This trip has been in the books for awhile, but it started mostly because I hadn't seen my parents and grandmother in awhile, and they happened to be visiting Japan with my grandmother. So we decided to surprise my grandmother with an impromptu visit. This blog entry will stray a bit from the usual running focus and will include my two other passions, eating and travelling. Here's the itinerary:
9/16: Boston to Seoul
9/17-9/20: Seoul, hiking in Seoraksan National Park
9/20-9/23: Tokyo and Inatori
9/23: Tokyo to Boston
Sunday/Monday
Coming off of the RTB relay, I rushed home and hurriedly packed. I still had to make a pit stop in lab to tie up some loose ends before leaving. I'm still amazed I didn't forget to pack any crucial items. Fortunately, since I had rented one of the team minivans, I had free transportation to the airport the next morning. Once I got on the plane, I promptly passed out and missed most of movies. After a brief layover in Tokyo (during which I got a private room to take a hot shower), I arrived in Seoul Monday evening. Just to give you a little background, my wife is Korean-American and spent an entire year in Korea as a Fulbright Scholar. So, I didn't have the same sense of trepidation at arriving in a new country. Also, having spent most of my teen years in Taiwan, it was nice to be able to blend in somewhere besides Chinatown. We checked into our hotel (which to my surprise had a computer with internet connection and 50" flat screen TV en suite) and promptly went in search of Korean BBQ. We spent the remainder of the evening grilling fatty red meats (Galbi and Samgyeopsal, my wife's favorite) over a real wood coal oven and washing it down with cheap local Soju.
Tuesday
The following morning, I was wide awake at 6AM, and decided it was time to explore the city on running shoes. I headed in the general direction of Namsan Park. I did a double take when I passed by Din Tai Fung, a famous dumpling restaurant imported from Taiwan and my all-time favorite restaurant. Soon, I was surrounded by trees and making my way up the steps that led to the summit of Namsan. What had initially been a pleasant drizzle when I left the hotel had now evolved into a full fledged downpour. I hadn't passed a single runner yet, but there were plenty of senior citizens doing various poses of what looked like Tai Chi. I paused briefly to admire the close-up view of Seoul Tower, then headed down the tarmac road that emerged from the other side of the summit. The rest of the run circumnavigated the park. Today's agenda was to do some sightseeing in the city. We spent the morning hunting down a porridge place, which in retrospect was my favorite meal in Korea. It was like being transported from the middle of the city to a mountain hut somewhere in the country. You could really taste the vegetables and the broth in the porridge. Unfortunately, the rest of the day was a total wash-out thanks to Typhoon Nari. We grinned and bared it through Deoksugung Palace. My wife and I are huge fans of the Korean drama Dae Jang Geum, so imagining ourselves living during the Joseon Dynasty took the edge off the dampness. The rain made for some haunting pictures, but by early afternoon, we were hiding from the rain in the Kyobo Bookstore. The rain relented briefly, and we took the opportunity to browse some of the stores in Insadong, an old part of the city that specializes in antiques. Tired from the day's sightseeing, we retired to our hotel room for some R&R in the bathtub jacuzzi. Dinner tonight was quite a treat! On the recommendation of the hotel concierge, we had the opportunity to try Korean royal cuisine at Yongsusan. The meal was an experience, on par with a tasting menu at any 5-star restaurant. The dishes just kept on coming, in a dizzying array of colors, ingredients, textures, and temperatures. It was another taste of Dae Jang Geum. We went to bed with full stomachs and happy hearts.
Wednesday
Morning greeted us with a break in the weather (yes!). Today, we had our sights set on a day trip to the famous Seoraksan National Park. This park has been the inspiration for numerous paintings, and this picture (yes its a photograph) says it all. We made it on the 6:30AM bus, but not without much confusion (isn't all international travel like this?). In fact, we were still unsure of where we were getting dropped off when we got on the bus. Three hours later, and much gorgeous scenery, we were dropped off in Donghae with little direction. Fortunately, the No. 7 bus stop we were looking for was only a stone's throw away. We had our ticket into the park! When Korean’s think of autumn leaves, Seoraksan Mountain is the first thing that comes
to mind. We were about a month early, but the scenery was gorgeous nonetheless. Can you imagine the picture bathed in the red and orange of autumn? We decided on a 5 hour hike through the Cheongbuldong Valley up to the Yangpok Falls (5 Ribbon Falls). There were more photo opportunities than we could count.!I envy the individuals that have been able to walk the valley at the apex of foliage season. The hike back down the valley was equally enjoyable, and about twice as fast. We were back at the main bus terminal by 3:30. Once on the bus back to Seoul, we sank heavily into the leather, reclined the seats, and savored our Asian pear slushies. And wouldn't you know it, it started pouring shortly after the bus pulled out. Dinner tonight was sushi, Korean style. What a treat! Fresh fish on a huge bed of glass noodles. The local fish was very different from Japanese sushi, full flavored and dense versus the delicate flavor with which I'm more familiar. Of course being in Korea, we had to cap off our evening at a Soju lounge, so we headed to Apgujong (like Rodeo Drive) in search of a place called Ahn (peace). We selected yogurt soju and pineapple soju, which arrived as a large concoction within a hollow pineapple seated in a bowl of dry ice. What a production! Fortunately, it tasted as good as it looked. What a day! Off to Japan tomorrow.Thursday
As we had a 10:15 AM flight to catch, I dragged myself out of bed at 5:00 to get in a run. On our way to Seoraksan, I had noticed a nicely paved bike path along the Han River. After a little searching, I found the entrance next to a bridge and got in a nice run along the river. Although dark and drizzly, it was meditative to getting lost in my surroundings, listening to the quiet power of the river flowing. Based on the km markers, I think I got in about 7 miles at a good clip. We caught the 7:15AM airport shuttle, but due to unbelievable morning traffic, we arrived at the airport at 9:45. Check-in and immigration was nerve racking, but we both caught our flights with time to spare. In fact, I don't think I've ever made it through in 15 minutes. Tonight's culinary adventure is my favorite tempura place, Tsunahachi. Some interesting history on tempura: "Before the mid-sixteenth century, the Japanese had no deep-fried food, and little fried food. Tempura was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century by early
Portuguese visitors. The word tempura may be derived from the Portuguese noun tempero, meaning a condiment or seasoning, or from the verb temperar, meaning "to season". There is still today a dish in Portugal very similar to tempura called peixinhos da horta, 'garden fishies'." Food just seems to taste better with a little history behind it! Our chef even spoke English well enough to describe each dish to us. It was fascinating watching him work; he really babied the deep fryer, much like a neonatal nurse does with a newborn. Every piece came out perfectly fried, light and pale gold on the outside; juicy and succulent on the inside.Friday
We finally reached the raison d'etre of our trip. My grandmother has been having some chronic hip pain, so a trip to the hot spring was just what the doctor ordered. My parents were planning on visiting her, but she had no idea that we were coming as well. Our final destination was the resort town of Izu-Inatori, on the east coast of the Izu Peninsula. Before getting on the train, we made a brief pit stop at the Daimaru food court to stock up on some Japanese goodies (can you believe the $5 apple?). The trip down offered up some great scenery of the coastline, which was a great backdrop to lunch. When we arrived at the our hotel, I was just unprepared for the look of surprise on my grandmother's face. She was slack-jawed for a good minute; that alone was worth the trans-pacific trip! After a spot of afternoon tea, we checked into our rooms and headed straight for the onsen (hot spring). If you've never experienced onsen before, its a sex-separate nude affair. Being Japanese, the facilities are spotless. There's even a guy who's sole job is to take your slippers, wipe them down with disinfectant, and then lay them down in a row. After a cleansing shower, you have the option of either the indoor or outdoor bath. On the heels of a hard training week, there was nothing better than just laying out in the hot spring, soaking up the clean seaside air. I could run 60+ miles for weeks if I could to do this every other evening. Dinner tonight was in a tatami room. Dishes were brought in that I had never seen before. This hotel's specialty is the "dancing abalone," which I will admit is a bit cruel for a dish. Fresh, live abalone is served on a cold hibachi stone grill. The charcoals are lit and the abalone proceeds to put on dance show while still on its shell. I think if I had liked abalone, I would have been less struck by the cruelty of the dish. After dinner, we ventured outside in our yukatas to work off the meal. Here's my dad and I doing our best Marilyn Monroe impression.
Saturday
I woke up with a scratchy throat this morning. I thought it was just the dry air, but it turned out to be worse. Unfazed, I set off early to do my weekly long run and in the process, explore the coastline from Inatori down to Shimoda. It was still dark when I set out, so the roads were relatively clear. I had to remind myself to run on the right side of the road, because cars drive on the left here. The run was hilly, but the ocean views were fantastic. The route took me along inlets that dotted the coast, and one larger size community where I watched a couple surfers negotiate the waves. The tunnels were a little hairy, as there were no sidewalks, so the exhaust sounds were magnified. I really thought I was going to get run over a couple times. I ran for about an hour south, made it to the outskirts of Shimoda, and then turned around for the return journey. I ended up averaging a 7:39 for 15+ miles, and the temperature was just right. Hard to imagine a more beautiful route. I made a beeline for the hot spring room and jumped right into the ice cold bath for a post-run soak. Breakfast was quite a treat, although I don't think I could name a single dish. After one more soak in the onsen, it was time to catch our train back to Tokyo. The ride back to Tokyo involved a lot sleeping. On the menu tonight was tonkatsu, at the oldest tonkatsu restaurant in Tokyo, Honke Ponta. One of the curious characteristics of many Japanese restaurants is their singular focus on preparing one dish perfectly. This is certainly the case here, and the owners know this: their hours of operation are only from 11-2pm and 4:30-8pm. Clearly, work does not get in the way of life. The fried pork was better than the tempura we had Thursday night, and the hand-cut shreds of cabbage looked like they had come from a deli slicer. Following dinner, we took the Tokyo subway to Roppongi to explore the swank new shopping/entertainment/residential complex of Roppongi Hills.
Sunday
Ah.... the trip has come to a close. My wife and I spent the morning exploring Ueno Park in our running shoes. It brought back memories of my grandfather taking me to the Ueno Zoo when I was not even 10. I remember how much I used to hate Japan when I first moved here and now, I don't want to leave. We spent the last hour or so wandering through a toy store near the Ueno train station, and then sipped on Starbucks coffee as we recounted the trip with my parents. For the first time on this trip, there were no travel incidents on the way to the airport. While waiting for our flights, we shared a last taste of Japanese sushi before boarding our flight home. Even the flight back was great... I got to catch up on all the movies I'd missed during the summer. I'm glad I didn't spend money on Shrek 3 or Ocean's 13 because they were a bit rehashed.
So the trip, in summary, was a cultural cornucopia of East Asia. I don't think I've ever crammed so much into 6 days of traveling. Like I said, now body is on strike. Let's hope this doesn't get worse.
Recap of the week
Mon: off
Tue: 8 miles @ 8:30, tough run in the rain up and down Namsan
Wed: off
Thu: 7.2 miles @ 7:48, easy run along the Han River
Fri: off
Sat: 15.7 miles @ 7:39, hilly run along the coastline of Izu Peninsula
Sun: 5.5 miles @ 10:54, recovery run in Ueno Park
Total: 36.4 miles
Its cool to see these exotic locales in my running log.
Plan for next week 9/24-30
Mon: AM - pool & core, PM - 7 miles EZ
Tue: 12 miles including interval work w/ BAA
Wed: AM - pool & core, PM - 6 miles EZ
Thu: AM - 10 miles @ MP
Fri: off
Sat: 22 miles w/ 10 @ MP
Sun: 6 miles EZ
Total: 63 miles
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