Just a quick email as I don't have any photos yet, and am feeling a little tired after 20 or so hours of travelling.
I am in Hokkaido, and staying with Warmshowers (www.warmshowers.com) hosts Kenichi and Katsumi (and the gorgeous 5 year old).
Kenichi was kind enough to pick me up from Sapporo-Shin station during his lunch-break and drop me off at his home before returning to work for the afternoon. I have spent the afternoon hanging out with Ketsumi and daughter, reconstituting my bike and packing all my gear into panniers (it all fits. Yessss!).
The Qantas baggage handlers were pretty rough with my bike bag and it turned up at Narita (Tokyo) airport with a tear in the fabric and multiple abrasions, which was a bit annoying. Most worryingly of all, I discovered while attempting to put my rear wheel on that the skewer had been bent while in transit (even with fork-blocks in!). Luckily I have a spare, but it could have been a real pain without!
Most wierd-Japanese thing I have encountered was the toilets are Narita airport: there was an option of sitting and squatting and, after choosing sitting I was confronted with a pretty complicated toilet - complete with *ahem* paper-free option and a button which would emit "soothing water sounds" to mask "toilet sounds". It was a little over the top!
Photos to come soon, I promise!
-Vanessa
They must have put your bike to the bottom. I'm impressed you had a spare skewer! And it sounds like you got away without damage to rear derailleur/derailleur hanger! Which I would have thought would give way first.
ReplyDeleteWill there be photos of the toilet too?
Oh no! The bane of every cycle tour: Will my bike still be functional when I get there? So glad that it was easily fixed.
ReplyDeleteBet that you are looking forward to starting the cycling now and exploring Japan!
Take care of yourself,
Elisha.