What will we do this week? Let's just go to Japan!!!

  So.....here's the story about how we went to Japan.

As soon as school finished for the day, I headed home to pack. Because of course I didn’t pack for my trip to Japan ahead of time!!! Are you kidding? We all met the bus terminal to catch the bus to Busan. Sam ended up being a little late because she had forgotten her passport at home and had to go back and get it.

We al boarded the bus and ate some of the yummy cookies Sam had made me for my birthday. When we arrived in Busan, the first stop was a Mexican restaurant. When we had come to Busan a few weeks ago for the sand festival, we had tried many times to eat here, but it was always full of people. Today, we got a table and had some of the best Mexican food ever. Then, to top it off, we had an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins for my birthday! It was delicious!!!

The next day we woke up early and headed to the ferry terminal to catch out boat to Japan. It was quite a speedy boat, and it only took us about 3 hours! When we arrived we took our first Japanese bus ride to the Bus Station. On the way we saw that a) lots of people waved at us and B) they drive on the other side of the road.

When we got to the bus station we split into two groups and went to have lunch. Of course, we were in a mall, so we headed to the mall food court. Unfortunately we couldn’t find a table with chairs, so we all stood around a standing-only table to have our first Japanese meal.

After lunch we checked out a map and decided to head for the castle ruins. We took a subway there, and when we arrived we realized that the castle was in a giant park! We spend the afternoon walking around where we passed lots of ponds and saw tons of wildlife (turtles, herons, fish…). We even saw a father and his two children fishing for frogs! 

As we continued to walk around, it rained a little, but it wasn’t bad enough to need an umbrella. But then suddenly the sky opened up and it started pouring! We rushed under a gazebo to wait out the storm – just looking at the rain and going through the pictures we had taken.

Finally the rain stopped and we headed back to meet everyone for dinner. Since we still had 2 hours to meet, we decided to walk to the meeting place and see some of a Japanese city. We passed lots of restaurants, cafes, a nice junkshop, and some other places here and there. When we arrived, we still had an hour so we walked around a few shops and then hung out at a bar to wait for everyone to show up.

When we went to meet, no one was at the spot, and we were starving. We waited for about 15minutes and no one showed up, so we decided to go eat by ourselves. We found a sushi restaurant that served sushi on a conveyer line. It was delicious. Afterward we sampled some Japanese Sake….and that’s when we heard the news.

We got ahold of our friends, who met us at the place we were sampling sake. “I’m sorry to tell you this, but the ferry company just called. Our boat has been canceled. We’re going to have to travel to a different city and take a 9:00pm ferry. We won’t arrive in Busan until about 8am Monday morning.” Of course we answered with “Stop messing around…we’re not that stupid.” We figured they were just shooting jokes because we hadn’t kept waiting for them. But, as it turns out, they were serious. Because of the typhoon, it wasn’t safe to take the speed-boat back to Korea. Crap. Of course, the mood soured instantly. We had been planning on staying up 24 hours and sleeping on the 2o’clock boat back, but now it looked like we’d be up all day. Plus, we had suddenly lost our joyous spirit. After discussing it amongst ourselves, we decided to try and find a hotel. The other group had reserved a hostel for themselves, and was a little worried about where we were going to sleep. We were as carefree as could be though, sure that there would be someplace comfortable to sleep just around the corner. We found ourselves a guide and she showed us to a nearby hotel….which was full. We stopped in a bookstore to grab some coffee and snacks, and that’s where we found another helpful guy. He made a few phone calls and found us an AMAZING place to stay! It was basically…..a 5 star Jimjillbang!!!  (You KNOW we can’t bear to stay in anything less nowadays.)  They gave out blankets, towels, and velvet relax outfits! The sleeping room had actual beds with individual TVs in each one. There was a fountain of pebbles in the center of the room. I could go on and on an on….but I don’t want to make anyone jealous…..

The next morning we woke up and headed out. We decided to check walk around a bit and check out another mall – do a little bit of Japanese shopping. It was a huge place, with floors and floors of stores! Even a Barbie store (not as good as the American Doll store of course). It sold Barbie things, but mostly clothes. And not children’s clothes either. Mostly adult clothes! I was surprised. After sitting shopping for a while, we all took the opportunity to call our co teachers and let them know the news that we weren’t going to make it home in time for school the next day. Some teachers were fine with it, some teachers were livid, and some just didn’t answer their phones. 

We meet up with everyone at the bus station again and headed to our ferry. The bus ride was really long – we had to go to another city – but that was ok….it gave us some time to relax and look out the windows. The countryside was really beautiful…..or it was until I fell asleep.

When we arrived we bought a bit of food at a nearby grocery store and waited around until we could board the boat. The boat we were going to ride was huge! There was a restaurant, a sauna, a bar, and even a singing room! We all got one big room and were able to leave our bags there. After boarding, we headed up to the top deck to eat our snacks and watch the boat leave Japan.

Throughout the night we all did different things – look at the ocean, read books, play card games…. But the night ended on a giant game of hide-and-seek around the entire boat during a tsunami. I’m glad no one was washed off, leaving everyone to keep searching for their “excellent hiding spot”

The next morning was rushed. As soon as we arrived we all headed of to our respective schools. Some took taxis…. Some took the bus….but we all arrived home safely. Though there were a few people that got in trouble, and a few people that were lucky and escaped any reprimand whatsoever…. I don’t think we would have traded that trip for anything!! It was THAT fun…..