Well, as the saying goes, “the third times the charm”. It wasn’t planned this way, but we have stayed 3 nights in Kumamoto and tonight is our third hotel. We loved this hotel, Mitsui Garden Hotel Kumamoto and will look for others in this chain as we travel. Staff are incredible, the room was comfortable with a very functional eating area. This hotel clearly has a culture of individualized service to suit each guest’s needs. We have been struggling lately with some hotels being very uptight regarding our trikes and unable to think outside the box. As an example of how Mitsui Garden Hotel was different… when they saw our trikes they came up with a wonderful solution. We brought them into the lobby, the manager cheerfully moved things to make a space for them and cheerfully put up a temporary barricade. Wow, how to make us feel welcome.
Upon departure, the young woman who works at the front desk was very interested in our travels and our trike. She insisted on carrying some of our heavy panniers and helped me out the door.
Our destination is to ride to the ferry taking us to Shimabari in Nagasaki Prefecture. We have 15 km to go and we raced to connect with an earlier ferry. We got there in half an hour….thankfully the route was flat. We flew!
As we were riding the last bit before the ferry, breathless and giving it all we had, we both had to laugh at a car which passed us. It was this couple and the woman held up her dog to give us a wave as they drove by. When we arrived at the terminal, they were waiting to wave us off.
Living on a small island that is only accessible by ferries, we have often experienced racing for a ferry and being the last car or bicycle to make the ferry. We definitely had a sense of deja vu today!
The ferry crossing takes an hour. As usual, the ferry had comfortable seats that reclined and had pop down trays. We wonder why BC Ferries can’t provide comfort like this. The ride is pretty and interesting with these fishing areas.
His fellow classmates were too busy feeding the gulls to notice him. However, all eyes were on the funny looking foreigners in the high-vis jackets. A few students bravely stepped forward to speak to us in the english that they had learned in school.
We admired the courage of a young man who very formally asked us to stop and talk to him. He asked us very specific questions and when finished, he thanked us and said we could go.
Our first stop after getting off of the ferry was at a Family Mart convenience store for coffee. The staff at this store take great pride in their store and have personalized the decor.
The hills are big and the countryside is beautiful and rugged. We left the busier road along the coast and have climbed to the rural area of the island. We will follow this for most of the day.
We had another stop at a convenience store. Barry went in to use the rest room and came out with some sweet treats. As we were enjoying our snacks a man walked by and gave us a gift of delicious chocolate cookies.
We stopped at this great farmers market. Persimmons were drying in the sun. We bought a bag of mandarin oranges and a ripe persimmon. We hadn’t realized that to dry them it is best to peel them first.
When we successfully made it to the ferry this morning, we realized we needed to make a plan. Nagasaki is too far and hotels are very difficult to find on our route. Plus, the hills are killing us. The 0nly hotel we could find was a Love Hotel called Chapel Coconuts, 4500¥ ($40) including breakfast.. That works for us, but the problem is…we can’t check in until 7 pm, and by then it is dark and cold. We asked to check in early but it would cost double our rate, so we decided 7 pm would be fine and find a Convenience Store in the vicinity to have dinner and keep warm.
First problem was, Barry broke his front tooth…the same one he broke on our previous trip to Japan in the spring. The second problem was that the route was so challenging, that we took longer than anticipated, and ended up riding in the dark. Not a good thing when the road is narrow and commuter traffic is heavy. Anyway, we made it by 7 pm, the setting of our hotel overlooking the ocean was beautiful, the room was actually really nice and we settled in desperately in need of a hot shower and a good sleep. More about the Love Hotel tomorrow.
Today's ride: 62 km (39 miles) Total: 1,303 km (809 miles)
5 months ago