Japan

I decided not to go on any big trips this summer to save money, focus on work, karate and study Japanese, but I did manage to go on a couple of litte one-night trips this summer.

Me and my Aussie roomate Rebecca went to Kobe last month. Kobe is such a nice city - it's hard to believe it was almost completely destroyed about 10 years ago by an earthquake. It's quite cosmopolitain actually. We managed to find a Turkish restaurant and a great China Town. As a matter of fact, I loved Kobe's China Town more than I actually loved China!

One of my students suggested that we stay at a sauna hotel. Sounds strange, right? It is technically a hotel, but with two floors of onsens (hot springs) and various kinds of saunas and baths. Those were all fantastic. However, we didn't know it was a capsule hotel. It was strange because it looks like some scene out of the Matrix where humans are growing in capsules or something. And, it is does seem like your sleeping in a coffin. We were intrigued with the idea of it all, so we did it and it wasn't so bad. It was really cheap and in a great location. They even had a radio and mini TV inside!