August 8th - "on the road again..."

Phrase of the day: ohayo gozaimas (good morning)

We're so excited to be on our wonderful bikes again.Ducking and weaving between people and bikes on the footpath and observing some, ah, interesting architecture.






Brendan says it's a chilli, I think it's a golden turd. Wonder what the building is for?

The inner city is left behind as we hit an industrial area that feels like Parramatta Road. After a quick morning tea stop we hit the holy grail - a dedicated bike path alongside Edogawa canal that we cycled on for the rest of the day.

The scenery slowly changed to semi-urban and the houses and gardens became bigger, although still densely packed. We even spotted a few baseballers in the fields beside the canal.





As always, food quickly became a priority and we pulled over for some delicious ramen and gyoza. Satisfied, we spent the rest of the afternoon food shopping and happily posting our spare 10kg home.

In a stroke of luck we befriended a local family who invited us to their home for the night. We spent a pleasant evening practising our Japanese with the Yamaguchis and their dog Hannah, with some considerable help from our phrasebook, and watching the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.