Japan has been a long time coming. It is a country where you can find traditional culture and beliefs as well as being on the forefront of technological innovation of all forms. It has the fastest bullet trains, most densely populated cities, home of the Sumo, massive video game arcades, calm and orderly people, neon lights all over buildings, grown men reading manga comics, karaoke, super toilets, etc. Basically it's a place like no other and some might say almost on a different planet. Definitely a place I'd always been curious about visiting. The boat left from Busan on an overnight ride towards the land of the rising sun. On board I met a British couple who kept me company. We had beer and stayed up quite late. The boat arrived at six am and I ... read more

Wanting to experience a more traditional Korea, I went to a town named Andong near the center of the country. The town itself is like most urbanized cities in this country, although smaller, but the draw was the nearby Hahoe Village, where the villagers still live by farming and the village maintains ancestral ties with Joseon Dynasty architecture, folk traditions, ancient texts. Temples and huts with straw roofs dot the streets. There's a river and hills that surround most of the village. Apparently this village really got noticed when the Queen of England visited during a trip to the country ten years back. It's registered as a UNESCO heritage site. The vast majority of the villagers have the surname Ryu. I walked the area for a while, and in the afternoon there was a customary show ... read more

I took a Korean ferry from Russia which took about twenty hours. I was to sleep on a mat on the floor since I was traveling really budget. During that time I met a Dutch traveler and some Russians who I met. One of the Russians was a pretty nice guy who gave me lots of food he brought but then they broke out the vodka and of course the rest is history. I woke up with a hangover the next day and another guy told me "Don't drink with Russians!". Fair enough. We arrived around noon and man did the weather punch me in the face when I got off the boat. It was so damn hot but especially humid. I went through customs with my fly open, which they were happy to point out, ... read more

Finally after 50 hours on that damn train, which was hot and stinky, I had reached Khabarovsk, which turned out to be a pretty pleasant place. And maybe even the cleanest city I've been to since...can't remember. I stayed in the train stations resting room for the night then the following day walked the city. It lies along the beautiful Amur river, filled with loads of parks, tsarist era buildings (way better than soviet style to be sure) an amazing boardwalk area boasting many cafes and snack stalls. I walked to Dynamo park on the evening I arrived and watched as people strolled about. I got eaten by mosquitoes though! The next day I was up really early and walked to the nearby town center, where I saw historic buildings, and walked the gargantuan board walk ... read more

Lake Baikal, the oldest and deepest lake on this planet, as well as providing about 20% of the world's freshwater. Its deepest point is about 1600 meters. Apparently there are 1, 700 species of animal and plant, two thirds of which can be found nowhere else in the world. As a result it has become a Unesco world heritage site. I went into town and caught a micro-bus to a village off the eastern shore of Baikal, called Goryachinsk. The driver, some big angry man, was giving me shit about my backpack and wanted me to pay for another seat to put it on, but I insisted I'd just hold on to it. I placed it back on the floor when he went to the driver's seat. The town was nice and from what I could ... read more