I slept like a baby. The people in the house opposite my camp kept an eye on me, but they did nothing but watch. Around 5 am an elderly couple was working by the house close to me. It's not because it's cooler at all in the morning. The heat is the same around the clock. You can "touch" the heat as if it was in a green house. The clothes do not dry at all. It's worst, when you step out of a shop with air condition.

The morning went with riding the peninsula Atsumi Hanto. I thought I'd be through in no time, but actually I rode there for 64 km. The heat was unbelievable, and I was a bit worried, but with plenty of liquids I managed.At the ferry harbour a religious ceremony was going on. It was a serious matter, but it seemed a bit funny.

On board I got into a saloon with air condition, so I was almost sorry when the trip was over. That made me feel better, so now I headed north.The first part was quiet enough. (Everything here seems to be about traffic). But the big cities, Matsusate and Tsu spoiled that picture completely. In Tsu it went on via 165 Route in the country again, where I again will find some mountains. One can only hope that it will restrain the traffic a bit, but that is not likely.
I have been here for about a week now, and I presume that the month I have left is too long time. But let´s see what's happening at Tetsu's and Takeo's places. I had a talk with Tetsu today and we agreed that I should call tomorrow Saturday around 12 o´clock. Let´s wait and see. Apart from that, I have planned to park my stuff in my new friend´s home in Tomisato, and then go to Tokyo by train. But as I said before, let´s wait and see. I found a camp site just outside Hisai at the foothills. There was a small elevation close to a rice field. It's peaceful and quiet here apart from the fact that an excavator is running 500 m from here. But that's going to stop sooner or later. But you never know. They are really working here.

I have noticed 3 things: 1) The traffic is running no matter what during the night. 2) There are service on all the gas stations, og and they give you service all rigth. I need a photo of that. 3) There are constantly people working in the ditches, cutting grass with a kind of special wheel. That work must really be terrible.. and then there are all these bent grannies, who probably got their shapes from working in the rice fields.The students are very easy to spot in their hats/helmets uniforms. They are so sweet.

The excavators stopped all right already around 7 pm. And then nothing else happened that night. I was at the foothills, and there were a lot of nasty climbs, but one was worse than the others. I think I went uphill for more than 7-8 km and again I had to dismount to breathe.

At 10 o'clock I called Tetsu and said that I would be in Kanmaki around noon. But I did not make it. In a city in an intersection I was stopped by a man who asked me if I would like to have lunch with himself and his family.I was a bit surprised, and asked him why. Well, he was interested in bicycle riding. He jumped into his car, and I followed him for about half a mile. First of all I was offered a shower and borrowed some clothes from him.And then it was time to sit cross-legged around the small table. I said hello to his 20 year old daughter and his wife. Their English was not bad at all.
They served up with a lot of delicious things and the party ended with a little Sushi.It was very nice but I had to regret to them, that I had not met them the day before. We took some photoes, exchanged addresses etc. The man followed me to the way I was to follow and waved good bye.

I did not know how to find Kanmaki Town, but I approached the place where it should be. Suddenly I was overtaken by a car which stopped. It turned out to be Tetsu and the family, who could not understand why I didn't turn up. Tetsu unpacked an old Mountain bike from the car and made ready to follow me the last part of the way. We arrived at their very nice house, which was situated in a neighbourhood with a lot of bungalows. I was shown around in the nice house which was nice but unlike Danish houses. I had a bath and changed my clothes and had my dirty clothes put in their washing machine. I was shown my room with special Japanese mattresses on the floor.
Around bed time futon mattresses were folded out on the floor, and I had a wonderful night's sleep. We had dinner, which consisted of different things. They had mercy with me and provided me with a fork. It's a very nice family.The wife does not talk very much English. There is a boy who is 5 and a girl who is 8. They are quite sweet and very interested in my visiting the family. I sent a couple of e-mails and went to bed around 10 pm.

I got up a little before 8 am and had breakfast with the family. I had agreed with Tetsu upon going to Nara on a bicycle trip. Tetsu thought the distance was 14 km. We left around 9 am and we rode very slowly. We scrolled away on paths and pavements. Tetsu was not quite sure about which way to go. He had brought a map, but nevertheless he had to ask his way a couple of times, before we came to Nara, which had a very exciting main street. Tetsu thought we were hungry and suggested that we had lunch somewhere. After a while we found a Chinese restaurant (without Chinese people). We ordered a menu with various small dishes, which tasted very good. To go with the food we had an enormous beer, I believe it was about 1 liter. While Tetsu went to the rest room, I quicly paid the bill (around 4.500 Yen). I think he appreciated that.
We went to a Buddhistic temple, where I also paid for the tickets (2 X 1000 Yen). Of course I spent quite a lot of money today but it's the first time at all, I have done things in style. Liquids are a must. We went up to the Nara park, which was crowded with tourists and school classes, which are very easy to spot in their school uniforms, and dear me, were they disciplined.
The most funny thing in Nara park were the numerous Sika-deer , which were to be found all over the place. They were quite tame.We also saw a temple with an impressive Statue of Buddha in bronze. Now the day was almost gone, and it was about time to leave. It turned out that the trip was 26 km and we had to make a few stops to drink because of the intense heat. Back home we started pouring down the characteristic ice tea. That is the drink they like best.
The lady of the house is constantly busy in her small kitchen. In fact she is always busy.The first day I was there the little boy had a parcel with a train from his grand father. He has an impressive collection of cars. We all got tired early, so I decided to go to sleep already around 9 pm. Again I slept very well.

I woke up around 6 with a slight headache, which I killed with a couple of pills. The lady of the house was to leave around 7, and was very well dressed, because she was going to teach a class Windows 95. I started making preparations for the departure and said good bye to Tetsu and the children at 7.30.
It was okay to be alone again.

After I while I found the road to Osaka and set off. This area between Osaka and Kyoto is called the "Kinki area", and it is not only a city, it is a huge city. But I believe I have grown accustomed to this traffic-hell, because I thought I had seen worse. At last I saw signs with Hirakata, and after 50 km I was there. The way into the city is a very beautiful park area, which might be useful to me later on. I had called Takeo, and we had agreed upon meeting at 7 o'clock. He could not make it earlier, because he had to take his wife to the doctor.
I drove up and down in the city and found the station, from where I walked on. A little later I went into a photo-shop, where I had decided to ask for the way to Takeo's house. In the shop they got very excited, and all of a sudden the Photo shop keeper grabbed his mobile phone and called Takeo.
That was not what I had planned, and I had to tell Takeo it had happened by accident. Now I decided to get my slide film developed. They could have it ready Tuesday at 6 p.m. Now I had to find Yamanove, where Takeo lives.

I had great difficulties in explaining what it was I wanted. Partly because they did not speak much English, and partly because it was quite a distance from there. The PhotoShop keeper got hold of his little motorbike and offered to ride in front of me to the address. And off we went. Sometimes he parked me and went out on his own to reconnoitre. At last he thought we were at 1-23-1, and I noticed where I was and rode on to a more crowded neighbourhood. In fact I have to spend 5 hours, and if you wait long enough you can become king of Sweden. At the moment it's 4:58 p.m. and I suppose I'll be able to manage these last hours as well. I am sitting on one of the the few benches which can be found around here. A huge American Negro just asked his way to a supermarket and a lady asked me if I needed any help. Apart from that the most dramatic incident has been that one of my pens melted in the heat, and that's why my fingers are all blue at the moment. I plan to stay at Takeo's place tonight, and I suppose I shall be leaving already tomorrow morning. They have their jobs to take care of. Then I intend to camp by the river for a day or two. Now at 5:04 p.m. the temperature has dropped to 25-26 degr., so it's tolerable again. Now it's 6:04 and I believe I have found the house, where Takeo lives. In the meantime I have experienced my first traffic accident in japan. It happened at the main street, where a car tried to get out from a parking lot, but crashed into another car. Noone got hurt. On my way up from the city, I was sure about where I was going. Nevertheless I succeeded in loosing my sense of locality. I asked a young man who was working outside a house. He was extremely helpful and ran up to his car to get a map. After a lot of bowing we parted and very easily I found the house where I think Takeo lives. When I wanted to go for a little ride for an hour or so I discovered that the young man had followed me in his care to make sure that I was able to fin the right place. We went on for a new round of bowing, when we were sure that the house in question was found. Now it was 6:11. Itv is a good thing to be forced to take it a bit easy. Normally things are too hectic. Tuesday 8:30 a.m. Well, I ended up in a McDonald Restaurant again. With hot coffee and air condition.

Things went very well at Takeo's. I was sitting and waiting a little distance from his house, when he happened to pass by. A small, agile man who was in control of everything. When I came into his house I was presented to his mother in law who turned out to be a very nice elderly lady. Later in the evening she wanted me to guess how old she was. I refused. The she told me she was 73 years old. Takeo's wife had gone to see the doctor. She had broken her ankle about 14 days ago and was still not able to walk very well. Takeo wanted me to go and se the mother in law's "farm", which proved to be a garden with all sorts of vegetables. She was very proud, when I took a photo of her in the middle of the paradise. Later on the son and Takeo's wife returned. Very nice person who only spoke a little English. Takeo's English is excellent. He showed me the rouse and he also showed me where I was going to sleep at night, a room with air condition. Now he wanted to show me his latest purchase, a special Japanese bath, where you first of all take a shower and then you dive into boiling hot recycled water. When you have finished you put a "lid" over the bath, so it´s ready again. Very distinguished and very advanced and Takeo could not help telling me that it had cost more than 4.000.000 Yen.
In the living room there was a group with sofas, but when we were going to eat we had to get down on the floor. They had bought an enormous dish of Sushi, and first of all they showed me how to sit cross legged. That was very difficult to me and I almost got convulsions, whereas the old mother in law and the wife with the broken legs managed without problems at all. I also started out with chopsticks, but they found that a bit too miserable so they provided me with a fork. I sat next to the son, who made sure that I tried it all. To go with the food Takeo and I had a beer, while the others drank tea. The food was wonderful, but you have to get used to these things. For dessert we had an enormous melon which Takeo cut into pieces, as if it had been a turkey on Thanksgiving.
In the living room he also had a huge TV set. On the whole all sorts of modern things was to be found in his house. We kept talking until 10 p.m. whereupon I went to sleep in a nice chilly room. Of course on a Futon Mattress where you sleep wonderfully. We talked a little about what was going to happen the next day, but Takeo was out of the house until 10 p.m. so we agreed that I was going to leave early next morning.

I had been told that Takeo wanted to get up at 7 o'clock, but at 6:15 he called out that breakfast was ready. It turned out to be a false alarm. He had misjudged his watch. But then I had the opportunity to get another visit in his impressive bathing milieu. When I came back breakfast was ready in the kitchen. I was happy that I was not going down on the floor again. It was a well laid breakfast table. There were melons and different sort of vegetables and fruit. Toast too. We had milk with prunes and real coffee, believe it or not. We sat talking until 7:35 where I started making ready, because Takeo was going to his work at 8 o'clock; so I picked up my things and finally took a family snapshot outside the house. The weather forecast was normal, sunshine and around 33-34 degrees C. My first plan is to go down to the river, where I plan to sleep tonight. At 6 o'clock p.p. I am going to pick up my slides, but I intend to be there an hour earlier. Then tomorrow morning I am going north along the coast, which I plan to follow.

When I met Takeo yesterday I was drinking out of a can. I got so surprised when I met him that I placed that half empty can in my handlebar bag. That turned out to be a very serious mistake, because later on I forgot I had placed it there. The result? Oh yes. The contents were all over my bag. Shit happens.

After my departure I went into a McDonald's restaurant to get some coffee. It was a somewhat unusual day. Actually I had nothing special to do until I had to get the pictures at 6 o'clock. First I went to the park by the river. There were only a few people there. Very quickly I made sure that it was the place where I was going to sleep the following night. Then I rode up and down in the city. I met a "Truck guard" who told me, that he had to stand there all day in 35 degr. and wave the trucks to the right as they passed by. What a lousy job!

I found a place Downtown where I sat for a while looking at people. Very carefully they have made sure that there are practically no tables or benches anywhere. It's the same thing along the roads. I bought a coke for my new "guard-friend". He was very pleased when he got it. At a certain point at 4 o'clock I happened to pass the photo shop and luckily I found out that the slides were ready. And they are very nice pictures too. Then all I had left to do was to buy a few things and make ready for the night. I had planned to put up the tent just before it grew dark, but I had to pull my green piece of cloth over me to protect myself from the mosquitoes. Quite a few people passed by with there dogs or just walking, but they didn't say a word. The first part of the night I was disturbed by fireworks. I was not able to find out who was shooting or where it came from and it stopped later on. And I fell asleep at once.

I used the facilities in the park for my morning tidying up; it was really a beautiful park. The I rode out of Hirakata, which I by now knew so well. I rode against Biwako Lake a little east of Kyoto. The first part was easy enough. Then I hit a bicycle road along the river. But suddenly it was clear to me that I in fact was riding back towards Hirakata again. Then I got the idea to ride a little on the backside of Uji Tawora and the up to Otsu, which is situated by the lake. The last part to Otsu went along with rolling hills along the Sela-Gawa river, and it was an extremely beautiful road. There was even a touch of a little bit cooler air. But apart from that the day was humid hot, like all the other days. The smallest hill makes the perspiration come along and one has got to drink constantly. I have just figured out, that in cash I have got 4000 Yen for each day which I have left. With the use of liquids I have got it's essential that I do not spend money on accommodation. I pass 2 or 3 hostels on my way from Otsu and further north. But it is a wise thing to use the money on soft drinks. Here in Otsu I have ridden about 60 km. and I plan to reach 100 - 120 km today. From Otsu I went up north along the Biwako Lake. A very nice place, but again a lot of cars. It was a day without too much excitement, well, even a bit boring. It seems that I have got too little to ride for now I have conquered Mt. Fuji and have visited my friends. I started looking for a camp around 4 o'clock. First I went down to the coast, but this area proved to be a fashionable place for summer bungalows where it was impossible for me to find a place to camp. But after a while I found a park area, where I decided to camp. I spent a couple of hours looking out across the water , before I put up my tent. it was necessary to put it up on a sloping lawn. I thought that would be ok, but wit turned out to be rather unpleasant. All the time I could here the splashing of the waves, it was very nice. Because of the mosquitoes I had to close my gauze opening a little and it grew very hot in the tent. The only cooling thing this night was when the trucks sent a weak blow of air down to me as they passed. However I fell asleep at last and slept very well, even with a lot of pleasant dreams.

It was more than 29 degrees, when I left a little after 6. I have nothing special to ride for, so I take it easy. I noticed before the departure, that my bicycle shorts were more or less becoming unstitched. I doubt that they can last the rest of the trip. Yesterday I got problems with my left shoe. A screw had fallen off, but I tried to tighten the two remaining screws. But in the middle of the city Tsuraga another screw came off, so I cannot use the shoes any longer. From now on I shall have to ride in my sandals. Before that I had another annoying stroke of bad luck. For the second time on the trip a spoke broke in the difficult side of the rear wheel. It happened right before I entered an area with mountains. I have now 4 spokes left. All these occurrences are very irritating. If it was possible I would have liked to shorten the trip with a week. Today I experienced just after that I had left Biwako lake a stretch which was not filled with cars. NowI can say I have tried that as well. It's a bit cloudy today here towards noon, where I am sitting at McDonald's with some very loud speaking kids. The temperature today has not been that bad. Perhaps a little rain will come later on. But today was supposed to be the end of the rainy season. "Maybe" as they say. Today I plan to ride about 100 km and then find a beautiful spot to camp.

Dear me. In the bathroom at McDonald's I discovered that my trousers not only had loose stitches. There was an enormous hole on the back side. Farewell to those trousers. Fortunately I was in a big city, Tsuruga and soon I found a shop with a sports department, where I found a pair of shorts I could use. They seem somewhat narrow around the waist, but I am sure they are ok. For the first time on the trip I could use my Visa card. To get to the coast area I first had to pass a small area with mountains. There were a lot of tunnels there and very much road construction. The various queues were guided through as a convoy, but they forgot about me. The safety guards didn't quite know what to do, but finally I was allowed to pass. Amazingly the coast road was quite peaceful. In fact there was no traffic at all. Very strange. A little while before Echizen I found a small parking lot, which was perfect for me. There was a water fall and a magnificent view across the Japanese Ocean. There Iisettled down and just before it grew dark, I put up the tent in the most wonderful green grass.