HECTIC MOVING DAY TO KANPEI WITH HOSTEL MATES!

I started the day early waking up around 8 and heading to the train station. Once I arrived at Saga train station, I disassembled my bike and threw it in my new pimpin' Ostrich bicycle bag. I threw all my panniers into the one large one, and all the contents I somehow managed to fit into my sleeping bag waterproof stuff sack. I somehow managed to move all this crap through the train station and onto the shinkansen. It cost me $100 though :(

Anyway, I arrived to Kagoshima and found the youth hostel right away. Afterwards I ate a Yoshinoya beef bowl combo for 300yen, amazing! Then I rode my bike down to the port area where Kagoshima Aquarium has this weird outdoor canal where they keep dolphins and mambos in! It was pretty depressing to see those poor dolphins trapped like that. A part of me wanted to just bum it, but I figured since I made it here why not do something. I decided to head over to Sakurajima by ferry. It only cost 300yen or something and once I arrived at Sakurajima I rode around and took some nice pics. On the way back to the ferry, I saw a hawk swoop down on some Chinese tourists trying to get their food. It was pretty neat I must say.

Once back at the hostel, I did my laundry and talked to a German couple traveling around Japan. Later in the evening I met a pretty interesting Korean guy named Chung and also a Takemoto-san, an older Japanese guy living up his retirement travelling around Japan. We all had a drink and talked for a long time. Chung was a pretty adventurous guy and has been all over Asia...Afgahnistan, Pakistan, Russia, India, China, few other places. We also talked about our own cultures and experiences, Chung growing up in a very intense high pressure country like Korea where military service is mandatory and education is taken to a whole new level of insane competition. Takemoto-san liked to drink and spoke often of not liking tourist areas because it was too expensive. I checked the ferry timetable from Kagoshima to Ibusuki and it departs at 7:45am so tomorrow is an early start.