Köpu to Pärnu

35km

Koguvu to Köpu

94km

Kuresaare to Koguva

83km...

Liesi to Kuresaare

53km.. details to follow

Kärdla to Velupe / Liesi

73km... details to follow

Haapsalu to Kärdla - the bike trip begins

35km
Our cycle tour began with a 6am pick-up for the drive to Haapsalu where we were dropped off with our bikes and maps and a cheery wave. We had breakfast by the sea followed by a pootle about the rather fine castle ruins before cycling the 9km to the ferry port. It always feels rather good to ride onto a car ferry and especially through the open-jaw bow which for some reason I like. It was a pleasant 90 minute crossing to the island of Hiiumaa, apart from watching a 25 kroon note fly out of my bag and over the sea. Though as this is less than two pounds I should really feel more guilty about littering the oceans.
To be continued....

Tallinn

The walled old town of Tallinn has been beautifully kept, or lovingly restored, somehow escaping modern development. A compact maze of cobbled streets weaves up and down, opening out here and there onto a small square by a church. The brightly painted buildings are tall and narrow, all different but built into continuous terraces, with occasional arches between them leading into ever narrower alleyways. Every street is lined with pavement cafes and bars. You can't go ten yards without a medievally dressed serving wench offering you sweet ginger-roasted almonds or beckoning you into a hostelry.
We ate in a 'medieval' restaurant (you can't fight it), served by the ubiquitous wenches and young men in tunics, tights and pointy shoes. The dishes served were supposedly medieval and definitely quite good. As was the cinnamon beer.
Another good stop-off for a quick snack was a little olde pie shop, serving nothing but three varieties of pasty-like pie (elk and mushroom was very tasty), beer in clay pots and soup. When Gursh (who I'm here with for the bike tour) asked the serving wench for a coke she told him he'd have to come back in five hundred years, which I thought was a pretty neat response. Wandering the streets of the old walled city made for a very pleasant afternoon and evening, despite the overpowering medieval theme and endless souvenir shoppes. It would be easy to drift from cafe to cafe all day.

Tokyo

I arrived here on Monday afternoon and strolled up the road from my hostel in Asakusa to Senjosi temple. The approach to the temple was a small street lined with a tourist market, but best of all were the guys advertising, and operating, a running rickshaw service. Clad in faded, well worn bike shorts and uniform tops, these young men ran, pulling rickshaw-like carriages. I stood and feasted for so long on the sight of their well-toned muscular thighs, as they casually hitched up the hem of a shorts-leg here and there, that of course I was soon approached with the offer of a ride. I decided against explaining that I was only interested in their legs and moved on.
Yesterday was a big city day. Got up with one of my dorm-mates at five o'clock to visit Tsukiji fish market. Visitors are no longer allowed into the tuna auction, but we managed to find ourselves on the edge what looked like the post-auction collection point, or similar, where huge frozen tuna were being lugged about. Apparently the best of them sell for something like three million Yen. Elsewhere in the market the fish, newly bought at auction, were being cut up - those that were still frozen were whizzed through a bandsaw, fresh ones cut up by hand. Every kind of seafood imaginable was there, three foot long octopus tentacles were being curled int plastic bags, sea-cucumbers lurked unattractively and squid were being held up for inspection.

Later in the morning I set out again, this time for Akihabara - electric town. I trawled various stalls and shops looking for sushi-shaped usb sticks to no avail. I imagine you can buy any bit of electronicsy stuff you could ever want here but I wasn't too excited by tray after tray of miniscule computer components. Still, the place was buzzing with gaudy shop fronts, sales pitch and even a maid cafe.

Next stop was Kiddyland - a shop famed for its plethora of kitsch. Hello Kitty may be king here (or should that be queen?) but the shop had a whole Snoopy floor. Exhausted by the Stuff on offer I retired to the storefront to enjoy a Hello Kitty ice-cream.

Strength restored, I walked down to Shibuya to witness what might be the world's busiest pedestrian crossing (supposedly). It was fairly manic, a four way intersection, so four zebras - one across each road - as well as diagonals. Unfortunately it wasn't rush hour, so my photos don't look quite as good as others I have seen. From here I went to Shinjuku, where I visited a couple of enormous camera shops to track down a new battery. And play with lots of cameras on display while trying not to be too tempted by any of them. By the time I left, it was six o'clock, so Shinjuku station was fairly busy. I've been through it a few times now and there is rather a lot of it. Apparently it has 60 exits and more than 3 million people pass through it every day.

Today I set off for Tsukudocho, near Kagurazaka to see something closer to old-Tokyo charm. The area is full of tiny narrow roads lined with houses, cafes and bars and made a nice contrast to yesterday's bright lights. I then went to Koishikawa Korakuen - a walled garden that proved to be a very attractive haven of calm with its lake, streams and pathways that wandered up little hillocks and over bridges. It even contained a small rice paddy, planted by someone who wanted his wife, who came from a rich family, to understand the hardships endured by peasants. In the distance the peak of a rollercoaster could be seen... so off I went in search of the beast.


The coaster was "Thunder Dolphin" at Tokyo Dome. It whizzed over, and through, buildings as well as through the middle of a spokeless ferris wheel. Well, I suppose with a spoked one it might have presented a problem. Of course, I had to have a go... The guys operating the ride waved us off as if we were dear friends going away for a year and when we returned they clapped our amazing achievement with delighted smiles. I stepped off, my hair pointing backwards and 90 degrees to the back of my head. It was fast. The initial hill was at least twice as high as the mall below and the view from the top was amazing, but unfortunately we didn't hang around there for long. The first drop was terrific - so steep it felt like freefall (it isn't) and apparently over 80 mph.

Kawaguchiko and around

Kawaguchiko

Fuji-san peeking through the cloud, seen from Mt Kachikachi yesterday

The path down from Kachikachi

Mount Fuji from Kawaguchiko, earlyish this morning before the clouds rolled in

Fuji from Okinawa - somewhere a little below 5th station where the road ends and most hikers begin their climb

Shengen Shrine - traditional start of the Fuji-san pilgrimage.
Saw a few pilgrim-walkers setting off, dressed all in white with bells on. Literally.

Informative map of ice cave

What not to do in the ice cave

Masa in the ice-cave. The blocks have been cut from further inside the cave.

Icicles in the cave

Icicles again. The temperature in the cave was zero. It drops to minus 3 at its coldest. Walking towards the entrance, then down into the cave, you can feel the temperature drop in sudden steps. When American forces were stationed here they built a dance hall in the entrance to caves to make the most of this natural airconditioning.

Oh look, icicles. Well, icicle stalagmites.

Mount Fuji from the shore of Motosuko

This is the viewpoint used for the illustration on the 1000 yen note.
Presumably on a clearer day.

Gardens on shore of Kawaguchiko, just before the storm

One night in Tokyo

My extra day in Nikko has made it less worth going somewhere else on my way to Fuji, so I decided I'd just have a night in Tokyo on my way through. That gave me an afternoon pottering in the area close to my hotel and Shinjuku station. After a pub lunch I wandered through the red light district and into a shop that the guide book billed as Tokyu Hands' trashy cousin. It was quite beguilingly trashy, sucking you in to the point when you really start to believe that Hello Kitty bud earphones are just what you need. Guitar strings are shelved next to vibrators, cheap underwear with umbrellas and kids' toys next to rubber clothing. In the midst of all this mega-trash are useful items like electric fans and toasters, but they are balanced by the rows of false eyelashes and strangely shaped i-pod speakers that look like, among other things, big lego blocks.