I’ve had a dream 3-day bike camping trip bubbling in my head all winter long. Day one would involve riding out to Mt. Daisen, the tallest mountain in western Japan on the other side of the prefecture, and setting up camp. On the second day, we’d hike to the mountain’s summit, then come back down and celebrate our achievement by heading to the nearby Ganbarius brewery and enjoying some tasty Japanese beers that aren’t Sapporo, Kirin, or Asahi. On the third day, we’d ride back, fat and happy.

Only recently with the warmer weather was it possible, so with the forecast looking fantastic all weekend Bronwyn took a vacation day on Monday. I actually had a bit of business to take care of during the day in Yonago, so Bronwyn and I took the train out there with bikes and panniers in tow, dropping them off at the train station’s bike parking lot for a few of hours while Bronwyn enjoyed hanami with friends.

Departing from Yonago we started the 20km ride up Daisen along route 24. Even though it was a short distance, it still took a good two and a half hours or so because it was entirely uphill ending with a long and constant 12% incline for the last couple of kilometers. Still the weather was perfect, sunny and fair at a comfortable 20 degrees C.

Though my original plan for the weekend had us riding out of Tottori, it was probably a good that we left from Yonago as I expect the last thing we’d want to do after riding some 70km would be to tackle the mountain weighed down by a full camping load.

Upon arriving at Daisen-ji, the small ski town at the base of Daisen’s summer hiking trail we set up camp and had a dinner of packaged camp food. There’s also conveniently a Mont-Bell outdoors equipment store where we picked up some snacks for the hike the next day.

We woke up early with the sunrise on Sunday. Breakfast was coffee and packaged camp hashbrowns that were entirely unsatisfying. I want to start bringing out real food for bike camping trips. I think I could’ve done a better breakfast with actual potatoes and other real ingredients.

Finishing breakfast we started the hike. It was only about 2.6km long, but with an elevation gain of around 500m. To make things more interesting, there was still plenty of snow on the ground starting from right around the timberline. Thankfully the snow was compacted from previous hikers and had been thinning from a week of warmer temperatures so it was totally manageable in our regular hiking shoes with the aid of some trekking poles.

Near the top there’s actually a wooden boardwalk of sorts that takes you to the very end where a large cabin is available for mountaineers to use for sleeping if they were making a multi-day trek out of this. We pulled out our little Pocket Rocket stove and boiled some water to hungrily devour our packets of food while enjoying the views.

It took about three hours to make the ascent. The way down was a little trickier. It was early afternoon and the sun had turned a lot of the snow into slush making for some slippery navigation, but it only took about two and a half hours to return to our camp. Along the way, right around where the snow started, we bumped into a group of friends from Yonago who were on their way up the mountain. I don’t think they knew what to expect, though, as one of them was wearing jellies. Probably not the best idea for trudging through snow.

To kill some time before dinner we headed to the Daisen temple and shrine. It was a very peaceful, beautiful area, but our muscles, after a winter of laziness, were starting to ache from the hike and the stone steps of the temple were a small challenge in themselves.

The Ganbarius Brewery was a short 5km away, all downhill. We stopped along the way at the Daisen Makiba Milk no Sato dairy farm, which Bronwyn recommended. They had THE BEST soft cream I have ever had and we were hungry enough that it in no way affected our appetite for dinner.

Finally arriving at Ganbarius, something I’d been dreaming of since… well since the last time I was there, we pored greedily over the menu, ordering up a tofu salad, a prosciutto and basil pizza, and a plate of various meat goodness. Mmm!!! Protein and carbs! Exactly what was needed. More importantly, we partook of the nomihodai (all-you-can-drink) special for 1050 yen (about $10) a head. The result was absolute drunken, satiated bliss.

After about two hours of drinking our fill we started the ride back up to our campground. It wouldn’t have been the best way to end the evening, especially considering how drunk we were, but we lucked out as a bus driver stopped and offered to drive us back up the rest of the way saving us from the vicious 12% climb we had struggled through (sober) the day before. With a full stomach, dizzy head, and entirely exhausted body I slept fantastically.

Waking up on Monday, I made a pot of coffee, and we stuck around Daisen-ji until a restaurant opened up at 10am for an early lunch. Refreshed, we started the ride home. The weather was once again perfect, and the descent to sea level was long, fast, and exhilirating. Once we reached route 9, we assumed a slow and easy touring pace of about 20kmh making for a relaxing return to Tottori.

Kudos to Bronwyn for finishing this. Getting up and down the mountain was no small feat in itself, but this is also the first time she’s carried a camping load with her. It was the closest thing she’s had to doing bike touring and I think this was a really important step in mentally preparing herself for the two-month BEE ride. Upon arriving at our doorstep, I told her, “That’s essentially what bike touring is like; touring is just longer.” To which she replied, “I can do that.”

The biggest change first: I got married. I had been dating Bronwyn for four years and living with her for much of that time, and while marriage didn’t necessarily change our day-to-day living dynanmic, there is something quite charming and comforting to know that I have a “wife” and that I am her “husband.” We’ve passed our six-month anniversary mark and still the words seem strange and delightful as they roll off the tongue: “This is my wife, Bronwyn.” It’s even strange to write that. It has at least been a bit easier to assume the roles of Jon and Bronwyn, husband and wife, while introducing ourselves to folks in Japan. We don’t have as much of a history with friends here. They didn’t know us as single entities – the pre-Jonwyn days if you will.

This brings us to the second biggest change – moving to Japan. No real surprises in this list, eh? If there’s anything that marked the marriage as a change, it’s moving across the globe and literally starting a new life together. Japan has certainly had its ups and downs and I can’t say I won’t be happy whenever it is we decide to return to L.A., but I’m very fortunate to have made good friends with folks here and to have had so many wonderful experiences.

Speaking of experiences, travel was huge this year. There were weekend trips like Santa Barbara wine country in February, and Vegas for my Bachelor’s party in May. Then there were epic adventures like Greece for our Honeymoon, and Korea and the Philippines. My passport is certainly looking spiffier thanks to 2008. There are also all the places we’ve been to around Japan, like Misasa, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Tokyo, and all the places I’ve seen in-between via bicycle.

Bronwyn calls my 2008 the year of the bicycle and I can’t say she’s wrong there. It was the year I tried randonneuring and touring for the first time. I did a 200km and 300km brevet, totally shattering my previous ideas of what I was capable of physically. I wanted to finish the series with the 400km and 600km rides, but the wedding kept me busy. My bike tours in Japan have been a great way for me to not only get to know the country, but also foster some independence, especially since I had defaulted to letting Bronwyn take the reins of Japanese life since she’s the one who speaks the language. I also can’t forget to mention that 2008 was the year I got my dream bicycle – my Rivendell Rambouillet Starbuck – on which I’ve been able to have my touring adventures.

I’ve given up making resolutions for the New Year as I’m pretty bad at following through on them. Honestly, I doubt any year is going to top 2008 for me for a long while. It’ll probably take something on the magnitude of a birth of a child to top the events of this year, and that’s not something we’re planning on doing for yeeeeaaarrrssss now. So let’s just say I’ll be content to take my adventures as they come and seek them out where there are none. Here’s to a great 2009!

We stayed at the Golden Pond Guesthouse. A great little hostel, it was very cozy, the staff friendly, and the other guests young and interesting giving the Guesthouse a quintessential hostel experience in the most positive of ways. We spent our time in Seoul wandering various palaces and markets as well as the War Memorial, all easily accessible by subway or by foot. We also took advantage of the Seoul City Tour Bus which was a great way to get a quick overview of the city’s major tourist sites. We even stumbled into the middle of some huge K-Pop concert going on in the street. The one thing we regret not being able to do was take a tour of the demilitarized zone on the border of North Korea. That involves some planning as reservations need to be made ahead of time. Bronwyn and I both really loved the city. It was certainly dirtier than pretty much any city in Japan perhaps short of Tokyo, but we liked that. It was dirty in a way that had character. Prices were cheap – the hostel we stayed at was about $12 a night – which was a relief from costly Japan where a cup of drip coffee will run you $4-$5. And best of all, there was a very cosmopolitan, international atmosphere. For us, this translated into the availability of foods we can’t get in Tottori and we took full advantage. While we did enjoy quite a bit of Korean fare, we also went giddy over honest-to-goodness REAL Mexican and Greek food, Krispy Kreme donuts, bacon-wrapped hot dogs, and decent beer. I drool to think about it.

We left Korea just in time, I think, as the night before our departure it started snowing. A quick three-hour flight later and we arrived in Manila where temperatures were in the 80′s and stayed that way. We were met at the airport by one of my aunts. My parents had arrived a few days earlier and were returning from Borocay, a very popular beach resort in the south, with friends that night. After grabbing lunch we headed out to the friends’ house which became an ordeal as we got lost. What should have been an hour-and-a-half in the car turned into four looking for a “Civic” street that wasn’t readily visible, which then turned into looking for a “Sibik” street because who knows with Filipino accents sometimes. Eventually it got sorted out and we met up with my parents and started the nine-hour-long drive up to Santa Cruz, Ilocos Sur, where my family lives.

While all that traveling was certainly stressful, we were able to relax the rest of the vacation. My folks bought some beach-front property a few years back and have been slowly developing it. At the moment there’s a little bamboo hut, an outdoor kitchen, and heated showers. This translated to many long and lazy days at the beach. By my accounts, Christmas Eve day, Christmas day, the day after that, New Years Eve day, New Years day, and the day after that. The general pattern is wake up, grab some breakfast, head to the beach with family and food in tow, swim a bit, eat and drink, nap, and swim until sunset. It’s certainly a pace one could get used to. Of course, we also varied things up a bit. The day after Christmas, before heading to the beach, a large group of us descended upon a day spa for facials, manicures and pedicures, massages, and even haircuts. Myself, I grabbed a facial, foot spa, and a haircut. While I may have called Korea cheap, the Philippines was a whole different league. My haircut was a dollar, and the facial and foot spa maybe about $4 a piece. While I’m not one that frequents spas, at those prices why not indulge a bit? The day after the day after Christmas, we and a bunch of my cousins headed up to the beach resort of Pagudpud, which some call “the Boracay of the North”, stopping along the way in Vigan City, the capital of Ilocos Sur famous for its Spanish influence. Pagudpud was underwhelming to my parents who had just been to Boracay proper. I thought it was beautiful, but not really worth the nine hours of travel to get there, especially since we had a perfectly good beach back in Santa Cruz.

The other multi-day excursion we took was to head east into the mountainous province of Ifugao to see its famous rice terraces. We headed to the town of Banaue where one of my uncle’s cousins, Leo, owned a hotel, the Las Vegas resort. The climate in the mountains was a comfortable 70′s and often misty. My Seattlite parents felt right at home, while the Ilocano family shivered. The rice terraces were gorgeous and I loved this trip. Bronwyn, my cousin Julieanne, and I spent a day heading out to the small village of Batad which has the most beautiful, amphitheater-style terraces. Getting there was an adventure in itself and involved an hour riding a tricycle (a motorcycle with enclosed sidecar) on twisting dirt roads followed by a difficult two-hour hike. Totally worth it. Another hour of hiking brought us to a nearby waterfall where I celebrated by stripping down to my briefs and taking a swim in the crisp, cold water. It was one of those perfect moments where you really and truly feel alive. After the waterfall, we returned to Batad and enjoyed a hard-earned lunch in a restaurant overlooking the terraces. A rainbow appeared, accentuating the divineness of the moment. As if not to be outdone, as we hiked back we even saw a double rainbow, then later a triple rainbow, though my photos didn’t come out for that. Upon returning to Banaue, we celebrated with a hearty dinner care of Leo and an evening of bar-hopping with Leo and my folks. It honestly doesn’t get much better than that.

Seeing the sites aside, it was also great to spend time with my family. I don’t get to see my family in the Philippines all that often. Prior to the trip I took two years ago, I hadn’t been to the Philippines since 1997. Singing karaoke (or videoke as it’s called there) to ring in the New Year, and then spending my last evening in Ilocos Sur drinking with my cousins in what we’ve come to call the Cudiamat Drinking Club (Cudiamat being my mother’s maiden name) make for great memories, at least to the extent to which I can remember them. While that evening may have lead to me being horrendously ill the next day while driving the nine hours back to Manila to catch our return flight (the consequence of being the oldest cousin present at that meeting of the C.D.C. where I was encouraged to drink, drink, drink) it was, again, totally worth it.

This was easily the best trip to the Philippines I’ve ever taken. There’s talk from my folks of going back in 2010. I’m looking forward to it.

More photos from Korea here.

More photos from the Philippines here.

South Korea is actually colder than Tottori, with a forecast of highs in the 30′s or high-20′s and lows as low as 8 degrees on Sunday. On the flip side, Manila has forecasts of highs in the 80′s and lows in the 70′s. How in the world do you pack for a trip like that and still keep your luggage light?