Colours Tour Week (1st leg)

Club Realize, Busan (September 27, 2013)
Magazine release party for Angle Magazine.  This was a cool event.  Angle Magazine focuses on promoting local and original art.  There was live music, live painting, collaborative art, etc.  Other acts were Genius, Critic, Shima Kim, and Zelda (live painting).

Jeng-iY Bar, Daegu (October 3, 2013)
We played with a band called Pairs and another band called Charlie Keaton..  Pairs (China) is an awesome two-piece based in China.  They blew me away...and gave me a free shirt haha.


Sticky Fingers, Ulsan (October 4, 2013)
We played with The Dammit Janets.  They were SO awesome.  The Dammit Janets are an extremely talented all female country/americana/bluegrass group from Busan.  They kind of remind me of a slightly more refined version of The Devil Makes Three.


Radio Star, Jeonju (October 5, 2013)
We played with One Shot (Daejeon), The Primary (), and Sighborgggg(Seoul).  All three acts were awesome and we were honored to get a chance to play at the Sori International Music Festival.

Colours Tour

We're playing 11 dates all over South Korea within the next month.  Check out our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/colourssk) for more information on dates, venues, times, etc.

Summer Vacation 2013 Part III (Cambodia)

     Alyssa and I woke up at 4:15 AM on the morning of the 12th to make our way to the train station to catch the 5:55 AM train from Bangkok to Aranyaprathet near the Thailand/Cambodia border.  Upon our arrival on the train, we were greeted by a very nice Thai man who spoke enough English to communicate with us for a while.  He proceeded to ask every foreigner who came onto the train where they were from...if they were also from the US, he would look at us, point at them, and say "same same."  One of these "foreigners" was a girl from North Carolina named Ilsa who was doing a bit of traveling between jobs.  We ended up traveling together for the next 3 days. The train ride to the border was a little over 6 hours and we slept most of the way.  Once we got off the train, we hopped on a tuk tuk and made our way to the border market to go through Thai immigration, buy our Cambodian visas, and go through Cambodian immigration.  It was quite a process, but after avoiding several visa scams and waiting in an incredibly slow Cambodian immigration line, we had finally made it to the town of Poipet in The Kingdom of Cambodia.

*A quick tip for anyone thinking about using this border crossing to get into Cambodia from Thailand...if you haven't crossed under the arch that says "The Kingdom of Cambodia" don't buy your visa yet...it's most likely a scam.  There is a building just beyond and to the right of the arch as you pass under it...that's the place to go.  It should be $20 USD.  There will be official looking people in official looking buildings trying to get you to buy your official looking visas before the arch...don't do it...you've been warned :)

     Once in Poipet we had to get on yet another bus to take us to the transport depot where we could buy a ticket for a 2 hour mini bus ride to Siem Reap for $10.  They will tell you you'll get a free tuk tuk ride to your hostel when you get there...it's not true...but tuk tuks are cheap and it' really wasn't a huge problem.  I was just annoyed when I asked the driver why it's not free when they said it would be, then he pretended to not speak or understand English.     
     Of all of the places we visited on our vacation, Siem Reap was my favorite for several reasons.     
     First, our hostel was amazing.  It was directly across the street from a night market and a 2 minute walk from "pub street."  The staff was friendly and helpful, the rooms were clean and cheap, and the overall atmosphere was excellent.  There was good cheap food available at the hostel, and we could buy $2 pitchers from 6PM-9PM...$2 pitchers!!!  The staff really made this place special though.  Particularly the guy who calls himself "Happy George" and another guy "Shree" who taught Alyssa a traditional Cambodian dance.  Happy George was our guide for a local food tour we took on our first night.  He brought us to what seemed like a "locals only" food market where we tried several different Khmer foods.  We tried stuffed frogs (tasted like chicken sausage), we tried crickets (again), we tried something called Khmer Cheese (frightening). Khmer cheese is fish that they let spoil in the sun for a day (stinky), then they add a ton of salt and various spices to help preserve the fish and kill the harmful bacteria.  It was funky to say the least, but I'm glad we tried it.  We also tried fertilized and partially developed chicken eggs (also frightening).        
     Another reason I liked Siem Reap the best was because of the people.  Tourism is a huge industry in Cambodia.  Many people rely on tourists throughout the year to put food on their tables.  Touting is going to happen, you can't let it bother you.  Once I got past that and started talking to some of the people, I couldn't help but notice how kind everyone was and how eager they were to share their culture with us.  I saw some of the most genuine smiles in the world on the faces of people who led lives most people would consider very difficult.  These people enjoy life, community, family, and friends, and they really care about other people, whether or not they actually know the person.  It was a beautiful thing to see.  
     Another one of the many reasons I enjoyed Siem Reap so much was the scenery.  We got up at 4 AM to watch the sunrise at Angkor Wat.  It was so peaceful and beautiful to watch the sky light up over the reflecting pond in front of the ancient ruins.  Crowds formed pretty quickly so it was almost impossible to get any pictures without people in them, but we managed to get a couple.  I also never realized that much of Cambodia is covered in  flat rice paddies.  I always envisioned the country being primarily jungle, but it was mostly flat, green rice fields.

     On our third day in Siem Reap, we visited a floating village on the Tonle Sap lake.  Our guides were so awesome and I spent most of the day drinking beers with them on the front of our boat.


     After our adventures in Siem Reap, we took a 6 hour bus ride to Cambodia's capital city, Phnom Penh. We were only here for 2 full days, so we made the most of our time by going to see the Tol Sleng Torture prison (a high school that was converted into one of the most brutal torture prisons in the country during the Pol Pot regime in the late 1970s) and the Killing Fields.  Both were very eye opening, heavy experiences.  It's crazy to me how recently the genocides happened.  More than 25% of Cambodia's population was completely wiped out in a period of roughly 5 years.  The brutality was unbelievable.

     After 3 weeks of pretty intense traveling, and after running out of clean laundry, we were ready to get back to Daegu.  We flew back on Sunday, and had to be at work the next day :(.  It's always so weird going from backpacking to a normal work schedule within a day.  Ugh.   

Overall, our vacation was wonderful.  We got to spend time with some of our good friends from home, we got to see a new part of the world, and we got to make some amazing memories. 

*Pictures from Cambodia will be posted soon.

We got bikes!

     Alyssa and I bought some bikes during the weekend.  All I can say is that we should have done it much sooner.  Life just got a lot more awesome :)

*Summer Vacation Part III (Cambodia) will be posted soon...I've just been too busy to finish it.  Stay tuned!

Summer Vacation 2013 Part II (Thailand)

     From Kuala Lumpur, we flew to Phuket, Thailand and stayed near Patong Beach.  This place was insane...it was like Las Vagas' sketchy homeless twin brother.  Sex shows, exploitation of endangered animals, booze, drugs, laughing gas, the list goes on.  It was a little sad to see what some people are willing to spend their money on, and what some people are willing to sell for that money, but it's part of what makes Patong what it is.  The fact is, this happens everywhere, it's just more out in the open here.  They were literally shoving menus in our faces as we walked down the street trying to sell us everything from illicit substances to a person's dignity.  Needless to say, it was pretty uncomfortable for our group of four who just wanted a place to have a few cocktails.  In my opinion, that's part of what traveling is all about.  I think it's important to be unfamiliar and out of one's comfort zone and to see what none of us have any control over.   
     One thing I must say about our stay in Patong...the street food was amazing.  We stayed at a hotel about 100 yards down the street from a night market.  During the day it was a parking lot for motorcycles, scooters, bikes, etc.  At night, they set up food stalls and the parking lot comes to life.  I had one of the best mushroom soups I've had in my life, as well as an assortment of skewered meats, fresh spring rolls, and crickets (yep...).  Alyssa and I were both completely full after spending only $5...that's $2.50 each for a full meal.

The bug table at the Patong night market

     From Patong, we took a boat to Koh Phi Phi (Phi Phi Island).  It's a series of 4 islands about 30 km south east of Phuket Island.  One of the islands is where some of the movie "The Beach" was filmed, but we didn't actually go there.  This place was paradise.  There were sheer limestone cliffs that stretched out from the ocean to form a beautiful bay where we spent most of our time just chillin' on the beach, enjoying fresh fruit smoothies and the beautiful warm water.   It rained for some of our stay, but it was so warm it didn't really matter.  This particular island was completely ravaged during the 2004 tsunami.  It's sad to think about the loss and damage this place experienced in the aftermath.  There is still evidence of the damage on and around the beaches, but the place was beautiful nonetheless. 

Koh Phi Phi

    

They don't mess around...

     After a few days on the island, we continued our journey east to the town of Krabi.  Krabi was kind of a sleepy town with great beach AND jungle access.  We rode elephants in the jungle about two hours after showing up at our hostel.  The elephant company had a reputation for taking really good care of their animals which was really nice.  It was such a cool experience.  I never realized how huge and strong elephants really are.  I'd never seen one up close before either.  I'm not going to lie...I was a little nervous at first.

The first elephant I ever touched.

     The next day we took a local "bus" to Ao Nang.  Their "buses" are actually just covered pickup trucks with bench seats down either side of the truck bed and a makeshift rack on the back for people to stand on if there isn't room in the truck bed.  There also doesn't seem to be a limit on the number of people they are willing to pack into the truck, so overall it was a pretty dangerous ride to Ao Nang...but that's part of the fun right?  We spent a short time in the ocean at Ao Nang before it started raining on us.  So we decided to grab some food, wander around a touristy market for a bit, and then head home on the bus again.  On our way back, the bus was completely empty, but Jake and I decided to stand on the sketchy bumper on the back of the truck to get some pictures on the way home.  The drive from Ao Nang to Krabi was about thirty minutes, winding through limestone cliffs and lush jungle...it looked like Jurassic Park.

It started raining on us pretty soon after we got in the water :(
It was really warm though, so it wasn't a huge problem.

Ao Nang beach

    On August 9th, we flew from Krabi to Bangkok.  We stayed near the infamous Khao San Road, which is the "backpacker" area of Bangkok.  This place had a Patongesque sketchiness to it (not quite as bad as Patong, but almost).  We took it easy our first night in Bangkok so that we could wake up early the next morning at go see various Wats and markets around town.
     We went to Wat Arun, and Wat Pho via river boat which was pretty exciting and ridiculously cheap. Then we went to an international food festival for dinner that night and were disappointed when we ordered burritos based on what they looked like in the pictures...we should have known better.  That is one thing to consider when visiting Asia...never, ever, under any circumstances think you will receive the food from the picture...no matter what. We expected our first real taste of Mexican-style burritos (pretty impossible in Korea because cilantro is nonexistent, but it's quite common in South East Asia).  We ended up with this weird soggy sandwich wrap smothered in mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard...ugh :(
     After dinner, we rested for a little while before heading out to Khao San Road for some beverages :)  This is where we found scorpions.  The entire trip, I had been talking about how I really wanted to try one...but as soon as I saw one, I totally freaked out and decided to wait until I had a few drinks in me.  The scorpions are HUGE so Alyssa, Jake, and I decided to share one.  The rest of the night is kind of hazy...I think there was something in the scorpion ;)  We went to bed at some point...
     The following morning we woke up and decided to take the Skytrain to the north end of town to visit one of the largest weekend markets in Asia.  The market was a dizzying maze winding through acres and acres of land with no recognizable landmarks...it was a bit overwhelming.  After picking up some souvenirs for family and friends, we took the Skytrain back to our hostel so Alyssa and I could pack and do a bit of research for the following morning.  It was our last night with Stacey and Jake before their departure back to the states, and our journey to the Thailand/Cambodia border town of Aranyaprathet.  We just hung out for the evening, enjoyed a few cold beers in the common room of our hostel, and went to bed early.

Alyssa took some super dorky map pictures of me while we were on the river boat in Bangkok.

Wat Pho (Bangkok)

Wat Arun (Bangkok)

     

Summer Vacation 2013 Part I (Malaysia)

     Alyssa and I got back from vacation last night.  Like our adventures in Japan and the Philippines last winter, this was an eye-opening and amazing experience that I will never forget. 

     We took a four hour train-ride to Seoul on the evening of July 29th.  We stayed in a hostel overnight so we could get to Incheon Airport by 7:30 AM for our flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital and largest city.  We slept for about four hours, woke up at around 5:30AM, and began our journey to KL.  The flight was relatively short (6 hours) but I made sure to sleep as much as I could on the flight so we could hit the ground running.  After we claimed our baggage, we hopped on a shuttle bus for about an hour to "The Golden Triangle" in the center of KL.  Our friends Jake and Stacey had been there for a few days already so they greeted us at the bus stop and brought us to the hostel.  Once we dropped our bags off, the fun started.

      KL is a melting pot of Indian, Chinese, and Malay cultures that mix together to make this place very unique.  Hinduism and Islam are the two major religions in Malaysia, both of which I knew nothing about.  I really didn't know what to expect when we arrived in KL, but I was pleasantly surprised.  We passed by a Hindu temple on our walk to the hostel.  The smell of incense and sounds of chanting radiated from this place constantly while people stopped for a quick prayer to the shrines of Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma.  It was like clockwork: 5:30 AM and sunset were they main prayer times.  At these times, the temple was completely full of people praying, singing, eating, and burning incense or candles.   

     Our first stop after dropping our backpacks off at the hostel was food street...I'm not sure if this is the official name, but this is was we called it, because there was a lot of...food :)  Our first Malaysian snack was satay skewers.  They served mutton, chicken, and beef skewers cooked over coals, served with a delicious peanut sauce and sliced cucumber.  I'd had this before in the states, but it tasted so much better in KL.  It was really cool to watch the cook fan the flames (literally...with a hand fan) and work through the commotion on "food street".  For me, the hardest part about travelling is knowing where to go eat.  Thanks to Jake and Stacey, the research was done for us!  They brought us to some really delicious places and it made the whole "where should we eat" question a lot easier to answer.  At another point during our stay, we went to another place just a few stalls down for some curry noodle soup.  It was an amazing bowl of spicy, coconutty, slightly peanutty broth poured over very thin egg noodles and lotus stems...and some other random unidentified edibles.  If you're ever in Kuala Lumpur, find "food street"...trust me.

     The next day we woke up early to make our way to the Batu Caves.  It's a series of caves in some limestone cliffs north of KL.  Little did I know, one of my lifelong dreams was about to come true...there were wild monkeys EVERYWHERE!  I'd seen them in zoos and on TV, but I'd always wanted to see one in the wild.  They were scattered all over the 250ish stairs we had to climb to enter the first cave.  Inside the caves were Hindu shrines scattered all over the place.  Up another smaller set of stairs, there was another cave with a main shrine and more monkeys!  I actually fed one...and it hissed at me. 

     After the Batu Caves we continued on to do some more of the touristy things to do in KL, including a visit to the Petronas Twin Towers, and some shopping for counterfeit goods at Jalan Petaling Street in Chinatown.  Alyssa and I aren't very good at haggling, but Stacey taught us the ropes and we got some good practice in before moving on to Thailand and Cambodia.

     After Stacey and Jake left KL, Alyssa and I spent our last two days exploring a bit more.  We took a hop-on hop-of tour of the city to see "Little India" (the Indian part of town), The National Mosque, KL Tower, various parks, etc.  We ended up stranded when the buses stopped running and accidentally stumbled upon a really cool local street food market about an hour walk from our hostel.  We stopped, and ate, and continued walking.  We passed though local neighborhoods and alleys...it was really cool to see the local lifestyle and although we were tired after it all, it was completely worth it.

     One thing I brought back with me from our trip was my appreciation for mosque architecture.  Cathedrals, churches, and temples are beautiful too, but I'd never actually seen a mosque, and the ones we saw in KL were spectacular.

     The majority of Malaysians are Muslims and our visit was during the last week of Ramadan, which added a certain level of cultural insight to our experience.  We spent about two hours sitting in front of the Masjid Jamek mosque waiting for the sun to set, watching the Muslims gather together, the women wearing their Hijabs (some are very beautiful, decorated with small gems and intricate stitching), waiting to break their fasts during Ramadan...I think I took about 150 pictures of the same mosque, but it just looked more and more beautiful as it got darker outside. 

     Overall, Kuala Lumpur was a great cultural experience and I'm so glad we chose to visit.  Our original plan was to go to Hong Kong and Macau, but we decided to go somewhere else because flights to Hong Kong were too expensive.  I wouldn't change a thing.

Satay on "Food Street"

No making out on the subway please...thanks.

The Batu Caves

My dream come true.

The Petronas Towers

Masjid Jamek Mosque

Where am I supposed to park my submarine?

Next stop, Phuket!!!

And we're off...

Alyssa and I leave for our vacation tonight!  We'll be spending the night in Seoul tonight before flying to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tomorrow morning.  Woo hoo!!!

From there, we will make our way up to Phuket and Bangkok, Thailand.  The last leg of our trip will be Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  We've been looking forward to this for a long time and it's finally here!

I'll be sure to share the experience upon our return.

Bottling, Mud Fest, and Music...

Bottling:

So after 13 days and several "gravity readings" the beer is ready to bottle.  We started with an original gravity of 1.058 (right before we pitched the yeast).  Our final gravity is 1.008.  It has remained at 1.008 for 3 days...so we know fermentation has stopped.

Gravity (in the context of brewing) is a ratio of the density of a sample (beer for example) to the density of water. The difference between O.G. (original gravity) and F.G. (final gravity) essentially tells us how much sugar as been converted to alcohol and CO2 during the fermentation process.  There is a lot more to it, but I'm not a scientist.  Using our gravity readings we were able to calculate our ABV.  It's 6.5%, and it tastes delicious already!

The next step is to siphon the beer into our bottling bucket and mix it with some priming sugar.  This will reactivate the yeast and carbonate the beer in the bottles over the next few weeks.

We are leaving for vacation in a week, so the beer will be ready when we get back...I seriously can't wait!  Apparently they should be ready in about 2 weeks, but I've heard the longer you wait the better...we won't be back from vacation until about a month from now...so it should be EXTRA delicious by the time we're back.


Mud Fest:

We signed up for this trip a LONG time ago.  It was really nice to have something to look forward to, but neither Alyssa, myself, nor any of our friends had any idea what to expect.
When I envisioned this mud fest, I thought there would be giant mud pits stretching out into the ocean on the beach (I don't know why I assumed this...I just did).  When we arrived, we found out that the mud is actually trucked in from somewhere and put in various containers around the venue.  There were stations where you could use a paintbrush to smear the mud all over yourself and your friends, there were giant inflatable slides and inflatable obstacle courses covered in mud, there were giant barrels full of mud with bowls you could use to pour mud over yourself or your friends, and finally...there was a giant inflatable mud pit.  Honestly, the pit was a little obnoxious...you couldn't take three steps before being tackled by a stranger, or slipping and smashing your knees or ass on the ground.  I suppose that type of thing is to be expected in a mud pit though. All things considered, it was a lot of fun.

After the mud activities, we went swimming in the ocean for a few hours.  The water was warm, beer was cold, and the mood was awesome.
We spent the rest of the day on the beach before heading to our "pension" to hang out.
We hung out on the roof of the building until the wee hours of the morning before we went to bed.

The next morning, we all spent a few hours on the beach before heading back to Daegu.

Music:

My band Colours is going into the studio this weekend to record a 3-track EP.  It's been a long time since I've gotten to go into the studio as the artist, so I am very excited.  I've engineered other projects, engineered my own projects, but I rarely get to just go in and play.

We had plans to practice almost every night this week in preparation for the recording session, but I got sick after Mud Fest, so I had to bail on practice yesterday to catch up on some much needed rest.  I still feel like crap, but I am too excited about recording to care.

The songs we will be recording are a pretty good mix of what all three of us bring to the table.  One of the tracks was written by Ali (bass player), while the other two tracks are a good blend of ideas we've all had stirring around in our brains.

The goal is to gig around Korea as much as possible, and we are hoping this EP will open some opportunities for us to play in Seoul, Busan, Daegu, etc.

Home Brew Day 1

Day 1

Today we are starting our very first brew.  Our good friend Jed has brewed before, so he has offered to help with the process.  He's been my go to guy for questions and suggestions.  We also have our friends Warren and Derek joining us to help.  Like Alyssa and me, they have never brewed before, so we thought it'd be fun to learn the process together.

Sanitize, sanitize, sanitize:

One of the things I've come across during my research on home brewing is the importance of sterilizing ALL of the equipment.  Needless to say, I made sure to sanitize EVERYTHING.  I'm treating this like brain surgery (admittedly, I think I may being going overboard) but I just want to make sure we do this right.

Soaking the equipment in an iodine solution.

The boil:

This part was pretty straight forward.  After steeping the cracked grains for about thirty minutes, we added  the malt extract and boiled for an hour.  We added different hops at different times during the boil.

Alyssa and Jed are cracking the grains.

We put the grains in this net to steep for thirty minutes. 

Steeping

The hops smell SO good! 

Boil for 60 minutes.

Time to chill:

Without a wort chiller to bring the wort's temperature down to 70 F, we decided to make an ice bath in this giant container I bought at my local kitchen supply store.  This thing is HUGE.  I actually don't even have a place in my house that is big enough to store it...except for under my kitchen table...which is fine since we usually eat on a few mats on my floor which is pretty common in Korea.

After a short adventure trying to buy ice, Derek, Jed, and Warren returned with a few giant frozen bottles of water.  It took a lot longer than expected to bring the temperature down, but as soon as we finished, it was time to siphon the wort into the sterilized fermenter.

The ice bath.

The transfer:

This was interesting...I've never actually siphoned anything before so it took a few tries, but we eventually got it.  Once the wort was in the fermenter, we "pitched" the yeast.

Siphoning the wort into the fermenter.

Let it burp:

Now that the lid of the fermenter is screwed on nice and tight, and our airlock is properly attached...we wait.  We will let the magic happen for about 2-3 weeks before we bottle.  I feel like a little kid waiting for Santa Clause to come on Christmas morning or something...except I don't think Santa gives 5 gallon buckets of beer to little kids.

Victory!!!  The first batch of Kim Jong Ale is fermenting!

Listen to the rainbow...

My new band Colours just played its first show on Saturday at Urban Bar in Daegu.  We were one of twelve different bands performing in celebration of the owner's birthday.  The owner of Urban Bar also owns a place called Horus Music Garage, which is a rehearsal/recording studio just down the street from Urban.  All of the bands who performed are bands who rent the rehearsal space regularly, so it was cool to get to see the bands we hear so frequently actually perform.  It was pretty intense getting up on stage after almost a year hiatus from performing live.  Not to mention this is a completely new genre of music for me, and a new country to perform in!  The best way I can describe our sound is "sloppy, experimental, math rock."  We were all nervous for our Korean debut, especially since this type of music isn't generally appreciated in Korea as much as it is elsewhere, but we had a surprisingly good response and we look forward to continuing to write songs and gig around Korea.

All of our Korean and expat friends came out to show their support and they made us feel like rock stars.  Thanks guys!

All of the other bands were extremely talented and it really turned out to be a great night of excellent music...and free beer :)

...and then there was (will be) beer...

I've been slowly putting together a DIY brew kit for the past month or two.  I'm finally (almost) ready to start our first brew!  The beer in Korea really sucks, and because of strict tax laws for businesses that make alcohol, microbreweries are nonexistent.  All of the affordable domestic beers taste horrible, and buying a tasty import can run up to 8,000 or 9,000 won for a normal sized 335ml bottle (roughly 8 or 9 dollars).  So Alyssa and I (with the help of some friends) have decided to take the reigns and make our very own American style pale ale.

It's funny that it took us this long to decide to try, especially since we have friends/family who have been brewing for a while.  I guess the necessity dictated our decision.  We are both very excited.

My awesome parents sent me the ingredients for my birthday.  I just need 3 small pieces to get everything up and running (airlock, hydrometer, and thermometer).  I should be getting them in the mail any day now, so it's almost game time.  It should be easy enough considering we will be doing an extract brew rather than all grain.  We will be using SOME grain, but the majority will be dry malt extract.

I'm going to document and share the entire process here, so stay tuned!  Also, any tips would be greatly appreciated.  I know it's the experimentation that makes this such a great hobby for so many people, but this is our first time, and we just want something straightforward and delicious.

Entering my "early-late twenties"...

We celebrated my 27 birthday during the weekend.  Many people keep asking me "how does it feel to be in your late twenties?" to which I respond "my early-late twenties!"

Alyssa did an amazing job planning a wonderful Korean BBQ dinner with all of my good expat and Korean friends.  We had a delicious meal at a restaurant called "What."  I just want to say thank you to every one for your presence (no pun intended).

Thank you for all of the birthday wishes from back home.  I wish you could have joined us, but I still felt the love even though we are so far apart.

We mob deep.

Mmmmm...cheese cake :) 

제한국친구가 왔어요

Topping off the night at Star Kebab...

Operation Olsen (Twins)...

In the US it's considered the cheesiest of cheese when you see a couple walking down the street wearing the exact same outfit from head to toe...right?  This is not the case in South Korea.  Alyssa and I are on a mission to document this phenomenon.  We call it "Operation Olsen."  The following is a sample of some of our sightings...enjoy!

*All humor aside, Alyssa and I are in no way judging Korean culture...it is very different and we find this part of their culture interesting.

This trend not only applies to couples, but friends do it too!

Waldo twins in the subway station.

Vest friends ^ ^ 

Bike twins

Even the shoelaces match!

Snow twins

Snow twins 2 

Park twins

I know it's a little late, but here...

I just thought I'd share some pictures from our winter vacation trips to Japan and the Philippines.

We spent 9 days in Japan and visited Tokyo, Kawaguchiko (Mt. Fuji), Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka.  It was a very busy trip, full of early mornings and late nights, but it was completely worth it.  We were able to see so many things and experience so much of the beauty that Japan has to offer.  Here are some pictures of some of the highlights.

Sumo: probably the coolest cultural experience I've ever had.
Nothing quite like a six pack of Asahi and a live sumo
tournament. (Tokyo)

Skytree (Tokyo)

Japanese ramen: We bought this at a really famous street vendor.
 It was ridiculously delicious.  Unlike the ramen we are used to in the states, this
ramen had a very rich and savory broth and was served with pork
and green onions. (Tokyo)

Yoshidaguchi trail head: One of the original trail heads used to summit Mt. Fuji. 

Mt. Fuji: We never thought we'd see Mt. Fuji...she's amazing.

The snow really added to the aesthetics of our trip.  I decided I had to make a snowman.
"I shall name him...Fujiman."

Fushimi Inari:  One of the coolest places we've been to.  It's pretty insane how many
of these things are scattered all over the mountains. (Kyoto)

Fushimi Inari: We made a friend :)  (Kyoto)

The Golden Pavilion:  The way this place reflects off the water is  beautiful.
 For any OS X users out there, I believe this was a stock background for one of the recent
versions of the OS...that's just me being a nerd though.   ^ ^ (Kyoto)

This was a food street near our apartment in Osaka.  The best restaurant we found
was at the base of that tower. (Osaka)

Osaka Castle:  My $3 tripod certainly came in handy. (Osaka)

Karaoke:  They certainly do this right in Japan.  Alyssa and I  went to
Karaoke twice during our stay.  This place has congas! (Osaka)

Okonomiyaki:  A delicious layered treat full of soba noodles, egg, onions, some sort of sauce.   (Miyajima - Near Hiroshima)

A-bomb dome: This was a very humbling experience.  (Hiroshima)

For those of you who truly know me, you know that this is a big step for me.
 (Miyajimaguchi - An island near Hiroshima)

Sake: The best way to make friends with your chef is to pour him shots of sake :)
These guys were so awesome.  The chef (right) kept giving us different
dishes to try on the house. (Hiroshima)

Ichiran: Our last meal in Japan. (Fukuoka)

The bathroom at Ichiran.  (Fukuoka)

About one month after our trip to Japan, we decided to go on a relaxing vacation to Boracay in the Philippines.  We were beach bums the entire time and it was a wonderful contrast to the crazy vacation in Japan.  The following are some pictures from our trip to Boracay.

I lost our room key in the ocean around the time this picture was taken...we had only
 been on the island for a few hours at this point.

"What the...?" 

Just perfect. 

We had to get on a boat in Cataclan to take us to Boracay.

I hate it here...this is boring...I want to go home...beer, ewwww.
(Get it?)

We made another friend in the Philippines.  Look at those eyes!

Pub crawl.  "I can't see."

There was a lot of this happening.

I couldn't have asked for a better trip with a more wonderful person.