Getting to Japan

It's been a long two days of travel, but I thought I'd share some photos of our getting here.  We left at about 4pm from Jecheon to Wonju (40 min) and then transfered buses and headed to Incheon (2 hrs. and 45 min.), so we got to the airport around 9pm.  We decided to forgo the motel idea and crash in the airport to save money.  So, we had "dinner" at the 24 hour McDonalds and played many games of Uno (thanks, Erin!).  If you added up the amount of time we spent playing Uno in the airport it would be close to three hours.

Luckily, the Incheon Airport has these rest areas where you can sleep.  Don't be fooled, though, they are not plushy or comfortable.  But, it beat a chair.

Ian sleeping on his disc.

This sweatshirt was at one of the Department stores in the airport.  It says, "University Hope for the Best."

We walked the wrong way down one of the corridors in the airport and found a Quiznos.  The sandwiches were amazing.  We got extra guacamole and everything.

Mt. Fuji from the airplane window.

The first thing we did when we got off the plane was hop a bus to the Disney Resort and bought our tickets.  The park areas were pretty dead and there was no problem buying tickets.  After that was taken care of we went and checked into our hostel.  The manager is very nice.

Our hostel room is very small, but clean and comfortable:

The view from the doorway.

The other side.

The bathroom (the toilet is in the bottom right of this photo).

We went out in search of tempura and we found it very easily!  We had seen a place near the station and when we asked the hostel manager, he recommended it, saying it was cheap.  It was cheap, but it was quite excellent.  It's probably the best I've had.  The vegetable collection included eggplant, green pumpkin, sweet potato, mushroom, green beans, and bamboo shoots.  The batter was good, too.  Not greasy.  After dinner we walked around the Okachimachi area, which happens to have a pretty large market.

The tempura place.

The Okachimachi area's a pretty happening place.  This is just a random street.

Fishy bread!  Ian accidentally got one filled with red bean (he said it was better than in Korea), but I got one filled with sweet potato.  It was amazing.

There were a lot of shoe "stores" in the market.  They had some pretty cool stuff.

Bright!  I can't wait to see downtown Tokyo.

Mini Mini: The mart with it's own theme song blasting outside.  It mostly consists of "Mini Mini, yahtah!"

We stopped in a mart to get something to drink and to find a Japanese snack.  The first mart we chose seemed to be an import shop.

This is the gelato Mom buys at home.  It's only a little more than $3, pretty cheap for an import.

Hey Rob, Zima is alive and well in Japan.  Tell your friends.

I didn't know Mt. Ranier was "of Seattle."

Tabasco cola?  No, it's just crummy cinnamon flavor.

Well, we're in for the night so that we can be rested for tomorrow (we're off to the Harajuku and Shibuya districts).  Airports don't yield the best sleep.  I hope  everyone had a great holiday surrounded by family shoveling good food into their mouths.  Good night!