My Sth Korea Tour – November 2024 – Blog 6

Blog 6 Days 15 & 16 21-22/11/24 Last Days

Woke up around 7.30am a little bit dusty & a very croaky voice from last night’s mini-binge outing but knowing I would be a lot better than some of my fellow drinkers (32 beers in total for us all). Sorted out my backpack & after a wake-up shower in the hope of repacking at the airport for when we leave at 6°C Max Seoul to 29°C for Sydney & Brisbane.

I sat with my favourite travellers, Maria & Ted (78 & 80) for brekky & I will truly miss them. They live in Sydney, Manly. Our check out was set for 10am so we had to log our suitcases into Reception until our bus arrives for the 5pm departure. I somehow missed the bus group after reception, so I didn’t know if anyone had something planned for their day.

Really, today is another wasted day with nothing to shop for or to really see without too much complication & walking so another wandering around to find a great cafe where I can add to my travel blog & watch the rain for 5mins. This is the only rain (drizzle) we have seen on our entire 16day trip to Japan & Korea, so we were truly blessed. Yay!!! However, Korea has been mostly freezing for me.

I walked down a few different streets but nothing to take a photo of and eventually found my way back to my normal main street & the Cheonggyecheon Stream Bridge where again, I found this area rather surprising & unique. This good stream of water ran through the city & for some reason in the 1950s, the city covered it over & built a major elevated highway over it.

Over time, the stream became a cesspit & an unsafe area, then a decision was made some decades later to demolish this highway & return the stream to some beauty for the city in a hard landscaping, construction theme (not natural edges of flora but stones, pavers, etc) & now it provides a great attraction for passive walking, city lunch gatherings & festive celebrations. At its western end is a constructed weir & waterfall that provides a good constant flow. Such imagination and ingenuity for this landmark.

With more meandering undertaken I eventually returned to the reception of AMID Hotel where everyone was securing their luggage & in doing so, no-one had any good stories to tell of their day. Mostly just window shopping & a couple of markets. Come 5pm we are all loaded on the bus & finally EVERYONE is on board on time & not lost. First time EVER!!! Looking at my phone I had undertaken 7.61klms of walking.

The traffic to Incheon Airport (2^nd largest port & 3^rd largest city) which services Seoul was insane directly from leaving the hotel being end of work time & with 4hwy lanes each way mostly choked will be a very slow 90klm trip & it was. The airport is massive & amazing & basically taking up the whole island off the coast of Incheon city & even with us reaching the airport at dark, it certainly became obvious when the skyline opened like the full sun just appeared with the airport’s lighting. What a light show!!!

Getting off the bus & saying goodbye to our driver, the airport is so large we had trouble finding the Qantas check-in counter. We eventually found it on Aisle H .. & trust me, there were a lot more letters following beyond your line of sight with such a large airport. With the check-in counter closed for another hour, it gave me time to exchange currency & sort out my duty-free Scotch shopping. I allowed myself to get 2 bottles of my fav scotches (Aberlour & Balvenie). Yummo & Cheers!!! Going through the security was OK however, one of our couples found quite a security emergency where the wife wore new sneakers she bought yesterday & the shoes tested positive for drugs & eventually was cleared with the new shoes intact. Her husband bought his new shoes at another store & those were OK after showing both purchase receipts. Whew!!

There is still enough time to review a good coffee outlet & notice a popular one down further with people lining up, but as it turned out, only 1 employee is taking the order & making the product. You’re kidding!!! Back to the start of my search & took the chance of the first option & was pleasantly surprised. A good coffee before I start the boarding circus.

Sitting at Gate 9, I was thankful for my bus friend, Ed (same age as my daughter), found me & we had our last catchup before he went to his gate to Melbourne. I’ll miss him & his humour, but he promised to call into my new hometown of Yamba when he comes up north next year. Looking at the boarding lines of both gates there were several people I will truly miss & a couple I certainly will NOT!!! Not group friendly or considerate the entire trip.

My QF88 flight is boarding 10pm, the same time as Ed’s & with a quick wave to him from a far I start to think being in a single seat, dreading sitting next to the bus horror passenger, DS from the G/Coast where I am also heading to .. I can’t print what this man did on the trip. Such disgusting, self-serving behaviour & I called him out on it the other day. He was horrid. With such relief, I had two spare seats between my other young Korean lady passenger (centre aisle of 4 seats). She was happy to take up these 3 seats & had a sleep for 95% of the 10hr flight. The flight gave us our dinner meal at 10.45pm & then lights out of course. The Korean lady had no dinner, nor breakfast & arose of course quite refreshed upon landing, but with bed hair extreme to which she was quickly rectifying.

22/11/24

No sleep, basically for me on the plane (10hrs is a long time) & was awake when the brekky trolley was pushed out around 6am. This was the time I could get to my backpack above to retrieve my pen to fill in the Australian Immigration & Customs Card provided to me when boarding.

Yikes!!!!! While sitting down to start writing, my pen leaked a ‘ton’ of blue ink out everywhere, narrowly missing my open passport, clothes & seats. Blue ink all over my hands. My opposite aisle passenger saw this & gave me a couple of fresh wipes & they were definitely blue when I finished but couldn’t get all the ink removed. That’s going to look suspect to Customs, I’m sure. Lol! I was so thankful for the young couple but now I have no pen.

Alighting from the plane & heading towards Customs/ Immigration, my favourite traveller, Maria was already waiting in line & I explained the pen ink situation & she instantly gave me her pen. Here I am trying to write, move my bag in the cattle grid line & keeping composed. Lol!! Suddenly, a line opens up & Maria & Ted were off like a shot!! I now have inherited her pen. Getting through Sydney Customs was a breeze, despite my fluoro blue hands & straight onto Gate 15, after another security check onto the Qantas inter-airport bus to the domestic terminal for Brisbane. Again, I’m dreading the thought of sitting next to DS & again the universe looked after me. Whew!!!

I again enjoyed the inter-bus trip across the airport adjacent to a taxiway I was heavily involved with in construction back in 1986 & to provide the beauty of Sydney I have uploaded some of my flight photos over the Sydney Domestic Airport, CBD & Harbour Bridge areas. The taxiway I spoke of is basically the centre of the below left photo.

Before long I was landing in Brisbane & was very thankful for my son in law, Jason to pick me up at Brisbane Domestic after his 14hr night work shift & drove me to their home in Canungra for a 2-night stay. The weather & traffic was so bad it took us 2hrs to do the drive. Jason was totally stuffed & went straight to bed after his shower & didn’t see him till later the next morning.

Such a relief to see my family & to chat about the trip & to chill out before heading home although I will spend one night with son, Matthew & his wife Ashlee at Banora Point before heading on a 2hr drive South to Yamba to review their large landscaping project they want me to undertake very soon. Reality starting to hit already.

Cheers to a great trip .. & my next one is Cairns/ Port Douglas (Nthrn Queensland, Australia) in late April. My next big trip will be Europe to catch up with some great friends in October 2025 for about 43days. Stay happy, healthy & safe for my next blog & thank you immensely for reading & hope you like the photos. By scrolling down to other posts you can review my entire Japan & Sth Korea trip plus keep scrolling to see my numerous other travel blogs. Happy reading … or sleeping? LOL!!!

My Sth Korea Tour – November 2024 – Blog 5

Day 14 20/11/24

Brekky early & time to chill before the 9.30 bus start for the pre-paid $150AUD Seoul City Sightseeing Tour that was rescheduled due to the Gyeongbokgung Palace opening times, changed earlier in the week.

From my previous planned daily walks alone to the South, we head off from our AMID Hotel in the opposite direction (North) by bus, for our first stop just 10mins away where we view the Heungnyemun Gate (centre) from the side entry to the Gyeongbokgung Palace & the 15min rendition to the changing of the Royal Guards Ceremony. There is no royal family existing here in Sth Korea now so with tradition dating back through the last 500years the guard ceremony has been resurrected to keep their culture & history relevant. As per common practice, the young locals all get dressed in traditional costumes for free entry plus it really makes everything wonderful to enjoy. To hear the big drum over the other drums was amazing & strong & be good in a rock band. Lol. I had great difficulty in getting a good photo, such was the volume of onlookers. It was difficult to understand the ceremony of the procedure however, it was done in such precision you could only admire the exhibition & the participant’s dedication.

Photos of the middle right & lower right is the Heungnyemun Gate (Central to the palace grounds) & the lower left & middle bottom is the Gwanghwamun Gate (front street entrance).

The construction of the Royal Palace was completed in 1395 however all buildings in this estate were completely destroyed by fire from the invading Japanese in 1592-98. A secondary, or say a temporary palace was built after the invasion in 1610 not far away from these grounds but these palace grounds were left derelict for some 270yrs. Finally, restoration took place in 1867 to resurrect this amazing monument to past Korean Governance & this continued to again in 1990. This vast walled ‘fortress’ of some 692,000m2 also housed about 500 tiny homes of essential governing people but these were never restored.

Where the guard ceremony (parade) was carried out was the foundation for the Japanese to erect their own government headquarters during their invasion of governance & the Gwanghwamun Gate (rear of the photos) was removed. A concerted effort to restore the main factor buildings have been ongoing since 1990. The Japanese Govt building was removed in 1997 & the Heungnyemun Gate (middle gate of palace grounds) was restored to its original state too. You will note in some of the photos, the buildings & shrines are also protected by a group of baboon looking monkeys on each roof hip line.

The Gwanghwamun Gate (main front gate) was restored in 2010 along with the King’s & Queen’s separate living quarters. You can see in one of the photos, the King’s sleeping quarters has numerous hanging panels from the ceiling that can be drawn down to segment of different room designs and to provide further privacy, as the King had many maidens as well. The Shrine in the King’s Palace area is an amazing work of features, etc all under the 25m ceiling. The bottom right photo shows our travelling group with our guide, Jade in her full voice of commentary & some of the group showing readiness for more viewing.

The actual King’s Palace restoration even retained the original large mote which looks fantastic in the photo and unfortunately is not open to the public. Surely, it would be as magnificent as its outside aesthetics.

A short walk away was the National Folk Museum of Korea to learn more history & culture by being directed into the Permanent Exhibition #3 (Korean Life Passages) however upon entering, Jade, our guide, was in fine voice with no evidence of stopping & one could envisage this might take hours to get through this one floor of the museum so I headed off alone with the plan to meet up with the rest of the group who wanted respite & coffee in the foyer Cafe. Some of our travellers were limited in their walk lengths & stamina, so each to their own management. Exhibition #3 presents everyday items and culture from past to present and the growing education from child to adult & was quite detailed & well presented.

There were plenty of displays showing the various historical way of Korean life and how things progressively changed, and I was comfortable in studying these without the volume of speech from Jade. She was truly full on!! The last sight that really took my eye was the extremely colourful bier (Korean Hearse) which is carried by 12-24 pallbearers. This large bier is called a Daeyeo & a smaller one, Soyeo. This Daeyeo is in original condition & built for the funeral of Choi Pilju (1796-1856) making this bier constructed in 1856 & was a great donation to the museum from the family. One traveller who caught up with me said it was like a Noah’s Ark due to the shape & the 4 levels of animals on it with sculptures of human beasts, 12 zodiac animals on each level signifying the deceased to the afterlife.

The next & last exhibit was an interaction of photos projected onto a very large wall. One was a saying I aspire my later life to from my attendance in Landmark Forum, 2017 & a few books I read from Ekhart Tolle (The Power of Now & A New Earth). The saying here was “When I was young there were many tomorrows, but as I get older there are many yesterdays. As tomorrows must all become yesterdays, today is only a moment” by Han Jang-sok 1832-94. Landmark Forum is where I saw over 150 people change their outlook on life after the 3day forum & the outcome was “Stay in The Present” so you can understand “today is only a moment”. Turning left in the semi-darkness hallway was the Café where onlookers were smiling at me thinking the group was finally coming out. Sorry people, for it took another 30mins+ before Jade & the group resurfaced.

Next, we were to stop for a 10min quick photo of the ‘Blue House’, I believe is the President’s House which left me at the back of the bus out of the view from the side window. The bus only stopped for a mere 2 seconds then takes off leaving me with a partial blurred photo. Arghh!!! I was able to take a rapid shot of a similarly constructed neighbouring residence, obviously a Government Building also.

From there, we venture to the other side of the city (South) to view the Bukchon Hanok Village, a traditional housing estate dating back 600 or so years & still a private residential community. Today, there is only boundary access due to arriving here at the closing 5pm timeframe, so that’s disappointing. 15mins was our viewing time of basically nothingness, apart from some of the external building styles and some young Koreans in traditional costumes who have come to visit also.

We depart past the neo-fururism architecture styled monolith Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) designed by Zaha Hadid & Sameo & completed in 2011. Haha passed away during COVID. This building won the SEGD Merit Award in 2015 @ a construction cost of $451Million AUD. It resembles a large stainless-steel submarine at first glance & apologies in trying to get a good photo which really is a miracle to do so. The was no information to confirm what this building housed or was used for. Look hard into the RH photo below.

We were later granted 90mins of free time shopping at the large outlet store opposite but after scouring 6 levels of a Myer type store with same Australian prices I was back on the bus with no purchases worth getting. What a waste of time & others thought so too. One lady traveller bought a very expensive coat & that was all the bus purchases that happened.

Back at the hotel a few of us ‘lively’ ones decided on a group Korean bbq dinner for our last night out. Sally had found the other day an out of the way Korean bbq restaurant, but upon first glance, it was not inspiring. I was glad it was nearby to our AMID Hotel & surprisingly sat all 11 of us at the one table with 3 bbq plates (gas fired) along its centre. The staff were excited & very keen to see us, although taken aback first at us ‘barging in’ being an out of the busy shopping zone. They quickly arranged the pork, beef, brisket & vegetables & we started ordering the extra-large stubbie Cass beers prior to starting our own cooking.

We all did a bit of our own cooking (once I saw how it was meant to be done) & by the time the eating was done we had clocked up 23bottles & a $550 bill & that was well priced & worth it. Some of our ‘lively’ group went back to the hotel however, some of us (4) weren’t yet done so we went off searching for a bar or similar. We looked up at a 2^nd floor neon sign that indicated was a ‘party-type’ bar & ventured in. It was almost deserted, but we did a group order & found to have been ripped off at $70AUD for 4 beers!!! Marching out in disgust we found another place for 4 beers at $28, which by then left a couple walking back to the hotel a bit strange & wobbly however I managed to do the Qantas online checkin, pre-packing, Polarsteps journal, etc before falling into bed. Young people are so soft now!!!

Tomorrow is basically another free day (without Jade) & to finish brekky by 10am & checkout at 12noon. The bus picks us up at 5pm for Incheon Airport back to Sydney for the 10pm flight of 10hrs.

My day has ended with a walking trek of just 8.51klms which is a lot less than expected & yesterday’s walk. Stay happy, healthy & safe for my next blog & thank you immensely for reading & hope you like the photos.

My South Korea Tour – November 2024

Blog 1 – Day 9 15/11/24

Before I jump into our first day in Sth Korea, I wish to somehow portray how magnificent Japan was for most of us on the tour the previous week on Blogs 1 – 4 (7 – 14/11/24). We were blessed with I’d say perfect Autumn weather over the 7 days with no rain & as much sun Autumn could provide. We received the best guide in Trend & certainly, the bus driver, Takanashi-son .. (spelling?) with their attention to detail, full professionalism & overall skill in dealing with so many personalities and safe driving.

Japan is a country that prides itself on the above personal traits without question as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs. Their culture is wonderful & most pleasing where we are warmly embraced. Criminal actions, like theft is extremely rare and the consequences of monumental shame, etc would be very harsh for the offender plus their family. As I walked the streets of Tokyo & Osaka, etc hundreds of bicycles are stored along the footpaths overnight & not one was locked. Going to a phone shop & the phones on display are not cabled locked like in Australia. Some of our passengers accidentally left their phones on tables & park benches & were still there when we searched for them quite some time after. Travellers were quickly advised at the checkout if they left money in machines or forgot their change. So honest.

The townships & cities are so clean, and every vehicle we saw was spotless to a fault and there are so many other examples that reflect the examples of the world’s crown jewel of Japan. I found Tokyo slightly cleaner than Osaka for some reason. I dread, the tourists & the increasing world influences might divert the teaching of their youth and their culture, professional & morals become compromised. P.s. Upon my return to Australia Japan had released a bulletin stating they are concerned now of the massive increase of say, Australian visitors, breaking records. So that confirmed my original thoughts when arriving in Busan, Sth Korea.

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From the horrors of the day prior in Japan from my last blog I hardly slept and constantly thought how I would confront our passenger from hell, .. DS that morning, for his actions and behaviours to date were beyond belief. I was happy we are staying in the Asti Hotel in Busan for a few nights, so I had no push to repack my bags, etc & get somewhat more settled.

The next day, a big touring day was planned with a bus departure for 9.30am but brekky first. Being somewhat early I found myself the only person in the brekky room apart from another couple on our tour, but I respected their privacy as they had paperwork on their table, etc & eating their breakfast & found another table some distance away.

Some minutes later, DS came from behind & put his hand on my shoulder & makes a joke “have you got my brekky ready”? I immediately stood up & faced him & said “you’re fkn kidding, unacceptable & inexcusable DS. Very poor form” in reference to his selfish stupidity act of yesterday & possibly I’m still venting from his past demeanours. Before I could say another word to continue my venting, he responded “I wanted to do it & I did it”!!! & he immediately walked away & forced a seat at the other couple’s table which again confirms his arrogance. What a vile piece he is!! I made sure he never entered my circle again or even sat in the bus seat next to me from that moment on. I later found a great seat at the rear left of the bus, close to my favourite travellers Ted & Maria & that’s where I stayed the entire Sth Korea bus journeys. From my last blog, DS had left the hotel in Osaka after breakfast on his own accord, flew to Busan, Sth Korea & checked into our nominated hotel without notifying anyone or Trend, our guide which enforced a formal missing person police report. A despicable act & not his first on this tour that involved the police & severe stress to us all on our bus.

Back to the tour @ 9.30am, where we headed off to the East, to Yongdusan Dragonhead Park but first we are in awe of Busan’s infrastructure for 3mil people, such as the elevated road highway network over a very large port moving 20+mil containers/ year & the sheer volume of residential apartment skyscrapers. 65% of residents of Busan live in these apartment setups. We pass over the amazing 7.2klm Gwangandaegyo Bridge (Diamond Bridge) which is the longest bi-level Bridge in Korea. What a structure!! Traffic flows one way South under & North on top. To get to the bridge from the North the traffic spirals up a corkscrew of elevated roadway. I can’t type what one traveller said when he noticed the window view .. & the height we were to travel. LOL!!! Much of the seaport, etc is on reclaimed land. We are so far behind in Australia regarding infrastructure. Obviously, these photos below were taken from the side bus windows.

Yongdusan means Dragon head emerging from the sea which is the shape of the peninsula. The temple is China influenced so you are met with 12 stone statues of the year you were born. My year was of the monkey. Haedong Yonggungsa Temple on the coastline. Most temples are in the mountain areas where in historical times was far safer from intruders & foes. The bell is used here for special occasions, like ringing in the new year. There is not much to write about this location so it really is basically a viewing one.

On the bus we head to the 120m high Busan Tower for a 360° view of the vast city but not the rest of the city hidden behind the mountains. I took the photos in a clockwise sequence hoping you will get some idea of the city layout that is in view. The last photo is from the ground looking up to the tower.

From there we venture into Korea’s largest fish market. From the photos off the tower, you can see a roof line like the Sydney Opera House (white shells). That is the fish market & is full of tanks with all kinds of fish & sea creatures and a massive market to scale. Only 1 couple stayed for a fish lunch where you can arrange for the vendor to organise the cooking of your purchase, the rest of us found cafes, etc for our hour break. No-one seemed keen to do the fish cuisine today.

Back on the bus, we headed towards the ancient village of Gamcheon Cultural Village set into a mountain face. This area was formed straight after the Korean War ending in 1953 by shanties (poor people, refugees, etc) being a safer place to be, away from the open plains. Over the years, the shanties were replaced by brick & concrete & then painted in whatever colour was available. This new area is nicknamed ‘Machu Picchu of Busan’. You can get lost in the mazes of alleys in this precinct & Ed (a favourite traveller) almost did. I would love to provide a photo of the site map but unfortunately, it is copyright, therefore I can’t. The site map was purchased for around $2AUD at the Village Information Centre & was a real help & if you do the designated safer circuits (to prevent getting lost) you can apply certain location stickers. The full circuit can take around 2hrs. We are constantly reminded we are entering private areas, therefore to be extra quiet & respectful of their privacy when taking photos, etc. Looking from the Little Prince viewpoint you get the best view of the village like my photo looking south. There is so much art & photo zones to enjoy. Of course, when we are all done & on the bus, the same lady I spoke about in previous blogs was again very late or lost finally came to the bus escorted by fellow searchers, making us very late to our hotel, arriving quite late in the afternoon. Arghh!!!

The below photos are more of Gamcheon Cultural Village looking firstly, South & the North showing the expansive size & vibrant colours.

Today I encountered 10,577 steps or 7.61klms so I was keen for some energy food … & a beer or two but first I took a photo of the Busan Main Railway Station adjacent to our Asti Hotel & the street of Chinatown for the best takes on a good meal. Several streets have different themes, like Texas Street, etc.

Another big day tomorrow with a 9.30am start for the optional sightseeing tour I paid in advance back in Australia. Stay happy, healthy & safe for my next blog & thank you immensely for reading & hope you like the photos. I trust the stories and photos will get better.

My Japan Tour – November 2024 – Blog 2

Highlights of Japan & Sth Korea – 16day Tour 2024 Days 3 & 4

From my last blog of doing some 13.72klms of walking the day prior I truly slept well and was up @ 5.30am for brekky & bus departure for 8am on our first out of city tour to Mt Fuji. DS (a tagged passenger) from my last blog showed up for breakfast if nothing had happened from the night before … never crossed his mind that I was concerned for his safety of not knowing if he had returned to our hotel. I certainly wasn’t pleased with his lack of understanding on being part of a team tour and to add to that a couple of passengers had delayed our departure by 20mins. So frustrating when people show how selfish they are & still never an apology forthcoming.

Suffice to say, I was back in my bus seat with DS again sitting next to me & with his constant negative talking was a strain on myself & other passengers, but I knew I had to keep DS in some form of control as I felt I was the best person that could handle him. My hardest duty was to stop DS from talking when Trend (our guide) was talking to us via a microphone. So disrespectful.

Traffic congestion was insane & took about 1hr just to get to Tokyo city outskirts & it continued all the way to Mt Fuji much to the frustration of DS. Unfortunately, the tour timing didn’t help with us travelling on a Saturday morning when a lot of local citizens travel to Mt Fuji for a common getaway. Mt Fuji is only about 150klms from our hotel but felt a lot longer. The highway was 2 lanes all the way but full & we travelled through about 20+ tunnels & some were obscenely long. I could not help admiring the road network infrastructure (bridges & tunnels) which are beyond belief. Just amazing! We were advised many of these tunnels were constructed using the old mining methods and mass manual labour & when technology chimed in there were proper mining equipment utilised, such as vehicular jackhammer machines, box rail carts, conveyor belt extraction, etc and much later massive drilling machines.

I hope you can appreciate my ‘skill’ .. LOL!! … in taking some photos via the bus travelling above 100klms/ hr. There were no other opportunities given. Once you consider the extreme mountainous ranges you can understand how important these road tunnels are in linking the various villages along the way. In older times, it would take over a week for villagers to connect with another village scaling over these mountains. They had to be self-supporting for centuries & at times be their own ‘government’. The villages would also, be very cold in winter, nestled amongst these giant ranges.

Getting closer to Mt Fuji the road became narrower & steeper with constant winding of tight corners and occasionally another bus would come into view & we all breathed in, with bus mirrors just missing each other & with little reduced speed. Our bus driver, Takanashi-son .. (spelling?) was clearly showing his driving skills and it wasn’t long before I realised, he was the best bus driver I have ever experienced and knew we were going to be safe on this tour.

Finally arrived at Mt Fuji 2300m elevation @ 12.20pm, some 4hrs of bus travel & one 15mins relief stop (remember, just 150klms travelled). Temp 4°C but felt like 2°C without the brisk wind factor. We can’t complain by having a great ‘sunny’ day greeting us. The car & bus parking was at the highest elevation of the road system at the main 5^th Station, but for trekkers you can venture up to 7^th Station & with strict approval & conditions go to the top. Sadly, today & at certain previous times Mt Fuji didn’t have its usual snow-covered top which didn’t help with the aesthetics and photos. Based upon the upcoming weather, we may have missed the snow by just a few days.

There is a short walk from the bus up to the central 5^th Station complex where your first photos can be taken of Mt Fuji, then viewing the location shrine and the rear viewing platform overlooking the village of Kofu (left) & Lake Kawaguchiko to the right. Once everyone had done the full viewing of Mt Fuji, we were back onto the bus heading for Kofu & Lake Kawaguchiko (2^nd largest of the Fuji Five Lakes) to undertake a 20mins lake cruise in a traditional boat to see another angle of Mt Fuji. Cruising on the lake was quite brisk to say the least but it was well worth it & the price included in our tour. DS decided to be the only one to stay on the bus for he said it wasn’t worth his time of 20mins. Looking out from the boat & at the wharf we all really appreciated the strength of the glowing colours of Autumn through the trees & foliage these past 2 days. You can’t but help noticing this beautiful scenery.

Top left photo – Brilliant Autumn Foliage. Top Right – Lake Kawaguchiko with road highway bridge in background. Middle right – Traditional Japanese Boat. Bottom photo – Mt Fuji from centre of lake using the cloud as artificial snow effect.

Back on the bus for about 3hrs (130klms) to Saku on the way to the Nagano region (centre of the Japan, Honshu Island). We arrived quite late again at Saku, but the brand-new Hotel Route-Inn was superb with my top floor room, 603 amazing. In the coming days we will be heading to Hiroshima, so those undertaking this optional tour must pay their 550,000yen ($550AUD) per person today so Trend can book & pay for all the bullet train travel & tickets involved. Luckily, or good management, I had thought of potential forthcoming issues & had the required cash on me as my debit card wouldn’t work on Trend’s device. Whew!

Today, was a lot easier on my feet with only 2.71klms of walking. Tomorrow, we head NW to Nagano.

Day 4 10/11

Just an overnight stay, so it was easy packing and in readiness for an early brekky at 6.30am for 8am bus departure. When I awoke, I looked out from my 6^th floor window to see a large, ploughed field and looking like a nice day unfolding. By the time I left my room some 10mins later and found my brekky table the outside area was full of fog. I was advised it was 0°C @ 6am then heavy frost eventuated. No doubt the weather changes rapidly leading into winter. The breakfast buffets have all been well serviced to date and with a mixture of Japanese & western food, so it was bonus to sample a few different things & making up for the limited dinner options, if any, once our bus arrived late at night. Obviously, I didn’t like some of the Japanese food offerings and some I didn’t even know their names so I confided in myself that I at least tried a good range but be more wary next breakfast.

Again, the usual suspects were late getting to the bus .. but with no pushback from others was surprising, seeing how frustrating this is becoming. I guess, with 30 travellers we all can’t be friends so I will surmise there will be pushback forthcoming surely. One later comer (Indian couple from Melbourne) frequently arrives late, takes off his coat, folds it neatly & places it on his above rack, then inspects his backpack before placing it next to his coat & this delays the driver from departing. When we have a stop, he is the first up, slowly puts on his coat & checks his carry bag thereby delaying most of the bus from alighting. He & his wife will evidently feature in my future blogs.

Our first stop will be at Takayama (Taka=tall, Yama=Mountain) some 3.5hrs away of the most winding of roads & amazing infrastructure, sheer cliff faces netted, pinned & steel cables used for kilometres. The hwy follows the rapids of the Ryuo River mostly & then the Shio River that shows off their various hydro schemes, for there is plenty of water streaming down. Some boulders in these streams are massive, so lots of water pushed them there. The extra-long road tunnels (2 lanes wide one way) where some start at 800m in length up to 4.7klms long through mountains so high & coated fiercely with pine, cypress & cedar trees somehow growing vertical off the steep slopes. At times you can see a few areas where ‘tree avalanche’ damage has occurred, much like in New Zealand, Sth Island.

Again, lots of small villages located in isolated valleys where all available useable land is fully utilised. The road travels this time of the year (Nov, Autumn) is awesome of colour, ultra clear water & some dam water with glacial type colour bringing so much pleasure to one’s eyes. I would dread travelling here in winter with snow chains, etc on the terrain encountered today.

To get to Takayama we traversed about 30+ road tunnels & arrived at 11.40am where Trend took us down the normal ‘main street’ (I detest walking close by Trend’s Trip a Deal blue flag like the thousands of pampered tourists on bus tours, so I hang back whenever possible, same for my new friend Ed from Melbourne). You can see the flag waving in the rear of one of the photos. Trend showed us the narrow alley ‘streets’ of the Ebisutaigumi Preservation Area then we had our own free time wandering until 1.45pm through this ancient part of the township where we were advised the tourists outnumber the citizens here. Above two shops you can see two large saki balls suspended from the roof. The largest one confirms the oldest Saki brewery. The rickshaws were there for the obvious tourists and due to the crowding in the alleyways I could not help but wonder in amazement on how they avoided the people & still not allow a wheel to enter dangerously into the water gutters on each side of the alley.

Seeing a honey ice cream outlet next to the Saki brewery, I was easily conned to see what this delight would be like. I chose a Bee Pollen & Manuka Honey Ice Cream tub … & an absolute woo hoo!!!! Another bus traveller saw my delight & she was easily persuaded too. After nearing bus departure time I met some young workers at their new coffee nook store in the main street for a well-earned coffee .. they had limited English, but we ‘communicated’ well, and they waved to me a few times as I walked by. They were so friendly & respectful & I made sure I returned the same. Back on the bus, but again we are missing someone. Yes, it was DS. The bus parking was just a street away from our tour walk so how did he get lost? Well over 20mins had passed & then Trend received 2 phone calls. One from her Tokyo manager & the other one from the local police. DS had entered the police station he found where it rained into utter confusion. They looked at his passport, searched his backpack, for he was being erratic, etc which police would not appreciate. Typical DS.

In Japan, it must be life or death to involve the police & heavily ‘punished’ for the tour guide losing a passenger. DS was lost & he expected the police to simply drive him to the bus stop which they eventually did when the TAD manager confirmed who he was. Again, the matter became much worse when DS exiting the police car yelling to Trend “it’s her fault”! What a piece of work!!! The police then went further on Trend. When DS sat next to me, I gave it to him of his poor form. He said it to Trend as a joke & didn’t accept any fault or later even apologised. Other passengers agreed with me, but DS remained his usual self-serving self. Trend was very hurt but repeatedly stated she was happy DS was safe. Two years ago, one of her passengers died from a heart attack at Mt Fuji & it took her a long time before she continued as a guide.

Back on the bus for more dreaded DS hours & about another 30+ tunnels, with one being an amazing 11klms long we finally arrived at Shirakawa, near Gifu, another UNESCO site. After Trend’s bus intro we were allowed free walking of the site & if enough time to see the village from the observatory hill. The first task was to walk across the heavily constructed suspension bridge linking the only way to the historical site.

The first thing I noticed was the very thick rice stems thatched for the roof coverings of dwellings and secondly, the warning signs for snow falling from the roofs in Winter. Yikes!! After seeing the miniature water wheel still working, I visited the museum house of the original Wada family, who lived in the largest Gassho-Zukuri style house in Shirakawa-go. Paid my 400yen entry fee & mandatorily took off my shoes to wander through this very unusual house & see how it operated with a central internal hearth bowl kitchen & open floor immediately above for heating & drying of clothes & obviously sleeping warmth. The roof & walls are all tied with thick rope bonds & lined with small diameter bamboo reeds after scaling the incredibly steep timber stairs (limited floor wastage).

Top Left photo – Wada Family workers & storage building. Top right – Wada House (rear of photo) & worker’s building on right. Middle right – Centre kitchen stove & hearth. Bottom right – Various carry wreaths. Bottom Left – Top floor showing house roof & wall structure & floor.

Along the walls are carry wreathes to enable the wearer to carry heavier weights for long journeys and to take the stress off their backs. The main income for the Wada family back then was silkworms to make silk & surprisingly, gunpowder. Now that is a unique diversity of business.

Not sure of timing but headed for the steep walkway up to the observatory platform to look over the village. Other passengers coming down said I’ll be too late for the bus; well, I certainly proved them wrong much to their amazement & in beating some of the other passengers as well. Below right photo shows Wada House on the left foreground with the trees around it. The suspension bridge is out of view on far right background.

View of historical village from Observatory Hill

Back on the bus on time (go figure), we stopped after an hour to refuel the bus & then our guide, Trend confirmed our scheduled hotel couldn’t accommodate us tonight as we were running a little late and another bus tour was now arriving there. Within a very short while we were provided another hotel but not in Gifu as arranged. The hotel was another Hotel Route-Inn @ Nishihongodori & that again was superb.

Later, I checked with Trend & asked if she had sent her daily report to her manager where she confirmed she had already done so. After explaining to Trend how the bus passengers saw the DS/ Police incident I insisted she use my name as a reference & submit another report to her manager using my summary of words before her head hits the pillow. She finally promised she would & was so grateful, and she again confirmed that to me the next morning the manager received her 2^nd report & was more relieved on the expected outcome. Trend was totally innocent of the DS/ Police debacle.

A very long day & walking 7.51klms & lucky (again, good management) we all bought some light food for dinner at the pit stop as restaurants were already closed in small villages. Brekky set for 6.30am & 8.30am bus departure.

Stay happy, healthy & safe for my next blog & thank you immensely for reading & hope you like the photos. I trust the stories and photos will get better.

My Japan Tour – November 2024 – Blog 1

Highlights of Japan & Sth Korea – 16day Tour 2024

Days 1 & 2

Seeing this is my first international trip since COVID I settled for a warmup travel experience & Japan jumped out at me, hence I found a few good deals and finally settled on the below trip. Immediately booking this trip on 1^st August 2024 I arranged my best travel insurance for my age group to be Cover-More this time. Surprisingly or more shockingly it is highly recommended to include a policy that has Covid coverage. With the deal below one of the available dates was 7^th November 2024 and my research stated this was a good time of the year to visit Japan & also seeing that I am not a cold loving weather person the timing matched, apart from my family have a lot of birthdays in November, so I requested all birthdays are postponed till my return. My request was hastily refused. LOL!!! Regrettably I also missed my granddaughter’s Year 12 formal too but photos sent to me on the trip really gave me such pleasure & pride.

Trip A Deal – Group Tour – Highlights of Japan & Sth Korea – 16day tour, $6,463.00AUD with my optional day tours. The hardest thing was to succumb to the sole traveller fee of $1,200 & Brisbane airport fee $200 included.

7days Japan, 7days Sth Korea, 2 days flying times: EXCLUSIONS
• Visa fees and requirements .. not required for Aus travellers on tourist trip under 90days.
• Domestic transfers and flights not stated in the deal offer
• Meals/beverages not stated in the deal offer
• Recommended gratuities/tipping … $10AUD/ person/ day
• Personal expenses
• Travel insurance

Within this tour itinerary I have choices of optional tours & activities, so I chose only 2, with the first one on Day 7 at Osaka, Japan with a bullet train trip to Hiroshima for 55,000 JPY ($550AUD) per person (payable on tour in local currency) & is recommended for a ferry cruise to a nearby island as it enables viewing of several sights not able to be done from the mainland. The 2^nd one was a Busan City Tour in Sth Korea with costs included in package price.

After much anticipation and a fair bit of anxiety (Post COVID unknown??) November arrived and my tour effectively started from my hometown of Yamba in Northern New South Wales & travelling to my daughter’s place in Canungra (3hrs drive away), at the bottom of the tourist village & landscape of Mt Tamborine located, Gold Coast, Sthrn Queensland which is frustratingly set at a different daylight-saving time of 1hour behind which really sucks when you are travelling interstate. After spending 2 days with my family, my son-in-law Jason drove me direct to the Brisbane Domestic Airport for a 7.45am flight to Sydney, QF511 where I’ll transfer to Sydney International Airport for my 12noon (Daylight Saving Time again) Tokyo flight of 10hrs with a Qantas A333 jet on QF59. Arriving at 6am I was able to have brekky at The Aviary where the service was brilliant & avo smash/ coffee was superb before my first flight.

Once I adjusted my large backpack (duffle bag configured) for check-in luggage a very helpful Qantas staff member applied my bag tag & placed it straight onto the conveyor however, he rushed off & there was no-one around to confirm if my backpack will be placed on my Tokyo plane or do I pick it up on a carousel when I arrive in Sydney. Upon landing in Sydney, I was instructed to go direct to Gate 15 to meet a free shuttle bus to the International Terminal across the taxiways I was heavily involved in 2 of their constructions back in 1986-87. From the bus the taxiways looked in good shape. With fingers crossed I hoped my backpack arrives in Tokyo with me. Gulp!!

Going through the numerous bag & bio screenings of 2 flights in Australia we board the large plane, with me walking out onto the tarmac for the rear entry. A lady was struggling with her large carry-on and looking after her 7 or so year old son down the stairs I insisted (she didn’t want to trouble me) I carried the bag all the way down & up the steps into the plane to her amazement and heartfelt thanks. I had no trouble at all in doing it & knew I had made a positive difference to somebody (one of my life’s mantras).

My Tokyo QF59 flight is an Airbus A330 seating up to 300+ passengers and we were completely full for this trip seeing Japan is an absolute travel favourite for us Australians, especially this 2024 year. Our flight flies directly over Brisbane (again!!), Cairns, Port Moresby & Guam with lots of Pacific water underneath. As you can see from the flight info photos there are some interesting stats to review. After some mind numbing 10hrs, we finally land at Tokyo Haneda Airport at 8pm their time (Japan is 2 hrs behind Sydney Daylight Saving Time). The airport is so large, it seemed about 1klm of walking before we came to bag collection (my bag arrived!!.. yay!!), Agriculture Declaration & then Customs/ Immigration.

With all the current arrivals & scramble, I was struggling to find my QR entrance code on my phone I did some weeks prior, hence I had to do the declarations all over again, 2 copies of their cards. Lucky, I had my own pen. I presented my fingerprints & passports twice. While all this scramble was happening, I could not miss a man about 70 getting highly agitated & putting on a fuss & I was waiting for police interaction or similar for his ‘erratic’ behaviour. A woman assisted him by filling in his forms to calm him down.

Escaping the airside scramble I was warmly greeted by our Trip a Deal guide, Trend. A happy young lady of about 34yrs old (photo below). She did a role call of our 2 tour groups & then I noticed the 70yr old was in my group. Yikes!!! We boarded the bus & arrived at our nearby hotel of 2 nights, Hotel Mystays Hanenda @ 9.45pm with my room 227 awaiting. Trend reminded us that hotel rooms & most rooms in Japan are quite compact so hopefully we will be comfortable. The photo shows the bed & air con size, so you can judge the compact size (photo below). The ensuite was very good & my first use of a bidet. LOL! The hotel also presented a pair of Japanese pyjamas & a set of slippers to undertake the Japanese room ritual. They insisted I take the slippers with me for the other hotels I stay at. Alarm set to ensure we board the bus at 9.30am tomorrow & have ablutions and brekky before then. 2 night stay.

Some pertinent things about Japan are: Japan is an island country in East Asia, located in the Pacific Ocean where the Japanese archipelago consists of nearly 7,000 islands, of which the four main ones (Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu) represent more than 95% of its territory. Japan is divided in 9 regions from north to south: Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai (also called Kinki), Chugoku, Shikoku, Kyushu and Okinawa. On the administrative level, the country is managed through 47 prefectures.

126 million Japanese people live on a territory stretching over 3,000 kilometres long and 378 000 km². Mountains cover 71% of the land and the coastline extends up to 30,000 kilometres long. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the capital and the neighbouring prefectures, is the largest metropolis in the world with over 37 million inhabitants in what is called the ‘Capital Region’. The other largest cities by population in Japan are, from the biggest: Yokohama, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, Kobe, Kyoto and Fukuoka. Japan is the 11th most inhabited country in the world. However, the country has been in demographic decline for many years due to a very low birth rate of 0.7. Currently, 100Yen is around $1AUD.

A few things I learnt in Japan through Trend was that the culture demands the population to do their very best, be professional at all times, be totally honest & trustworthy and make your prescence the best it can be. If you are an employee, it is expected you would attend your workplace 30mins prior & if a meeting is planned then the same applies & be ready to commence right on time. With Trend, it was quite obvious she excels in all those attributes. She works very long hours, is very meticulous in ensuring our tour goes well and that everyone remains safe. Same goes for our amazing bus driver, Takanashi-son .. (Spelling?) who would be the best bus driver I have ever experienced. As my blogs will further explain, Japan & their people are amazing and great to be accepted so warmly & knowing how good they really are. Now, please retain this information as my blogs progress through the tour.

Day 2

Everything went to plan for 9.30am departure except I had to sit next to the 70yr old, DS for our first journey. Lucky me! DS was a full-on talker, so through our conversation I could see we were annoying some of the other passengers and also whilst Trend was educating us of what we will be doing today & what is expected of us on this tour, seeing she will be our guide for the entire tour. I had to bring DS up to speed when we stepped off the bus, as he wasn’t listening of course. Problem #1.

Our first stop was 40mins away, the Tsukiji Outer Market where it is very busy through mainly 4 small street/ lanes, lots of tourists and Japanese cuisine, focusing on mainly fish. DS couldn’t handle this scramble for long, so he went back to the bus. This stop wouldn’t be on my must do list either as we boarded again some 40mins later.

Our next stop was closer to the ‘CBD’ of Tokyo at the Meiji Shrine, dedicated to the Imperial Family in 1926, a Shinto religious site and amazing 17-hectare garden landscape. At each entry you are greeted by huge White Cedar Tree Shrine gates. With the bus entry conditions you have to walk around to the other side entry to see the main Shrine gate which is by far bigger in statue.

All Shinto Japanese show great respect at these gates where they stop, bow correctly & then enter. At other locations at certain buildings and shrines they bow again & do a solitary loud clap after prayer/ wish. Japanese come here for special events, like parents when their children reach the ages of 5, 7 & 9 in traditional Kimono costumes to seek fortune, good future, education, health & all family life important issues in seeking blessings. These youngsters are just so cute in the way they dress and react to the volumes of photos, etc. The odd ages are especially important in Japanese heritage culture.

This shrine caters for especially approved privileged marriages, in traditional costumes and it is such a big deal for just 2hours of organising and ceremony. These marriage events cost the families $10K AUD & after they leave the shrine location to do their own reception ceremonies elsewhere. These marriage ceremonies are so precisely performed and set almost to the minute.

It came to 11.30am & I was becoming quite cold (8°C & breezy) & some fingers turning white, so I went back to Trend patiently waiting at the Cedar Tree gate. I reconfirmed I was not doing the afternoon’s optional tour & wanted directions to the Shibuya town centre, some kilometres away. I told Trend DS wasn’t doing the tour either & that was who she was waiting for. The other passengers doing the optional tour were already on the bus. Problem #2.

I went back & looked around for DS but no luck … depends how you look at this .. LOL!!! I walked to the other side of the garden site to find the extra-large Cedar Tree gate & a welcoming café & ablutions block before heading to the Shibuya Sky area. Walking, looking at Google Maps (frowned upon in Japan when walking at the same time, so I always stopped) and dodging the increasing volume of population takes a great skill at times. Finally, I found myself at the Shibuya Sky area to witness the daytime scramble. I stopped by the pedestrian lights to watch several volumes of crossing, along with the unusually fast go-karts & classic rods (adrenalin joy rides) scooting past. The go-karts too fast for my camera action (operator error). Lol!

The Shibuya Scramble is a major road junction involving several road interactions and when traffic stops the pedestrians have a full-on walking scramble to get their respective sides of the intersection. It is sort of like, New York’s Time Sq, except it is not as visually electric with only a few neo signs, lighting, etc … but it is daytime. I noticed across the street the railway network is mainly elevated above ground except for the necessary tunnels. Japan is highly recognised for their train network.

Checking my day hours left I was starting to calculate my return to my hotel. The Shibuya station line was mainly a East/ West line & my hotel is on the South line which has a station some 6klms away. Thinking that is a decent achievable walk I started off, seeing a lot of Tokyo’s inner suburbs, making out I’m not a tourist. In considering Tokyo on having only Day 2 it is impossible to see all of this most populated city in the world of some 14million in 2023 census, so I envisage returning another time or year to fully soak in more cities & regions of Japan.

After a bit of Google Maps flaws & some 90mins later I arrived at Kitashinagawa Station where I was helped to buy a train ticket for Platform 1 for Anamori-inari Station by the platform officer, as the electronic machine was totally in Japanese. He was so helpful & told me to hurry for the train coming in. I showed my ticket to train conductor who guided me to sit down in the train. Arghh!!!! It was going in the wrong direction & now told me to get off at the next station, Shirakawa (a major station). I was now on Platform 3 & needing 1, so eventually worked that out. Whew!

After about 30mins I finally worked out the electronic train indicator board as it showed the next 2 trains coming in & their stations but it showed Japanese for some 15 seconds & English in 7 seconds. The 1^st train with my Anamori-inari station (#14) light on came in & was far too crowded to get on so I had to wait another 4trains before my train came in. I was determined to get on, no matter what!! Time was really against me now. Yes, I had a bit of room, my daypack was in my hands, knowing it was silly to have it on my back in these conditions. I grabbed the above hand restraint strap with 2 young small Japanese ladies up against me, then wham!!! We get the full-on Japanese train crush with platform officers forcing us even closer like in a rugby scrum. Yikes! .. talk about a crush! .. & I mean crush!!! I apologised to the ladies now looking at my chest, but they obviously don’t speak English or are used to this crush format. I did feel sorry for them, being so short.

Shirakawa Train Station Indicator Board (English)

After a few stops I finally arrived at my station & the stress of escaping was unbelievable & was so thrilled of achieving that unsurmountable goal. Now it is dark but only another 4mins to the Hotel & I was so relieved to have completed my journey. Whew!! Before retiring, I checked with reception on DS but they weren’t sure if he had arrived. I knocked on his door 3 separate times till late at night but no answer. Getting worried now. I was thankful reception had some Grilled Chicken Diavola style for dinner (2,090 yen) I could take to my room.

In my room my phone confirmed I had walked 13.72klms for the day. Buggared! 7am brekky for tomorrow morning & an 8am bus departure. Found out at brekky DS had caught a taxi from the Meiji Shrine within the first 30mins & cost him 8,700yen $87Aud. Ouch!! He never told anyone what he was doing & this was the first of many issues we had with DS. Problem #3. He is the old man with the white cap, far left of the photo in the Shrine surround. DS will form more of my blogs .. you can’t believe what he ended up doing. Stay tuned!!!

Stay happy, healthy & safe for my next blog & thank you immensely for reading & hope you like the photos. I trust the stories and photos will get better. Stay in The Present!!!

BH Life Travels

Travelling as a mature male, noticing life & leaving miniature footprints on Earth

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