iki island: an original blog title
Guidebooks will tell you that you can tour Iki Island in one day; catch an early morning ferry to the island, then return back to Hakata later that evening. Most of the guidebooks don't recommend that however. In fact, they suggest spending at least one evening and one entire day.
At first I thought two days seemed excessive. The island is very small. One entire loop of the island would result in only around 50km of riding depending on your route. On a bike, that means only 2 hours of riding.
I thought someday I'd plan a trip to Iki; arriving in the morning, circling the island, then returning home later that night.
While I'm always up for quick, high-paced adventures, I wanted to enjoy the island.
I suggested the idea of visiting the island to Seamus and Cash. They agreed.
We chose a 3-day weekend for our adventures and ended up staying for 2 nights.
My recommended amount of days to visit Iki Island is as follows:
Stay forever if you can.
Despite having suffered through a tragedy on the island, everything else made up for it. Everything else made me feel like Iki is a place I'd never like to leave.
Day 1 (2017/11/03)
Our ferry was scheduled to depart at 10am from Hakata Port. I had an idea of how long it would take to get from my house to the port by bike, but there were many things I was uncertain of. How would the traffic through the city be? How fast could Seamus and Cash make it over the mountain? Would we be able to find the ferry terminal?... The list goes on and on.
To be safe, we tried to leave at 630am.
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| some people aren't morning people |
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| the final preparations for the journey |
I was worried at first that we wouldn't make it, but soon realized that we would make great time.
The morning ride was absolutely perfect. The temperature was chilly, as the sun was beginning to rise. The clouds were still low and the early morning mist was starting to disappear.
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| sun rising, saddle bag sagging |
We arrived at Hakata port just after 9am. With one hour to spare before departure, we were right on time. We stood in line for much too long waiting to buy our tickets. It was a good thing we arrived early. Eventually all things were settled and we boarded the ship.
I've been on a few ferries in Japan before. They're all more or less the same. The boats are similar and the views are similar. If you're among good company on the ferry, you'll have a great time. Two and a half hours later, we arrived at Gonoura Port.
Our ferry arrived at Iki Island around 1230. We couldn't check-in to our accommodation until 3 so we tried to find something to do to kill time. Food is always an option so we rode around looking for a restaurant.
That proved to be harder than we had thought. Iki is very small. It was a national holiday. Many places were closed. Luckily, within 1km from Gonoura Port, we found a small restaurant that was open for lunch.
The food was excellent and the owner looked like Ice-T. What's not to like about that experience?
After having filled our stomachs, we set off to find the Gay Gorilla. Thanks to a poor translation courtesy of Google, the Smiling Gorilla turned into the Gay Gorilla. It was only a few km away so we rode there to say hello and check-in to our accommodation after.
On the way, a few things became apparent.
1. There aren't many cars on Iki
2. In the even that you do come across a car, the drivers are incredibly patient and polite
3. Iki is considered a flat island. But it's not flat at all.
4. The people are ridiculously friendly
Within 5 minutes of taking off, a van overtook us on the road. A window rolled down and a little kid stuck his head out the window. He waved at us and started shouting. "Ganbare! Ganbare!" (meaning, "fight!" or "do your best!"). He continued to shout at us until we were out of sight from him. Immediately we thought, wow, these people are friendly. I'd also like to mention that when we did stop at an intersection (which was rare), every person gave us a friendly nod and hello. I love this island.
We found the Gorilla and the Devils Hole Rock or something like that.
It was beautiful.
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| obligatory stop for ice cream |
The temperature was perfect. We were the only ones there. We laid down for a while and took in the moment. There wasn't another place any of us would rather have been.
Although the site of the Gorilla and Hole rock was beautiful, the best part of this was the roads leading there. They were winding, they were undulating, and best of all, they were empty.
The roads leading back to our accommodation made us smile the entire way. I had never felt so free before while riding. Of course, in Mongolia, I experienced riding without any cars, but there was also a sense of loneliness and solitude there. It was a different feeling.
We arrived at our accommodation at around 4pm. As we pulled up to the driveway, an old lady was sweeping. She asked us if we were the party of 3 who booked through Rakuten. Yes, we were.
She told us to enter the place, head down the stairs, and our room would be on the left. Easy enough.
What we were surprised to find was the lovely view from our room.
After a bath, we set back out to find a super market to pick up a cheap and easy dinner. The picture of the bath may look horrible, but it was relaxing. The water was heated by a wood fire outside. The smell was great. The water was warm.
To summarize that evening.
- Seamus got a flat and took a long time to fix it.
- There may be less than 5 convenient stores on the island.
- The supermarket was small and had a small selection of food.
- We still enjoyed what food we could find and had a nice evening.
- I fell asleep before 9.
- The island is not flat.
Day 2 (2017/11/04)
Although we slept early and well (except for Seamus), we had some difficulties waking up. There wasn't an alarm set, nor did we have an expected time for departure. The day was going to unfold without any clear direction.
Seamus and I were the first to wake up. Cash followed an hour later. It wasn't until 9am that we were all properly awake. Even at that, I was cold and didn't feel particularly well. It was going to be a long day for me.
The winds were strong. It was going to be difficult to stay upright on the descents. We eventually let at 10. We knew we wanted to circle the island, but that was all we had planned. If anything interesting presented itself to us, we'd stop. Our only guide for the day was the road signs above. In the end, there's no way we could get lost.
Our first stop was Monkey Rock. Not to be confused with the Gay Gorilla, this rock formation actually looked like a monkey. It was big and impressive. The winds were strong so we couldn't get close. Falling off the cliff wasn't worth a closer picture. Again, winding roads, no cars. This was great.
We stopped for lunch at Yunomoto Hot Springs. The water there is famous for being brown. It's particularly rich in iron, salt, or some other minerals. We figured we might as well see what this water was all about. We popped into an onsen and took a quick dip. The water was in fact brown and there was a funky smell to it. Did it feel any different? Did it heal my wounds? No. But the warm water is always a nice and welcomed feeling.
After the bath we ate dinner at the restaurant above, finished off with ice cream, of course. The experience made us feel relaxed and we wanted to go to sleep. But we had to push on. We were about half way across the island at this point.
There was rain in the forecast and luckily for us, it fell while we were in the bath.
On our way back, we stopped at sightseeing places that seemed interesting. None of them were particularly worth writing about, but the empty roads to get there were worth the extra kilometers. We stopped at castle ruins, a monkey shrine, and ancient tomb.
As evening approached, we knew we'd have to pick up the pace. There was just one more sight left to see. We approached the ancient village site and was surprised to see just how beautiful this place was. As the sun was setting, we had the chance to take nice pictures of the houses and of our bikes. From here, there was just over 8km left back to our place.
Then, out of nowhere, tragedy struck.
We were riding through the village on grassy pathways. I wasn't going fast, but out of nowhere a drainage ditch appeared in the path. It was too late to react so I guess I fell over. It wasn't a crash. It wasn't even a big fall. I jumped off my bike and said "oooops". it was something to laugh about.
I went to pick up my bike and realized that the seat stay was snapped in half. I wasn't sure I was seeing things correctly. I called Seamus over to have him confirm.
It was true. My seat stay was snapped in half.
Although this was a fall to laugh about, by the most unfortunate of chances, it happened right next to the only sign in the middle of the field. Apparently my bike fell on it. And my frame snapped.
Should my frame have snapped? Absolutely not.
This will be a separate issue that I will have to deal with. Unfortunately, I'm sure Canyon will say otherwise. In conclusion, I'll probably have to pay $1,500 for a replacement. Not ideal.
Normally, I would have been quite upset and down. But being on Iki makes you feel otherwise. Cash and Seamus tried to flag down cars who would be willing to give me and my bike a ride back into town. We were, after all, only 8km from town. Our hopes were high.
As night began to approach we found an elderly couple walking. We asked them if they could help us. They happily agreed. The people of Iki Island are truly the kindest people of all. It was quite the adventure.
We didn't wait very long to find help. We didn't even have to try hard. The people of Iki are always there. The man helped us load our bikes onto the back of his tiny truck and the woman herded us into her car. On the ride there we asked to repay them. The woman replied saying that she was happy that she had the chance to meet us. We too, were happy to have had the chance to meet them.
After a short drive, we returned to our place and found that, to our surprise, the lady who gave us a ride was the younger sister of our minshuku's owner. Normally one would say small world. But after all, it is a small island. However, still, what were the chances.
Knowing that my bike was broken, the owner of the minshuku offered to take us to the market.
I wasn't feeling good that night so I checked out early. I packed my bags and went to sleep before 9 once again. The next morning would be an early one.
Day 3 (2017/11/5)
When the alarm went off at 545, no one moved. But it was time to wake up. Slowly but surely, we got our things together, cleaned the room one last time, and headed out. Our amazing hosts offered us a ride to the port.
We watched the sunrise as the ferry departed Gonoura Port. It was a fitting end to our time on Iki. The rest of the ferry ride is a blur. I slept the entire time. I'm sure Seamus and cash did as well.
When we returned to Hakata, Seamus and Cash took off back towards Buzen. We said our goodbyes and that was that. I was left waiting at Hakata Port for a ride back to Iizuka.
Luckily, there are kind people all around me and I was able to find a ride with a former work colleague and friend, Akiko. Thanks to her, I didn't have to walk back to Iizuka.
Iki is great.
I'll be back. I don't know when, but I will return.
The people are amazing.
I cannot thank our hosts enough. Minshuku Takinoue is a lovely place. The view is great. The bath is great. The owners are the best.
Nearly every person on Iki made me smile. Mostly, because they smiled at me first. They said hello first. They helped me first.
Without them, I would have been stuck. Without them, I wouldn't have had a good time.
Well, to be fair, I still would have had a good time. The roads and scenery were breathtaking. I want to ride them again. Luckily for me, there's a race there in June. It'll be a priority for me to go back.
My bike broke. It sucks. It's going to cost me a ton of money to replace. But still, that didn't take away from my experience on Iki. Iki is great. Iki is life.
I encourage everyone to visit. And yet, I encourage no one to visit.
Let Iki remain pure. Let Iki remain Iki.
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