2008 – Japan and Korea

Sunrise above Australia from the plane

Posted on by helenhmk

Landed and now back at home.

The flight back from Japan was pretty empty, and managed to get us back to Sydney by 7am. Apart from the umbrella piece of our luggage that came out towards the end, the whole immigration/custom queue was non existent. It is a great $3.50 umbrella, and we weren’t going to leave it behind.

However the transfer process to domestic was very, slow. Next time you are planning a trip overseas – avoid Sydney. We waited in a queue for at least an hour to get on an earlier flight. Standing around in a very small area with your luggage after a long flight is not what you want to do. Thankfully we were able to change flights and get home to Adelaide by 11:30am.

Thanks to both our mums for collecting us from the airport and providing a great lunch at home.

After unpacking and remembering what we bought (it is amazing what you forget after awhile), we downloaded close to 5000 photos from our camera cards. So we have just a few to select.

We are going to do one last post to this blog with our top highlights of Japan on the weekend, and add more photos to our flickr sites. However it has to wait as Kym returned to work today – ah the benefits of traveling within the same time-zone. So please check back later on!

Promise this is the last post!

Posted on by helenhmk

Currently at Narita Airport. Our luggage together was 44.3.. my suitcase was lighter than Kym’s – yeah! :)

Using the internet machine near the gate…. an Australian guy gave us 100 yen each to use the machine. I only had Korean money :( Second time today I’ve tried to use Korean money.

I’ve had my fair share of international incidents, giving the wrong money, being on the wrong side of the escalator (did you know that Koreans drive on the opposite side of the road to us?), and telling a pushy Korean woman to go back to the end of the queue at customs coming back in Japan. I’d had enough of pushy people by then… was it going to get her through any quicker… no. The Japanese woman behind me appeared to approve :)

We’ve had our last Japanese meal… I had sushi and miso soup, and Kym had soba noodles.

See you all soon.

We’re on our way home

Posted on by kymdt

This is my last post, unless I change my mind from Japan. All is looking good with our flights, although I’ve heard that baggage handlers may not handle our bags if they are too heavy! My bag always weighs less than 20kgs – that right sir everytime – there must be something wrong with your scales!!! Maybe that won’t work.

Looking for to a yiros from yiros break when I return.. any takers?
Kym

Being cultural in Seoul – Korea house

Posted on by kymdt


Korea house
Originally uploaded by kdt

Somewhat by accident we saw a program of traditional song and dance. We had planned to see a popular kitchen pantomime, but our visit to the Korean national library had placed us closer to Korea house.

The program consisted of 8 parts, of which the head spinning finale was the most spectacular. The next most spectacular part was the photo session of a couple of hundred of pushy people with the beautiful stars. I’m surprised that the performers haven’t been blinded by the light digital compact camera flashes.

Be rest assured I joined the throngs to bring to you photos of the dancing troupe. Here is but one.

Visiting Libraries

Posted on by helenhmk


Korean National Library
Originally uploaded by Helen K

Previous holiday blog readers will be wondering if we have visited any libraries yet. Well despite the lack of being able to read Japanese or Korean.. we’ve seen the inside of three.

The first was the public library in Hiroshima, then the public library in Fukuoka, and the third was the National Library of Korea.

Thankfully both public libraries were marked on the tourist map (makes you wonder doesn’t it). While going to the one in Fukuoka there was a wind storm, which made walking very difficult and we only had 10 minutes before it closed.

The Public Library in Hiroshima is in bad need of a face lift and some care. Nothing like 70’s lino to make the place look great. There were a number of men reading newspapers (doesn’t change anywhere in the world!), and mostly women selecting books from the shelves. Now compare this to the library in Fukuoka… While it was closing, it was a very impressive 3 story building. Huge entrance foyer, theatre attched, a number of self-checkout machines, public computer access and lots of wood used around the whole library. Definately a library that has had some money spent on its space.

The National Library of Korea was a little tougher to get inside have a look around than you might expect. Entry is by a smart card, one pass that has RFID. To get the card we had to complete an on-line registration form, in a registration office. This was not as easy as it sounds – given the complete lack of Korean speaking ability on our part!

The library is undergoing building works, and a number of areas used by the public have been upgraded inside (although not the walkways between the different sections). The first floor space is pretty speccy, where people use books requested from storage and computers. I didnt take many photos either – too many people and CCTV camereas. It will be great to see this place when it is finished.

Last full day in Seoul…

Posted on by helenhmk

Today is forecast for a sunny 20 degrees, which is great as today is the last full day in Seoul. While it is sunny there is a fair bit of haze with all the pollution.

We are taking advantage of the weather, through no planning on our part, and visiting the Seoul tower via a cable car up a hill. Im hoping that there arent too many starirs involved!

Tomorrow we start our journey home…. train trip from Seoul to Busan… then ferry across to Fukuoka, then train back to Tokyo. All things being well we will have one full day of shopping and eating food.

The Third Country on Our Trip

Posted on by kymdt


DMZ
Originally uploaded by kdt

In the past we’ve visited Germany for 18 hours, Singapore for six hours and Mexico for 4 hours! But we’ve a new record for our shortest visit to a country. We’ve visited North Korea for 5 minutes. Fortunately it was under the sound protection of the ROK Army.

This photo was taken from North Korea and shows the inside of the small “temporary” blue buildings built more than 50 years ago with the purpose of being used by either side and for talks between North and South Korea.

We traveled with the USO to visit the DMZ which included Panmujeon where the 1953 cease fire agreement was signed, the Dora Observatory where you can observe with big binoculars (but can’t take pictures), the 3rd tunnel.

The 3rd tunnel is one of four tunnels under the DMZ discovered by South Korea that were built to allow for a surprise attack by North Korea. The third tunnel was discovered in October 1978. Apparently 30,000 troops per hours could move through this tunnel. All I can say is that, if the troops are as tall as me there would be a lot of concussion and very few troops moving through. I thank the South Korean managers for providing hard hats. I’d been in hospital if I actually hit my head as many times as a I hit my hard hat against the rock.