Bit of a fever dream haze of a hot day as whatever bug I’d picked up laid me pretty low; thinking too much of travelling to Tokyo with my cold and passing it on to Rachel’s brother’s family. Lazy morning in hostel before venturing out a bit in the heat. I liked the old electrical components dotted around the hostel building, thankfully no longer in use.
Managed to get out for second breakfast (therefore wasn’t too sick, still had an appetite), an interesting western-Japanese mix.
There was a great bike shop next door, so we organised to leave our bikes there to have some work done while we were in Tokyo . Finally found some 29″ tyres to replace my very bald ones, the first time we’d found any in Japan – 29″ mountain-bikes not very popular, understandably.
Having checked out of the hostel, we had time to wander the streets before our train departed for Kofu. Nice to see the castle in daylight, as well as a few other places.
In one old building I marvelled both at the craftsmanship of the building itself and the more recent woodworking and furniture-making – including some demonstrations.
Back out into the heat for a bit before walking to the station.
I did appreciate a number of fonts around town, lovely cool, clear water.
At the station Rachel did a stellar job of dealing with lines and the intricacies of getting the right tickets while I was exhausted from the heat and illness, sitting down somewhere cool and quiet. Unfortunately my desire to ride on the shinkansen was not possible for this trip (probably would have been wasted in my current state), but two trains took us to an overnight stay in Kofu – just past halfway to Tokyo. Our first experience of a Japanese hotel in which we saw no staff at all, bit strange but all worked fine.
I don’t remember much of our brief stay in Kofu, we were soon on our way to meet Rachel’s brother in Kawasaki.
Finally a chance to get some snaps of a local ambulance out and about – bit smaller than our one in Ranfurly, but I suspect more comfortable in the back.
Large hotel breakfast buffet to start – fairly bland in a photo, but thankfully better than the colours suggest.
Still time to spot new covers.
Thomas also sporting an excellent streamlined hairstyle. (Rachel’s photo.)
Spot the Berry.
Was more that full after all that!
Like we were never there.
Another old mine shaft tower.
Pity we missed this local history museum’s opening hours.
More pint-sized underground machinery.
The buildings around this little bit giving off a completely different vibe to the rest of town.
At least this map made more sense than some others we’d seen. We had been at the top right overnight.
Always enjoy spotting an old Alfa, in memory of a good friend.
Kei truck conga line?
More abandoned old worker accommodation.
Immediately after a lot of these new houses – they go up in less than a month apparently. Sounds like buying from a catalogue. (Rachel’s photo.)
Started to see our first rice harvesting.
(Rachel’s photo.)
Still a few more onions around.
Crossing the Ishikari, it was a lot browner than we’d seen four weeks before. (Rachel’s photo.)
Back up on stop banks now (Rachel’s photo.)
We may have been distracted by animals again; unsure I can even blame that on the vet.
Ger ceiling, not as elaborate as some – but still much nicer than the inside of my tent.
Derelict industrial buildings always intriguing to me.
Strolling down to the old walled complex once home to scores of monasteries – since the Soviet occupation, not so much.
Most of the second ring of new shop buildings still sitting empty. But we did find a good cafe.
Apparently the coffee was good, but the wild rhubarb (of which we’d seen a bit in the hills) pie was of greater interest to me.
Just a small section of the wall of old Kharkhorin.
And a small part inside the walls – was staggeringly vast all up.
Not all the temples were lost, we could go inside some – but no photos.
For big prayers.
Didn’t work out what the occasion was, but good fun watching these guys enjoying themselves.
Finally found some postcards, and a lot of stamps! Back of the cards may have been mostly stamps…
Still loving the meat pockets…
Supermarket shopping a bit challenging – unless one wanted to buy a lot of candy.
First a stop at the big monument to the Mongol empire and Mongolia that we’d seen on the top of a ridge from the other side of the river on our ride into town.
Small empire.
Kharkhorin.
Vast empire.
Heading down there to stay on the true right of the Orkhon.
Yes, another ger. At least the hard beds were less of an issue after having gotten somewhat used to sleeping on the ground when my camping mattress failed.
A bit of wrangling so that we could go for a ride. Turned out to be more of a walk, but one of the adult sons of the family had spent time in New Zealand – so could chat with him a bit easier than most locals.
More homemade dairy goodness.
Ian and I managing to not fall off horses – the first time either of us had ridden one for many years. But as it was so slow, it was very easy going.
Nice evening for wandering the river flats though.