One more night before hitting Niigata, where I plan to take 2 nights rests. I’m pretty much broke at this point because I only have like 80 bucks left and half of that is going to lodging for tomorrow night. Once I get to Niigata I need to get more money for the road ahead and really start budgeting. I hit a conbini for breakfast again, a big frank sausage on a stick and pizza roll. The weather was perfect as I headed out and then a cycling road appeared which really got me excited because the road along the coast is narrow. It seems like the cycling road is the old road through the area before they built a nicer highway a bit below it. The coastline along Niigata area is very nice, there are a few open beaches with people wind surfing but a lot of it is rocky with some cliffs like Palos Verdes back home. There are several small sleepy fishing villages with tiny ports throughout the area.
After the cycling road ends, the highway takes you a little inland where there are snowcapped mountains on the other side…not as high in elevation as the ones near Toyama a few days ago but still covered in snow. I found a Sukiya, my favorite fast food joint as of late, and ate a cheesy beef bowl. It is pretty good, they cover the beef bowl with cheese and give you tabasco with it. It tasted like a Philly cheese steak over rice. After lunch I tried to stick close to the coastal route as the main highway goes a little inland and there isn’t much to see on it.
I passed through a few small coastal communities much like Central California. I saw a crow pushing a nut into the middle of the road, presumably so a car can crush the nut for it…those birds are smart. Eventually some bluffs appeared where the road had no choice but to go over it. Google finally led me astray, sort of. I asked a lady if the road connects back to the main highway and she said yes, but she warned me it’s steep. Sure enough I pushed my bike all the way up a hill to where Google said there’s a road. I got there and the road disappeared into the mountains. Apparently there was a huge mudslide or something that took out the road. Luckily, there was another fork in the road a little before this point and that did lead me out back onto the highway. I walked my bike through a narrow tunnel along the narrow sidewalk; I didn’t feel like playing chicken today with trucks. There was a lone phone booth on the side of the highway where I decided to call the guest house in Niigata ahead of time to book my stay. Apparently they aren’t too busy because the guy just said there are openings without asking my name.
A few miles later, a roadside rest station appeared…the cape near it is called Lover’s Cape. There were several shops and restaurants selling souvenirs and stuff. It was packed with people but it had no appeal to me. Afterwards it was downhill and back to level ground where Kashiwazaki City is located. Apparently they have a nuclear plant here; nuclear energy, the savior or eventual annihilation of mankind…there’s been talk on the news lately since Japan has decided to bring back online some of the nuclear plants again after taking them offline after the earthquakes.
The place I’m staying at tonight is a business minshuku style lodging. I wasn’t really sure what that meant but after checking in with the bland guy in the front, I was led to a private room up the stairs with a TV, tiny table, and a heater. They have a futon in the closet to sleep on. I went back down to get my stuff and noticed they had an elevator, but it didn’t work. I went to the shower room and cleaned up before heading out for dinner. I found a ramen shop I wanted to try on Tripadvisor but instead I was fascinated by this tiny Thai restaurant I walked by. I decided to give it a try and sure enough inside was a Thai lady running the place. Her husband is from Akita, a bit up north and she’s been living here in Japan for 20 years. She talked about her passport expiring soon and business not being too good. She was thinking of going back to Thailand. I had pad thai noodles, but it didn’t fill me up. I hung around and talked with the lady, still intrigued for some reason with the fact that I was eating Thai food in a part of Japan that's rarely mentioned. I told her I’m from L.A., but she looked at me blankly. It’s in California I said, another blank stare. I’m from America, then she said she doesn’t know. Maybe my incorrect Japanese pronunciation and her not so perfect Japanese didn’t meet up in between. Can someone really not know where America is? I left after a while and headed back to my little room to watch some TV before crashing out.