End of the Honeymoon...

Well what is there to say that hasn't been said? Oh wait I have not updated my blog in a terribly long time nor have I even finished telling the stories I began months ago. Now we all know that I am not an individual that is one to let things slide or go incomplete so without further ado the 4th and final installment of my 1st trip to Japan.

Osaka-jo.

I woke up in the morning feeling refreshed and excited. Today was to be the day I went to Himeji-jo. The famed White Heron, (a historic Japanese castle). Before I could go and see the penultimate example of Japanese Castle architecture I felt that I should visit one of the lesser castles for comparisons sake. It was thus that I went to Osaka-jo or as we would call it Osaka Castle.

Osaka Castle has had an unfortunate history, it has been burned down several times during its long life and now is a ferrocrete reconstruction from the pre-WW2 era. That is not to say that it is not without its charm, but it is sad to see all the modernized machinery in what is supposed to be a timeless relic. I will admit that Osaka-jo is an impressive sight and has a very nice park set about it. After exploring the castle and the museum located inside I felt it was time to move to one of the major reasons I wanted to visit Japan in the first place. Himeji-jo. As I was leaving the castle grounds I was compelled to enter a building because of banshee-like screaming emanating from its halls.

A view of the bailey.

After watching some of the Kendo demonstration I knew it was time to go and find the train to Himeji. A quick stop to mail some post cards (I'd have mailed all of them but I lost some of the addresses.) and I was off to Osaka station to take the slow train to happiness er Himeji.... On the train I made sure that I was on the coastal side because the tracks passed beneath one of the greatest testaments to human achievement and architecture the Akashi-Kaikyo bridge. The bridge is the worlds largest suspension bridge and is an incredible sight to behold. Once we passed the bridge I was finally on the home stretch...only 45 minutes away from the White Heron. That was until tragedy struck.

Ladies and gentlemen the world's largest suspension bridge.

Well tragedy might be over playing it a bit but there was drama nonetheless. The train that I was on began to slow down, and eventually came to a stop one before my scheduled departure zone. I assumed the delay was nothing out of the ordinary and happily thought about my impending nirvana. I was wrong, as it turned out the train was being stopped and sent back to Osaka due to inclement weather. I had no idea what weather would stop a train, but I was forced to miss out on Himeji-jo, head back to Osaka empty handed or attempt to find an alternative land route not knowing anything about the region I was in. Naturally I opted for the castle. Luckily as I was leaving the station I managed to get a glimpse of the castle way off in the distance several miles away. With the general direction in mind I set out on foot. As any good pilgrimage would have I created a song to celebrate my travels and put it all into perspective. The tune was "Hi Ho" from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and largely had me repeating "Hi ho hi ho I'm off to Himeji-jo". While I received my share of stares I would gladly "suffer" them again to be back in Himeji-jo. Of course not knowing the direction or location of my destination was not enough of an obstacle I had to add in a pinch of failing light and the castle closing in 2 hours to speed me on my trail. I managed to find the castle grounds with about 45 minutes left and was given free entry into grounds. I would say more about it, but I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves.

You can just make out the castle in the distance perched among the hills.

A picture of the castle grounds taken from just across a small stream.

A southerly view of the White Heron.

Yours truly at the base of the battlements.

A small path looking up at the main structure.

A view from the top of the castle.

Overlooking the inner courtyard.

After being fully sated and happy at my time in Himeji-jo I turned back to the trains and headed for Kobe, where I was to eat my last Japanese meal. Kobe Beef. Suffice it to say it was a delicious experience that was worth every yen I spent on it. While I was there I had a lovely conversation these two spanish newlyweds who thought I was an Spaniard as well.

My $100 dollar steak.

After the delightful meal it was time for my last night out in Japan. I found a really cool hole-in the wall where this couple were bartending. We befriended eachother and had a wonderful night drinking, dancing having fun, only it ended with domestic abuse, me in the police station trying to file a claim, and me being unwilling to except that it's "just how it is in Japan". So that was the end of my trip. A thrilling week filled with mystique, merriment, awe, beauty, and ending with ugliness and sadness. Will I be back, oh of course I will, because how can you not return to the most beautiful place one the planet, when its only a short plane ride away.

Until later pasties.
Will Out

Boryeong and Sapsido Island

So the three day weekend has come to an end sadly, but what a fantastic time it was! I unfortunately forgot my camera (part of the reason why I am investing in a new one) so I have to wait for other to give me their pictures to send them along. Like I said in a previous post it started very early on Saturday morning with me dragging my bike down to the World Cup Stadium taxi stand. There abouts I met up with some of my partners in crime, the Canadians Lindsay and Thomas (I have been told that I often refer to where my friends are from so I will keep this trend going) and we started out to the bus station. Now normally this would be a run of the mill activity catching a cab to a bus station but somehow we made it into something pretty screwed up. We couldn't find our friends that were joining us and ended up going in circles for awhile before we finally agreed to meet up at the bus station.

At the Bus station we found the rest of our crew, Lauren, Christi, and Colin my American brethren, and Scott a canuck from Ontario. Now all we were missing was our Korean accoutrement's, namely three girl teachers from my school. We had about 15 minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave and they were no where to be found. So we called them...turns out they were 20 minutes away, but they had a plan! There sure fire plan was to have us tell the bus to wait. Er what was that again? They said we should go up to the bus driver explain that our friends were tardy and ask them to hold the bus. Well that would be all well and good except none of us knew nearly enough Korean to make that a reality. So we waited. The minutes passed ever so slowly, creeping closer and closer to our scheduled departure. 10 minutes. No girls. 8 minutes, no girls and a Korean man gesturing us to get on the bus. 5 minutes, no girls! Finally with 3 minutes to spare they arrive! Kate and Hennah (who is really one of the funniest people I have met) show up and quickly buy there tickets hurray! But wait...where is the third Korean girl, Kimberly? Turns out that they were not together and we still might miss the bus. Good grief! Luckily she turns up right before we leave and we all scuttle onto the bus. Off to Boryeong and Daecheon Ferry Terminal!

The bus ride was largely uneventful, barring that while everyone was sleeping Colin and I had an extensive conversation about baseball, to the point that one of our friends asked "How long will you continue to talk? People are trying to sleep!" Not to be dismayed by the opportunity to talk shop we just talked a little more quietly.

We arrived in Boryeong with little hassle, though the Konglish (Korean English) that was written on the walls was something fantastic. My personal favorite being Manless Tourism Attractions Guide, for an automated information booth. We hopped on the city bus and were off to the ferry terminal.

Now it turns out that there are only 3 ferry trips out the island everyday and all of them were booked solid. So we had to arrange for an alternate method of travel. What we came up with was paying a local fisherman to drag us out there on his rinky dink boat. Unfortunately for us it was going to be a tad expensive (23k won) and wouldn't arrive for hours, but hey we had to get out to the island right? So we spent the afternoon on the beach swimming and making a sand castle, my additions to it were lacking style and largely unimaginative, until completion when I came up with a brilliant idea for a flag. After we had finished building the sand castle Hennah found a large piece of seaweed that she proclaimed to be a monster attacking the keep. I told you she was funny, among the other things that she has done was attempted to feed a fly because it was begging by rubbing its hands together. Oh Hennah...

So we had finished our beach escapades and went back to find our fisherman friend, after getting lost several times on the wharf we found the lovely old chap. Turns out we had to have a little bit of subterfuge and claim that we were chartering his boat to go fishing so the Coast Guard wouldn't arrest him. After signing the waiver and seeing off Johny Law we were on our way to Sapsido. Really the private vessel was a fantastic way to head out to the island and was a good start for what turned out to be a great adventure.

On the island we were picked up and driven to our pension building, where we would be staying in the Pension commissioners suite er... ondal suite. Apparently there was a snafu with the arrangements and we argued down the price but we had a place to stay. So it was off to another beach for the rest of the evening!

This beach was far from sandy but had a bevy of sea creatures and animals to see. We played in the mud and tried digging for shells before realizing we could go clam hunting at no charge. All you had to do was dig a small hole, look for water spots in the sand and pour some salt and then watch as a clam came shooting up to be snagged. Some of them put in a good fight but we captured a bucket full of what we lovingly referred to as tube slugs, thanks to there distinct tubular shells, and slug like appearance. Now this had to have been one of the most exciting things I have ever done before, all twelve of us were running up and down the beach with shovels and screeching with delight upon every successful capture of a tube slug. Lots of fun. I highly recommend it.

After tube sluggin, the sun had set and we were getting a tad peckish, so we went to one of the few restaurants on the island and had some good ol' samgyupsal. It was on the walk back through rice paddies and treacherous confined streets that we were accosted! It turns out that the island folks spray some type of pesticide to keep the insects down, unfortunately for us we happened to be outside when they came around with the evil white cloud of death. We had to run through the mist and luckily no one was hurt but it was a little scary. It was night time and the agenda called for a waterside campfire filled with singing and drinking. I will say that my musical likings are a bit different than others here so I was largely quiet for the rest of the night.

Well the trip home was less eventful, with us buying tickets on the ferry. Except that apparently a car had fallen into the ocean while we were there, and we were shooed away from seats like birds, complete with ticking sounds. Now I am back home and excited to begin the work again as June appears to have lots of interesting events. I am trying to plan a trip to Japan for July and we will see how that goes. Until then I will surely find someway to keep myself occupied.

See ya Pasties!