Day 39-40 I Am Never Alone in Saga City

Jun 2 • Blog, Kyushu • 1256 Views • 10 Comments

In life, there are days when things happen one after another. This day when I traveled from Takeo to Saga City, I was somehow never a lone traveler.

As I was leaving for Saga City, someone at the ryokan (Japanese style hotel) where I was staying gave me a bag full of kumquats, telling me that they had lots of vitamin C and would be good for my sunburned skin. What a thoughtful gesture. They were tangy and sweet, and I loved how they burst in my mouth as I chewed them.

Soon after I left, I had a trouble with the luggage rack on the back of my bike. I parked by the street, took off my panniers and was trying to fix the problem. Then a man and his wife came out of the house right in front and asked if I was okay. He helped me pulling the rack up and tightening the bolts.

After I cycled off, I was waiting at a street light, trying to cross the street. Then a car came and honked at me. The passenger window opened. It was the couple who helped me five minutes before. The wife in the passenger seat handed me a paper bag from the car saying, “Ganbattene!” (Good luck!) I said thanks, and then they drove off.

With the deer-in-the-headlight look, I was standing there with my bike in one hand, and the paper bag in the other. After a long pause, I opened the paper bag and looked what was inside. There were some nice sweets and snacks. I was amazed at what had already happened in the first 30 minutes of my day.

I was cycling along fields of beautiful spring green wheat farms. The Strawberry Man from the day before sent me a message, suggesting me to stop by at his father-in-law’s tofu shop in Saga City. As I said why not, one of my twitter followers said he’d meet me there. All of a sudden I had people waiting for me in my destination city.

As I was cycling to the tofu shop in the city, I came to a bridge. On the other side was a man in his fifties or so, waving his hand with a big smile. He was definitely waving at me as there was no one else around. He made the hand gesture, “Come here, come here!”

He caught the sign “Cycling across Japan” on the back of my bike when he drove passed me. He said it reminded him of a cyclist that he hosted 15 years ago. We spent a while talking by the bridge, and he gave me a can of Boss coffee. My bags were getting fuller by the minute.

I got to the tofu shop in Saga City and met the Strawberry Man’s father-in-law and the twitter follower, Mr Furukawa. We chatted with iced coffee in the small tofu shop, and the shop owner gave us three packs of his hand-made tofu.

Now, packs of tofu in water were definitely not something I could carry in my bike bags. Furukawa-san asked me to come to his house, where his wife was waiting for my arrival with icy cold strawberries in their refrigerator. With the tofu on his moped, I cycled as fast as I could after him for about 20 minutes.

I was welcomed by his wife and mother with this beautiful spring sweets and green tea. Japanese sweets, wagashi, has a distinct look to let you know of the season you are in. Here you know this is spring, with the pink color and the sakura (cherry blossom) flower on top. They had had a ceremony of their son’s engagement earlier that day. I happened to come just when they had these beautiful sweets for the event.

Then they gave me these cold strawberries with condensed milk on top. Having cycled as hard as I could to get there, there was no way I was going to refuse any of this heaven of sweets.

Like that wasn’t enough, they gave me these home made almond tofu with tangerines that the grandmother prepared.

So I gave them the kumquats from earlier.

They asked me what I was going to do for dinner. The couple who were going to let me stay that evening wasn’t coming home till later from work. As I told them I didn’t have a particular plan till I headed over to the other house, they suggested me to stay for dinner.

Mrs Furukawa cooked with the tofu to make yudofu. It is tofu cooked in hot water with dashi (stock). She also made tonkatsu, pork cutlet. Can you believe this feast? I seriously had no plan of this or known anyone here till then.

Fresh, soft, delicious tofu, made by Strawberry Man’s father-in-law, cooked by Mrs Furukawa in Saga City.

I thanked the Furukawa Family for such wonderful time and the delicious dinner, and they drove ahead of me in the dark to lead me to the house where I was staying. How kind are they! All day long, I was hardly alone in a place I was supposed to know no one.

I arrived at Bobby and Yuri’s apartment, which happened to be near Mr Furukawa’s house. I got in touch with this couple using Couch Surfing, which was a worldwide website where you can find people who are willing to host travelers like me in their homes.

Bobby Judo is a cook and Saga’s local TV reporter, originally from Florida. He’d made dinner after he and his wife got home from work. Though I’d already had a full meal, they served me a small portion of his home cooked dinner. It was so pretty and delicious! (…and I was surprised of my appetite.)

As we were eating, Bobby and his wife Yuri told me that they had to take me somewhere after dinner. It was almost 9pm. I said, “Now? Where??”

They wanted to take me to this yakitori restaurant, Kaizoku, where Bobby worked part time. The owner of Kaizoku was a 65 year old triathlete and loves cycling. Bobby said, “I told him that you were coming to our house!”

There was no way he was 65 years old. Look at his arms, how can it be!

They served me delicious spring staple, takenoko (bamboo shoots), cooked in a couple different ways.

And I was treated with Saga beef, which was one of the famous beefs in Japan. So tender and deeelicious! (Yes, I was eating dinner for the third time at this point)

In Japan, it is customary and polite to pour drinks for others, especially from the young to the elder. Often it is done to each other. Not only Bobby spoke beautiful Japanese with Saga accent, he had all these cultural rules down. I was surprised how Japanese he was!

A single day, cycling to Saga City. This day is quite unreal to look back. One can actually know no one somewhere and have an unbelievably amazing time, can you believe this?

Of course, not everyday is like this. On some days I don’t have much interesting things going on, but when I step out and open my doors to whatever comes, things keep coming in, even when I’m not expecting anything.

“Adventure” in life is not defined by what tough condition one can throw oneself in. My good friend told me that “an adventure is when you break away from the normal daily routine and just get out.”

Indeed, that’s when something new and exciting happens. This cycling tour, which I had feared when it was about to start, is turning into a series of unforgettable memories of my lifetime. Have you been on an adventure lately? It can even be half a day. What is your adventure? For me, it is cycling the country I was born in. For now.

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