoes as a snack (which I immediately ate), a bottle of water before eventually also wrapping up one of the oranges! That was so heartwarming and kind! We chatted a bit longer before I was on my way again. A few hundred metres was another, 10x larger veg shop and I stopped again, this time to buy some deliciously looking strawberries for ¥450, not too bad ha fruit in Japan.
Now it was time to find a hot bath (Sento). It was conveniently located just off the road my hotel was on and as I stopped there, I was proven right. It was tiny, local and perfect! I locked my bike and went inside, shows into the locker and through the entrance for men. A half-blind grandpa asked me for ¥300, which also included sauna and a fresh towel! Yes, that’s all I needed. My bum had started to hurt already as I haven’t cycled so much in one go, by now 4h in the saddle with a relatively heavy backpack and less than optimal cycling trousers with very thin padding. I soaked for a bit, hot and cold bath, sauna and cold bath again before heading out. I weigh around 84kg at the moment, something that will most likely change over the coming weeks, or not.
I headed back to the hotel and it was around 6.30. I was exhausted, tired and happy. I ate the remaining strawberries which felt like such a treat, alongside the mange tout and the orange, that was much more like a grapefruit. This all made me feel full and sleepy. I wanted to go out into town but eventually decided against it, I was too exhausted. I think I fell asleep around 9pm, knowing that I will be awake in the middle of the night again… before sleeping, I researched my route for tomorrow, finally heading out into the countryside and away from the busy-ness of the city. I found some amazing camp sites more hot spring and various restaurants dotted across the road. The journey continues!
…with a poem:
As I will soon be gone,
let me take one last memory
of this world with me—
May I see you once more,
may I see you now?
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