.: Cycling cycling and more cycling

The Lord blessed us with excellent weather today to explore our further surroundings on our handy and economical bikes. Apart from the occasional passing light drizzles, the brilliant spread of clouds shaded us from the sun which had been relentlessly scorching the past few days.

We started off at 10am from home to check out a nearby church's location (yeah!) before heading to a beach park in the next town. Ya-Sea Park is supposedly one of the more accessible beaches in Kochi. Most of the writeups I've seen from predecessors framed the impression of a popular, happening park-by-the-sea spot with restaurants, establishments, picnic areas etc. Well... it is what was described, but that was IT. Maybe in Singapore we're just so used to beaches galore, that this beach really pales in comparison. I really think East Coast is far more exciting. There is also an Indian eatery here rated by an angmoh to be serving great curries. Well, it has yet to pass our Southeast-Asian tastebuds, so I really can't say for sure how GREAT they are. But at least we now know where we can head straight for comfort food. Hehe.

We ventured further into the next town in search of lunch. Ramen in specific. Since arriving in Japan we had yet to taste ramen! Unbelievable. We settled at the first ramen-ten with a little piggy out the front. The ramen was delicious but we missed the killer-gyoza-set (as described again, by a predecessor)! We will be back.

After lunch was Daiso time. The greatest pleasure in shopping at Daiso is knowing that the stuff here is cheaper than Singapore's Daiso. 100 yen here means every item is only S$1.50! The next supermarket we headed to also made us immensely excited with the lower prices (note: lower, not LOW) for groceries. We too, will be back.

As we cycled leisurely on our exploration today, many thoughts filled my mind on being here in inaka (countryside) Japan. What kind of opportunity is this, that it brings 2 gaijins (foreigners) from cosmopolitan/metropolitan/simi-tan Singapore to live right next to the Pacific Ocean? What seems so unreal about this experience that I find it so hard to describe?

We pay to join groups to do night cycling in Singapore, but we HAVE to do it almost every night from the train station back home. True night cycling on the longest stretch of road that seem to go on forever, with so minimal streetlights that stars are just ever visible above you. We work (slog) back home from Mondays to Fridays, rushing to enjoy Saturdays and Sundays, and weeks and months just fly by. I have only been here for a week and it really feels like an incredibly long time!

My dream has always been to work and live in Japan. Yet when I chose to give up that opportunity to come alone, in obedience to the Lord's words, He did not forget my dream. Instead, He gave us the opportunity to come, together, not just one. Together, to go through this experience, to enrich our lives together so that the memories can be shared, for a lifetime. Truly, the Lord never forgets!