Day 14 | Taketa to Saiki

Saturday 26 October, 2024

Missed the previous post? Check it out here

Last night the weather forecast had it raining all day today and for a moment we considered catching the train to our final destination of Beppu and skipping the last two days of cycling. However, we decided to brave the rain and glad we took the chance as the forecast had changed by the morning and it ended up being a light drizzle for most of the day.

It was pretty chilly for much of the day, and we cycled mostly along highways again with a few side streets during the 69km journey.

There were a few hills with 513m of ascent but then had 741m of descent where we hit speeds of around 50km/h, which was both thrilling and terrifying.

We had a few tunnels which are a little nerve wracking, especially when cars are behind you with no shoulder on the road.

It was a beautiful ride coming down from the mountains…

…and especially coming into Saiki along the river.

We arrived in Saiki at 1:30pm and took a detour into the local Mos burger for lunch.

We also visited a few bakeries, the first being a cute French bakery, Boulangerie Mitarashi.

The second bakery called Yu-Jin was closed as they had completely sold out when we arrived but we will go back tomorrow morning.

Our hotel is around the corner from Yu-Jin bakery.

We booked a Japanese style room a while ago. It’s lovely and big enough for a family of six!

After dropping our stuff off we take a quick walk around the area.

There is a MaxValu across the road so we pick up some supplies. We also notice lots of tacky karaoke joints around the area.

For dinner we take a risk and visit the chaos of a Taiwanese eatery nearby but it seems like a place where all the vegetable dishes still contain meat. So we head next door to a Nepalese curry house which is bound to have some vegetarian food.

Not only is there vegetarian food but it’s fabulous.

We have a chat to the owner who is from Nepal and moved to Japan a year ago. We wish him all the best with his business. If you are ever in Saiki, visit Indo Curry Khusi for some awesome food (Tip: order the cheese garlic naan and palak paneer – you can thank us later).

Tomorrow will be our final day of cycling in Japan, heading to Beppu before we make our way back to Fukuoka. Hoping the rain hold out at least until we arrive in Beppu!

Next post: Day 15 | Saiki to Beppu