I was now almost at the end of my trip so from Tokyo I caught a train to Kanazawa. A number of years ago I had met a Japanese couple at a conference I had attended in Latvia. We got along very well and so kept in touch since and they had invited me to visit them on this trip.
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I had taken the side trip to Nagoya to see the sumo wrestling champions. These are only held at particular times of the year and tickets are in great demand. When I had realised I was in Japan at the time one of these tournaments was running (the other times I had been in Japan they hadn't coincided) I had decided to take my chances and was able to ( Read more... )

I hadn't intended returning to Japan in 2013 but I had some frequent flyer points left over and as I knew (due to my change in work circumstances) that I wouldn't be getting any more through 2013 and with the airlines constantly changing the rules on their use and the number you need (not to mention constantly changing the flights themselves and ( Read more... )

Flew from Seoul, South Korea, to Taipei, Taiwan arriving to overcast skies. Most of the time we were there it rained, with small bits of sunshine interspersed. It wasn't very cold, just wet.
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The last stop on Jeju Island (after we left Loveland - our bit of excitement for the morning!) was a bus trip out to see the Manjanggul Lava Caves. These are old lava tubes that you can walk along which I was interested in seeing.
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Please be warned that photos in this post are strictly 'adults only'.

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Right next door the Falls was the Botanical Gardens so we went for a wander through them.
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I had hoped (and originally planned) to visit a number of different locations around South Korea in our remaining six days. However, before leaving Seoul I looked into this further as I was able to get some help in translating train timetables etc which I hadn't been able to do before leaving home. It was then that I found that where I had hoped to ( Read more... )

Now the same night the wedding was happening was also the main night of the Lantern Festival which I had also been keen to see.
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So at the end of our stay in Seoul, we had the very good fortune of being invited to attend a Korean wedding.

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