Bicycling through rice paddies

Egged on by my experience on bike in Matsue, I made a quick stop in Okayama to head to its outskirts for a daylong ride through the Kibi Plain. The basic gist is that you go to one train station on the outskirts, rent the bike, pick up the bike path ("cyclists only" at certain points, thankfully), and cruise for 15km through the countryside, seeing temples, towns, and farms. Pretty sweet, right?

The whole area is associated with this cool legend of a peach-faced boy, Momotaro, who killed the evil creature that was plaguing the town in an epic battle on an island. In tribute, they have put his face everywhere, including on the manhole covers.

I was starting with one leg tied behind my back, or, rather, both knees scrunched up into my face: my bike was too small! Assured several times by the rent-a-cycle proprietor that it was the biggest she had, I made do. Here's the puny thing:

I was longing for the bike I left in Matsue...

However, there were some cool temples...

...parks...

...gardens everywhere growing delicious produce (gardens aren't just for rocks, it seems)...

...and even a 350m long burial mound!

Even though the signs were excellent, superb, really...

...my favorite part was when I lost the train, followed an unlikely path into the woods, and was rewarded with a bamboo forest, purple wildflowers, a cave, and some little creatures.

And I eventually rejoined the trail too, which was nice! The crowning glory of the ride was a majestic five story pagoda, especially as it was just sitting there in the middle of the plains.

And with that, me and my miniature bicycle pedaled our way to Soja and to the return train to Tokyo.