Back to Korea
Met up with Ashley no problem and arrived in Seoul last night.
There was apparently a big earthquake in northern Iwate prefecture that closed the Tohoku Shinkansen (bullet train) on the morning I would have flown out. This happened to be the same day my visa expired. I wouldn't have made it to the airport on time if I hadn't had the amazing psychic foresight to spend the night before in Tokyo.
So I'm here. Had a little trouble finding the youth hostel (the same one I'd stayed at 3 years ago) but an elderly gentleman helped us out.
Today I have no idea what we're gonna do. Maybe just bum around, eat, and drink. We shall see.
July 25th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Yeah, apparently they felt the earthquake as a 3.0 even here in Hokkaido. I didn't feel a thing (it was near midnight), but my supervisor did call a half hour later, totally drunk, to ask if I and my neighbors were okay. Never mind that I was 300 miles from the epicenter and of course had no idea how my neighbors, that distance away, were feeling...
Anyway, good job avoiding the nightmare that could have happened if you hadn't decided to go south a day early. That was really lucky!
Have a great trip! -H
July 26th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
Lucky for you!! Have fun in Korea.