Whoa. A very not so good morning. Slept hungry and woke up hungrier. We had the last 2 sticks of cheese for breakfast and I downed a whole load of water to drown the hunger. Groggily packed everything in a timely manner as to leave as soon as possible before the locals sees our tent. 

The plan today is to reach Nabari then start making our way up the mountains to call it a day at Aoyamakogen. Funny thing about the Japanese is that they are famously a technologically advanced society but they are surprisingly low-tech. Most of the system here are still paper-based and labor-intensive. Remember, 4 guys to load our bags into the bus? The ATM machines here close at 5 or 6 p.m and most do not recognise the ATM card with the security chip. So in our case, most campsites requires you to make a booking via telephone, 2 days in advanced. There are some that offers online booking but unfortunately the websites are all in Japanese. I tried changing the language and keying in roman characters but that will illicit an error. Anyways, the fellas on Japanese Cycling Navigator Facebook page says most of the time common sense will prevail if a foreigner rides up to an empty campsite, the keeper will usually let them in. But hey, no harm in having positive thoughts.



Our first tunnel experience in Japan. Bloody easy and safe. Such a huge difference with crossing through tunnels in any country in the world. For example, in China bicycles are not allowed. Some time they even stationed tunnel guards due to the fact errant lorries kinda just ignore the maximum height limit and just smash their way in. On one occasion I had to stealthily ride beside a bus to avoid contact with a guard. And another, the guard was on the other side. Passing the startled guards, they blew their whistle and angrily waved me over but I intentionally mistaken their wave over as a farewell wave, so I did a "oh bye bye" wave with a smile and cycled away. I roared in laughter once they disappeared from view, but off course I grew panicked after awhile, assuming they might catch up with me in their patrol car and whisk me off to a hard labor prison camp.

Secondly, there's no such thing as a sidewalk pavement to cycle in the tunnels in China. So I was sharing the road with hefty trailers and huge lorries and pedaling as fast as my weary legs can, trying to ride through the dark tunnel as fast as possible. Didn't help that mid way in the tunnel, the rumbling of the vehicles were collectively reverberating along the walls and it was really loud - deafening.



Exiting the tunnel the climb continued on until a few km later there's a massive downhill that worked really well with our grumbling hunger.



After a really nice winding long decent we arrived at this tiny beautiful village. There's these houses on one side of the bridge and a few more scattered in the hills.



And look at the view from the bridge, its freaking amazing!



Another angle! Can you see the anglers? Damn. Life is easy here.



The other side of the bridge.



The obligatory bike bridge pose photo.



Ahhh food. FINALLY!



The wife was like "Should I get this or this?" I was like "GET BOTH!"



Quite expectedly we ate all the onigiri in the shop, a bunch of cheese bread and this really horrible tasting banana. I dont think it's a real banana tho.



A little blankie if you're cold.



After we had our tummy filled, we pedaled on - with more up! Yea, this section the climbs are never ending. But thank god the scenery are captivating. Took our mind away from the arduous climb.



Perfect and picturesque. Any Japanese living here wanna swap with my city living?



Self sufficient too.



Ok more climbs towards Nabari.



Nabari here we come!



Loving this scene of a tiny tomica juxtaposing against the breadth of the valley.



These carp windsocks are called Koinobori, erected in April to May - in honor of children for a good future and in the hope that they will grow up healthy and strong. Something to do with carp are a resilient fish and able to swim against swift-running current.



Yes, the climb never stops.



But the higher you go the nicer the view.



As we stopped for a breather and a chocolate break, we had a conversation about hey ain't it a bit of a nutter to build a dedicated bike lane all the way up the mountains while there's hardly any cars here. Then seconds later a mobility scooter came zooming next to us. That literally just answered our question. The elderly here need to be independent. The bike lane - just like how we witnessed in Kyoto connect everyone together. From zipping around to get groceries to medical stuff and socialisation.



Closer to Nabari the tarmac starts pointing down and the descent was super fun, going steep and fast. Eventually the dedicated bike lane ends here and we're start sharing the road again with the cars but Japanese drivers are super nice, giving us a huge berth all the time. So no worries.



Ahh. Check that out.



A jade-green stream wound its merry way between the forest and the quiet road. Babbling and burbling, it sprung over the rocks in its way. Pebbles whisked about in the under wash like pieces of glitter. The stillness of the afternoon pierced occasionally by birds in the forest.



Makcik was excited because she said she saw a spider. Adeh.



Yes yes. The obligatory nice-scenery-bike-leaning-against something photo.



Yea my bars are extra wide.



We reached Nabari! Civilisation! That means lunch! Fooood! Quickly, Google says there are 3 happening attraction in Nabari. First, is a waterfall where rumored to be the training ground for ninja hundreds of years ago. Then a castle and thirdly, a huge Sonic the Hedgehog statue. Hahaha.



Eat where the locals eat. Affordable and loadsa options to whet your appetite. Food was great to be honest. I felt like I wanna go for another round but ouff I was full.



Self service all the way. Notice the pink towel? Inside the holder there's a mini soap disinfectant spray. So when you're done, you need to wipe down the table with the towel and soap. Also pick up any dropped pieces of food on the table or on the floor before sending over your cutleries at the tray deposit window. Oh you need to stack the bowls according to the sizes too. But the lady at the window smiled graciously and went "Jouzu desu ne" as she took my tray while I clumsily like a circus act tried to stack the bowls with one hand.



So the plan now is to exit the town, but since the traffic is heavy we zig then zag out via the housing estate.



In no time we arrived at the outskirts while a farmer guy doing farm farming things.



Looks like Nabari's farming community. Some of the houses here has huge windowless building probably to be used as storage for farm produce.



Exiting Nabari, the traffic starts to tapered off as we took the junction up to the campground. A further up and up, steadily climbing an 800 meter elevation.



Whoaa. We're kinda high up.



At about 6.07pm we reached 青山高原保健休養地 Campground. We didn't have any booking but I was hoping for the brown face flat nosed foreigner with zero command of nihonggo and theres no one here so they'll let us in common sense will prevail theory but lo and behold we were refused entry. The lady at the registration counter made a huge fuss and crossed both her arm making an X. I was trying to plead for my case but she's like NO, shaking her head in mock denial while clearing the camping registration book on the counter. I was like "Jidensha, Kyoto, Okusan, gusai" (bicycle, Kyoto, wife). She then crossed her arm and tapped repeatedly to her watch. Then I realised, we were 7 minutes late after the closing time. What.



Dejectedly we looked at the map quickly and saw the next town is about 15km away. But its getting late, the skies are yellowing and the shadows are lengthening. It's gonna be dark soon. The wind has also turned up a few notch and it was getting really cold. We discussed that as we were going up we saw a couple of clearing adjescent to the main road. So we're like ok maybe thats where we can setup for the night. But as we're exiting the campground I realised "Hey these holiday homes are empty. Maybe... " and I tapped on the brakes to slow down the descent. 

Rolling down, seeing all these empty housing estates and houses devoid of any light. There were constant security patrol cars though, passing next to us as we're riding down. I stopped next to this housing estate which was strategically located on a ridge, away from any prying eyes. A chain link fence blocked the entrance with a red angry signage in Japanese. The wife stopped next to me and like hey whats up. I told her my plans. Her eyes popped and was like "Eh you're nuts. Lets just ride down and figure this out." (Another patrol car passed) Then I was like "It's getting dark, it's cold and the houses are empty. Look, this one is all boarded up. There's no one here. The neighboring houses are empty too". Pulled out the phone to pretend to show the wife something on the screen but actually letting her survey the empty houses beyond the screen. Another patrol car passed. I timed the previous two and the patrol does an eight minutes interval. 

As this one passed and turn the corner up ahead I was like "OK NOW BABE GO BABE GO BABE" Hahahaha. The wife tensed up and went "OHMYGOD OHMYGOD". We dashed under the chainlink fence, ran-pushed our bike up the entrance ramp, threw our stuff over the hedge and dived into the compound. Minutes later the flashing red and blue lights of the patrol cars lighted up the night before it fades into the distance. Pheww. We're safe. Moving to the back of the house, away from the cold wind, we finally found a place to setup for the night. WIN.



This photo was taken the next morning by the way.