We have made it to Taiwan, and let me tell you something: we are totally in love with this place! It has quickly become clear this country is the hidden gem of Asia. From busy streets to happy and relaxed people, we fall harder each day. We arrived on Sunday afternoon. After finding our way into the city center, we met up with our Taiwanese dad, Michael. Michael is my friend Stephanie’s dad (Stephanie is one of my best friends in…
On our last day in Korea, Amanda and I headed out of Busan to Geumgang Park, up yet another cable car. If you want the audiovisual version of the story, just watch. Otherwise, scroll down and read on: We knew finding Seokbulsa temple would be difficult because the guidebook said so, and it was correct. We hiked in the wrong direction for 40 minutes and had to turn around and hike nearly all the way back to the cablecar. In…
We did something really special on Monday, as Amanda alluded to in her Seoul post. We decided to see what trouble we could get into just outside of Seoul, so we packed our day-packs and hopped on the bus bound for Bukhansan National Park. Supposedly Bukhansan is filled with tons of great hikes that probably don’t get enough attention. That said, we wanted to check out the very popular Baegundae Peak, the highest point in South Korea. It turns out we couldn’t have picked…
We went to Kobe! It’s an easy 45 min ride from Osaka on the train, and there’s plenty to do to fill at least a day trip. We did the obvious (and gaijin) thing and ate the beef, then ventured up the nearby mountain. Terrible ketchup and not nearly enough fries for this Frenchman, but the burger was good. We decided to head up the fancy ropeway in Kobe, which took us up the mountain to an herb garden, forest, and…
Amanda already wrote a bit about Kurama, but it’s worth a second mention because it’s great (and I took videos)! Less than an hour from Kyoto, you can get there via the JR Eizan line, which winds through lovely tree-covered mountains. Once you get to Kurama Station, walk up the hill to the entrance and either hike 30 min to the top or pay 200 yen per person to ride the funky cable car. We rode up and hiked back down…
On our second day with the rental car, we visited the Sounkyo Onsen Village, another part of Daisetsuzan National Park, to see what we could find. I apparently didn’t quite know where we were going or what we were doing. Whatever. The village itself was lovely, though we really were interested in getting lost for a while in the nature of Daisetsuzan National Park. We took the gondola (they call it a ropeway) up the hill for some better views….
We decided to get out of Tokyo craziness for a day trip to Kamakura, known for its abundance of temples and big buddha. After the 1-hour JR ride, we arrived to check out Tsurugaoka Hachiman-gū. No trip to Kamakura would be complete without a visit to this big guy, Daibatsu. I’d been once before, but had no memory of going inside. We went inside. With a few hours to spare before heading back to the city, we headed to Enoshima Island,…