22/11/12
Today was
our last day in South Korea, or, rather, it was our last morning before we had
to rush off to the airport to take our flight to Tokyo. We had one goal for the
morning – something which we try and achieve in every country we visit – go to
a supermarket, to see what the average person buys and eats. Yunna had recommended
one close to our hotel – only two stops away on the subway. While that may seem
like a long distance, in a city like Seoul, where everything is so spread out
that to get anywhere often takes a 30 minute journey on the subway, this was a
very quick trip.
So we headed
for Jamsil station. Our goal was to find the Lotte Mart store. Like most small
Asian countries, the Koreans like to build vast underground malls, so finding
the Lotte Mart was a simple walk out the exit of the subway, without needing to
go above ground into the harsh morning cold. Or so we thought. While we didn’t
have to surface to find the Lotte Mart, what we did find was an entire
Lotte-themed world. For those of you who don’t know, “Lotte” is one of those
massive Japanese/South Korean conglomerate companies with fingers in so many
pies that they’ve actually inadvertedly created new pies and therefore had to
make new fingers to stick in them. Think of Lotte as an Asian version of “Nestle”,
or “GE”, or “Samsung” oh wait, scratch that last one.
Anyways, it
turns out that not only had we found the “Lotte Mart”, this place was called “Lotte
World”. It was this creepy conglomerate everything land, including an entire
ripoff Disneyland theme park. They even copied the castle from the “Magic
Kingdom” logo. It was thoroughly unsettling.
What Emma
and I had failed to take into account was the difference in opening hours
between Australia and Asia in general. As Harrry pointed out to us when we were
in Hong Kong, the retail sector opens late and closes late – this is a double
advantage. Firstly, it means that the city’s infrastructure doesn’t grind to a
halt every morning as all of the corporate workers and retail workers try and
catch the same bus/train/car, and it also means that they stay open later so
that aforementioned corporate workers can actually shop inside these stores on
their way home. Why in the hell can’t we operate like this??
The
unfortunate side effect of this though was that we were at “Lotte Mart” a good
90 minutes before its scheduled opening time of 10am. By 10am we needed to be
well on our way to the airport, so we decided to once again cut our losses and
just head back to the hotel.
Before doing
so, I grabbed some breakfast at the “Lotte-ria”. It was a McDonalds clone that
really didn’t try to differentiate itself from McDonalds, except for their food
practices which seemed to be about 10 years older than McDonalds’ current
methods. I had a “Lotz Burger”, purely because it had an Asian cowboy on the
promotional poster, which I thought was funny. The meal was rather disgusting,
and I don’t know what made this burger worth promoting. It was pretty much a
cheeseburger with mayonnaise instead of tomato sauce. Yep, cos that’s what
cowboys eat.
The decision
to forfeit our look around a supermarket did have an advantage – we were able
to have a nice slow walk through the park near our hotel for the last time. The
autumn leaves were in full bloom in the park, which had made for some very
pleasant walks over the last few days, and today was no exception. I was going
to miss this park, not to mention Seoul in general.
After
checking out of our hotel, we caught a train to Samesong, and then were soon on
the bus to the airport. It’s a long bus ride from Seoul to Incheon, but it was
one full of interesting scenery and huge South Korean engineering marvels, such
as massive wind turbines, huge urban developments, and bridges that defied
physics in their size and complexity.
At the
airport, we did our usual thing – check in was quick and efficient – we were
the only people in the queue at that time. We then headed for the satellite
terminal, where Emma made a bee-line for the makeup section, and I quickly ran
around the terminal, snapping pictures of all of the different aircraft I
couldn’t see at home. It was all very interesting, with a handful of domestic
and international carriers (such as Aeroflot, the Russian carrier) that I had
never seen (or heard of) before. Unfortunately, it was soon time for boarding,
so I had to cut my plane spotting short.
Japan
Airlines flight JL954 ICN – NRT
Boeing
767-300 JA651J
Captain
Watanabe
Scheduled
Pushback: 1340
Actual
Pushback: 1350
Scheduled
Arrival: 1600
Actual
Arrival: 1604
Today we
were on one of JAL’s retrofitted Boeing 767-300’s. For those of you who aren’t
plane geeks (so everyone reading this blog), this means that they have been
recently refurbished with JAL’s newest hard product. The cabin was nice and
spacious, and each seat had a whopping great big seatback touchscreen
entertainment unit thingy to play around with, meaning that this was going to be
an enjoyable flight. One thing I was really looking forward to about this
flight was the fact that they were screening an exclusive Studio Ghibli short
on board, only viewable on a JAL flight, and at the Studio Ghibli Museum in
Tokyo. Unfortunately, as we were taxiing out to the runway, I read in the
in-flight magazine that this promotion ended in October. Damn. Oh well, I’d
have to watch it when I went to the Ghibli Museum at the end of this trip.
The plane
soon roared into the atmosphere, with Emma and I grinning ear to ear as we
went. We were finally on our way to Japan again – a place that we had been
missing oh so dearly from the second we left in April, 2011.
What
followed was to be a very comfortable and enjoyable flight with JAL. Firstly,
the meal I got was easily the best economy class meal I’ve ever eaten. We got a
neat little bento-box, filled with about six or eight different Japanese dishes,
all of which, while cold, were very tasty. Emma’s gluten-free meal consisted of
fruit and soy-yoghurt, which was incredibly sad looking. As they handed out the
rest of the meals to other passengers, I asked if Emma could have a regular
meal as well and she’d risk the gluten content. The flight attendant happily
obliged.
As another
note, the flight attendants were considerate enough that when Emma’s gluten
free meal was brought out in advance of everybody else’s, they also brought out
my meal as well, so that we could dine together. Very considerate.
I then sat
back and half watched some anime show, and half watched the views out the
window as we cruised towards Tokyo Narita airport. The show was made up of two
twenty-minute episodes, and I stopped it after one of them as I didn’t really
follow what was happening in them, and also because we were now cruising over
the Japan Alps, which were captivating to look at from above. I snapped as many
pictures as I could of the snow-capped mountains.
As we approached
Narita, we were put in a holding pattern, but by the time we descended, we had
touched down only four minutes later than our scheduled arrival time. As we taxied
to our gate, the flight attendant spoke over the P/A, apologising for this
unsightly delay due to congestion of the airport. Apologising profusely for a
four minute delay? Yup, we were officially in Japan.
Immigration
and customs were fairly quick, but not nearly as quick as our previous visit,
but this was more to do with the fact that Narita Airport arrivals hall wasn’t
a ghost town like it was last time, due to the disaster.
We were soon
speeding towards Tokyo onboard the Keisei Skyliner, and about 30 minutes later,
we were at Nippori station. Having already done this previously a year ago,
this procedure was quite easy. It helped that we weren’t jetlagged out of our
minds as well, but we quickly found our way to the correct train, and one
highly-squeezed rush hour train trip later, we were safely checked in at the familiar
Hotel Sunroute Plaza Shinjuku.
Sticking
with our accidental tradition so far on this holiday, we had our first dinner
from a convenience store. Lawson’s was our choice for tonight. However, unlike
Hong Kong and to a lesser extent Seoul, this meal was actually quite tasty.
Even Japan’s shitty convenience store food tastes amazing!
I wanted to
track down a copy of a videogame so that I could play it on my travels
throughout Japan. I was after “Ouendan 2”, a very crazy rhythm-based Japanese
game for the Nintendo DS. I knew the perfect place to find it, so I set out to
explore Akihabara – Tokyo’s infamous electronics district. Emma decided to sit
this one out, instead deciding to stay home and watch crazy Japanese TV.
Unlike last
time, I didn’t go into any buildings selling creepy anime statues or pillow
girlfriends – I mainly stuck to the lower floors of video games and the like.
Unfortunately, I had come at the wrong time of night, as most stores were
either closed or in the process of closing. I did find one store that was open
and that had an extensive range of Nintendo DS titles, but they didn’t have it
in stock. Oh well, I’ll try again in Osaka, or when I’m back in Tokyo later.
After I left
the store, I managed to get completely disoriented, and ended up walking
through some of the seedier crossroads of Akihabara. I saw several young
Japanese women standing at an intersection, clad in the typical “School Girl”
uniform. I’m not sure if they were prostitutes dressed as schoolgirls, Escorts
dressed as schoolgirls, or actual schoolgirls dressed as, well, schoolgirls.
Either way, they were handing out pamphlets of some description, and I saw some
of them go home with someone after giving him a pamphlet, so I didn’t really
want to stick around and find out what they were doing. In my confused
wanderings through the back streets of Akihabara, I did manage to see the
coolest thing ever – a guy taking his pet duck out for a walk. On a leash. It
was amazing. Quite possibly the most amazing thing ever. I even asked him if I
could take a photo of it, which he was fine with. Awesomest. Duck. Ever.
After
finally getting directions from a store security guard, I made my way back to
the Akihabara station, and caught the train back to Shinjuku. There, I bought
some ice cream for Emma and I, and headed back to the hotel, for an exhausted
sleep.
23/11/12
There was no
rest for the wicked though – my next day started bright and early once again. We
had an absolute heap of travel to do today, so we checked out of the hotel
early and headed straight for the station. Our destination today was Shibu
Onsen, the small town up in the mountains where the snow monkeys bathed in the
hot springs. We went there last time on our trip through Japan, and we were so
spellbound by it that we just had to visit it again.
This meant a
whole heap of travel. Firstly, it was a train to one of the outer stations of
the Tokyo Ward area. There, we transferred to a Shinkansen, which took us to
Nagano. Unfortunately, the previous day, I was unable to secure us reserved
seating, which meant we had to just hope for a seat in the unreserved section.
It was not to be. We ended up standing up for about half of the 80 minute
journey. It’s a strange sensation standing upright, watching the world hurtle
past you at 300+ kilometres per hour, just inches away from your window. Shinkansens
were still damn fun though, even when you’re forced to stand.
After the
first stop, we managed to grab a seat, and watched as the landscape outside changed
from urban plots, to farmland, to alpine towns and more. Sadly, no snow to be
seen this time, but the experience was fascinating nonetheless.
In Nagano,
we then had to quickly transfer to our next train, which would take us the rest
of the way. The great thing about travelling to places you’ve already been is
that you have this instinct as to where to go. It took us only about 5 seconds
to get our bearings as to where we were in Nagano, and then we were easily able
to find the next train station.
Another hour
on the train later (and a bento box from a convenience store for lunch), and we
were finally at Yudanaka. We then caught one of the local buses, and we were
back at the same Ryokan we stayed at last time.
They greeted
us, and the little old man who ran the place showed us to our rooms. There, his
wife, took us through the various procedures and customs of our room, all of
which in Japanese, and then left us to our own devices. It was a struggle to
ascertain exactly what she was saying, but we got the general idea, and we
managed to communicate fairly alright between each other. We then dressed in
our Yukatas, and hung out in our traditional Japanese-styled room for an hour
or so, sipping on green tea.
We then got
ready for the long trek to the Snow Monkey park, but before we left, we
prepared a small gift for the Ryokan owners. I had read in the past that it is
customary for guests to give the household owner a gift upon staying with them.
And, while we weren’t really staying in their house, as we were paying for the
room, we did still want to show our appreciation for us being able to stay
there – it is fairly rare for Ryokans like this to open their doors to foreign
travellers.
We presented
them with a gift of Tim Tams and Vegemite – a small token of our appreciation,
and things that are undeniably Australian. We also showed him a photo that he
took of us on our previous visit to this Ryokan. It was difficult to get my
point across through the tangled thicket that is the language barrier, but I
was sort of able to communicate that we had stayed here in the past and that we
were thankful to be able to again. He was very chuffed with his gift, and they
seemed very grateful for it. It was quite an awkward exchange, but with smiles
all around, it was definitely a fun experience.
We then put
on our boots, and went for a stroll through the town. We bought an apple each
from a local store, before heading up the mountain road towards the snow monkey
park. The apples we bought were massive. Easily two to three times the size of
apples in Australia. It took me a good 30 minutes to eat mine, as we walked
along the forest road.
Unfortunately,
there was no snow on our hike this time. I was praying for snow, but I knew
given the time of year we were visiting at, it was very unlikely to see snow.
What we did get though was just as nice – the most cool, refreshing alpine air
I’ve ever breathed. Every inhalation was like sniffing a car air freshener.
Every exhalation had a little puff of condensation to remind you that you were
breathing in cool, crisp mountain air. I like to think that this is what
parents mean when they say “go outside and get some fresh air”, because believe
you me, that was by far the freshest air I’ve ever breathed.
After a long
trek through the winding road, the smell of the fresh air was soon replaced by
the unmistakable smell of sulphur. We were getting close to the hot springs,
and to the monkeys. As we got closer to the park, we noticed that there were a
lot more people here than there were last time we came. Once again, this was probably
due to the disaster of the previous time we visited. It was good to see this
many people here this time, but it also made us feel good about coming the
previous time, as we were supporting them when they really did need the
patronage.
As observed
on our last trip, the monkeys were super cute. I decided to give Emma full
creative control over the camera, and she went hog wild. She took countless
photos of the monkeys scratching, bathing, eating, climbing, and just being
generally monkey-like. There was a small pathway down to an area which was at
water-level with the famous hot spring they sit in, which allowed for some
really spectacular photographs. Pictures will come soon, I promise!
We also saw
a guy almost get mauled by the monkeys because he put his face far too close to
them. He was literally a finger length away from one of them. He then made the
mistake of using his camera with its super blinding multi-flash photography, which
caused the monkeys to scream angrily at him. Make no mistake – while cute and
fluffy these animals are, they are still very much wild animals. Emma managed
to get quite up close and personal with a little baby monkey, which had decided
to perch placidly under a railing. It didn’t seem to mind Emma taking about a
thousand photos of it – probably because she had the common sense to turn the
flash off.
One note
though on one of the less enjoyable parts of this experience – the smell. It
smelled bad. Really bad. There was a stench of monkey urine in the air, which
mixed in with the sulphur, and then in addition to that, the monkeys that
bathed in the hot spring were very relaxed with their bowel movements, so while
these monkeys sat in the steamy water, placidly playing away, you would see a
great big turd float by – they were literally bathing in their own boiled shit.
The
shortened northern autumn days were working against us though, and it was
starting to get dark. We had to hurriedly walk back along the long trail to our
town, and we managed to get back to the hotel just after dark. Being a hot
spring (or onsen) town, means that there is almost always an abundance of steam
and running water to be seen and heard. This steamy atmosphere mixed with the
dimly-lit street lamps incredibly well, to give the town this beautiful but
mysterious look.
It was soon
dinner time, where, much like our last visit here, we were treated to another
amazing feast of food. We each had about twelve different dishes on our plates,
ranging from the delicious to the downright bizarre. Thankfully though, my palette
had improved since our last visit, and I was able to finish almost every dish
on my table. The only real shock of the meal came from the egg custard dish.
This is quite a subtly flavoured dish, which does exactly what it says on the
packet – it’s about halfway between the flavour of eggs and the texture of
custard. What I wasn’t expecting was the super sour maraschino cherry at the
bottom of it. Upon eating this, it caused me to screw up my face in disgust. It
was like my tastebuds had been ambushed and then napalm-bombed by some horrible,
vinegary cherry flavour. Very unpleasant.
After eating
dinner, we returned to our rooms, where our futons had been set up for bed. We
decided to head out into the town for one last walk around before bed. During
our stroll, we found a hot spring foot bath. Emma and I were still not keen on
the whole “get naked in front of everyone” concept of the bath houses, so we
decided to stick to the happy medium that was a good soak in a foot bath. It
was nice and hot, some sections more than others. As the water had literally
come up from the depths of the earth, it obviously had no temperature control. I
made the mistake of putting one of my feet in the very back section of the
bath, the one closest to the spring. I scalded my foot pretty bad, and I now
have one lobster-pink coloured foot.
And so, I
limped back to the room, where we fell into our highly inviting futon beds, for
another restful night’s sleep.
Up next: Lots and lots of train trips! Mountain gorges! Japanese seaside!
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