Japan , first week

 Well that was a bit of a bad ending to Vietnam we moved into a hotel next to the airport, our flight was at 00.25 am, so we thought we could relax for the last day and a half, we booked the hotel for two nights even though we were booking out at 8pm to make sure we had no stress, all went well until we got to the check in desk and the guy said, your flight left this morning, jesus, I knew we were flying on Easter Friday but this was easter Friday!!!! Panic, luckily we got new tickets which was just as well because our visas were about to run out, 1000 USD so we actually paid over 1500 pounds to get out of here if you count the mistake ! And Fiona got scammed on her credit card for £200 from a shop in Perth that had been hacked. A couple of very expensive phone calls back to the UK to cancel the card kind of summed up a disappointing Easter Friday . 

So we landed at Osaka airport and we're first off the plane, i thought how lucky we are, into the Immigration hall. As always the Immigration guys are special sending people to another counter because of some non compliance, we waited then I stepped up first, passport scanned and fingerprints taken then he asked me for my bar code, no Idea what you are talking about, seemingly you must register your arrival , nobody said anything so we had to go and fill up a form then re-join the back of a massive queue because everybody else was off the plane now. I reckon 70% of people had to do the same. Nothing on the fco website, no mention on the flight, Nada! 

Then luggage reclaim and once again where's your luggage declaration form, ok get over there and fill it in, raging, no sleep and being ordered around, not good. Got our expensive sim cards £70 each, welcome to a rich country! Then changed some dollars so we would have money.

The very efficient bus took us into Osaka Town which gave us a feel for the roads etc, nobody beeping their horn, no crazy driving, people parked sensibly, I could get used to this. 

Into town and fot an Uber to the Hotel, still a few miles and around £26 but at least we were here, breakfast had finished but because I booked in for the previous night we got to our room straight away.

We both crashed out for 2 hours before getting the train back to the centre, we were looking for a bike shop that was recommended to us to buy warmer Jackets and waterproof gloves. After much pissing around we found it and with absolutely no help from the staff managed to get ourselves sorted out. Lunch and a beer was needed and taken care off before getting back to our digs and crashing out again.

Osaka

Efficient trains

plenty booze

Busy place

We picked up the bikes from the nice guys at moto Kanzai in Osaka. Fiona a Honda 400 twin and myself a GS800, the GS felt huge because I've only been riding a small bike for the last 4 months and it didn't help when the shop owner almost lost it moving it round the back, a massive slide thanks to the new tyres!

We set off and ended up on the highway to get out of Osaka, it's a toll road so there were many stops, the alternative is avoiding the tolls and using the other roads which have traffic lights everywhere. It took us 2 hours to clear Osaka. Japanese roads are great but they have low speed limits 

We headed to Mount Yoshina to get photos of Cherry Blossoms,  stopping at a 7/11 on the way for a sandwich and a drink, got blethering to an older chap who insisted in giving us his 3 tins of beer and a snack he had just bought as a present, wouldn't take no for an answer.

Mount Yoshina was busy with tour busses all filled with older Japanese ladies mainly. Later that night in our hotel in Hashimoto they all came rolling in from their tours.

We left the following day in the rain to catch a ferry to Tokushima , about a 2 hour ferry,  very efficient and ran on time before making our way to a hotel in the middle of nowhere, finally quiet roads. 

Wednesday we had a 55 mile ride planned over some amazing passes, I was steering through clenched buttocks,  the road was very quiet and the speeds slow thankfully, got some amazing photos, first time I have chilled out for Months riding the bike. I wouldn't buy a 800GS though, low speed throttle response is diabolical. Just what you need negotiating multiple hairpins. 

Bikes ready

Mount Yoshino

Nice

Waiting for the ferry

Decide whats diesel and whats petrol

Breakfast stop

Very Pretty

They supply these

Plenty hairpins

A nice very Japanese meal at the hotel, still can't quite master chopsticks though, luckily the lady saw I was struggling and brought me a fork and spoon!

Wednesday morning and we planned to another tricky mountain pass which Fiona had planned but I wasn't feeling like taking more chances, especially since it was forecast rain so we just wobbled along the normal roads to our Hotel in Oboke Gorge, nice location but we were early so a wee run to a nearby eating place to waste some time and eat some food. Not a lot more to report apart from my lack of get up and go, I will try better but I'm sure all motorcyclists have had that feeling occasionally that you should take the easy option and try again tomorrow. 

View from our Hotel room

A better view

Still smiling, note the duct tape on the boots

Very Wet

We left the Hotel in Oboke in very heavy rain for the 200 mile ride to Oita which also included a ferry. I felt a lot happier despite the rain, not sure what changed ,maybe the realisation that not everybody was trying to kill us with Dodgy driving. The ferry was perfect, bikes go on first and are guided to their space by the crew, you walk away and a pair of crew members tie your bike down carefully,  it happens quickly and efficiently. After the bikes are on the cars and trucks roll on one at a time, no rush, no panic and ample direction from the crew. We could learn a lot from these guys, oh and the ferry left and arrived on time, disembarking was the opposite , cars and trucks of first and bikes last and that also worked well. It was a long day though, leaving at 9am and not really stopping until we got to our hotel at 5.

It was a big corporate type hotel, which was different the meal at  night was expensive and left me unimpressed. 

Our new pals

Efficient ferry

We are sailing 

A short ride to the hells of Beppu  which is a hot spring, full of tourists but nice and we added to the tourist thing  you having a ice cream. On the way in we spotted an interesting bike shop so we stopped there, the guy was baffled about what we wanted but Google helped and they were quite happy for us to take photos

Not a bad day 

Sper nice guys when they realised we were proper motorcyclists, even gave us a couple of bottles of coffee as a present