Kibiji Bike Ride

Up early, we hopped a couple trains to reach the Kibiji plains. At the Bitchu station, we all rented bikes for a full day ride through rice patties, around temples, and through country life.

We stopped at a local shrine, Yagui, where we discovered a small festival! The party was in honour of Momotarō, a boy born from a giant peach who befriends a monkey, a pheasant, and a dog. Together they defeat oni, demons, securing fortune and fame.

After eating some tasty fair food, watching local kids dance (to gangsta rap), and winning a prize at a game, we hopped back on the bikes and rode through the rural farm town. Winding through the streets and rice paddies, we made our way to the huge Kibitsu shrine. The giant main shrine is made in the Kibitsu style (winged crossings adorning the roof) and has a 398 metre covered corridor.

(These offerings are sure to get him drunk off his...)

A long stretch of riding through rice fields brought us to our next stop, but first, here's a little friend I found along the way.

He's about the size of my hand and striped like a bumblebee. All I kept thinking was, "Don't fall of the bike, don't fall of the bike". Which is quite a feat when you haven't been on a bike in years.

We wound our way to Komoritsuka Tomb, a cave-type stone room with a large stone coffin. The former leaders of the Kibi Kingdom were buried here. It was too dark for a photo, but blissfully cool. Have I mentioned it is hot as balls here?

Racing up a hill, we reached the iconic five-story pagoda. It is 360 metres tall and is the largest burial mound in Japan that people can enter.

Time for a quick lunch stop at a ramen restaurant. With the extremely hot day combined with lots of physical activity, I was in no mood for a steaming bowl of soup. I tried the gyoza and tempura chicken instead.

Making our way toward Soja, we stopped to see a little picnic hut. The group briefly lost Jeff and Australian Peter in Soja when they ducked into a store, but all were reunited and we set out for Kurashiki.

Sunburnt and sweaty, we decided to check out more of the historic district shops before cleaning up for dinner.

A smaller group from the tour went for a Hiroshima specialty dish, okonomiyaki. They start with a very thin crepe, cook your fillings (cabbage, sprouts, onion, noodles, meat, seafood) on a hot grill, crack an egg on it, flip it over and add sauce, spices and another pancake. Lastly they sliced it in six for us.

It was incredible!!

Tomorrow we take several trains on the way to Kyoto.