• October 2006
• November 2006
• December 2006
• January 2007

 

Sorry I have been such a horrible blogger, once you see some of the pictures I think you will understand why. Anyway, right now I am in Thailand, Phuket to be more specific. I am extending my stay here a few days beacause this is where I spent most of my time today...








...on the beach. And yes... that sand is more white than casper himself.

See you soon.

posted by adam | 8 comments  | #

 

I am alive still... moving from hotel to hotel to love hotel to hostel to hotel... but, it is hard to find anywhere here that actually has free internet. I have been many places these last few days. My parents finally showed up and we have been traveling around with them. I have recentely visted Hiroshima, Kyoto (twice in the last two weeks, in two completely separate trips), Himeji, Odawara and Hakone. If not for this rail pass I probably would have spent about $1500USD on train tickets alone.

Anyway, I only have internet for about 4 more minutes, then I get kicked out of this building (I am using the internet from the hotel I am paying for). I have taken about 3GBs of pictures since my brother has shown up so I will post a ridiculous amount of pictures soon... if I find internet again. Hope everyone is excited for school, I am very excited about not having to go back again. If I dont post anything before the 10th... with me luck on my trip in Hong Kong. I hope to be back up and running after I get settled there. Good luck!

posted by adam | 3 comments  | #

 

Or whatever you Americans say...

What did you do for New Years? This is where I was for most of New Years eve, the Meiji Jingu a Shinto Shrine in Harajuku, Tokyo. Tell me your NYs story!



Anyway, I havent really found a decent internet connection yet, but I HAVE found some friends... Jenni, Andy and his friends came to Japan a few days ago and so I have been showing them around the place. I have been super busy and have taken many photos but they probably will not be online for a while. Christmas and New Years were a weird... a little different... maybe good, maybe bad... but over all they were enjoyable, Ill tell you more about that later.

I am getting ready to go to Kyoto... and trying to find time to stay in a capsule hotel and love hotel here within the next few days... right now I don't have reservations for places to stay two nights this week... we will see what happens. After I go to Kyoto I have to come right back to Tokyo just to pick up my parents to take them back to Kyoto... thank the "G" man for this rail pass that I illegally aquired, otherwise I would be dropping about $1200-1400 dollars on train tickets alone over the next week. I also have to start planing my trip to Hong Kong, China, and Thai soon... since its starts on the 10th.

Thats all Ive got for now, I have to try and get into the Imperial Palace tomorrow to see the Emperor of Japan so I need to get some sleep. Huge update to come hopefully in the next week... I hope. Sorry for keeping you waiting, I know the suspense is killing you.

posted by adam | 1 comments  | #

 

Homeless and without internet. Stories will come when he finds a real internet connection... and a home.

posted by adam | 0 comments  | #

 

So it has been a busy weekend. This is the first minute I have had to sit down since thursday. Everyone in the BLC (business, language, culture) program, which was pretty much everyone, has gone home. Its weird being the only person native english speaker in a place... makes me realize I still really have to work on my Japanese... I still have a long way to go before I am fluent or even efficient at all with Japanese.

Anyway, so now I am in the process of packing and getting ready to ship some big boxes home. I get kicked out of the dorms tomorrow and will be staying in hostels for a few days... I am not 100% sure where I am going to stay other days... we will see. Tokyo is busy and expensive right now which is showing in my wallet... and my checking account, but I should be able to make it for the rest of my trip, I just have to work on budgeting myself and not buying those 3 samurai swords I wanted.

It does feel good to graduate, although I don't really feel like I have because I am no where close the UNL... infact, I am on the other side of the world. But, on the bright side of things, I do still feel like I am on my little permanent vacation that began in Sept. Time to pack. Ill keep you posted of where I am staying at.

posted by adam | 0 comments  | #

 

I posted the wrong picture of me graduating... here the one right after I got off the stage...

posted by adam | 0 comments  | #

 

Its official, I graduated!

posted by adam | 0 comments  | #

 

Here is the crazyness of Shibuya... this is the main crosswalk in Shibuya that 1500 people cross EVERY light change, its ridiculous.

posted by adam | 2 comments  | #

 

My new watch!



Curtis, the watch below, just wasn't cutting it so I had to pull him from the game and sit him on the bench... the sexy watch above will soon be on its way to my house... in Omaha... then on its way to my wrist, in Japan (don't ask why its being shipped to NE first, its a long story).




If you can read Kanji, you know what is going on. If not, learn from the diagram below. Kanji are the characters used by Japan and China in their writing. If you want some lessons... I'll help you out... or at least teach you how to tell the time.

posted by adam | 3 comments  | #

 

Last Saturday morning I went Tsukiji, the worlds largest fish market. The market opens at 5AM and is about 1.5 hours away from where I live. I really wanted to get there at 5AM because I have heard that is the best time to explore. The problem I ran into was that the trains do not start running until 5 or 5:30AM, so the earliest I could get there from the dorms was around 6:30 or 7. So a few of my friends and I came up with a solution, we decided to go to an Izakaya (Japanese Style Bar) in Ginza late Friday night and eat and drink until about 4:30AM. We would then walk to Tsukiji and get to see the market open.

To say the least, it was a long night... and a long following day, but was completely worth it. Not only did we get to see the hectic market, but we were able to eat the worlds BEST sushi. We went to a sushi resturant named Daiwa, which is known around the world for having the best sushi in Tsukiji. So i figure that if Tsukiji has the best sushi in Japan... and Japan has the best sushi in the world... I at the best sushi in the world. We did have to wait for 1.5 hours in line to get into this tiny place that only seats about 20 people. But it was completely worth it. I cannot even describe how perfect each slice or roll of sashimi (raw fish) was. I did't really get any pictures of the restaurant, but I did post a lot of pictures of the market in the gallery.

Also, here are a few pictures of the huge tuna that we saw at Tsukiji. The pictures start at an auction where the tuna or sold, then buyers taking their tuna to their stores to sell, cutting the tuna, and lastly the final product... slices of semi-fatty fresh tuna for sale.









Unbelievably, each whole tuna can sell for between $10,000-$20,000USD dollars each. I guess that is why a few fresh slices the size of your thumb sells for $5 dollars. Also, watching the auction for the tuna was crazy. It sounded like they were singing. There were also no visible bidding signs, it was hard to see who was biddign and who was not. Here is a shaky video of that:



When we were walking through the market, we found a box of crabs that were still alive, it seems cruel, but I guess that is how you guarantee freshness. Check it out:



Anyway. I have posted many pictures of Tsukiji, check them out. In other news, I have less than 10 days until I could possibly graduate, which is exciting, yet I have still not finished many of the things I need to do before then. We will see what happens. Anyway, time to start writing a 10 page paper that is due today. I will post more news soon.

posted by adam | 1 comments  | #