A good night on the ferry. People are slowly emerging from their cabins to prepare for arrival in Kobe.
People were gathering in the common areas awaiting direction to disembark. This ferry has many common areas like this for people to gather and a pleasing open feel.
Keith AdamsIt's an amazingly open, warm-looking space. Unusual in maritime architecture, which seems generally (apart from giant cruise liners) to focus heavily on the functional with little consideration to aesthetics or "human factors". Reply to this comment 1 year ago
Disembarking early in the morning from an overnight ferry can be disorienting. You find yourself in a new place without enough sleep or coffee and you need to find your way. It is fair to say that the Bartletts need an inordinate amount of coffee and at least 8 hours sleep to function. So watch out Kobe, we are legally impaired.
We need to make a decision about the next few days. We are on our way back to Osaka to hopefully get Barry’s motor fixed but some parts have been delayed and won’t arrive for a few days. So we decided to stay in Kobe and get to know a new city. We found a good price on a Hotel Wing International located on the west end of the city. We really liked this chain of hotels when we stayed in Izumi. After touring the downtown of Kobe, we’ll ride about 10 Km west to our home for the next 2 nights. The adventure continues….
The port is a busy place for shipping, ferries and fishing.
Much work has been done to make the waterfront an inviting and modern place to live or just spend time along the water. The striking oval shape of the Oriental Hotel on the right adds to the unique look of the shoreline.
An exciting Art Project along the waterfront has also been instrumental in making this area a desirable place to spend time. The oversized letters of BE KOBE are an iconic image where many photos are taken.
The Diamond Princess cruise ship is in port. It will feel strange to be around fellow tourists as we have been mostly in rural areas on i Kyushu where it is rare to see anyone who is not Japanese.
We immediately liked the feel of Kobe with its wide streets and the city centre being situated so close to the pier. Kobe suffered a catastrophic 7.3 earthquake in 1995 which destroyed 100,000 homes and killed thousands. The modernity of the skyline reflects the successful rebuild of this city.
This photo exhibit on an old industrial building features local residents of Kobe. It is very well done.
We have read that Kobe has one of the three largest Chinatowns in Japan so we will start with checking that out and hope that coffee follows.
Chinatown was still asleep when we rode through. There were business owners getting ready for the busy day ahead, and like us, a few people were wandering through. We’ll return later…after we have had a 2nd breakfast and coffee.
This must be Chinatown. The coke truck is filling the ever present vending machines.
A simple meal of buttered toast, fried egg and coffee was what we were craving. Most mornings, if we make our own breakfast, we have granola, fruit and yogurt. We do miss bread from home as Japanese bread is quite soft and always sliced very thick. It is good toasted.
We met this young man who is on a long journey as well. Ricky is from Nagano and is travelling around Japan on his motorcycle. When we asked where he was from, he initially identified himself as a Traveller. We shared stories and wish him well on his journey.
However, the lineup for this one cafe extends completely around the square. The security person allows only a few people to be in line by the shop. We wondered how the owners of the adjacent cafes felt.
We were watching the activity and locals were watching us. We felt quite conspicuous. This woman had been keeping an eye on me and gestured that she wanted to take our picture, so we returned the favour.
Barry BartlettTo Keith AdamsYou summed it up. We realize that with our strange looking trikes and being non Japanese, we are a spectacle. It’s funny, we are normally somewhat shy and on the road, all filters are gone. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
Keith AdamsTo Barry BartlettDecades ago there was a couple on the tandem listserve that I used to frequent who got themselves a Greenspeed recumbent tandem trike. It was a HUUUUUUUUGE attention magnet, both literally and figuratively, and meant they never went *anywhere* in anonymity. They learned to allow at least an hour extra for conversations along the way, or after a ride.
That was, in the end, one of the reasons they eventually sold it: they wanted to return to relative obscurity and privacy. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
Keith AdamsNoting that you're sporting Arkel panniers. They look like the T-42 Classic model, yes? I'm torn between those and the GT-54s. Your thoughts as to overall roominess, adequacy, etc.? I have a set of the GT-18s that I used (and like a lot) as my front bags on last year's tour but what I had on the rear was just a bit small (not Arkels, and the model I have is no longer produced by the manufacturer).
If you want to respond offline please feel free; my email address is embedded in my CB profile info. Reply to this comment 1 year ago
And then things got a bit crazy. We admired this couple’s three cute dogs basically fluff balls on legs, and they captured our hearts with their personalities. The captain of the outfit checked us out.
He looks very proud of his sun hat, and more importantly we got his seal of approval.
By now, I had a lap full of the softest, sweetest dogs you can imagine. Of course none of the humans spoke the same language, just the common language of dog.
And then, this man came over. As a fellow avid cyclist he wanted to visit, and boy what a story he had to tell. He has a condition called spina bifida and has done some incredible trips on his hand cycle….around Japan and Guam.
We had a great time chatting with him. His son was quite shy but then found the courage to move in for the photo.
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