Good Night South Korea, Good Morning Vietnam!

After my last blog we stayed in South Korea for 5 more days. We went to the war museum where I learned about the Korean war and how once again, America somehow managed to fuck things up when they thought they were helping. The museum was very impressive and must have been extremely expensive with hologram videos and moving sets, the only way I can describe it really is as if the Native American figures at the Museum of Natural History in NYC started fighting with ships and guns and sound effects and lights, and they were Korean, then thats what it was like. A great description, I know. Aside from that our stay in South Korea was very uneventful. Our friends at the hostel were fun, it was called Backpacker Friends, and everyone there really were friends of the owner. They all slept on the floor of the hostel. Every night they made food and drank a lot of beer and soju and laughed and watched funny you tube videos. For the first few days it was a lot of fun, but getting a good night sleep was out of the question. Our hostel room, which was a 10 person mixed dorm, also did not have a door. So that was frustrating. Overall not a bad experience though.

We traveled farther south and stayed in Gyeonju for 2 days. Gyeonju is advertized as "Beautiful Gyeonju" and we decided to go there to bask in its beauty among lakes (which we assumed would be frozen since it was winter, but possibly still beautiful) and the tombs which websites and pamphlets boasted about. I think that South Korea should win the photoshop award because in reality it should have just been called "Gyeonju" or something that means "dry and barren." Not only was the lake not frozen, it was non existent aside from a fence that at one time must have surrounded it. The tombs were merely large mounds of grass which you could walk around. We were able to enter one, which immediately stated, "everything you're looking at is fake," although in a nicer way. It was a bit disappointing, but at the same time I'm not really sure what I expected to see. Dead bodies? Graves? Bones? People excavating the site while I observed? I'm really not sure. We quickly hurried back to Seoul for our last night before our flight to Vietnam. We met up with Mimi's friend from home who took us to an Ugly Sweater Christmas party and we got to talk to a lot of people who are living in Korea, either teaching or because they are Korean American and have moved there from the states. The next day was our flight and we were waved goodbye by the only snow flurries we'll probably see the entire time we will we gone, which made us nostalgic, but equally excited to get to warm weather. Also, you dont have to take your shoes off in the Seoul airport at security which was awesome.

So after an easy 6 hour flight we arrived in Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam and there was a man standing with all the other cabbies holding up a big sign that read Margaret, which was wonderful, because we were not sure if the hotel remembered we were coming or not. Had we not been picked up we also never would have found our hostel which was off a main road, down a creepy alley and essentially locked up for the night. Once inside the hostel itself was very nice, and safe. The room was decent and we got our own bathroom which I never thought would become such a luxury.

Ho Chi Mihn is a ridiculous city, first because you have to cross the street against on coming traffic. In New York when you're crossing against the light and you see an openning you run as fast as you possibly can. In Ho Chi Mihn you cross slowly, one terrified step at a time while hundreds of motorcycles whip by you and busses and cars honk for you to get out of the way. Everytime we made it across the street I was shocked I hadn't died. Honking has taken on a new meaning in Vietnam. Again, in the states, honking is usually reserved for near accidents, someone who has fallen asleep at a light, trying to get a friend's attention, or picking up women, but in Ho Chi Mihn honking means "I'm behind you, please move." It works most of the time, but everyone is honking and no one knows if its really them who is being honked at and NO ONE slows down. If a bus honks at a biker it means, "I am here, you may get crushed." Scarier than crossing the street is being in a cab. There are no road laws. You can drive wherever there is space, even if that means on the opposite side of the road. There are very faint lines in the road that may once have suggested a lane, but they aren't used and driving into a round about is chaos. Our cab almost hit a biker and then finally as the biker drove off he just laughed and laughed and laughed. It was terrifiying.

Over all we discovered that should you take the general precautions Saigon is a fairly safe place, much like New York, and like New York, if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time and look vulnerable it can become a not so safe place. The area we were staying in was known as the "Backpacker" area and there were a ton of travelers from all over. The bars stayed open late and all had western food like fries, blt, and burgers. After dinner you could sit right out on the street constantly warding off the children who come by to sell you everything from cigarettes, to lighters, to gum, to razors to hammocks. A quick shake of the hand though and they are gone. There are a lot of people walking around on the streets with facial and body mutation due to Agent Orange. Its sad and frightening at the same time and it took us a few days to get used to it. We met a lot of people at these bars and would talk to them for hours about traveling, and their experiences everywhere and occasionally we were given some helpful advice on what to see or what to do in places we have yet to go. The bars in other areas of Ho Chi Mihn were weird. There was a bar called Apocolypse Now, which really had nothing to do with the movie aside from the fact that it was in Vietnam. Apocolypse Now was a bar which had drinks and dancing, but most importantly, hookers. Hookers and old fat american men in tank tops who wanted to touch them. After one drink we had seen enough.

Our last day in Ho Chi Mihn we went to the War Remnants Museum which until recently was called the American War Crime Museum. We saw the things that they dont teach you in school. Its no wonde that people who were in the war never want to talk about it. The facts and the pictures irked every inch of my body and I just could not fathom how anyone could ever commit such horrific murders. I left the museum confused and upset and just completely questioning the human race in general. Of course the museum did not mention the terror that northern vietnam brought on the south, but all in all it seemed fairly unbaised, praising and recognizing the American soldiers who took a stand against the war and refused to fight. It makes me kind of sad that I never studied wars in general in high school or college, but I still think that reading about it only gets you so far, its really the visuals, plus being in each of these places and seeing not only the pictures of what happened, but how each of these countries managed to pull themselves together after devestating losses and still function as a nation in whatever way they could.

Now something more cheeful. For christmas we decided to take a vaction from traveling and stay at a resort 4 hours outside of Ho Chi Mihn in Phan Thiet. It is a simple, pretty resort, not over run by people and a perfect get away after a few days spent in the busy city. Even after everthing we had just seen it is nice to just be able to sit by the pool without having to think about our backpacks and passports and bed bugs. We are sleeping in the sheets for the first time on the whole trip. We usually use our sleeping bags even if the sheets look clean just in case. Just like everywhere rustic though, somethings seems weird at this resort. For instance, there are two places to eat, one indoor dining room and one outdoor, by the beach. THey have the same menu, and as we found out, the same kitchen. It takes about 45 minutes after you order your food for it to actually come, and it wont all come at once. Even if you ordered the exact same thing as another person at your table, your meals will probably be dropped off 5-10 minutes apart, along with something you didnt order and they misunderstood. They also have a very extensive drink menu, but they dont seem to know how to make any drinks. Its almost as if they openned up and said "shit, we don't have any staff, who wants to be a chef? who wants to be a waitress? bartender? you've never done any of those things? hmm...that's ok!" Its very strange. Like most resorts you can sign for your meal and pay at the end of your stay. It takes them 20-30 minutes to figure out and print out your bill and then they usually come to your room 5 hours later saying that they made a mistake or they printed something else wrong or forgot to charge us for something and we need to sign again. We checked and they aren't scamming us or over charging, but they just can't seem to get it right the first time. It's very bizare.

Christmas was quiet, aside from a white christmas tree in the center of the lobby and the christmas music playing at the pool it didnt really feel like christmas at all. Last night we were sitting out on our porch and noticed that a large group of Taiwanese had moved into the rooms next to us. We found out that that day they had bought 18 kilos, approximately 38 pounds of crabs, and had brought an electric pot with them and were boiling them right outside the hotel room. They were very generous with them and showed us how to take them apart and eat them. There were a few different kinds of crabs and I asked them what the difference was, and their response was "they look different but they are all delicious." And they were. After eating about 6 crabs we left to go to dinner and there were probably still about 40 crabs left. Before we left they each took turns taking pictures with us.

For dinner we decided to go to another beach to eat, being thouroughly fed up with the food and service at our resort. We had met a nice Swiss couple during the crab eating and the husband , 58, explained that his wife got sick after dinner and asked if he might join us. We said of course and right before we left we met two Finish guys in their 30s who just arrived at the hotel and we invited them to come along too. It was definitely and odd bunch, but made for a very funny dinner. And once again it was very nice to be able to wake up in a bed bigger than a twin, between sheets, and head for the pool. One more day in paradise and then off to Nha Trang! I hope everyone had a great christmas/ channukah!

Japan --> South Korea

A few more things about Japan before I move on to South Korea. If everyone is so worried about swine flu why isnt there soap in public restrooms? I did notice as we were on the train back to the airport that much fewer people were wearing masks. Is the epidemic over? Not that many people in South Korea wear face masks, and a lot more of them speak english which is nice. But I'm skipping ahead.

Our last night in Japan was spent in Tokyo. We met some Spanish guys at our hostel, Antonio, who was living in japan, and his brother Manuelo and his friend Huge who were visiting him for a few weeks. We went to a bar where Antonio's roommate worked and played a very frustrating game where you stack little wooden pieces which dont have flat bottoms and is nearly impossible. We then decided we wanted to go dancing so we took a 40 minute subway ride to Shibuya. We arrived at the club where they "shhh" you outside as to not disturb the neighbors and found out it was a 4000 yen (about 46 dollars) which included no drinks. We decided not to go there and went to another bar which ended us ripping us off with a bogus "table" charge for not being japanese. We then took a very expensive cab ride back to the hostel because the subways close at 12. A pretty good gig if you're a cab driving considering there were a TON ofpeople out after 12 and they all had to get home somehow. Aside from the let down and drain on my wallet it was a fun night and it was good to get out after a rough day.

Aside from being tired, our flight to South Korea couldn't have been easier. We had to go through all the same hassel you have to in the states, but once again, the japanese do it better. Lines are long but people know where to go, what to do when they get there and there is no fuss and really very little talking. We waited on line for our tickets and to check bags, went through security, went through exit immigration and all of that only took about 35 minutes. Tops. We didnt even see people take off their shoes to go through security they did it so fast and no one got stopped by the metal detector. The plane was huge and the flight was full but it only took 20 minutes tops to board. The one thing i didnt like was they forced me to wake up for a meal on a 2 hour flight, put my seat forward, and open it up. Not only was I not hungry but it was really my only time to nap. We got off the plane and immigration took about 5 minutes. We walked to baggage claim and my bag was right in front of me. It really just was a great flying experience and I dont detest it as much as I used to. Oh, also something huge, there were no obese people or babies on the flight so I didnt even have that anxious feeling pre-boarding.

However, once we got out of the airport things became a little weird. As we waited to board our bus from Incheon Airport to Seoul I attempted to ask the man assisting people onto the bus if we should put our huge backpacks under the bus. Instead of a "yes" or "no" I was given a very hard slap on the arm and then a very stern, nazi-like direction onto the bus. His arm and hand stayed stiff and pointing towards the bus door until i was on. When I looked out the window to glare at him I saw him screaming at an old woman and waving his arms in her face. I was very confused and disappointed with South Korea. It turns out though that was just one man who was having a horrible day and everyone in Seoul is very nice and helpful. Once again we have to start from scatch, figuring out the train system and learning how to say "thank you" "excuse me" and "hello" in another language, and one, I might add, which is much harder to understand than japanese, even when just trying a "repeat after me."

Last night we went to a chicken and beer restaurant which are apparently very popular in Seoul. You order large plates of assorted fried chicken, bones in or out which then are accompanies by huge pitchers of beer. This kind of restaurant is more popular than a typical bar which I think is just great because eating and drinking go so well together. It was very fun and we met Mimi's friend, Dobbs, who is teaching english here for a year. It was nice to talk to someone who wasnt a complete stranger.

We got back to the hostel around 12:45 am and there were a ton of people up in the common room drinking and watching funny you tube videos. I was exhausted so I went to bed which turned out to be hard to do over the screaming and laughing, but eventually happened.

Today we went to get our India Visas which did not work out. We thought being cute attractive girls who are living on a budget and leaving for a flight on sunday could sway the visa office into gving us our visas by friday the same way we were able to get out of leaving our passports at the Vietnamese consulate but apparently it doesn't matter who you are, there are no rush orders. Sooo hopefully we'll have more luck in Thailand! After our defeat we went to a pizza/pasta restaurant where I actually had some really excellent pasta, drank some soda with ice in it and promptly got sick. I guess we really can't drink the water!

Miscellaneous

So not so many exciting things have happened since my last blog. We redid the christmas lights and planted some sapplings. We also bonded with the kids a lot and I no longer see them as small crying animals, but as cute children, which is huge for me as most of you must know. They have names, Aochan and Daichan. We have been watching a lot of japanese anime movies, which I must admit, we love. Once we have seen them the first time with english subtitles I like watching them again with no subtitles to really get to see the animation and not focus so much on the words.



Because not much has happened Im going to take this opportunity to bring up some of the random things Ive noticed about japan.



1. Apparently in a home or hostel it is unacceptable to have a cold toilet seat. All of the toilets I have come across in these places have very high tech heated toilet seats. I think this is a great idea and expect to have one when I arrive back home (get on that mom)



2. Japan is very similar to the US but almost always one step ahead of us. For instance the bathtub will tell you when its almost full so you can go and turn it off. Another example that we stumbled across the other day by accident is that the vending machines dispense both cold and hot beverages! Hot coffee from a vending machine! Also, they have all in one washer/dryers and dish washers are very small! like bread baskets! The microwave can also toast and bake a cake.

3. We have learned that Japan comes out with different flavors of kit kats all the time. Not only are these flavors release for a limited time only, but they are released specifically for each region. For instance, people need to go to Kobe to find the Royal Milk Tea flavor, but then go to Osaka to get the Soy Sauce flavor. (not a typo) Its a really good marketing ploy and we are now on a mission to try every new flavor we find. Yes. Even the soy sauce flavor.

I always think of these random things when I:m walking around Japan and of course once I sit down I cant remember. i need to start writing things down.

Update: today we chopped down bamboo trees to use as poles in the garden. I sawed down about 150 trees. Im actually a pretty great lumber jack. Who knew? Aside from almost losing an eye (I actually thought I dented an eyeball when a huge branch went darting straight into my eye) it was actually a very rewarding day.

farm again, burn again

Apparently when you have a farm, you burn stuff. Luckily at this farm we only burned wood and paper, but you have to wonder, why do these people have so much random wood for burning? Our host brought 4 sweet potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil and threw those in the fire as well and we ate them about 10 minutes later as we watched the fire dwindle. Being that it was just a wood fire we were able to sit near it and warm our hands and watch the sun set. it was actually very nice.

I skipped ahead though. We arrived at 2nd and last farm in Japan on tuesday. This farm is about 40 minutes outside of Kobe. We spent a night in Kobe before coming. It was nice, but super expensive and walking around it reminded us all of madison avenue, but in more of a square shape. We walked through china town and that was fun, but the only thing chinese about it were the decorations. We were almost 100% sure everyone working there and walking around was still japanese. We ended up getting lost in a weird shopping mall that eventually led us to the water which was nice and we sat on a bench and watched a dinner cruise pull in. It was very romantic.



Tuesday afternoon we left our hostel and headed to our farm. We arrived at the train station but when we called our host to say "we're here!" She said "so am I, I dont see you..." We were obviously at the wrong train station but luckily it was only a few minutes away. The family we are staying with are very nice, the mother Mariko, and her husband (but we never see him cause he:s at work along with her daughter and son) some cousins which we havent really met, and her daughter in law and her two kids, a girl age 4 and a boy age 6. They are pretty cute but my tolerance for children is always hanging by a thread, especially when they cry. Mimi and Ashley think they are the cutest things in the world so any attention from me that is lacking is easily made up by their questions of "so you really like carrots dont you??" or "hi! did you have a super fun day at school?" these children do not speak english so blank stares are the normal response. Ayako, the daughter, and Meoko, the daughter in law speak very good english and its nice talking to them. All of our meals are prepared for us which is really a very nice treat and they have all been excellent so far. We do the dishes after every meal and assume its a fair trade. Today we learned how to make tempura at lunch which was fun, but eating it was more fun.

Our jobs so far have constisted of: putting up christmas lights, which made the nice looking office in the front of a house look like a cheap motel and the amount of twinkling lights could have given anyone a seizure. Not our best work. 2nd was harvesting potatoes and planting onions, the first real farming work weve done since being in Japan, and 3rd, which happened this morning, was vacuuming...the ceiling. It was raining so Mariko decided we shouldnt work outside. We essentially held a ladder and watched her sprint up the top with a hand held vacuum, stand on the beams of the high ceiling, and vacuum. She made Mimi stand on a table and hold the end of the vacuum up because she was the tallest. It was pretty weird, but an easy day to say the least. Then Mariko went out to teach a caligraphy class and told us to spend the rest of the day thinking of something we could make out of wood that will add to her garden. So we thought about it and walked around and still havent come up with anythin great. Our lack of carpentry skills is definitely taking a toll on what we think we could possibly do with some scrap wood, but I:m sure we:ll think of something great! As weird as it is to just invite yourself into someone elses home and life, it is nice to be around a family and out of a city. Time for dinner! Till next time

Osaka

So now we are in Osaka. After we found our hostels we quickly took showers, which I have never been happier to do, alone, standing up. And for most people who know me well you know that usually I dont love to shower. it was very exciting and really enjoy feeling clean. We met a brit named Ian, 23, who was traveling and also staying at our hostel and although he was leaving for Hiroshima at 11 decided to come have a drink with us. He and Yumi, the manager of The Peace House Showa, the hostel we are staying in, both recommended we go to the community bar. It was a very good thing that Ian was with us because this "bar" would have been impossible for us to find. The outside was covered with a blue tarp and the inside looked something like a run down repair shop. What anyone would bring there to be fixed I dont know. So we sit down at the bar which was perfect size. Exactly 4 bar stools. Behind the stools was a small table where two old men sat chain smoking cigarettes. One of them spoke a little english and eventually told us that the man he was with was from India and was now homeless. He told us that his homeless friend liked girls and if we wanted to be escorts for the night. We said no. No hesitation. Finally a man popped out from behind another tarp at the end of the bar. This was Momi and he was the bar owner/tender, etc. He said "Hi, Hi,Hi, Hi, Hi, Hi, Hi, Hi, Hi, Hi, Hi, yes uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh take your time, take your time, take your time, take your time." His lack of english did not help his speech impediment and it was shocking. He then asked us what we wanted to drink and then told us he only had Asahi beer on tap. So we ordered our beers, after each order he responded, "hi, hi hi hi hi hi hi ok okokok take your time take your time" "hi" in japanese means yes, though with either translation it was hilarious. He was very animated and friendly and the whole experience was just odd and ridiculous. We decided to venture off somewhere else to eat and ended up at the only place that could seat 4 of us. The restaurant spoke no english and we ended up ordered from boxes full of raw meat. Each plate we recieved had 4 small pieces of of meat on them and after we were done we were starving. After learning that each plate was 650 yen we decided to go to the 7/11 and get a rice ball to curb our hunger in a cheaper manner. We entered another bar and learned that they were doing karaoke. We sat down and participated and everyone was really nice and clapped for us and sang along until 11:30 when they gave us our bill, which included charges for songs (not mentioned prevoiusly) and literally kicked us out.

After that experience we decided to walk around and came across a red light district, 2 blocks from our hostel. When you think of a red light district you think scantaly clad girls, whores coming up to your cars, pimps in fur coats. Not in japan. It was almost like shopping for barbies. The girls were in open rooms and sat on little towels that each had Mickey Mouse or some character on it. SOme were dressed in teddies, some in nurses outfits, some in sports gear, some in pretty dresses, some with glasses, some with hats, etc. They didnt move they just sat and smiled. To each of their left sat an older woman, probably in her late 60s, early 70s, probably their grandmothers, or greatgrandmothers who were their pimps. They were the ones that hollered at the men walking by. At the beginning of the road the girls were very pretty and probably in their teens - mid 20s. The farther you walked down the street though they became older and uglier. The last few were probably mid 60s and had missing teeth. I think they were probably cheaper too. it was a very weird experience.

After looking through lonely planet and talking to people about Osaka, we decided the most important thing to see here was the aquarium. It was a great choice. The aquarium was huge and we were probably there for about 4 hours. The main attraction were the Whale Sharks, which are held in the biggest tank of any aquarium, anywhere in the world. They were pretty big but I had hoped they would be bigger. There were a ton of different, beautiful fish and I loved it because I think fish are really interesting and love to look at them but hate being in the water with them, snorkling, etc. So this was really perfect for me. Since weve been in Japan weve realized we have seen very little pda. No kissing, no groping and not much hand holding. That all changed today. Apparently there are hundreds of pda couples in japan and they all hang out at the aquarium.

We were also told that while in Osaka we had to try Takoyaki, hot dough with octopus inside. We tried them and i probably scalded my mouth for life. Im still not sure if I liked them or not because they were so hot. Over all it was a very satisfying day. Tomorrow we leave for Kobe for a night where we want to go see the cows being massaged and then we want to eat one. Hopefully this fits into our budget...? I guess we'll find out! Till next time!

Recap of the past 5 days

Alright. Blogging has been difficult with my lack of internet access, but now I have a minute so im going to try and fit as much in as possible. I wrote some journal entries and I:m going to relay some of that so there are some things i will remember much better than others. Ok, here we go.

On November 23rd we left Suzaka and our first host and headed to Kyoto. on the way we arrived in Nagano and got our japan rail passes, which turned out to be nothing more than colorful slips of paper and aside from being a prepaid method of travel, actually adds a few annoying steps to each trip. Now, not only do we need tickets, but we cant use the machines. We have to wait on line to get tickets then go to another teller and show our tickets and passes which both need to be stamped on entry and departure from each station. All in all they were a good purchase though and we would have decided to see less had we been faced with the questoin "do i want to pay 110 dollars each way to go to hiroshima." After a grueling train ride from Nagano to Nagoya, which would have been fine had the compartement been airconditioned and the blind next to me not smelled like rotten fish and dirty underwear. Going to the bathroom on the train was a task in itself. I took a step up and held on for dear life as I straddled the porceline hold in the ground of the rocky train and some how managed not to pee all over myself!

We arrived in Nagoya with 4 minutes to make our next train, which, miraculously, we did. THe next ride was a mere 30 minutes in which time Mimi and I counted 9 driving ranges. Driving ranges in Japan are long, tall, narrow nets that form a rectangular shape and are easy to spot as they usually stick out of huge spans of farm land. Last Saturday Nagata gave us the afternoon off and Ashley and Dan we to the driving range while the rest of us non-golfers opted to take a nap. THey said it was fun, but thought it was odd that the minimum number of balls you could get was 800. I guess the japanese really like to practice. Aside from counting the driving ranges we also counted the white people in our car. 8 whch surprisingly is more than wed seen since departing our plane from chicago. 2 backpackrs from london asked us for directions in the station and although we were no help, it was nice speaking english to people who would respond in english. We ended up running into them a few days later and met up with them later that night. But that is a whole other story that might require its own blog. Back to the train station. A japanese man helped us find the information desk who then helped show us on a map where our hostel was located. Yuka had made us a map which was very sweet, but there were few specific landmarks and no one had ever heard of it before. Eventually we found it and we were very happy. The Izumi house is known only by the japanese and no one there speaks english. The manager speaks no english either but we managed to communicate that we wanted to spend 3 nights there and we were only willing to pay 150 yen. We were VERY excited to find gthat we each got our own rooms. the walls were more than paper thin, they actually might have been made of cardboard, although I think that would have provided a stronger sound barrier even. I could hear Ashley snorre and mimi unzip her sleeping bag, but at least there was visual privacy. We later discovered that there were no showers at the Izumi house. We were given directions to a bath house near by. We arrived at a small door where they made us remove our shoes (shock) and put them in a cubby. We then had to pay 400 yen to take a shower. We had been to the hot springs so we werent shocked when we saw two lines of women sitting before low shower heads in front of mirrors. We stripped down and entered the bathing area, having come prepared with our very own privacy towels. The springs w ehad been to previously had been different temperatures and we chose the the hot one because there was no one in it. We figured wed do the same at this bath house, but on entering one empty bath one japenese woman looked outraged and started yelling and talking about us and pointed. We finally figured out it was because we did not shower off before entereing the tub and agreed it probably would have been the logical thing to do. We then lined up to shower, sitting on our little stools and wondering if all the old japanese women were there because they wanted to use the baths or if they, too, did not have a shower of their own. The women were definitely over 80 years old and very tiny. tHey are much more agile than the elderly in the US. After our showers we paid 40 yen to use the hairdryer. It was the most expensive, weirdest shower Ive ever taken.

That night we went to a restaurant called A bar which we found in lonely planet. We had a really great meal of japanese bar foods and made our first japanese friends, Kae and Masa who took us to Karaoke after. A bar is a really cool place where you sit at family style tables and pretty much talk to everyone. Most people who go there speak some english at least and they have an english menu. Karaoke was funny and very lost in translation - like. We had a lot of fun.

The next day we walked around downtown Kyoto and then went to Kuruma shrine. We took a 40 minute train ride there and the train slowed down along the way to give everyone a good look at the beautiful folliage. Once we got to Kuruma we took a 30 second shuttle up a mountain and then hiked 45 minutes up to the top, seeing shrines along the way. We got lost as it was getting dark but finally found our way. THat night we went to a French restaurants that we found in Lonely planet that actually had moved and was now an Italian restaurant. We decided to eat there anyway. the food was the smallest size wed ever seen and we left the restaurant starving and ventured off to find another restaurant for dinner #2. it was pouring now and we knew we had a long walk ahead of us. What we didnt know is that after 2 hours of walking we would discover that this place was also closed. We ducked into a busy restaurant to eat something and get out of the rain. No one spoke english and we realized there was a hot plate in the middle of our table. we looked around and ordered what some other people were eating. The waitress came over and cracked an egg on our table and asked what kindo f sauce we wanted. She then instructed us to pour the sauce on the egg. THen she walked away with no further explanation. We sat there, staring at the egg for about 5 minutes, wondering why it was there and if we were supposed to eat it or just let it burn. She then came over with some noodles that she just plopped down next to the egg. Everything tasted bad and we left very dissapointed and still puzzled abou tthe egg we all decided not to eat.

We decided the next day to do a walking tour of Southern Hagashiama, which led us to many beautiful temples and parks. We saw some geishas and took pictures only to discover that they were FAKE! We passed a shop where you can pay 150 dollars to get dressed up as a geisha for the day and have people take pictures of you. We learned that very few geishas actually exist and they are hard to find so we settled for our fake geishas and took a few more photos. We then ran into the brits we met in the train station and made a plan to meet up with them later. We went to dinner at a round about sushi restaurant but befoer that we decided to buy some sake because drinks at 7/11 are way cheaper than at dinner. We werent sure if we could drink on the street, even though they do sell beer in vending machines, so we went t oa department store bathroom where they have a sitting area which we found when we were putting on department store makeup samples the day earlier. It was a good choice. We then went to the restaurant where as usual i had about 10 pieces of sushi and mimi and ashley barely ate anything. They had ume and shiso rolls and I was very happy. We then went to an irish pub called McLoughlins where we met some interesting characters and I talked about politics, the holocost, america and obesity. I felt very smart and besides the sake which I had had hours earlier I was completely sober so I knew I wasn:t just spouting complete bullshit. It was the best intellectual time Id ever had. After drinks, which ended up costing far too much, we went to karaoke again where things got weird and one of my travel buddies made a special friend. They wish to remain nameless and as much as Id love to divulge the story I cannot. Great story though. Ask me later. I put the other one to bed and called my mom for the first time which was great and made me very happy to hear her voice.

The day after that we took a day trip to Nara, deciding it would be cheaper to stay 3 more nights at our Hostel in Kyoto. Nar, the first capital of Japan, is a weird place which features the largest shrine made out of wood (largest in the world) and a deer park. You feed the deer and pet them and they are everywhere and I hated it. I hate deer. I dont want to touch them or feed them or pet them I just want to eat them. There were so many and they came right up to you and asked three times with the head nods for yu to feeed them. We had a free guide that day and he explained that we had to wait for all 3 nods otherwise they weren:t allowed. He put up his hand like a fake gun and said BANG BANG and they ran away. It was really weird and I didnt like that either. The temple was very large and there is a giant budda in it. You cant really tell how big it is even when you looked at it so our guide explained that the nostrel is so big that you could actualy climb inside. It was giant. We ate dinner in Nara and then headed back to Kyoto to go to bed.

The next day we went to Hiroshima which was powerful but you still cant really feel how expansive the descruction was cause they did a really good job rebuilding the city. We felt like America just sucked afterwards. THe musuem took us 3 hours to get through and I probably read a text books worth of information and felt exhausted afterwards. We went back to A bar that night and got some more travelling tips. Now we:r e in Osaka and I have to go shower! ANother blog coming soon!

The Monkey Park

Today we went up into the mountains to go to the monkey park to see the snow monkeys. Our original plan was to see the monkeys and then go to the hot springs in the area, however our plans changed slightly once we actually started our journey. Getting to the monkeys was not as simple as we thought it might be. Instead of the easy car ride we thought we were receiving from our host we had to take a 40 minute train, followed by a 20 minute bus, followed by a 40 minute hike to our destination. We arrived at the monkey park hoping to spot a few monkeys around the forest and on the mountains, and we had no idea what was in store for us. Hundreds of monkeys chasing each other around the mountains, running right past our legs (and into Mimi's leg) and the most shocking and amazing part of all, monkeys bathing in their very own hot spring, just like people. It was very odd and amusing and had I not been completely overwhelmed with the fact that I was entirely outnumbered by a lot of hyper monkeys and their children, I would have wanted to stay there all day. We stayed for quite a while when our stomachs got the best of us and we decided to ditch the springs and venture off to find some food. Our options were traditional soba, which I have been wanting to try since arriving in Japan, or Italian food, so we opted for the soba. We arrived at what look like a tiny house and which turned out in actuality to be, a tiny house. We sat down in what looked like an old kitchen and were promptly served clams and a variety of pickled root veggies. As per usual I was thrilled and Mimi and Ashley being the picky eaters they are gave theirs away. The soba arrived and it was everything I had hoped it would be. Our walk/bus/train ride back was longer and more drawn out than the previous one and everyone fell asleep on the train. We arrived back at the house sad that our stay at Nagata's apple farm is ending but excited that we have so much of Japan and our trip left to explore. Tomorrow we are stopping in Tokyo again and then off to Kyoto!

Finally uploading pictures tonight but I:m going to put them directly on facebook because this is complicated and I wont have much time. Check my facebook page for pictures!

The Fire House

Today was a very questionable day. After we finished the harvest this morning (there were no more apples to pick) we went to the part of the mountain that our host owns. Soon he plans of turning his land into all sorts of fields growing mountain fruit, wasabi and other interesting japanese crops. For now though, some of his land is used as a burn area. Burning plastic in the states is not ok. Burning plastic in japan is the norm. Today our job was to burn plastic house siding, tires, basketballs and shoes. Then toss in some fire wood to keep it going. Not only did i probably lose 17 years of my life, but i felt very guilty depleting the ozone layer and furthering global warming and polution. Everyone seemed very disturbed but our host just laughed the whole time saying , good job good job. After the burning he took us on a hike through the woods to two different natural springs, one used to collect fish and the other small crabs. We saw mushrooms, and trees and it was very beautiful...until we were led back to the fire house and back into the toxic fumes, pulling our heads out of the mysterious forest and back to the reality that we were killing the planet.

Later today we went to some hot springs. For only 500 yen, or around 5 bucks, men and women enter different changing rooms and strip down. Then, because the japanese are modest, you use a small towel to cover your private areas as you walk from the changing room to the springs. There is an inside spring and an outside spring and they are both very very hot. We spent most of our time half way in and out of the water and a distinct red line appeared where the water had touched us. After the soak we sat on little platic stools in front of a low detachable shower head and washed our hair and our bodies, again, covering up with our small towels. We changed and exited the dressing room where we were greeted by our host who offered us some bottled milk from a vending machine. We accepted to be polite and watched him chug his milk in .5 seconds and place it in a glass milk bottle recyling bin, as this was apparently not a rare happening.

It was an interesting day and I hope I dont have to burn any more plastic tomorrow.

Apple Boys and Honey Girls

We arrived at our first farm in Suzaka on sunday night. After waiting at the train station for an hour for our host to pick us up we thought possibly we were in for a long drive to the farm. The house turned out to be a mere 10 minute drive and we later found out that our host had been at a bar and had lost track of time. We are staying in our own seperate house and I share a room with Mimi Ashley and our newest wwoofer friend, Bob, 22, from Scotland. There are also 2 other wwoofers here, Dan, 23, from England and Yuka, 28 from Japan. He picked her up at his last wwoofing place and they are now dating. Its a funny situation. We all get along very well. Our first night here Nagato, our host, showed us his library and let us hold a 300 year old samurai sword. He also brought out a bottle of jack daniels as an american welcome party. The next day we were put to work. As it turned out the farm we were staying at was actually an apple farm! We are apple pickers and its harder than it looks. There is a precise way of picking apples to get the stem to look right and apparently americans do not have that soft japanese touch that is required. It took us a while to get it right and some types of apples are easier than others. We have already decided which trees we prefer picking from and which we detest. For instance, some trees are very very large and have tons of apples up high and when you climb up your ladder you really feel like you're in a tree. Others have very thin trunks and when youre at the top of your ladder you really feel like you will just fall off and die (my least favorite type of tree). All the apples taste very good and last night at our official welcome dinner and after a few drinks our host decided that we were going to be called "honey girls" and the boys would be "apple boys." He did a little dance and it was hilarious. Aside from the apple picking we are trying to take turns cooking our meals, although Yuka is the primary chef because all the ingredients are in japanese and none of us know how to cook japanese food. One of these days we are going to venture up the mountains and go to the hot springs and see the monkeys there. For now we are just exhausted from a long day of harvesting apples and happy to catch a seat on the couch.

Dont forget you can email me! willysteigman@gmail.com !!! love you all hope all is well - till next time!

oh also, japanese candy is amazing and i have 180 cavities. and right now i:m eating chips called "wasabeef" because they are wasabi and beef flavored...welcome to japan!

internet cafe: nagano

Home of the 98 olympics! We are only here because we were supposed to transfer trains to go to our first farming host in Sazuka. Turns out we are not organized and cant seem to get in touch with our host so we decided to postpone our immediate departure time and see if we could reach him through email. Fingers crossed. Day 4 of this trip and we have no cell phones. no service on mine or ashleys and although mimi has service, we can:t seem to figure out how to get blackberries to charge. also our trusty computer takes a three prong outlet which converters fail to accomodate. so this internet cafe is our best friend right now. obviously i:m the first one on the trip to get sick. most of the japanese wear doctors masks all the time especially around americans. its as if we are carrying a sign that says HELLO! MY NAME IS H1N1! so they especially hate me because i:m always coughing and sneezing. i guess those masks are getting put to the test now.

on a different note, i dont know how many of you are familiar with the japanese toilet, but i was not and let me tell you, they are different. say goodbye to sitting down when you want to do your business. japanese toilets are essentially flushing holes in the ground. just got of a subway? have to go？take a nice squat. reading the paper is not an option as finding your balance is hard enough with two free hands. occassionaly we did come across the western toilet and when we did they had a few extra perks. for example they always have a bidet button. i haven:t tried it but i like that there is the option. also, heated seats are very common. my favorite button though, was in the mcdonalds bathroom. this was the flushing sound button for people with stage fright. if you dont want people to hear you go, instead of wasting water constantly flushing you just press this button and people think youre flushing. it doesn:t sound like running water, but mroe like a dying hippopotomus, but it gets the job done all the same.

i hope you enjoyed this educational experience. till next time

tomorrow we farm

Today we woke up at 5 am and went to the famous fish market in Tokyo. It was crazy and I saw a tuna as big as me. at 7:30 am we went to a restaurant in the market and had the best sushi of my life. Right out of the water and into my mouth. By 10 am we had already seen the fish market, eaten breakfast, seen the japanese embassy and east gardens. we decided to eat lunch at mcdonalds because we were feeling poor. it was gross (shock). i had an allergic reaction to something and my right hand swelled up to 3 times its size. i freaked out and iced it in the mcdonalds. its still not quite the same size as the left one but getting better. we went to the hotel that lost in translation was filmed in but were hurried out of the bar on the 52nd floor because we looked disgusting and clearly weren't there to buy anything. we wanted to have a drink where bill murray and scarlette johnasen did but it was 2 pm and the bar didnt open until 5, and again, we wer ein hiking boots and smart wool (which ps does not keep you smelling fresh). a bit defeated we decided to go to harijuku where we heard ther was a fun busy crowd. i have never seen so many people in my life and it took us about an hour to walk 2 blocks. we ended up going into a travel gear store and i bought a travel wallet and ashley bought a day pack. we slowly made our way back to the hostel. we finally are starting to figure out the subway systems but they are very confusing and although everyone is very friendly almost no one speaks english. anywhere. so its almost 7 pm and i'm sick and tired and can't even fathom the idea of getting on the subway and going to eat dinner but that is whats happening. tomorrow we go to our first farm in chubu and i can't wait. it will be nice to not be running around constantly. thats all for now! hope this has been mildly entertaining!

Sayonora Mrs. Kackalman!

I made it to Japan! After a grueling 13 hour flight that left me sick :( we made it to the airport and realized we had a thousond questions and no idea where we were going (oops). we managed to get directions to our hostel, exchange money and then take a bus and a subway to our destination. The japanese are very friendly and were helpful when we asked our stupid questions. We had a bit of a hard time finding our hostel as its on a side road and as we asked 2 police men to help us another tourist told us we'd been standing in front of it for 10 minutes. We definitely underestimated how hard it was going to be to carry our backpacks, day packs and purses. We struggled a lot.

Our hostel is very very tiny and ashley and i are sleeping in bunk beds that are in what was once a small closet. my head hits one wall and my feet hit the other. Ive never felt taller in my life. Last night we went to a japanese restaurant that actually turned out to be a korean restaurant. It reminded me of shabu tatsu and we ordered from pictures of raw meat because no one spoke english and ended up ordering an assortment of beef and mystery meat that turned out to be liver and either pork, tongue or any other white meat that is definitely not chicken. We tasted everything but we're still not sure. At the table next to us a man fell asleep while eating and his friends did not wake him for an hour. We took pictures. People like to laugh as us because we're clumsy with our backpacks and have no idea what is going on. Once we took our backpacks off we got sea legs. It was definitely an odd experience.

Sorry this blog post was a bit boring, I still feel a bit disoriented. Today we are going to explore Tokyo! I hope I start to feel better as the day progresses. Email me about your life! I love and miss everyone!

The Night Before Departure

Hey All!

I know you never thought the words Willy and Blog would ever been uttered in the same sentence, but here it is! My journey begins in approximately 8 hours. I have never been so excited and nervous for anything in my life. I never would have been able to take this great leap without the love and support from all my friends and family (and the job which I briefly held), so thank you everyone. I am going to try and update this blog as much as possible so every once in a while sit down and take a break with my life updates! I love and miss everyone! Feel free to email me at willysteigman@gmail.com or bbm me (its free!)

i love you all! here i go!