biking hiroshima

HIROSHIMA TALES -------
Last night, I had a delcious feast of Fresh shushi with Alex at a nearby pub. I ate tuna, shrimp, squid and octopus and a few other types of fish. Alex and I also shared a plate of Octopus Karage - deep fried octopus pieces. It was delicious for sure! We drank very tall beer and a drunk man sat at our table and tried to talk to us for an awkwardly long time. He was arguing with his wife about which umbrella was his. Alex and I rode our bikes one handed, holding umbrellas in the other to a french style pub after dinner. It was a super delicious night!


It was a magnificent sunny day today. The sky was crisp as apposed to the usual haze. I rode my bike all day around the rivers. I bought a bento lunch box and rode into town. I had to go to a service station to get my tires pumped up and there were two lovely guys there! They filled my tires for free and one of them even got out some tools and fixed my bike a bit. The other man gave me a fan to fan myself with whilst I waited. I bowed and waved goodbye and rode along the river unil I found a nice spot to sit on a bench with a view of the river. To my surprise... my bento box was all shaken up inside... and also another surprise was that I had ordered those tiny little fish again!! Yuck! All over my rice little white fish.
Just as I was about to eat my lunch I heard this awful screaming from across the river. I thought that maybe a woman was being raped or attacked or something. I could just see across the river a woman running down the stairs to the river and she jumped in. (there is like a big sloping wall against the river). She stood in the water screaming at the top of her lungs. At first I felt really sick and thought that maybe her child or baby or something had fallen in. Im still not really sure what happened... my guess is that maybe her pet or something drowned. There was a man there with her and I couldnt see an ambulance or them rushing back up the stairs in a hurry or anything like that. It seemed to me that they had accepted whatever had happened, so I dont think it could be a human life. She was sobbing alot and they sat by the water for a long time and he was comforting her. I think that something definately went in the water... Im still wondering though.
After that river drama I set off on a long bike ride following the river for about an hour or two. Bike paths seem to follow the rivers FOREVER... The river was sparkling and I rode past alot of buildings and grassy slopes and mountains. There were lots of people walking little dogs on the grassy slopes by the river. I saw children playing under bridges and also a sax player on a dry river bed under the bridge. There was also an island in the middle of the river that was like some sort of crane/ bird island... it sounded like a bird party.
Had a nice drifty day today just taking in the sights :)