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!