Monday, March 24, 2014

Japan

I landed in Haneda airport at midnight, had my bike together by 1:30, slept in the airport until about 6, and then headed into Tokyo. It occurred to me that my layover in Denpasar was the farthest south I've ever been, and the only time I've been in the southern hemisphere.

I spent the first night in Tokyo in a capsule hotel, which turned out to be just as nice if not nicer than most of the dorms I've been in. I guess it was an atypical one though as it was basically identical to dorm bunk beds except with 3 walls on each side of the dorm, and the capsules weren't stacked side by side.

All the famous cherry trees aren't blooming yet. Instead they look like this:


It didn't take long to find some torii gates (considering they're everywhere)



As well as plenty of pagodas, gates, and temples




Tokyo also has the imperial palace, which is closed except for a few days a year


Japan is quite a bit different from anywhere else I've been in Asia. The traffic lights aren't signaled, and they're designed for high traffic all the time, so people get to wait at red lights forever. Despite that, people wont jaywalk, and they don't honk at each other. You would think Tokyo would have terrible traffic, but so many people ride bikes and the subway that the roads are hardly busy at all. Tokyo is the quietest large city I've been in. You're allowed to bike on the sidewalk and on the street. Policemen bow at cars in apology when they have to stop traffic. In the tourist areas there are tons of police, but many of them are 60+ years old, and still out patrolling the streets.

In Hong Kong they employ special conductors during rush hour to stand in front of the doors of subway trains and force people to move to the side to let passengers off before more force their way on. In Tokyo, everyone just does this on their own.

Since I had a while In Japan, and Tokyo was becoming too familiar, I took the train to Kyoto, which was way too expensive, and they wouldn't let me take my bike. So when I arrived in Kyoto, I rented a bike and wandered around. I ended up with much more of a road bike, and I was struck by just how much I felt every single bump I went over which made me love my own bike even more.


These roofs are made of layers of cypress bark, which is how they can make them in such an odd shape:



I had planned on staying in Kyoto for a bit longer but it was pouring rain, so I went to Osaka to see the castle:



Apparently this is high tourist season both domestic and foreign (because of the cherry trees about to bloom), so when I was looking at hotels in near Himeji, everything under $100 a night was booked, and without my tent, sleeping bag, and bike, I felt a bit helpless so I headed back to Tokyo, where the hotels were also fully booked. I went back to the hostel where all my gear was, planning on spending the night in a park/campground, but it turns out they did have rooms available. I have spent the rest of my time in Tokyo enjoying the noodles, and sushi on a conveyor belt (which is an amazing idea).

I will soon be boarding a plane that lands before it takes off, and I will finally be back in the USA.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Kuala Lumpur to Singapore

Leaving Kuala Lumpur, the rest of Malaysia was more fairly boring riding through the tropics. Most of each day was riding through Palm farms. As I was making my way out of the city I ran into two german cyclists on their first day of 3 weeks around Malaysia. I handed them my map of the city and pointed them in the right direction.


I ran into a Chinese guy in Seremban who insisted on showing me around town, and even brought me back to KL to see the towers at night.


From there it was onto Malacca, which wasn't as interesting as I expected it to be. According to the museums it was a great place that was totally ruined by the Portuguese, Dutch and British. It does have some interesting mosque designs though:


The remains of the fort:


Also I finally managed to get a picture of one of the monitors I've seen once or twice a day while riding


From there it was onto Singapore. They have completely separate entrance and customs lanes for motorcycles, and they weren't bothering to search anyone. I was expecting to get hassled from what I've heard about Singapore being uptight, but I've had no problems. The drivers are still polite, with no honking, which is surprising since the city center is quite busy. There are tons of one-way roads though which is annoying.

About 60 seconds after getting my entry stamp, I got my welcoming gift of this through my tire:


Probably the best recognized building in Singapore is the marina bay sands hotel/casino


They also have the goofy looking merlion statue


Sentosa island to the south has been developed as a massive resort, featuring totally not disney world, and a bunch of fake beaches.


Chinatown has the standard temples, along with mosques, and hindu temples




Since most of the connecting flights back home go through Tokyo or Beijing, I figured why not spend a few days in and around Tokyo, rather than a few hours in the airport, so tomorrow I am headed there.

This is the last major bit of cycling for a while. While the bike still works fine, it could use some love. In 13ish months of riding, I went through 2 front tires, 4 rear tires, 5-6 chains, 2 bottom brackets, 2 front fenders, handlebar tape, a rear derailleur cog, and more tubes and patches than I can count. Somehow one of the adjuster knobs on my brakes disappeared, the plastic covering on both shifters is gone, my front rack has wear from the bags, my drive-train is very worn, my rear hub needs new bearings, and my seat is shaped like a banana. Also it could really use a wash.


But it got me here, so it did what I built it for.


(best glove tan line ever)


Saturday, March 1, 2014

Thailand to Kuala Lumpur

Onto Malaysia, where the weather is still incredibly hot and humid. While riding, the headwind and the wind I create is enough to keep me clear of sweat, but I dread even the slightest bit of climbing because it means I can wring out my clothes. At least the food is still cheap and great. Since so many Chinese and Indians live here (and are actually the majority over Malays in many places), Indian buffets have been the easiest and some of the best food to find. Two dollars for a huge plate of rice and my choice of meat, curry, and vegetables? Yes please. Also asking for tea gets you milk tea, which is fine with me. Almost everyone knows at least some English and many people are fluent, and friendly. Apparently I'm still blowing people's minds by telling them I'm biking to Singapore even though it's less than 1000km away.

As I imagined, the mosques are back in full force, though different than the ones in Turkey, and now it's called a Masjid instead of a Jami:




On my way to Georgetown I noticed that my rear tire was on the verge of an irreparable death:



I went to several shops but no one had a decent road tire the same width as that one, so I decided to switch both tires to 1.5inch since I wont be doing any more offroading anyway, and I'd rather not carry around separate sets of tubes for each tire. Oddly enough, wandering between shops I met with a cyclist I had first met in Batumi and I was able to give him the spare tubes from my old set of tires.

Aha! This shop should have everything I ... wait, no...


Georgetown still has a nice historic section, even of there are lots of skyscrapers in the newer parts


Chinese influence


Along the promenade with the city hall building


And Fort Cornwallis, which holds a 400 year old cannon:


In Ipoh, there were a few interesting things, such as a Chinese temple in a cave:


The train station:


And on the way out of town there was Tempurung Cave, which is massive:


And then it was on to Kuala Lumpur, home of the twin towers, and the Kuala Lumpur tower


Some neat looking building, many of which surround Merdeka (freedom square)


It has been interesting seeing WWII monuments pop up again, from the less talked about side of the war.


Interestingly, they ended a ~160km stage of the Tour de Langkawi right next to Merdeka square, where I happened to be wandering.


All the riders arrived within about 2 minutes of each other, going incredibly fast, and then promptly disappeared, but not before washing up (wish I had someone to do this for me after a day of riding in this weather):


I had never been to a distance bike race before, but I can now add it to my list of things that are way better to see on TV than live. There wasn't even much commentary. We had a 1km warning, then whoooosh and it was over.