So how do I start to explain my trip to Hong Kong....I guess my best explanation/justification for my random/last minute trip to Hong Kong would be that "I am young, I only live once." and to abide by my quote of life "Carpe Diem." You see, mid March these 2 guys from Cal happened to be in Hiroshima visiting fellow JET/Cal grad/fellow traveler partner (see past photos) Jeff. There names are Ryan and Misha. This guy Misha, well we hit it off pretty well. I may have even found a bigger Cal fan than myself, only being rivaled by mic woman [View Full Entry]

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This weekend was a mixture of old Japan meets new Japan: Sumo and Universal Studios Japan. I was extremely excited for this weekend for numerous reasons. A) I think sumo is awesome. B) We were going with an awesome group of Hiroshima JETs ready to leave their mark on Osaka, and C) Who doesn't love theme parks! I have never even been to Universal Studios in California! So we set out in our bus, of course one person was late, as always, same ordeal on our way to Mt Fuji (same person always!)! Sumo was awesome, again. Yet the atmosphere was [View Full Entry]

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Before coming to Japan my winters consisted of few rainy days, snow once every seven years, and flip flops. I mean, in SUNNY California especially in the the northern, valley, snow was considered a special treat. Upon coming to Japan, I now know what seasons really are. From the first snow during the first week in December, until this PAST TUESDAY (March 28...are you kidding me!) I now have decent idea of what it is to live in snow! In a place where central heating is scarce and I have paper walls, I am ready for this winter business to be [View Full Entry]

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The title of this blog alone should attract more visitors than any of my other entries! The third week of February I was lucky (unlucky?) to go to the Naked Man Festival, better known as the Hadaka Masturi. There are naked man festivals all over Japan, but I think the one in Okayama-Ken is the oldest and most famous. If you have no interest in reading the blog, check out this guy Josh's video. http://www.joshuazimmerman.com/vidblog/index.php It is very enjoyable, showing Hiroshima JETs in their finest form and parts of the festival as well. Honestly, you had to see the festival to [View Full Entry]

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OOOOHHH what an adventure we had at this years Yuki Matsuri, meaning "Snow Festival" in Japanese. A few things to preface this blog entry. I have a teacher at one of my travel schools who is originally from Asahikawa, Hokkaido. When I told him (way back in September when we booked the tickets) that I was going he called his sister on the phone and she was more than willing to show us around. When we started planning our itinerary we were not going to have enough time to make it up there. Second thing to take note of; my teachers [View Full Entry]

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From the moment I stepped off the boat to Koh Tao and started to wander the beach, I fell in love with Koh Tao. Before coming many people told me that I had to go to Koh Tao because it was the best island in all of Thailand. I had this picture perfect place envisioned that was only real in my dreams....I was wrong. I enjoyed Koh Tao more than I ever expected. Before coming to Thailand I had this idealized idea of a country full of little bungalows, longtail boats lining the beaches, chill backpackers lounging at beach bars watching [View Full Entry]

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We took a flight from the Adaman Sea to the Gulf of Thailand to check out some of the islands on the eastern front. We heard that Koh Samui was similar to Phuket so instead of spending much time there we just used it as a stopover one night before heading out to Ko Pha Ngan the next morning. Up to this point our lodging has been great. It seemed the further you wander into island life the quality of the lodging seemed to dwindle off (more on the Koh Tao report). I would have to say that our lodging in [View Full Entry]

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Aaahhhhhh Phuket....once the gem of Thailand....and parts of it still are but I must admit I was definitely disappointed with parts of Phuket. The wrath, aka "the Beast," of tourism has definitely take over part of Phuket. After our 5 hour layover in the Bangkok airport (which was not planned) we arrive in Phuket. We avoided Patong Beach at all possible costs because we heard it was just awful with tourists. At the airport their were buses of Eurotrash getting on their buses headed to such places as Patong. No thank you! Instead we chose to stay on Bang Tao Beach. [View Full Entry]

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On the morning of the 26th (mind you, morning as in 4:30 AM) I realized that my Bangkok escapades the night before were not the wisest. The flight that Jeff, Jason and I took from Bangkok to Chiang Mai coudl have possibly been the worst flight of my life. To begin with, the flight was late. To get to the plan we had to get on a bus and drive to it. We literally drove in a whole circle and ended up 50 yards from the original terminal...for some reason we drove an addtional 10 minutes what could have taken less [View Full Entry]

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First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah!!! Definitely not the most tradition Christmas but still it was a fabulous day. For a Hannukah gift Leah's mom got us a guide and driver for the day to take us on a tour of the place of our choice. We decided to go to Ayuthaya, the old capitol of Thailand. Ketsara (pronounced Kate-serah) was our guide and was great. I learned so much about Thai history and traditions. Fro example: The tower-like tombs scattered throughout Ayuthaya and a key architecture throughout Thailand usually has 8 rings because there are 8 levels of [View Full Entry]

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