Tunneling to Shizuoka!

Cycled 92.37km today... This is the last of the long routes! I'm currently about 200km away from Tokyo... This will be divided into 4 legs, an average of 50km each! So will only set off at 11am tml... When I reached my hotel at Shizuoka, they actually refused to let me check-in at 2pm! So I did a bit of city exploration on bicycle... The route to Shizuoka crosses many low mountains, resulting in a ride through many tunnels... A total of 13!

Breakfast at Hamamatsu Sago Terminal Hotel...

The first of the 13 tunnels...

Tea plantation in Shizuoka... Shizuoka is the tea capital of Japan... This type of tea plantation dots my route to Shizuoka City...

The longest tunnel for the day... 1360m long... And curved... Couldn't see the end of the tunnel where I entered...

This is where Japan trains its earthquake before unleashing them! Or at least that's what I deduce from the signboard...

Got stopped by the police about 20km from Shizuoka City... They asked for my licence... I looked at them and asked 'Jitensha licence?'... They looked at me again and asked 'Overstay?'... 'Oh! passport!' and shown them my passport... They browse through it... I did the 'smile... bow... and look stupid' thing... Then the police told me not to cycle on the road... So I promptly waited for them to disappear before continuing on my way... On the road!

Sunpu Castle of Shizuoka City... Or whatever is left of that castle...

The Shizuoka Sengen Shrine! Another Shinto Shrine... Visited this shrine to give thanks and wish again for a safe trip...

Nothing like a hot bowl of raman after a day of riding...

Had this 30 minutes later... Was that hungry! Cha-soba! Chewy noodles...

Visited the food alley of another supermarket and brought this gigantic chicken drumstick...

And brought mochi too! This 1 taste like what we have in Singapore...

Currently estimated the route to Fuji-shi at a mere 35km... Thus will only leave the hotel at 11am... Don't want to reach too early and get refusal for check in again...

Hamamatsu in Pictures!

Victoria Hotel Shizuoka is an old, pretty run down hotel... But at least they have a laptop! So here are some photos of Hamamatsu from yesterday and today... First 2 photo are from today... The rest are yesterday's...

ACT Tower! The only skyscrapper in Hamamatsu...

Hamamatsu Castle... Can you see it hidding behind the trees?

My 'Safe Travel' amulet from Atsuta Shrine.

The Pacific Ocean! After climbing yet another hill... The downhill leads to the beach... And a grand view of the ocean!

A Torii in the middle of Lake Hamana... Ok not exactly the middle...

Search for food in the food alley of MayOne department store...

Brought sushi!

Yakitori!

Unagi!

Chocolate cream puff...

And pudding!

My bicycle suffering in the cold windy city of Hamamatsu... Chained to a railing at the back of Sago Terminal Hotel...

City of Music!

Arrived in Hamamatsu after 111.75km of cycling... Very bad estimation of the distance from the previous day resulted in me getting less sleep then I could! Set off at 7.30am and reached hotel at 3.30pm (keep stopping to take photos of the beach... the Pacific Ocean and a Torii in the middle of Laka Hamana!)... Could have reached the hotel earlier, but...

No photos for today... Because this hotel blocked the USB port!

Fell asleep while cycling along the long straight road of national route 1 leading to Hamamatsu... After the scare... Drank some coffee for caffaine power! And sing songs the rest of the way to the city...

Hamamatsu is known as the city of Music and Motorcycle... Honda motor, Yamaha and Suzuki are all started here... Finding the hotel this time was easy... The hotel is just next to ACT city, the only skyscrapper in the whole of Hamamatsu, was able to see it from 20km away... Now that's what I call a landmark!

Started looking for unagi after reaching the hotel... Restaurants all sell Unagi for 2000++yen... Finally went to the food alley of a supermarket where I brought the unagi from Hamana lake for 1200yen... Also brought sushi, yakitori, chocolate cream puff and pudding... Too bad can't upload photos...

Will be cycling to Shizuoka tml... Another little city... About 80km away from my current location... Have not fixed the slow leak on my rear wheel yet... Too lazy... The slow leak proved to be really slow! Able to last cycling distance of 100km++ and only deflating through the night... So I can't be bothered... Just need to pump it up every morning...

Painful Shave...

The harsh truth is... Shaving when your skin is dried is painful...

Woke up this morning just in time to miss the free breakfast service by the hotel... Decided to watch some TV... Watched this really weird variety show on the 30 person 31 legs race! An extreme version of the 3 leg race... With primary school children from all over Japan representing their school and racing on TV! You should see them cry when they lose the race... Heartbreaking...

Visited the Atsuta Shrine first thing in the morning... It is the second most venerable shrine in Japan... Prayed for no rain again (no snow too please!)... And brought a "Safe Travel" amulet from the amulet store...

Dropped by Nagoya Castle next... Compared to Osaka Castle, it is much less tourist-friendly... Like Osaka Castle, it is burnt to nothingness and rebuilt after World War 2... It was also the victim of a Godzilla attack in the movie "Mothra Vs. Godzilla"...

Ｎｅｘｔ　ｄｒｏｐｐｅｄ　ｂｙ　ｔｈｅ　Ｔｏｙｏｔａ　Ｃｏｍｍｅｍoｒａｔｉｖｅ　Museum of Industry and Technology... Learned the story of how Toyota Group started from making looming machine (Type G looming machine above!) to being one of the biggest automobile manufacturer in the world!

The Type AA of Toyota... Toyota's first production car...

With nothing better to do... Went to the Nagoya City Science Museum... Watch young kids having their heads blew off in the wind tunnel...

Lunch outside Osu-Kannon market... BBqed fish set meal... 650 yen...

The Osu-Kannon market... Shopping arcade full of everything... Too bad I'm no shopaholic... I know of some females who will have problem leaving this area after entering...

Had some bbqed meat... Are these yakiniku or kushiyaki? Burnt and hot! But this is good... Pork with thick layer of fat! Wonderful...

And steak on stick! Japanese beef! Comes in medium doneness... Delicious...

Misonikomi udon... Another Nagoya speciality food... Don't like it at all! The miso soup tasted burnt... The udon is super firm! I think it's meant to be that way... But I don't like it... Still I finished it all up... Because it costed me 1050yen!!!

Will be making my way to Hamamatsu tml... I estimate it to be at least 140km away... Will be setting off at 7.30... Hope to reach by 4... Tml is the start of the New Year holidays... Most resturant, shops and sightseeing spots will be closed for the holidays... Hope I can still get a meal of unagi... Heard that's what good there... If all else fails... There is still 7-11 (Or Family Mart... Or Lawson... Or...)...

Morning Panic! Evening Joy...

Reached my hotel in Nagoya at 4pm, later then the expected time of 3pm... But I got reason! Anyway cycled a total of 73km today... A relatively short and flat trip... Very heavy traffic with lots of trucks...

Was scheduled to start off for Nagoya from 0900hrs... Only to find that my rear tire is punctured and 1 screw for my pannier rack is gone! Had a scare... And started trying to change the inner tube... Only to discover that I have forgotten to pack tire levers! Figuring it's only a slow leak... Pumped up the tire and decided to go ahead even with the screw missing... Brought tire levers from a shop later... It was good that my tire went flat (from a slow leak...)... Showed me that I have not packed enough tools and reminded me to get them! If it's a big hole and not a slow leak... I would be quite doomed without tire levers...

About 10km later... I remembered that the screw for the bottle cage is the same size as the pannier rack, so I removed it and used it where it's more important (anyway the bottle cage got bent in transit)...

Felt really hungry about halfway through the journey... Stopped at a roadside Yoshinoya to have gyudon with the truckers... Thousands of truckers pile the road of Japan... They prove to be the greatest threat to my safetly, but most of them are polite... honking me once to inform me and then overtaking me... First time I enjoyed Yoshinoya... The few times I tried it in Singapore... I never finish the food... I mean... Look at that oily fat piece of beef! Look! Look! I like my lipids...

Nagoya TV tower, as taken from the Aqua-Ship of Oasis 21... A shopping mall... The Aqua-Ship is a fountain about 4 stories of the floor... Quite a weird idea... Considering the pumps needed to pump so much water up!

Kishimen! This is a Nagoya speciality... Not really very special once you remember it's just flat udon...

Oasis 21 from the top of Nagoya TV tower... I love going up towers...

Misokatsu and tofu! The misokatsu is another Nagoya speciality... This 1 is great! Basically katsu (pork cutlet) with a layer of miso sauce... But the combination is wonderful... The tofu is plain... But shoyu gives everything flavor!

And here is the waitress from the Misokatsu store... She looks better in person... Really!

Will be spending my day exploring Nagoya tml... Non-cycling day... Will be visiting Nagoya Castle, Nagoya City Science Museum, Toyota Commemorative Museum of Industry and Technology an Osu Market... The Toyota Automobile Museum which I really really wanted to visit is closed for renovation... =/

Osaka-Tsu! Pictures!

Left Hotel Chuo at 7 in the morning... Good choice as I took almost 12 hours to reach my hotel in Tsu! That include time spent looking confused... Being confused... Eating and navigating...

Hope or despair? After 3 hours of cycling, this signboard tells me I:m still 83km away... Note the dark cloud and hills...

Noticed this package of white stuff all over the hill... Later the hotel staff told me it's salt to melt the snow!

Part 2 of my lunch... Roll sand and onigiri... Yes it's called roll sand!

Nice lady at the Pharmacy... Give me a hot-pack after I brought cough syrup from her...

See the white stuff? That's snow! It start snowing when I was in Nara... At the top of Aoyama hill (800m! Mt Faber can go to hell!) it was most intense... The snow melted upon reaching the ground... Temperature was around 1degree... Not cold or heavy enough for the snow to carpet the ground... But still I can claim to be one of the few Singaporean to cycle in snow!

The 335m tunnel at the top of Aoyama... This tunnel marks the end of my climb and the start of a 5km straight downhill! Ｉ have broken most Japanese traffic laws by now... Including the speed limit! (A mere 50km/hr) Without pedalling I could go pass 50km/hr already... But I maintain my speed at 40km/hr most of the way... At some part of my climb, I wanted to give up... But I constantly remind myself that at the end of every uphill is a downhill (Or you can look at it the other way... At the end of every downhill is a uphill!)... The 5km downhill... Worth it!

Udon with tempura for dinner... Nice! Or naybe I'm just hungry... After all hunger is the best condiment!

And I end it all with okonomiyaki!

1 thing I learnt so far... When in doubt... BOW! And then look really apologetic that you cannot speak japanese... Help will be offered after that...

Many thanks to the nice people of Tsu who stopped and help me navigate...