September 15th, 2005

Hooray! I decided on Tuesday morning that I would bike out to the
ocean. On our tiny map, it shows a biking path that goes straight to
the ocean (well sorta, but it was a path to the ocean) so I assumed
that it would be easy. I would go there, take pictures for everyone and
come back. Oh how wrong I was.
The trip started nicely. It was really hot, but there was a nice little
breeze, so despite the glaring sun, I was pretty comfortable. Of course
I was sweating but I always sweat in Japan. Its HOT. Anyways, so I bike
a little ways and when I get past the busy part of the city I pull over
to take a nice picture for you. Well, for some reason, this picture
doesnt want to upload today. Im not really sure why. Its not that
great. Just a picture of the little 'river' I was riding next to.
Anyways, about 20 minutes into my biking, I look up the path and there
has to be 100 tiny children covering the bike path. Think swarm of
ants. There is like one teacher per 30 kids, so its a little bit chaos
and I have to ride past them. Doh! So I ring my bike bell (s'what its
for afterall). It takes awhile, but eventually they start moving to the
side so I can CAREFULLY pass by. It was really cute. The kids would
scream "jitenshya kiku!!" which is "bike coming!" Very loud, very cute.
I just "sumimasen"ed my way past the herd of children. Occaisionally
bowing to the kids and teachers. They would say "hallo!" to me every
once in awhile. Cute. No pictures because that would be majorly creepy
to take of someone else's kids.
So anyways, I end up biking about an hour out and I start getting
detoured on the bike trail. This is no good since I cant REALLY read
Japanese yet. Finally I get to the top of this steep hill (had to walk
my bike, I was exhausted by this point).



This is the hill. I was very angry at this point because the next
part of the bike path was CLOSED. I am so close that I can SEE
the ocean, but Im stopped. Cant go further. Well, I decided
to follow this road to the beach...but it gets confusing and hilly so I
decide to sadly pack it up and go back home. Sad. I am
REALLY hot at this point. I have realized that I am sweating out
a LOT of my fluids and have nothing to replace them (stupid Susie, not
getting water) AND I didnt put on sunscreen. So thats an hour of
my in straight sun. Oops.



Anyways, dissappointedly, I head back home. *sigh* So
I decide to take some pictures of the countryside so at least my trek
wasnt completely in vain.



Some more rice fields and just a nice country scene. You can
actually see some vineyards. Taisha has a winery I think and
there are tons of vineyards all over. I dont know if you can tell
what the vineyards are though. Maybe...



Some more vineyards. Maybe you can figure out what are the grapes
above. I dont think there are any grapes on the vines right
now...but I dunno. Smelled like cow poo. Im guessing they
fertilized it or something. Really reminded me of the Garrett's
cow pasture when it had cows and horses in it. Bleh.



Anyways, I get to this crossroads that I passed early. It shows a
sign for Taisha, Matsue, and Hinomasaki (I think thats the name).
I get a bright idea! *ding!* Taisha is on the ocean, well
it touches the ocean, or so my map says. Plus, if I follow signs,
I can probably get to a point where I can find the bike trail again
(like after it stops). My stubborness has raised its ugly head
and insisted I see the ocean before I go back home. So Im close
to civilization and find a supermarket so I stop and rest my tired legs
in the AC and get some water. Ahhh...revitalized! So I
shove off...



And get lost. Our map sucks, btw. Its good for central
izumo where we live...but not the surrounding areas. Roads arent
even labeled. Heh. >.< I start following signs
to hinomasaki because it seems to be going in the direction of the
ocean (if mountains arent in front of you, you are going to the ocean
basically). It occurs to me that this is the big ol' lighthouse
that Chris told me about. That DEFINATELY means Im going the
right way. I see another intersection and the word bycyle.
So I head up that way (Im about an hour an a half out by now, dripping
with sweat). I say up because of course it was UP HILL.
*sigh* Calves/thighs of steel baby! So I head that
way and promptly lose the nice sidewalk. I sigh and start biking
in the road (side note: you can bike on the sidewalks in Japan and its
completely awesome!). This little white car passes me and pulls
over about 100 feet above me. I stop too because I want to
consult my map. I think Im going to the wrong way but my
stubborness insists that this creepy little road with no signs
whatsoever will lead to the ocean. So I start again up this hill
and go around the car that pulled over. There is a little
Japanese man in there with a sick mask on. Hmmm. As soon as
I go pass...he starts up again and goes past me. That does
it. I turn my butt around. That was just too creepy for
me. Im sorry, he was probably harmless but I was on a tiny road
all by myself with no one else but this creepy guy. So I get
dissappointed again and head back.



I get back to my intersection and decide to keep riding towards
hinomasaki because Im mad by now. I WILL see that ocean today or
die trying! Thats became my mantra I think. So I bike up a hill
again and dont seem to get anywhere. I almost decide to just go
home, all dejected and stuff. But then, I see this:



A cute little harbor with boats. Boats!?!? That means I
cannot be far away from the ocean. You cant have boats on the river
close to town because its not really a river, its just a tiny
channel. So I think on it for a second and turn back to the hill
and pedal towards the top of the mountain (ok, hill but whatever, Im
exhausted by this time and it seemed like a mountain). I get to
the top and squeal with delight. What do I see?



The ocean AND its downhill. Woo! So I pedal downhill
giggling (yes, I probably seem insane by now but I was really tired and
dissappointed that I wouldnt see the ocean).



I made it! :)







My foot, you cant see because a waved crashed right over when I took my picture.







Isnt it pretty? I was very happy that I got to dip my toes in the
ocean and play a bit. But only a bit. Again, I was by
myself and there were several men just lying around in the shade
watching me giggle and laugh in the ocean. Seriously, one guy
left the shade just to watch me. *sigh* Oh well. So I put
my sandals back on and got my bike and headed home.



And oh my gosh did I get so lost on the way back. Heh. I
managed to find an odd intersection with cute little shrine posts.



I dont know what they were for (there was one across the intersection too) but I liked them so I took a picture.



I did manage to find the Japanese army. That
was...um...disturbing. I just kept my head down and pedaled as
fast as I could by them. Im sure it would have been fine, but it
was weird. I didnt realize there was a defense post in Izumo.
Huh. I did, after awhile, see some landmarks inthe distance so I
road towards them as much as I could. One of the weirdest things
I saw, was this swan.



That was a BIG swan, by the way. I didnt realize they had wild
swans in Japan. So I took his picture. Cute, aint he?
Kinda bizarre. I saw tons of cranes and herons on my trip, but
this is the first wold swan I have EVER seen up close. Heh cute!



I finally found the bike path though. And headed
home. Man, I cant even begin to tell you how tired I
was. I did stop in the shade to take one last picture. I
think its interesting. This is how you know when you are in
Izumo.



I left it a bit bigger than the others because I wanted to show
detail. Its a water manhole. But the symbol in the middle
of the dragon is Izumo's city symbols. All cities and prefectures
have their own special symbol. It also says Izumo in kana under
the dragon (I just noticed that). I think they are much more
interesting than the manhole covers in America.



Ok! So that was my bike trip. I made it all the way to the
ocean, which rocks. I was definately exhausted and dehydrated
when I got back. The whole trip took my around 3 hours and about
20-25 kilometers (no lie, 10 km to the ocean on the bike path, so 10
back PLUS all my weird detours when I was lost....had to be close to 25
km). I dont know what that is in miles, but I was POOPED.
And sunburn. Oh dear, the sunburn was pretty bad. Its two
days later and its still kinda stingy when I scratch my legs or
arms. I also have a farmer's tan AND my hair is starting to
lighten. Its just not used to being in so much sunshine I
guess! Heh.



I dont regret my trip or getting lost. It was really relaxing and
I felt really good after it. I was tired but happy.