South Korea- Seoul  10:49pm 13.12.13

Today was a win of a day. We started semi-early… okay, not really that early, thinking we had to switch rooms, only to find out we didn’t, because someone else cancelled. YAY! So then we ambled out, (me putting on some more Etude makeup, of which I bought… tonnes.  Like, I bought a lot.) and headed to the coffee shop from Coffee Prince, which I haven’t seen but both Mankee and Angela have. It was fairly out of the way, (like, a hike up a small mountain) but a very pretty location. Very overpriced hot chocolate ($7!) but the view was definitely amazing.











Also, they had stone horses and funny hats.





I don’t get what it is with Korea and pants-down pictures. Like, kids pulling their pants down paintings, a woman with her pants off squatting in a field of flowers… what looks like the human centipede made out of children which greets you at the gates of Gyoengbokgung Palace… it’s all a bit weird really.

^^ Without trying to be snobby... is this art?^^



^^Nothing good can come of this picture.^^

Anyhow, from there, we headed to Seoul Station to book our KTX tickets to Busan. This went smoothly, and life was good, for we found Pizza Hut and I rejoinced in the best Cheese Pizza once more. No offense to Mr Pizza… but… it just doesn’t really taste… well… nice. It does apparently have “a lot of love for women”. After delightful pizza at Seoul station, we headed out to Dongdaemun again to see if we could buy a joint Carly-Angela coat. We were dismayed to see a lot of the places closing- I saw a cool soldiers hat but for $20 it had marks on it so I said no. Found an unmarked one for $30, but declined, as it would have been quite difficult to put anywhere. But man I would have looked like a cool-ass weirdo. Mainly a weirdo… okay, I would have been cool in my own heart. 

^^ Entrance to Dongdaemun Markets ^^

Disheartened, we then stumbled across (completely by chance) the Dongdaemun Disco Jump. We heard music and cheering and thought it might be a free concert, so we looked around and then… just one random show type ride. So we sort of shrugged and throught “Why not?”. Why not indeed… I was the only one who hadn’t seen the Disco jump in action and thought it was a pretty tame kiddy ride or something like the Gravitron.  It was a circle ride with seats on the outside, no lap bars or seatbelts. I thought maybe it spun a bit or tilted slightly, which to be fair, it did. And from the ground (especially in the second video), the tilt looks like child’s play.




However, that was not quite all… Angela thought I’d seen it on Running Man, so I was the only one who got quite a shock when it started well… jumping. Jumping is a tame word for it- I’d say it’s more like attempting to punch us into the air, or sort of like a spinning bucking bronco. I quickly learnt to weld myself to the bars (quite a feat for someone of puny arm strength like myself- I was alternately worried between falling off of the seats and snapping my arms like twigs when we bounced. Fortunately, neither happened, and the few people who did fall off didn’t seem to worry much).



^^ It looks disturbingly innocent like this...^^

One thing that did not come across to me at first was that along with no seatbelts, you literally get airtime. As in, feet off the floor, arse off the seat, “Oh god I’m flying!” type sensations, along with a wrenching pain in your arms as you attempt well… not to fly away. The worst I found, was when I was on the sides because it was tilted and bumped. My feet couldn’t find purchase and so I was just hanging sideways (occasionally kicking Ange a meter down from me) dangling and bumping around. The controller, upon finding out we were from Australia, would gleefully shout out “Hoju! Hoju!” whenever we were at the top  and this was usually followed by a period of waiting before a “SURPRISE!” huge bounce or just a wave of bouncing that felt rather like a dog shaking something back and forth with its teeth. At one point, Mankee fell off but was held by Ange. We didn’t just get the special treatment- there were some Japanese girls on with us and the controller would joyfully yell out “Neesan! Neesan!” when trying to launch them into the atmosphere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbzzWALPH5Y
^^ Someone else’s YouTube clip of being on the ride. Just picture it at night time in sub-zero temperatures. Hint: Gloves do not make it easier to grip on. Nor, surprisingly, does a lack of gloves. Unsure if it was the cold, but my hands just slid straight over the bars when I managed to get one glove off with my teeth.^^

Well, despite the pain in my arms (lots of pulled muscles on all of our parts) the ride was fun and it seemed to go for AGES. The worst bit? On the next ride, the ticket dude decided to get on and we stayed to watch and take some video. I was all like “Woah, he’s pretty badass. He’s not even sitting down…” and then just watched. The ride began and the dude just leisurely strolled through the middle as the ride was going. Not once did he seem disturbed, until a boy literally fell on him. At one point, I shit you not, he stood on the seat with one leg up on the railing, and at another point, he began to run laps in the centre as kids were falling off around him. Sort of like the guy below… or really, it could be the same guy…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue8qtK_IF2E
^^ Totally showing everyone else up.^^

From there, we wandered into a few shopping malls and finally found out coat of choice! (This was both easier and harder than you’d think- it was easy because we weren’t really that picky, but hard because most were way more expensive than we were willing to pay and didn’t fit me. As it is, I won’t be reaching above me in our new red ranger coat. Ange doesn’t yet know I’ve dubbed it the red ranger, but he’s staying that way. On the way out, we saw a dance performance, by a group of young Koreans we quickly realized were intellectually disabled. It was interesting and a little uncomfortable- some of them were great dancers but some were… well, what you’d expect from someone who is slightly more severely mentally disabled. People were laughing, and it was hard to tell whether it was in joy and support or just plain laughing at them. Either way, they danced to some of our favourite songs, and two of the girls were quite good, as well as a shy boy who looked a little bit like Kang Gary and did some breakdancing. Another girl was very passionate about her dance moves. From there, we hopped on the subway home and headed to Korean BBQ for dinner.







It was my first Korean BBQ and it went as well as it could have I feel. We got our beef, with a variety of side dishes, most of which were not to my taste- Kimchi, the spicy fermented cabbage, some sort of brown paste, a side of raw onion with raw spring onion, a semi-spicey soup of some sort. We then got beef and hunks of garlic to cook on the plate, Soju to drink, a side of rice and lettuce to wrap it all up in. I can say… Soju is horrible. It tastes like Vodka, only with half the strength. If you’re going to put your tastebuds through that pain, all I can say is… you want the full alcoholic content! So not a Soju fan! Also, the beef was okay. It is, by nature, pretty fatty in Korea but the two pieces I had were okay. Garlic chunks were… a mistake. I spent the whole time being paranoid about fat in the steak and then bit into garlic strong enough to make my eyes water. It was very, very garlicky. It was lettuce, beef, rice and a thick slice of garlic and it was- good for one taste but never gonna be a personal favourite.






The chopsticks they used were also odd- they were metal and shaped quite differently to other chopsticks I’d used and I had significant trouble picking things up. Just when I think I get the hang of it… (I was boss at the Asian restaurant the other day. Black pepper beef for the win!). Then we headed back to the hostel (which is very nice… I have one thing to say and that is “heated floors”. 2 nights ago I actually just lay on the floor like a beached whale trying to warm up, but since it’s been snowing I’ve been triple pants-ing it. 2 layers of thermals before any actual pants happens- and this is with knee high socks underneath! Unfortunately, I have one great pair of themal pants and one terrible pair that just slides down awkwardly and drags my pants down with each step. These layers as well as the coat have served me well- I had my first slip/arse up on ice this morning and hardly felt it.) and went to bed.



Tomorrow, we are going to Nalina (Go Crazy) and Nilili Mambo for Block B! We’ll Tell Them that they’re Very Good! (I am pointedly excluding “Freeze” here, for any K-Pop fans). Also , BTS, which Mankee is super keen. WE ARE BULLET PROOF! (Pt 2)
Anyhow, tired now, will update with photos tomorrow. xx Red Ranging Purple People Eater

^^ Angela, trying on a variety of hats at the Coffee Prince Coffee Shop. ^^

South Korea- Seoul  9:30pm 12.12.13

Wednesday was both uneventful and generally unsuccessful. We got up late and headed out to Anguk. Ange posted some stuff out then we went to see a Hanok village. We walked through (it was cold) and then headed towards what we later realized was Gyeongbokgung Palace. Only… we weren’t quite sure where we were going, and ended up in the Museum. Then by the time we left the Museum…  the palace was closed.  So that sucked.
^^ Crepes filled with cold ice cream. Clearly a good choice to have on a freezing day. They were so cold, but so delicious...^^

^^Ange and Mankee went out to Korean BBQ but I felt a bit over it so stayed behind. ^^

Today, Thursday, was far more successful. We got up slightly earlier and headed to… well, I thought it was a palace but then realized it was a shrine. A kickass shrine, but not even an important one or a big one.  From there we tried to find Jongmyo shrine, failed, but ended up at Changdeokgung Palace, which was pretty cool. So we wandered around there, and it started to snow! After some hilarious footage of Ange trying to catch snowflakes in her mouth (she’s a special, special individual), and a conversation with a really nice old man (Ange’s Korean is far, far better than I realized. That dude just kept on speaking and she knew what was going on. Unless she was pulling a Nelson Mandela Sign-language Scumbag Steve move…. OH I just went there.)

^^ Shrine near us that I originally thought was a small palace.^^

^^ Ange makes herself at home Changdoekgung Palace.^^



Anyhow from there we wandered off to Anguk again, went to Unhyeongung Palace where we rented some Hanbok. It was snowing- we thought at first we wouldn’t be allowed outside in the Hanbok but then we were. The lady selling them was nice enough to take a few photos for us in the snow, then we raced off crazily. It was cold… 

^^ In other news... no one looks skinny in Hanbok. Ever.^^

I chose a really nice blue …skirt thing(?)… but because I was too big, the traditional pink overcoat wouldn’t fit. Instead I got a lime green top with longer…whatevers. This unfortunately led to Angela lacking choices. The old woman seemed insistent she take a red skirt thing, but Ange wanted pink. After much gentle gesturing to the pinks, the lady picked one out for her, but Ange was automatically given a yellow top. She was not enthused. Seriously, for all the times Angela says I over dramatise shit (which to be fair, I often do), she decided life was OVER. The yellow was totally hideous (it wasn’t that bad, as you can see) and that it was just horrible and a waste of money and time. (And blah blah blah bad as dying children blah blah something.) Clearly, not so. Mankee had no dramas to speak of.


Then we just hooned around crazily in the palace trying to take as many photos as we could, greatly amusing a group of Chinese tourists, who looked amazed to see Westerners roaming around the palace in Hanbok in the snow. After that we departed for Gyeonbokgung (take 2) and actually got to the palace this time. It was pretty cool but snowing like hell. The storm got worse- thunder and lightning flashed while we were there and the sky looked distinctly ominous so we got the hell out of there too.



^^ We threw snow on the pond to try and break the ice. It wasn't 100% frozen. We spent what I now consider to be an embarrassingly long time trying to make a hole in the ice with snowballs.^^

After that, we headed to the mythical Jongak Pizza Hut. This story is almost too painful for me to explain- we found it, we saw the menu, it was unusually classy, I asked for cheese, I was refused. Seriously, I could order blue cheese pizza but not cheese pizza. I was genuinely extremely distressed. Needless to say, we left, and went to Mr Pizza instead. I am no huge Mr Pizza fan but had to confess amusement at seeing Angela and Mankee order GIANT pizzas (and Ange ordered pasta as well). The staff were incredulous- but Ange and Mankee’s real reason was so they could eat leftovers tomorrow. From there, we wandered through an arcade (Ange brought some dresses) and headed back to Skype the parentals.

^^ Guess who had which?^^

REVELATION: Despite me commenting about my blog, AND sending a link… my parents did not even read it. It has been a night of immense disappointments, and don’t even get me started on every Heirs episode ever.



The Grape Grouser, Out.  

South Korea- Seoul  9:43pm 10.12.13
This morning we headed back to Myeondong via Euljiro 3-ga to the tourist centre to book our ferry.  We also took some photos with stars as we passed- I think we got some more SuJu, Luhan, Chen and Kai from EXO, 4Minute, Lee Min Ho and… I think 2PM?  I'm waiting for Lee Jong Suk, or even better, Kim Woo Bin!



^^ Lee Min Ho likes it.^^



^^ Yes Nickhun, it is I, your nemesis.^^



^^ Mankee, just warning you. Kai's mine. Baekhyun on the other hand... ^^

We then attempted to take photobooth photos- according to Ange, I totally screwed them up, but you get a really short time limit and all the commands are in Korean. In my defense, it's freaking hard to figure out! I think they turned out great. After getting the ferry booked, we booked into the Hanbok dress up for later. From there, we checked out Lotte World (waste of time, especially the ‘Culture Centre’ which was literally one or two tiny display boxes and a lot of old ladies drinking tea) a little bit of Dongdaemun markets. This allowed us to witness the stunning Engrish of a white woolen top with a black leather bat sewn on. It read: "Flower Bat: It may be so. or I am afraid so." (The lack of capitalisation on the "or" still makes me twitch). 

^^ Our undisputed best photo. ^^

^^ Our undisputed worst photo.^^

I bought 3 scarves and eyed some more warm coats, Angela bought a fur neck thing and Mankee bought a neck tie, then running out of time, we headed back to the tourist centre for round #2 of Hanbok (Ange really wanted to, I thought “Well if we’re there...” and Mankee thought “Hell no.”









^^ Our Aegyo is nowhere near as frightening now.^^



From there we grabbed some sustenance before heading to Namsan Tower- we walked to this free semi horizontal elevator (sort of diagonally up a hill) then bought cable car tickets. From there, we went up to Namsan Tower (ended up being about $18-19 so not terribly cheap. It was a nice view, but I think from memory, Tokyo tower was like 500Y? Just sayin’.) Anyhow by the time we finished up we were freezing and totally ready for bed… except then we stopped at Maccas on the way home.





^^ "Onwards, horizontal elevator!^^





^^ Namsan Tower ^^







Tomorrow we’re doing the palaces and I have the agonizing decision to make- much as I love the Mulberry defender, it would be nice to wear something else. But I’m worried I’ll be cold in my black coat… quandaries, quandaries. Also, I’m too cheap to buy a new coat… unless it’s like $60. I’ll just have to see….
-Myeondong Mutant, OUT


P.S.



^^ Ha ha ha ha ha^^

South Korea- Seoul  9:56pm 9.12.13

After departing from Stay in GAM, we walked to the subway and went to Myeondong. We did some browsing in the subway stores there (buying some K-Pop stuff- Ange got some TOP cards and an Infinite calendar, I think we all got a Running Man key chain) and some accessories, because hell if I don’t need yet another headband and ribbon. It was cute though.  We also saw these balls of what are like biscuit covered in different flavours of chocolate. They’re apparently German, though I didn’t see any while I was in Germany…  You put them in a paper bag and then hit them with a hammer! As you can imagine, the lure was too great to resist.



^^ The different flavours of ...whatever this was.^^



We then, unfortunately, walked the wrong way from the subway (our instructions said “go straight out of exit 6” when in fact, they should have said “Turn left out of exit 6 then go straight”.) What followed was a subsequent 2 or so hours of trying to figure out where we were with an incredibly shitty map and a LOT of unnecessary walking. We finally found M Plaza, right back next to Myeondong station pretty much, and then went up to talk to the staff about booking the ferry to Fukuoka. We then booked an appointment to try on Hanbok and got the last one of the day!



^^ "GD it's me in the flesh... top to bottom so freshly dressed..."^^

At this point, Ange saw an advertisement in Chinese, and asked Mankee what it was. She then got terribly excited- end result: a trip to a Chinese tourist office a few streets down and 130,000W later we had ourselves tickets to see Block B (my fave band!) and BTS (Mankee’s fave band!). This unfortunately, occurs 1 day after we were supposed to leave, so we’re staying an extra 2 days in South Korea now. We cut our Kyushu time one day short for Big Bang, and 2 days short for Block B/BTS. Now we only have 2.5 days in Kyushu so we’ll just have to do our best with that time.
We still really want to try and get to Gukanjima, and for Ange Beppu/Oita hotsprings are definitely a priority.



^^ Hanbok time!^^



We then had time to waste before trying on Hanbok- we got some lunch at an Asian restaurant and shared a seafood noodle dish and Beef and vegetables in a black pepper sauce. I really enjoy black pepper sauce, except not so much the pepper, if you can believe it. We quickly figured out the red vegetable was in fact chilli, not capsicum, sadly, and our mouths were on fire for the rest of the meal. They had amazing spring rolls too.







Then we headed back to try on Hanbok, which was fun. They do have to be the least flattering garment ever though! We stopped back by Mr Pizza (which Ange absolutely adores- I’m pretty “meh” about it) and for me the highlight was Blueberryade and Strawberryade which was lemonade with real bits of fruit in it. It was pretty nice and Ange loved her pasta. It was Mankee’s turn to try Bulgogi pizza this time. Then we headed back home, totally ready for bed.





^^ Ange and Mankee in front of a poster in the Subway ^^


The Mulberry Defender- OUT!

P.S.
Mum and dad- while I haven't lost your camera... there is a 90% chance I left the charger home. D'OH! 

South Korea- Seoul  9:01am 9.12.13

The flight from KL to Seoul was as follows: Take sleeping pill. Occasionally wake up, go back to sleep. I seriously almost went back to sleep until I realized we’d hit the tarmac in Seoul. Tablets worked like a charm! Breakfast was an unfortunately poor choice- I chose the omelet instead of the “local breakfast” and instead of separate bowls of rice and curry with an egg (I would have totally gone for hard-boiled egg and white rice!) I received a semi-cooked looking omelet topped with peas, a tomato, a sausage and disarming HOT wedges. There was nothing to suggest these wedges set your mouth on fire, but set my mouth on fire they did. In the end, I ate my bread roll and my yoghurt and was thankful for those.

^ Angela and Taemin, just chillin' out the front of Etude House.^

So then I disembarked and took the AREX in to Hongik University.  There were two options- “all stops” (which I needed) or “express” (straight to Seoul). Buying the ticket was easy enough but when I tried to check with some lovely older ladies if it was “all stops” they looked very confused. Trying to say “Hongik university” only brought further confusion (I was pronouncing the G, it’s a soft g like in song but still- does it sound that different?) so I pointed at the stop and then they nodded. I was still very relieved when the train stopped at the first station!

^ Shopping in Hongdae ^

The trip was interesting- it was 7am in the morning when I landed and there was a lot of fog/mist. Surprisingly (to me) there was a lot of marshland between Incheon and Seoul.  The friendly ladies who had helped me nodded at me as they got off the train and then I got off at Hongik. It was there we hit our first spot of trouble- my printed instructions from Angela had been revised- she told me which exit to take from Jongno Sam Ga but not from Hongik. She said she told me on Skype to take exit 1 just before I got off Skype in KL but I think I might have logged off Skype first? Anyhow I sent Ange a message reminding her I didn’t know which exit, aimed for 9 (which ironically, was next to 1) found Mankee, then Mankee said Ange had gone out to find a coffee shop with WiFi to tell me the exit. I tried to get back on Wifi but now I had to pay, only I couldn’t understand the Korean to pay. So I sent Angela a message on her phone and tried to ring her… only it told me her phone was off.

^ Ange and I hanging casually with Super Junior M. Ange is posing as Henry Lau and I'm as Eunhyuk.^

After a lot of awkward waiting, Mankee decided we would go back to their hostel and luckily Angela had decided to return to the station to find Mankee at that time (she thought I got off at Jongno Sam Ga) so we met up. We were delayed, so headed back to their hostel so they could pack. We then left all our stuff (mine included) at the hostel  and headed out to do a short tour of Hongdae. Hondae was cool- and I got an equally cool coat at Uni Qlo. It’s a purple, non-shiny puffer jacket. I call it “Boysenberry danger” and “The Mulberry Defender” alternately.
Then we went into some of the makeup shops like Etude House, Holika Holika, Tony Moly, did a bit of accessory shopping (everyone loves headbands, right?),  had some ice creams at a shop Angela and Mankee enjoyed frequenting (I had Mint choc chip, Mankee had Orea and Angela decided it was finally time to try “Cheese”. Yep- there was a “Cheese” flavoured ice cream.  It was an interesting flavour).




Then we ambled on to spot PIZZA HUT! Well, you know how I feel about foreign Pizza Hut! Just like Indonesia, it was the old, delicious recipe so I was delighted. After that we continued wandering, occasionally buying things and drifted past the EYK (Eat Your Kimchi- a very famous company run by Canadian duo Simon and Martina. They do online You Tube reviews of K-Pop and film information about living in Sth K.) studio. Mankee and Angela had already stalked it out and met Simon, but alas, neither Simon nor Martina (Nor Soo Zee) were present in the coffee shop below.  At least I got to see the building?

^ Downside: No Simon or Martina. Upside: Their 'White Real Chocolate' drink tastes amazing. Like Milkybar. ^

After returning to Ange and Mankee’s hostel for our bags, we began an unfun trip to Jongno Sam Ga. I swear, I will have put on muscle by the end of this trip. What did I pack my bag with, rocks? Angela looked like some kind of hilarious hobo because she’d bought way too many incredibly weird Engrish sweaters that said things like “Charme” and “Smelly bear” which was a weird looking bear with a crown. This resulted in her stuffing them in plastic bags and tying said bags to her suitcase and her person. It was hilarious. When we got to “Stay in GAM” hostel, I was so relieved they had an elevator. There are not enough elevators in Seoul. Then we crashed for a while, before venturing out for dinner at Maccas. I had a very enjoyable Big Mac but was a little disappointed not to find more exciting menu items. (Maccas in Indonesia has soft serve with green apple and orange topping! I wanted to try the green apple but it was sold out so I tried Orange. It was nice, but very odd.)
Then we trundled back, buying some bread, marg, yoghurt and strawberries on the way back and headed to sleep. I was dressed in my furry pjs and my giant jumper and was out the moment my head hit the pillow!


^ My cheese pizza was amazing.^


^ Angela enjoyed her Bulgogi pizza. I did not. ^

Today we’re aiming for the Seoul tourist centre (to book our ferry tickets to Fukuoka & dress in Hanbok!), post office for Ange to post  things home and then possibly off to the palaces, at least 2 of which are just a short walk from Stay in GAM.
Boysenberry Danger- Out!

Malaysia- KL 12:25am Aus time. 7.12.13

After being dropped off at the airport (Dad was in tears, deep, deep down. I’m sure of it) after drying my bed socks on my hands out the window… smooth…  (then having to subsequently stuff them in my laptop case) I boarded the plane. It was… a turbulence filled flight. I almost immediately regretted not taking my travel calm, but was too reluctant to disturb the guy next to me. It cleared up temporarily, but there were spots of it all along the flight. The flight itself was pretty boring- the food was the only highlight, a very decent meal followed by a snack! KL airport is pretty cray- the main terminal looks cool and I’ve always been a sucker for a Monorail (*cue The Simpsons musical*). 
To make a boring story significantly shorter, after getting in the actual airport and trying to find my gate (different terminal), I hit up Hungry Jacks purely because it was the cheapest and dad’s $30 AUD became 81RM  (which I assume stands for Ringet Malaysia?).
So I’m in the line, attempting to order in Indonesian (turns out a cheeseburger is a sandwich without meat so it’s a double cheeseburger or a cheese sandwich, nothing in between?), mourning that the Milo is sold out (Indo and Malaysia do an amazing iced Milo at Maccas/HJs) when who runs up to me but a former student!
He was almost manic with excitement at being able to practice his Indo (even though some words are different… toilet for example in Indonesia is WC/Kamar Kecil but in Malaysia it is Tandas. He was flying out to London and like myself, did not enjoy the previous flight (I had to laugh because to London will be far, far worse!). He and his sister were travelling around Europe. The line for HJs was simply horrific- it would have been harder to find a more lackluster, slow and incompetent staff. They just dawdled around shuffling packets of fries, watching the lines grow carefully or shifting things about seemingly randomly while those of us in line stared incredulously.
 I then finally got online, to the shittiest internet service ever. Former student said it is apparently 1G p/sec v our 60Gp/sec in Aus, so that does explain why even when you’re connected, you’re not really connected.
The main terminal has some good shopping, but I think I leave from the domestic one, which appears to sell only chocolate. SO MUCH CHOCOLATE! Why are there 12 chocolate stores, a small amount of alcohol and NOTHING ELSE? Do Malaysian people only ever buy chocolate?

It is a mystery to be solved for sure. The only reason I am uploading now is a) I still have about 3 hours til my flight boards and b) the internet is far, far better in this obscure branch of the domestic terminal. Why? So many questions. Anyhow, I leave you with… well I don’t have anything right now. Let me think of a better parting line.
xx Carly

The Rest of Tokyo

The Quick Sum up of Tokyo!
Monday
On Monday morning we got up bright and early (and ON TIME!) to catch the NEx (Narita Express) to Narita airport to pick up Beno! Beno was pretty tired, but keen to share his Contiki stories while we all tried to talk at once. We went back to the hostel, (Futon style) and got set up, letting Beno have a shower and us adjust our plans to kick out Disneyland after DisneySea sucked so badly.
We then taught Beno the ways of the Subway (quite easy despite the whole ‘Japanese’ thing) and headed to Akihabara, the infamous electrical district. Being honest, while it was interesting to see, there weren’t many great bargains to be had, so we didn’t really buy a whole lot. We finished up at Saizeriya, where Sarah told the waitress I was allergic to Buffalo cheese to get the pizza I so desired. It worked, and the pizza was quite enjoyable, so we felt no regret.

Tuesday
On Tuesday we went to Asakusa temple, the main temple and “tourist trap” of Tokyo. We were quite excited to see all of the shopping stalls, as Beno was looking for Sake cups, Sarah was looking for keyrings and I was looking for wall scrolls, several of which I bought! At one point, checking out all the scenery, we got separated and had a bit of an adventure trying to find each other, but find each other we did! As for Asakusa, the shopping was very good but the temple itself was quite small, which was a little disappointing for us, but a novelty to Beno. It did have the 5 layered pagodas that are so common in Buddhist temples however. After Asakusa, we had a bit of fail. We were hungry and planning to introduce Beno to Kappa Zushi, having looked one up on the net. We walked through Shibuya and even into Harajuku for a decent while before finding out there was in fact no Kappa Zushi! This did not cheer us.
We finally ended up (we were actually searching for Japanese food for Beno) at Shakey’s all you can eat pizza place, which was surprisingly good! I had a good number of different pizzas- pepperoni, corn, pumpkin like cheese, and just removed everything that wasn’t cheese! They also had a rather meatless but tasty curry with rice, and dessert pizzas! The pizzas had marshmellow, apricot, apple and icing sugar! Generally (apart from the rather lacklustre corn pizza… yes I tried it, no I wouldn’t do it again!) it was an impressive (and quite cheap) lunch.
Finally, we wandered up through Harajuku and randomly stumbled upon Meiji Shrine, which is beautiful. It’s a classic random-forest-in-the-middle-of-the-city temple, and we quite enjoyed wandering around. Finally we hopped on the JR line and headed to Tokyo Tower, which is basically a slightly larger, red version of the Eiffel Tower.
I’ll admit, I closed my eyes on the way up- it was very high! When we got off at the top observatory, we found the “disco” lights mentioned in the brochure; these lame lights turned green blue or red every few seconds on the floor and were hardly noticeable. It was awfully sad. The view however was not- it was the city of Tokyo lit up from the baseball stadiums to the rivers. And yes, we did get a bombshelter shot. On the lower deck there were sections of see through flooring, which Beno quite enjoyed (jumping on!) and Sarah had a shot at and I did not go near! There was no way I was getting on that section of see through flooring, NO WAY! Then we went home and (the end.)

Wednesday was Fuji-Q, which you've (better have!) read about, and Thurs/Fri was our trip to Hiroshima. On Sat we went to Hakone and it was pretty arse, the pirate ship was too crowded and the ropeway was just average. Then, sunday morning, with tears in our eyes (the light was eyewateringly bright at 4am) we farewelled Beno, hoping he'd be able to find his wahy to the airport later, and headed to London! Wheee!