Okinawa and lucky seat # 13

For Lunar New Year I made a plan to get away for a few days to Okinawa, Japan. I was very excited to ditch the cold and snow of Korea, even if it was just for a few days...OK, before I proceed let me just say that Lunar New Year here in Korea is (as Ron Burgundy would say) "kind of a big deal" I would easily say the biggest travel day of the year here in Korea. Well, my plane left Incheon at around 9 AM, so I figured if I caught the 5 AM bus here from Cheonan, it wouldn't be any problem at all. I can never sleep well the night before trips, so I woke up somewhere around 3 AM and was wide awake. At that point I figured I'd just take a shower, catch a taxi and try to grab the 4:30 AM bus (the first bus of the day) I thought there might be a few extra people, so thought if I could get there a little early, it might be good. So, I rolled into the bus station a little after 4 AM, expecting to easily be able to grab a ticket on the 4:30 bus. Well, to my shock and horror there were TONS of people and they had a sign up: 4:30-SOLD OUT 5:00 SOLD OUT 5:30 SOLD OUT 6:00 SOLD OUT 6:30 SOLD OUT The first time slot they had available tickets was 7 AM and it's a 2 hour drive to the airport...impossible to catch a 9:15 flight. So...I had NO CLUE what to do. I can speak enough Korean to get by, but by no means can I easily communicate. I tried to talk to a few other people if there were any other options. One guy (a college aged guy) also had a 9 AM flight and said he had no idea what he was going to do. We kind of waited near the ticket window as person after person came to window pleading with the guy to send another bus, but the guy just pointed to the sold out sign and barely raised his head. It was nearing 4:30 and I was trying to figure out what to do, if I missed my flight, as crazy of a travel day as it is, I thought I might not be able to get there until maybe even midday the next day. Ugh! So, I waited by the window, just trying to think...at around 4:24 a woman came up the window with three tickets in her hand, and exchanged them to the guy for some cash. She looked very irritated and the only thing I could guess was some of her family or friends didn't show up in time to catch the bus, so she had to trade in her tickets or something...I have no idea. Anyway, as soon as she traded them off and got her cash the guy looked up at me and motioned me over, I HAD A TICKET! I shelled out my 15,000 Won and headed for the bus, totally relieved I'd make my flight after all. As I got on the bus, I looked at my seat number...number 13! HA! A little ironic that an unlucky number could be so lucky that day. Anyway...the ride to the airport was fine, although traffic was heavy. When I arrived at Incheon I was shocked at how many people were traveling. I've traveled in the States on Christmas and Thanksgiving, and this seemed to dwarf either of those, there were people EVERYWHERE! Eventually I got my boarding pass and relaxed for a bit before the 2 hour flight to Okinawa. I arrived in Japan and after getting the 3rd degree at the airport (did I have any illegal drugs? No. Are you sure? Yes. You're sure you have no illegal drugs? Yes. Are you visiting any army friends? No. You don't know anyone? No. Not any people here? No. You're not going to an army base? No. All of this X 10) I made my way to the monorail to head into town. Now...I've been in Korea going on 4 years, and I had braced myself for not having a clue how to buy monorail tickets, but I didn't think it would be to the extent it was. When I say that there was very little English, I mean VERY little. On the big map it had the monorail stops in English, but that was it. On the ticket machine...nada! So, after trying to figure it out for 10 minutes, I stepped aside for a bit, just to breath in the fact that I was an idiot and just to laugh at myself. Finally I pulled myself together and watched some other people, then I got brave again and tried one more time. Got it! I felt like I had conquered Rome after buying my ticket! HAHA! I found my stop and had printed a little map for the hostel (ugh, yeah...I know. It was much cheaper than a hotel there) I was going to be staying at. The map was quite good and I think I'm good at reading maps. I found my way there quite easily and checked in...actually the place wasn't bad and it was really cheap, like $15 a night. Anyway, after dumping off my stuff I went out to explore. The first thing I thought was what I've always heard about Japan...it was VERY clean. It seemed quite a contrast to even Korea, which I think of as being a fairly clean place. The second thing I thought is "man, Japan has LOTS of vending machines!" HA! I'm talking every 20 steps there were more machines. If someone dies of thirst (at least in Okinawa, not sure about mainland Japan) in Okinawa, they are an idiot, or broke...or both. I have never seen that many drink machines in all my life, it was a site to behold! HA! I had made a plan to enjoy the day in Naha (I arrived around 12) on Saturday, and then Sunday and Monday go to a little island nearby named Tokashiki via ferry and ride a bike around and hit the beach. So, I made my way to Shuri Castle which was really cool. Most of the castle had been destroyed during the Battle of Okinawa in 1945 and since rebuilt, but it was still really cool and fun to see. There were some really beautiful gardens and ponds near the castle and I enjoyed checking them all out. One of the things I also loved about Japan was the signs, they seemed VERY animated and it made me laugh when I saw a few of the sign posts. For example, one of these had a person crying out with the phrase "Warning: Deep Water Ahead!" which can be very useful, but I think the "deep water" might have been about knee deep! HAHAHA! So, unless you're around 2 foot 5 I think you're OK. I spent a decent amount of time at the castle, there were lots of nooks and crannies to check out, and I always like getting random pics and just seeing everything around a place. Most of the place was free to see, and then to go inside the actual interior you had to pay...I seldom pay, but I decided to splurge and pay this time, and then after I did I kept asking myself "why did I pay for this?" HA! It was around $10 and the main building was basically like a museum, and I'm not much of a museum person. Anyway, it wasn't bad and there actually was one place you could see some of the original wall of the castle, so that was a cool pic. I finished my castle tour and headed back near the hostel to grab some dinner and get a good nights sleep (since I'd been up since 3 AM and walked 5 miles or more) so I could hit Tokashiki the next day. The ferry left at 9 AM so I wanted to make sure to get there in plenty of time. I woke up the next morning and it was really cloudy, windy and a little rainy. I made it to the wharf and prepared to buy my tickets. Well, unfortunately due to an incoming thunderstorm and high winds, the ferry service had been cancelled for the next two days!!! OUCH! That was my whole plan, and now...I just found out that it ain't happenin! Now, I will say the Japanese folks I met were VERY nice, actually some of the kindest nicest people I've met, but...communicating there was NOT easy. Even at the airport, English didn't seem as widely spoken, not even close to the same as Korea. So...at this point I was a little perplexed as to what to do. There was a big storm coming and I now had no plan at all. I felt pretty bummed out at first then decided to just make the best of it. Usually I am quite blessed with great weather when I travel (this summer in the UK with Mom and Dad, we didn't have ANY rain, and in Australia the only time it rained I was in the car) but this time...not so much. It was really expensive to take a taxi anywhere out of town (to the tune of around $100+) and plus it was raining. So, I decided to just do some city exploring, and that's what I did. I think over the next two days I walked down almost every street of Naha. I went to the baseball park, saw a cool little baseball museum there. There were some neat pictures of a baseball game they had played after the war. Thanks to my Japanese friend Tadashi for translating a few of the signs for me. I took a pic of the sign and emailed him and he was cool enough to give me the info from the sign. The sign said that the game was played after the war in 1949 to basically try and heal some of the wounds of the war, there wasn't any public transportation at that time, and people walked from some of the nearby villages to witness the game, which was a close game between the Okinawans and the Americans. I saw three wharfs. A bunch of cool little gardens and shops (the sign says to enjoy some noodles and drinks behind the stone wall), and actually bought a few souvenirs (I seldom shop much on a trip). Naha was a nice city to do some walking, the streets were clean and even though the map I had was 99.9% Japanese, I was able to navigate where I was pretty well. I think I must have walked 10-15 miles and even my calves were a little sore (and I usually walk everyday to school and enjoy walking) I ate some delicious Japanese food, of course I can't speak one word of Japanese...so I just pointed. I had a great time there...the people were friendly, it was clean, and it was fun to experience another culture, even for just a few short days.
Picture guide:
#1-Lucky seat #13 ticket stub
#2-Naminoue Shrine
#3/#4-Plaques at Naminoue Shrine...pretty sure they were wishes for family or friends written on the little wooden plaque
#5-Naminoue Shrine
#6-Outside walls of Shuri Castle
#7/#8/#9-Signs I liked
#10-Pretty garden
#11-Feathered friend
#12/#13-Garden and lake
#14-Sonohyan Utaki a UNESCO World Heritage Site
#15-Entrance to Shuri Castle
#16-View of Naha and the ocean from Shuri Castle
#17-Main building inside Shuri Castle
#18-Original walls of Shuri Castle (if I read the sign right! HA)
#19-Bridge over the lake
#20-Beautiful flowers on the street
#21-Garden restaurant with sign to enjoy the noodles and drinks behind the stone wall
#22-Naminoue Shrine from the bridge
#23-Naminoue Shrine at night, it was hard to get a good night picture!
#24-The boat I was SUPPOSED to take to Tokashiki...still tied up!
#25-KFC Japanese style...no I didn't eat there, I HATE KFC
#26-Tree restaurant
#27-Black Shiksa Express delivery truck, I love the logo and got a t-shirt with that logo
#28-Baseball stadium in Naha, Spring Training stadium for Yomuiuri Giants, the elite team in Japanese Professional League
#29-Bat from the game played in 1949
#30-Sign about the game, telling about the villagers walking from nearby villages to see the game between with US and Okinawa
#31-Shisa...the symbol of Okinawa. Basically it's cross between a lion and a dog and is meant to protect people's homes
#32-Japanese and Okinawan flags
#33-Glorious vending machines
#34-Main street through Naha

Thrilling Tasmania!

Happy New Year to everyone...I hope your first week of 2012 was an amazing one. Mine was good, very busy but good. Dana and I were very blessed and had several new students join the school and they are all cool, so it's been a nice way to start the new year.
Well, I had an amazing, amazing, amazing time in Tasmania, Australia. The trip actually far exceeded my expectation and I left there feeling very lucky that I've had a chance to travel so much the last few years and see places I never could have hoped to see in my lifetime.
The night before flying out of Incheon we had our school Christmas plays, and I have to say the kids did an awesome job. I was very proud of them, and it made me proud to be their teacher. After the show (we had six plays total) I went outside and it started snowing not long after. At first I was a little excited since it was December 23rd, but then the more snow fell the more I started worrying that it would snow so much that I wouldn't be able to get out of here the next morning. Fortunately that wasn't the case, and I got to the airport and out of Korea just fine. I always manage to meet some nice folks along the way during my travels, and this trip was no exception. Sitting next to me on the flight to China (I had to go there and then on to Melbourne) was Mr. Oh, a nice Korean gentleman who was on his way to South America for a 3 month hiking trip. Once I got to China I met a cool guy who had been teaching here in Korea and was heading off to live in Australia as well as a girl who teaches here in Korea now...I had a bit of a layover so it was fun to sit and chat with them about teaching here, and our vacation plans.
It was a long flight from China to Melbourne, around 10 hours, and I met another cool girl, she's teaching in Japan and was meeting her Mom for holiday in Melbourne, so we chatted quite a bit on the way. Christmas morning came and the plane landed in Melbourne around 9:30...I hurried over to Jet Star (the airline I was flying on down to Tasmania) and hoped they had an open seat on the 11:45 flight, but unfortunately it was all full. So...I waited, and waited. My flight left around 3:45 PM, so I didn't really have enough time to leave the airport and see anything in Melbourne, but it was a bit of a long time to just sit at the airport. Anyway, I managed and finally boarded the plane to Hobart, the capital city of Tasmania.
The airport in Hobart was incredibly small...so small in fact I wanted a picture. I got out my camera to take a picture walking across the tarmac and some guy with a badge came sprinting over "put that thing away!" he hollered. "Why?" I said. "They're gassing the planes, can't you see that?" I don't really get the whole 'if I take a picture then my camera will somehow ignite a spark that will blow up every person and plane around' concept, but anyway...I complied since I didn't exactly want to spend my time in a Tasmania jail for the holidays. Anyway, I wish you all could have seen it, it was dinky.
I've never been a hostel kinda guy...I like meeting new people, but don't like sharing eating space and showers with just some random dude with dread locks, but anyway, Christmas night in Hobart was quite expensive, so I opted for a hostel. I expected to be the oldest person there, then I went to the room. It was a 4 person room, but the girl at the desk said there was just one other guy there that night, imagine my surprise when I opened the door and saw a 72 year old guy. Not that there's any shame in being in a hostel on Christmas night (heck, I was too) I was just a little shocked to see a guy born the same year as my mother as my first hostel mate. Anyway, he was a funny guy named Tony, he was a very proud Australian who threw out all kinds of Aussie slang (not sure if he was trying to impress me, or just his regular talk) saying words I'd never heard before. He seemed to be kind of a hard luck dude, had all kinds of interesting jobs around the world, but anyway...I was there to explore Hobart, not stay in a hostel room. So, I politely told him I was going to go walking. I walked all over Hobart, there was a light rain, but nothing too heavy, and I was glad, I was foolish and didn't even bring an umbrella on the trip. It was fun walking around and thinking "wow, I'm in Australia!" The town of Hobart (around 200,000) seemed more like a town of 2,000 as there were hardly any people out, or shops open. I didn't care much, since I'm more of a scenery kind of guy. I headed down to the pier and got some cool pics of some boats down there. I was a little hungry and found a nice Vietnamese restaurant open, so I enjoyed some duck for Christmas dinner (after I decided a sandwich and chips would be a little ghetto for Christmas dinner). One great thing is the weather was fantastic AND it didn't get dark until around 10 PM, so I had plenty of chances to explore. I headed back to the hostel around 10 since I had to roll out early the next morning. The shower was about what I expected, not even a spray of water, but rather just a stream out of the nozzle, as if you turned on the sink. I turned on the hot and cold, got it all nice (well, as nice as I could for a stream of water shower) and stepped into the water, only for it to seem about 200 degrees 3 seconds later. I quickly turned down the hot water, and then it seemed about 30 degrees. So, anyway, I got to play with that shower for the whole time, adjusting the hot and cold every 3 seconds. It made for a kind of funny moment, as the older I've got the more I try and just laugh at things like that.
So I joined a tour that was billed as sort of a young people's fun time tour...mostly the dude drove the van and then when we got places we could pretty much do what we wanted. I thought that sounded cool since I don't have a license, and I had hoped it wouldn't be too "toury" if you know what I mean. I was happy when the guy showed up driving, he looked like a cool guy. His name was Andrew and he was 29, actually from Hobart and he would be showing us around for the week. There were 6 other people on the bus besides me, one girl from Germany and then 5 Chinese girls. I quickly hit it off with one cool girl named Fan, she is actually studying at Iowa State, and has been in the States since high school.
Anyway, we headed out of Hobart and Andrew told us we wouldn't see any stoplights for 3 days...so, I was happy about that. One of the reasons I chose Tasmania was to just get out into some rural countryside, so I was ready to leave the city. Our first stop was Russell Falls, which was a really cool area with a waterfall. One of the things I liked about this tour too was that every hour or so we had a stop and get out and see some stuff. The waterfall was really cool and as we were walking back Andrew motioned for us to come over. He saw a platypus and he was really surprised, he said he had only seen about 3 in his life. I saw it, but it was nearly impossible to get a picture of it, as it just popped it's head up for a second. Anyway, that was fun to see, so I actually did see a platypus. After that our next stop was Lake St. Clair which is about 550 feet deep and the deepest freshwater lake in Australia. It's also the ending point for the Overland Trail hike, which is about a 5 day hike from Cradle Mountain (more on that later) The lake was beautiful and I enjoyed hiking around there and seeing it. Next we stopped at the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, it was a beautiful area and this was an area that had a lot of protesting in the 1980s as the government wanted to build a dam, and many people were upset by this. Eventually they decided not to build one in this area and opted for another place. The Franklin River is a popular spot for rafting and water sports. The tour company Jump Tours actually owns a house in the very very very small town of Tullah (around 300 people I think) and so that was where we stayed that first night. Another thing I liked about this tour was that there were lots of food options, Andrew stopped at the IGA so we could buy food if we wanted, since the house had stuff like microwave, stove, etc. or there were also usually some kind of little mom and pop restaurants near where we stayed too. So, anyway, I loaded up on some junk food and also some sarsaparilla. I love root beer and they don't sell it in Korea, and sarsaparilla is almost the same taste. So, anyway, Day 1 was lots of fun. The next morning we headed out early to Montezuma Falls, about 30 minutes from the house. It's the tallest waterfall in Tasmania, and the hike in was about an hour and 30 minutes. It was actually quite easy though, back around 1900 they started mining in the area, so the walking track is where they actually built the track back to the mine. It was flat and easy to walk, but quite wet as that part of Tasmania is actually in the rain forest. After the mine closed, they took up the metal railroad line, but left the old railroad ties, so you can still see them. Seeing the falls was amazing, there was a narrow (and I do mean narrow) suspension bridge across the river in front of the falls that was quite high up. Andrew suggested that only 2 people be on the bridge at once. Now, I HATE HEIGHTS, I mean, HATE them...but I braved it and made it across the bridge. Actually, once I got out there it wasn't too bad, but I was happy to be across! HA! The waterfall was really awesome and the water was freezing cold. There was an old mine shaft that went just a little ways into the rock, but it was easy to see what life like a miner was, and I'm glad I've never been a miner. After the falls we headed to Strahan, which was a cool little lazy beach town. We ate lunch there and then hit the beach after lunch, there were some HUGE sand dunes, and so we did some jumping off the dunes, it was lots of fun (that's how the tour company got their name Jump Tours) After the beach Andrew told us the story of Alexander Pearce an early prisoner who was in Tasmania around the early 1800s. Anyway, he escaped from prison but eventually turned to cannibalism and ate all his friends. He was caught and returned and escaped one more time, also eating his friend! HA! If you want to read more about him, kind of gross but interesting. He was finally hanged in Hobart in 1824 and his last words were "man's flesh is delicious. Far better than fish or pork!" HA! So, anyway, not a good travel buddy there. We made our way back to the house that night as well, and it was around 7 PM when we returned. My friend Fan was a lot like me, she wanted to see everything there was to see, so Andrew told us there was another mountain near the house we could climb if we hurried, we could be back before dark. So, we headed out and took a little flashlight just in case. The name of the mountain was Mt. Ferrell and it made for a nice hike. We had actually walked a LOT that day already, but it was beautiful up on the top. It was funny, we got to the top and there was a lovely lake and next to the trail was a totally random chair...so, I decided to get a picture with it. This chair was a LONG way from anything, not sure who took it there, but anyway. It was nice to look out and know that for miles there were so few people. I loved the remoteness of Tasmania. Anyway, Fan and I probably spent too long on the top, it started getting dark, so we had to really hurry to get back down, it was almost dark and that little flashlight actually didn't even work. The trail was heavily wooded and pretty steep, but we got back to the house just after 10 PM. It was a fun, memorable hike.
The next day was kind of the "big day" of the tour, going to Cradle Mountain, which is the grand daddy of Tasmanian tourism. The weather was amazing, Andrew said a lot of days it's too cloudy to see it from very far away (and sometimes the groups don't even get to see the top) but that day was amazing and sunny. That was about the only time the whole tour where I felt like there were a few too many people, there were several big buses, but not too bad. The view of Cradle Mountain was amazing, and Dove Lake below was equally spectacular. The water was nice and cool and it was just a beautiful day. The hike was enjoyable the air there was so clean and nice. We spent most of the day hiking around Cradle Mountain and after spending the day there as we headed out we spotted an echidna (the little spiky animal) and it was cool to see him. We went on to Launceston that night, the second biggest city in Tasmania. Two of the girls got off, and we picked up a new girl from Switzerland. That night we stayed at a hostel in Launceston, and it was actually better than the one in Hobart. Fan, Vanessa (the German girl) and I walked around town and checked it out, it was a nice little city. They had a nice river and park there, so it was a nice stroll. The next morning we went to the gorge near town and got some cool pics. There were some wallabies out eating in the park, so it was fun to see some more wild animals. After that, we left Launceston and headed to Bay Of Fires, which was a really cool area with lots of red rocks. I thought they were some of the coolest things I'd ever seen...I love nature pics and with the sharp red colors on there, it made for some beautiful pictures. We spent most of the day at the beach there, but unfortunately some clouds rolled in that afternoon. I was glad it didn't rain, and actually it cooled off the weather some too. Later that day we went to Bicheno which was our last stop. We stayed at a hostel again there that night, and again...not too bad. The next morning we went for a nice hike above the little town of about 700 people and got a nice view of the town. Near there was a blowhole which was really cool! The water came shooting up out of the hole, it was lots of fun! Fan actually decided she wanted to go get soaked by the water, she was really cool and funny! I didn't want to get soaked knowing that we had a decent drive on the Wineglass Bay, but anyway, she got soaked and had a good time. The drive on to Wineglass Bay was about an hour and a half from Bicheno. When we got there Andrew said we had three options, 1) to hike one hour to the lookout 2) hike about an hour and a half to the beach at Wineglass Bay or 3) Hike up Mt Amos, a TOUGH 3 hour hike but the best view of the Bay. So...of course, I wanted to do #3! HA! Fan did too, so we headed up Mt. Amos. Now...Andrew said it was a tough hike, and I thought "yeah, yeah, I'm American, we're used to tough hikes!" HAHA! But he wasn't lying...it was very hard in some places, like just rock face and not a place to grab or any chain to grab. Basically just clinging to the rocks, and it was steep too. As I previously stated, I hate heights, so there were a few places that got a little tricky. Poor Fan is about 5'4" so some places were pretty tough for her, but...eventually we made it to the top, and I have to say...that is one of the most spectacular views I have ever witnessed in my lifetime. I think it was voted by Lonely Planet a few years back as the #1 beach in the world, and I have to agree. The thing I loved there too is it was not commercialized at all...not beachfront hotels, or knick knack shops selling junk. Just natural beauty, it was amazing! Andrew said he's had over 200 people on tour and only about 10 have gone to the top of Mt. Amos, so it made me happy we decided to go there, the view was amazing. After we got to the bottom we saw another wallaby and I went over and got right next to him. It was a fun way to end the day.
We got back to Hobart around 6 PM and my flight to Melbourne was around 9 PM. Fan actually was flying to Melbourne too, so we met the next morning and walked around Melbourne together. Melbourne is a cool city, but ugh...it was HOT that day, a guy at the airport later that day told me it was 96! So, although it was a nice city, I was a little worn out from the heat, going from below freezing to almost 100 in one week's time was a little much for my body I think. Anyway, there were lots of nice parks, and buildings and a cool river going through the city where there were some street performers, etc. I think I drank 2 or 3 smoothies that day! HA! I had to catch my plane out that night so, I left for the airport as lots of people were heading to downtown Melbourne for the fireworks.
I had a great time in Tasmania, and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. If anyone ever has a chance to go there, especially if you love hiking, it's a truly amazing place. I will end this with a quote I read on a sign there at the Franklin Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. The quote is from the Scottish-American John Muir:

"Nevermore, however weary, should one faint by the way who gains the blessings of one mountain day; whatever his fate, long life, short life, stormy or calm, he is rich forever"