Fukuoka - Japan

Nice weekend away for Lunar New Year

So, despite landing from our epic trip along SE Asia on only the 3rd February, we had been bitten by the travel bug once more and started discussing where we'd like to go next. Funnily (and luckily) enough, the next 'holiday' was the following weekend. We were to have Monday 11th February off work, giving us a 3-day weekend.

Throughout our previous trip Roger had been gloating that he was going to visit Japan over the coming long weekend. So, fueled by jealousy, Winnie and I began searching for flights, deals or trips to spend the next weekend somewhere equally-super-cool. I actually found flights to Shanghai that fitted within the dates and within budget. We thought that this would have been an ideal place to spend the coming holiday weekend, which was Lunar New Year (called Chinese New Year by many). However upon research, I found that to go there we would need a visa, which was expensive and we had already passed the deadline.

My attentions turned to Japan and after searching for a few hours, I found some flights from Busan to Fukuoka, which lasted 35 MINUTES! So soon, after 4 1/2 days of desk-warming and 'teaching' children, we jetted off from Busan to Fukuoka. Actually, visiting Fukuoka interested me a lot because in April 2012, before I came to Korea, I was offered a job there. I turned it down in favour of Korea but I was interested to see what my life could have been like. I had also contacted Elizabeth and Hannah, two girls I had met in London when interviewing for the job. 

Soon after the seat-belt signs had been switched off on the Air Busan flight, they were back again as we began our descent into Japan. After landing and going through immigration, we found a taxi to take us to the hotel. What was to be the first thing we found quirky about Japan was, that when the taxi came to pick us up, the back door opened on it's own and inside was decorated with colourful ultra-violet lights.

The taxi took u on the 20 minute journey though town to the Takakura Hotel, one which Winnie had found. I was very impressed, it was modern, ornate and immaculate. After settling down in the room and resting for an hour, we went exploring the city in search of lights, culture and most importantly, FOOD! I found a Chicken restaurant that looked funky, despite the hanging chickens outside, so we went in there. Winnie had pasta and I ordered jerk chicken. The service was wonderful, the people were so nice, even more so than Korea. The food was very tasty but small as hell. Turns out it was some kind of Tapas restaurant. The rest of the short night was spent walking around staring at the bright lights, trying to keep out of the cold and taking nice pictures over the bridge. After that we returned to the hotel and crashed.

The next day looked to be pretty bright weather wise, so we woke and went in hunt of breakfast and coffee. We were so surprised at just how clean and fresh Japan was. I'd heard it was clean, but I didn't know it'd be THAT clean. The air was fresh, the pavements were clear and the infrastructure was organised. We walked into some kind of museum that had a bakery/cafe and had some tart and 3 refillable coffees :) then we headed to buy tickets for the city-tour bus. For all it's super-modern technology and astute organisation, we found it ridiculously difficult to find Wifi in Japan. Neither of us had been able to let our friends and family know that we'd made it safely to our fifth country in 3 weeks! We managed to find a small cafe that had a free iPad for use, so we used that to update Facebook and also contact Elizabeth to make plans for that night.

After drinking the coffee (that we had only bought so we could use the free wifi) we went to the City Hall to catch the tour bus. As it was an open-top bus, and the weather was cold, we were given some highly unflattering coats to keep us warm. It was like one of those stupid sleeping bag type ones that Arsne Wenger wears, but MAN it was warm. The tour took us around the city, over the bridge near Hakata harbor, past Yahoo Stadium and Fukuoka tower. Sitting on a bus for an hour not moving a muscle really took it out on us, so we went in search of food. Walking down a random street, I said "I can't find anything that I want to eat here", within 5 seconds a man came out of a restaurant and told us that we should go in there. We had warm soup and noodles and chicken and it tasted great. We learned that he owns a restaurant in London too and game me his card. The only creepy thing about this was, me and Winnie stuffed our faces and were feeling full and sleepy. As we left, the guy said "are you guys feeling sleepy?"... to which Winnie said "yes actually... wait... how do you know?!" - she remains convinced that we were given narcotics in the noodles haha.

We found our way to our second hotel (the Takakura couldn't have us for Saturday and Sunday night ) and we were significantly displeased with it. It was more than double the price of the first hotel but less than half as comfortable. But hey, we make the most of it. We had a quick nap then headed out to meet Liz. Liz tok us to an Izakaya style restaurant, which is a restaurant that serves smaller portions of food, but multiple dishes. It was delicious! Upon leaving, Liz said "get ready for the waitress following us", and literally, after we paid, the waitress followed us out for the door. Apparently it's common custom but I felt like she was trying to ensure that I left the building... flashbacks to nightclubs during my teens, haha.

We later met up with Hannah and some other people and headed to a bar, which looked like a British Pub. We met some foreigners and drank some beer. We had some good fun, most of which centered around Winnie trying to say 'bird', 'worm' and 'head' in a Scottish accent after meeting Liz's friend Bobby.

The morning after we were keen to see some cultural stuff (yes, more temples!). Liz had mentioned to use where some of the best shrines and temples were so we'd marked them on our map and decided to go see! We started by having a great sandwich and coffee in a cafe, until some guys came in and started filling the place with cigarette smoke. I then remembered that last night, Liz had told me why the air is so clean in Japan. The law is that people cannot smoke outside, if they want to smoke then they have to go INSIDE to do it... CRAZY!!! :/

After seeing pagodas, temples and wooden Buddha's we retreated back to the hotel for a change and a little nap. Then went out in search of a seafood restaurant we'd spotted on the city map. We were not disappointed  When we found it, the place was set out like a pirate's harbour where the seating area was in a big wooden ship and the water surrounding them was filled with fish. We were able to fish for our own food. After 2 unsuccessful (and kind of pathetic) attempts at cathing a fish. Winnie was helped by a Japanese man, who couldn't bare to watch us fail again, and caught a fish. We opted to have half of it made into sashimi, and the other half grilled and cooked. Both were AMAZING and I'd urge anyone visiting Fukuoka to find it. It's called Zuuo, though the pictures on the link don't do it justice. Watch here. 

Ho Chi Minh City - Vietnam

Fifth and final stop on the journey

So we arrived early in Ho Chi Minh City (formally Saigon). Once we had collected our bags we found a taxi and headed out towards Banh Tai market. We knew that our friend Charles was staying in that area so we figured we'd try and stay near him. This was the only stop where we'd not pre-booked accommodation. This was to turn into a lesson for the future!

In the sweltering taxi, we experienced traffic like I have never seen before. There were cars, buses, vans and bikes... LOTS of bikes. They all seemed to be wanting to go separate ways, at the same time. It was utter madness. I have never seen a truer definition of 'organised chaos' first hand. At intersections, each bike/van/car seemed to be heading in a different direction and with no traffic controls, seemed to somehow navigate themselves through to where they needed go. It was crazy. To give you an idea of the chaos, click here

When we arrived (alive) at Banh Tai market, we asked for directions and walked through the market. Whilst passing through the market we decided to stop for food. I was concerned about eating at the stall as there was nowhere to sit. 20 seconds later, I was sitting on a tiny stool at a makeshift table, made by wood and other stools, in the middle of the market walkway... whatever. Anyway, the noodles and soup we ate were delicious and definitely a good start to the Vietnamese food experience. Another major plus was that we had Cindy with us, who could speak Vietnamese pretty fluently. We found our way to the 'backpacker area' and began looking for the hostel where Charles was staying. Upon finding it, we discovered that it was full. We tried a few more and settled on one 5 mins away. Cindy went to inspect the room on the 3rd floor and said it was fine. After accepting that we'll stay here Roger and I learned that us boys would sleep on the 5th floor, in a 10-bed dorm and the girls would take the 3rd floor dorm. THANKS CINDY!! haha. I decided that I would not judge, so after climbing six billion steps, I settled in my top-bunk bed and had the worst shower in a dirty bathroom then walked across the dusty floor to my bed. I then considered the evidence and came to the conclusion that yes, I WAS in a shit-hole!

After showering, Roger decided to have yet more sleep, Cindy went to meet her family so Winnie and I went for a walk around the area together. We spent the next hour dodging motorbikes, drinking juice and having a hair-cut. Well, I did anyway. That was an experience! I was in desperate need of chopping my mop-like hair so went to the first salon we walked past. The lady was actually very quick, and despite me having my hair washed on a bed beside another sleeping and snoring hairdresser, the experience turned out ok! We then went to a park to people-watch and rest. Roger joined us after his nap and we met up with Charles to go for Vietnamese coffee, which is STRONG bytheway! sheeeesh!

After having a nap of our own we went out to eat food on the streets, walk around a night market (buying t-shirts, magnets, rice-field hats and decorative plates) and then to a bar. We spent the night drinking, playing categories games and laughing at my terrible knowledge of R 'n' B (I still don\'t see why 50 Cent is such a funny answer?) We also managed to squeeze in a visit to a tour operator where we booked trips to the Mekong Delta and the Cu Chi Tunnels

The next day we woke early to go to the delta. The bus ride was 2 hours so we were hoping to sleep, but the over-informative guide had other ideas and spoke for about 3/4 of the journey in quite an annoying tone. He did tell us however that out of a population of 10 million people, Ho Chi Minh City has 4.5 million motorbikes! Crazy! When we arrived, we were taken to a local fruit garden where we ate various fruits, drank tea and listened to some 600 year old men play instruments to us. Good on them! We left to walk through the jungle and onto a thin boat to float down the delta. This was a serene and peaceful experience and in my view didn't last long enough. We moved on to a place where women were making sweets (candy) out of sugar cane which we were able to sample. Me and Roger also enjoyed sampling the free liquor made by the sugar cane too. Surprisingly, the guide came to us holding a snake. Roger, Winnie and I each had a turn at holding the snake and I even gave it a kiss (not the only snake I've kissed in my lifetime...lol).

We then caught bigger boat to an eating place. It must have been near a school because there were many

children there and they LOVED me and Charles... spot the white guys! After giving 500 'high-5s' we settled for some food, which included some amazing fried fish. After stuffing my face and visiting what barely passed as a toilet, we caught the boat back to the bus, and the bus home. Half way home, we stopped at a giant stone Buddha, which looked fat and jolly. When I was taking a picture of Winnie next to the Buddha, my joke of 'let me get a picture of the twins' (her and Buddha) didn't go down too well :/

Back at the hostel we showered (aka stood under dripping water with soap) and napped, then went for dinner at a BBQ place. We were joined by Jeroen and Jamila. Jeroen is a dutch guy that me and Roger met in the dorms. He was traveling alone, and Jamila is an Austrailian girl who was on vacation for a few days. Cindy and Winnie met her in their nice, cosy 3rd floor dorm... no I'm not bitter!! After the meal we went to some bars and played drinking games, teaching Jeroen games to take back to Holland. Jamila was drunk after 2 drinks so she opted out. Winnie and I stayed out late with Jeroen.

The next morning, our last day of the trip, Cindy, Winnie and I woke early. Feeling a little hungover, we gout ourselves ready for the Cu Chi Tunnels whilst Roger decided to sleep in (man that boy can sleep). We went on the tour, learning about the USA/Vietnam war and looking at the booby traps left by the Vietcong. I climbed in an old tank and we went into the tunnels and watched a documentary (propaganda) about the war. Winnie, Cindy and I then went to a shooting range where we were able to shoot an AK-47 at a target. Man those are loud!

Upon returning to the hostel, I had a nap and Cindy took Winnie back to the market. Apparently they got a 'bike taxi' there and back, scary! After, we showered, checked out of the hostel (THANK GOD!!!!!) and went to a place Jeroen knew to get food. After eating we crashed at the Vietnamese coffee place as it was air-conditioned and had free wifi. Whilst Winnie, Roger, Charles Jeroen and I sat around the coffee table chatting. Cindy went to say goodbye to her family. I was chatting to my brother on Wifi and kind of ignored the conversation, which was pretty rude of me. I think I was just reflecting on the past 2 weeks and looking forward to having my own space again. I'd loved traveling again, I'm just not a fan of the waiting around we have to do to get there and back.

When it was time, we said our goodbyes to Jeroen, picked up our bags and taxi'd to the airport where we met Cindy. We got there later than planned and Cindy was pretty worried, but it all turned out alright in the end. We flew home with Vietnam Airways, an ACTUAL airline! Meaning we got check-in luggage, in flight meals and a blanket... take that Air Asia!! We took the 00:10 flight back to Busan, where would land at 6:40 am in cold, cold Korea...

At home in my lovely apartment, I was thinking that this trip had reignited my love for travelling. I had been worried that going to 5 different places in 2 weeks would leave us tired, or wishing we had visited less places for longer. This wasn't the case as I feel we experienced each place just long enough to understand what that place is about, but not long enough to get bored. We looked forward to the up-coming 3 day weekend, celebrating the Lunar New Year. Surely we couldn't be thinking of going away again.... could we?? ;)