It is a Mazda Bongo, with pop up roof, V6. It is pretty old but that means we don't have to worry too much about any whoopsie daisy dents and scratches affecting out deposit....
Introducing the Rambling Rose II
(The first Rambling Rose toured New Zealand with Paul and his brother during the RWC2011)
Squiggly road sings on the highway
We have terms for them like 'inverse cross stitch exit on the left'
The Tokyo Tower.
Tokyo's answer to the Eiffel Tower 😂
We tried to visit on the day we landed but were a little uninspired the closer we got walking to it, so we found a pub instead
The roads are very similar to the UK. We did a crash course (no pun intended) on the Japanese Highway Code as we picked up the van. Essentially it is stop at a 'Stop' sign and stop before driving over a railway crossing even if the barrier is up. Oh, and our van is 2.3m high. That has been very important to remember! I feel less aggression from drivers here in Japan compared to the UK. However, I am still susceptible to a tad of road rage here in Japan, evidently!
Squiggly road sings on the highway
We have terms for them like 'inverse cross stitch exit on the left'
The Tokyo Tower.
Tokyo's answer to the Eiffel Tower 😂
We tried to visit on the day we landed but were a little uninspired the closer we got walking to it, so we found a pub instead
The Rambling Rose II drives pretty fiercely but my favourite part is the green and yellow stickers on her bumpers which means we are *new* drivers! It is similar to when those who have passed their test in the UK put 'P' plates on their vehicle.
She comes equipped with two beds (sort of) and bedding, camping equipment including a mini portable gas hob and camping chairs. I am told this is all standard stuff but how would I know?
I have never ever camped in my life!
I don't love campervan life so far, but it is tolerable for now. Soon I will be staying in a hotel after two nights of parking roadside and 'camping'.
The upshot is saving *some* money by using the campervan for accommodation. It has only been two nights so far. Maybe by the next time I post, Paul will be dropping me off at a hotel while he goes camp!
The first night was quite a challenge. We had to get from Narita to the Mt Fuji area. It was a distance of 200kms and 3.5hrs drive. Naturally, Typhoon Tapah was doing her thing, ramping up her forceful winds and cold lashings of rain across Japan. So we got caught up in that, and by 5.30pm it was so dark on the roads and Mt Fuji was naturally, hiding behind clouds. We were anxious to find a pub to watch England's first match in the tournament against Tonga (which spoiler alert: they won, but not very convincingly if anyone, such as Eddie Jones perhaps, was to ask me for my opinion. Must try harder England, grade: B-).
We ended up in a cute Sports Bar (above photo), with lots of NBA basketball memoribilia on the walls called Boomers. After the match, we headed to a Parking Area to sleep for the night. To put a Parking Area into perspective, it is a bit like a service station on the M1. Minus the petrol station, but definitely with the massive articulated lorries coming in to wind down for the night. There are toilets (some better than others) and usually a shop or restaurant. It was raining so hard when we arrived that I almost tricked my mind into it being an out of body experience, where I could convince myself it wasn't happening. Shudder.
But I sorted my gear out, made my little basket of supplies to take up to the penthouse, aka the roof box, and eventually buckled down into my new sleeping area. I was just dozing off, and a large artic lorry carrying parked up across from us. It proceeded to run it's engine (or secondary power) to keep the air con on, all-night. It was really loud and annoying because it wasn't like the drone of a plane engine, which is consistent. This thing kept revving up and revving down. And of course, everytime Paul even so much a breathed from his bed below the entire van shook. I genuinely could have been on a plane passing through turbulence dozing off in biz class minus the luxury, minus the booze, minus any sense of calm. Argh. But I slept, woke up feeling similar to jet lagged.
Then for our second day in the van, we drove south during a morning of rain and high winds until we passed the city of Nagoya, where blue skies and sunshine were visible. Hurrah!
There is a port with not-so-small boats visible. Paul said 'wow look at that big boat', I glanced at it (I was driving) and answered 'it is not that big, it is one of the small car carrier ships, maybe carries 4,000 cars only'!
#RoRo
Then we saw larger ones around the corner. That central area of Japan is home to a lot of car manufacturing, not least of all Toyota. For which, there is also a town called Toyota! Wonder what came first....
We stopped at a museum all about Japan's... Wait for it, Bullet Trains!!
The SCMAGLEV & Railway Park houses the history of the Shinksansen, the bullet train's official operating name. We saw some cool Platypus looking train sections!
This beauty MLX01-01 reached a speed of 581km/h on magnetic tracks! Meaning, the train levitates over the track, crazy cool. The lack of friction compared to regular trains allows for such high speeds.
Following a 4hr, 350km drive, we camped down roadside to a lake close to Kyoto for an early night (Paul cooked salmon, rice and veg, I did the dishes, my OCD hit the roof...) as the following day included a 5hr drive to Hiroshima.
Lake side camping views (hard to appreciate when camping stresses me out!) - Lake Otsu
Back of the van cooking
Post blog note: a fun way to pass the time driving through many many many tunnels between mountain ranges is for the driver to observe the tunnel length, and the passenger to guess the tunnel length. We also play 'tunnel length bingo' where we cross off tunnel lengths on a piece of paper when we come across them! When we get a line, we eat sweets :)
The tunnel lengths range from 97m to 3,200m!
And, likely, explains the very steep price we are paying in toll fares. I won't tell you how much they cost just yet because you may lose enthusiasm for Japan - like we are, after one week of driving!
#shouldatakenthetrain
DiStar Consumption Index:
Japanese food: zero. Unless soy sauce drizzled over salmon and rice cooked on a camp stove counts?
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