Kyoto
Posted May 9, 2012 / By Adam and Amanda / 0 Comments
We had high hopes for Kyoto. Really high. We had heard from a lot of friends that that it was the most interesting city in Japan, and after arriving we saw a lot of ads to that same effect. It goes to show that everyones’ travel experiences are unique. Although there were many beautiful sites, …
Hanami
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I mentioned in the Tokyo article that we found a place to stay on AirBnB with a nice woman named Senae. We stayed at her home near Yoga station on the outskirts of Tokyo and we had some great conversations as she was in the process of studying English. One of the really cool things that we did …
Obuse and Nagano
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After leaving Yudunaka, we made a quick stop at Obuse, a tiny town that is famous for being the last place where the famous artist Hokusai lived. There is a nice museum with replicas of his famous Angry Waves and Phoenix wood block prints. We also had our first oyaki buns, which have delicious fillings …
Yudunaka Snow Monkeys
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During out stay in Tokyo, we actually took a a two-day side trip up into the Japanese alps near Nagano called Yudunaka. Yudunaka is a beautiful town but what made it famous is the large concentration of Japanese Macaques that gather near the snowy hot springs to take baths or onsen. If you have ever …
Tokyo
Posted / By Adam and Amanda / 1 Comment
Tokyo is unreal. We spent nearly a week there, and I think during that entire time, there wasn’t ten minutes that passed without my mind being completely blown. The city itself is really an experience, and although we did do some sightseeing, it was really all of the small day-to-day things that when added together …
Kiuchi Brewery
Posted / By Adam and Amanda / 1 Comment
A few years ago, our good friends Zach and April, hosted a beer tournament at their home for Zach’s birthday. It was a bracket style tournament and the rules were that each guest brought a six pack of beer, which April poured into small unmarked containers. Then at each round of the bracket, everyone tasted …
Nikko
Posted May 8, 2012 / By Adam and Amanda / 1 Comment
I have had a fascination with Japan since I was roughly eleven years old. My best friend Bryan and I used to save our allowance money so that we could import Japanese animation cartoons (anime) before anime was the global phenomenon that it is now. We loved Japanese video games, listened to imported japanese video …
Cebu
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Cebu is the second biggest city in the Philippines after Manila, but we didn’t really have time to explore. We had a great modern hotel for about $30 US, and we checked out the huge local mall, where we got Shakey’s pizza and an assortment of dried mango, one of Amanda’s favorites, so a huge …
Bohol
Posted / By Adam and Amanda / 2 Comments
The island of Bohol is notable for the famed Chocolate Hills landscape, and for the being the natural habitat of the Tarsiers–very tiny monkey-like mammals. We stayed on a small neighboring island called Panglao on Alona beach. We didn’t know ahead of time, but this is basically the Phuket of the Philippines. Stunning white sand …
Oslob
Posted May 7, 2012 / By Adam and Amanda / 0 Comments
We thought our quest to find whale sharks had ended in Donsol, but rumors of more abundant sharks on another island in Oslob had been spreading for several months. We discovered Oslob by chance – it’s just a small blip on Google maps and isn’t even in the guidebooks yet. Riding a jeepney (a repurposed …