So I got into Tokyo on 1st of November and as usual I got very excited to be in Japan. Still my favourite place in the world. The weather was surprisingly mild during the days with 15-20 degrees but the nights were fresh.
I met up with my buddy Joel, which I knew for six years (from couchsurfing.com) but never actually met in real life before. He was so kind to let me stay at his apartment for a week, and I had organised a couch-surfer to host me for my second week in Tokyo. I planned to properly explore this massive city this time around, as last time I did not had too much opportunity.
Tokyo is immensely expensive, especially in terms of accommodation, so having places to stay for free was important and freed up my budget to pay for food, drinks and other things such as club entries, museums etc.
I explored all the major parts of town and took my time, walking 4-6 hours per day just around instead of using public transport. This resulted in me stumbling upon some quite amazing little side alleys and places I would usually never see.
One of the more memorable discoveries was a massive graveyard where they had impressive headstones, 4-5 meters high and 2-3 meters wide, carved out of black marble. Walking through this place then led me to one of the prettiest temples I have seen so far..
Of course I also explored Akihabara once again, the worlds Mekka for Anime, Manga, Electronic goods and of course porn. It was crazy. I walked through one of those massive electronic stores, exploring level by level of that place. You could buy literally everything that you could ever need in terms of electronic hard and software. But then I reached a level that was just millions of porn dvd's and sex toys.. and they had three entire floors for this stuff. They must have never heard of the internet..
One other thing special about Akihabara is that there are tons of Patchinko-Parlors, Arcades, Maid Cafes and also great and affordable food at every corner. All of these things were fun but if I am getting into it, this post is going to get way to long. Do some research;)
My favourite areas in town were Shinjuku and Shibuya where the bustling nightlife of Tokyo lives. You see funny looking people all day and night, there are street-food stalls, hole-in-the-wall-bars (4-6 seats only), clubs and shops all over these areas. Oh and yeah, neon lights, a lot of them. It's actually what makes Tokyo great. The city only really feels alive when its nice and everybody is on the streets, filled with all these glowing signs, and filled with tons of sounds from all directions. I absolutely love it.
After two amazing weeks, I hopped on the plane to Seoul in South Korea. I got out of the airport and immediately regretted coming there because it was freezing cold! Japan was still nice and warm compared to what I was facing in Korea. And as you can imagine, I did not pack a lot of warm clothes for me trip. So Seoul ended up being a week of trying to avoid the cold and therefore not really doing a lot. I explored a bit of the nightlife and the food and went to one of their famous temples but that's about it.
I was happy when I could fly out, back to the sun and into Malaysia. I landed in Kuala Lumpur and luckily chose an amazing hostel with a lot of cool people. I only stayed there for a few days but I made some great friends from all over the world.
I moved on to meet my buddy Josh (the canadian guy I mentioned before - I met him in Lombok, Indonesia) in Langkawi. Langkawi is a big Island in the north west of Malaysia, bordering with Thailand.
It was great meeting Josh again and also his new travel buddy from Brazil, Joao (We just call him Joe, cause no-one can properly pronounce his name).
We enjoyed a few fun days with another cool group of guys and girls. We chilled at the nice beaches (which unfortunately were riddled with dead jellyfish - so we didnt really wanna swim there either), took a motorbike trip around the island, climbed up some stairs in the jungle to find a beautiful waterfall and then it was over again. I had to leave for Bangkok as I offered to volunteer in a hostel there for a month, starting on 1st of December.
I took a plane from Langkawi to Penang and then flew into Bangkok from there on the 28th of November.
Quick input here on why I volunteer this month in BKK:
1. Because it gives me free accommodation.
2. I got a bank account here with some additional travel cash on it.
3. I love this city, so one month here will be fun!
4. I need to kill time until my friend Robin arrives to travel with me.
Ok - moving on - I have spent about 20 days in Bangkok now, making new friends, partying a lot, eating a lot and just generally having a great time. The only thing that stood out was a visa run to Laos last weekend.
If you read my whole blog, you might remember, I had done this trip twice before, back when I was living here. So it was nice to reminisce. And once again I met a lot of amazing people.
Josh and Joe have arrived yesterday in Bangkok and another big group of friends I made on my trip should get here before end of the month. It will be a crazy new years - I am sure of it.
To all of you:
Happy holidays and the best new years wishes!
Talk to you again, probably in February when there are new things to tell! (Pictures will be added at some point)
