8. THE FIGURES.

About 21.000 km in 5 months.
Average 146 km/day.
Longest distance in a day: 825 km (Koewacht - Poland).
Shortest distance in a day: 0 km (several locations while visiting towns or camping on a nice spot).
Mongolia: 1.150 km dirt road.
Yakutia & Far East: 3.114 km dirt road.
Siberia: occasional patches (40 km - 80km) of dirt road.
Diesel Russia: 30 RUB/l or 0,75 €/l.
Diesel Siberia (Kolyma): till 50 RUB/l or 1,25 €/l.
Diesel Mongolia: 2000 MNT/l or 1,00 €/l.
Diesel Japan: 133 JPY/l or 1,00 €/l.

TYPICAL DIRT ROADS

Mongolia: only a vague track to be seen in the front of the car.

Mongolia: typical dirt road, probably based on century old tracks. 

Yakutia (Lensk - Yakutsk): typical man made sand embankment.
Without these, the taiga would be impenetrable.

Yakutia (Lensk - Yakutsk): clay/mud road through a village.

Kolyma Hwy (aka Road of Bones): the Golden Taiga on 16 September.
Rock/clay embankment.

Kolyma Hwy (aka Road of Bones): 18 September - Susuman.

7.3 JAPAN III

Himeji Castle (under restoration) and adjacent garden:

Main gate to the castle.

Castle under restoration.

This is what the tower looks like.
If not the most beautiful castle of Japan, certainly one of...

Adjacent gardens.

(A) 11/11 Takeyama with the French bicycle overlanders - (B) 13/11 Himeji Castle -
(C) 19/11 & 20/11 Shimoda - (D) 21/11 Yokohama Port Terminal T9 Mitsui Warehouse.

On a mountain road towards Yokohama : excavators on a steep slope, winched by two others on the edge of the slope. Works in progress to stabilize the slope.

Spot the two excavators on the slope.
Tea plants in the foreground.

Tea plants.

We were on our way towards Yokohama to ship the car to Belgium and had some spare days. So we visited the Izu Peninsula marked on the map with a lot of Onsen's. The amount of Onsen's surprised us a little and we decided to have a last hot bath before going back to Belgium. Next to the hot baths, steam was hissing out of the ground and also the sea was bubbling.

Japan is formed by 4 tectonic plates and the Izu Peninsula is the only part of Japan that is situated on the Philippine Sea Plate. This part of Japan started some 20 ~ 10 million years ago as a cluster of Submarine Volcanoes. Gradually the Pacific Plate pushed the Philippine Sea Plate against both others plates creating in the process an island that became later the peninsula.

Needless to say that this situation creates a lot of fire works.

Tsunami's: a nuisance while having a leak.

We also found out that on this peninsula, in the town Shimoda, the USA installed the first consul in Japan in 1854. Commodore Matthew Perry sailed to Japan in 1852 and demanded a Treaty of Peace and Amity and the possibility to trade. At that time feudal Japan was almost completely isolated from the rest of the world and this demand started a civil war between the conservative Samurai's (Edo period) and the progressive (Meiji period). The ports of Shimoda and Hakodate were subsequently allocated for trade to the Americans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_Matthew_Perry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_Kanagawa

We met Ken at a 7/Eleven. He is 32 and speaks very well English. He left his house in Fukushima and was migrating to the south while surfing the coast. Izu Peninsula is a surfers paradise and he was tasting the beaches. "I will try to live on one of the small islands in the south.", he said. Is the link hereunder the reason?

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=040_1384817880

Probably it is, see the link hereunder, explaining that Fukushima parents with children are leaving the area. Probably only older people will stay while the place depopulates and becomes gradually empty?

http://enenews.com/even-residents-of-tokyo-are-evacuating

We explained that we were with our car, that we slept in our car and that we drove from Koewacht (city) through Russia, Mongolia, Siberia and Japan. He exclaimed: "Waaaah gipsies!".  A compliment from a "youngster" is always heart warming.

We planned our return to Belgium for Saturday 23 November. So we booked an hotel room close to Narita Airport and tickets with Aeroflot to Brussels. We hoped to see cities (Vladivostok, Irkutsk, ...) and places (lake Baikal, ...) we had been passing through, ... but from about 10.000 m. The shipping agent gave us a number of a warehouse in the Yokohama port, the total shipping price and the amount had to be paid in cash. So, we went to the post office of Shimoda and pumped the ATM with 3 different cards and since we had not enough Yen, we went to the counter and this time they were willing to exchange the last Korean Wong's in our possession. Out came the form and we were penning down name, amount, date, etc, ... The pen-pusher showed the empty case with "Address" and we explained that we were gipsies. Confusion! No address! Disaster! A phone call for about 10 minutes, discussions, and the head of the paper club with his English stuttering secretary came to our rescue. We suggested very politely an hotel from the Lonely Planet but this was a no-no and with this insurmountable problem, the boss with his secretary quietly vanished. The pen-pusher stood naked in the line of fire again and decided that the best defence was retreat and regroup. He placed the "CLOSED" carton on his desk and withdrew to the back of the office. We had to penetrate his line of defence to get our Wong's and USD back. Total confusion. This situation was not in the "Reference Book" under the chapter "Money Exchange".
In another postal office, in another town, we found out that you need probably a certificate that states that you are a zombie to be qualified for a job with the Japanese Post.
In a bank that had the permission to exchange money, we got the rest for the required amount, but it took more than half an hour before everything was checked. Money exchange in Russia is not a problem at all. In Japan it seems to be close to a crime and is handled with suspicion. Weird white people bring strange money into our country! The last relics from the Samurai era, when Japan was cut off from the rest of the world?

So after a last scrubbing and a soak in an Onsen, we headed for Yokohama port, Mitsui Warehouse, Area T9 on 20 November. We arrived in the afternoon of 21 November and in the night, slept between the containers and straddle carriers, next to the quay wall.

Next day the Carnet the Passage was stamped, we received our "PAID" stamped invoice from our agent, the car was loaded in a container and we were dropped of by our agent at the hotel in Narita, near the airport.

Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania,
Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, Rep. Buryatia, Rep. Yakutia,
Far East and Japan.
The End.

The "YM UNISON" transporting the container with our car. 

The container with the car arrived in Antwerp on 17 January and we went to the custom office to find out we had to be in the other custom office where they told us that one block down the road the custom office - Verification Import had the correct stamp for our Carnet de Passage. Assuming the latter officers knew what they were doing, I did not verify on the spot the procedure. Stamps were placed on the wrong page, but the Royal Automobile Club of Belgium did accept the Carnet as it was and three days later we got our deposit back on our account. Thank you sweet Laurance.

Inflating the tires after unloading "Cocotte" from the container, in Antwerp.
Since Mongolia and Japan, Christine adopted the typical Asian pose for a picture.

7.2 JAPAN II.

Temples of Chuson-ji, Motsu-ji, Takkoku No Iwaya Bishamon-do and the Genbi kei gorge (28/10 & 29/10).

Cedars in the gardens.

We camped on the grounds of a deserted/abandoned holiday resort. Some huts were unlocked and the beds still had mattresses, but we slept in our car. Also water and fire wood were still available.

Also houses to live in, ... in Japan.

Daily progress: (A) till Kesennuma: Tsunami area on 27/10 - (C) Temples of Motsu-Ji & Chuson-Ji on 28/10 -
(F) Kakunodate Samurai District on 31/10 - Going south on 31/10 till Nagaoka.

While surfing on the www, on a Tourist Info Parking, on our way to Kakunodate, we got checked by the coppers. A small patrol car with two police officers stopped and asked very politely for our passports. We showed all the paperwork in our possession and they got confused. A lot of phone calls with a lot of « Hai » were the result. They asked for our Resident Cards and we explained that we were tourists and didn't have Resident Cards. This statement made them call again to the superior officer. Tree minutes later, the tune of Star Wars made the senior copper jump for his mobile, while the young one was tapping his smart phone and showed me the translation for the question : « Where do you stay tonight ?».

Since it was pouring, they invited us into the tea bar. We got a tea on the costs of the town and three minutes later the wife of the senior officer came in with a present. We received a sort of « cake » on the basis of chestnuts and a bag full of chestnuts the size of little eggs. We were more embarrassed than the officers. A little later another patrol car the size of a healthy Mercedes stopped at the bar. Two high ranking officers verified the papers, said : « Everything OK. » and asked very politely if they could photograph the paperwork. I suppose we are now the recruit school book example of the foreign tourist, in that little town.

Takkoku No Iwaya Bishamon-do

Genbi Kei gorge.

Kakunodate Samurai District (31/10).

Just somewhere along the road.
Six waterfalls in a row in the middle of
pristine woods and no one around.

Kakunodate Samurai District.

Kakunodate.

Takayama: rich merchants house.

Temperatures were dropping as we progressed north and since our visitors from Belgium arrived on 02/11 in Takayama, we turned our car south. At an average speed of 40 – 50 km/hr it takes two days to cover the 650 km between Kakunodate and Takayama. We stopped also for the Onsen's on our way !

(B) Takayama with the kids on 02/11 and Kanazawa on 04/11 (C) - 05/11 lost on Wakasa Wan Peninsula (D) -
Iwami Ginzan Silver Mines (F) - Hiroshima on 11/11 and meeting the French in Takehara (H).

Takayama with the « kids » : temples and the Old Town Houses (no smoking in this part of the town !) on 02/11. We ate the local beef (very tasty).

Takayama morning market.

Mother, daughter and daughter-in-law.

Kanazawa fish market.
Guy with a fish face.

04/11, the couch-surf host Keiko, guided us around Kanzawa on 04/11 and we ate in a typical Japanese restaurant on the fish market.

Keiko, dad and the kids in the Kenroku-en gardens of Kanazawa.

Traditional house in the gardens.
No holes in your socks in Japan!

FOOOOOD!!!!!

Near the sea, the temperatures were mild again. We did not need the sleeping bags and in the day a T-shirt was enough.

Yummy, yummy!

While getting lost in the night on the Wakasa Wan peninsula, we halted in a fishing village the size of a street, at the cul the sack of this same street. Next morning at 06:00 the fishing boat went out … and was back at 07:00. A frenzy started with probably 50% of the villagers present and by 7:30 all fish had been unloaded, sorted, distributed, paid for and the freezer truck left. After that : the village was near dead again. Who can blame these guys ? You live with a handful of people in this small village, on a dead end road, in a bay, surrounded with mountains and a luxurious nature, housing deer, monkeys, eagles, … and you get your dinner and the income from the sea. The art of living ?

6 in the morning.

Sorting the catch.

She I: You want this one?
She II: Noway Josey!
She III: fo shizzle ma nizzle . 

Weighed and paid.

Chez le coiffeur.

The car got serviced (oil & -filter) by Toyota in Matsue and we received grease for free, for the universal joints from the drive shafts. When we left, the mechanics and an office suite bowed deeply (did we pay that much?). We do not get used to this traditional kindness. In another occasion, the laundry lady came out to bow when we left the laundry shop. We hurried because it was raining and she was just standing there, waiting until we left the parking lot.

Toyota treats the guests well: coffee, cake and sweets
while on the web.

Iwami Ginzan Silver Mines : In the 16^th - 17^th century, the Spaniards got the silver from the mines in South and Central America and the Portuguese obtained silver from Japan. Silver they needed to trade mainly silk, porcelain and spices with China and islands in East Asia. Japan produced 1/3 of the world's silver in this era.

Crushing silver ore and
picking the rock debris.

Miners village in the 16th century, close to the silver mines. 

Temples with 250 Buddhas each, cut out in the rocks.

Hiroshima : Castle and A-bomb memorials/museum.

Castle tower.

The tower of the castle has been reconstructed in 1958 after it was flattened by the the first A-bomb in history at 08:15 hrs on 6 August 1945. Interesting exhibition, inside the tower, about the organisation of the feudal domains, development of the area : land reclamation, sea transport, trades, …

Castle Lord & the lady.

Samurai combat outfit.

Problems with the wife?

Rifles delivered by the Dutch in the 16th century.
"The Last Samurai" with Tom Cruise IS utter bull!

Lord of Hiroshima in the 16th century.
Not all body parts are in the correct position?

Its a family problem!

A-bomb dome and Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. « Little Boy » exploded at 600 m above the city. Within a 2 km radius of the hypocenter, nearly all buildings were first crushed and then burned. People were walking around with their clothes and their skin in tatters. Due to the very high temperatures after the blast, survivors were extremely thirsty and drank black rain containing radioactive particles. Many died from the radiation in the days/years after. Here is the story of a little girl that is now the symbol for all kids that died from the bomb/radiation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadako_Sasaki . The museum displays a lot of these stories, but I couldn't take pics because it would have felt like voyeurism. Peeking into one's sufferings for the sake of a souvenir. The museum is an impressive experience.
On 09 August a second bomb (Fat Man) was dropped on Nagasaki.

A-bomb dome.

Jap with wrong sweater at the A-bomb dome.
Skipped the history lessons about WWII, or was he Korean?

Hiroshima just before 08:15 - 06 August 1945.
The T-shaped bridge was the aiming point.
Left of the bridge: the A-bomb dome.
At that time the Chamber of Commerce.

Hiroshima after the explosion and the 'hypocenter" 600 m
above the ground with the fireball exceeding one million degrees,
rapidly expanding with the shock wave and lethal radiations.

We left Hiroshima for the last destination in Japan: Yokohama. In Yokohama we hope to find a ship that will take the car back to Belgium.

A lot of pick-ups, vans, mini-buses, ... of this kind are on the road.
Today we present you: "The Mini-Camper!".

This guy (75 yrs + pace-maker) and wife slept in a similar standard van.
A lot of Japanese are traveling their country by car/van and sleep in the
vehicle on Tourist Info Parking's. Toilets and sometimes hot water, sometimes
Onsen's and WiFi are available on these parking's.

Left: Alain (French) doing a world tour. Is now on the road for
about 1,50 years and hoping to finish in another year.

Anne and Christian: a French couple doing a trip of 12 months.
See under "1.6 The Links" the blogs/web sites of the people we met on the trip.