Off to the Philippines!

Nana and I are off to the Philippines tomorrow. Stop one is Manila, where in addition to sightseeing we'll be visiting Beia (a friend from Edinburgh) and partaking in some family celebrations she's graciously invited us to. Stop two is Puerto Princesa, on the island of Palawan, where we'll be hanging out by the pool, lounging on the beach, and maybe snorkling and sailing a bit.

It'll be a different kind of trip for us--several days in a place with only one museum! Still taking bets on whether we actually stick to our guns and chill out a bit, or succumb to the ever-present temptation to schlep around looking for blog fodder.

Anyway, we'll probably be out of touch for most of next week, though we may try to get one or two quick posts up while we're away.

Pan-Asian Reunion

Back when we were in Seoul, Justin and I met up twice with our college friend Mark (we were all band geeks together). Mark, who now resides in NYC, came back to Korea again for a few weeks lately and since Fukuoka is so close to Busan, decided to give Japan a whirl. He came over on the Beetle ferry and stayed with us for a couple nights. You can read his coverage (with some really gorgeous photographs) at his blog, Goes To Twelve. If you want to stay over here, you'll have to put up with this photo I stole from his Facebook page:

In Korea, Mark was our only visitor. We had four visitors in Scotland (Justin's parents and Justin's sister, and another band friend, and we visited a friend from high school). Here in Japan, we've already had Korean coworkers, an Edinburgh buddy, my dad, and Mark, so it's definitely trending up. We love company, so if you're on this side of the ocean, give us a ring!

Completely unrelated fact I just learned from my students: the Japanese phrase for "combover" is "bar code hair." I know that has nothing to do with this post, but I really wanted to share it.