Good to be back in Hongdae

Goodbye Japan, I can see you will miss me too. How nice of you to get a bunch of people to wave me goodbye...
.... how can you not like a country where the whole crew at the ferry terminal will wave your ship goodbye at departure? As if leaving the country wasn't hard enough, they had to come along and do this. Japan, I will be back!

I took the fast ferry this time which took only about 4h to cross to Korea (as opposed to around 12h the last time). I arrived in Busan, made my way straight to the Trainstation and hopped on the next KTX Bullet Train to Seoul.

I am staying at the same Hostel as the first time around, in the Heart of Hongdae. Honestly, if your ever in Seoul, this is the place to be. There is stuff happening every day. People on ropes dancing along walls (wanted to post a video but korean youtube won't let me), white dressed students with white make up making music while walking down the street, markets with art students selling their (spelling?) art etc. On Friday I will contribute to this and join a few other couchsurfers for a "Free Hugs" event :). Can't wait!

Also Nightlife here is just the best. I went out drinking with some people on Friday (and got pretty drunk it seems) and that was just a blast. But even better was clubbing on Saturday night. I didn't feel so well to begin with but I went anyhow and ended up dancing till 3:30. The place just played awesome music and the ladies wore cute little halloween costumes that made me drool.


I don't plan to do much sightseeing till I leave for Australia. My goal is to meet as many local people as possible. So far I am going strong and I hope it will stay that way. Isn't meeting new friends much more interesting than looking at some old stones? I think so!

Enjoy the pictures and keep in mind that the alcohol was flowing sans restrictions. ;)




Yes Hongdae, I love you too

Fiona, another canadian english teacher. There must be a huge communtiy of them here!

Agent Mouse! Don't stealz my crackerz!

WTF?

Art is NOT over and will never be.

Love the contrast.. and must admit.. not taken in Hongdae

Just a few days left in Japan

Hey folks

Just a wee bit more than a Week to go before I have to leave the beautiful country of Japan. I thought It's time to publish some random "not-so-well-known" facts about Japan. These are things I have noticed during my stay here and will hopefully destroy some of the stereotypes you think of when you think about Japan. After these, I will continue (like always) to tell you about what I have been up to in these last few days since my last post.

1. Japanese are not as shy as some people would want to make you think.
2. They sure know how to party!
3. 90% of all cars are white.
4. There are actually people here that don't follow the rules.
5. Gosh, they sure like to stand in line. It's like a national sport.
6. The japanese are not as small as rumour has it.
7. Pocari Sweat tastes like Isostar (my fellow swiss know what I am talking about)
8. It's is possible to travel all over the country with about 20 words of japanese.
9. You will fall in love with this place

So now that we got that out of the way (btw. it sounded much better in my head when I was thinking about it) I will continue with the usual.

So what have I been doin; I spent a few days in Naha on the Island of Okinawa. Did I like it? Welllll, thats a yes and a no. I didn't like the fact that it is very "touristy". Also there are just too many marines. Seriously, how bad do you have to behave to make clubs and bars come up with the following rule: "If you try to pick up a japanese girl, you and the rest of the "western" guests will be thrown out of the club for the rest of the evening".

On the other hand, I loved the whole sub-tropic feel of the ISland. This is really not the Japan you have in your head. If you visit Japan you should really come down here and visit some of the beautiful small Islands. Also, I met some really nice people at my hostel. Especially my last night there aka my goodbye party was a heap of fun.

Funny how one evening can really change your opinion about a place.

I am now in Osaka, will stay here till saturday and then leave for Tokyo where I will stay until my plane leaves for Soeul on the 7th of october. Let's get on with the pictures, shall we?

Northern tip of Okinawa

These dogs are kinda the trademark of Okinawa.. although Jimmy and I

stand to our opinion that they are lions!

Hemingway had a jolly good time in Naha. On a side note, I have some grand plans for this dude, more in due time.

Shuri-jo, one of the more impressing castles I have seen in Japan.

They have the weirdest things in Japan, like these mango flavoured Cigarettes... or so I thought, until I turned the pack and realized that they are produced in Berlin... that was rather surprising!

Not much to say here.. futuristic transport as befits Japan (or Monorail)

Breathtaking view of the coast in southern Okinawa

Meet my friends from the Shell house hostel in Naha. Not in anyway affiliated with a big company that happens to have a similar name. Thanks for the great evening folks.

thats all for now..

.. keep smiling