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September - December 2019
Our super extended honeymoon all around the far east. Read more
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  • Vera and TomAsia
    1111
    Day 13

    Kyoto

    September 13, 2019 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We booked 4 nights in Kyoto to give us time to explore the city itself and also use it as a base for seeing some more of west Japan. Kyoto is quite a big city but very different from Tokyo, there are only a few tall buildings here and the style is very much old fashioned Japan rather than the crazy futuristic manga world of Tokyo. On our first day we went to the Imperial palace and its beautiful Japanese style gardens. The palace and other buildings around it are really simply from outside and unfortunately we cannot enter them. For lunch we had our "usual" boxes with unkown content from the supermarket - sometimes it even has some chairs, tables and a microwave to enjoy your meal there. Then we discovered a walking path by the river, an alley full of little pubs and restaurants called Pontocho and the main food market, Nishiki Market. At dusk we went to Gion, the geisha district where lots of people are dressed in traditional clothes (actually all around in Kyoto) kimono with all its accessories such as wooden sandals. There are lots of shops where you can rent a full outfit for the day. We ended the day in the tiniest Thai restaurant where 5 people were already sitting so the the place got full when we sat down too. First time to eat curry/noodles with chopstick only, success!Read more

  • Vera and TomAsia
    Day 14

    Nara Park

    September 14, 2019 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Nara Park is an Unesco world heritage site an hour away from Kyoto, it's famous for its hundreds and hundreds of wild deer living a good life being constantly fed by tourists. We tried some soft icecream (pretty much the same as at home) and melonpan bread which comes with all kinds of different flavours, for us it was caramel.
    On the way home we stopped at a local snack pub for some beer, plum wine (super sweet and nice, more like a liquor), cabbage with some peppery sauce on, and gyoza which is the little dumplings (these were a gift from one of the locals :) )
    At one point we really have to talk about the tolilets in Japan, so here it is:
    - Lucikly they are everywhere, we never stuggled to find one when in need.
    - Some are "normal" called "western style", some are "hole in the floor" called "Japanese" style - this is indicated on the door so you can choose which one you prefer.
    - Many times you can see a manual of how to use the western style toilet (to sum it up: sit down, then throw the paper in the toilet and flush it)
    - Some of these have a sink on top of the cistern, so we use the same water for washing hands and then flushing the toilet.
    - The western style ones are always super fancy (even in the shopping malls) you can find a little keypad on the wall or on the armrest with different buttons (most we don't understand). The most basics seem to be: music and bum wash with different strength water flow.
    - The bidet function is tickly and warm :)    Read more

  • Vera and TomAsia
    Day 15

    Bamboo Grove and Lake Biwa

    September 15, 2019 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    We went for quite an early start to be able to fit two little trips into one day. Having our Japan Rail passes has been really great for getting around Japan and was especially good for day trips without worrying about the train costs.
    First up was the bamboo grove a little north west of Kyoto. There is a path to follow through the woods which has a few old buildings and shrines to see along the way. The trees are the most interesting part though, they grow very tightly together in some places and almost all of them are dead straight all the way up.
    For the afternoon we took the train back to Kyoto and changed lines, this time heading east to Lake Biwa. It is the biggest lake in Japan and we had picked a town called Omi Maiko which looked to be a good spot for getting to the beach easily.
    When we arrived it was only a 10 minute walk from the station to the water's edge, where we found a few small food stalls and vending machines (of course) and lots of barbecues sizzling away on the sand.
    It was really interesting to see the Japanese people at play, the mood was so much more laid back than in the city and most groups of people had some beers on the go, music playing and loud conversations while their chicken skewers cooked. The lake is beautiful. Perfect fresh water surrounded by mountains and amazing colours. We were really glad we decided to come here for a nice relaxing day.    Read more

  • Vera and TomAsia
    Day 16

    Hiroshima

    September 16, 2019 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    On the way to Fukuoka we stopped in Hiroshima for a few ours to see the Peace Memorial Museum, the park around it, the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victims, the Children's peace monument and the A-bomb Dome. The museum was really shocking and interesting.
    We then got back on the bullet train for the last journey in Japan. We will be missing the friendly and polite Japanese people. Those who work on the train (controller or security) bow after exiting a carriage towards their passengers out of respect, fantastic!    Read more

  • Vera and TomAsia
    Day 16

    Fukuoka

    September 16, 2019 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    We had a short but brilliant stay in Fukuoka. We arrived in the evening with about an hour to spare for checking in to our hostel before meeting Yusei, an old summer camp friend of Vera's. Yusei is a Fukuoka local and he took us to a really cool local restaurant.
    The type of restaurant is called an izakaya, we sat down on cushions on the tatami floor mats around a low table which already had a couple of bar snacks waiting for us, a shredded radish salad and edamame beans.
    As the expert, we decided to leaveYusei in charge of ordering and he didn't disappoint! We had lots of different types of yakitori, the skewers which are the main feature of the menu in this type of restaurant. Yakitori means chicken skewer but actually there are all sorts available including pork, fish and vegetables. We had chicken thigh, chicken neck, chicken gizzard (!), pork belly and pork rolled with herbs which was probably the favourite. The yakitori are all cooked on a grill in the middle of the bar, in fact all of the food is prepared there which makes a really lively atmosphere in the restaurant. There were people sitting around the bar and also groups and families on the floor like us. Most people were also enjoying plenty of drinks which also adds to the atmosphere. We had Japanese beer and more of the plum wine which Vera had tried a couple of nights before. We also tasted soju and soda which is a bit like watered down pálinka.
    As well as all the meat we had a few vegetable dishes like cabbage and tomato, and also some more unusual things like fried chicken skin and chicken scratchings.
    It was great fun to meet Yusei and hear all about his life in Japan, his travels and his wife who couldn't join us because they have a baby on the way soon. It was definitely our most Japanese experience in Japan and a perfect way to finish our trip!    Read more

  • Vera and TomAsia
    2
    Day 17

    Busan

    September 17, 2019 in South Korea ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    A fast but terrifying boat ride from Fukuoka brought us to Busan, South Korea's second city.
    We stayed in an area called Nampo which is packed full of places to eat, both in restaurants and out on the street. As a result, we seemed to spend most of our time eating, which is no bad thing because Korean food is amazing!
    We had topokki (a kind of rice cakes in really spicy sauce) , rolls of fish cake with vegetables and rice (a bit like sushi), dumplings, giant chicken kebabs, fish soup, sweet potato chips, hotteok (a sweet pancake filled with brown sugar syrup and seeds), Korean sticky fried chicken, tornado potato, and kimchi pancake. We could easily have gone on eating all night if we hadn't got full, it's all so good and so cheap.
    When we finally had a break from filling our stomachs we went to another part of Busan called Haeundae where there is a fantastic beach. We also went to a modern art museum with some very strange exhibits and a photography gallery with an exhibition about socialist architecture in eastern Europe.    Read more

  • Vera and TomAsia
    Day 18

    Gamcheon Culture Village

    September 18, 2019 in South Korea ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    In Busan on the top of a hill - not far from our hostel actually - is Gamcheon Culture Village, a place which preserves the cultural traces of Korea. The houses are beautifully colourful and they don't block the front view of the house behind so you can see the ocean. Many coloured pigeon (or other big bird) statues are sitting on some houses and you can try on traditional Korean clothes. Tom tried some orange jelly shaped as a ball and we had some fish shaped pastry with sweet red beans (this is everywhere). We also found the Grand Budapest (doll) house which was unfortunately closed. We ended the day with a Korean BBQ which we have been looking forward to a lot! We entered the local place (no tourists at all) and had no clue what to do. A nice waitress helped us and showed us how and where to put all of the meat and vegatables onto the pan so that the meat juices mix in with everything and it is all delicious! This was one of our best meals ever!Read more

  • Vera and TomAsia
    Day 20

    Seoul Part 1

    September 20, 2019 in South Korea ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    We had a bit of a rough start in Seoul as the hostel we'd booked in advance turned out to be disgusting. But, after only one unpleasant night we had our money back, moved into a nice little studio flat and could get on with enjoying ourselves.
    We had a long walk around starting at the Seoullo 7017 Park, which is a bit like the Skyline in New York, an old overpass converted into a long park with great views of the city. From there we saw our first Korean protest, there were loads of people marching up the road with Korean and American flags shouting a lot. We aren't quite sure what it was all about but we had a great view of it.
    Afterwards we went to a market where you can buy absolutely anything including street food and batteries for your camera.
    We also went to Cheonggyecheon Stream which runs between some of the biggest skyscrapers but is a surprisingly calm and relaxing place to be.    Read more

  • Vera and TomAsia
    1
    111
    Day 23

    Seoul Part 2

    September 23, 2019 in South Korea ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    We spent some time with relaxing, cooking for ourselves and lot of sleeping in our nice little studio apartmant which was much needed after all the hectic days. In the afternoons we went for walks in the city, visited the Forest Line Park which is built on and around old train tracks which used to go to North Korea. We walked on the old city walls and saw the Modern Design Plaza, a massive weird shape building which is the home of the design museum. We also discovered some parts of the city by the river and checked out some paintings and caligraphy in the Korean National Museum.Read more

  • Vera and TomAsia
    1111
    Day 26

    Gyeongju

    September 26, 2019 in South Korea ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Two days in Teletubby land, also known as Gyeongju or the Golden City according to the tourist board. This is an old capital city of the Silla Kingdom and is also known as 'the museum without walls', as if it needed any more names.
    The city itself is quite small but full of things to do and we were happy to find that you can walk everywhere easily. We saw a park full of giant grassy mounds which are tombs for the old royal family. Some are still being excavated and there is a small museum inside one of them with gold armour for the horses and their riders. It was very tempting to climb one but the threatened 2 year prison sentence was enough to put us off.
    We also walked around an old town where all the buildings have the old fashioned architecture, visited an amazing bridge over the River, and saw an ancient astrological observatory.
    We spent the evenings in the night market sampling as much of the food as we could, as usual. We've noticed that the Koreans love to add sugar to everything, including cheese and egg toasties and hot dogs. It's a bit strange at first but not as bad as it sounds! Our favourites this time were mung bean pancakes, sweet sticky fried pork and black raspberry wine, well fincsi :)
    One more thing that this city is famous for is Gyeongju bread. There are bakeries all around selling boxes of 10 or 20 of these little buns which are full of sweet red bean paste, not bad, but one was enough.
    For our last night in Korea we headed back to Busan from where we would fly to Taiwan. We escaped a very rainy night in a restaurant where we had budae jjigae another cook-it-yourself dish which was like a giant noodle soup full of different meat and vegetables, another one to remember to try at home!    Read more

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