Post Japan 2014, initial reflections on an amazing experience

I've always considered visiting Japan.  Even before I decided to teach English in Korea, I imagined I'd at least drop into Tokyo see the sights and check it off my bucket list.  Though Tokyo still remains to be seen, I have had the chance to check off a city much higher on my "must see" list, Kyoto!

Though my detailed experiences will come later, I feel compelled to begin with my initial impressions of Japan after being in the country a few days.

WOW!

Since Korea is the first nation I've visited in Asia, I tend to compare other countries against it's feats and faults.  It has molded my expectations and shaped biases as I hop from country to country.  After learning some of the close and tumultuous history between Japan and Korea I expected them to be similar.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

Japan and Korea are practically night and day.  I was jaw droppingly stunned at what I saw and was able to do while in Japan.  I was never anything other than impressed, excited, even awed by even the smallest things.  Here a few key differences between Japan and Korea that pleasantly surprised me:

-Cleanliness:  Japan is remarkably clean!  Traveling in Osaka and Kyoto there were hardly any scraps of litter to be found.  In Korea, public trashcans don't exist, so littering is necessary to dispose trash.  Unless one lives in a large apartment complex, one is forced to deposit trash on any street corner and eventually public services will pick it up.  Yet, that doesn't prevent people from littering constantly.  Japan had none of these issues.  Every street I went through was incredibly clean!

-People obey traffic laws:  This is one that took me wildly by surprise.  Every other Asian country I've visited has had some wild drivers.  Not Japan, cars stay in their lanes and drive considerately.  More importantly, scooters (the bane of my existence) also obey traffic laws and STAY ON THE ROAD!  In Korea, scooters will drive ANYWHERE: in lane, between lanes, sidewalks, driveways, shoulders, anywhere!  Just to get where they are going as quickly as possible.  It doesn't matter if they mow you down along the way.  However, Japan didn't exhibit this issue!  Scooters were more rare in Japan, and those I did saw possessed considerate drivers who managed to follow traffic and mind pedestrians.  

-Politeness in general:  One of my greatest frustrations in Korea is being bumped.  We expats joke that the only way to say "excuse me" in Korean is with your elbows.  Old people are especially notorious for rudely shoving past people in public, ignoring lines and other peoples' personal space to get where they are going.  Japan was not this way at all.  People minded each other, did not bump into one another and often said "shimasen" (excuse me) when in public.  Perhaps this is because the Japanese locations I visited possessed fewer people in a small location (as is often the case in Korea), or perhaps I only encountered decent folks.  In either case, I adored having my personal space respected in a way that is impossible to find in Korea.

I've greatly enjoyed my life in Korea.  Korea is an easy place to become an expat and live a comfortable lifestyle.  For all it's quirks and qualms I've enjoyed it.  Yet, visiting Japan has allowed me a long overdue repreave from those little things that drive you mad about being in a foreign country.  Japan is everything I'd heard of and hoped for, and yet more!  I look forward to writing about it more here and on my other website: http://octavrianpress.wordpress.com/ 

Doing Dalmaji Hill.... drunk....

The weekend is always a wonderful time to get out and explore the city.  With the warm weather of summer finally upon us, my girlfriend and I took it upon ourselves to explore.  So several weekends ago, we went in search of Dalmaji Hill.

Dalmaji Hill is a scenic walk near Haeundae beach.  Known for spectacular views of the sea and the moon, the sidewalks here are wider and more accomodating to foot traffic.  A pleasant change to most streets in Korea.  On the weekends, Dalmaji Hill is the site of a logcal arts market, where local craftsmen peddle their wares in the open air.
Intrigued by this prospect, my girlfriend Carrie and I resolved to find this market.

The following account is our ridiculous experience:

Our journey began on a Saturday (the arts market is only open Saturday and Sunday 2-6 pm) a poor choice as Carrie and I are not known for our ambitious approach to Saturdays.

Cantankerous Carrie demands to know why she's awake at 11am

However, we managed to rally ourselves and clamber onto the subway towards Dalmaji Hill.  The hill is most easily accessed by taking the Green line past Haeundae to Jung-Dong subway stop.  From there we left Exit 5 and walked directly out of the exit and down the street.  It leads straight to the hill.  The walk to the hill isn't far, maybe 15-20 minutes before one begins to walk on the wider promenade the artsy hill provides.  Along the way Cantankerous Carrie and I armed ourselves with some soju tonics and snacks from a local 7-11 and set out on our search for artsy things!

The climb isn't difficult, and is no more strenuous that other hills in Korea.  We ambled our way up, enjoying the views on the coast and beach below, laughing, talking and drinking our soju.

Cantankerous Carrie enjoys a nearby garden overlooking the beach.  See how happy she is?

The weather in late May is hot, but not incredibly smothering like later in the summer.  The breeze is always strong near the coast so we were able to enjoy being outside without sweating through our clothes.  The climb was relaxing and we easily wound our way up to the top of Dalmaji Hill.

Upon reaching the top of the hill, we found this small plaza with local arts.  It was certainly less extensive than we'd anticipated, but by this time the soju was working is menacing magic and we pressed on for more sights on our Saturday afternoon.

Merry Michael is clearly more of a morning person

There are lots of fine restaurants and shops here on Dalmaji Hill, as well as unique hotels overlooking the sea.  Rumor has it, Dalmaji also possesses a large open air amphitheater that local thespians use to perform Shakespeare in the summer.  We never found the theater but amused ourselves with taking funny photos with the local sculpture:

EAT ALL THE GUMMY BEARS!!!!

My own attempt at devouring gummy sculpture via forced perspective failed miserably.  I merely look like a laughing cartoon villain! Though local Koreans were amused at us attempting this shot! 

Unsatisfied with the arts we found, we clambered back down the hill and down to the beach.  Though it was still too cold to swim we enjoyed walking in the surf and laughing at ourselves.  It wasn't much of an adventure, but it was enough to remind us how lucky we are to live in a great city with silly things to do on Saturdays.

Add ocean to Cantankerous Carrie to induce elated smiles!

It's that Holi time of year!

This last weekend was a flurry of activity and excitement!

My best friend James was in town for his birthday.

St. Patty's Day was celebrated on Saturday with tremendous excitement!

Sunday was Holi Hai on Haeundae Beach!

Exciting, exausting, incredibly fun!

Holi Hai, the Indian festival of colors, is by far one of my favorite holidays.  It's a celebration that often coencides with the coming of spring, and we were blessed to find that spring arrived just in time for Holi!  Sunday was bright, sunny, and warmer than it has been in weeks!  I'm once again hopeful that it may be warm and stay warm at long last!
I love the spirit of Holi as it turns a group of strangers in white to a massive of friends covered in bright colors and brighter smiles.  There is dancing and drinking and a fundamental loss of the quiet anxiety that often keeps us from speaking to strangers.  But in the festival everyone can be family and dance and throw color on people.  It's a fantastic time to enjoy life and remember that life is a joyful experience and its too rare that we get to come together and just enjoy ourselves for its own sake.

Here are some snapshots of this year's Holi festival on the beach!  What and awesome time!

Yes, I am that classy

Colors everywhere!

Beach and a random swimmer in the background

in the midst of the fun!

Thief in the night... a Philipines tale

So the Philipines was my first experience in being robbed.

Well... attempted robbery... let me explain.

Our time in the Philipines was spent on Boracay, a tourist island well known for it's White Beach.  We spent two weeks there at a budget hostel called Trafalgar Cottages.  Trafalgar is a well known spot and is quite charming, I enjoyed my stay.  It's located near the less developed side of White Beach, making it a good budget travel location.  I have no complaints about Trafalgar Cottages despite it being the location of our robbery.

During the second week of our vacation, I'd come down with a terrible stomach illness (which turned out to be a bacterial parasite... no fun).  This illness made it so I couldn't sleep through the night without diaherra, gas, and stomach pains.  Yet, it's gastric distress that saved us all in the end.

Being ill, I'd gone to bed early that night, trying to recover on my own (unaware of the bacteria eating my intestines).  I slept lightly and left the door to our little cottage unlocked allowing my friends to stay out later.  My compainions, Ryan and Daniel, came in later that night.  The last one being an inebriated Daniel, who slumped into bed without locking the door behind him.

You can tell where this is going I'm sure.

So after Daniel returns around 2am, I'm rolling around in bed wishing my stomach would leave me in peace.  Lying still and unsettled on my foam mattress I desperately pray for sleep.  As I lay there, I barely hear the cottage door open.  I glance over to see a slight hand reach in through the door from outside over to the nightstand by the door.  The hand gingerly plucks something from the nighstand and retreats.
My immediate thought was "why would the girls need their cell phones this late at night?" (Note: us boys were travelling with two girls who were staying in another room.  However, since the boys had the power adapter, we were in charge of cell phones).  Innocent though my thought was I immediately sat up and wrenched the ajar door all the way open.  I was met with a surprised Philipino man wearing his T-Shirt on his face.  He immediately turned about and dasked off, his flip flops slapping on the pavers outside our cottage.  Without thinking I shouted, "HEY!" at the top of my lungs.  Leading both boys in the room to jump up from their sleep.

At this point the thief was long gone, but my friends and I were hardwired for a fight.  To be perfectly honest I'm amazed how quickly they went from dead asleep to ripped and ready to rock.  However, the thief  in the night had long since vanished into the dark corridors of the nearby mall.  We flicked on all the lights and searched the cottage, thankfully only one thing was taken.
"My cigarettes!" Ryan cried when he discoverd their absence.  "That M%$^& &*%3 stole my cigarettes!  I'll kill him!"

So gastric distress saves the day!
Had I not been awake to hear the door open, the thief could have easily made off with several cell phones and some money.  Had he decided to enter the cottage and root through our bags who knows what else he'd have made off with!

Needless to say it was a lesson in caution that I was able to share with our hostel neighbors in the morning.  I realized then why we'd been targeted for robbery.
Primarily, I'd made the mistake of turning off our porch light before turning into bed that night.  The staff at Trafalgar makes a point of turning on all the cottage's porch lights.  As a sensitive sleeper, I'd deactivated ours.  I hadn't realized how these light deterred crime, discouraging thieves from being seen.
Secondly, we'd forgotten to lock our door.  Having spent a week at the cottage we'd grown too comfortable with the atmosphere.  Trafalgar is a great spot to stay, friendly and cozy.  However, it is near a destitute local population, without an exterior gate or CCTV, anyone can come and go from the premesis.  I don't find this as a fault in the hostel, it's a great place to stay in Boracay.  However, it is a cautionary tale not to get too comfortable when travelling in South East Asia.
Had I slept through the sound of the door opening... Had the thief been violent, drunk, drugged, or more desperate... Had any one of a million possiblities occurred other than me waking up to scare him away, this cautionary tale may have been a horror story.

So lock your doors
Keep tabs on your travel buddies
And don't leave your cigarettes by the door

The world's worst airport, my nightmare in Manila

We all have nightmare stories of getting through airports, hectic experiences of mind rending stress.  Tales of time sensitive terror, not knowing if it will take one minutes or hours to check bags and pass through security.  Before last week my worst airport experience was in Paris.  However, after trying to escape the Philipines after two weeks in Boracay I can honestly say:

Manila's airport is the worst airport I have ever experienced in my life.
I pray I never encounter it again.


So here's what happened....

After our vacation in Boracay my friends and I were eager to get home.  Though we had suffered long layovers and delays little had gone contrary to plan... until Manila.  Flying into Manila we claimed our baggage after arriving late on an Air Asia Zest flight.  To our joy, we discovered Manila possessed a free airport transfer service from various terminals for passengers with connecting flights.  A service we were eager to employ, given we had reached the end of our vacation fund (Previously, we'd had to pay over 1,000 pesos to get from one terminal to another).  I myself was down to my last 50 pesos (equivalent to about 1.05 USD).  We spoke with the dispatcher there and was informed our connecting flight was in Terminal 1.

After waiting a bit for the bus to arrive we were hurried onto the transport bus labeled "Terminal 1/3" to take us from where we'd landed in Terminal 3 to our connecting flight.  To our confusion, we were taken to Terminal 4, where we were informed our bus would not take us to Terminal 1.  After an exasperated conversation, the driver begrudingly agreed to take us to Terminal 1.  We eagerly rode there with a few other displaced passengers for a roundabout ride to Terminal 1.  At Terminal 1 we happily disembarked to find our flight.  However, we were stopped by security before entering the building and asked for our boarding passes.  The guards were rather confused that we did not already possess boarding passes despite the fact that we still needed to find the Air Asia desk (which was housed in a terminal building).  After another esasperated conversation, we discovered we'd been misinformed and were redirected to Terminal 4.
We slogged our way back to the free transport service to have an accusatory conversation witht the dispatcher there who was reluctant to help us.  After snidely inquiring why we came to Terminal 1 when our flight is in Terminal 4, my friend was forced to raise his voice to inform him we were not from Manila and could only go where we were told to go.  The dispatcher folded instantly under the pressure and let us onto the bus.  Wearily we waited as other misdirected passengers were taken to Terminal 4.

Finally arriving at our gateway to salvation, we climbed to the departures desk on the 4th floor.  Happily navigating to the Air Asia desk we joyfully claimed our tickets back to Korea.  This simple transfer between terminals had taken the better part of two hours!

However, our joy was short lived.  For as soon as we checked our bags and claimed our tickets were were halted before immigration by none other than a 550 Peso terminal fee.

That's right, only AFTER having claimed tickets already paid for does the Manila airport demand you pay an additonal fee to use it's airport.

My friend Daniel right cried out in indignation, "How much is it going to cost me to leave this country!?"
Having already been reduced to 50 Pesos by other Terminal fees and charges along the way, I was also indignant for being nickel and dimed at every transit turn on our journy home.  Thankfully, I still carried an emergency $20 in my wallet that could cover the fee.  Unfortunately, they could not give me change in USD despite having accepted it as payment.  I was able to use some of the change in pesos to help my friends through the toll gate into immigration.
At immigration we found it empty, devoid of exit forms and more importantly, pens.
Every immigration form must be filled out in ink.  Yet, in spite of charging each passenger an additional fee to use the terminal, they can't supply those passengers with pens to properly fill out their forms to leave.

Why?????

Thankfully, I had a pen hidden in the bottom of my bag or else my friends and I may have been forever trapped in transit limbo at Manila's airport.

Once slipping past immigration, we managed to find our gate with a few minutes to spare.  Had our flight not been delayed more than two hours, we'd never have made it.
I have never been so happy to cram myself onto a plane.

In summary here are the faults I've found in my experience at Manila's airport:
-The entire airport is one inconvienent tourist trap.  Each terminal is separated and passengers are ushered to take local taxis with substantial fees to get to their flights.  Those who take free transit services are often faced with delays and inconvience found in no other airport facility I've ever encounterd.
-The right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.  Nearly every employee encountered in the Manila airport gave us contradictory information.  Be it the location of our flight, the flight time, and how to get there.  I have never seen an airport staff so inept or inefficient.
-Here, the customer is always wrong.  Everywhere we turned to try and get to where we needed to go we were halted by security guards, dispatchers, and drivers who blamed us for going to the wrong terminals!  Nevermind that it was their employees that misdirected us in the first place!
-"You're foreign! Give us your money!" Terminal fees are everywhere in the Philipines and I can understand why they exist, and exist only for foreigners.  As tourists, we are there to stimulate their economy, and they facitiltate the maintence of structures by charging tourists extra to use them.  However, when it comes to an international airport, where customers arrange and purchase services ahead of time, sneaking in addtional fees for terminal use is underhanded at best (especially for such horrible service).  Souldn't the cost of using an airport be met by the airlines who operate there?  Or as a customer am I expected to believe the airport doesn't get a cut of my ticket price to use the airport?  It just seems that everywhere your turn in Manila's airport you're met with someone trying to milk you for every peso you possess before letting you leave.

They say "alls well that ends well," and ending an otherwise pleasant vacation by leaving through Manila was as awful as putting my hand through a meat grinder.  I can honestly say that it completely sapped me of any desire to ever return to the Philipines, if not actively avoid it in the future.

I don't write this to say the Philipines is a bad place, it isn't.  It's an incredibly beautiful place and can be a relaxing place to vacation.  Yet, my god, Manila airport is far and away the worst airport I've ever experienced.

Hopefully, you never have to yourself.