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Letter 2
Tuesday 13.08.13
I've set the watch. 7 hours I think it was - backwards. In other words, it was a
short night. I have
a feeling of not having slept at all the the last couple of hours until they
switched on the lights
passed rather quick. We'll soon have covered almost 9000 km.
We land - half an hour early. The airport looks like - an airport. It takes some
time to get pass
immigration. They take a photo of you and your fingerprints like a criminal. I
ask someone where
big luggage is, then I see somebody arriving with the bike on a luggage cart and
in the same moment
I see my box on the band. In costums I borrow a knife to cut the boxes open and
step out into
arrival, where no well-known face is to be seen.
I find a place to pack the bike. A moment later Nori arrives. (I met Nori in
Bremen in Germany and we've stayed in contact since). I've actually brought a
photo of him - just in case - but he sees me at once and I recognize him with no
problem. A happy reunion.
I'm soon ready. He carries my two rear panniers and then we move into the
labyrinth, as he calls the
airport. I feel special with my own guide and what should I have done without
him. The airport
is a real puzzle. Once the road is just being closed by a gate, but we're
allowed to pass a minor gate
on the sidewalk.
Heavy traffic and not much space left for bikes. You bike on the sidewalk
whenever you can. The heat is overwhelming. Maybe only 34 degr. or so but SO
humid... A humid variation of the south of France - the noisy insects (hope you
know them - don't know the english word).
It resembles a more civilized version of China. Up and down it goes over small
bridges with ricefields underneath.
We stop at a bicycle shop, where he's going to check something. It looks like
danish prices.
We eat some rice packages with fish in a kiosk, the last before we're going
along the river the
last 10 km to Tone. The road to here I hadn't found without a guide - or an
accurate map, which I don't
have.
Bicycle ready for japanese traffic - rewiev mirror to the right