New Years In Dalian

-Exploring the shops with Chris and Sarah, including a shady DVD place inside of the 5th floor of the soccer stadium.
-New Year's Eve dinner - awesome Chinese dishes with pancake wraps
-Bobo's Bar for the New Year's Countdown
-Sunny Night Club for partying

Dalian, China

-Lunch at Win Garden Vegetarian Restaurant in Zhongshan Hotel.
-Pizza with Chris (Trek 2006) and his friends

Incheon, Korea to Dalian, China Ferry

-Subway to Incheon
-Got the 24 hour flu/bug
-Took and 18-hour SLOW BOAT TO CHINA ferry - not fun, but a memorable experience.

Seoul, Korea

Myeong-Dong for Cold Stone Creamery
-Itaewon - dinner at Poncho's and drinks at Seoul Pub

Seoul, Korea

-Seoul City Bus Tour
-Changdeokgung Palace Tour

Seoul, Korea - DMZ (38th Parallel)

Seoul, Korea

-Insa Dong area walk
-Jogyesa Temple
-Gyeongbokgung Palace - the main palace in the city from the Joseon Dynasty
-Mt. Namsan and Seoul Tower
-Christmas dinner at Sancheon Temple Food - monks, Korean drum music and dancing

Seoul, Korea

-Christmas Eve celebration at City Hall with Sarah, Sunghan, and Hyo Jin
-Dinner at a Korean restaurant
-After dinner, met up with Min (Steamer's Trek 2004!)
-Christmas light displays at the Cheonggyecheon River

Seoul, Korea

-Dongdaemun Market
-Dinner with Sunghan and Hyo Jin at Japanese fusion restaurant.
-Hobnob's for beer and a giant slab of toasted bread with honey butter on top.

Seoul, Korea

-Laundry during the day - extremely difficult in Seoul! The Brown Hotel was not helpful at all.
-Itaewan (Western Town) - Dinner with Amanda, Joon, and Brian at Poncho's
-We went drinking at Rocky Mountain Pub (Canadian theme).

Daejeon and Seoul, Korea

-Train to Seoul
-Insa Dong shops
-Top of Samsung/Jonggak Tower

Daejeon, Korea

-Hiking in Mt. Gyeryongsan National Park - went to the Donghaksa Temple, where the female Buddhist monks live.

Daegu and Daejeon, Korea

-Uk Sun's mom made us a huge breakfast, including Bibimbab
-Sweetened rice balls, potato chips on a skewer, and pizza with sweet potato on it!
-Train to Daejeon - accidentally stayed at a so-called "Love Hotel"

Busan and Daegu, Korea

Busan and Daegu，Ｋｏｒｅａ

-Jagalchi Fish Market
-Mount Geumgang Cable Car
-Train to Daegu
-Uk Sun's house

Hakata, Japan to Busan, Korea

-June's Zen Hostel - Acupuncture and Guitar
-Veggie Buffet and Karaoke with Sarah, Lisa and Winnie
-Roof-top helicopter pad for view of Busan

Hiroshima - My tooth and the Peace Museum

Hiroshima - Yuka and Junko

Osaka - Osaka Castle and Jun

Kyoto + Osaka

Kyoto - Geisha and Bamboo

Mt. Fuji and Kyoto

-Woke up early to watch the sun rise to reveal Mt. Fuji, beautifully covered in snow. After my bath, we took a walk along Lake Kawaguchico in the sun. We took a brief stroll through the Herb House adn the local grocery store, and headed to the train station. This was a day of changing trains many times, in order to get to Kyoto. Along the way, I tried something called "peanut creme." I thought it was peanut butter, but it was gross.

-Once in Kyoto, we stayed at a traditional ryokan guesthouse, in between the city center and the temple/shrine area of Sagano/Arashiyama.

Mt. Fuji

We took the trains to the Kawaguchiko area near Mt. Fuji. This is a beautiful mountain region, with lakes and close access to Mt. Fuji. Since the mountain was covered with snow with risk of avalanche, I was unable to hike it. I'll have to go to Japan in the summer next time!
-For lunch, we tried the local specialty called hoto. This is an egg-flavored broth with udon noodles, tofu, and various local vegetables. It was not my favorite thing by far. We then took a cable car ride up part of Mt. Tenjo. We hiked to the top to get a great view of Mt. Fuji, right at sunset. We also had a great view of Lake Kawaguchiko.

-For dinner, we had some great curry at Alibaba Restaurant. After dinner, we headed back to the ryokan. I changed into my yukata, the traditional Japanese robe, and headed up to the top floor to the onsen (bath). I took a shower seated on one of the little stools, and then went into the bath. It was so soothing. The next morning, I took another bath there, since there was a great view of Mt. Fuji outside the window.

Nagano + Yudanuka - Snow Monkeys!

Took the train to Nagano, site of the 1998 Olympic Winter Games. A local train then took us to Yudanuka, where it was snowing (and I didn't have my winter coat with me.) We took a 30 minute hike up to Jigo Kudanai Yaen-Koen, which is famous for its Japanese Snow Monkeys (Macaques.) The monkeys actually soak in the hot spring baths that are in the park! As we entered the park, monkeys were all around us. Some of the babies were riding on the backs of their parents. We walked over to the hot springs area to view the monkeys in the pool. It's quite amazing to see this, and the scenery was just spectacular. We watched the monkeys run around and play. According to my friend Rob, we lost World War II, because Japan was able to retain the snow monkey population.

-After an unsuccessful attempt to use the human hot springs bath and a long wait for the bus, we headed back to our ryokan in Tokyo. We fell asleep on our train back, and woke up when the train was already at our station. We jumped out of the train just in time!
-My friend Mike had arrived from the US on this day, so I rang his hotel. Sure enough, he was there. The 3 of us met up at Nataraj for some curry and some Japanese beer. It is amazing to meet up with a friend when you are on the other side of the planet. Afterwards, we went to an Irish Pub called Duffy's for a few drinks.

Tokyo - Kabuki and The Japanese Baseball Hall Of Fame

-We checked out of our ryokan and walked over to the Plastic Food shops. They have life-like plastic food replicas, that look exactly like real food. You see these replicas in the windows of most restaurants in Tokyo. The dish of plastic pasta and the frosted plastic beer were most impressive.
-After a brief stop at Starbucks for a snack and To The Herbs for an Italian lunch, we went to Kabuki-Za. This is the theater where the traditional Japanese Kabuki plays are held. We saw a dance-based play called "The Autumn Leaves and the Demon of Mt. Togakushi." For the 1st half an hour, the dancing was basically 6 women slowly walking around a hunter while singing very strangely. The second half was much better, when the mountain god dancer made things much more exciting. There was a big sword fight at the end, and the costumes for the demons were amazing.
-The next stop was the Tokyo Dome area. I went to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame. There were 2 Daisuke Matsuzaka jerseys inside. There were also bats from Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. They had a list of important events in the history of baseball in America. The only even listed during the past 5 years was "Washington, DC franchised after 44 year vacancy." I guess not much has happened in baseball the last few years! After walking through the Hall of Plaques, I tied the batting simulation. Afterwards, while Sarah had her caricature done in the nearby mall, I had a look at the Yomiuri Giants pro shop. They had baseball hats from all of the Japanese Mojor League teams, and I almost bought the hat of the SEibu Lions, Daisuke's former team.

-We walked by the giant amusement park, and headed to our hotel for the night. We stayed at the Akihabara Capsule Inn, where you sleep in a little 3-foot wide by 3-foot tall cube. This cube has just enough room to lie down comfortably, and has a TV, radio, and alarm clock. There are separate floors for men and women, and also floors for the showers and baths. Before entering the baths, one must shower off while sitting on a little plastic stool, then enter the bath (onsen) with a white towel on your head. Sleeping in a capsule was not the most comfortable place to sleep, but it was well worth it for the experience.

-After checking-in, we went to Shinjuku to see the skyscraper section of Tokyo. We saw a bizarre thing in Shinjuku Station. There were a group of people sitting on these mechanical saddle things, being led through a series of strange hand exercises by an instructor. It looked like some strange version of an aerobics class. We then walked along the skyscrapers, and returned to the stations through a series of shops, called Shinjuku Alley.

-For dinner, we went to the Harajuku section, which is famous for teenagers dressed up in "costume play." For dinner, we ate at an organic restaurant called Mominoki House. It was good to have an authentic Japanese dinner, vegetarian style. We sat at a table that was isolated in a corner, sunken below the level of the main restaurant area. After dinner, we had crepesfilled with cheesecake, and returned to the Capsule Inn.

Nikko

-After an unsuccessful attempt to access my online web design course, I got my 1st taste of a Japanese Bullet train, calle the Shinkansen. We headed to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Nikko. While waiting for our train, I noticed that the bagel shop was closed at breakfast time, but open for lunch. I have also noticed that every person pictured in an advertisement here can only be described as "super, excellent happy!"

-Upon arrival in Nikko, we took the bus up the mountain road to Kegon Falls. We then took a very cold walk to Chuzenji Lake, after talking to a few people about Taiwan. Along the lake is a beautiful gate and a nice view of Mt. Nantai. We took the bus back into the center of Nikko. During the bus rides there was another bizarre observation. There was a man on both buses who was carrying around a life-sized doll of a child. I asked him if I could take a picture. He seemed to act as if the doll was a real child.

-We went to the Nikko Sannai district to see the shrines and temples. We took a walk through the Japanese garden and then through the museum containing artifacts related to the 3rd Shogun. We then entered the Rinnaji Temple, which contains 3 huge, golden Buddha statues. We then went to a 5-story Pagoda, where there is an ancient carving of the "see-no-evil, speak-no-evil, hear-no-evil" monkeys. After a brief stop at the TOshogu and Futarasan Shrines, we stopped at the Shinkyo Sacred Bridge.

-Along the way back to the train station, we stumbled upon a restaurant with a sign saying, "Welcome Vegetarians." It was a restaurant called Hippari Dako, which was full of business cards, drawings, photos, and paper money that people from all over the world had left behind. I promptly added my Trek America business card to one of the walls. I had some excellent pan-fried udon noodles, and we went to the train station to head back to Tokyo.

-After trying to get cash from an ATM machine, and cashing a traveler's check at a convenience store and a hotel, we were able to get cash at the Post Office ATM.

-For dinner, we headed back to Maguro Bito for some revolving, conveyer sushi and some sake. It felt much less awkward the 2nd time around.

-After dinner, we walked the streets of the Asakusa district to see the night life on Friday night. We ended up at a tiny bar which probably has a maximum occupancy of 10 people. I had some beer from Thailand and enjoyed hanging out in a Japanese bar.

Tokyo - Market and Tokyo Tower

-We headed out by 6:30 AM in order to head over to see the excitement of the Tsukiji Metropolitan Wholesale Market. This is the famous fish market of Tokyo. There are about a million people running around, driving small transport trucks, riding scooters, using power saws to slice frozen fish, and selling everything from squid tentacles to fish heads. After walking through the vegetable market, we headed to Jonathan's Coffeehouse to try 6 different types of tea, including roasted soybean tea.

-The next stop waas the Tokyo Tower, for a bird's eye view of Tokyo. This is where we got our first view of Mt. Fuji. SpongeBob especially enjoyed the view from the "Look Down" window, which is a glass floor 500 feet above the ground.

-After two unsuccessful attempts to find a vegetarian restaurant and a few subway rides, we had lunch in the Omote-Sando district. After lunch, we went to the Meiji-jingu Shrine, built in honor of the 19th Century Emperor Meiji. This shrine is part of the beautiful Yoyogi Park, where you wouldn't even know you were in a sprawling city like Tokyo. Nearby, we staopped at Snoopy Town in the Harajuku District. Exhausted, we headed back to the ryokan and crashed.

Tokyo

-Woken up by the staff of Asakusa Ryokan Toukaisou, because we had to switch rooms. After getting ready, we walked towards the "old town." Along the way, I spotted a Pachinko Casino. I had to give it a try, but I didn't really figure out how to play. Basically, you buy some ball bearings, and place them into a pinball-like machine. If you play well, you win more ball bearings.

-We then made our way to the Senso-ji Temple. While watching some coi fish along a small water fountain, a man named Hideo asked me if I knew about the fish. He was killing some time while waiting for a friend, so he gave us plenty of good information about Tokyo. It is very refreshing to meet such hospitable people while traveling in a foreign country. We said good-bye to Hideo, and went into the main temple. Upon leaving the temple, we ran into Hideo again! He explained to us how people where purifyuing themselves with incencse and rinsing thier hands and mouth with water. This is a Buddhist tradition in Japan. After praying in the temple, some people try their luck by turning a box to get a fortune. I received a bad fortune, so I was told to tie it on a wire hanger to leave it behind.

-We walked down along the shops of Kaminarimon, amongst throngs of people, to the Kaminarimon Gate. We ended up eating lunch at a revolving sushi bar, called Maguro Bito (Tuna People). We watched all sorts of dishes pass by us, from snails to melon. We had inari sushi and kappa-maki.

-After lunch, we headed to the electronics center of Tokyo, called Electric City, or Akihabara Street. We did a bit of browsing in the shops, and then headed back to the Asakusa area. We attempted to find the Sumo wrestling stadium, but were unsuccessful. So, we strolled along the Sumida River and then through the Senso-ji Temple and Asakusa Shrine. We made a brief stop at the ryokan before heading out to dinner at Nataraj in the Ginza district. They have excellent Indain curry there. Afterwards, we headed back to the ryokan, satisfied with a very full first day in Tokyo.

Arriving in Japan

-Arrive at Tokyo Narita Airport - 5 PM

-After getting our luggage, we went to the ticket office to exchange our rail vouchers for the JR Rail Pass. We took the Narita Express Train to Tokyo. I left one of my trekking poles on the train by accident. We switched to the Yamanote Line and then to the Metro at Ueno. We arrived in Asakusa, which is the "Old Town" of Tokyo.

-Upon leaving Asakusa Station, we asked the local police officers where our Ryokan was. A ryokan is a traditional Japanese guest house. The police were very helpful in directing us. We arrived at the Ryokan to find that they did not have a reservation for us. After sorting it out, we did a late night shopping run. After some traditional tea seated on pillows barefoot; it was time for some much needed sleep on the futon.

Scott's Asian Adventure Begins

-During a snowy morning, Sarah and I flew out of Logan Airport in Boston at 10:00 AM. Dave gave us a ride to the airport.
-Flew to Tokyo Narita Airport, via Chicago O'hare. Wathced Transformers and The Bourne Ultimatum during a 14-hour flight.