South Korea - short and sweet

After a pretty smooth and comfortable 12 hour ferry ride across the Sea of Japan, we arrived in a brand spanking new country for both of us - South Korea. We had absolutely no idea what to expect from this tiny country (it's less than half the size of New Zealand would you believe?!) but we like to jump in blindly at the deep end.

The ferry arrived in the south-eastern port city of Busan, which is the second largest city in the country. We weren't overly enamoured by the city at first glance, but a lot of port cities have a raw, roughness to them and we only spent a couple of days there which wasn't long enough to really get to explore it properly. We did, however, manage to visit a few sights so we weren't slacking off on the job. First up was Haedong Yonggungsa Temple, a Buddhist temple stunningly located by the sea. Apparently its location is a bit of an anomaly, as most Buddhist temples were built in the mountains to make them easier to defend during a time of persecution from the Confuciust state. And it was indeed a beautiful place to walk around, starting with the row of Chinese zodiac statues at the entrance, crossing a stone bridge and ending with the temple by the water. It was a bit of a mission to get there from Busan, but worth it for the view.

The second temple we visited was Beomeosa (Temple of the Nirvana Fish), one of the best known temples in the country. This one was more traditionally located in the mountains and has a bigger temple complex than Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. It was another peaceful, albeit different location, and a pleasant place to while away a morning.

To round out our sightseeing in Busan we took a walk through Jagalchi fish market, went to the top of Busan Tower for a view over the port, and ended the night with a walk down to Gwangan Bridge (known in English as Diamond Bridge). Every night there's a pretty cheesy light and music show on the bridge where the colours and movements of the lights change with the rhythm of the music, but it's good for a bit of entertainment.

After our busy couple of days in Busan we headed up the coast and inland a bit to Gyeongju, where there are a lot of archaeological and historical sites from it's era as the capital of the ancient kingdom of Silla. We wandered around the Gyeongju Historic Areas (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) which encompasses the ruins of temples and palaces, among other things, left by the ancient kingdom. Afterwards we walked over to the Gyeongju National Museum to get some more history and culture down us. We also took a trip out to the Bulguksa temple complex (which we were rather unimpressed with), then hiked an hour or so up the mountain to the more impressive Seokguram grotto, where a Buddha statue is carved in a small cave. We weren't allowed to take photos to document the moment, but it was pretty cool. And that was our two days in Gyeongju done and dusted. 

The archaeological sites buried under small mounds

View from the Seokguram grotto

The final city on our whistle-stop tour of South Korea was, of course, Seoul. The brother of a friend of mine has lived in Seoul for many years, so he kindly met up with us several times to show us around the capital and, most importantly, take us to eat good food we'd never have figured out by ourselves. By this point we were pretty museumed, templed and palaced out, so we were happy to just wander the streets with Damian pointing out interesting things and helping us find new and delicious foods. The one touristy thing we wanted to do was to visit the DMZ, but unfortunately all tours were booked up for the 5 or so days we were in Seoul. Bugger. 

And with that, our very brief time in South Korea was up. I don't know if the short amount of time was a contributing factor, but neither of us really took to this country. The main reason being the people - they were very distant and unfriendly, unhelpful and not willing to talk to foreigners. I don't know if that's a cultural thing or not but it was quite surprising. We didn't speak a lick of Korean, nor could we read the language, but we certainly don't expect locals to be able to speak English just to help us. The difference is, that in plenty of other countries where there's been a language barrier the locals are still really friendly and willing to try and interact with and help us. The Koreans did not. At all. So despite there being some beautiful scenery and tasty food, we left the country feeling pretty underwhelmed and uninspired, and definitely in no great hurry to return. Now it was time to get on board another ferry to take us to China.

I think I'm turning Japanese...

We'd both really been looking forward to getting to Asia and some long awaited for kookiness, and Japan was first up. I think it's fairly unanimous that Japan is not only kooky, but it also takes it that giant step further. It pretty much goes without saying that you'll be wondering what the fuck is going on a lot of the time in this weird and wonderful country. 

It had been 7 long years since I left Japan after my year living there, but it was Kurt's first time so he was in for a unique experience. Unfortunately we only had two weeks there because it is a ridiculously expensive country, but we managed to make the most of it. We spent the first 4 or 5 days in the madness that is Tokyo, which is the core of the most populated urban area in the world (Greater Tokyo has a population of 35 million). And in true Japanese style, it's probably also the cleanest city in the world. Everything also runs perfectly on time, so much so that if a train is late they'll issue you with a note to take to work to explain why you're tardy. I have no idea how they do it, but if the largest city in the world can manage it, why the hell can't anywhere else? And while Japanese people are naturally very reserved and shy, they're also the kindest people. If they can speak any English whatsoever they're eager to try it out and ask if you need help, and even if they can't speak a lick of English they'll still try and help you whilst babbling away in Japanese. This means that even if you don't speak any Japanese you'll manage to bumble your way around (the big cities at least) without too much stress, but luckily for us I busted out my rusty Japanese skills to get us around a lot easier. 

We were staying across the Sumida River, near the area of Asakusa and the iconic Asahi Beer Hall, affectionately known as "the golden turd" (for very obvious reasons). Central Tokyo is massive (and not exactly cheap to get around on the metro) and there's a lot to see and do, so we just had time to take in a few highlights: the Buddhist temple Senso-ji located in Asakusa, which is Tokyo's oldest temple; checking out the electronics mecca in Akihabara aka "Electric Town"; walking across the famous Shibuya crossing (it's in heaps of movies and music videos); drinking and playing pachinko in Shinjuku (we had NO idea what was going on with pachinko, but we lost $10 in about 30 seconds!); wandering through Yoyogi Park and watching the dancing Elvises (or is it Elvi?); walking around the Tokyo Imperial Palace grounds; visiting the Sony headquarters in the bayside Odaiba district to check out the latest in technology; getting a great view out over the city for free (instead of paying to go up Tokyo Tower); visiting Tsukiji Fish Market, the biggest wholesale fish and seafood market in the world; and eating. 

Senso-ji Buddhist temple

Tokyo Imperial Palace grounds

The golden turd

The dancing Elvises at Yoyogi Park

Even though it involved getting up at 2:30am and having to pay $30 for a taxi because there was no public transport at that time, visiting Tsukiji Fish Market was one of the most interesting things we did. They only let in a certain number of people every morning, so the earlier you arrive, the better. We got there at about 3:45am and there were already about 20 people in line. After waiting outside for about 30-45mins we were let inside, where we had to wait for a further 1.5 hours. We were then led into the fish market in small groups, where we stood huddled in a small roped off area to watch the buyers inspecting the biggest tuna I've ever seen, and then watched them being auctioned off. We only had 15mins but it was fascinating. Afterwards, Kurt had probably the freshest sushi imaginable at one of the small restaurants on the market grounds. Well worth the splurge.

We could have spent longer in Tokyo seeing more of this enormous city, but we had to move on. We were headed to Kyoto next, and we decided to splash out and get the Nozomi bullet train, the fastest in the country. Just in case you ever visit Japan and get the Japan Rail Pass, be aware that the Nozomi train isn't included in the Pass. Balls to that. We had to fork out about $300 for the two of us, but it was worth it just to experience the 300km/h speed. The amazing thing was, there was absolutely no wobbly unsteadiness at this speed - we could walk around easily without having to hold on or worry about falling over. Needless to say, it covered the almost 500km trip in no time. It was a massive expense, but what a way to travel.

Kyoto isn't a very big city at about 1.5 million, but it's got almost as many temples and shrines as it does people. Well, not quite, but it definitely seems that way, and an old nickname for Kyoto is the "City of Ten Thousand Shrines". A conservative estimate methinks. We had three days in Kyoto, but we only visited one temple - Kinkaku-ji, the Temple of the Golden Pavilion. We get pretty templed out when there's a million to see in one country (or city), so we only go to them now if they're a little bit different. So a gold one was pretty unique. Probably the most popular thing to do in Kyoto is to go geisha spotting in the Gion district. There are a lot of traditional establishments in this area where geisha entertain businessmen, so it's a matter of wandering the streets and alleys or staking out a spot to try and catch the geisha in full regalia hurrying to their next engagement. We were there for a couple of hours and we were lucky enough to see about six, but they move surprisingly fast on their platform sandals so it was almost impossible to get a good photo in focus. There were times when we'd be running after them or ahead of them to try and get a photo. All pretence at being nonchalant goes out the window when you finally spot one!

There is an interesting, albeit expensive market in downtown Kyoto called Nishiki Market, with an impressive and colourful array of food and gifts. The stalls make for great photos, although we soon discovered that some stall owners aren't too keen on foreigners snapping away without buying something. This is where not understanding anything works in your favour as you can just play the dumb gaijin (foreigner) card and walk off. Rude - perhaps. Effective - definitely.

We also visited Kyoto Imperial Palace, located in Kyoto Gyoen Park. We thought we could just rock up and pay to go in, but we were wrong. As foreigners, you have to go to an office nearby and fill out an application form and present your passport. Luckily you can do this just before the next scheduled tour (providing you have your passport on you of course), which is conducted in English. It's quite interesting seeing where a Japanese Imperial family used to live, but as is usually the case, there were some annoying numpties on our tour. They're surprisingly hard to avoid.

Our next stop for just a couple of days was Osaka. With such limited time here we only did a couple of things, namely checking out Osaka Castle; going to the top of the Umeda Sky Building for impressive 360 degree views of the city; eating delicious kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi); and wandering up and down Dōtonbori, a street famous for it's myriad of restaurants, neon mechanised signs and people dressed up as seafood/cartoon characters. We were here to find some good okonomiyaki, my favourite Japanese food. It's usually described as a pancake, but the base batter also includes cabbage, to which basically whatever else you want is added. Once cooked it's topped with a deliciously thick BBQ type sauce, lashings of mayo criss-crossed on the surface and the ubiquitous katsuobushi, or dried fish flakes. You may or may not also get a sprinkling of powdered seaweed. Basically a big round pancake-on-steroids creation of awesome deliciousness. However, it just so happened that the restaurant we chose on Dōtonbori made their own house special, consisting of a base made of noodles. I'm sorry, but no. That's just wrong. It's not like it was horrible, but it definitely wasn't what I was looking for. So the hunt for good okonomiyaki continues...

View from the top of the Umeda Sky Building

Osaka Castle

Okonomiyaki

While we're on the subject of food, there are some amazing culinary delights in Japan, but unfortunately a lot of it is beyond our meagre backpacker budget. We did try most things at least once though, and I don't think there was anything we didn't like: ramen, soba and udon noodles; sushi, including the popular kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi); yakitori; gyoza (dumplings); okonomiyaki (my personal favourite); cheap convenience store food; Japanese curry and rice; MOS Burger - a Japanese fast-food joint; takoyaki - bits of octopus in doughy balls...the list goes on. But being on a budget, we of course loved the many cheap chain stores around the country which give a whole new meaning to fast food - and not your typical fatty, deep fried shit either. The brilliance of these places (the big ones are called Matsuya, Yoshinoya and Ootoya) lies in the ordering system - you simply insert money into a machine, push the button which has the picture of the dish you want, receive the ticket which is spat out of the machine, hand the ticket to the person behind the counter, and wait approximately 30 seconds before your steaming hot meal is placed in front of you. For about $5 you can get a big bowl of rice and meat with a perfectly cooked and still runny egg on top and a bowl of miso soup. And free iced water. What more could you want? The novelty of these places never wore off, and it removes the hassle of having to read and/or speak if you can't do either. Sheer brilliance.

Yakitori

Best food ordering system EVER!

Something else worth mentioning, as weird as it may sound, is the vending machines in Japan. No matter where you go - large metropolis or tiny town - you can't go far without spotting one or ten. They are literally on every street, sometimes huge lines of them, selling everything you could ever want or need while on a walk down the street (and some things you just think what the fuck?) - drinks, alcohol, cigarettes, ice-cream, toys, hot food, snacks, girls panties, magazines, porn...the list goes on and on and on. Japan - taking convenience to the next level.

With just a few more days left in Japan we headed to Hiroshima, which is unfortunately really only known worldwide because it was destroyed by the atomic bomb dropped on it in World War II. Despite being such a horrific event in history, the Peace Memorial Park is a beautiful place. There's quite a few monuments in the park, like the Children's Peace Monument, the Hiroshima Peace Memorial aka the Atomic Bomb Dome, and the Peace Flame, which has burned continuously since it was lit in 1964 and will remain lit until all nuclear bombs on the planet are destroyed and the planet is free from the threat of nuclear annihilation. There's also the Peace Memorial Museum, and while we're not usually big museum people, this was both intensely interesting and horrifying. 

On a lighter note, we unwittingly timed our visit just right to coincide with the annual Sake Festival in the nearby town of Saijo, a 30 minute train ride from Hiroshima. Even though I personally can't stand sake, we weren't going to miss out on seeing crowds of Japanese people getting totally shitfaced. We arrived at about lunchtime, and already there were swarms of people wandering the streets eating and drinking, with some already stumbling around or sleeping it off. Kurt bravely sampled a few sake's, but mostly we bought beer from the 7 Eleven's. Up to 200,000 people flock to this town over the two days of the festival, sampling up to 900 different varieties of sake on offer. The Japanese aren't exactly renowned for their ability to handle their alcohol, so we had a very amusing day of walking around drinking and eating, and watching the Japanese get drunk and merry. And when we got back to town we found an awesome okonomiyaki place - the hunt was officially over.

We also made the trip out to Miyajima, a small island off the coast of Hiroshima and famous for the floating torii - the big red gate standing in the bay in front of the shrine. Of course, whether it's floating or not depends on the tide, but it's a pretty cool and unique sight. The island itself is quaint and retains a classic Edo-era look, and deer roam freely around the streets and parks. You can hike to the top of Mt. Misen for views of the island and surrounding sea, but we were content to just wander the streets for a couple of hours. 

Before we knew it our time in Japan was up, and we had to make our way to Shimonoseki at the southwestern tip of Honshu to get our ferry across to South Korea. While it was only a whirlwind trip across just one island of the country, it brought back my love of this place. And although he was a bit weirded out at times at the almost freakish cleanliness, orderliness and politeness of the people, Kurt really got a taste for Japan and he liked what he saw (and ate). Next time we'll go with a bigger chunk of money to really get stuck in.