Sunday, July 20, 2008

Jeju Island

We had enough of smelly Busan and decided to leave for Jeju island for a short vacation.



For those of you who are not familiar with the term "Vacation from your vacation" - well, after travelling for one month, moving from one place to the other every two days, climbing up and down mountains, searching for presents for trivia winners, and on and on... you kinda get tired and want to sit back and do nothing for a while.



So, we took a ferry to a lovely island called Jeju (or HoneyMoon Island - how appropriate!)

Jeju is a rather small island, located south of Korea. It has an oval shape (for the more mathematical oriented guys, a=70km, b=40km).

There are regions with fancy hotels, where a parasol (Shimshia) rents for $20!!!



We first went to Jungmon beach, but found it to be terrible:



We did find some nice Korean youngsters who circle the island on their bicycles.
It can take several days, so they stop and make camp when the weather gets too terrible.


Many years ago, people found a weird staue on the island, and decided it to be their symbol (logo). So, you can find many replicas of it all across the island. It looks like an old man with a big nose who is holding his belly.



We left the terrible beach and found a better, nicer one on the eastern side of the island, which is less touristic. We stayed at a Minbak (sound like Minba), which is a room rented by a family (usually on another floor). Accomodation in Korea is much cheaper than Japan. The room cost us about $20 per night (this is actually the typical price of a guest house or a cheap hotel).
The Minbak was 30 meters from the beach, and the lady owner kept spoiling us by brining sweets, water mellon, canned soda, and other stuff to keep us there!
The view from the beach was beautiful!


But we found it hard to get along with the local food. That is - until we found a someone who sold roasted chicken from the back of his truck. So, we had a chicken dinner in front of the TV.
Chicken - GOOOOOD!!




Most of the time, the weather was hectic. For those of you who have never been in a place during Monsoon season, here is how it is like:


(and for the non-hebrew speakers, the dubbed version would say - Winter, Summer, Winter, Summer....)

The beach we were at has very impressive tides. In low tide, the beach strip is over 100 meters wider and small pools among the rocks are revealed. Though at first glace all you see is sand, black volcanic rock and seaweed, a closer look reveals that almost everything in these pools is alive and moving. Have a look:

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Korea (Busan)

We left japan after we could no longer use our rail-pass. We took the Camellia line ferry from Hakata in Japan to Busan in Korea. It took about 6 hours, and we had fine weather which allowed Shay to tan outside:



The ferry was well equipted, and we stayed most of the time in the Lobby area:







When we reached Korea, we immediatly noticed the (not so) subtle differences between the Korean people and Japanese:
1. Koreans push you in the subway (we were amazed and shocked at this RUDE behavior, having spent a month in the land of perfect order).
2. Koreans are laud like Israelis
3. Korean food is HOT, and we much prefer the Japanese cuisine.
4. Koreans do not apologize all the time like the Japanese do. However, they do know a little bit more English than the average Japanese. They are more talkative and hospitable and try to practice their English.

Busan looked very much like Tel-aviv. A lot of traffic, trash on the streets, and a nice beach!




Mai got a new pair flip-flops at the bargain price of 2000 WON (might sound like a lot, but is actually $2).










Shay found an interesting fruit. It is yellow with white stripes, shaped roughly like a pear but is hard on the outside. We carried it for 2 days and eventually cut it open only to find out it is a miniature mellon. And not as sweet and succulent as a big one...


We found some funny vending machines in the Subway. This one sells books (in Korean):




























And at night, we went to see the harbor lights. Look what happens when you shake your camera while taking a picture!!!


Monday, July 14, 2008

So long (Japan), and thanks for all the fish

Japan - we thank you for the Railpass!



For those of you who don't know, the Rail-pass is a train ticket, valid for 21 days, that entitles you to take (almost) ANY train in Japan (including the very expensive Shinkansen, bullet trains). It cost about $570, but if you consider the fact that a single train ride from Kyoto to Tokyo costs about $200, the investment really paid off!

Now that we say our farewell, we dream about our next visit to Japan. We still have SO many things to see there!

1. Hike to Fuji (we did not hike there since, as the Japanese say - there were BAD CONDITIONS)
2. visit Shiretoko National park: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiretoko_National_Park
3. Go to a Japanese baseball game!
4. See a sumo fight and a Kabuki show

Oh well, these will have to wait. Korea is next!

First trivia winner, the prize and a second trivia!

And the winner is..... Brooke!

The grand prize is : one of the finest Japanese chop-sticks boxed set!


(will arrive shortly at the Wilson parents house, as that was the address we had handy)

We found it so funny that we collected some more, and we are now offering a second trivia.

So, come on! let us hear your thoughts!


1.



2.


3.


4.


5.


6.



7.


8.


9.


The winner will probably get something awesome from Korea!



Saturday, July 12, 2008

Specialized Shops

Japanese are crazy people. Period.
They have specialized shops for EVERYTHING!
Damn, we found in the town of Yufuin three consecutive stores. The first was only cats, the second, only dogs, and the third - only owls (not the actual animals, but accessories). CRAZY!!!








Oh yes, the forth one was toads:



And in another shopping mall, there was a shop only for stones:



Some additional specialized shops:





Yufu Dake

After Fokuka, we wanted to see some more nature, so we went south to a town called Beppu, and from there to Yufuin, a small town near the double peaks of Yufu-Dake mountain.

When we started, it was still a bit foggy at the summit:



But Maayan was convinced to reach the top!



There are some really nice blue flowers (too bad our camera caught the green better than the blue):


It was a hot humid day! See the towel on Shay's neck? Douglas Adams was a genius.



Movies:

They show us getting lost in the never ending grass fields during the descent from the mountain, and the exact moment that Shay reached the summit!





Friday, July 11, 2008

Fokuka

We arrived to Fokuka to find the Naked-Butt Festival (or Matsuri, the more official name).




We did not find too much details about this festival, but you must agree its a sight!

If you ever wondered how Shay would look like in one of those suits:




We spent a night in a nice guest house, where Shay found a big rubber ball to sit and jump:




(notice the coordination, not only jumping, but also talking on the phone with mom!)

We contemplated where to go. Luckily, we managed to find this AMAZING book:



too bad only the title was in English...

Here are some additional photos from the city life there:



Roni - this is for you:




And here are some more funny movies:

http://brainstory.info/PhotosFromTrip/101_PANA/P1010239.MOV