J1: Gyumeshi, Natalie, Macha and World Trade Center

First day in Japan! We were all very excited. But, we were even hungrier when we all woke up. So Remi, who lived in Japan for a few months a one point (and speaks Japanese deceptively well) decided to take us to eat Gyumeshi. Basically a delicious beef-topped rice with yummy sauce!

Gyumeshi

After our apetites were satiated, we headed over to Shinjuku station to meet with Natalie, a half-Japanese friend of Remi's from Lausanne who was currently studying in Tokyo. But since we had an hour and a half or so, we explored a little first!

The first place we explored was one of Japan's giant arcades. Inside, we found this machine, which allowed one to play the crane game to try to wrangle a giant package of chewing gum!

So, once we met up with Natalie, we headed over to a cafe. She suggested that we try matcha, which is a type of iced green tea that is mixed with soy milk. Very interesting!

Matcha


Natalie and Remi

So, after a nice conversation with Natalie (who couldn't stay too long due to an afternoon class) we decided to visit the World Trade Center, which has an observatory at the top. Here are some pictures!

Finally, we spent the rest of the day wandering around, further exploring this vibrant new city!

Picture taken in a random alley near Shinjuku.

Oh, we played cards that night also (Belote... interesting game...)

To Japan!

Well, today Remi, Luan and I left for our big Japan trip. We left our apartments at 4:00pm to go to Juan station (the nearest subway station) as the airport highly subway accessible (unlike a certain airport in Montreal...). But, before even stepping into the first subway, Remi gets a call on his cell from Japan Airlines saying that the flight would be delayed by one hour (actually turned out for the best). So, we decided to head over to the airport right away in any case.

An hour and a half later, we arrived at Gimpo airport, which is Seoul's ex-international airport (it now does mostly domestic flights). While we proceeded to check in, the JAL employees told us that they were very sorry that the flight was delayed and gave us vouchers to use at the food court. Very cool! So, after eating, we jumped on the plane for a short ride to Tokyo. But, since we arrive about an hour and a half after first scheduled, Tokyo's public transportation was closing down. So, we went to the customer service desk to ask how we could get to Shinjuku (where we were staying). The employees at the desk then informed us that since it was JAL's fault that we were late, that they would provide us with use of the shuttle bus for free as well as pay out taxi fare up to 100$ (Wow! Service with a smile on top of that!). So, we then jumped on the shuttle, which brought us to Shinjuku and then hopped on a taxi (which is disgustingly expensive in Tokyo: 2-3 kilometers = 7.50$ !!!).

We then headed to our apartment (got a little lost on the way) and were actually intercepted en-route by Marco, one of our apartment-mates to be (who knew we were coming, but just happened to meet us while bicycling). He is an Italian who is studying in Japan with his friend Alessandro (who was our other apartment-mate). Anyway, he introduced us to the landlady Marika, who gave us the key and bade us goodnight. Very friendly lady, by the way!!!

So, all in all, we had a great first night in Tokyo!!!

Spring at INHA Campus

Well, it's now springtime here in Korea, although it feels more like a cool summer. But, what is really impressive about the campus are the flowers. Here are some pictures, although too bad it isn't really possible to capture the fragrance on film....

Note: Although the sky looks either white or gray at times, I can assure you that it is perfectly blue. I think that it was just too bring outside to capture the sky's colour.

This is the pond near the back gate.

This is the pond and I.


This is building 6.


This is the main building from the front gate.



Cherry blossoms and magnolias.


Pictures from near the Flying Dragon.



Pictures taken from behind the Main Building.



The library, with complimentary cheery blossoms.


A magnolia tree.


Strange that flowers this big grow on trees...


Statue of some lady brandishing vegetation.


Pictures of a peculiar bird house.




The Korean Air plane on campus.


The pretty benches near the pond.


Panoramic view from the front gate.

Traditional Korean Houses

Today Elise, Remi, Nadine and I went somewhere (I forgot the name of the place, but it's somewhere in Seoul!!!). Anyway, it is a kind of park with traditional Korean houses that were brought from somewhere in the country side. Very pretty!

Traditional houses











Strange tipi-type structure for... erm... Outhouse perhaps?


Cooking some food!


Little javelin game.




Korean wedding!


Modern House, traditional style!


Deciding on where to go next.


Still deciding...


Decided on Insaedong, land of shopping!

Courchsurfer's Night

Tonight Euan, who happens to be Incheon's ambassador for Couchsurfing, set up a couchsurfing night for all member and potential member in the area. So, we all went to first Nepal, which serves (you would never guess with a name like that) delicious Nepalese food!

After a great meal, we checked out the Bupyeong nightlife. En route, we came across this sign, and I simply coudn't resist!!!

Does that make sense in any language?!?

Our first stop was a bar that looks like it was located in Vietnam during the war. Very cool place and the alcohol was really cheap!

Remi doing... something...


Cool decorations, eh?

And, to wrap up the night, we went to another bar in Bupyeong (Woodstock) and we finally returned to our area and went to the Blackcat. Fun fun!!!