Koriyama to Fukushima - On the way to Fukushima met a fellow tourer so had been cycling around asia since 2009 after he quit his in vietnam. AT first it was wonderful to chat with him but he started talking about how he in camps in shrines and peoples gardens,his family and his sisters cancer which I did not like, so I said goodbye to him at the station and made my way to some of the local temples.
Fukushima to Sendai - I decided to stay another day in Sendai which I do regret as almost the hotels in the city were full since it was the weekend and the the school hoildays had just started. In the end I had to pay 19600 yen for double room which was all they had left. Although this wasn not too bad as the hotel was the tallest in the area and I was on one of top floors so I got a brilliant view of the city.
Sendai to Osaki - PUNCTURE AGAIN! ahhhh i hate them! and I could not find the puncture or what made it so I decided to replace the inner tube and hope whatever made the puncture had already come out.
Osaki to Ichinoseki -nothing much
Ichinseki to Kitakami - nothing much
Kitakami to Morioka - Upon arrival at Morioka I find out that there is a festival tommorow which is one of largest in Japan containing of 10000 drummers and thousands for dancers. The descion I had to make at that point was clear and I stayed another night (it was wierd that they still had free rooms though). Went exloring around the city during the day and at 3:30pm I made my way to the road were the oarade will take place at 6pm and got a front row seat! Loved seeing the dancers up close and at the end of the festival you get to join them in the festival but I was tired so I only observed.
Morioka to Aomori - So I cheated here and got on the Shinkansen to Aomori....I did this since it would take me several days to get to Aomori which would mean missing some of the best parts of the festival. Also since this is a major festivals most of the hotels in the region are full so I would struggle to find a hotel for several stays.
To recuperate the costs from riding the Shinkansen I willl not be staying anywhere overnight at Aomori and shall go straight to the ferry to Hakodate. The Shinkansen I would be travelling on would be the Hayate a E2 series train that has a maximum speed of 275km/h. Loved this train! had plently of leg room and their was a large amount of space between the seat to place my bicycle ( in a bicycle bag).
The festival in AOmori was brilliant! I bought a yukata so I could join in the festival but I totally failed putting it on correctly and had to go back to the store and ask for help
Aomori to Hakodate - So after the festival ended I made my way to the ferry terminal were I had to wait 3hrs for the next ferry which departed at 2:40am. The ferry itself was very dissapointing all it had was several large lounges and a small resturant which only contained a few seats and some vending machines. But I did manage to sleep for most of the 4hr jounrey to Hakodate.
The ferry arived slightly late at 7am which was not a big deal since I had 8hrs till I would be able to check into a hotel.Soon upon arrival at Hakodate I find out their is also a festival here for a few days but I was tired, my legs were breaking and the festival did not look as grand as the previous two so I decided to spent the day inn the hotel.
Hi Nelson,
ReplyDeleteGreat trip and nice report !
You're still planning on riding back from Hokkaido to Fukuoka ?