Day 5: Cold udon and hot sake

Sleeping in the car was slightly warmer but just as uncomfortable. We got up, started the grill and got creative with breakfast. Masa of course had his usual 4 morning beers.

Shikoku is well-known for its Udon and there were wheat fields everywhere! When we stopped to get some petrol, Masa asked an employee where the best Udon was. She came back out with a udon map. Seriously.... a map pinpointing where all the udon places were in the neighborhood. She circled the most popular one and we were off! It was a bit out of the way but sooo worth it. The udon was served cold with a small amount of broth and a slice of lemon. We picked out own toppings, grated fresh ginger, and of course some shichimi spices. The noodles were chewy and tasted so fresh. Definitely the best udon I've ever had.

We drove some more along the coast and over some bridges. It's pretty impressive how long some of the bridges here are! 

Taken by Will the Botanist

Taken by Will the Botanist

We arrived at a scenic beach and started looking for a spot to camp. The campsites would cost $80 per night so we decided to set up camp on the sand right beside the actual campsites. Beside us a bunch of young Japanese people cooked up a feast.

There weren't many trees around so we had to do a bit of climbing to find firewood. I went up through the campsites and saw a rough dirt path that led into the forest. I followed it and found myself going higher and higher, just in time for a beautiful sunset. At this point the boys looked like little ants to me. I yelled Masa's name but he didn't look up.

The Japanese people at the campsite came over and dropped off a big box of food, most of it meat. After 4 days of not having much vegetables, my vegetarian body was getting pretty uncomfortable. I was sure that if we didn't get some veggies soon my body systems would start failing on me so we picked some up on the way. My skin had already started breaking out in ways only my adolescent years saw.

Thanks to Masa's little water boiler, we had hot sake on the beach by the fire. A pack of sakura mochi
 was also being passed around. What a perfect way to end a day.

Masa and Sake