The Long Wait Is Over...

So...you're probably thinking to yourself, "Where the heck are they?" and "What are they doing?" Well, we've finally been able to sit down and write a little something for you all to read! Yippee! So here it goes...

The transition from home to Japan, where very little English is spoken (and people are too shy to try), was eased considerably by Amy and Alex. We had a place to relax and recuperate and personal tour guides to take us around and introduce us to different cuisine, cultural habits, and general lifestyle changes. Emily and I were sooo impressed by how well Amy and Alex can communicate and how much Japanese they picked up while working there! We're not sure if it was to initiate us to the culture and the 'weirdness' of the food, but Amy and Alex took us out to eat Takoyaki (deep fried octupus dumplings) as one of our first meals. Surprisingly, it was delicious and we're now ready to take on just about any kind of food. Notable food items we consumed while in Japan: whole pregnant fish, chicken hearts, the famous Fugu (poisonous blowfish), and tons of other "don't know what it is but we're eating it" kind of things. Something most of us 'True Canadians' would love from Japan...BEER is everywhere! Not Canadian beer, but beer. At every street corner there's a vending machine with beer. On the train, there's a cart carrying beer. You can walk down the street if you wish, drinking your beer.

A really cool evening we spent in Japan, was going to the Nagoya Dome and watching a baseball game. It was the Dragons vs. the Swallows, and we were able to experience how popular this game is in Japan. The fans were wild, tons of chanting, banging of plastic bats, and cheerleaders in between innings.

Before leaving Canada, we ordered a Japan Rail Pass which virtually gave us full access to the trains in Japan (with very few exceptions). We used the hell out of it, and for anyone visiting Japan, a very good and wise investment. While in Japan, we visited Kyoto, Takayama, Himeji, Tokyo, Nara, Kamakura, Hiroshima, and made a couple attempts to climb Mt. Fuji. Here's a little bit about each:

Kyoto

We saw numerous temples, a castle, Maikos and Geisha's, traditional culture, and stayed in a Buddhist Temple. The temple-stay was disappointing, as we had read about morning prayers with monks, etc. Unfortunatley, the one we stayed at was essentially a hostel on the grounds of a temple - the one good thing was the breakfast (however not even vegetarian as most Buddhist's would like it!).

Takayama

A beautiful place slightly off the beaten path. Just the train ride alone was worth the trip, through beautiful mountains and valleys, green was in abundance. There we saw a large pagoda temple, the Hida Folk Village, and the Old Private Houses.

Himeji

Simply put...the best castle to see in Japan is Himeji castle. This place was huge, you can walk all around it, and so large, in fact, that it was used as a landmark for the planes' bombing runs during WWII - see the castle, turn left for Hiroshima, or right for Osaka.

Tokyo

In Tokyo, we visited the famous areas of Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Harajuku, but our highlight was definitely the day of Sumo wrestling. Apparently, Sumo events only happen a few times a year and we were fortunate enough to get tickets. We actually spent about 8 hours at the Sumo stadium, watching the fights from the lightweight division, all the way to the grand champions.

Nara

Deer everywhere!! This was probably one of our favourite spots in Japan. It didn't have the hustle and bustle of large cities and had many parks filled with deer. Emily spent the majority of the day making friends...with deer and feeding them lots of cookies. Another highlight of Nara was the Todaiji Temple - the world's largest wooden structure and it houses a large Buddha - the biggest Buddha in Japan. At this temple, you can attempt to seek enlightenment by fitting through a small hole in a wooden pillar (apparently it is the size of the Buddha's nostril)...and we all fit!!

Kamakura

A very short trip, we saw the Great Buddha, which rivals that of the Nara Buddha, but is actually smaller. The cool thing was that it's outside facing all the elements, and you can actually walk inside it.

Hiroshima

We spent an afternoon there and saw the museum park and A-bomb dome. It was a devastating sight, horrific to see the destruction that humans can inflict on each other, but good to see the efforts made to abolish nuclear weapons and concentrate on international peace. Emily was particularly touched by the story of Sadaka. Sadaka was a young girl of 2 yrs old when the bomb hit Hiroshima who later developed leukemia. She thought that if she could fold 1000 origami cranes she would be cured; unfortunately, she died before reaching her goal but the symbol of the paper cranes has come to represent peace and thousands are sent each year to the Children's Memorial in support of peace worldwide.

Mt. Fuji

It was never meant to be...we made two worthy attempts at climbing the national landmark, but being the off-season made it that much more difficult to pool resources in order to conquer the mountain. The transportation to the mountain was limited, most of the first aid stations were closed, and we required permission from the police to climb. Plus, I ended up getting sick (had to take my antibiotic) and a typhoon was predicted to hit the area. So, we did the next best thing and got a picture from a distance (which apparently is also an accomplishment)!

So...we write this from Seoul, South Korea (this is our 11th day in South Korea). We took the ferry from Hakata (Fukuoka), Japan and arrived at the port in Busan, South Korea about 6 hours later. A good boat ride with a room with a view. We enjoyed the experience and the ladies were able to have a traditional Japanese bath while on the sea voyage. Three ladies naked in a bath...my dream has come true! We spent one night in Busan, 2 nights in Gyeongju, 2 nights in Samcheok, and we will have spent a total of 8 nights in Seoul before heading to Tianjin, China. What have we done while in South Korea? Well, one of the highlights was definitely the 3...2...1...Bungee!!! Yup, we bungee jumped in South Korea. Emily was the first to go, and she was an all-star. I was so proud!! One of the things we did that same day, something Emily thought was actually even scarier than bungee jumping from a 50 metre platform, was riding tandem on a bicycle...with me. She was the typical back-seat driver, screaming every time we went a little fast, and wasn't impressed with my ability to manoeuver the bicycle. Not sure why...Anyhow, we had an enjoyable trip, saw a waterfall (actually more like a trickle due to the time of year) but nice, and returned the bike (and us) in one piece. Pretty cool! We also saw some interesting sights such as amazing caves in Samcheok, a penis park (pictures will tell you everything), beautiful coastlines with tons of beaches, lots of squid hanging on wires to be dried, the DMZ (De-militarized Zone), and we met some really cool people along the way. We've definitely noticed a difference in people and personality from Japan to South Korea. Japanese people are very polite, will go out of their way to help you, but the Koreans are much more animated, friendly, fun, and speak English much better. Maybe a bias due to the language bit, but good experiences so far and we can't wait to head to China for more.

We're both doing really well! Actually, Emily's got a cold right now, hoping to fight it off before leaving for China, and as I mentioned I got something pretty nasty the last week in Japan, but overall we're doing fine. We've realized we have to take breaks often, travelling is actually hard work when you're going place to place, and for me to stop and think about the shit I'm about to put in my mouth (the source of my illness I believe, but I could be wrong). It sucked being the first one to get sick, ie. fever, stomach cramps, etc. but hopefully I'm immune to Asian bugs now. Yeah right! We've met a bunch of people who have travelled to China, and the consensus is: It's not if you get sick, it's when!!

Things we have gotten used to by now: chopsticks as our primary utensils, maybe the food (still remains open as we still have no idea what we're eating most of the time, and it may not change for the next 6 months), squat toilets (with no toilet paper, with no soap, and putting our used toilet paper in a little bucket for those special ones with toilet paper), and kids screaming "Hello, Where are you from?" We must admit, it's different, but kinda cool being the absolute minority! More of this to come, for sure!

We know we're delayed with our blogs, but we promise more frequent updates from now on with much more stories and detail. Emily's been a trooper in figuring out all the technical stuff. We didn't have much of a chance to explore the computer before leaving Canada, and it makes it a bit difficult with non-English characters on the screen. We hope you enjoy what we have so far!

By the way...I've grown a beard and Emily's pregnant. Just kidding (about the bun in the oven thing)!!