Osaka to Tokyo by Bicycle - Part II

**Osaka to Tokyo by Bicycle - Part II **

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Sep 27 – Takayama down to Gero – 53km – clear, sunet & half moon night riding<o:p></o:p>

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Route: HWY 41 S

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So we woke up today a bit later than we liked due to the nice beer from last night, but not to worry for we have “Soft Bags”! A quick little ride from our inn to the center of town took us to the JR station. I bought two green-car class tickets leaving in an hour. It turned out that we needed all of that hour to figure out the right way to take our bikes apart and stuff them in the bags.

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The train ride was great and reminded me of taking the trains around in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region> with my grandmother, June. The mountain stream also had the large marble boulders and the deeper blue color that I saw in that great Tokoro gorge in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Taiwan</st1:place></st1:country-region>. As we made the slow climb into the mountain, I hungered to ride and an irresistible urge welled up and I got excited.

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Me, “Danny! Let’s keep going past Gero and go to Takayama and ride down!”

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“Okay, sure.” Danny (this, by the way, he invariably answered no matter what sort of personal distress he might be experiencing).

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So I found the conductor and paid him off so we could go to the top (Takayama means “high mountain”) and then ride down to the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">hot springs</st1:city></st1:place> resort of Gero. I thought I was quite clever with this solution for even though Danny’s knee had some pain; all we would have to do is simply roll down the 50 km and this way we would end up still making a ride for the day.

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We arrived at Takayama at 3:30 and were able to assemble the bikes, stretch, snack and top off our water levels by 4:10pm. This is would be our latest start by far, but I was not worried, for it was all down hill.

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Actually, no, it is not all downhill. Takayama despite its name turns out to be at only 500m or 1500 feet. Gero is at also 500m – so what is the problem? Well, about 15 million years ago a volcano sprouted up in-between and placed an 850m (2600 feet) shoulder in between us and Gero. It took the last of our daylight to climb the 1000 feet in 10 kilometers to make it to this new <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">high point</st1:place></st1:city> and carry on with my grand plan of riding down to Gero. The ride was exceptional, clear crisp autumn night air, with a setting half-moon off our right side, as we did wind down into Gero.

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Gero turned out to be a lovely-looking spa town – no doubt a great place for taking the family. Our inn turned out to be at the top of a nearly impossible set of switchbacks. I had a solid-sounding involuntary dismount when my chain popped off when trying to grind up these switchbacks. Sweating and puffing our way to the front door, I demanded, and was pleased, to be served nice, ice-cold water at the front door.

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This inn in Gero turned out to be very, very cool with winding corridors and 11 stories sprawled up the cliff-side. To get to our nice 11^th story suite you need to walk down from the lobby a ways to catch an elevator to the 4^th floor. From there, it is a walk down another hallway past some cool looking paintings and knickknacks – but most cool was a small glassed-off corner where a the base of a tree with all of its moss and attending ferns could be gazed at – a fancy terrarium. Our room had a name – “sparkling moon”, I believe. The dinner was just as good as <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gifu</st1:place></st1:city>, but the setting was way more authentic. The draft beer here was by Suntory and it would be the tastiest for the whole trip. Sitting up on our room thinking over the whimsical nature of the corridors connecting expansions built in different eras, I thought back to Gifu and realized that it was a tourist Japanese Ryokan and that probably most Japanese would skip past it thinking of it as an overpriced theme hotel. But the crispy fish was indeed tasty back there.

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The onsen at Gero was exactly what we were looking for – open air, natural pool design, stars, and pine trees. It was placed on the east-side cliff over looking the small mountain <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">valley</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Gero</st1:placename></st1:place>. There were a ton of condominium-style hotels on the western cliff-side that made me grin in satisfaction of our choice here in the most secluded tall pines and in this rustic inn – that grin was also induced by wearing a straw hat that keeps in the heat on your head while in the buff. We took one more bath here in the morning before heading back up to Takayama and the rest of the Japanese Alps.

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Sep 28 Takayama to Hirayu – 40km – bright & sunny <o:p></o:p>

Route: HWY 158 E

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Packing our bikes back into the soft bags we rode the train up to Takayama for a second time. We had plenty of climbing to do – actually a lot more than we planned and so we wanted to save Danny’s knee for new climbs. Today we were much faster in tearing the bikes down and putting them back together. To celebrate this minor feat we had a leisurely brunch at a great little coffee shop where we had waffles, bacon, lettuce & tomato sandwiches and about 6 or 8 espressos for me, before tearing up the climb.

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The climb out of Takayama to the east was rolling hills on wide, open sub-alpine meadows. I learned that the locals like horsemeat here, so I was on the lookout to avoid that experience. We brought along many Snickers just in case, and too much water – I was afraid that we were heading into the boondocks and would not have access to supplies. My fears were a day early. We had plenty of places to stop along the way. At a lovely hairpin turn on highway 158, I found a cool café with a waterwheel outside filling a nice drinking basin to refill our bottles. Here, Danny laid on the praise thick for “my nose” – or what he called my path finding skills. I really do not know if they are anything special – I simply keep looking around all of the things I can see and soak it all up – weather, sun position, road bends, elevation lines, traffic and, of course, signs. Tomorrow I would blow it with a wrong turn – a significantly wrong turn – but otherwise, we always went to where we were going with very little backtracking. And we always found good food and nice places to stay – so I guess I will keep the moniker of a “good nose”.

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A diligent reader of this overly long trip report would note that the distance is labeled at only 40km for the day, and yet we started in the morning and ended at our destination at night – what gives? Well, an even more energetic volcano Norikura grew up here with a peak at 3000m or 10000 feet. This was a giant climb for Danny and I and it took all afternoon (remember the waffles, BLTs and the espressos took up some time). We actually thought we were going to tunnel through at 900m – which we thought great, no problem, we did that the day before. However, today was the day of the never-ending climb – long and steady – the grade was a decent max of say 6 or 8 % and here we learned to take “walking breaks” when our climbing speed was reduced to say 7 kmph in parts. When our hearts were racing, we would just jump off and walk at 5 kmph until we caught our breath.

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1400m was the highest either of us have gone with a bicycle and it was high I’ve got to tell you. When we reached 1400m, there was a tunnel! It saved us from climbing another 400m or so to the real top of the pass (<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Mt.</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Norikura</st1:placename></st1:place>’s real peak was available as a pleasant road up to our right. This was a very serious tunnel – dead straight for 5 kmph. It was a bit of a trick to negotiate, for giant tour buses were coming along at a pretty steady clip of about one per minute. When inside this tunnel and the tour buses come alongside, you simply must not think about the 4 to 6 inches of clearance off your right handle bar and just balance very well. There is also a suction-drafting effect that pulls you into the bus that you need to compensate for – nice fun.

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We entered the tunnel in late afternoon and seemed to pop out on the other side into dusk. We gathered our wits and nerves after sharing the tunnel with the buses (and a few big trucks). Now we noticed how cold we were. My clothes were sopping wet and heavy with sweat from the climb, yet the outside temperature must have dropped to the low 60s – we quickly changed into dry, multiple layers.

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Our next challenge was to ride across a pair of switchback-connected two-lane bridges that were at least 500 feet above the valley floor below. Imagine riding around at the top of a skyscraper at the edge of the building, with tour buses rolling along next to you, and that your center of mass is higher than the guard rail. To get across, I had to just not think and manage my flapping elbows. On the other side, it felt great and thinking back to the tunnel, it was now a happy place filled with yellow light and warm air compared to these sky bridges.

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Rolling into Hirayu, we nearly had a non-registration disaster for it seemed that several thousand retired people showed up on those buses that were passing us every minute. After being told no by the top three onsen inns, I parked Danny in a coffee shop and made a determined and thorough search of every hotel and inn in the mountain valley. There were exactly two rooms left – and only one of them was reasonable and had a good breakfast.

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Sep 28 Hirayu to Matsumoto – 64km - bright & clear<o:p></o:p>

Route: Hwy 158 E

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This morning opened spectacularly with clear deep blue skies, wisps of thin, overhead clouds and random bits of the pavement gurgling with hot volcanic water leaping up at odd moments. The local grocery kept a pool of volcanic water outside the door boiling eggs that you could buy for a buck, and the gutters down the local streets were full of really hot water. It made me really wonder how they got cold water around there.

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Across from our hotel, there was a really cool public bath house that is housed in a traditionally-thatched roof building. I was mesmerized with this roof, I really felt that I was in a Studio Gibli animated film – there were even saplings growing with the moss in this most amazing roof (see pix).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865032/in/set-72157594325986110/

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865101/in/set-72157594325986110/

It turned out that we rose and readied ourselves too early to soak in this grand public bath, but, at any rate, we had a mountain to climb and we had better get on with it. This mountain valley floor was at 1200 meters (3600 feet) and we needed to get to 1800 meters (6500 feet). It took us 2.5 hours to climb nearly 3000 feet. I was amazed and had no idea we were capable of climbing that fast with our 27 kg (60 pounds) of bikes and gear. Getting to the top, you could really feel that the sky was close. The clouds were close and even the airliners felt closer. The color of blue at the zenith was clearly a darker shade of blue.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865126/in/set-72157594325986110/

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The climb up was surrounded in beautiful, giant ferns from out of a Jurassic park setting – and confused me for I had associated giant ferns with tropical forests and dinosaurs. People were also picking wild mushrooms way the f up there; and Danny and I joked with each other how much we could charge people for any mushrooms or even rocks we picked up, for that matter!

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We reached the top and took a bunch of pictures of the sign board to document our climb. My nifty watch that has a compass, barometer, and altimeter got bent out of whack with the climb and for the rest of the trip underreported altitude by 75m.

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Now, at the top at 1800m, we had a lot of altitude to lose – Matsumoto was 50km to the east and 1300m down. We would lose 600m right away in a series of 19 extremely steep hairpin turns – probably ranging from 8% to 12% grades with all kinds of mirrors, scored pavements and confusing road signs.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865161/in/set-72157594325986110/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865187/in/set-72157594325986110/

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It was very technical coming down, and my back, shoulder and neck muscles were extremely tense. I had to dismount halfway down and shake out my arms for they were just locking up on me. In fact, I am just now rubbing my own shoulders and shaking them out as I recall the memory. I had to walk away from the keyboard.

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Nearly at the end, at hairpin 18, I fatigued and took the inside of the hairpin against the flow of traffic and came within a foot of a head-on collision with a white subcompact car. Oddly, I didn’t feel very scared about it, for at such a steep angle I think I must have felt very confident that I would have just rolled over the top of the car.

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After clearing that spot and finishing the turn, I came across the site of Danny sprawled out across the road in front of me. There was a truck stopped and the driver was out talking to Danny in excited Japanese – I immediately suspected the worst. However, as soon as I rolled up, that driver took off and Danny told me he did not hit him – but Danny swerved out of the way to avoid the truck and the front wheel bounced off a plum-sized rock and twisted the bike side-ways.

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Cutting away his leggings revealed that Danny removed a lot of the skin on his knee, down deep into the white chunky material. Danny turned himself into a paramedic and did an excellent job, I thought, cleaning the wound and dressing it and finishing it up with a carefree smoke. Despite all that care, the knee would later turn out to carry an infection, with some under-skin bleeding for a couple weeks into his return to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Seoul</st1:place></st1:city>.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865214/in/set-72157594325986110/

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Full of worry about Danny’s knee – or more precisely how many kilometers and how much climb that was left in Danny that day - I really was fretting hard about how we were going to make it to Matsumoto because he did not have full range of motion when walking around. In front of us, the road split into two directions: one was a highly-trafficked level tunnel, and the other was a lesser-trafficked smaller road in less repair, that plummeted deeper to the valley floor to what looked like a dam.

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I really did not want to lose a bunch of altitude and then have to have Danny climb up, so I chose the level tunnel. That turned out to be a stupid way to navigate, for roads do not lay themselves out to meet your current needs. The level tunnel was a very long tunnel, about 6km, but it was pretty fast to roll through at 20 kmph in just about 15 or 20 minutes. We were almost to the other side when a maintenance truck did an emergency u-turn and a tunnel worker demanded that we dismount and get on his truck. We followed his command as he was clearly not allowing choice, and he took us the remaining 200 meters or so into the sunlight. After a short disagreement about reality, I was forced to understand that those 20 minutes in the tunnel took us BACK through the mountain that we just spent 2.5 hours climbing and the nasty descent. I was in a very black mood for, thankfully, just 2 minutes when the worker offered to take back through the tunnel on his truck. Wow, amazingly nice. Someone, somehow, was going to take us back through that tunnel, but I was surprised it was him.

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Now, back to the other side, we did take that other path, which indeed descended to a dam, but, to my happy surprise, we never climbed again. We had a blissful and scenic ride through about 20 small tunnels, alongside some very steep cliffs and a free run into the Matsumoto plain.

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Deeply chagrined about my error with the tunnel, I was laser-focused to get to the center of Matsumoto without further error as “my nose” had become a prized possession and I did not want to lose it. So at the end of 50km, after a few turns in the city, we rolled up to the ticket booth of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Matsumoto</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Castle</st1:placetype></st1:place> itself and I turned to Danny and asked, “So Danny, what would you like to do? See this castle, eat an early dinner, find a bath, find a bike shop or get a hotel?”

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Matsumoto is am impressive looking castle and it had never lost a siege. It also turns out to have been a later-built castle where firearms were part of the building’s planning, and in addition to arrow slits, it had gun ports. Inside the castle was an interesting collection of castle antiques. I am not a gun buff by any stretch of the imagination, but I was shocked at how big the caliber was of those old riffles. I also saw an interesting revolving pistol that had two barrels firing bullets from an inner ring and an outer ring. The stairs inside were amazingly steep at 70 degree angles and were built on purpose to give an advantage to the defenders.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865273/in/set-72157594325986110/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865483/in/set-72157594325986110/

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I was moved by a gaggle of school children whose assignment it was to sketch their hometown’s main attraction.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865304/in/set-72157594325986110/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865328/in/set-72157594325986110/

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After the castle, we were very well serviced by a tourist information office where we got directions to a local bath, to dinner, to a pharmacy, a bike shop and got reservations for the night a very nice (but perhaps too modern) onsen inn.

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Sep 29^th the epic 185km Matsumoto in the mountains to <st1:placename w:st="on">Fuji</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype> on <st1:place w:st="on">Pacific Ocean</st1:place> run

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Route: Hwy 19 S > HWY 20 SE > HWY 52 S > HWY 10 S > HWY 1 E

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We rose early with the goal to make it as close to the beach as possible; but Danny was really hurting today with both the older knee problem and the new de-skinned knee. I forced myself just to relax and accept any distance that we could make.

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The Matsumoto plain turned out to be just like the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gifu</st1:place></st1:city> plain with grey crappy skies and a visible economy of indiscriminate vigor. We had two 900m crests to cover, and those we shrugged off compared to the giant mountains that we could look back what we crossed through. Looking at these mountains from our hotel room, I literally could not understand how we made it through there – I would have never tried riding through those mountains before if I had seen the full height of the mountains.

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We made it to 80 something kilometers in the late-mid afternoon and I was very impressed with Danny’s willpower but I was still having problems shaking off the loss of a day. Danny could easily read that on my face and just kept saying let us go a bit further.

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At dusk, we stopped at a couple of pharmacies and he bought various over-the-counter painkillers that did not have much effect.

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We rolled on. At around 8pm we stopped somewhere around the 130 km mark and Danny said to me firmly that he wanted to ride all night if necessary to make the beach. I knew he was doing that because I wanted to make for the beach. I knew it at the time, and I felt a bit guilty about the pain he was going through – but I could not shake the desire to be moving – so we kept rolling.

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This night turned out to be a never-ending night as the 10s of kms slowly went by - more meals at convenient stores at night and a lot of easy rolling down hill. At one point, we entered a quasi-national park on a one-way road that was completely tree-covered. This was at about 11 to 12 at night, and the half-moon had set behind the hill to our right. It was totally dark on that path. Without our bike’s nights, we would have been completely screwed.

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Right about here, a monster the size of a small trashcan with glowing yellow eyes, hissing sounds and sharp claws, suddenly attacked the front of my bike. I like my bike – and it turns out that I am afraid of small monsters in the dark. Without thinking, I leapt up and sideways and swung my weight to the right to swerve away from this terrible raccoon, and at that precise moment a car came around the curve and I had to jump back again to my left towards the raccoon to avoid a crash.

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Spooked, I hoped off my bike and used my whole bike like a giant heavy flashlight to look all around me and verified that the raccoon had taken off. Danny rolled up to me at that point and as I was trying to explain to him what happened, my bike’s headlight illuminated the largest, creepiest too-many-legged hairy-ass millipede I have ever seen at about 6 inches long and counting all of its “hair” at 4 inches high. Catching my breath, both of us stopped and admitted how much we wanted to see a car or a streetlight or a building. Both of us wanted to be out in nature as the major goal for this trip… but as Danny said, this was “too much Nature!!”

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Achingly tired, but happy with ourselves, we rolled into <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Fuji</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place> at 2am. We did it; we crossed more than half-way across <st1:place w:st="on">Honshu</st1:place> in a day. It would up taking us another hour or so to find a hotel but we eventually checked into a wedding hotel.

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I bought a couple of big beers from vending machines and we drank those down and fell quickly to sleep. I woke briefly at 6:30 am and I caught a glimpse of the hulking mass that is Fuji-san smiled and fell back to sleep.

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Sep 30^th <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Fuji</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place> to Atami 56 km RAIN

Route HWY1 E > HWY 136 S > HWY 11 E

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It was surreal waking up in the morning; we lazily rolled about until we found a noodle shop to have a long breakfast at. While we would not leave <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Japan</st1:country-region></st1:place> until October 6^th, we knew this morning that the real trip was over. We made it to the outer metropolitan ring of <st1:city w:st="on">Tokyo</st1:city> and we had decided to spend two nights in Atami and three nights in <st1:city w:st="on">Tokyo</st1:city> (Danny had never been to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Tokyo</st1:place></st1:city> before).

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We were both thoughtful and a bit full of sadness; we have gone through tunnels in mountains, over mountains, across scary bridges, and through dark forests. We did things we did not know we could and we realized that we lost some mysteries. The sense of wonder and excitement will never quite be there again. Now I know I can do 1800 meters, I know that 2400 or higher is quite possible in a day, maybe even 3000 or 4000, if I took it in steps. I know I can do 185 km with full packs – can I do 240? Or more? I can navigate in a strange country and find my way for extended periods of time. The point is that, while we have gained confidence in ourselves, we are also changed and that the next challenge we face on a bike will simply not be as exciting.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865516/in/set-72157594325986110/

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In fact, that very day we frittered off our time with an exceedingly slow lunch at a mediocre Italian café, drinking espressos, and talking about where to cycle next, even though it had been drizzling all day and we had the spine of the Izu peninsula to climb. But we knew could make it. Climbing what turned out to be a much larger hill at 400m rather 150m, night fell and the rain came on hard. But it did not matter, at the top was a nice warm tunnel to glide through and coming down the other side we had 10 to 12% grade switchbacks that were so steep that we had to dismount because Danny’s brake pads did not have the power to stop his bike at even slow speeds.

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After making down to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Atami</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">City</st1:placetype></st1:place>, we found, of course, that we would need to climb up a series of insane switchbacks back up to our hotel – the Atami Daikansoo. But, no matter - we handled it cheerfully and did our best to shock the staff with our wet & dirty state. Coming down that hill, I even mis-stepped into the gutter and ended up upside down and downhill with the rain water rushing over my body and I found myself soaked and covered in moss and leaves. But, that was fine too.

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The Atami Daikansoo is a very expensive place to stay. You can look the prices up for yourself, but it was certainly the most expensive place I have ever stayed at. The service was fantastic (with the exception of my laundry story below), the food was great, the massage service seemed of medical quality and the architecture is what I wish for in my dreams for a home of my own. I took a lot of pictures of this place.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865588/in/set-72157594325986110/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865645/in/set-72157594325986110/

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The Laundry Story<o:p></o:p>

So, we are wet and dirty and have finished 725km of travel and had done a bunch of stuff. We know we are paying an outrageous price to be here and that service is to be had. The staff have hand towels at the entry way and are drying off our panniers, jackets and shoes as we stand in place. We pulled out some dry clothes from our bags, excuse ourselves to the nearest restroom, changed and asked for a plastic bag to put all of our wet crap into. This they accommodated immediately. Then I asked them to take these wet, muddy clothes and have them cleaned. They said this was not possible. I challenged them on the idea that as expensive as they are and with the clientele that visit their place, that they really have never cleaned anyone’s clothes before? They assured me that this has never occurred. Then I said fine, where is the nearest laundry service – they said right at the bottom of the hill. I said, great, could someone go down there and drop off our clothes and pick them up tomorrow? They said it is not possible. I was getting angry now; I could feel how close <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Tokyo</st1:city></st1:place> was to Atami. I had them call me a taxi – I was too tired, wet and angry to walk down their hill and back – got to the bottom and discovered that they gave me direction to a coin operated laundry mat. Livid, I came back up to the hill in the same taxi that charged me $8.10 for the trip up and down the hill. The whole door staff was visibly surprised with my return to the inn with the same plastic bag full of clothes.

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“Did you not find the laundry service at the bottom of the hill?” asked the boldest member of the staff.

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“No.” I replied between steel teeth.

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“It is right there at the bottom of the hill.”

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“No. At the bottom of this hill is a coin-operated Laundromat. I did not come here to watch a coin operated laundry machine spin my clothes about. No, I took a two-week vacation, to ride 750 kilometers of rice fields, through tunnels, across mountains, through dark forests, and rainy nights to come here to your hotel to eat your food, and most of all to soak in your hot water – not for a coin machine.”

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With an impressive lack of hesitation the manager took the change from my hand and replaced it with a 1000 yen note.

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The next day our clothes were laundered. Danny and I wondered if we really were the first to have our clothes cleaned at Atami Daikansoo.

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We then spent the next 24 hours just lounging about Atami. It turned out to be a rather inane tourist town with a very large and pretentious modern art museum. Saw a couple of Monets and a Van Gogh.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865629/in/set-72157594325986110/

<o:p> </o:p>

Sadness and a profound loss. Danny and I would spend the next three days in <st1:city w:st="on">Tokyo</st1:city> and eventually meet up with Chang Suk, who also took a bit of her holiday in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Tokyo</st1:city></st1:place>.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865761/in/set-72157594325986110/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/86007932@N00/264865694/in/set-72157594325986110/

<o:p> </o:p>

The trip was really over. The ride. We now knew that we were capable of riding farther, faster, and higher than we ever knew.

<o:p> </o:p>

Next time, we will go with no fixed plans - just sleeping bags.

<o:p> </o:p>

Epilogue<o:p></o:p>

It has been about 40 days now since we have completed our Trek. Immediately when I returned I was caught up in preparing the final closing procedures of our Series C. By the time you read this far we will have announced on Monday November 20^th who is our new Series C investor. I must tell you that I am extremely proud of the work of our whole team and I feel very confident and strong about GoPets future.

<o:p> </o:p>

The trek itself has receded in my memory and I am relieved that I took the time out immediately after the trip to write this down… it has taken me a few weeks to do an editing pass and pop the photos up on Flickr.

<o:p> </o:p>

Soon after I got back I taught my wife Kaiwen how to ride a bike and she had a ton of fun and started riding all over, and soon after my 5 year-old Kyle started riding his bike with training wheels wherever we went. But now the weather here in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Korea</st1:country-region></st1:place> has become Winter and there will be few ridding days until late March.

<o:p> </o:p>

I have to tell you that I implore you to take a trip by bicycle, I now think it is really the best way to travel.

Originally posted on LiveJournal