Watch me whip, now watch me Namhae

When I first decided I was going to move to Korea, I was leaning hard towards a public school job. I was researching the different provinces I could work for and easily narrowed my search down to the south. The first application I sent would have landed me a job smack dab in the middle of this beautiful little island. There wasn't much about it on the Internet, other than it being a hidden treasure of Korea. Decades behind the overdeveloped, high rise cities scattered throughout the rest of he country. I had to decided between working in a place this this, where I would likely be the only foreigner, and working in a bigger city where I would have more of a community. Things worked out in favor of the latter. Regardless, there was a good month of my life that I spent imagining what it would be like living there. I was in love with the idea of it. 

I was so happy when I was finally able to visit the place that I had spent so much time thinking about. A weekend filled with activities and camping and the beach, surround by my favorite people. It has been one of my favorite events of this year thus far. From being featured on a big screen while eating carne aside (and pretending to eat carne asada), riding around on lawn chair peddle boats, beach bonfires, temples, kayaks, banana boats, and makin new friends from all over Korea - the memories are endless. Instead of taking account of all the details, I'll just leave these pictures here. Hopefully they will do this island justice. 

Kyoto

Fushimi Inari was an obvious first stop considering the little amount of time I had to spend in this fantastic city. So much to do, there was no way I was going to be able to see as much of it as I wanted. This place, however, I was happy to spend hours carelessly wandering and taking detours to see every torri gate and every fox I could feast my eyes on.

I love being able to take my time somewhere. Traveling alone is nice for that reason. I don't ever feel like I am inconveniencing someone. I can take a 10 different pictures of the same thing until I get the right shot. I can buy a bag of Japanese cracker treats and snuggle into a corner of shrines and eat until my hearts content. When posed with the question of following the path or taking a bit of the detour, I usually choose the latter.

I managed to get away from the majority of the masses of tourists during my hike around the top of Mount Inari.  I cut away from the path here and there, seeing what trouble I could get into. Towards the point where I was about to make a full loop there was a sign advertising an alternative exit which lead to another temple. It was easy to decide which way to go. There wasn't a soul on this path. The only people I encountered were locals. A lovely little woman who I had a very limited conversation with about her cats and a man riding his motorbike. Other than that, it was me and the wild wilderness.  I found a beautiful shrine which spent a bit of time at.

The path led me to Tofukuji Temple. I wandered the grounds for a bit before deciding I was starving and heading to an area of town where I knew I could get delicious sushi and pop over to a market/shopping area I was itching to visit. One really wonderful thing about this trip was that I actually had money to do things like EAT. When I was in Europe last summer I was on a very, very limited budget so I wasn't able to indulge myself eating mass amounts of food and treats - like I did at conveyer belt sushi. It was packed to the brim and I had to wait a bit to get a seat, but it was well worth it. Somewhere on the internet told me this is the place to eat, and they were right. I could have easily sat in there for hours gorging myself with loads of different kinds of sushi. You can read more about it here.

After sushi I made my way around the numerous shopping areas that were near the restaurant, Teramachi, Shin Kyogoku and the Nishiki Market. I was searching for a silk kimono style robe, it was one of the only things I really wanted to take home with me. I was happy to find loads and it didn't take me long to decide on one. I was trying to kill time, waiting for my lovely couchsurfing host, Tara, to get off of work. After getting my fill of shopping I took a look at a map and found a park/temple up the road a ways. I spent an hour or so here drinking blood orange juice, people watching, and listening to a man play his guitar. I met up with Tara and after chatting and having a shower she took m down to the river to shoe me around and have a few drinks. There was a light up festival type thing going on, the river was lined with loads of lanterns and silly drunk Japanese youth who were climbing down into the water making fools of themselves. It was a blast to watch them get in trouble and then get right back in the water.

The next morning I headed to the Arashiyama area of Kyoto. I asked Tara what there was to do other that visit temples and she sent me here, I was so thankful. She said something about a bamboo forest... which I don't think I ever found - but I did find loads of other cool things. I had the most amazing experience walking around a park right on the river. It was sprinkling all morning and at one point it started absolutely pouring rain. I just so happened to be at the highest point of the park overlooking a view that was just unreal. After I got my fill of the park I decided I wanted to play with monkeys. There was an extensive hike up to one of the top of the mountains to reach the "Monkey Park" where there were monkeys of all shapes and sizes wandering freely. At one point I was caught in the path of a monkey brawl. One monkey was chasing another making this horrible screeching noise. Then, his monkey friends came and had his back. I was a bit scared, not gonna lie. They sounded like they were actually having a heated argument.

Land of the Deer

Seriously. So many deer. And they've been here forever. They are so used to tourists and are quite pushy when it comes to getting their biscuits. They're addicts and they aren't afraid to nudge, buck, and nibble to get their dose. 

After getting of the train with a Korean friend (Mars) I made at the station in Osaka we headed toward a few temples we wanted to check out. When I first saw deer ahead of us on the side walk, I was beyond exited. It wasn't long after that I realized these guys are everywhere. I found a cute old lady selling treats to give them and Mars and I were immediately bombarded with deer. Pushy little guys. We had a blast leading them around the park, teasing them and playing with them. They are so forward and pretty domesticated. 

I watched many shopkeepers shoo them out of their stores when they would venture a little to far into the shop. One of the shopkeepers was able to tell me that one of the deer that hung out around her shop was only a year old, and she pointed out the mother. How she was able to identify them out of the hundred of deer living in Nara was beyond me. As pesky as they may be, the locals love them like you would any other 4 legged furry friend. They are considered to be sacred messengers of Shinto gods

                      

We strolled through the small little town of Nara and checked out whatever temple was in our way. There were loads. We chose a nice, shady path lined with huge stone lanterns on the way to Kasuga. This temple is known for the thousands of bronze lanterns, but it was nearly 5 bucks to walk through them - we decided peering through the would be sufficient and saved our precious money for something we REALLY wanted to see.

I could have easily spent hours aimlessly exploring every nook and cranny of this little place. Around every bend there was something new that caught my eye. A little river here, a cluster of lanterns and statues there. Temple after temple, it was hard taking it all in. Mars and I found a beautiful temple situated at the top-ish of Nara. It was nice having him around cause he was able to help me figure out how to properly interactic with all these Buddhist things I have no experience with. Water fountains with cups, bells with brightly colored fabrics, incense and candles. He showed me the ropes when it came to these things and added a lot to my experience in this little town. 

                           

The view from this temple was unreal. I could see the tippity top of Todai-ji - The massive wooden structure  and main attraction in Nara. I really, really wanted to see this baby. Seeing it peaking over the trees got me so excited that I was able to ignore the growls from my stomach begging for food and frolic on in Todai-ji's direction instead.

It was so massive and so beautiful, I have never seen anything like it. Before walking in Mars and I lit some incense meant to clean the surrounding air of unwanted spirits and energies and made our way inside. I sat and stared at for at least 5 minutes before even bothering to take pictures of the huge Buddha that was sitting in front of me, situated peacefully on a lotus flower.

You are able to walk completely around the giant statue. It has two smaller shrines on either side with golden statues and smaller things to look at while you make your way around. There was a place you could practice calligraphy and a small hole in one of the wooden pillars that had a line accumulating around it. Thankfully Mars was there to explain why people (including grown men) were crawling through it. Apparently being able to fit through the tiny space guarantees you a spot in heaven. Challenge accepted. Once I get around to making a video compilation of my Japan footage you will be able to witness my attempt first hand :)