A months holiday just started!

So, sometimes things in life doesn't really work out as you thought they would. But hey, that's life and life is unpredictable. One thing i always try to live after though is that " if something doesn't make me happy, don't do it! if it doesn't make me happy, change it." Today i moved down the road to my friends Henry and Tori at Gakuto lodge. And i finally get to stay in a japanese tatami room, i'm so stoked! I'll show you pictures tomorrow!!

So my first day of a month holiday in Japan started very well, today has been an absolutely stunning day!! We went to a place called alaskan burger for lunch. It's a japanese guy who make these massive burgers in a little loghouse. Probably one of the best burgers i've ever had! And then we went to Hakuba 47, a ski resort 10 minutes from our resort Happo one for an afternoon ski. Back to the lodge, swapped gear to go to the onsen and the night ended at NonJae for dinner. NonJae is an izakaya so you order heaps of different dishes and then you share them between all of you. Ymu yum!

Tomorrow i'm going for a hike at Obinata, a mountain next to Happo one, with Andre. Looking forward to go out and do a bit of back country!

Hej hopp Matsumoto!!

Konbanwa.. I've had a fantastic day!! Ashleigh, Tomoko and i went to Matsumoto this morning, about an hour drive from Hakuba. Fantastic weather, sunny and pretty chilly. Matsumoto is the second largest city in Nagano prefecture and have one of Japans three oldest castles. The castle looked very different to other castles i've seen and definitely different to the swedish ones, but it was pretty! We went inside the castle and to be able to go in you had to take your shoes off and put slippers on.. So japanese, would definitely not happen anywhere else. But hey, that's what i love with Japan, everything is so different from back home and everywhere else i've been traveling.

A beautiful shrine that we found on our way to the castle, here's a giant swede and a tiny japanese.

Washing our hands..

Matsumoto castle.

Ashleigh

From one of the floors inside of the castle..

Look at my slippers.. One size and i could fit half of my feet in it..

Lunchtime! Lucky we've got our japanese translator when the menu is written in only japanese..

Yakiniku, katsu and fried prawns.. Yum!

Whiskey on the street.

Later on we had a nice lunch on a little restaurant, the little lady who was running the place was so cute!! And Ashleigh and i practiced some new japanese phrases that we learnt yesterday on her.. I wish i could speak japanese fluently, there's nothing that impress me more than when westerns start speaking fluent japanese. Sounds SO cool! But just the last week i've learnt heaps of japanese, and today i almost impressed myself a bit when i was in a store and was able to read the price tag even though it was in written inhiragana and the numbers were in japanese!!

Anyways; Watashi wa tsukaremashta. Oyasumi nasai!!

North Korea - A starving country

I read an swedish article earlier today about North Korea, you can read the article here North Korea - A starving country. It was about two swedes who had managed to get into the country as tourists, and they've been writing about their own experience. The whole country is so "made up", they were not allowed to talk to anyone and they had two guides with them wherever they went, they couldn't go anywhere without them, not even a couple of meters away. All media in the country is strictly controlled by the regime and an organized opposition doesn't exist. It was very interesting but it's crazy (and sad...) that a country like this still exist in the 20th century!! It's scary how one man can have such control over 24 million people and they don't dare to say anything. I mean, together they would be so much stronger but i guess they doesn't really know anything else either and if they do they are scared to death to say anything.. There's no chance 24 million people can believe in the regimes propaganda! They get brainwashed though.. school kids were walking along the streets singing about how amazing Kim Il Sung, the leader who died but still is the president. How weird is that by the way? When someone keep saying that this is the only right thing and all you can see is images about this one leader, you start to believe that this is how it's supposed to be and this is the only right thing.

It's hard to believe when you're in Seoul, just 60 kilometers from the border to North Korea, that on the other side the people are living like prisoners in their own country, probably against their own will.. I talked a little bit to my korean friend about it while i was in seoul and he said that he and everyone else in South Korea wished that they in the future can be unified to one country again. But also that it wouldn't work until North Korea bring peace and treat their people in an democratic way.

If i had the chance to be able to go into the country i would definitely take it! Would be so interesting to see with your own eyes. Even though people wouldn't say anything about their "real" situation and what's actually happening inside the country it would be interesting to see what a country in dictatorship looks like.

I found a very good documentary about North Korea on youtube, if a bit old! Here's the first episode..

It feels so unreal, it's crazy how brainwashed they are! How can a country be so isolated from the rest of the world, how can this happen?

Chicken head on a skewer onegai shimasu...?!

We just came back from dinner, we went to an izakaya by the name Kichonichon. Tomoko ordered a bunch of different dishes where's one of them were nikiyaku, it's meat on a skewer that's been cooked over a BBQ. Or meat, Tomoko started to explain what it was... chicken head, skin, heart, guts, organs etc... Which made me lose my appetite! Sometimes it's better to not tell me what it i'm eating.. However we had some other very nice dishes. We had raw horse again, not as yummy as last time but still good!

Tomorrow Ashliegh, Tomoko and i are going for a day trip either to Nagano or Matsumoto. We'll see where we're ending up..

This is your life..

.. do what you love and do it often..

.. if you don't like your job, quit!!!

Because life is short, so spend your time well and only do things that makes you happy.

Riding together, or?

Ashleigh and i went skiing together today, or she just started snowboarding. What do you say, would i say that we went riding together?! However, it was fun and i'm pretty impressed of her, it was her second day and she could go down without falling ONCE!!!

I also made "semlor" with my own almond paste and my own buns, at home i would buy the paste in a tube but since they don't have it here i had to make my own but it tastes so much better than the on you buy back home!

Semla!

Sweden got a new little princess!

Sweden got a new little baby princess yesterday and today the king in a speech got out with what she will be called.... ESTELLE! How can you give a little princess a name like that?

"Her name is Estelle" - King Carl XVI Gustaf

Miserable day!

The weather have been M-I-S-E-R-A-B-L-E today and i've been off!!! It's been raining, i almost cried when i woke up and realized that it was actually raining outside... I guess the man upstairs is upset about that James left yesterday and had to let some tears out! Now it's colder agin though, thank god for that!

This miserable day at least got a good ending. Tomoko, Ashleigh and i went to Emu which is an okonomiyaki restaurant. Each table has a giant frying pan, and you get something that has the same texture as pancake mix that you blend with vegetables and some kind of meat. We got one with pork and one with squid, some gyoza dumplings and kimchi. Super yummy!

Glasögonorm!

I wish she was here, even though she looks like a freak...

It's not a good bye, it's a see you soon!

Traveling and exploring is, in my opinion, among the best education you can get. Something it doesn't teach you is how to say good bye to your newfound friends that you've spent every waking minute with for the last months. It's never easy, but this is life and i believe that everything happens for a reason and whatever that reason is i enjoyed every single day with you! Safe travels and i'll see you soon!

Even if it's very hard to say good bye, it's something that comes in the package of traveling. You can make the decision to stay at home and don't get to know all these fantastic people and places or you can go, have fun, get amazing memories and just deal with it. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!

Even if i know that i will see him again, i don't know when. And from spending every waking minute together for three months till not see each other at all is very hard. He's not even been gone for a day, i guess i get used to it. It just feels like something is missing around here..

Last supper.

Here's some pictures from James' last night. We went for dinner at a very nice izakaya called Hie and the reason till why we went there was that James had requested raw horse, a specialty for this area of Japan. First i refused to eat it.. I mean i've been horseback riding since i was six years old and you don't EAT your best friends!! That's a big no no.. But they forced me to try, and i LOVED it! Beautiful meat, it was melting in my mouth, super yummy!! Then we ordered a couple of other dishes as well and then we went for drinks at Gakuto with Henry and Tori. Lots of fun and definitely a great last night!