Day 25: Monday, August 9, 2010. Okuhida Onsengo Hirayu to Hidafurukawa
Rose at 6:15, packed and loaded the bike, then had breakfast in the inn. I see a pattern emerging: lately when leaving a town the road goes uphill. I've stopped fighting it and use the first 15-20 minutes pushing the bike as a warm-up. I suppose the stuff in my blood needed to make muscles work as they should are not yet in place. I'll leave the scientific explanations to Sam and Jason. I'm fine with "stuff".
Ever since that windy, rainy night on the approach to the pass outside Obihiro in Hokkaido I've considered foxes to be a good luck animal for me - even a sort of guardian spirit. So, great was my dismay when I found a dead fox on the road, probably struck by a car after dark. A few minutes later I stood before Hirayu Tunnel, nearly 2.4 kms long. I scouted the entrance and decided it was a Grade 3 with deterioration in the concrete of the sidewalk. I fiddled around with the iPhone putting off the inevitable. In I went and within 100 m changed from my sandals to my shamefully dilapidated sneakers. Mud and slime every 50 meters! Took 25 minutes to walk through trying to remain patient and focused. At last out and heading downhill once more.
Then came "The Parrot" with it's single electrical outlet for customer use just too far for the cable. Well, the cafe au lait was fine. Back on the road at 11:30.
9:20 pm: michi-no-eki 1 km south of Hidafurukawa
The remarkable thing about bicycling is that it's best when it's going downhill. It was so almost all the way from The Parrot (elevation 1,030 m) to Takayama. Arrived in Takayama at 1 and made for the train station as I was pretty sure there'd be a place to make and eat a few sandwiches. I had picked up the fixings about 6 kms out of town at an "A-Coop" market. As I ate I noticed what seemed to be an extraordinary number of gaijins ("foreigners") in the station area.
Noah must have arranged it because nearly all were couples. Among the few exceptions was a group of about 20 French people being shepherded into town. The couples who chose to sit in the tiny ekimae park kept their distance from me being engrossed in each other's company no doubt or... does one cling to routine and the familiar when awash in the alien? As in, "I've been traveling with this jerk for ages now, but he's (she's) the jerk I know. Why risk approaching a long-haired Amish-bearded man with a bicycle loaded with God-knows-what munching on a cucumber eyeing pigeons as though they're going to be tonight's dinner when he might just turn out to be a bigger jerk than the one I'm with!" Or, my brother might be right in saying that ear hair is a turn-off even though mine is well covered.Lunch in solitude over I wheeled my machine over to Tourist Information with as much show as possible. The girl at the window told me that almost everywhere was booked solid. I'm sure she looked me over before saying that. Little could she have guessed that I was way ahead of her. Though she was busy circling some "possibilities" I was picking out bridges beneath which I could sleep in a pinch. (Hint for you parents reading this: never let your teenager read Orwell's "Down and Out in London and Paris". Fictionalized though it was, they might experiment. Drugs and sex just aren't exciting enough for kids these days.) No room in the inn? Cut and run? Leave for the next town before sundown. Nope. I decided that I had come to see Takayama and that's what I did for the next 3 hours.
There really are some charming old Edo Era buildings in town. Quite close together as well.
After leaving the local Hachiman Shrine I spotted a foreign couple studying a map. I stopped to examine mine across the street from them lest some local mistake me for one of their own. I looked into the open entryway of the house beside and noticed a shiba-ken (a Japanese breed which my wife Akemi is fond of) on a leash quietly eyeing me. As soon as I moved on it ran to the end of it's leash and started barking. Had I forgotten to beg leave? The barking distracted the couple from their map study and brought the lady of the house out. I looked back and noticed that a small conversation had begun. Am I to be rewarded for this memorable international exchange?
On I pushed deeper into the designated "old private homes" area. I was distracted by something much finer: a skewer of "Hida-gyu" (more tasty than it sounds as Hida-gyu means "Hida-beef") and a small glass of beer for ¥500.
A little more strolling, a few photos and I was off for Hidafurukawa some 15 km away.
Arrived in this miniature version of Takayama at 5. Made for the station as you can be sure there's a hotel nearby. Tourist Information closed at 5. (Who tipped them off I wonder?) I entered the rather comfortable waiting room populated exclusively by teenagers. I sat down, drew deeply on the apple tea I had bought and shouted "Is everybody genki?" No, it's best to leave the dead in peace or at least to their iPods and Gameboys.
I needed a plan so I thought for 2-3 seconds and decided to camp at the michi-no-eki which I recalled from the map was just south of town. Ever being the adventurous one I had earlier taken a less trafficked road into town and so missed it. The place had promise as there were several broader than average benches. Bed secured I check the last order time of the pizzeria across the road, found a coffee shop near the station with the help of some young shop clerks (I had to assure the owner that I could indeed follow his directions to a place 2 blocks and 1 right turn away. I asked permission of the proprietress to charge my iPhone in a konsento ("outlet") and drank my second coffee of the day. Having charged the iPhone and myself I made my rendez-vous with a 30-cm bacon and onion thin crust pizza and a medium bottle of Kirin Ichiban-Shibori (Ichiro was shown drawing one on the poster beside me.) Asked the waitress to take my photo then, finishing the pizza, had a little chat with the pizza maker himself.
Somehow, somehow... he knew I was going to crash across the road. This guy could give the octopus (of World Cup fame) a run for his money!
Feeling quite content I went to my intended hotel to find two guys had set up two tents not 4 m from my bench!
Enough for today as I'm sure you fully agree by now. It's 99 km to Kanazawa over the Nara Pass.
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