Our First Visit to Japan

We stayed at Aaron and Rika's apartment one last night before our trip back to Guam.  We had a long layover in Narita, Japan so we decided to check it out with the help of Japan's extremely efficient rail system.  

Japan was freezing and rainy so soon after we got off the train in town, we found a little cafe.  I was shocked to find that the toilet seats in the bathroom had seat heaters if one wanted to use them.

The rain lightened up a little, so we walked around town some more.  I bought a little photo and a mug and Darren purchased some chopsticks.  Afterwards we saw a heap of people outside a tiny food shop (the one below) and decided we should try whatever they were making.  It turned out to be a sort of bean desert (similar to some Stella has had me try).  It was not tasty, but it was warm and fresh--a good thing because the rain had picked up again.  Somehow with just these few purchases, along with a pastry I bought in the train station, I spent somewhere around $60.  Money dissolves swiftly in Japan.

Japan has cool lounge cushions in their airport.  We just lay on them and watched more Friends on my laptop :).

After we returned to Guam, we only had a few hours until we had to bid our "love orchid" (which we planted in the minute yard) and house goodbye.  We returned to the airport and began our lengthy trip back to mainland USA.

We say good-bye in Guam to our first residence as a married couple

Long Dong

Our last day we spent at Long Dong to do some rock climbing.  Darren had been preparing for this portion for some time and had purchased a guide book many months prior to leaving the States.  He woke up before dawn and took these pictures.

This was our campsite the night prior with a view of our cute van.

Darren willingly hiked back out to the overlook with me so I could see it too

Awe, Nutella for breakfast!

Pokari Sweat at the Climbing Yard.  I was scared to try it.

Darren and I headed out early while Rika and Aaron bought some provisions. Darren first climbed a terrible route and told me it wasn't worth it, so we kept hiking until we found much superior climbing.  Rika and Aaron found us by the time we are almost done climbing up our first good route.  They bore coffee with them that they had lovingly hauled over very difficult and slippery sea terrain to where we were climbing.  It was extremely thoughtful of them (we hadn't even asked for it!).

Everybody climbed some and then bravely got in the freezing water.  I was amazed at all the fish, anemones, and corals we could see just in our tide pool.

Darren and I climbed a couple other routes until we noticed Darren's rope was shot.  Good thing it didn't come completely apart while we were climbing!  We donated it to Aaron and Rika and they later made a beautifully intricate rug out of it.

Hiking back to our van in a semi via ferrata

We had a lovely ocean filled drive back towards Taipei.  We made a stop at some hot springs which are supposedly off limits, but there were hoards of local people in them.  I think they just want to keep away tourists.  There was a waterfall with cold water and hot springs.  People had adapted the area so that there were multiple pools with different temperatures.  In one of these pools we could sit under pipes pouring out hot water with massage intensity.  Another pipe nearby fed out cold water if one wanted to cool off a bit.

Taroko Gorge

Taroko Gorge is gorgeous...and its owners (erm, the government) are extremely scared that rocks will fall on its tourists.  During our day in the National Park we first hiked through a tunnel and along a path to a double plus waterfall.  On our hike out some official people tried to communicate that the trail was closed and that we shouldn't be there.  We had had no idea, but guess that it must have been closed due to the massive mud slide and rock fall that we saw remnants of in front of the first tunnel.  

Aaron is the true outdoor educator.  He kept finding and catching little critters all over the place.

Remnants of the mudslide and rock fall

The park is large and we kept wanting to drive through it all, but alas there was no time because we wanted to do another couple hikes

We grabbed some lunch at another restaurant in the park then put on our provided hard hats to tromp down a road that was shut down.  They wanted people to be able to walk the section slowly in order to see its beauty instead of driving swiftly through it, or look at it while driving off the cliff.

We took another stroll to a little temple

And yet another path through rock that wove us through places where native peoples live.  I don't think we were supposed to get in the amazingly refreshing water, but we did.

Back on the road, 7 Eleven once again saved the day with some packaged pizza

KEW is Coo

Sadly Lara had to work the rest of the time we were in Taipei, but Aaron, Rika, Darren and I rented a van from her friend Red (the same guy that picked her up from the airport) and drove off to Taroko Gorge and Long Dong in the limited days we had.  The night after we explored Taipei, we drove to the outdoor school in the bush where they work.  The multi-million facility is so beautiful and well made.  My friends were able to help plan and design most everything.

The school's own bridge!

Darren and I trying out the low ropes course

Apparently this part of Taiwan is famous for its tea

After almost a day's worth of driving and many stops at 7Elevens ("They are better then the internet!"  You can do your banking, play the lottery, and get food all in this one facility.  They also give you a choice of toilet paper rolls or bottled water with every purchase of gas.) we arrived at Taroko Gorge.  We were so excited to eat yummy Taiwanese food (I wasn't impressed overall with the stuff we tried, but  this was quite good) and find free camping.  Darren also scored some free New Balance shoes that someone had left at the site.

We enjoyed the evening watching, believe it or not, episodes of Friends.  Darren and I had purchased a DVD in the Guam Airport.  They didn't have a lot of selection.