Day 8-it's been a week!

Wow, it's already been a week in tour. Today I woke with a pretty bad migraine I had been hoping would go away in the night but stuck around instead. So we had a short day, 20km, from Okayama to Kurashiki. Was too far to the next town and with rain feeling imminent and our late start we decided to spend the day strolling Okayam castle grounds and it's beautiful manicured gardens. The city riding to Kurashiki station to wait for our next host. Our last host was Yo in Okayama who made us a delicious dinner of hot pot soup with oyster mushrooms. We talked a lot about food, and watched an opening day game of the Tokyo Giants vs. the Okayama Ravens? We won! I get the feeling the Tokyo giants aren't much liked here. Got breakfast from a vending machine place. I liked this one in particular because it had pictures next to the buttons. You put in your money, punch in your order and then the waiter brings you your food. No money handling, clear quick ordering, if you speak japanese.

Some if the islands to the south

Finally, more people pro-banana's

Vintage shirts I wanted to make quilts out of!

Kimono's at the thrift, these are just a few, the fabrics were pretty.

Yummy hot pot Yo made us.

Some pics from riding down the south coast:

I don't what medium these concoctions were in but they smelled heavenly.

Mmmmmmm, cabbage egg pancake with oysters on top and covered in sauce? Two please!

This saved me today in my fragile headache state. Thank mom!

Not the castle

Castle view

Bamboo forest. I love love love bamboo. It makes me happy like cats of the plant world.

Head in the stream, do you see it?

Selfies in the garden

The end

Japan Week One - Try To Not Embarrass Yourselves

....is a dessert you should only take small bites of, if at all.

Try the fun size on instead! Look, I'm

twenty seven, traveling with my sis (whose turning thirty soon!) and we make fun of ourselves all the time. Part awkwardness, part smile provocation, and part mild offense.  We spit snarky remarks snared by Socratic ignorance, triggered by pseudo-esoteric intellectual comments on what we see and experience. Or, were just having fun, depends on your point of view. 

And so here are my fun confessions; my favorite pics of the week. Enjoy!

Keep doing what you do people. Own your life while acknowledging that there others doing the same. Check out our day to day sibling foolishness at:

TheCyclingAnthropo.blogspot.com

We're back in the bike tomorrow after a day off due to rain. Get ready for more ;)

Love,

-A

Ps. After dinner conversations, it's decided. We need "S/he's my brother/sister" tshirts for traveling because we're each picking up respectable vibes from Japanese strangers. Go figure.

Japan Week 1- Gabi's Pics

       We're in Japan! My brother Andrés and I are going to try a joint blog this time and see how it goes!

      I (Gabi) have decided to do a Photo dump. I feel like I have less down time than I had expected to, and my brother has certainly put me to shame 

 with his regular updates, so: a photo dump!

Not the best picture of a MASSIVE Ferris wheel outside of Izumisano, a suburb of Osaka where we stayed with our very welcoming host Yosuke.

An interesting view to my eyes outside the apartment. That's an actively planted field: we saw them all over interspersed with older more traditional houses, apartments and ever present convenience stores.

The view over Izumisano, seaside suburb right before the mountains!

Not imported Shimano bike parts! Lol

Supermarket feast! That instant soup broth was gooood.

Juxtaposition of city and shrines is present all over Japan. The country seems to take great care if it's treasures.

Platte river trail equivalent!

The Brother

This is not a fidget, this is a call button. Lesson learned. I kept pressing it and the kept coming to check on us and I stayed totally oblivious. You win some you lose some.

Taking selfies while waiting waiting waiting.

Home made Pente set! Andres is good!

Another bike tourer. The Japanese tourers have great signage, need to work on this. He is touring on a mamachuri, the preferred bike of japan.  I would translate it as maybe a commuter cruiser. Hardy, lot's of carrying power but built for comfort.

Yummy!

Train station. Love all the signage.

Cute little tricycle. When I can no longer ride my bicycle, get me one of these!!

Sea side bike path. Can you see the boats?

Chocolate spokes/grey golden gate chocolate break.

This is whatI thought I was ordering from the sample outside, this is what I got!! EVEN BETTER! Stir fried cabbage and vegetables and mushrooms in a curry sauce with a fried pork cutlet mixed in. Yummy, yummy, yummy!!

Secret underground mall. 

I think we underestimated Japan's rain potential. Here in the hotel after getting rained out after parking our bikes, we found this umbrella parking stand  the garage. Lock your umbrella up! Also, many bikes have umbrella holders! Wish us luck!

Waiting, admiring my new shoes.

I want to with this! Toys at Mc Donalds.

McDelivery

Octopii- they were all so different!!!

 13.00$ for albino strawberries?

Oranges cost more than Avocado's. :/

Part of a fungi display

Tomatoes! Flowers?

Veggies

Plant wall made is think of our mother! Hi mom! Andrés said t smelled really good!

Himeji castle is under construction and currently under a rain sheet,  but probably looks something like this: mm snack vendors.

Yum! More snacks in the secret mall. Terrible picture, but you get the idea!

Broski, with a mystery vegetable. Do you know what it is?

K! As you can see, the sights are aplenty and so we go slow! We came into Izumisano and built our bikes on Friday, started out Saturday. Izumisano->Osaka->Kobe -> Himeji. K, talk to you, and more pictures soon!