Hi,
I can only write a quick message as we just got to Kyoto and need to get something to eat soon. Japan is very clean and smells nice - so thus far it is a nice break from Korea. Unlike what I expected I have yet to see any Samurai sterotypically walking around with their swords in battle position - nor have I seen any Geisha walking around fanning themselves. I've taken lots of pictures though so maybe they are in the background somewhere.
Our first stop was Hiroshima and we took the Shinkasen Bullet train to get there - and it was pretty fast. We had to sit in a smoking car which was kind of strange until we decided to all share a cigarette to fit in (it worked).
Hiroshima was not the bombed out, radiation-filled city I expected but instead was bustling little city with lots of buildings and people. Our hostel was pretty easy to find and I found it funny that in the dorm of 8 bunkbeds I was the only guy. With no orgy in sight for the evening and a crappy air conditioner I fell asleep and instantly began snoring, moaning, and singing (I was told this the next morning by everyone in the room). We saw the peace dome and went to the peace museum which was very well done and biked around the city with our little rented bikes. We had a difficult time getting food as every restaurant was completely in Japanese and had no indication of what food they served - we ended up paying for a few pieces of super-expensive sushi and saki and took the tram home. Our second day saw me get separated from the group for over an hour until a search party was sent out to find me - I was found dripping with sweat near a castle and stinking to high heaven.
Today (Monday) it took about 3 hours to get to our hostel in Kyoto which is right in the Gion district - we just got here so I have nothing much to say other than that its a beautiful city and smells nice.
Id write more but I am on a Japanese keyboard and losing patience.
Oh yeah, its weird as hell to say Domo Arigato (without adding in Mr. Roboto) and saying Sayonara without giggling wildly.
Sayonara! hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee hee
Monday, July 30, 2007
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Off to Japan!
A HOSTEL WE ARE STAYING AT FOR ONE NIGHT IN KYOTO - DELICIOUS! YOU CAN SEE OUR BUNK BEDS THROUGH THE TOP WINDOW - CAN SOMEONE SAY BED-BUGS!
So I fly out of Busan airport Saturday morning and arrive at Osaka airport about an hour later. To answer your questions - I'm not really very excited - don't know why. Its not that I don't want to go, or have no interest in Japan - I'm just kind of 'meh!' but I assume that will all change when I am ankle deep in Geisha!
For those of you who don't know - my school/work will be shutting down for Aug.1,2,3 - so I craftily took the Monday and Tuesday off as vacation days (giving me the July.28 until Aug.5 stretch of nothingness). Myself and 3 other foreigners, over the past 2 months, have been lazily trying to figure out what exactly we are going to do with our time in the land of the rising sun. One thing that was always a big consideration was how expensive out Imperialistic friends are - I converted 1.2 million won into Japanese Yen yesterday and I got about 156,000 yen out of it. We are staying in the worlds cheapest hostels which cost about 2,500 yen per night (and that is roughing it). We've paid for our 7-day rail pass already - so the other costs will be food, local transportation, and other spur-of-the-moment things (like feeding nuts to the hungry and popular Geishas!).
TEMPLE IN KOREA KEVIN AND I WENT TO A FEW WEEKS AGO - CAN YOU SPOT ME? (hint - you can only see my bald head)
Rough plan is to fly into Osaka (I think we arrive around 12:30pm) - rush through customs/immigration - exchange our train ticket 'vouchers' for actual tickets - and hop on a bullet train down to Hiroshima. The train ride shouldn't take more than 2 hours and I got us a popular hostel called J-Hoppers where we'll stay for Saturday and Sunday night.
J-Hoppers in Hiroshima!
Leaving early Monday morning I assume we will then head straight back up to Kyoto (unless we stop on a quick side trip somewhere). In Kyoto there are millions of things to do - hence its immense popularity (like if I was an actual village). We are staying in some could-be-shit hostel called BakPak for 2 nights that just happens to be right next door to the famous Gion district (Geishas!) and tons of other things.
HIKE FROM A FEW WEEKS AGO - I PROMISE I AM NOT TRYING TO GIVE ONE OF THOSE DUMB-ASS 'LOOK AT ME LOOKING SERIOUS' SHOTS - I WAS PERCHED PRECARIOUSLY ON A ROCK AND WAS MID-WAY THROUGH PISSING MYSELF - THAT SHOT IS A MIXTURE OF FEAR AND HUMILIATION
By the way - this particular time of the year is very busy all over Asia as not only do Koreans all have holidays but the Obon festival in Japan is also the following week so tons of tourists are pouring in all the time. There aren't that many hostels and I had a hard time just juggling around online trying to keep us all together (hence why we will be staying at 5 different hostels in total).
FUJI-SAN!
Wednesday one of our girls will be staying in Kyoto while myself and 2 others hop on the train and hopefully get to the town where Mt. Fuji sits placidly (it is a volcano you know). Aside from being the tallest mountain in Japan (12,388 feet) it is also a popular tourist spot with over 200,000 people climbing it every year. Officially only July and August are the climbing season, and all other times the mountain is pretty much closed to climbers because of bad weather, snow monsters, etc. People sitll climb it in the off season though to spite God and the Japanese weather bureau.
Mt. Fuji only has a 50% success rate (basically of the 1% of the population that decides to climb -half of them think 'screw this, I should be drinking saki and singing karaoke' before sliding back down). I've read a fair bit about the Fuji climb from other people and they all quote the same famous line regarding tackling Mt. Fuji.
"If you never climb Mt Fuji you are a fool, and if you climb it more than once you are a fool". - old Japanese saying.
I personally like this one:
“Aspire to be like Mt. Fuji, with such a broad and solid foundation that the strongest earthquake cannot move you, and so tall that the greatest enterprises of common men seem insignificant from your lofty perspective. With your mind as high as Mt Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things happening near to you.” -Miyamoto Musashi (Japanese Martial Arts master, one of the world's greatest swordsmen, 1584-1645)
Anywhoo - after starting to climb at around 7pm we will hopefully make it to the summit (thats right - just like Mt. Everest!) at around 2am -where we will huddle very very close together for body warmth (its freezing up there I'm told) to await the whole reason why we climbed 5 hours in the dark - the sunrise! Of course a million things could go wrong - bad weather, fog, the volcano erupts (its erupted about 16 times since 781 A.D.!) - so keep your fingers crossed.
KOREAN MOUNTAINS NEAR MY PLACE!
After that we make the 2 hours slide/trek down the volcanic ash side of the mountain (this is why you bring a large garbage bag - to store all your garbage and red ash covered clothes) and hop on the train back down to Kyoto - depending on the timing we may stop into Tokyo - but I doubt it. We'll be staying in Kyoto until Saturday morning so maybe I'll get to do some day trips to other places (like Nara).
Saturday we are heading to Osaka and staying at a more expensive hostel as every single spot is full - and Sunday we fly back to Korea.
Talk to you then!
KEVIN AND I GUARDING A TEMPLE IN KOREA WHOSE NAME I'VE FORGOTTEN
So I fly out of Busan airport Saturday morning and arrive at Osaka airport about an hour later. To answer your questions - I'm not really very excited - don't know why. Its not that I don't want to go, or have no interest in Japan - I'm just kind of 'meh!' but I assume that will all change when I am ankle deep in Geisha!
For those of you who don't know - my school/work will be shutting down for Aug.1,2,3 - so I craftily took the Monday and Tuesday off as vacation days (giving me the July.28 until Aug.5 stretch of nothingness). Myself and 3 other foreigners, over the past 2 months, have been lazily trying to figure out what exactly we are going to do with our time in the land of the rising sun. One thing that was always a big consideration was how expensive out Imperialistic friends are - I converted 1.2 million won into Japanese Yen yesterday and I got about 156,000 yen out of it. We are staying in the worlds cheapest hostels which cost about 2,500 yen per night (and that is roughing it). We've paid for our 7-day rail pass already - so the other costs will be food, local transportation, and other spur-of-the-moment things (like feeding nuts to the hungry and popular Geishas!).
TEMPLE IN KOREA KEVIN AND I WENT TO A FEW WEEKS AGO - CAN YOU SPOT ME? (hint - you can only see my bald head)
Rough plan is to fly into Osaka (I think we arrive around 12:30pm) - rush through customs/immigration - exchange our train ticket 'vouchers' for actual tickets - and hop on a bullet train down to Hiroshima. The train ride shouldn't take more than 2 hours and I got us a popular hostel called J-Hoppers where we'll stay for Saturday and Sunday night.
J-Hoppers in Hiroshima!
Leaving early Monday morning I assume we will then head straight back up to Kyoto (unless we stop on a quick side trip somewhere). In Kyoto there are millions of things to do - hence its immense popularity (like if I was an actual village). We are staying in some could-be-shit hostel called BakPak for 2 nights that just happens to be right next door to the famous Gion district (Geishas!) and tons of other things.HIKE FROM A FEW WEEKS AGO - I PROMISE I AM NOT TRYING TO GIVE ONE OF THOSE DUMB-ASS 'LOOK AT ME LOOKING SERIOUS' SHOTS - I WAS PERCHED PRECARIOUSLY ON A ROCK AND WAS MID-WAY THROUGH PISSING MYSELF - THAT SHOT IS A MIXTURE OF FEAR AND HUMILIATION
By the way - this particular time of the year is very busy all over Asia as not only do Koreans all have holidays but the Obon festival in Japan is also the following week so tons of tourists are pouring in all the time. There aren't that many hostels and I had a hard time just juggling around online trying to keep us all together (hence why we will be staying at 5 different hostels in total).
FUJI-SAN!
Wednesday one of our girls will be staying in Kyoto while myself and 2 others hop on the train and hopefully get to the town where Mt. Fuji sits placidly (it is a volcano you know). Aside from being the tallest mountain in Japan (12,388 feet) it is also a popular tourist spot with over 200,000 people climbing it every year. Officially only July and August are the climbing season, and all other times the mountain is pretty much closed to climbers because of bad weather, snow monsters, etc. People sitll climb it in the off season though to spite God and the Japanese weather bureau.
Mt. Fuji only has a 50% success rate (basically of the 1% of the population that decides to climb -half of them think 'screw this, I should be drinking saki and singing karaoke' before sliding back down). I've read a fair bit about the Fuji climb from other people and they all quote the same famous line regarding tackling Mt. Fuji.
"If you never climb Mt Fuji you are a fool, and if you climb it more than once you are a fool". - old Japanese saying.
I personally like this one:
“Aspire to be like Mt. Fuji, with such a broad and solid foundation that the strongest earthquake cannot move you, and so tall that the greatest enterprises of common men seem insignificant from your lofty perspective. With your mind as high as Mt Fuji you can see all things clearly. And you can see all the forces that shape events; not just the things happening near to you.” -Miyamoto Musashi (Japanese Martial Arts master, one of the world's greatest swordsmen, 1584-1645)
Anywhoo - after starting to climb at around 7pm we will hopefully make it to the summit (thats right - just like Mt. Everest!) at around 2am -where we will huddle very very close together for body warmth (its freezing up there I'm told) to await the whole reason why we climbed 5 hours in the dark - the sunrise! Of course a million things could go wrong - bad weather, fog, the volcano erupts (its erupted about 16 times since 781 A.D.!) - so keep your fingers crossed.
KOREAN MOUNTAINS NEAR MY PLACE!
After that we make the 2 hours slide/trek down the volcanic ash side of the mountain (this is why you bring a large garbage bag - to store all your garbage and red ash covered clothes) and hop on the train back down to Kyoto - depending on the timing we may stop into Tokyo - but I doubt it. We'll be staying in Kyoto until Saturday morning so maybe I'll get to do some day trips to other places (like Nara).
Saturday we are heading to Osaka and staying at a more expensive hostel as every single spot is full - and Sunday we fly back to Korea.
Talk to you then!
KEVIN AND I GUARDING A TEMPLE IN KOREA WHOSE NAME I'VE FORGOTTEN
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Don't look at me!.....I'm a monster!
Whats new you ask?!
Not a whole helluva lot! Last Sunday Kevin and I enjoyed one of the first sunny days we've had in a long time by going to the beach. We avoided the extremely popular Haeundae beach (and thus so crowded you have to buy space for $25 from a guy since the Korean mafia basically runs the beach racket - not joking). By doing this we also missed all of the girls and had to do with the chunky families and old women.
As soon as we took off our shirts I heard screams of "He's so white!", and "So pale! So pale! He must be dying!" - after telling Kevin to shut up I refused his sunblock as the yellow devil in the sky appeared to not be too strong.
Boy was I wrong. Even after eventually applying suntan lotion and being sure to roll over onto my stomach several times I got burnt reeeeeeeal bad. I kept lifting up my shirt later in the day after we'd left the beach (we only stayed for about 2 hours) because my skin (from bellybutton to neck) kept turning pink to pinker to red!
Talk about pain. A few months ago I had bought some moisturizing cream, for uh...personal reasons....so I began to apply that liberally to the burns. Its a bad sign when the skin burns as the moisturizer is applied. I couldn't wear a t-shirt either as the heat from my skin got so intense that it felt like there was a fire burning inside me (or maybe thats just love). Anyways, I tried to sleep but I couldn't allow any side to touch the bed because the pain was so bad AND the frigging lotion made me stick to the bed so I literally would have to peal myself off of it (and I got covered in dirty sheet crap - bits of sock, some cookie crumbs, Kevin's pubic hair).
The next day, per my moms suggestion I boiled a big pot of tea and threw about 6 teabags into it - after letting it really stew for about 1/2 hour I tossed some ice cubes in it and let a white tea towel soak as much of it up as it could. I should've let it cool longer as it burned my skin and dripped all over my floor. I did this while watching a horrible Bruce Willis movie called hostage (with his unfortunately featured daughter Rumer as his co-star). The tea thing kind-of worked but not enough to stop the tears.
Oh I almost forgot. When I first decided to leave for Korea I had the uncontrollable urge to tell everyone I met that I was leaving for Korea in a few months. The conversations, I kid you not, went like this.
Cashier at Shoppers Drug Mart: Do you have a platinum card?
Ken: No....
Cashier: Would you like to sign up for one?
Ken: No thanks...
Cashier: Okay, then that'll be -
Ken: (interrupting) You see, I can't apply for one, because...(deep intake of breath) well, I'll be in Korea for the next year.
Cashier: Uh-huh.
Ken: Yup.
Cashier: So why all the condoms?
Ken: Kids like them.
The End.
So basically thats how my everyday conversations went in Canada - having nothing to talk about (aside from a nagging finger-smelling habit) I was elated and excited to speak about my upcoming trip. I was special again.
NOW, having this horrible burn a co-worker pointed out to me recently that I have pulled up my shirt to anyone and everyone that passes by me- from the old woman caretaker who cleans the GnB bathrooms to the old women bus-drivers (who I think are best friends as well) to random GnB kids who walk by me and say 'hi'. Everyone has seen the burns - everyone. I do in class - in the supermarket - anywhere. At the gym I work out at a group of about 6 Korean guys were looking at me through the mirrors in the change room as my burn looked so grotesque. I indicated that it was a sunburn and they nodded and walked away discussing the monster they saw.
Now you get to!
FIRST DAY - THE CAMERA DOES NOT DO THE COLOR RED JUSTICE, NOR MY CRY OF PAIN
VERY PALE SKIN VERSUS RED SKIN
TRYING THE OLD YOGURT-ON-THE-BURN REMEDY - DELICIOUS AND NUTRITIOUS!
DAY 3 OF THE BURNS - GETTING BETTER, NOW PINK AND NOT RED
LOOK CLOSELY AND YOU CAN SEE THE HUNDREDS OF WHITE BLISTERS JUST BEGINNING TO APPEAR - HOURS AFTER THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN THEY NOW NUMBER IN THE THOUSANDS. I'M A MONSTER!
Pray for me.
Not a whole helluva lot! Last Sunday Kevin and I enjoyed one of the first sunny days we've had in a long time by going to the beach. We avoided the extremely popular Haeundae beach (and thus so crowded you have to buy space for $25 from a guy since the Korean mafia basically runs the beach racket - not joking). By doing this we also missed all of the girls and had to do with the chunky families and old women.
As soon as we took off our shirts I heard screams of "He's so white!", and "So pale! So pale! He must be dying!" - after telling Kevin to shut up I refused his sunblock as the yellow devil in the sky appeared to not be too strong.
Boy was I wrong. Even after eventually applying suntan lotion and being sure to roll over onto my stomach several times I got burnt reeeeeeeal bad. I kept lifting up my shirt later in the day after we'd left the beach (we only stayed for about 2 hours) because my skin (from bellybutton to neck) kept turning pink to pinker to red!
Talk about pain. A few months ago I had bought some moisturizing cream, for uh...personal reasons....so I began to apply that liberally to the burns. Its a bad sign when the skin burns as the moisturizer is applied. I couldn't wear a t-shirt either as the heat from my skin got so intense that it felt like there was a fire burning inside me (or maybe thats just love). Anyways, I tried to sleep but I couldn't allow any side to touch the bed because the pain was so bad AND the frigging lotion made me stick to the bed so I literally would have to peal myself off of it (and I got covered in dirty sheet crap - bits of sock, some cookie crumbs, Kevin's pubic hair).
The next day, per my moms suggestion I boiled a big pot of tea and threw about 6 teabags into it - after letting it really stew for about 1/2 hour I tossed some ice cubes in it and let a white tea towel soak as much of it up as it could. I should've let it cool longer as it burned my skin and dripped all over my floor. I did this while watching a horrible Bruce Willis movie called hostage (with his unfortunately featured daughter Rumer as his co-star). The tea thing kind-of worked but not enough to stop the tears.
Oh I almost forgot. When I first decided to leave for Korea I had the uncontrollable urge to tell everyone I met that I was leaving for Korea in a few months. The conversations, I kid you not, went like this.
Cashier at Shoppers Drug Mart: Do you have a platinum card?
Ken: No....
Cashier: Would you like to sign up for one?
Ken: No thanks...
Cashier: Okay, then that'll be -
Ken: (interrupting) You see, I can't apply for one, because...(deep intake of breath) well, I'll be in Korea for the next year.
Cashier: Uh-huh.
Ken: Yup.
Cashier: So why all the condoms?
Ken: Kids like them.
The End.
So basically thats how my everyday conversations went in Canada - having nothing to talk about (aside from a nagging finger-smelling habit) I was elated and excited to speak about my upcoming trip. I was special again.
NOW, having this horrible burn a co-worker pointed out to me recently that I have pulled up my shirt to anyone and everyone that passes by me- from the old woman caretaker who cleans the GnB bathrooms to the old women bus-drivers (who I think are best friends as well) to random GnB kids who walk by me and say 'hi'. Everyone has seen the burns - everyone. I do in class - in the supermarket - anywhere. At the gym I work out at a group of about 6 Korean guys were looking at me through the mirrors in the change room as my burn looked so grotesque. I indicated that it was a sunburn and they nodded and walked away discussing the monster they saw.
Now you get to!
FIRST DAY - THE CAMERA DOES NOT DO THE COLOR RED JUSTICE, NOR MY CRY OF PAIN
VERY PALE SKIN VERSUS RED SKIN
TRYING THE OLD YOGURT-ON-THE-BURN REMEDY - DELICIOUS AND NUTRITIOUS!
DAY 3 OF THE BURNS - GETTING BETTER, NOW PINK AND NOT RED
LOOK CLOSELY AND YOU CAN SEE THE HUNDREDS OF WHITE BLISTERS JUST BEGINNING TO APPEAR - HOURS AFTER THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN THEY NOW NUMBER IN THE THOUSANDS. I'M A MONSTER!
Pray for me.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
quick one
Still here, still alive.
Nothing much happening on the work front - I am going to some big thing called Mudfest this weekend, which is a 5 hour long busride up near Seoul to a 2km stretch of beach. I assume there will be a bit of mud, but it will most likely end up just being one gigantic beach party (not the Frankie Avalon kind either).
I was going to throw in a bunch of pictures that I took while hiking with a few people last week- but alas, I don't have the time nor the strength. Japan is stressing me out as we don't have a place to stay in Kyoto yet - one of the only hostels left looks to be kind of a dump - but we don't have much choice. Apparently it is right nearby the infamous Geisha district though - maybe I'll get lucky!
Talk to you Sunday night.
Nothing much happening on the work front - I am going to some big thing called Mudfest this weekend, which is a 5 hour long busride up near Seoul to a 2km stretch of beach. I assume there will be a bit of mud, but it will most likely end up just being one gigantic beach party (not the Frankie Avalon kind either).
I was going to throw in a bunch of pictures that I took while hiking with a few people last week- but alas, I don't have the time nor the strength. Japan is stressing me out as we don't have a place to stay in Kyoto yet - one of the only hostels left looks to be kind of a dump - but we don't have much choice. Apparently it is right nearby the infamous Geisha district though - maybe I'll get lucky!
Talk to you Sunday night.
Friday, July 06, 2007
Uh-oh!
Well. I was going to write a long blog about how I've been procastinating in many ways - not researching Japan, writing, reading, getting my haircut. But I thought, well instead of talking how about doing?! So I got my haircut - like Britney Spears I have been going through my own kind of crisis and thought something drastic would work.
Oops, I was wrong!
What Have I DONE!?
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