Al: JPN, ROK

A good friend from home came to visit.

Made stops in Tokyo, Seoul, Pusan, North Korea and Kansai. Here's a mid vacation email he sent before arriving in Kansai:

hey everyone,
finally decided to send out an "i'm on vacation" email....Japan was awesome, as usual, as my itinerary included hanging out with goodfriends, eating and drinking... absolutely nothing wrong with that eh? The only thing is, I found myself growing very fond of Tokyo...it was actually kinda tough to leave...thank you to all you Tokyo-ites =)





I'm in korea right now, the weather's not so bad, it's actually milder than japan, although everyone is telling me that this is unusual, so lucky me, i guess. my first night here was very tiring as i had gotten home at around 6am that morning from drinking in Roppongi... thanks sumiyo, but it was alright as I didn't do much except meet with Kiwon's family.

The next morning(yesterday) I went to the DMZ, where South Koreans aren't allowed, it was an all-day event as it's outside of Seoul, let me tell you guys something, I've been to a lot of weird places, but this one...it takes the mo'fo'in cake. Imagine a vast network of highways...all brand new...all empty...except for roadblocks and anti-tank thingys littered all over...oh, and land mines on the sides, just in case... soldiers accompanied our bus, we had to sign a waiver which advised that I had a chance of dying and that I understood that if I gestured to the North Koreans (ie waved or smiled) that I was breaking the armistice agreement...oh and that if I stood too close to the door (walked behind the South Korean soldier in the conference room, even by accident) that meant I was defecting so bye-bye...as you can imagine... I was feeling a bit nervous. (pictures are limited as there was a VERY strict no-photo policy at most of the places in the DMZ, but whenever it was allowed, I went buck-wild.


In the evening, I went to a rock festival called the Pentarock...artists included The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Franz Ferdinand and Black Eyed Peas, just to name a few...unfortunately, because of Kiwon's work, we only caught the Black Eyed Peas and Placebo...it was very good...only problem was that Korea just went through a monsoon and the grounds turned into one big mud bowl...imagine Thunderbird stadium...filled with mud...I was freaking covered in mud, it was gross at first but at the end we all accepted it, ditched my sandals and just barefooted it...my clothes are still in a plastic bag right now, caked with dried mud.