Bike Routes

Since we moved to Avon I've been mapping out my bike routes using Google Maps. Check them out here if you feel interested.

On to Hiroshima

Just like last time I went to Japan, Jen and I got a JR Railpass. This pass let's you travel all over the country as much as you want while the pass is valid. We got a 14-day "Green" pass. All the green part means is that we get to sit in the first-class car instead of the standard cars. If you ever go, get the green pass, it's definitely worth it.

 

 

Anyway, also just like last time, the first thing we did outside of Tokyo was go to Hiroshima. There is a museum there and a building that is left over from the blast. It's an interesting experience. A very humbling one.

 

 

On a lighter note, Hiroshima does have a couple other interesting attractions. First, we had a dish called Okona-miyaki. It's basically some batter, a bunch of cabbage, and some other stuff all fried up in front of you. We got it with noodles and it was quite good. Below is picture of us getting ready to eat.

We also went to the castle there. Some pictures are also below...

More Pictures from Hiroshima

 

 

Japan Part II

I guess it's time for another installment about our Japan trip. The first weekend we got there we didn't really accomplish much at all. We hung out with my friend and basically just bummed around Tokyo.

We went to a shrine called Sensoji Temple. It's basically a huge tourist trap with a Buddhist temple at the end of it. There are lots of stands selling pretty much any little trinket you could think of. It's interesting, but a little too commercial for my taste. Some pictures are below...

Wa, wa, wa, wa, waaaaa.... WIPE OUT!

Judging by the email I received from Grandma this morning, it looks like news of my bicycling prowess has already spread around the family. Yes, it's true, I had my first wipe out on my bike. And, yes, it hurt my pride as well as my hide.

Basically, my bike went off the side of the road a little bit. Where I went off the road the sand on the side was at the same level as the road, so I swerved back on.

Unfortunately, by the time my bike was headed back onto pavement the road had risen about 3 inches above the sand on the side. So, as I pushed my bodyweight over to turn, my front wheel decided to stay where it was. Gravity took over from there and I just completely wiped out.

I was going fast, but not too fast, just 18 mph. The damage to my body wasn't terrible. A few scrapes on my arm, but mostly just a big road rash on my hip/butt (I'll spare you any pictures). I was lucky to avoid landing directly on my hip, and smart enough not to try and break my fall with my hands, so I avoided any broken bones.

The damage to the bike wasn't bad either. A couple scrapes here and there, but most major components were left unharmed. The worst thing was shaving about 1/4 inch of plastic and metal off of my front left shifter on the handlebar. It's still functional, though, so it's no big deal.

Most importantly, nobody saw me wipe out. It's nice to be alone when you happen to look like a complete idiot.

Japan - Installment 1

Okay, it’s been a week since we returned from Japan so I think I’m sufficiently recovered from my jet lag to start posting some stuff about our trip. I guess I’ll just start going through day by day summarizing what we did.

Our flight wasn’t too bad. We flew from Indianapolis to Detroit, had a 40 minute layover, and then flew from Detroit all the way to Tokyo. It took somewhere between 12 and 13 hours to make that last trip. Needless to say, that’s a long time to be cooped up on an airplane. Jen didn’t get up and walk around enough so she ended up having some swelling in her legs when we got there, but it wasn’t a big deal. It did make us walk around more on the way home, though.

We took a bus into Tokyo and met my friends Kevin and Meg at the Tokyo Hyatt Hotel. Kevin was my roommate for two years at Rose-Hulman and Meg is his wife. They’ve been living in Tokyo for a couple years now and are getting ready to move back to Boston. Meg is Japanese so she’s a little freaked out about moving to the US, but she’ll do just fine.

Anyway, the trip starts with one of the best stories of all time. Jen’s going to kill me for telling this, but it’s hilarious and needs to be told.

In Japan most of the toilets have a bidet and sprayer that eliminate the need for toilet paper after you do your business. It’s actually pretty nice and I kind of wish we used that in the U.S., but that’s beside the point.

When we got to the hotel, after a long bus ride, Jen decided to use the restroom while we waited on Kevin and Meg. Curious about the new toilet feature, she thought she’d try out the spray.

Well, the spray worked fine, but when she went to turn it off the “stop” button didn’t seem to work. So she tried the “spray” button again, but that didn’t work either. Being new to the situation, she thought that perhaps you just stand up and a sensor stops the spray. Unfortunately, all that tactic gets you is a bunch of water sprayed all over your legs and backside.

So now she’s in real trouble. She’s only been in Japan for an hour and already she’s trapped on a toilet with a spray hitting her in the butt. This has international incident written all over it. In a last desperate attempt she decides to quickly stand up and slam down the toilet lid. Success! After spraying the lid for a couple seconds the spray shut off and all was well.

In the meantime, my friends had shown up to greet us and we were all wondering why Jen was taking so long in the bathroom. When she finally came out she was moving quite quickly and seemed to be a lot redder in the face than when she went in. Needless to say we all had a good laugh. What a great way to start the trip!

We're Back

Jen and I are back from Japan. I'm jet lagged as all heck today, but it's nice to be home. We had a great time and did lots of fun stuff. I'll try and pull the pictures together tonight and then I'll start posting about our trip.