on Korea and Japan

I'm back! In Beijing, that is. Wow. I can't believe we were almost stranded at Seoul station after waiting at the wrong place for the night limousine bus. Had to resort to black cabs which cost us a bomb but still better than running the meter. Slept in the airport for the first time in my life and experienced what it's like to be homeless. Haha. It was too late and we were too crashed to take photos or complain already. So anyway a flight and a bus ride later, we're back at friendly old FZ. Lol. Reality hits us in the face.


Seoul and Tokyo were just big cities, but what made an impact at Tokyo is that 99% of the people at the subway station or on the streets were dressed all in black from top to toe. Looks like black trenchcoats are the "in" thing haha. But I was impressed by the service standards, their smart dressing and the orderliness of the society. It was quiet in the trains and buses and everyone minded their own business. It seemed like nobody even talked. There were neat queues for the train and there was no pushing nor queue-cutting even at Disneyland. Unlike in China (think orange peeling and eating or talking loudly on hps, and of course pushing and spitting) and even Korea (think the occasional loud voice). The Japanese seem friendly and always eager to help. From the random uncle or auntie on the streets to the station staff, they'd go the extra mile to help and that touched me alot. Good thing was that station staff could speak english and we managed to get by with the random Jap words I knew and sign language when asking for directions on the streets. Funny thing is that once they started talking they couldn't stop, even more so if you spoke a few Jap words and they thought you could understand them. Haha. And the funny random uncles at Osaka who'd come up to us to say something in Jap then walk away when we gave them puzzled faces and gestured that we don't understand.


As for sightseeing, Jeju was still the best. I suppose it's because it's winter, and all the cherry and plum blossoms in Japan were bare. 淡季 everywhere, so it was quiet but that meant having less crowds to deal with when phototaking. Even during the DMZ tour there were much less people than usual and the skies were clear so we got a good view of South and North Korea's flags at the 38th parallel through the binoculars.
If you're planning a visit to Korea, don't ever miss out Jeju island! :))


I enjoyed Kyoto even though it was quiet and "ulu" because biking around for 2 days opened my eyes to more than you'd see if you took public transport. We realised that everybody obeyed the traffic lights and we felt guilty crossing Beijing-style so we waited with the lights too. We didn't get to see Nijo Castle because it was closed the day we went and that was a huge disappointment but the Kyoto Imperial Palace tour made up for it. Gion was disappointing too because I expected to see geishas walking the streets but the only 2 geishas we saw were indoors serving a guest and kept looking over to the camera flashes outside their window so we couldn't really watch for long. Shops closed really early too. Had to keep reminding ourselves it was 淡季 everywhere. Lol.


Seoul was the coldest, averaging -10deg but the people wore the least. Just trenchcoats and huge scarves (or rather blankets) wrapped around their necks and chins. It was funny to see them scooting about bordering on shivering, but obviously they were the 爱美不要命 kind. The Japanese are much more afraid of cold as we saw significantly more YRFs although temperatures were mostly above 0 deg. But they had weirder hair and more punkish street dressing: the standard black leather jacket-jeans with chains-black caterpillar boots combo. Conclusion: Seoul = trendy ; Tokyo = cool.


Nara (near Osaka) was nice, there were free-roaming deer. Yah, I got headbutted by a stray deer we were trying to take photos with outside a hotel we happened to pass by on the way to the deer park. Apparently it was angry we kept trying to touch but not feed it lol. Luckily stubs were left of it's antlers so my pelvis wasn't perforated. Lol. That first encounter made us wary and paranoid of all the other deers that tried to approach us in the park. We were so afraid to get stampeded or surrounded haha.


All in all, a great trip! Tiring towards the end but time flew and 2 weeks were up. It's been a really hectic month. Haerbin in wk 1 then Korea and Japan in wks 3 and 4. Haerbin already feels like ages ago! Haha. After 17 hours of sleep, I think I'm rested! But all the aches are coming back. Wonder if I lost weight haha. Hope my decrease in appetite continues in Beijing haha. Portions were so small and food was so expensive in Japan that my stomach shrank. It's time to get down to serious studying. Boo. I gotta stock up on groceries for the New Year too.