Adventures in Seoul

Food! Drink! Vintage shopping! Stationary! Adorable Korean children!

My holiday to South Korea was wonderful.  Seoul exceeded all expectations with lovely people, delicious food and most importantly, an abundance of 5 grain bread and cheese (which tends to be hard to find/expensive in Japan). I was the happiest girl ever. More pictures coming this way soon!

Harroween

Halloween in Japan is always lots of fun and this year was no exception. I dressed as a Frida Kahlo inspired Mexican day of the dead skeleton which was lost on a lot of people. I walked past one group of Japanese guys on the street and they said 'ooh...Lady Gaga'. Ahh well. One can try!

Ho-li-day

When I was back in New Zealand it felt like something of a holiday, but different from the ones I had been taking. It was a sleep deeply/don't wake me from my slumber no matter how important it is/ reading novels in my childhood bedroom while eating cameo cremes/ I'm taking a bubble bath and drinking red wine, kind of getaway. In between these times of recharge I saw my friends who I had been missing terribly and we danced furiously to Blondie and Santos Esmerelda, practiced air maracas, went to karaoke and pulled yoga moves while drunk. There were no laminated itineraries or sight seeing and it was nice. Now that I am rested, relaxed and back in the ever wonderful Japan I am dreaming about the next exotic location I want to travel to. 

Images from YouthQuakers. How good are old Vogues?

Yippppeeeeee

Today is the first day of 2011 where the roads are clear enough to ride bicycles. I was so excited this morning I was literally hopping around my tatami room like a crazy person. My poor mamachari has been gathering dust in storage but thankfully this is no longer! 

Before I came to Japan I could barely ride a bike and wibble wobbled all over the show, much to the amusement of pedestrians and motorists. As the months progressed I slowly became better and now I am a bonafide mamachari enthusiast. My fire engine red two wheeled wonder is the apple of my eye.

  Throughout the snowy days there has been the odd madman (and women) who has braved icy snowy streets on their bicycles but generally people look on in horror and wonder. The ice is so slippery it's really not a good idea. Now the snow has all melted, the blossoms are around the corner and the mamacharis are out! Yay!

Whiskey soaked nights

Adventure

I love books like Into the Wild and The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Protagonists who search deep within themselves to find answers to questions that have riddled them for years. It's a great thing to explore this big wide world and ask 'what is all of this?' all the while holding tightly to your ability to imagine and experience awe. This doesn't mean you have to have lots of money to travel all around the world, just explore further than your front gate, your street, your suburb. And at very worse, if you can't leave, step into your imagination. I love this quote by Chris McCandless about the pitfalls of exploration and the stifling of mans adventurous spirit.


"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

Till 6 in the morning

I was lucky enough to party with the awesome boys of Tiddabades this weekend as well as some amazing residents from Yoga, Tokyo. Three trips to the combini for alcohol and one b.b gun too many before it was 6am in the morning and I was taking a somewhat hazy train ride back Shibuya. It sure was nice to hear some New Zealand accents though!

Fukushima

Change

Away from home when big ass earthquake hit New Zealand, felt weird

Best friend moves four blocks from the Eiffel tower, phenomenal skype dates.

Oceans away from my loved ones

Quit smoking

Loved one passed away

Booked tickets to India (today)