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May 4

Kumamoto Keirin / Champon Restaurant / Camping

Makoto-san left at about 6am. I took some more time and left around 9am. I headed to the local Keirin track (races scheduled to start today!). Kumamoto Keirin was alot larger than Takeo. In Japan I am pretty noticeable, because, well, I'm not Japanese. At a Keirin track its about 10 times worse (although the people there are so into betting, that they usually don't pay that much attention to their surroundings). I usually try to use this to my advantage. At Kumamoto Keirin I almost immediately had a chance to talk to one of the guards there on the track grounds (Kumamoto had the most ammount of guards I've ever seen at a Keirin track). His name was Tanaka-san, and we started talking for a while, and getting the attention of other guards and patrons. I asked my usual questions, like if there was a store for buying souvenirs (there never is, but you can always use this question to see if you can work something out).

Tanaka-san brought his chief over, and the chief took me to the Service Counter. There, the chief explained my situation for me, that I was on a bike trip, and loved Keirin, etc. etc. The service counter guys gave me a mug, stickers, and even a keychain from Sasebo Keirin (in the west). Score!

Unfortunately, pictures in Keirin tracks are strictly forbidden (which hasn't prevented me from taking many, but...), therefore I couldn't take any pictures of my guard friends.

I later left the track, and headed for Kagoshima in the far south of Kyushuu. At the least it would take about 2 days (it's a bit over 200km, or 120 miles). On the way there I stopped to talk and asked directions a few times. I made a joke good enough to cause 2 young girls to laugh at a convenience store - go, go, language skills! When a woman parked right in the middle of 2 parking spaces, and went in the store, I said "chuusha no aida" (basically: "right in the middle of the parking") and they burst out laughing. Guess you had to be there.

I stopped by a small shop that sells things made from bamboo, and bought a few trinkets. Mailing packages in Japan tends to be relatively cheap, so I shipped my sleeping bag and other useless items along with my new purchases, back to Tokyo. Sleeping bag, useless? Yep, it's hot and humid down here!

Later I started climbing some hills. I went through another tunnel, and then I went through the scarriest tunnel I've ever riden in Japan. It was climbing so that you couldn't see the light at the end, and it was a total of 1530 meters (about 1 mile long). Trust me, you'll see pictures, later. Japan tunnels can suck because you basically get 2 feet off to the side, with traffic zooming past you. You can only hope that they see your little red blinky light on the back of the bike.

Since it was starting to get late, I stopped for dinner at a Champon restaurant on the side of a mountain. It actually looked rather abandonned, but a lady was inside with her little, barking dog.

After I made sure it was open for business, I scanned the menu. Champon as far as the eye could say. I decided to order "yaki champon" (fried champon), and was pleasantly surprised. It was the champon ingredients fried, with a yummy sauce, WITHOUT the dirt-water. Yummy.

The proprietess was Koba-san, and we ended up talking from 6pm, when I arrived, until around 10pm. We talked about random things like movies, and she kept serving me free stuff, since I kept saying how good the food was - and it was! She also told me that the tunnel I recently went through, Sashiki Tunnel, was the 2nd largest in Kyushuu. She said I could pitch my tent under the awning of the building next door, since it was abandoned, and even made me a breakfast onigiri (rice packed into a triangle shaped ball, usually with some filling - in this case, ume boshi, or sour plum).