The Pope is in Seoul

The pope is in Seoul, and it’s kind of a big deal. It’s the first time a pope has come to Asia in 15 years. Also, North Korea threw a bit of a tantrum at his arrival, launching some rockets into the ocean. I don’t know what they were hoping to accomplish with this action.


Seoul practically shut down at his arrival. There were police EVERYWHERE. Seriously, everywhere. Estimates put the police numbers at around 30,000. Estimates also put the number of attendees at the pope’s mass to be around a million people. An actual million people. So the streets and train stations within a 5 kilometer perimeter were all shut down.


There were also some protests when the pope arrived. These protests weren't against the pope, but were using his arrival as an opportunity to highlight the issues going on in Seoul. Two of these big issues are workers’ rights and wages, as well as the ferry tragedy, which took the lives of hundreds of people, mostly high school aged children.

Overall, it's been an interesting experience to see just how a city reacts when the pope comes to town. Also, pope shirts...

Japan on $30

Question: it’s your last night in Japan. You have no lodging. You have 30 dollars, minus the 7 dollars you spent on ramen. What do you for a whole day and night?

As an icing on the cake, all the hostels, hotels, and couchsurfing spaces are full because of a festival you didn’t know about when you booked your tickets. So even if you had money, you STILL wouldn’t have a bed to sleep in.

The answer to the quandary… Manga café!

Manga cafes are open 24 hours. They have a vast supply of Japanese comic books and computers, and you can even rent a small room. Other times it’s more of a cubicle.

You pay per hour, usually between 3 and 6 dollars per hour. I got my cubicle and it was surprisingly comfortable. The floor of the cubicle was a pad, about as soft as a bed, and it had enough room for me to stretch out in, and even came with a pillow. The people were all very quiet, and there was even a shower in the bathroom.

Now, due to my lack of funds I could only afford a cubicle for 6 hours. 9 pm to 3 am. I was out on the street at 3 am, and had several hours until my 12 o’clock departure.

Having spent 7 dollars on the ramen, 20 dollars on my manga café, I had 3 dollars left. Now, in most countries, 3 dollars won’t get you much more than a candy bar and a soda. Not so in Japan! You actually have a lot of options here.

711, Family Mart, Daily Miyazaki are all convenience stores with some great options. $1.60 slabs of fried chicken. $1 rice balls. $1 cups of sake (for the drinker on a budget). But when you’re looking for cost, taste, and the feeling of being full, nothing beats a Matsuya (or the almost as good Yoshinoya).

You’re gonna want to go with the gyudon. This is a bowl of rice with strips of grilled beef and onions on top. It’s served alongside a small bowl of miso soup and all the water you can drink. The cheapest option and smallest portion size is about $2.30. But a $2.80 bowl is surprisingly filling, and many people actually struggle to finish this one.

So at this point it’s 4 am, I’m out of money, and have about 8 hours left until my departure. Not a whole lot to be done. I had no money for bus fare so I walked to the ferry (about two miles away) and spent the rest of the morning enjoying the sunrise, practicing my Japanese with a homeless man, and trying to stay out of the rain.

Long story short: when you’ve got next to no money, and no substantial options for food or lodging, just know there’s a manga café and a Matsuya waiting for you. Also, bring cash to Japan, never expect a foreign bank card to work, even if it’s worked countless times before.

Korea (in pictures and video)

This is a toilet

This is an outdoor gym

This is a statue

This is how the cool kids cross rivers

This is a frozen-over, Han River

These are some wild bunnies (they're so used to humans that you can practically walk up to them and pet them. Also, this picture was taken about 100 feet from the outdoor gym. Yea, this park kicks ass. Pump iron, AND play with bunnies.)

This is how poor people exercise (Before he discovered there was an outdoor gym 5 minutes from his house, or when he's feeling lazy, or when the yellow dust from China becomes intolerable. It gets really bad actually- the dust, not the laziness.)

Although, I shouldn't joke about poverty- this is what REAL poverty looks like. (He's collecting recyclables to sell them. These people, mostly elderly, can be seen all over Seoul)

This is a traditional Korean style hotel. (The floor is the bed- seriously you sleep on the hard floor. And the tiny door is the door to the bathroom.)
 

This is food (donkasu)

This is a bakery

In Korea, People walk where ever they want (except on the sidewalk, that's for cars)

This is a recent protest (Many workers are also having a sleep-in around the Samsung building. Hundreds of people, sleeping on the ground in sleeping bags, trying to get their point across)

FAILURE

Let’s talk about failure.

Failure is one of our biggest fears, probably up there with drowning, or talking to a cute girl. This fear is so strong that we pass up great opportunities for relationships, jobs, life experiences, and friends. And it’s a shame.

What many people don’t realize is that failure is the greatest teacher we will ever have. It has been teaching us since we could burp, and it will follow us for the rest of our lives. It will be there each time we fall, and it will be there each time we succeed, just waiting for its chance to offer us another lesson. 

My advice to people out there is to not shy away from their failures. Embrace your mistakes. Take the time to examine and learn from what you lack, then come back stronger and determined as hell to succeed next time.

Now, I want to share with you some of my failures; believe me, there are MANY. It took me well over a year to design my first book cover (See the book cover here!), and in that time I made A LOT of mistakes. Like, a lot. And in the spirit of owning up to my mistakes, I’d like to share with you some of these atrocities.

This was one of my earliest designs, and it
depicts a fictitious character in the book-
The Bear Dragon

I tried crossing out words to make it seem more mysterious

This was one of my favorite covers
because it so well depicts a scene
that Charlie imagines in his head
late in the book.

My very first cover design for the book.
Oh, the nostalgia...

Thanks for checking out some of my failures. I have dozens more just like them, possibly more. And while these covers were not good enough to be the face of my published book, they represent a significant part of my education in design. I'm grateful for the time I invested in them, and they have definitely helped to make my newer book covers MUCH better. You can check out the cover that I eventually DID use for this book here, and you can also see the cover for my newest book here.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

Check out JDBenabides.com for all my work!

My name is Julian Benabides, although my books say J. D. Benabides on their covers.
I'm passionate about two things right now: writing and traveling. Sure, I enjoy photography and teaching as well- but when you talk about a passion- something that starts a fire in you that you just can't contain, it really comes down to two things. Writing. And Traveling.

So I'm making this blog to pass on my knowledge, share my embarrassing stories, and hopefully entertain a couple people out there. I'd love to offer some travel tips for those who don't want to get scammed, and those who are looking for the courage to take a chance on adventure. I'd also love to give some advice to the young author who, more than anything, just wants to see his/her name on the cover of a book.

People advise against mixing interests in your blogs; they say to limit your blog to just one thing. But I honestly think that writing and traveling have a lot in common. Traveling (By traveling I mean: $3 hostels, backpacking, sharing your bed with strangers you just met on the bus) and writing both involve a great sense of adventure and discovery. They both push you to be better than what you are right now. They both require a good deal of dedication. And they will both drive you to HATE them at times. (If Writing and Traveling were people, I'd love them about 80% of the time, and want to strangle them about 5% of the time. The other 15% we'd just be friends.)

So join me on my travels, follow me as I write books, and just remember- you're awesome.