Sydney

We couch surfed with a wonderful woman named Ann who lives with her 25 year old son, Brenden. She has 2 spare bedrooms, so Jayson and I had a really nice place to stay and it was perfect because we were a little tired by this time of our trip. We rented a car, which was interesting because they drive on the opposite side. So, Jayson and I worked together when he was driving. I would say, “Ok, Jayson you are turning left remember stay on the left side.” Which, most of you would think sounds annoying, but he appreciated it. Remember, we haven’t driven for over a year and here he is driving on the opposite side of the road.

So, the first day we arrived at Ann’s and she advised us to use the car to drive to the Blue Mountain and then return it because it is cheaper and easier to use public transportation. So, that is what we did. The Blue mountains were beautiful. At first we thought, we have mountains in California and wondered what could be so different. Once we got there we were speechless. We got there right before sunset and the view was breathtaking. We went out to Echo Point and saw the Three Sisters plateaus that stood above a valley of forest. The colorful layers of the surrounding plateaus were beautiful. So, we hiked around and waited for the sun to set.

The rest of our stay we traveled around Sydney. We went to Bondi Beach one day. The next day we took a ferry to Manly Beach and traveled past the Opera House and the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It was nice to relax at the beaches before the rain came at about 4 o’clock. We ate the most delicious Italian food in Darling Harbor. We did so much in Australia, but still no Kangaroos. So, on our last day we caved and bought tickets to the Sydney zoo. We were able to pet the koalas, see a crocodile feeding and observe Red Kangaroos. I guess it’s not safe to see those guys in the wild, but we were willing. And kangaroos don’t just hop around on the side of the street. Who knew?Australian laughed when we thought that.

By the last day, we were sad to leave and sad that our travels have come to an end. But, we have so much to look forward to at home.....

Cairns

Our Hotel was like a one bedroom flat with a small kitchen and a balcony overlooking the ocean. It rained every evening in Cairns, but we were happy to hang out in our room. We cooked our own food, which saved us a lot of money because Australia is SO EXPENSIVE! The fist day we booked an into dive in the Great Barrier Reef. Neither of us has been scuba diving before, so we were a little nervous but super excited. In the intro dive the teach you all the basics right off the boat in the reef. Then we link arms with our instructor and swim around the reef. It was amazing. I loved it. Jayson was a little worried about his breathing and I was at the end of the linked arms and had to swim on top of Jayson, so I wouldn’t hit the coral. But we saw the colorful reef and were surrounded by many fish. Unfortunately no sharks or turtles, but happy to make it out safe. We did see a big turtle when we were snorkeling around the reef. It was a great day. The next couple of days we just hung out and went to the beach. Our last day we took a tour to the Dain Tree forest and Port Douglas. The Dain Tree forest was really special. So many different types of trees. Not very many animals but we saw spiders the size of your hand and we were always looking out for a Cassowary. It was raining by the time we got to Port Douglas, but we were able to hang out at a cafe and walk around the shops. The next day we had an early flight to Sydney.

Melbourne

Melbourne is such a cute city. It’s where old meets new. The city has a lot of original old buildings mixed with creative high rises. There is a free tram that takes you around the city, so that is what we did the first night. During the ride there was descriptions of what we saw. The weather was beautiful, so it was nice to ride around. The next day we took a wine tour. We visited 3 wineries and ate a delicious tri tip lunch. I think it was the first taste of beef I have had in over a year. The wine was delicious and at one winery we were taught how to correctly taste wine. First you take your first sip to awaken your taste buds. The next sip you swish around your mouth and then swallow. And the third sip you tip your head forward and sort of gargle between your lips. It worked. We were able to identify many flavors. While we travel through the vineyards the bus driver/ tour guided talked to us about everything Australia. By the end of the tour we were use to their accent. In my opinion I think Australians in Melbourne has a heavier accent than the other cities we visited in Australia. That’s about all we did in Melbourne. We bought a few bottles of wine and enjoyed the food as well as walking around the city.

Kuala Lumpur

We only stayed 2 days in Kuala Lumpur, which was enough. There are a lot of things to see in Kuala Lumpur, but we only needed about 2 days to do it. If we had more time in Malaysia we would have traveled to Lankawi or Klang. Instead we stayed at the Citin Hotel which was right in the middle of Little India. So, in a way we experienced 2 cultures for the price of one:) We were surrounded by Indian restaurants and shops. I think I tasted the most spiciest thing in my life. I ordered the same thing I ordered in Bali (Mie Goreng), but I guess they add a lot more spices in Little India. Most women were clothed from head to toe and wearing the traditional Burqa. Kuala Lumpur even had a separate subway car for women only. I was was wearing shorts and a t-shirt. At times I felt a little uncomfortable, but also realized they understand I am a foreigner.

What did we do? We saw the Petronas Towers. They were very beautiful at night. We tried to visit a rain forest, but once we got there they wanted to charge us an arm and a leg for a guided tour. So, we snuck off for about 20 minutes and took some pictures and then headed back. We went to the Batu Caves. The caves are a limestone hill, which has many caves and temples. We hiked about 300 stairs to enter the caves. There were monkeys everywhere once we got up there. They were just waiting for tourist to drop food. They were fun to watch. The Batu caves has the world’s tallest statue of Murugan which is a Hindu deity. It was pretty big. That’s about all we did. If I were to go back to Malaysia I would travel to a beach spot and get out of the city

Bali

Oh Bali, where do I start. Let’s just say as soon as we got there we were trying to figure out a way to change our flight so we could stay longer. But it turned out to be too expensive, so I made Jayson promise me we would come back someday. I picture us old and retired living in Bali. One can dream. Anyway, Bali is humid, but it is a comfortable humid. Our hotel was shaped like a 3 story hut right on the beach. We spent the first day hanging out at the beach. We put on sunscreen and watched for redness. Everything looked good, but then after a few hours our bodies turned red. So, there was only one day on the beach for us.

The people are so kind in Bali and everything is so cheap. Local Mei Guang cost $3 and it included beef, chicken and prawns. We ate our hearts out! Jayson had his first steak in 13 months and it only cost him $9. I got a pedicure and a manicure for $12. Yes, we lived it up! The second day when we were on the beach there was a big offering ceremony. A few hundred Balinese dressed all in white were parading down the beach to their shrines. The taxi driver explained it was the start of a 3 day Hindu celebration similar to Christmas. If we were to stay on Saturday we would not be allowed to go out of our Hotel all day. On Saturday, March 5th the whole island of Bali shuts down. People don’t eat, there is not light and everyone stays at home with their family. There are no flights going in or out. The taxi driver told us that Bali is the only Hindu island on Indonesia, the rest are Muslim. So, this celebration only happens on the island of Bali and we got to witness a small part of it.

Pretty much all we did was cruise the beaches, ate and drank. But, I can’t wait to go back.

Singapore

All the information we read about Singapore said we don’t need to spend more that 24 hours in Singapore. So, we spent 32 hours. It was just enough. The first few hours were rough because we took a red eye flight from Seoul and we couldn’t check into our hotel until 2pm. So we were walking around like zombies checking things out. A lot of people speak English in Singapore and there is a heavy Muslim population. After we took a nap we were ready to roll. We took a night safari. IT WAS SO COOL! We saw a little animal show and Jayson was asked on stage to hold a python. It wrapped all around him and the head started going towards his leg. He said he wasn’t scared. Then we took a night safari which went through different animal habitats. There were no fences we saw everything from elephants, giraffes to lions. These animals are nocturnal, so that it why the safari was at night.

By the time we reached our hotel we were a little hungry and wanted to grab a beer, but everything was closed except for the local outside restaurants/cafeterias. We felt like a local. There were many people sitting in the open air restaurant with their coffee or beer watching the soccer game at 11pm. The next day we went to the Sans Marina Bay casino and hotel. Yes, we gambled and yes unfortunately we both lost. But we took many pictures of the building and we actually say we gambled there. That’s about it for Singapore:)

Saying Goodbye

We can’t believe our time in Korea has come to an end. This year has been the best time of our lives. When we were packing to leave for Korea we told each other to look at everything we have to come back for, so if this year is horrible we know we have so much to be thankful for waiting for us at home. We now laugh at ourselves for even thinking that, but I think it was a good way to approach an unknown adventure. We have gained so much from this experience. Living in another country and learning about their culture was the most rewarding. We also have benefited from the teaching experience and the many challenges Jayson and I faced as English teachers. We made so many new friends who became our little family in Korea. We were all there for the same purpose experiencing the same challenges which allowed us to bond. Then, of course, the traveling. When we return home we will have traveled to China, Thailand, Japan, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Australia. Yes, we are broke!

We see this year as our second honeymoon (that lasted a year). Yes, we worked hard, but as the saying goes we played hard too through traveling. So, the rest of this blog will be our travels home. So many mixed emotions. Sad to leave our friends, excited to travel, but anxious to be home again. Cape Diem!

S-Line

After we returned back from Japan we only had a few weeks in Korea. One week was spent hanging out in our apartment. One week was spent dest warming at school with a little teaching here and there and the last week was spent cleaning and packing. The last two weeks was the end of the semester for the school. So the kids came from a monthlong winter break and then had about one week to finish the rest of their semester. I heard that week was mainly used for teachers to complete paper work like report cards. It was nice, I got a lot of my Masters homework done.

During those last few weeks we spent a lot of time saying goodbye to friends. We made a lot of new friends and it is hard to say good bye. I went out to many lunch and dinners with my school. One Chief teacher (after a few shots) said that her and I are the same. She is 20 years older than me. She said we have the same smile, same personality and same S-line. I thought, huh, what does she mean by S-line and I looked it up. In Korea they point out the differences we have. My nose goes up and my chin comes to a point. Things I didn’t discover about myself until I came to Korea. There’s a little joke some people say, “get some plastic surgery as a souvenir from Korea.” It’s cheaper here and many Koreans desire a “western look”. So I stumbled upon the codes they use for surgery. Take a look.

http://www.asianplasticsurgeryguide.com

S-Line - Ample breasts and buttocks when viewed from the side
V-Line - A slim and oval face narrowing towards the chin
V-Line (second use) - The line in-between the breasts
W-Line - Breasts viewed from the front
X-Line - Long legs and arms connected by a narrow waist
U-Line - Exposed lower back in low cut clothing
M-Line - A "six pack" of abdominal muscles on men
D-Line - A pregnant (or pregnant-appearing) abdomen
B-Line - Big breasts, big abdomen
O-Line - Generalized obesity


Tokyo

Holy Moly there’s a lot of people in Tokyo. We stayed in Shibuya and when the lights are red and traffic stops completely then pedestrians surge into the intersection from all sides. It was crazy. We couchsurfed with a local, so we were in a really great location. Couchsurfing is supposed to be free, but this guy quit his job and opens his home to travelers. It was still cheaper than staying in a Hotel. There was a guy from Australia staying there and a girl from Germany, so it was fun talking with them and they gave us good tips on places to go.

The first day we went to Asakusa which is “technology land” This is an area dedicated to Nintendo, computers, MP3s, anything and everything techno. They were giving away free anime things. People were in line for it. So, I caved and bought a new ipod touch. It was pretty much the same price I would pay online, but I needed to replace my stolen one. Next we traveled to find a traditional Japanese park a friend suggested. Instead we found the Ueno zoo. We were mainly excited to see a Giant Panda. The advertisements were everywhere for it, but guess what, once we got inside, no Panda. We were really sad. But, we still enjoyed walking around with local Japanese families, sometimes we were looked at as if we were a caged animal. Oh well. We ended the day with some tasty street food.

The next day we went to Disneyland. It was fun comparing it to California. The park is basically the same except everything is in Japanese. When we rode Pirates of the Caribbean the Pirate at the end speaks in Japanese and so does the robot in Star Tours. So funny. It was really cold, it even snowed. So, one of the shops had all you can drink coffee, so we took about a 2 hour break. We used fastpasses and went on many rides. It was a fun day. Once we got back to Shibuya we went out for Sushi. We are not big sushi fans, but we were in Japan and had to try it. It was great. We saw the men make it right in front of us. We just grabbed a plate of whatever looked good. Each plate cost about $3 and had 2 pieces on it. We tried sake too. I was scared, but after a year of Korean soju the sake went down smooth.

After Tokyo we used the rest of our JR pass and spent a whole day traveling to back to Fukuoka. We saw Mt. Fuji on the way and it snowed for awhile. It was a nice train ride. In Fukuoka we finished up souvenir shopping and ate our last little bits of Japanese food. Fukuoka was a wonderful way to end our trip. Nice little city with great shopping. We also visited the biggest wooden Buddha.

We are so happy we traveled to Japan. It was a little expensive, but we had a great time!

Kyoto and Osaka

We stayed in a Hotel in Osaka, but traveled to Kyoto too. We stayed right in the heart of downtown. It was hard to find the hotel because we had a map, but we arrived at night and there were so many people rushing the streets. We were total tourist looking at a map and asking random people where to go. At one point we felt as if we were at a loss. We were guessing to cross the street because it kind of looked right. Finally after waiting for a crosswalk I look up and what do I see….Our tiny Hotel stuck in between buildings. Yay, I was ready to throw our stuff down and get some grub.

Our hotel was in the middle of a busy shopping/restaurant area. So, there we many places to eat, but we were on a mission for Shabu Shabu. We found a restaurant and sat down. The waitress spoke a little English, but there were picture to point to. She brought us our boiling water and said, “60 minutes.” We thought, “huh, 60 mins till the food’s ready or is that when we need to exit the building?” We figured out that was how long we had to eat. All you can cook and eat for 60 minutes. It was like a dream come true for Jayson. We cleared 2 plates of meat, it was delicious.

The next night we found a restaurant that had all you can drink for 2 hours. We said, “score!” and went in. Well, the menu wasn’t in English and they didn’t speak very much English. We know we ordered something pork with something vegetables. All of a sudden a big boiling pot full of veggies and meat comes out. It looked great, but we didn’t know what to do it. We showed the waitress we were confused and she continually came over and stirred the pot and each time she would say, “wait.” She said wait about 10 times. It was funny, but we were happy because we were drinking all we could drink. The mysterious boiling pot was delicious, of course.

In Kyoto we went to Gion which is known as the Geisha district, but we didn’t see any Geishas. We went to Kinkakuji which is a beautiful Golden Pavilion. The area surrounding the temple was so peaceful and beautiful. There are so many places in Japan where you could sit down and find peace and quiet. It was great. We went to Chion-in Temple. This temple is known for its massive gate. There were many stairs to climb up before we reached the temple. This temple is known for the place where Henon fasted to death. We witnessed a Monk ceremony. We had to take our shoes off, sit on our knees and be very quite. It was an interesting ceremony with Monks humming and bowing. Very Cool!

Other than eating delicious food in Osaka, we spent a day at a natural hot spring. It was a trek to get out there, but worth it. We took the subway, bus, and tram to get there, but we traveled up beautiful mountains. We checked in and were given a bathing outfit. This outfit was to walk to and from the different bath houses, but then we split up and went into our gender’s bathroom. From there, take it off and jump in. Well, not really! We were the only white people there, so I felt a little awkward, but after 5 minutes I was in Zen mode. It was very relaxing and I felt so refreshed after. I recommend this experience to anyone visiting Japan. Just do as the locals do!

Hiroshima

Busan, Korea to Hiroshima, Japan

I think we should change our Blog name to Adventures in Asia. I never imagined we would travel this much. We are so fortunate. And, every time we travel to another Asian country we are surprised how each country is so different. We heard so many stories about Japan before we went there, but nothing anybody said could prepare us for the experience we had. We heard Japan is quiet, peaceful, clean and kind. These statements were all true and then some. I swear, rolling my travel suitcase through Hiroshima at 4pm was the loudest thing I heard on the street. People will more out of your way and they are very helpful. On the subway you can’t talk on your cell phone. Actually, nobody talks on the subway. We were smushed between Japanese people and everyone was standing in silence waiting for their next stop.

We took the hydrofoil ferry from Busan, Korea to Fukuoka, Japan. It took 3 hours and the boat has a front fin that lifts the boat above water when jets are on. We purchased the Japan Rail (JR) pass for one week for $350 each. We were able to take the JR many times and saved a ton of money because individual tickets are expensive. Our first trip we took the JR from Fukuoka to Hiroshima. It was 6pm by the time we got there are we were ready to try our first Japanese meal. The hotel suggested a local restaurant. We ordered Okonomiyaki which is a Japanese pizza with noodles, cabbage, veggies, egg, and bacon all fried and crispy topped with teriyaki sauce. We could watch the restaurant cook right in front of us. We fell in love with this dish and had it 3 other times during our trip.

Hiroshima is the world’s center for peace. The city is spotless, quiet and the people are kind. We visited the Peace Memorial Park. The museum had artifacts from the time when the A-Bomb exploded. I can’t really describe in words how amazing this place is. The park really moved me. They suffered so much, so now they try to spread peace around the world. Paper cranes are sent from people around the world to represent their promise to peace. They continue to ask countries to stop developing atomic bombs. This was a great way to start our trip in Japan. Our pictures explain more about our experience.