Arriving in Shimonoseki

Backpaking day 4 – Arriving in Shimonoseki
+ Reflections on addiction to Internet (in Norwegian)

Travel day today, got up reasonably early, checked out from the Fukuryu Business Ryokan and took the 100yen-bus loop to Hakata station. I bought my ticket, and then ate my onigiri breakfast at the platform waiting for my train. My train was a ‘futsu’ train (local train) headed to Kokura where I had to change train to get to Shimonoseki. At Shimonoseki station I stopped to get the local tourist guide, and then I walked the 50 metres to my hotel, left my luggage and headed for the closest Internet Café while waiting for check in. After checking in at the hotel I decided to take a bath to wash of the travel dust – or train sweat* as I hereby rename it in the spirit of the modern age. (These words sound better in Norwegian; “reisestøv” & “togsvette”…)

Clean and clothed, planned what to do while in Shimonoseki, and where to go the next couple of days. I e-mailed with Kate and established that I’ll come and visit her in Hagi on Wednesday, and from there I’m taking the bus to Yamaguchi where I’d like to stay a couple of days –if there’s any available accommodation. From Yamaguchi I’d like to go back up to the north-western coast to the area around Oda (pronounced O-da / Åda) and then east to Matsue and Tottori before heading south to Okoyama. Hopefully I’ll be able to do this, and hopefully I’ll be able to do this at a more leisurely pace than I’ve had up to now.

Anyway, so far I have no idea if anything after Hagi will become more than thought, but I managed to decide how to spend my day in Shimonoseki. Tomorrow morning I’m getting up early and taking the first bus to Karato to see, explore and experience the famous (big, anyway) morning fish market, and then I’ll spend the day in Karato and Chofu to see all the touristy stuff.

---

Edit: plans in Shimonoseki did not go as planned. Today (Tuesday) I didn’t manage to get up as planned due to exhaustion. The time is now 14:20, and I’ve yet to get out of the room. I needed a day to just let my body catch up, especially since I’ve planned a long day tomorrow. I’m a bit sad that I’ve been unable to do any of the Shimonoseki touristy stuff, but it might be a nice weekend trip saved for later, now that I know how to get here etc. My revised plans for today; buy train ticket for tomorrow, get food (also for tomorrow’s breakfast), and go to the post office to send the 2nd Traveller’s Notebook I’ve been carrying since Fukuoka. And after that, perhaps more food, and then I’ll return to the hotel to sleep.

---

Åh, avhengigheten av internett! Det merkes ekstra godt når en reiser utenfor en daglig tilgangs avstand. Det hjelper til en viss grad å ha med seg pc’n, selv om den ikke har internettilgang, så kan man ”blogge” i Word, mens man av en eller annen merkelig grunn lengter etter å taste kombinasjonene Ctrl+C og Ctrl+V til et nytt vindu. Og mens man først er i gang kan man jo laste opp noen bilder til bloggen – og så husker en at man er visst ikke online likevel… PC uten nettilgang er i bunn og grunn er det bare selvbedrag (men som til en viss grad tilfredsstiller skrivekløen). Man er like avhengig, man bare utsetter neste dose litt lenger, mens man venter på neste internettkafe.

Det er ikke lett å bære tanken på en viktig e-post i innboksen – som man ikke får sjekket før man kommer til neste by – hvis man i det hele tatt finner et sted med tilgjengelig internettilgang der. Det er heller ikke lett å vite at folk faktisk er aktive på Facebook igjen, og ikke bare spammer hverandre med diverse applikasjoner. Jeg blir sittende igjen med ett ubesvart spørsmål. Hva tenker man mest på? E-posten, bloggen, eller kommentarene på Facebook?

---