Cycled route:
On the way to Tokyo
Through Tokyo & Chiba
E-mail of Tuesday, May 28th 2013, 11.47 hrs.
Hello everyone,
Tokyo. The largest city in the world with its 36.5 million inhabitants. We arrived by bike on Thursday, May 23rd, but the exact moment is not clear. There is no sign along the road, saying: Welcome to the largest city in the world! or something similar. Neither do you see signs beforehand: Tokyo, so and so many kilometres. Or: Tokyo, this way. And when you leave, you see no signs with: See you again soon in Tokyo. You wonder if Tokyo really exists. According to Lonely Planet, it does, and we have already worked through quite a long sightseeing list. The highlight, especially for Remy, was Akihabara, ’Electric Town’. We roamed there for hours, Remy’s tongue hanging out, and the result is a few extra kilos in the bicycle bags (electronics are far cheaper in Japan than in Holland. This is also a warning to Remy’s colleagues: he is thinking of a staff trip to Tokyo...
As we were in Tokyo sooner than we expected and don’t want to spend the intervening time there, we are now cycling through to Chiba, the peninsula to the south-east of Tokyo. We shall spend the last night with Miyana in Narita. Last week, she sent us an invitation via CouchSurfing, and as she lives near the airport, the invitation was very attractive.
And, surprise, surprise, we have cycled 70 kilometres in one day on a cycle path. A real one! East of Tokyo, there are two lakes. From there, almost to the coast, there is a proper cycle path along the River Tonegawa. Fancy our finding that in Japan! Is there such a long one in the Netherlands, actually?
Cycle path along the Tonegawa (gawa = river) and women working in the rice fields
Only a few more days and then our Sunnymoon weeks will be over. During the coming days we’ll slowly take our leave of a beautiful, special and fantastic country!
Remy & Gea
Ready to leave
E-mail of Friday, May 31th 2013, 21.06 hrs.
Hello everybody,One more night’s sleep and then we leave Japan. At 11.55 on Saturday, we leave from Narita Airport, fly for seven hours back in time and arrive at Schiphol at 19.55. In order to get used to Dutch weather again, we have just had two days of rain but today it’s lovely weather again. We’ll take some warmth and sunbeams back to Holland with us. They won’t do much with them here, as the rainy season is about to begin.
I don’t need to tell you how much we have enjoyed it all. We have taken Japan to our hearts for ever. If we have the opportunity again, we shall certainly be back!
Sayonara!
Remy & Gea
Click here for more photos of the route to Tokyo, Tokyo itself and the route through the north of Chiba
