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Letter 20
Saturday 31.08.13 98 km
This hostel Marinoki is the casual style, as most of the hostels
here in the east. It tends to be a bit like things were in the sixtees. This one
is really a mess of all and everything.
Welcome to Hostel Morinoki
I ordered breakfast. There's "nato", these fermented soyabeans
(to say it polite). And something that looks like thick brown greavy and should
be eaten by spoon. Is it japanese carry soup? It tastes like carry. I've got
used to these tastes in morning long ago.
It's hard to figure out quickly who belongs to the house and who
doesn't, except we foreigners. There's a german girl and I. She has studied
linguistics and speak japanese. I'm always impressed when europeans have been
able to learn languages like
chinese or japanese.
Ready to go now 8.30am. Shakotan penninsula awaits me. I get to
Yoici where road 5 continues to the south and I continue straight, out to
Shakotan penninsula. The tunnels come as pearls on a string, almost all of them
fine for cycklists. From time to time strange rock formations along the coast.
What does this look like?
At some time the road goes up into the country. For so long that I get nervous
I've taken the direction, but then comes the split up, where the small road will
go close to the coast, while the other stays inside the country. The
wheather has been grey all day. I thought I should decline after the split up,
but the road inclines more than ever. But the descent comes eventually and when
I'm back at the ocean a light drizzle starts. But it never gets worse.
There is scattered housing but not many people. It looks like "out of the season".
The traffic is now scarse. It's mainly japanese tourists. Besides the bad
wheather it's lovely here at the Japanese Sea, which is calm today.
According to all the efforts to secure the coastline it must be violent
sometimes.
From time to time rocks rise in the sea looking like sinking
ships. There are tunnels like grass. Most of them short.
Then I reach Cape Komui, the most western point at the
penninsula. Unfortunately I have to go left for 1,3 km on a road that crosses
the mountain - and it's steep. They've been so kind to announce how much: 9%. I
have two breaks on my way. I guess the steepest at Lake Mashu must have been
10%. It confining to know that stuff like that isn't impossible. Luckily it's
less steep on the other side, where I have to go up again. This is the goal for
the tourists here in the penninsula, judged by the size of the parking lot and
there are quite a number of cars. You have to follow a path to get all the way
and it's crowded. The german girl had been here and couldn't get ALL the way. I
just go for the view point.
Cape Kamui
I haven't looked in the map all day cause the road has more or less followed the
coastline. Now I go for Kamoemei that's still 20 km away. Tunnel after tunnel
shows up. Two of which are 2,5 km. I get through the first without meeting
anyone or get overtaken.
In Kamomei ther is a camp site 1 km up a road. But I don't feel
like putting up the tent, so in a small supermarket I shop dinner and ask for a
hotel. There are very nice, the lady calls and the second seems to have a room.
But no dinner or breakfast. It's allright with me. The man follows me there and
here I am, finding out that I'm not only half the way around but rather
three forth. I've also done 98 km. That's a good feeling.
This hotel is a bit different from the others. I didn't pay
attention to a difference in level on the floor here on the first floor where my
room is. Then I was taught to put my slippers there and noy outside the door as
I've been used to. And the door is a sliding door and cannot be locked.
Actually are there sliding doors in two of the walls and when I
looked around for the matress and the bed linen and push a door aside I looked
right into the next room!! There was nobody there.