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May 3

Ride to Kumamoto / Kumamoto Castle

I got up early (didn't want the employees arriving with some crazy camped in front of the door), and rode until Kumamoto, getting to Kumamoto train station right before noon. The route I took to get there was the 238, then the 389/501 which goes down the "coast" and then transfers inland. I put the coast in quotes because you didn't actually get to see the sea for most of that trip.

At Kumamoto I got the tourist info at the station, called and booked a room at the local YH, and then went there to drop my luggage. They were nice enough to let me shower, too (although they are usually closed during the middle day hours).

Later went looking for a coffee house and stumbled upon Cafe Boaru, owened by a guy named Eizaki. Business was slow (I was the only customer that hour I was there), and so we chatted for quite a while. After my ice coffee, he made me a free blend coffee, in a little coffee maker that looks like something out of a mad scientist's laboratory. He then pointed me at a ramen joint half a block away, where I got my first authentic Kyushuu miso-tonkotsu ramen. Miso ramen is much thicker than the usual ramen (due to all that miso they throw in there), and in my opinion, yummier.

Had nothing else pressing, so did some actual bonified sight-seeing. Went to Kumamoto-jo, (aka Kumamoto Castle), one of the 3 most famous castles in Japan. Since it is Golden Week (the week-long holiday for many Japanese), they had a little festival on the castle grounds. It was mostly for kids, with various games, like bows and arrows, and a treasure hunt type thing. Pretty fun just checking out the scene - I spent much more time in the castle grounds than in the castle itself. I even did the stamp hunt. They give you a sheet with 4 locations in distant corners of the castle, and you have to go there and stamp your sheet with the stamp located in that corner. When you're done, you get a prize. It didn't take me long to figure out that all the stamps are the same, and so I just kindof cheated. I only hit 2 desks. The joke was on me, though, cause the prize sucked. It was a little plastic Pringles (yes, as in the potato chips) tuppaware-type can, with nothing in it! What a jip! I gave mine away to some kid, and let a random family in on the stamp secret, since the kids were complaining about having to walk so far for the stamps.

It started to pour while I was there, and because I didn't bring appropriate gear, I was soaked and cold by the time I got back to the YH. When there, I hung out and met some new friends, including another cyclist, Makoto-san. He comes from Saitama, around Tokyo, but is on a week-long bike trip in Kyushuu. Came from Oita prefecture (in the north-east) the day before, and has been doing around 100km a day. He just started riding last year, and considers himself a beginner, but he's going on a pretty long ride. He came from Beppu and rode through Aso-zan, a huge inactive volcano in the center of Kyushuu. He enjoyed the ride, although he said the traffic is a bit annoying. His plan is to ride to Unzen-Amakusa, which is a huge national park southwest of Kumamoto, as well as ride south to the lower parts of Kyushuu.