Goodbye Kyushu Island!

Today is the day that I say goodbye to Kyushu Island - its friendly people, chanpon and hakata-bijin! I woke up rather late in the morning and set off for a bike shop called Click! in Kokura City. Shinji had earlier reserved a portable bike bag for me to collect. With it, I should be able to get on trains, buses and ferries should the need arise.

On the way to Kokura City, I stopped by a small neighborhood park to use the washroom there. When I came out, I saw an old lady admiring my bike. She asked me where I was cycling to so I described to her my planned journey from Fukuoka to Tokyo. And she was so nice! She wanted to give me a gift for good luck but she didn`t have anything with her, so she gave me her apple that she had brought out as a snack. Really sweet huh? And it was a huge apple too!

Sarakura-yama or Mount Sarakura in the background

Kokura Castle - Passed by it on my way to Click!

After I picked up my little big bag from Click!, that cost me 5,985yen, I continued to make my way towards the coastal town/port of Moji. Moji was where the Kanmon Tunnel was located and I planned to use that tunnel to cross into Shimonoseki City in Honshu Island. Surprisingly, as I cycled along the coastal route towards Moji Port, there wasn`t much headwind to contest with.

On the way to Moji Port and the Kanmon Tunnel

Oh yeah, along the way to Moji Port, passed by the Asahi Beer Company Moji Port Brewery - XT, this picture is for you... hahahaha...

Moji Port Asahi Beer Brewery

Mehari Shrine - The Northernmost Shrine on Kyushu Island

I finally reached the Kanmon Tunnel at around noontime. The tunnel is an 800m long undersea tunnel connecting Moji in Fukuoka Prefecture to Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture. It is free for pedestrians to use, but cyclists have to pay a token fee of 20yen. There`s a seperate tunnel for vehicles that runs parallel to the pedestrian/cyclist tunnel.

Half my bike in Fukuoka Prefecture and half my bike in Yamaguchi Prefecture

Crossing over into Honshu Island, I start to ride for Mine City (pronounced as Mi-Neh). It didn`t look that far on the map so I was expecting to reach there before 5pm. Little did I know that a mountain stood between me and my destination!

Random monkey sculpture that I took a picture of before I hit the mountain roads

Today, I experienced my first mountain pass in Japan. Little did I know that this was just a hint of what kind of riding I was to do in the next few days. Later on, I found out from one of the owners of the hotels that I stayed at that I was entering the Chugoku Sanchi or Middle Kingdom Mountain Range.

The Mountain Roads to Mine City

By the time I entered Mine City, it was just getting dark at around 7pm! I was just glad to be able to check into a hotel, even though it cost 5,775yen. Leaving my stuff, I headed out to get some much needed fuel for my weary body. And that`s when I discovered something very important!

Japanese supermarkets all have a section selling freshly cooked food such as corokke, bentos and other yummy stuff. However, due to quality control reasons, they have to clear such foodstuffs by the end of a business day. SO, if u go to a Japanese supermarket about 1 hour before their closing time, all such leftovers are going for 50% discount! hahahaha....

I couldn`t resist it and bought enough food for my dinner, supper, breakfast and lunch - all for only 1,550yen!