2008 – Japan and Korea
Himeji Castle
Yesterday was a blue sky day… and we took the opportunity to hire free bikes from the hotel and cycle around Himeji.
We went to Himeji Castle… and climbed to the top with slippers on – the view was great. As usual there was a lot of cherry blossoms, but the are getting near the end of the season. While there, taking this photo reminded me of the trees featured in the Dr Seuss books (eg: the Lorax). Am I alone in this thought…?
Old Street Car
For a closer gunzel like me, Japan is heaven! The range of public transport around is amazing. In Hiroshima there is a great network of “Streetcars”. What is even better is that they have a range of different streetcars, its better than a working tram museum! These old cars are used everyday for real work!
I’m impressed!
Take them off… put them on
That’s it…. I’ve reached temple/shrine overload.
They are amazing structures, built in interesting places, and have a fascinating history behind them. But I’ve reached that point on the holiday where I am happy just to stand on the outside.
Ohtorii gate
Today we visited Miyajima island, home of the Itsukushima Shrine (another UNESCO World Heritage Site) and the large red Ohtorii gate.
The day started well with hot coffee from the vending machine, before we hopped aboard the local train and a custard filled fish before we caught the ferry over to the island.
Thankfully we didn’t have to take off our shoes :) It was in a very beautiful location. Click on my photos to see some more images.
Afterwards we wandered up to the cable care/ropeway. Wandered probably not the best term as it was quite steep in places. Must admit that I am beginning to feel quite un-fit, despite all the walking we are doing.
Best mocha on holiday yet!
I didn’t think it was possible… but yes we found a mocha that was quite good in Japan.
While waiting for the ferry back to Hiroshima we had 25 minutes to use so we wandered over to a coffee and food place not far from the ferry terminal on Miyajima island.
It is very different from my top three favourite mocha locations in Adelaide. The coffee was strong enough, and had some chocolate in it – but it also contained a dlop of sweaten chocolate cream in the middle.
It started to rain in Hiroshima
….so we spent a few hours in the Peace Museum located near-by.
From listening to weather reports… the cloud is coming over Japan from China… fingers crossed for a smooth crossing on the ferry on Friday to South Korea.
News from the TV…
Japanese/Korean TV has certainly been interesting. How many people can you place on a TV show panel?… I counted 8.
However the CNN news ticker announced a few days ago that “Bejing is to host the 2008 Olympic Games”. Obviously first in the know!
Here in Seoul at the hotel we have access to the Armed Fornces network… now theres exciting TV. All types of information is provided from avian flu, to updates on the different war areas America is involved in around the world. There was even an add for the library at one of the bases… surprisingly enough they stock DVDs, magazines, and computer games.
Duck dinner in Seoul….
After an hour or more of wandering around the Namdaemum Market after the DMZ tour, we headed off to Tobang duck restaurant. This was reccomended by the Seoul City Guide.
Locating the place was easy, and ordering was easy (pointing works well), however we really could of done with some assistance in eating everything that was brought to the table. The place had a great feel, majority of tables had people sitting on the floor in the traditional style, but I think the head waitress took pity on us and gave us a normal table.
As you wll see by the picture, we ate what was called Sulfer duck shabu shabu shabu. Sorry I don’t know what the translation was… From the Korean, you are going to have to look that up.
Before the duck is brought to the table the gas is turned on and a bowl of water is boiled and greens are cooked in the water, then placed on a drain train. The duck is then brought out and is sat between the two. Of course as we are in Korea we are presented with kimchi (pickled cabbage), pickled garlic, onion, thin shaved slices of raddish, and a couple of other things we can’t work out.
Amazingly enough we managed to eat all the duck… But we really could of used your help H & T! The duck tasted very different from pekking duck – but it had a great taste that you would of loved.
The Third Country on Our Trip
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.