The last two days we spent trekking were awesome, and exhausting. The foothills of the Himalayas don't exactly have flat paths, so about 97% of the time you have to keep your eyes really focused on the ground so you don't fall (in a new record, I only got two bruises!). Dat view tho I … Continue reading Trekking Poon Hill, Hot Springs, and Chitwan
The night before our first trek out of Pokhara, we went out for dinner and ate wild boar curry at a happy hour at a bar we found which was playing live music and offered lounge chairs on the terrace overlooking the lake. It was dark, but we could still see little lights on the other side of the water of families who live in these incredibly remote areas on mountains.
Good news everyone! Tomorrow we will set out on a trek near the Annapurna Mountian Range. The trek is called Poon Hill and it's super popular among backpackers. Our itinerary is as follows: Friday: fly to Pokhara Saturday through Wedensday: trekking from Mayapul, Ulerig, Ghorepani/Poon Hill, Shinadanda, then back to Mayapul and Pokhara Thursday through … Continue reading Paradise in Pokhara
Hey gang, Seth here. I'll be recounting our exploits for day two so Patrice and nurse those typing blisters (she doesn't really have blisters...I'm...I just wanted to be funny. Please like me...) So, after one heck of a start, we took a much more zen-like approach to Nepal and put the high-octane, let's-get-destroyed-by-a-mob level adventuring … Continue reading Kathmandu Cont’d: Temples, Stupas, and Hinduism 101
We weren't in Osaka for very long, but as per our new usual, we still walked and walked until we couldn't walk anymore, then walked a little more. We eventually found Osaka castle, which was definitely the most impressive castle we saw in Japan. It was well-preserved and the walls next to the moat were … Continue reading From Osaka to Kathmandu: Welcome to the Third World
Tokyo is a really cool city. I was most impressed by how incredibly tourist-friendly it was. Usually when we were lost, we could count on being able to find a sign in English about where we were and which direction something was. That something was almost always the exact tourist attraction we were looking for. … Continue reading Lost and Found in Tokyo
On our second day in Hiroshima, we set out for Miyajima Island. I thought maybe we would be able to incorporate it into our first day since we managed to cover everything we'd wanted to see on foot, but it was never discussed because we fell asleep. So before heading off to Miyajima, I thought … Continue reading Miyajima Island & Mount Misen
OK. So we overdid it. We were so incredibly excited on the first few days of our trip, we walked all over creation (or at least Fukuoka and Hiroshima) and plum tuckered ourselves out, as they say in the South. We could have taken the tram or even a taxi, but why do that when … Continue reading Hiroshima – the Atom Bomb Dome and Dangerously Good Oysters
The ferry from Busan to Fukuoka is amazing. It's called "the Beetle." I don't know why. It's not like a "ferry" in the sense that I would think of ferries, because I guess in my head I have picture an enormous ship carting people around -- it's actually pretty small. I'd say there were maybe … Continue reading Fukuoka!
Our goal was to wait out the rainy season before we started on our trip. And if the weather is going to be anything like it is this morning, the day we leave Gwangju, we did a great job. It was a particularly long rainy season in Korea this year, with the puny drizzle and … Continue reading And We’re Off!