Wednesday, September 28, 2016

< Outside of Metropolitan – The Real Japan >

Japan is famous for her cities and infrastructure, anime and manga. To me, Japan’s beauty lies in her beautiful scenery and wonderfully maintained road, because I am a rider.
 
Last Sunday I went to a famous seaside located in the Shimane prefecture. (prefecture is similar to the idea of a state)
The beach is nicely hidden and tucked away from the city, accessible only from the back roads. The name of the beach is Kotogahara.
 
However, the place was not flooded with tourists nor local beach-goers. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, but there were really only very few tourists.
There was no picnic, BBQ, sun-bathing or beach volley-ball at the beach. Just people sitting there enjoying the breeze or couples strolling the beach.
I couldn't even hear anyone speaking, actually. All in all, it was a peaceful and blissful time.
 

However, as much as I would like to keep the beach all to myself, I must admit that is a very selfish idea. In fact, I believe I have witnessed the problem that is haunting the whole of Japan. There are just not enough people on this land, on the big scale of things.
For one, people are so concentrated in the cities, resulting in rural areas losing their populations to the cities. Other than that, a low birth rate also be contributing to this declining of population.
 
I had to ride through a stretch of tiny road with houses lining up on both sides of the road. 
I have to say that it was a sorry sight to behold. The houses are old, most of them seemed to be have not been occupied for a long time.
Yet, you still see how this place was once vibrant with wealth and life. Along the two sides of the road, there was a Porsche, an antique Volvo and another high end vehicle sitting quietly in their own garage. Yet, I am sitting in the waiting room of this now-vacant little museum, looking out at the empty street, sipping the bottle of water and listening to the noises coming from a TV set from a faraway house.


I am no politician nor scholar, i don't know how to solve this problem. In fact, I don't even know if this is a problem. But one thing for sure, I will be back.

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Patching a punctured tire for the first time

OH! PUNCTURE!

One of the incidents that all riders could not evade - a punctured tire. Well, I got one the last weekend but I was too lazy to patch it up on that day, thinking I have time to do it this weekend. But alas! I need to take Lara with me tomorrow, so I am left with no choice but to do it right now, right there under the dim street light. Definitely a bad setup for a novice like me who is doing it first time.


So this is all I got. A puncture repair kit.


First I used a Philips head to remove the long long nail.


Then, I opened up the panel to reveal the battery. This is the one step that took me the longest time, because I didnt know I need to remove 6 screws, instead of 4. Well shame on me.


Then, connect the air pump to the tire on one side and to the battery on the other side.


Run the pump for like 4 minutes, and everything is fine! The whole process took me around an hour, but the 5 minutes ride after that was heaven....

I am glad that now I have done it, I have one more skill under my belt.


Cheers!

Sunday, September 11, 2016

My Second Camp Ride And What Did I Learn

It was only my second camp out, nothing to brag about really. However I feel like documenting it just so that I can find my bearing in the future when I need some reference.

This time, I went back to the same camp site with the same equipment.


I didn't even have a knife with me, or even a multitool. All I had is what you see in the photo. A table, a gas burner, a cooker and a paper cup (the paper cup itself was actually a cup of soup. I emptied it into my stomach and used it as tea cup).
In a way this is a de-evolution in terms of complexity. Last time I had sausage and I had to boil them. This time I had nothing that I need to cook. All is MRE food.

Just pour hot or even room temperature water and wait for a while and they are good to go. There wasn't even any scene that necessitates the use of detergent. Clean water goes in and comes out of the cooker into the food package, food is eaten and the package is dumped.



It could be considered as dull, yes, yet at the same time it could be considered as liberating. To me at least.

Here's what I learned this time:
1. Depending on the purpose of the camp, bringing the least stuff I could is very relaxing.
Truth be told, I envy very much the campers nearby because they have got a fire going on and the food is sizzling, juicy and smells good. I don't have that. But what I do have is a peace of mind, knowing that I can spend my time doing what I came out to do - nothing. I could just sit there and wait for the food to cook without messing around. I just ate them, discard them, then sit there and enjoy my cup of tea while looking up at the sky, appreciating God's work.

2. At some point of time I have to accept the fact that camp site is not my house, bugs are around me and I have to take the risk to live with them and try to spot them before any damage is done.
I was borne and raised in a city, never was outdoor activity my choice of pastime. Doing this camping now is actually an active training to prepare myself for the long term goal of Long Way Round.

3. Sourcing for water is my next topic.
I have been bringing at least 4 litres of water for both camping. This is not a viable option in the long run. I either have to accept the tap water at the camp site, or accept the fact that the water after boiled should be OK, or go get myself a water purifier.

4. Learn of multiple use of the same thing.
A friend advised me of this and it was very helpful. This time I used my down jacket as pillow, my shower towel as wiping towel, my soup cup as tea cup, my tent top as the clothes line to sun dry my sleeping bag. I am sure this is nothing in the eyes of a veteran, but I am glad that I learned them anyway.

5. Learn to be with myself.
This sounds a little Zen but this is the best way I could say it. I learned to make peace with myself having nothing to do.

Next time, I want to try to do more cooking. Still no bon fire or bbq, but at least cutting something up and slow cook them while sipping a drink or something. Yeah, something like that. :-)

Let me share some photos of the camp site with you.





Cheers!

CK