Hitchhiking from Fukuoka to Hiroshima

Hitchhiking is cool, I really like it, I have done it in Mexico, Taiwan, Finland, South Korea and now in Japan sometimes I do it without thinking or just with the feeling of “oh I should walk that way and then start walking in the road with my finger in the air till someone picked me up.

It makes me feel alive, makes me feel weak and in the middle of nothing it gives you the sensation that you just big failed, but if things went well, you will enjoy 100x more than taking a train or a bus. 

After the Busan mistake I will be more careful, so the night before departing I looked on google maps and looked for the express ways from Fukuoka to Hiroshima.

Walking to the Expressway

Starting the adventure!

Because I was in Kasuga city I decided to go to the expressway in the south thinking that maybe most of the cars that come from the south has to take that route. Second shock in Japan, Japan is clean!!! when walking in the highway in Korea I could easily find any paper or carton to write my destinations name, but here there was nothing, not a single piece of paper in the first hour walking, just some plastic bags that were perambulating in the air but no cardboard or big pieces of paper. Luckily in a phone booth there was the cover of a disposal ice cooler, so I took it and in the next stop I wrote down in Kanji 広島 “Hiroshima”, and kept waking to the last entrance to the expressway.

#Hitchhiking #Fukuoka #Hiroshima #Japan #travel #traveling #whynot #cold

Una foto publicada por Gilberto Rivera (@rgilberto11) el 18 de Ene de 2017 a la(s) 4:39 PST

It took me almost an hour walking there and another hour to get somebody to pick me up, many people on my way wished me good luck and “Gambatte”, some girls in a car stop just to cheer me up, that actually helps. I tried to look for the plate of the cars that instead of saying Fukuoka said Hiroshima, but most of the traffic was local one.

The first people that picked me up were a young Japanese couple that offered me to take me to the service station, Keiichi had done hitchhiking before to Osaka and Niina loved to travel so they recommended me to be in the station and things will be easier, the funny stuff is that we went to a station first, Niina got some mochi, Japanese rice cake, and then we went to another station, and another, and another, they had a free day at work so it seems they were enjoying the trip as much as I was,

We crossed the Kanmonkyō bridge, the one that connects Japan two of the four main islands, and they told me that it was a place where a lot of important Samurai fights happened. At the end we drive half way from Fukuoka to Hiroshima, after that Niina we were hungry so we stop and eat some Japanese roof tile noodles, really good ones!!!

#Japan #travel #Asia #traveling #new #explore #inspiration #photo #photography #EastAsia #traveler #unTravelling #TheMexicano #Hiroshima #Hitchhiking

Una foto publicada por Gilberto Rivera (@rgilberto11) el 19 de Ene de 2017 a la(s) 5:39 PST

After a long goodbye and a hundred thank you they went back home and I stayed in the station with my sign and looking for people with Hiroshima plates, after maybe 20 min a man try to explain me that we wasn’t going to Hiroshima city but he can drop me in a really close rest station. We tried to communicate with a phone translator, after half an hour I couldn’t stand it anymore and fell sleep until the next stop where they left me, they give me a package of cookies :)

The noodles are over a traditional Japanese roof tile

After the second ride and only about 10km from Hiroshima the Sun was going down

 Again in the last station it was only 10km from central Hiroshima and I notice two mistakes I made before leaving the “Wi-Fi safe zone” 1.- Not downloading the maps to where I was going to (Hiroshima) 2.- Not downloading the English-Japanese pack in google translator *extra mistake: maybe bringing 2 jackets from the beginning of the trip wasn’t the best idea either. The Sun was almost down and there was some snow in the shadows or the sidewalks, a lady told me that it will be better to write “Hiroshima city” because we were already in Hiroshima prefecture, and then also to put “inside” so people knows that I want to go there, and at the bottom she wrote the district I was going to. I wait for about 20min until Yamamoto told me that he can take me to the city and his house was not far from the central station. Yamamoto is the manager of 17 Yoshinoya stores, he lives far from his family but seems to be happy with his job position, his English wasn’t fluent but enough to have a conversation for the drive.

Arigato Yamamoto

In central station I could either take a bus or walk for another 40-50 min, again, the weather still good so I decided to walk, I could see the Hiroshima castle, and some nice buildings on my way, I arrived at the hostel maybe 6 pm and that day I felt like its going to be a good place to be for the next weeks.

At least! Central Station!!!

Ferry from Busan South Korea to Fukuoka Japan

I just took the ferry in Camellia Ferries and it was a great experience, to be honest I was expecting to be like between London and Frankfurt, staying awake the not sure how many hours it took and just wondering around the ferry but actually I had a room and a bed in were I could lay and pretend to sleep while the other 10 people was snoring as crazy.

Buying the ticket:

I tried to look in many pages before buying the ticket from Susan To Fukuoka, you will get the news about the one that hit a whale, the sinking of MV Sewol, but also you can get into aferry.co.uk and look for the ticket in English, I used Korea ferry and payed 45,000 won with my credit card plus 7,300 won in cash for taxes in the port for one way and with some time in advance.

As a difference with plane tickets, Amazon, Ticketmaster, car rentals, and almost everything you buy on internet this time I didn’t got a confirmation mail immediately so I got worried about it, I sent an email to the admin and in the next day, just after the confirmation mail I got a really good response in English with the reservation number, the date and hour, the total talk I have to pay in cash, (I was planning on exchange all my won to yens, lucky I didn’t) and the time I should check in.

I didn’t print the confirmation number, just made a screenshot of the mail in case Wi-Fi wasn’t available at the port

Getting there

Go to Busan Station and go out from the sea side, walk across the street and walk about 15min to the port, the check in and boarding areas are on the third floor. There are shuttle buses from Nampodong area but I didn’t knew so I don’t know where to take them or where to check the schedule, if you have the interest of this buses should not be a difficult task.

What happened to me:

Oh traveler instincts, most of the time they work but sometimes they just fail, Kodo, a Korean friend of mine, had told me that I should go to Busan Station, but when in the subway I saw that there is a Subway station that in the map Jungang with the icon and the description of “Int’l/Domestic Ferry Terminals”.

BUSAN SUBWAY MAP

The weather was good, I had time and I have never been in Busan station so the plan was to go to the Busan Station and from there walk to Jungang station, I cannot regret it, is not a long walk maybe 1.5 or 2 km to the destination point, it was a really interesting walk, it was Sunday but it looked like a ghost town, a lot of closed business, abandoned buildings, a death Starbucks, big empty buildings and lonely streets, abandoned bikes and motorbikes and the vegetation had taken over many buildings. I walked south and then to the port No.2, seems like only for cargo ships so I asked the security guards “ten min walk, next” I walked 10 min north, saw another door nothing touristic, asked again, “ten minut walk” again, walked 10 more minutes and saw the Busan station again, all this time I walked on an abandoned sidewalk with a lot of pictures about Korea and the war, some LP’s as decoration, and some drawings about the city. Asked an old man with pink hair for the port and he asked me to follow him, we walk few minutes and then saw the port.

The port and Ferry

The check in is easier than in an airport and the luggage check is far less strict, people had bags full of sou, beer and fried chicken, boxes of ramen, and I had a kimbab and some ramen with me.

I took the bed near the electricity plug so I can charge the phone an as I notice latter most of the people had some extra batteries so they don’t have to worry about the only two plugs for 12 people in a room, maybe was a good choice but also the window was a little bit too cold, and people in the room were snoring really hard so earplugs are recommended.

I wonder around the ship, look for the karaoke rooms, the beer was 250Y, cheaper than in Korea, there is a quite room but a lady was screaming the whole time I spend there. The 12 hours passed fast and in the morning the announcement that we arrived was made but only in Japanese, and somehow every other guy in the room stayed there, when I went out to look for some water the ferry was already empty but for me and a Russian family.

It was on winter so no many people wanted to take a walk outside but they have places to take the sun and enjoy the summer weather like this guy:

Immigration Office:

Latter that day I realized the mistake I was making at the immigration office that day, they ask me the reason, visit; occupation, traveler; length of stay, 85 days; place to stay, with someone that offers me to host me for free that I don’t know; and no ticket out. So the guy find strange for a guy that wants to stay in a country for so long without a plan and without outbound ticket, at the end they let me in with a 90 days visa (how it supposed to work).

I got the idea that maybe would be better to say you will stay shorter, they will still give you a 90 days visitor visa.

Hitchhiking mistake: From Busan to Seoul

One weekend in Busan I wanted to go to Seoul, I was decided to go there and visit a couple of friends, ask for a free day on Friday and make my backpack for a couple of days in Seoul, maybe even got into a nightclub or a bar there, not sure, the weather was cold and I left the house earlier in the morning (like 8am is really early)


I took the train to the last station in Busan, after the airport and walked for about an hour, it was a sunny cold morning, so while walking in the sun it was hot, specially with the jacket on me, but in the shadows was quite cold, I found a carton and write on it “Seoul” in Hangul, I check the map and saw that the highway toll still far away so after taking the train again and made two more stations and in the middle of few houses and a lot of free space and rice fields, after walking for about 20min and with the sing up I arrived to the toll station, no cars picked me up, most of the traffic was local and there were few cargo trucks or trailers, most of them were small cars or medium sizes cargo trucks, I waited for about an hour and a half and nothing happens.

My failed sign :(

I was already outside Busan, in Gimhae, walked for over 2 hours and start feeling hopeless with the trip to Seoul, I know "never give up" and that stuff, but sometimes things happen for a reason.

Plan B? 
The plan B would be to take a bus to Seoul, between 25,000 to 30,000 won, to expensive for my budget, plus the expenses in Seoul, even if I wasn’t going to pay for a guesthouse. So after thinking that plan B wasn’t the best idea I just came back home just in time for lunch.

The good thing
That day I meet Yonguh for dinner, we ate raw beef and drink a lot with the other volunteers.

Raw Beef with egg

영우

영우 my Korean brother, and Raw beef #Korea #beef #Soju

Un vídeo publicado por Gilberto Rivera (@rgilberto11) el 17 de Dic de 2016 a la(s) 8:10 PST

Lessons learned 
1.- Look for a better exit of the city I’m leaving
2.- Hitchhiking can be a fail, is important to deal with that, dont get mad at yourself
3.- Have a plan B in case that you fail in the middle of the road