January 27th 2008 - Japan

January 27th 2008

The girls in Japan !

Esta semana estubo llena de cosas. El martes me fui con 3 amigas a Fukuoka en Japon. Tomamos el barco de las 08.30 am y llegamos a Fukuoka a las 11.45. Despues de hacer check in en el hotel salimos a mirar un poco,hacer algunas compritas y comer . La cuidad muy linda , limpia, ordenada y sin olor ! lo que despues de estar en Corea un tiempo se aprecia .

El martes Susana y yo salimos a visitar templos , parques y algunas tiendas mientras que Isobel y Joan visitaban una amiga en otra cuidad. En la noche nos juntamos para comer y al otra dia hacer las ultimas compras y tomar el barco de regreso a corea a las 13.00 .

Japon es muy distinto a Corea. Me encanto , los templos , la cuidad, la gente . Todo muy moderno y limpio . La comida muy rica y al parecer Fukuoka era una de las cuidades baratas de Japon. Estoy feliz que el 6 de Febrero partimos con Peder a Kyoto y Osaka por 6 dias.

El viernes estube en casa , el sabado fuimos a un cafe nuevo de estilo "occidental" . Ahi nos juntamos con unos amigos a tomar cafe y comer algunos dulcecitos. Luego a casa para comer. Peder se quedo despierto hasta las 02.00 para ver el partido de handboll de Dinamarca-Alemania . Menos mal que Dinamarca gano asique hoy domingo juegan la final con Croacia a las 24.00

Hoy domingo Peder fue a andar en Bici con Geoff , Charlie y Ruaraidh y luego en la tarde fuimos a comprar y Peder descubrio una tienda que venden cosas occidentales, asique pude comprar Colgate , desodorante Rexona y leche evaporada.....no se rian aqui es dificil encontrar cosas occidentales.

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This week Paula abandoned me to go with 3 of her friends to Fukuoka in Japan. They had bought a round trip with the ferry, including two nights in a hotel there. On the day of departure it was blowing really hard and the waves were huge, but the Korean anti-seasickness band aid worked wonders ! After 3 hours on the high-speed hydrofoil they reached Fukuoka in one piece (well, more like four pieces) and hit the shopping malls ! Different country, different shopping ! The food was good also, she tells me. The city clean. People friendly. And you don't only see Korean make cars on the street ... funny what things you notice. On the Tuesday Susana and Paula spent the day sightseeing while Joan and Isobel traveled to another city to meet up with a friend of theirs. They then met up for the evening dinner at the hotel. They must have had a good time, 'cause I wasn't able to reach Paula at her room until 11:30 pm !

Paula loved Japan and is happy that we have an upcoming trip to Kyoto and Osaka a good week from now. We have 3 holidays in connection with the lunar new year, so we escape the holiday rush and check out Japan instead.

I haven't done much noteworthy last week. I am still working on my web site, where unexpected hick-ups keep turning up. But I expect to have it sorted out before winter's over. Saturday the yard had invited us for lunch. At least we thought the yard invited us ! But the CEO thanked us for making this lunch possible in his speech ... apparently he had used the money Kosan (us) had donated to the yard workers, on this lunch. In all fairness, he had invited about 100 of them to the lunch (out of .... many!). I could of think of many better ways of spending other peoples money ...

Saturday and Sunday evening, or should I say night, were spent in front of the telly. First a Euro 2008 Handball semifinal against Germany and then, after a very close win, the final against Croatia. So Denmark is now officially European champions 2008 in mens Handball - it might not mean a lot to most of you, but for us handball is what rugby it for the brits ... just with more and better competition ! (and when did the Brits last win anything?!? hehe ...). So staying up 'till 4am on Sunday and 2am Monday was worth it.

I also went mountain biking with Geoff, Ruaraidh and Charlie on Sunday. They had slept no more than I had, as they were celebrating Burns night the night before (= lots of whiskey). After almost talking ourselves out of it (the rain didn't help), we had a really nice ride. Ruaraidh showed what whiskey does to a Scot, and raced down the mountain when caution would have been more prudent ... on the last descent of the day, he came off the bike - catapulted off the bike - and landed about 4-5 meters in front of it, face down and motionless for a wee while. But, Scots don't break easily, and after being taped up, he was able to continue on home.

The girls making the streets of Japan dangerous !

Paula in one of the temples.

The fish market in Fukuoka was quite the opposite of the fish market in Ulsan ... ! The words "clean" and "hygienic" would come to mind.

Heading back to Korea. Susana and Joan with her back turned.

The hydrofoil made the crossing in just under 3 hours.

We were introduced to a new western style cafe this week. Here with Nicola, Viera and Marion. I look forward to a few months of teasing Marion with our championship (Viera and Marion are from Croatia) ... hehe

Me at the yard lunch, handing out one of three prizes from Kosan to "Most valued Yard employees" in January.

For those of you who have asked ... Peo is well !