Boracay Island, Philippines

A road side convenient store. The path to my room at the BnB resort where i stayed. That light blue thing attached by rope to a motorbike is a taxi... they were fun to ride in. Shit!! It's Brody!!! Not really, but looks just like him, right?  I about cried when saw I that mini Eskimo. I miss that dog beyond belief. Not sure this little fella likes his picture taken. Maybe a tad shy. But his mom seemed okay with it... hence her broad smile. 

A brief rundown of the past 3 months...

Jan. – The weather has certainly grown chilly (30’s and 40’s). I’m not too fond of it. Missing the Florida “winter.” Wake up early so I can have the pleasure of watching OSU lose to Texas at the last second. Whatever. Monty and Kevin head back to the states. Inside Foxy Club at 5a.m. Scott mistakenly makes a move on a trans-gender. One of the more hilarious things I’ve seen here. Visit a cave bar for Erin’s b-day and then proceed to partake in a pub-crawl.

Six of us take an overnight bus to one of Korea’s best ski resorts called Muju for the Chinese New Year. It’s dumping snow… fresh powder galore. Spend three days snowboarding, eating and partying. Back to Busan. Begin cooking for people… the secret is out, no turning back now.

Feb. – Jesse and I take the train up to Deagu, the county’s third largest city. We have agreed to be extras in a Korean film on the west coast of Korea. Crash with Glen and Yumi… Jeff meets us later. Stay out till 4 in the morning… nap for 2 hours… wake at 6a.m., hop on one of the two luxury buses loaded with beer, food and a hundred other foreigners and Koreans that the film company has provided for us. Arrive on set after a 4-hour ride. Eat, film, nap, film some more, eat some more… head back, make a stop at the festival of lights in the famous green tea fields. A producer’s brother has an open bar in Deagu for all the extras. It’s 6a.m., Monday morning before we know it. Take the 7:15 a.m. train to Busan. Exit the train, watch the Super Bowl with Glen… the game ends around 12:15 pm here. I haven’t really slept for 2 days… extremely tired. Finish work at 8:30 p.m., go home, close my eyes… rise the next day around noonish.

My sister, Cara (see the 2nd pic, top right) emails me from Seattle… writes that she (along with Keith) will be here in a week. Sweet!!! Eating sushi with Scott… meet a guy named Ben from Seattle, he tells me he’s super excited because he just found out two of his friends from home are coming next week. Apparently said friend’s brother also happens to live somewhere in Busan, he says. I realize he’s unknowingly talking about me, smile and inform him that I’m “the brother” he’s referring to. He freaks out, laughing and shaking his head. It’s a small world for sure. Cara and Keith arrive. I show them around… we visit the fish market, order a huge platter of raw seafood… solid. They meet some of my younger students. They’re so cute, Cara decides she “needs” to take a few home with her.

End the month in Deagu at Yumi’s cooking for about 12 people. First, I serve my shrimp and crab quesadillas with the roasted red pepper sauce, followed by a white wine, pesto pasta with chicken. I finish it off by pan roasting strip steak and pairing it with a red wine, mushroom sauce. The Korean women haven’t had anything like this before. In fact, one of them tells me the quesadillas were the best food she’s ever tasted, even better than “Taco Bell.” I’ll take that as a compliment.

March – The weather is beginning to turn. 50’s to 60’s is the norm now… much more manageable. Visit the beach in Gwangan. There is this badass husky I keep seeing. Love this dog. A few days later my friend tells me the husky will most likely be eaten… that “they eat big, beautiful dogs here.” I decide I’m not going to let that happen. Take the metro down to the beach. Pet my dog, walk into the restaurant, ask the owner if she’s planning to eat the dog because if she is, I’ll buy it from her right now. She doesn’t understand. No English. Call my Korean friend Park, he explains the situation to her. She makes a horrid face and chuckles. It’s her pet… not a meal. Thank God! She takes me outside and shows me the dog’s tricks. I feel much better.

Japan pics (Tokyo)

Mont and Kevin made it to Tokyo on the 29th. On the train, Mont and I met an older Japanese guy who insisted we eat at a traditional sushi bar with him. A very cool experience no doubt. The pics are of Shinjuku (sky scrapers) Asakusa (temple) and the Imperial Palace (the four of us in front). 

We had planed on going to Nagano to see the wild snow monkeys in the hot springs, but we ran out of time. Japan was amazing in every way and of all places I've traveled these past 10 months, never have I met people who were so friendly and helpful. Easily the coolest country I've been to.

Japan pics (Osaka and Tokyo)

That was our hotel in Osaka. Some night pictures of Shibuya... sort of like the Times Square of Tokyo. We stayed in that area our first night in Tokyo. The bullet train was tight... and pricey.

Japan pics (Kyoto)

John spotted Big Boy when we were on the bus. Unfortunately, there was no "Big Boy" on the menu. They did have a salad bar though. The Golden Pavilion was unreal. Overall, Kyoto might be my favorite place we visited. It was sweet seeing actual Geishas walking through town. Lots of history and tradition in this city... and hot Japanese girls... well... they seemed to be in every city in Japan really.

Japan pics (Hiroshima)

Here are some photos of Peace Memorial Park... that's where the A-Bomb dome is, along with the museum. The rest are shots of Miyajima, which is reached by ferry. The famous Shinto shrine gate is located there. As you can see, there are also plenty of wild deer. 

Merry Christmas... the timeline is back

"Basically, you just gotta do whatever you want and not care what the hell anyone thinks”
~ John Johnston (mumbling in an extremely hung-over state from a luxury hotel room in Seoul, Korea)

Friday, 9:03 p.m. – Sitting on the KTX train headed for Seoul. Well those guys should be calling my cell any minute. The flight probably got in late.

10:00 p.m. – Mont told me they were getting in on the 19th. Hope he realizes it’s a day ahead here.

11:30 p.m. – I have a bad feeling… something is clearly not right… still no call.

11:50 p.m. – Arrive at Seoul Station. A shady taxi driver approaches me. Offers to take me to my destination (a standard $8 cab ride at most) for… $20! “Dude, you're crazy… I’m finding a meter cab.”

12:15 a.m. – I’ve walked a few blocks, can’t hail a cab. They pull over… see that I’m white and take off. It’s getting cold out here. No call yet. Where the hell are those guys? This sucks!

12:20 a.m. – It’s now raining. Nice.

12:30 a.m. to 1:30 a.m. – Find a westerner named Chris. He’s amazingly kind. Attempts to help me get a taxi. No luck. He says he’s never experienced this. Contacts his Korean girlfriend… she tries to call a cab for me. Again, no luck. Hundreds of cabs are passing us… none will stop. Tell Chris thanks and to take off before he misses his bus. Look for the sketchy cabie I first encountered at the station… he’s long gone. Still no word from Mont, Kevin or John. It’s pretty damn cold now.

1:50 a.m. - Wow, that’s by far the longest line for a bus I’ve ever seen. Must be at least a hundred plus deep. No cab, no call.

2:00 a.m. – Ask a few guys in line where the bus is headed. They chuckle and inform me that this isn’t the bus line. All these people are waiting for a… taxi! My heart drops. I consider crying for a few seconds, but decide against it. It’s now officially fucking freezing!!!

2:20 a.m. – Cross the street and wander away from the line. See a taxi stopped… run up to him… he begins to drive away, so I grab hold of his window… he seems a little shocked and puts on the breaks. “Wait, Wait!” I scream. “Hongdea… 20,000 won ($20),” I tell him, my face beyond pissed. I hear his doors unlock. I jump in. Thank God!

2:25 a.m. to 6:30 a.m. – Have no clue where those guys are. Fuming mad that I went to all that trouble and still had to pay $20. Decide these cab drivers all have terrible karma. Meet up with Amanda and some of her Korean friends. We enter a bar and order a bottle of Jack for the table. I have no food in my stomach… this isn’t a good idea. One of the Korean guys passes out in the bathroom… he’s carried out. Four of us hit a Noribong (a Karaoke room). I’m really drunk… I can tell because my lips are moving and I’m somehow singing a Paula Abdul song. I take a cab to Iteawon. Pay $6 to sleep on a lazy boy in a jinjibong (a Korean style spa complete with public baths and “hot rooms” where people sleep on mats… it’s a weird country, I know).

10:30 a.m. - Wake up to the sound of a vacuum. Not happy. Check my phone… no missed calls. Oh man.

11:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. – Visit a PC room… have two emails from Kevin. Apparently John made the flight, which left 12 hours prior and Mont and Kevin did not (they were on stand-by using a buddy pass). They hope to meet us in Japan in a few days. In the subway on my way to meet Amanda for breakfast/lunch/dinner. I’m going on about 4 hours of sleep. I’m moving about in a haze. Huh? This girl staring back at me sure looks an awful lot like my friend Bree from the TEFL course in Prague. We both linger for a bit longer. Shit!!! It is Bree!! Whhaaaaatttt! She’s in Seoul for a meeting and is on her way back to the island of Jeju. We snap a pic and talk for a sec. A city of 12 million people… what are the chances? John calls. He made it.

8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. – We decide to stay in a $200 a night hotel room….the place is sick…high quality… plus we get a free, badass breakfast out of the deal… so long as we get up by 10. Amanda and I take John out to eat traditional Korean food. I make him drink two bottles of soju (a cheap Korean liquor that packs a serious punch) with me. Head into a college town to party… John and I are beginning to feel the soju… we grab another bottle. “This is my kind of country,” John announces, with his trademark grin. Here we go.

12:00 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. – John asks Amanda how to say the word “angel” in Korean… she makes the mistake of telling him. He is now referring to soju as “crack juice.” He’s almost there!! We talk about how good breakfast will be tomorrow (I’m going omelet all the way). Oh shit… John just did his “whew” yell. Now I know it’s on for sure. Johnston hammered in Seoul… this should be interesting.

3:00 a.m. – We’re inside a tent eating street food… three Korean girls are to our left. John smiles, shouts out the Korean word for angel. I’m laughing incredibly hard. One of the Korean girls next to us takes offense to this for some reason. “Okay, Okay… fuck you U.S.A.,” she quips. We laugh harder… she repeats herself… we laugh even harder. She’s getting really pissed.

3:15 a.m. to 4:40 a.m. – We enter a different bar. Amanda is not drunk… John is in rare form… I’m loving it, can’t stop cracking up… she’s becoming increasingly annoyed, as are most Koreans around us. We grab a taxi. “Hey, we have to wake up in time for that breakfast, okay… we’ll need it,” I say. He nods his head… tells our taxi driver that Korea is awesome, calls him an angel face in Korean… passes out.

11:55 a.m. – Wake up… look at the clock… look at John. “Dude… we missed breakfast.”