Japan cont...Hiroshima, Kyoto, Fuji

Hey Guys,

I have had a crazy few days in Japan of late, from the floating torii at miyajima to the memorials in hirmoshima, temples in kyoto and the conquering of mt fuji! I have had so many big nites over here usually ending singing karaoke at 5am or just yelling out ki-lay to every girl that walks past haha. I have self imposed myself to stop socialising with people from the hostels because evry small convo ends up in bright lights, j-pop, stumbling through city streets, entering 7/11's for ham and egg sangers, empty wallets, hoarse voices and of course the obligatory hangover. That said, I did manage to get myself out of bed occasionally and do some touristy stuff ->

The beautiful floating torii gates in Miyajima coupled with cheerful deer. Climbing the mountain and seeing hiroshima from the top...not to mention the iradescent fireworks display which you guys might have seen, it was that BIG! The Japs are fair dinkum pyros! The conversation at night time also brought out the best from the local jap contigent. They were questioning me and a couple americans over the important world discussion of fisting. It began with a mild enquiry as to how popular it was in America. The american rightfully downplayed the topic as being rather uncommon and mainly left in x-rated films. A few beers later and further discussions led to the japanese guy admitting that 'if you fist a Japanese girl, she will die'. So now you know, like Clint Eastwood, zie limitiations....(yes the westerners were raucously laughing for the next 20 mins)

Next was Hiroshima, a city dedicated to world peace and prevention of the manufacturing of Nukes. They have a building there which was one of the few left after the bomb. The peace memorial and childrens memorial were quite sad (tearful sad not lame sad) and the museum showed how powerful this weapon was. My only point of contention was Nagasaki, which the US bombed 3 days later with another abomb, the Japs didnt surrender until 6 days after the 2nd bomb...very strange. The bomb on nagasaki also wasnt intended for it, it was the second target after kokura which was too cloudy to drop the bomb.

Then from there I went to Mt Fuji and did the 5 hour trek uphill during the night time which i though might be cooler. It was cooler, it was freezing, i think i nearly died! but i didnt. the advantage of climbing at night was to see the sunrise in the morning which was fairly special in the words of bruce. At the top of the hill there isnt much to see except they have a post office there, strange and somewhat inconvenient but not my country. The downhill was almost as hard as the uphill, it was might slippery and i am grateful not to have done an ACL. This is probz the hardest trek ive done, the altitude air is quite severe (the top is 3700m up) and the track aint flash to walk on. but i made it!

Then today ive been chillin in kyoto with temples and all that which are lovely and peaceful. The imari torri has 4km of gates in a tunnel like thing to the top of the mountain which is quite novel. And the ginkaku ji temple was amazing to be in...top place for a party!

Japan

Ok just arrived in Japtown. Hit up Fukuoka and now Beppu on the island of Kyushu - the bottom island. I have noticed immediate differences and similarities between SK and Japland.

Most notably for myself has been the exceedingly pleasing aesthetic kinetics of the Japanese women. They are friendly, happy, different and sexy. Without having been to too many other countries, I would find it hard to displace them from my "Top 5 countries I'd like to Tap" list. And surprisingly for me, getting more stares in Jap than SK, though as my German friend explained it's not coz you're white, it's coz your frikkin tall!

Price is the other thing. I am surprised at how semi affordable it can be to live, I had prepared my self for the worst! It's more or less Oz prices plus another GST. Yes hostels are $40AUD a nite but 500mL Asahi from Sevs set you back only $2.40AUD. Having said that though I am having a little trouble converting from SK won to Jap Yen. In Japan they have one less zero than SK so my $1 drinks at the bar are now 10!

Pachinko google it - crazy pokies Jap style.

Hostess Bars - I do not for the life of me UNDERSTAND. I dont want to pay 70AUD an hour to be introduced to girls. It's called lavalife and it's FREE dammit! These hostess bars populated Fukuoka, I walked past about 100 Hostess bars and 5 regular irish pubs hence my chagrin. These 'bars' have a two fold effect, not only are there less normal bars but less women inside of them!

Language has been funny for me, I haven't bothered to use my phrase books instead developing my pointing and expression skills.

OK, as said at the mo I'm in Beppu - onsen capital of the world. And it's difficult to explain but basically it's skinny dipping in natural hot springs (segregated genders) which is a little odd and a little gay, not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with it. I did go to a similar thing in SK which had hot pools, cold pools and 80 degree saunas as well as a place to sleep. But apparently it is good for your skin and health which needs some repair after all those cheap cancer sticks.

Anywayz i got to go, I just heard two American girls behind me! :p

South Korea

Hey everyone,

Just finishing up Korea today, I've been here for a month! Been to a few interesting places and done a few interesting things. In no particular order except chronological I have been:

To the beautiful mountains in Sokcho and the North Korean border on the east side.

To a volunteer camp in the middle of nowhere, it was supposed to be for 9 days but I left with a couple of english blokes after two days, it wasn't very good! I sort of felt bad for booting but they didn't really need our help, they wanted us to build them a library yet this town was so small (200ppl) and they didn't even have a shop. Plus the villagers were driving around in the sporty new hyundais.

To the Seoul casino, yes predictable but its only open to foreigners and they have Free Drinks! AND Free food! So alls you had to do was bet on black and red and you get free booze and food. The toasted ham and egg sandwiches at 4am were the best ever!

Next was GyeongJu the old Buddhist capital of Korea. I was reading about these amazing tombs and temples, I was fairly disappointed at the tombs as they were just hills but some of the buddha carvings and temples were amazing. Also I found a dog place as per pic where just like lobster you can pick your pooch to poach!

At GyeongJu, I met this lovely Dutch girl and we headed down to Jeju Island which was a heap of fun, waterfalls, waterskiing, swimming and a ride in a real submarine to see the "coral ecology", nothing compared to the GBR! We also stayed in whats called a love motel which is quite a funny concept, you can book them for an hour or two and at reception they give you a toothbrush, key and condom lol. But apart form the sextoy vending machines and general cheesiness they work out to be quite good value with a computer air con for only $40 a nite for the room!

The last few days I've been in Busan where i saw the lovely UN cemetery and Haeundae Beach and tonight I'm heading out to Japan on the overnight ferry.

Regards,

Chris

South Korea

Hey Guys

Hope all is all well back in Melbourne.

I am having a great time. I am currently in Seoul where i have been for 8 days and before that i was in shanghai for 4 nights.

Shnaghai was just OK, it was pretty crazy considering it has the population of Australia. Coming into Shanghai we had to sit on the plane and have our body temperature checked by these stormtroopers...it was a bit over the top! Shanghai itself has lots of big nice buildings including the bottle opener which is pretty cool. There are so many skyscrapers and so much pollution which made getting lost rather easy. There was also McKids, a clothing store for children with McDonalds branding. There wasn't alot of touristy stuff apart from shopping which was awesome to do there and the maglev train to the airport which cruised at 431kmph - 4 nights was enough for me. Oh yeah I also ate the local specialty - frogs! I'm not amazed that it hasn't caught on!

And then I come to Seoul which as been amazing! The hostel I am staying at is in the exact right area - right next to 3 universites! The streets are chockers at night with heaps of young ppl, it's really hip. The owner of the hostel Mary is amazing, she treats everyone like they are her children - every morning she comes in with a big plate of muffins! Seoul is a super place to visit, it's very westernised and super clean. The metro makes Connex look like a poodle next to a rottweiler. There has been so much to do everyday. I also met this lovely German girl Janin - great personality lol and we have had a ball. To list a few - Lotte World a funny little amusement park. Temples etc. Seoul Forest. The stream which runs through the city with clean clear water and living marine life. The world cup stadium which was quite funny where Janin and I was asked to pose for about 100 Chinese tourists! The DMZ tour on the border of North Korea - got to visit one of the tunnels the North built to invade Seoul! but it got discovered! Again the shopping. And the nightlife lol. Everything is so cheap here! free entry to nightclubs for foreigners - it's brilliant. Food is spicy and a bit of a lottery but I'm slowly deciphering what to eat and what not to eat.

I also took a day trip to Boryeong mud festival which was crazy. Beer + mud + beach + people = happy times. check the pics!

My plans for the next two weeks are to go to Sokch'o where they have a mountain and a beach. Think hike one day beach the next! And after that I am doing a volunteer work camp for 7 days in a small little village with a uni group from Seoul. I am thinking it will be more of 'socialist contiki' type thing and I'm hoping to pick up some Korean (language that is!)