"Everywhere is walking distance if you have enough time..."

[Or, why I seem to be having the worst luck with trains...]

It is approximately a 3 hour walk from Mitoma to Tsuyazaki.

Ask me how I know... go ahead... Okay, okay, I'll tell you.

So I went into town last night to catch up with Kev, a gent I used to work out with when I lived here last. Good times. Catching up. Psuedo-intellectual pontificating over world events and a beer or two.

So I take out at about 1120 to catch the train back home... bit of background... Tsuyazaki to Tenjin/the city takes two trains... the Nishitetsu line, the slow train, right by my house, goes into Kaizuka. At Kaizuka you take the subway into the city. Simple enough. But on the way back home, I make my connection at Kaizuka but the Nishitetsu only makes it to Mitoma before it shuts down for the evening. Mitoma being about the halfway point to Kaizuka.

So, 1215 at night. No more trains. No cabs at the stations. And even if there were, only 4000 yen or so on me, so it wouldn't have covered the cab ride.

So.

What to do?

The obvious answer. Start walking.

Tried following the train tracks for awhile, but the gravel/stones/lack of lighting made for a fairly unpleasant and slow going experience. So then tried to parallel the tracks on the roads, but those soon diverged. So then stick to the main roads and when in doubt, bear left towards the ocean. If nothing else, I'll end up swimming home.

So, after about an hour of walking it becomes some absurd test of ability and self reliance. Here I am, middle of the night, barely passable Japanese, no reading ability to speak of... Can I even find my way home? Can I actually walk the entire way? Pride is now on the line. Ego has entered the picture. Common sense and intelligence have left the building.

So after about 90 minutes and change, I see a sign, thankfully in English, for Koga City. Brilliant! Sandy's old school [Genkai] was in Koga! Can't be long now!

Koga actually is much bigger on foot than you'd think.

So I keep on moving, starting to actually recognize, or at least think I recognize, some landmarks, and finally do see some things I absolutely know... again though, on foot, nothing quite so much as close as you remember it. I pass the road leading to Sandy's old school and start to figure that I know positively where I am at... time to look for a cab.

Ego now having left the building. Rationalization having entered.

"Surely, I've found my way home... and if I had to, I could walk it... and definitely, the cost of a cab from Fukuma to Tsuyazaki shouldn't break the bank..."

Sad really, when you used to do 20mile marches with 50lb packs. However... word of advice. A pair of Converse Chuck Taylor's really don't cut it as hiking shoes. A good pair of boots are priceless...

So, the cab is caught and they drop me off at the Nishitetsu train station where my bike is at, where... wait for it... someone's gone through all my stuff again.

Now before you all flip and think "Rob you're a moron who clearly hasn't learned his lesson" it was neither my backpack, nor was anything taken, nor did I leave anything of value with the bike. I've learned that lesson.

But I had picked up a little pouch for the bike for my pump and some cans of compressed air and a maintenance tool... and all that was still there... but it was open and clearly someone had gone through it.

What the hell is happening in this country? It was probably some foreigners :)

Quite a night.

Oh, and Sandy, slept right through your message/call... sorry... off the top of my head, I'd say the worst lessons learned - probably competitiveness or secrecy...