Hiking through Mount Namsan in Gyeon-ju

S and I have spent the last 2 days in Gyeon-ju, where the Silla dynasty ruled over the country during the 5th through 10th century, with this town serving as its capital at that time. The whole area is full of old temples, forests, burial mounds (grassy hills under which Silla kings from over a century ago are buried), buddha statues built on hilltops to protect the community and even the oldest astronomical observatory in East Asia.
Above is the Bulgaksa Temple that S and I visited yesterday, The temple was first built in the mid-6th century, with reconstructions occurring up until 30 years ago to return it to its original state. It is a World Heritage Site.
Today I went on a 4 hour hike through Mount Namsan. I started at Samneung Royal Tombs and, as I climbed up the mountain to its 468m peak, I saw maginificent buddha sculptures carved into the mountainsides, pagodas, and buddha carvings in the rocks. The view from the peak was breathtaking and there were some really steep descents that required the assistance of a rope to get down the mountain. Along the way, I was offered a snack and water from a kind group of Koreans and picked up a buddy hiker named SeeSee from Hong Kong. She was a translator for a law firm there, so her English was great. She gave me tips about traveling in China and was nice company for the last third of the trip.
At the end of our hike, I was very parched, as I hardly had any water during my hike, and a woman in town offered SeeSee and me purified cold water from the nearby spring. It is kind gestures like this one I will never forget. Below are some photos from my hike.

DVD Bangs

In Korea, there are stored that are referred to as "bangs". It seems to be a place where you can rent something (like a movie, a computer, video games, karaoke...) and use a private space for that rented object. So right now, I am in a PC bang with about 40 other stalls where people are using computers. In the 2 times I have used a PC bang since being in Korea, it has been filled with young teenagers and none of them are on the internet. They are playing video games in front of their big flat screen computer monitor. There are also really comfortable leather chairs, snacks available for purchase and a smoking section, if you want to puff away during your hours of video game play.
So, the more interesting "bang" shop I have visited in a DVD bang. They were all over the place in Busan, Korea's 2nd largest city, usually on the upper floors of a building. They are open until 4AM and have hundreds of DVDs that you can rent for around 8 dollars. I just went in and wrote the movie I wanted (Memoirs of A Geisha, as I had just finished the book) in English on a piece of paper. The clerk found the DVD and put it into a DVD player by his computer and led me to a private room. It was a polka dotted room with a black leather loveseat couch and two ottomans. The room was pretty bare expect for a trash can and a box of tissues (suspicious). Anyway, he put on the movie for me and I was able to control the volume and dim the lights. It was a huge flat screen and it was a very enjoyable experience! Note the tissues in the right corner of the first photo.

greetings from Korea

Hello! Steve and I just arrived in Busan, South Korea yesterday afternoon. We took the slow ferry from Fukuoka, Japan into Busan. Our ferry had lots of amenities on it, such as 2 restaurants, several karaoke rooms, movie rooms and an onsen (public bath). I went to the onsen- it was really relaxing! As we ate our lunch in the common room, we met an older Japanese man who was 72 years old. He was a cab driver in Japan but his family lived in Korea and he was heading to visit them. With his very little English and with lots of hand gestures, he told us that he was living in Hiroshima when the bomb was dropped. He showed us scars all over his arms and legs. He offered us raisin wine-it tasted like raisin-flavored moonshine. He already seemed to have drunk half the bottle. He filled my cup to the top and we talked for some time with him.
Today, we are checking out a temple built over a thousand years ago today and heading to the beach.
Even though we have only been here for less than 24 hours, we can already feel the differences between here and Japan. The drivers are disobeying traffic regulations, which did not happen in Japan. People are walking wherever they please. It reminds us of New York. There are food stalls everywhere and people talking really loudly in the street. Very different from Japan.
One similarity is that the people have been very friendly. They all laugh at me when I try to say thank you (gamsa hamnida).
We are in the post office, where they have free internet.
Below are photos of our 2nd economy room and our kind, drunk friend, followed by photoes from our time in Fukuoka.

Fukuoka, Japan

Check Out My Kimono

My New Kimono

So, as S went to see a temple today in Matsuyama, I decided I needed a day of relaxation. For me, that involved window-shopping. I have decided to take up running while in Asia so I needed to buy a pair of running shorts. Refusing to pay $35-$80 at the running stores in the area, I continued looking. It was on the 2nd floor of a mall in the center of the city that I stumbled upon a second hand shop. I found a pair of running shorts and a t-shirt for 3 dollars each and then I realized they were selling used kimonos. I had read in my guide book that buying used kimonos is the way to go, as quality is high and the price is cheap. I also really wanted to find an affordable one before I left Japan in a few days and had been nervous I wouldn't find one. They did not have any kimono and obi (sash) sets, so I needed to create my own set. I really needed to sift through the 20 or so kimonos because, as they were used, most of them were stained. I finally found one that I liked and was stain-free and then set about finding an obi to go with it.
The kimono and obi cost me $10.50, which is a bargain as most prices for kimonos begin at $40.
That's not all.
After researching obis after I got home, I learned that I had purchased a Nagoya obi. That means the sash is shaped like a paddle and it is a more casual sash. The wider part of the obi is used to create the bow in the back. I then spent about 45 minutes watching videos and reading how-to web pages about how to tie a proper nagoya obi. It took me an additional 15 minutes to figure it out in my room. Here is the finished product. As S was out temple-viewing, I did my own photo shoot in the hotel room.
Enjoy!

Okonomiyaki- Hiroshima-Style

From Okonomiyaki- Hiroshima Style

this is probably the most interesting dish we have had so far on the trip. this is one of Hiroshima's specialties. The dish is referred to as a pizza or a pancake. In the center of town, we went to a 3-storey building filled with counters serving up this special dish. We were definitely the only non-Japanese eating there. Check out the play-by-play photos to get a sense on how this "Japanese pancake" Hiroshima style is made. It tasted weird at the beginning but we loved it by the end.

Okonomiyaki- Hiroshima Style

Hiroshima Memorial and City

It was very powerful to have spent the last 2 days in Hiroshima. One day, we visited Memorial Park, a site of remembrance of the A-Bomb drop on August 6th 1945. After walking through the park and seeing all the different memorials, we went to the Hiroshima Memorial Museum. The exhibit was very informative and gave a very detailed story of the history of Hiroshima, the war, and the aftereffects of the bombs. The last third of the tour focused on our need to end nuclear proliferation and gave museum-goers a rationale for this standpoint. It was a very well done and gave visitors a place to focus their emotions, if they so chose. At the end, there were video testimonials of survivors of the bombing. The one woman I watched had lost her whole family and her story was saddening and touching. It gave me a lot to think about.

Hiroshima

Peaceful Kyoto

The 3 days that we spent in Kyoto were absolutely wonderful. We saw some amazing temples and gardens, walked through bamboo forests, ate some interesting food and meet kind people. The most memorable experience for me was our visit to Nanzen-ji, one of S's favorite temples from his previous visit to Japan. Behind the temple, there was a small wooden pathway that led us to a trail into the mountains. We hiked for about an hour and a half in the pouring rain. We got completely soaked and the rain made the path slippery but, along the way, we discovered some beautiful sites. As it is Golden Week in Japan and South Korea, meaning everyone is on vacation, all of Kyoto's sights were mobbed with people. However, on this hike, we were completely alone, which was a nice and new feeling. We found a thundering waterfall, a quiet lake and some old Japanese cemeteries along our hike. When we got to the top, we couldn't really see much but we felt a sense of accompishment. On the way down, I bathed in the waterfall.
Check out the photos:

Kyoto