Day 1 Leaving Home to Kumamoto
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Loading ...So the day came. After having headaches, stomachaches and sleepless nights in anxiety for the unknown world of my cycling tour, I had to leave. My bike wasn’t done until the day before, which made me wake up with stomach pain. I didn’t know if I had everything I needed in my panniers. What in the world did I pack in those things?? Inside of head was upside down, and I kept telling myself that everything will be just OK. I prayed at my grandfather’s alter (video above), which made me calm down before I left.
“Are you OK?” “NO!”
I was lucky I was able to leave with Biciclown and cycle with him for the first 6 days in Kyushu. Like I said in my first blog, I am completely new to cycling, let alone cycling tour. This is going to be epic in so many ways.
The first mechanic problem happened 15km after we left home, in the middle of a traffic junction. I kicked the front mudguard and it bent completely and almost broke off. The wheel was stuck and needed an immediate fix. So we stood and I scrambled to get the repair material, which made me turn my pannier upside down. I finally found it, and with Biciclown’s help, Sakura (my bike) was OK again. Who would’ve thought that this brand new shiny pink bike would be damaged so soon. I named her Sakura, which means cherry blossoms in Japan.
After a pretty darn good damage to Sakura, I was so careful with my feet and my front wheel. I was concentrating even more, and thank goodness, lunch time came.
My mom had made onigiri (rice balls) for lunch. Onigiri is a very typical lunch to make in Japan, just like ham and cheese or peanut butter & jelly sandwiches in the west. Inside of onigiri, you can put anything, but the typical content is pickled plums that are super sour, or bonito flakes. So many different kinds exist, and you can be as creative as you want with what you want to hide in the rice. Mom’s were actually creative ones. They had tenkasu marinated in dashi (little pieces of fried tempura batter soaked in dashi stock) and spring onions were mixed with rice. OMG (= oh my god, just in case you don’t know), they were delicious. After cycling for a couple hours and having already had an bike incident, I was so happy to feel my mom’s love. They were also accompanied by pickled daikon that were nice and crunchy, and my dad’s fluffy tamago-yaki (rolled egg omelet).
The 60km ride down to Kumamoto ended with a nice meal with beer, which I desperately needed after my first day of cycling and the previous anxiety which was almost forgotten with everything that happened on the road already.
Kumamoto is known for karashi renkon (lotus roots stuffed with Japanese yellow mustard) and horse meat sashimi called, basashi. It’s not a commonly eaten type of meat in Japan, and I’ve rarely eaten it myself, but that was also on the menu.
Above is Guru Guru, which is rolled up spring onions with sweet miso.
Delicious marinated octopus.
Hot pot with beef, cabbage, and bean sprouts. Sweet and spicy dashi is being poured on top, and it gets cooked down in front of you.
This sake bottle is twice as big as the regular size. (I did not drink all this)
A beautiful day on a bike and delicious dinner. My tour wasn’t such a bad idea after all 
I think my anxiety is all gone now.
About the Author: Sachi
