http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Lebdawho/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Lebdawho en-us Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:46:29 +0000 Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:46:29 +0000 Day 1So let's continue with Obon 2009. The next morning my companion and I headed up very early like 730am early to the Takamatsu train station to see what we could do to get on to Tokushima and the rest of our trip. We were met with the news that the trains still wasn't running to Tokushima. With this news in hand we headed to the bus station which seemed to be our only option to see if t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokushima/Tokushima-/blog-442963.html Well this journey could have started with better circumstances but in the end it turned out great and a fun time was had. With companion in hand we set out to the last big island for me Shikoku.The shinkansen rolled out of Sendai at 715 in the morning for the start of a 7 hour train journey across Japan. I could tell you how beautiful the scenery was as the train moved from prefecture to pref http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kagawa/Takamatsu/blog-432562.html I should probably start this entry with a little explanation I love the anime show Mobile Suit Gundam. I love the writing the action the message political intrigue characters and the freakin awesome robots. There is nothing about that show that I don't like because it's so well thought out and put back together to tell a really good story and makes a strong statement about war. I know the pr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/Odaiba/blog-426075.html The second half of my Golden Week was a quickly put together week in Seoul. I had been to Seoul before when I was at Kansai Gaidai. I went for 4 days and didn't really have any plans for when I was there. I basically did the same thing again. I had 6 days and I had a LP. That was my whole plan.TuesdayI got into Seoul around 330pm got a bus into town dropped my stuff off at my tiny hostel and w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-399836.html It's a pretty quick and beautiful trip from Inuyama to Takayama which was where my historical Japan tour was going to end. The limited express train goes through some beautiful gorges and the weather was nice and sunny. It was the prefect day to go around and enjoy some more samurai district history and everything that goes with it.Or so I thought. Apparently Golden Week started that day and it http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Gifu/Takayama/Hida/blog-397412.html After spending a couple of wonderful days in Kanazawa I continued on my history themed trip and went to Inuyama to the famous Inuyama Castle. Inuyama Castle is a UNESCO world heritage site because it is the oldest wooden castle in all of Japan. When I went to Sapporo for the Yuki Matsui last year I saw a reproduction of the castle in snow and when I was flipping through my pictures recently it http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Aichi/Inuyama/blog-397409.html I love being surprised by a city. Usually I have a strong mental picture about what a place is going to look like. Over active imagination is a must in being a teacher and it has spilled into other areas of my life. Kanazawa was a city where I really didn't have any real expectations and I ended up having the best time thereWednesday morningI set out for the long 5 hour train ride to Kanazawa. I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Ishikawa/Kanazawa/blog-396732.html I have never had much of a fondness for the color pink. Never really being very comfortable with the expectations and behavior that I saw in those who actually wore the color I chose the more pleasing and lets not forget eye matching blue. Since coming to Japan though I have developed a grudging acceptance for the color. With it flashing out of the corner of my eye this last week it's not har http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Miyagi/Sendai/blog-390563.html If there is one thing to be said about Tokyo it's that it's one hectic and crazy place. The sheer mix of people and tourists that run around are confounding and mind boggling. Even with Sendai being a large city I always get a little amazed seeing so many foreigners whenever I'm in Tokyo. Who knew that seeing people who looked like you would be slightly unsettlingAnyway I spent my weekend with http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Tokyo/blog-384252.html I love my students. Especially my Mom students. They are so welcoming and willing to share anything that they think I would find interesting. Since I have already done some study on Japanese culture and language they like to ask me questions about what I think about certain aspects of Japanese culture and it's great for class.Tonight I had a Mom that only has a 30 minute lesson and all we do is http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Miyagi/Sendai/blog-378477.html There is one thing that the Japanese understand and celebrate more than anything and that's food. Nothing is more appreciated and enjoyed more than a day sitting with friends surrounded by food and having a good time. In every town there is a famous food or preparation of food. Omiyage or souvenirs are brought back from a business of family trip for the day or weekend it's all food. This cu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Miyagi/Matsushima/blog-371752.html WednesdayI was awoken by the 6am train going past my hostel the next morning and moved around in the slight darkness to find and stuff all my things into my backpack before heading out into the morning light. Walked up to the station taxi stand and rode off into the dawn to get to the ferry terminal before the 745am ferry took off. Since I had made a reservation the day before I had to go back an http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kagoshima/Yakushima/blog-360318.html Ah New Years the 3 times a year that I have a week off to explore and indulge my travel hobby. This New Years vacation though would prove to be one of my more interesting travel tales. It will also take a couple blogs to fill all of it onto the screen.MondayLet's begin the holiday vacation at 500am on the morning of the 29th because that when I got myself out of bed to get the 600am shinkanse http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Kagoshima/Sakurajima/blog-359914.html It's that time of year again Winter is frosting everything together and making laundry somewhat time consuming. It's also Sendai's Pageant of Starlight again Jozenjidori is a huge shinny mass of pretty trees people and yaki imo grilled sweet potato going down it's long street. I made the annual pit stop with my new co and her BF. It was gorgeous and lots of fun to walk around and enjoy such http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Miyagi/Sendai/blog-354372.html Let's begin get out of Sendai weekend with the 1st first visit yesterday. I headed out to big and wide Tono Valley yesterday. Tono is famous for folklore and having a very easily accessible rural scene. There are wide ride fields here and many different places to ride a rented bike or car.When I left Sendai yesterday morning it didn't look cloudy at all. By the time I got into ShinHanamaki stat http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Iwate/Tono/blog-341226.html This weekend was my get out of Sendai weekend. The last couple weeks I have been busy on weekends and have had no time to go out and do anything before the winter cold sets in. So yesterday and today I was out of Sendai and out enjoying Tohoku to it's fullest in a weekend dripping with historical content. Today I met my manager yes my boss in Koriyama station and we drove together to AizuWaka http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Fukushima/Aizu/Aizuwakamatsu/blog-341212.html A year ago today I started training in Okayama in preparation for my current life. It's a little surreal to think that I have been here a year but it also doesn't seem like I've been here that long either. This last weekend was a 3 day weekend for me because Tuesday was the Fall Equinox and a national holiday so I ended up in Aomori visiting one of my friends who is also teaching in Japan. It's http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Aomori/Towadako/blog-327094.html In Sendai we have this weekly newspaper called Sendai Weekly. It's a lot like the Independent in Raleigh. It has ads for restaurants concerts coupons and articles about things that are happening around or in Sendai. It's in Japanese but I have been going through it and practicing my Japanese and trying to learn new kanji and vocabulary. It is fall or becoming fall up in Tohoku so most of th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Japan/Yamagata/Yamagata-/blog-321151.html Well the end of the trip was drawing to a close. Amy and I got back to Taipei in the early evening and found our hostel pretty quickly. We stayed in the Taipei Travelers Hostel. It's on the 22nd floor of the electronics store next to the Mistsukoshi building. The owners were great and very helpful in getting us information and also just having fun conversation. I also discovered that the Travel C http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/blog-319328.html The trip back to Taipei was a little longer and a lot funnier then the trip to get to Keelung. As typical foreigner behavior we tried to get to our platform early. Walking up to the ticket gates Amy put in her ticket....only to have it shot right back out the other end and onto the platform floor. It had to wait till a station worker came by to retrieve it for us. Luckily a lovely old man came ov http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Taiwan/Taipei/Danshui/blog-318227.html