Japan |
Posted by dan
May
31
2009
After 3 days of riding and camping in Sado, I’ve headed back to the mainland to go along to my host Hikaru’s monthly Sake party. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but after a day of shopping and preparing food and having booze couriered in, about 10 people gathered in an orderly fashion in an old traditional Japanese house and spent 4 hours drinking, eating and chatting. A good night that kicked on until the wee hours at a couple of other places.
Today we’re off to explore an abandoned amusement park.
Plenty of photos from the last few days up on flickr. http://www.flickr.com/photos/monkeywithagun/
Japan |
Posted by dan
May
28
2009
After hanging out with Hikaru and his family on their rice farm, I took the ferry from Niigata to the island of Sado and I’ve been here these last few days. I got to play the token geigin at a wedding, met a cool group of guys at Plant Cafe and cycled the west and north coast in a day. This island is so beautiful and sleepy, riding a bike around is giving me a chance to soak in plenty of detail. Cars have been giving me plenty of room, there’s heaps of vending machines to sugar up and for a country obsessed with packaging and plastic bags, I’m surprised at how little rubbish there is along the side of the roads.
Japan |
Posted by dan
May
25
2009
I’ll pop something up about Tokyo tonight, but just quickly: Having a bike in one of the biggest cities in the world has completely changed what I thought of Tokyo. Back in 2005, Tokyo seemed like a big, claustrophobic, futuristic alien world that I found overwhelming. Now that I’m here with a bike and an old mate, Tokyo is a beautifully green city with plenty of space with an accessible and liveable atmosphere.
I’m currently staying with a family in a rural area about 40 minutes drive from Niigata. Plenty of hot springs and rice farms around us. Today we go to a brewery and an onsen. It should be a good day.
transit |
Posted by dan
May
22
2009
transit makes you go crazy
How do deaf people talk in the dark? Shit. Forgot to bring shampoo. Hope Justin remembers to take out the rubbish. That Malaysian air hostess uniform is hot. What are those things at the end of shoe laces called? Can pigs get human flu? Why is purple the colour for salt and vinegar chips? Why does this mushroom have the consistency over cooked squid?
So here’s where I’m going. I fly into Narita, catch the train to Tokyo, hang there for a day then take the train across to Niigata. From Niigata I start riding into the mountains, headed for the lake district in Fukushima then head south until I get to Tokyo. What happens along the way and which route I take is where the fun is at.
If you have any suggestions of which way to go or what to see, let me know.
I now have a better understanding of why people get into public art. Do something visibly different and out of context in an area where people don’t expect to see/hear/experience whatever you’re doing and Voilà! You’re an artist. Or in my case an urban camper. I walked around the corner from my house this morning to use the generous medium strip on Canning St to have a practise run pitching of the tent. You know, making sure I remembered how to set it up and checking if all the bits are all there and still work. My tent is quite small and when packed up is about the size of two loafs of bread placed end to end. I dropped the tent on the ground and immediately copped a suspicious look from a man unloading groceries from the back of his car across the street from me. As I started to unpack the different parts, two cyclists gawked at what I was doing, rubber necking to the point of almost crashing into a parked car. I take the pegs and poles out of their bags and find my first repair item: new pole elastic. Already you’re thinking this blog will be thrilling reading over the next month. I get all the poles together and start to put the outer shell up. It took a bit of pissing about and jogging of my memory to get things in the right place, but it started to look like a tent pretty quickly. All this time, Groceries Man had been surreptitiously watching me as he pretended to transfer things from one car boot to another. “I hope you’re not planning on sleeping there. It’s not allowed”. “No. I’m just testing it out before I go on a camping trip next week” “oh ok. Where are you going? Up to the river or the Grampians?” “Nah, I’m going to Japan. I’m taking a bike and a little trailer and touring through the mountains.” Mr Groceries pauses for a moment and returns with “you’re a loon. Good luck to you” and then drives off.
From this we will build a city
This tent is a bit different from other bigger ones I’ve used, as the outside waterproof shell goes up first, allowing you to take shelter while you put up the inner sleeping section and keep it dry at the same time. Once I had the outer shell up I got in to set up the inner section. As if on cue, a light shower starts to patter on the tent, reminding me the wet and cold night I spent at Merrideth music festival. I unfurl the sleeping section and velcro it to the corresponding velcro strips on the outer shell. I unzip the front flap, inspect the space that’ll be my bedroom on and off for a month and say to myself “home sweet home”. If anyone knows how to get rid of that farty cub scout fug that all tents seem to collect after a few uses, let me know.
home sweet home
When I poked my head out the front flap to begin taking the tent down, a cyclist cheekily greeted me with a loud “Good morning!”. As I started to dismantle things, I had about 6 different interactions with random people, ranging from friendly nods and g’days to disbelief at my assumed patronage of the tent the night before and the late hour at which I had supposedly decided to get out of my tent.
I’ll do a test bag pack and ride with the trailer tomorrow. Let’s see if I can resist the urge to take half my bedroom with me.
From 23 May until 16 June I’ll be biking, camping, couchsurfing and home staying across Japan.
Tune in soon for tales from the road.
