Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Journey's End - Onohara, Japan (Day 78, 13320 km)

Continuing onboard the ferry headed for Osaka...

The weather was grey for most of the ferry trip, but, appropriately, the morning of our arrival in Osaka was fine and sunny. It took a while working through the carnet with the Japanese customs, but in the end (possibly due to lack of knowledge of procedures) I didn't even have to go and buy insurance, something I had been told is compulsory here.

My carnet, however, was compulsory here (one of the few places) but they had to consult many books full of regulations before deciding that my carnet was of the correct type. Strange. However, without much difficulty I succeeded in getting it stamped, and was free to continue on my way.

There were no customs charges - altogether I only had to pay at two borders, Australia and Singapore (where I shipped my bike rather than riding it or taking it as luggage). However, when asking for directions I learned that the way out from the port is through an underground toll tunnel. I hadn't yet changed any money into yen, however one of the customs officers, bless him, gave me the 200 yen (about NZ$2.60) I would need.

It was still somewhat of a challenge finding an ATM that accepted a non-Japanese Visa (they are in the post office), but once I solved this riddle, I was able to fill up with petrol, and ride without further delay towards my final destination. I soon started noticing a much wider variety of motorcycles – Japanese seem to like Harley's and their clones, and like them loud. Although traffic in Japan is far more ordered, most motorcyclists seemed to ride around the backed-up traffic, and I was happy to follow suit.

Thankfully my bike is big enough (>175cc) to be allowed on the Japanese expressway, where traffic was not much of an issue. At this stage in my journey it seemed very attractive to reach Onohara without delay, so, where possible I chose the expressway, rapidly exchanging money for speedy transit. I avoided one costly bridge by taking a ferry, but it would have been quite feasible to ride directly between all the islands.

Some of these bridges are quite high, and it was here that I had my only noticeable crosswind of the trip, thankfully not too severe. Shikoku, the island Wendy has been living on, is very mountainous and green, and I had a pleasant and scenic journey along the amazing expressway – the terrain lending itself to scores of tunnels and a number of bridges. Eventually, just before sundown, I reached Onohara, and my journey's end.

Trip Stats

Total biked kilometers: ~13320 km
Petrol Cost: NZ$592.19 (approx 75 tanks, of the order of 600 litres)
Oil used: about 25 litres, including oil changes (better than 500km/litre! Oo-er)
Replacements and repairs: excluding my valve guide problems and related bent valves and broken timing sprocket, the list is minor – front and rear brakes (which weren't replaced on my pre-trip overhaul), one rear tyre (also wasn't new), speedo cable, a few fuses, battery water, battery (unnecessary, but it was cheap), toolbox brackets (broke twice), toolbox endcap (lost in Vietnam), bent kickstand straightened and strengthened, brake light, pannier brackets (twice), handbrake lever, a couple of new oil filters and a sparkplug clean and airfilter clean.

Number of photos taken: 2515 (so for all those who have complimented me on my selection – the answer is quantity!)

Cheapest petrol: Cambodia, Vietnam and China were all around NZ$0.85, but surprisingly, it was Malaysia where I never paid more than NZ$5 to fill my tank, which means it must have cost less than NZ$0.80 per litre.
Most expensive petrol: NZ$1.52 at Barkley Roadhouse, Northern Territory, Australia.
Longest stretch with no petrol station: about 264km, east of the Barkley Roadhouse, Northern Territory Australia.

Worst road: From Poi Pet (Thai-Cambodian border) to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Most impressive road: Bangkok Ring Road Number 9 – where it existed, it was up to eight super-wide lanes across, with an immaculate surface. Expressways in Japan are faultless, but China's expressways are disqualified due to their anti-motorcycle discrimination.
Most enjoyable road: Ho Chi Minh Trail, Central Vietnam.

Slowest riding: 30kph or less. The Poi Pet – Siem Reap road in Cambodia, although traffic in the south of Vietnam made passage not much faster, although the road was better.
Fastest riding: Around 100-105kph. Most of Australia, but also the expressway in China and Japan.
Longest ride (most kilometers): 664km – straddling the petrol-less stretch in Northern Territory, Australia (there weren't more than a couple of places where it was worth stopping!) Honourable mention – 626km on the day I snuck onto the Chinese expressway.

Best traffic: Well, not much of it in the Northern Territory... 5-10 cars an hour tops.
Worst traffic (busiest): Probably south Vietnam.
Worst traffic (driver behaviour): Between Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Cheapest accommodation: NZ$4.50 per night - Thai Lee Hotel, Thailand – with clean sheets and en suite, plus a lobby to dismantle my bike in!
Most expensive accommodation (before Japan): NZ$24.13 per night – Burleigh Beach Tourist Park, Gold Coast, Australia. For a grassless patch of clay to erect my tent. To top it off, this was the only campsite I stayed in in the whole of Australia that had no pool, so these guys get the Hamilton2Japan Bad Value Award.

Cheapest Beer: Shanghai, China – 3 yuan (NZ 57c) for a 640ml bottle
Least favourite food: The meat in some Chinese and Vietnamese dishes, which, although the flavour was nice, had either 80% fat, or hundreds of little shards of chicken bone. Some of the Japanese pickled or fermented vegetables are up there too, although I find most Japanese food quite good.
Favourite food: The majority of Thai dishes, although preferably served in a slightly higher-budget setting, and with a foreigner-adjusted level of spiciness.

Least favourite country: I don't have any countries I didn't enjoy travelling through. I guess all I can put here is the wish that China “modernize” their regulations soon.
Favourite country: Thailand. For me it was the best blend between the first and third world. The people seem friendly and polite without being either overly familiar or too standoffish. Life is lived on the street enough that it is easy and cheap to accomplish most things, yet they have a very respectable infrastructure. And the food is great.

Special pre-trip thanks: Len Caley for much advice, encouragement, equipment and manufacturing expertise. And Jono Ross, for hosting my photograph collection.
Special on-the-trip thanks: The Glaum family, and Wendy's Aunt Helen, for places to stay while waiting for bike shipments in Brisbane and Darwin respectively.

Worst moment: Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand - After a day and a half of bike fixing, I start her up and she runs beautifully, for about 100m down the road when there is a sickening, grinding crunch... followed by despairing silence and dawning knowledge of the cause.
Most stressed moment: Trying to find the ferry company in Shanghai. Other things were frustrating or annoying, but that was the one time I was in a bit of a flap.
Second-best moment: Getting let into China, although at the time it felt very surreal and unemotional. At the time I wasn't sure if I'd be pulled over at any moment. But, as this was the weakest point in my trip plans, achieving this really symbolized being able to complete the trip.
Best moment: Of course, reaching my goal, Onohara, and seeing Wendy again.

Conclusion

This trip was by no means the biggest or most adventurous one that has been done (see http://horizonsunlimited.com/links/#Travellers), nor am I by any stretch a professional writer. Yet I have written this story to share what was a significant step for me, and I hope that you will be inspired to take your own “big step”. I'm definitely not going to start preaching here, but as a parting thought it often seems to me that too many people around me seem to be crippled by their fears (or even practicality :-) ), and end up living a bland existence that they aren't really happy with.

Thank you for reading, and for your part in this adventure.


Postscript

I have been in Japan for eight weeks now, with another four remaining. Since then I have had some stereotypes reinforced (conformity, order and tranquility, law-abidingness, Engrish, nothing second-hand) and others broken (Japanese camping and climbing mountains, right-wing protestors, boy-racing bikers). Wendy and I (as well as Simon, when he visited for a week) have visited places such as Kyoto, Nara, Osaka, Himeji, Shodoshima, Hiroshima, and Miyajima, as well as travelled a small amount locally. I have been introduced to the joys of communal bathing, okonomiyaki and the shinkansen. But these things are really past the end of this story.

If you are interested, some photos of this period are available at http://anton.architype.co.nz/Japan. Note that, like the other albums, there are multiple pages.

If you are in New Zealand and I know you, I hope to see you again in July or August.

God bless,
Anton


1 Comments:

Blogger Ingólfur Kolbeinsson said...

Hey Anton, Im going on a big trip in two months. Going to try go through China as well. Would be cool catching up with you if you are still here in NZ... for some advise. Think my email address shold come with this comment.

Cheers,
Ingo

1:15 pm  

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