A taste of home...

At this festive time of year where family come together to be with one another I would like to take the time to dedicate this post to my parents and my brothers, and also to 3 very important people in my life whose birthdays are on the 9th (The Hazle Twins) and 15th (Dr Faye Gordon) respectively.

On Monday of last week I received a message via the social networking tool that everyone loves to hate... no not that one. This tool thankfully doesn’t wake you up in the morning with a Twitter or a Tweet. I am talking about the granddaddy of social networking tools.

Anywho courtesy of a remodelled Facebook – Marelize, a friend through flight, form Daegu got hold of me and invited me, and other Saffa’s longing for a taste of home, to join her at her friends flat for a taste of home and some “oorspronklike lekker Suid Afrikaanse kos”. Eventual attendees were:

Myself, Lisa (with whom I flew to Korea); Andre (who knows Marelize); Adean (my roommate from orientation), his friend Wynand and another of his friends/girlfriend? (status to me was unknown but I’m guessing so from all the hand holding) Cassie, who hails from The Midwest (I think Iowa) in the States. Oh and let me not forget our gracious host’s Leon and his wife Santjie, and chef extraordinaire – Marelize.

From Left to right: Adean, Cassie, Andrea (notice the Cheetah's Jersey!), and Wynand

The event itself was arranged to mark 2 days both occuring on the 16th of December: The Day of Reconciliation and Hug A South African Day.

On Saturday morning I watched (through streaming over the net) Aus slowly murder England in the 3^rd Ashes test, being played in Perth, and then I climbed on my train at about 14:30 bound for Daegu. The weather over the past weekend was amazing – comparatively of course. The temperature ranged from about 8C at night to about 12 during the day. My plan was to wonder around Daegu and buy Christmas gifts for our Christmas party at the end of the week, but the shops I was looking for were rather difficult to find. I ended up just walking around town for an hour before making my way to the subway station where I was meeting Marelize. Through various circumstantial occurances I waited at the subways stop for about an hour before Marelize arrived. In that time I just leaned agains a support pillar and watched the world go by. I had my MP3 player playing pleasantly loud Music and began to let my mind wonder around the subject of human movement and habitual behaviours. Watching the throngs of commuters enter and exit the subway trains, the rushing and strolling to meet the trains on the platforms, with Muse’s latest single “Neutron Start Collision” blaring in my ears...

Yes I know the birthplace and existence of this track is from a very regrettable source – namely a certain 2^nd film sequel to a very hatred inducing, sparkly vampire series of books that were made into a dreadful series of movies)

But that aside it is a really catchy track and provide sufficient power to be the soundtrack to my wondering mind

... I started to formulate a little poem in my mind to describe my thoughts. It progresses thusly:

I call it: Like Lemmings...

Like Lemmings...

*Press play*

The sound in my ears illuminates my surroundings.

I stand.

I watch.

I see dozens of lemmings shuffling into and out of giant metal boxes.

The air clears.

Thoughts surge through my mind:

Who are they? Where are they going? Why do they follow so blindly?

The answers to these questions only they know.

Another metal box emerges from the darkness and a new set of dozens disappear as fast as they appeared.

The air clears, the mind clears.

An endless cycle as if set to shuffle, repeat all.

Like lemmings,

Only they know...

*Volume up*

Following such a deep read here is a little something to bring a smile and lighten things up – I played Merry Christmas Mr Bean as a treat for my last lesson of the semester and this bit is one that I particularly enjoy:

So... how are you feeling? A little happier? Slightly philosophical yet your minds cleared of thought? Relaxed?

Good. That is the perfect frame of mind with which to read the rest of this post...

As I listened to my music (and completely zoned out, as only my friends know I can, when my ears are filled with little plastic plugs explelling the wave form we know as Sound) I did notice a chap who arrived at the platform around the same time as I did. He too was leaning against a pillar. Waiting. Much like me.

In a phone call to Marelize to see where she was, she had told me the Lisa and Andre (the latter of whom I had never met) were waiting at the station as well. I hadn’t seen Lisa and assumed she would be standing with Andre so I figured that this other chap was waiting for someone else. As time pasted and 15min became 30min I noticed the lining and collar of this gent’s shirt.

We were asked in our invite to this event to wear something South African. All I had brought with me was my green Bafana Bafana beanie, so that is what I wore. This lining and collar though, looked distinctly like the lining of a Springbok Jersey and if not that then certainly of a South African provincial Rugby Jersey. I thought *might this be Andre?* but stopped short of going over to ask for no other reason than because I lost my normally unflappable nerve. Lisa eventually arrived and she pointed out that the gent in question was indeed probably Andre, so we went and joined him. Marelise arrived shortly after and it was then that I became a small moment of amusement. Sticking out of the top of my backpack was a whisk which (along with a can opener that was much easier to use than my current one) I had bought when I arrived in Daegu that evening. This was very amusing to the girls. Cé la vie.

We all then walked to the venue for the evening’s “jol” and were noticed by a passing taxi containing Adean, Cassie and Wynand who pointed out that we had about a 6-7 min walk in front of us and they would see us there.

Leon and Santjie were very welcoming and gracious hosts and overall it was a grand evening.

On the menu was “Vetkoek en Mince”, “Pannekoek”, “Biltong”, and Ghostpops­ ­(Supplied by Lisa). There were also 2 bottles of wine: Obikwe-sweet red (which I brought and very much enjoyed) and a Nederburg Pinotage (Which Lisa brought-which was also very much enjoyed).

On the airwaves, streamed live form the Mother City, was Western Cape’s finest (The merits of this musical entertainment are still to be decided considering I am a guy who lives across the Vaal) – Kfm. The talk was about anything and everything: from of course our South Korean expeience, what we like about SK and miss about SA, the reasons there are (apparently) a large number of South African’s who emigrated, returning to SA... as well as the South African education system and language policies within it. Amongst this there was a great deal of linguistic exchange “in die taal”. Lisa, Myself and Cassie are not altogether fluent in said tongue (Cassie not at all familiar with it), but Lisa and I could at least both understand what was being said.

Above: Marelize Prep'ing the Dough for the "Vetkoek:
Below: Lisa Prep'ing the Mince

It came time to head home butfor me that was not an option as I had missed both the last train and the last bus back to Yeongcheon. Adean offered his floor for me to sleep on and I was prepared enough that I had a sleeping bag and pj’s so it was overall a very fun evening and hopefully I would see everyone again soon.

Andre and Wynand horsing around as we headed home

This coming week see’s Christmas upon us and Yoengcheon is playing host to a nice little get together of Sandy (Our Hostess); Me (the man with the accommodation); Colleen; Melinda; Courtney and Sam. Dan is not available and Ashli is off to Seoul so sadly whey will not be with us. Still looking forward to it. Happy Holidays everyone!

Stay tuned to Geoff’s Asian Adventure for more soon...

A Seoul-ful (early) Christmas.

The night was 3rd Dec and Sandy and Ashli and I had managed to get ourselves on the not-very-exclusive-but-not-very-well-known-about guest list for an early Christmas function that was being organised by a man I only ever heard referred to as “Santa” (A large American chap with a white beard and balled head).

Soekie had invited Ashli and Ashli invited Sandy and I. It was to be held on Saturday 4^th December, in Itaewon (Western aimed area of Seoul) to begin at 15:00 with gift presenting from 14:30. FIRST THOUGH, we had to get ourselves to Seoul. At about 18:15 on Friday night we headed to have pizza for supper and then hopped on our train to Deagu and KTX connection to Seoul. We arrived in Seoul at about 22:00 and made our way (via subway) to Hongik University Subway station were apon we walked around for a while and eventually found where we were staying – the Hong Guesthouse (Hostle).

The reason that the previous couple of paragraphs have been solely an account of our movements with minimal anecdotal references is because it was COLD! Like -3C cold, thus we were cold and tired and just wanted to get to sleep, so we had no anecdotal worthy stories for me to share at this point. However I think you would be interested to hear my dress-code at the time:

2 pairs of gloves (one wool and one leather); 2 pairs of Long-Johns; 2 vests; 3 beanies; 1 scarf; 1 Jersey-shirt-top; one ultra think jacket and on pair of jeans + my relatively think if a bit lose Brown leather boots. THAT, ladies and gents, is how cold it was on the walk to the train stations and hostel.

Me all Michelin-manned up before we left Yeongcheon

A photo opportunity and...

... some entertainment at the subway station

We find the guesthouse and initial impressions were good. Wooden floors, nice and warm, nice kitchen where you could store your food and cook for yourself, a nice (if sounding slightly over life/stoned) Texan - Josh, his name was - at the front desk. Then we see where we were actually sleeping. 1^st we are guided into a room just beyond the front desk and there were other unknown people in this room. This, we expected (we were staying in a hostel after all). However, I am then guided out of the room and told – “following recent complaints from guests we have imposed an opposite sex separation rule on the hostel dorms, so you will not be staying in here. You will be staying in the basement, or as we like to call it, the dungeon.” All my hope extinguished we traipse out into the cold and down a set of stones to a series of basement room under the main house.

First thing I notice is that is it dirty as hell and the place smells like a combo of wet dog and used socks. I am led into the room I will be sleeping...

I am handed my sheets and pillow (which was essentially just a pillow slip as the pillow itself was so flat there was no point in calling it a pillow) and told “have a good nights!” – with a rather indifferent look on his face, Josh leaves and it is me and 4 other gets in various states of clothed’ness in this room. I climb in my bed and...

Second thing I notice is that the bed is a hard as concrete. I think I would have been more comfortable and less claustrophobic sleeping on the floor. I forgot to mention that I was sleeping in the top bunk of a bunk bed, so apart from having about a 30cm clearance between my nose (when I am lying on my back) and the ceiling, all the damp, wet-dog-sock smell (which is heated because of how high the heater was set) rose to the ceiling and I was surrounded by it. LOVELY! About the only thing going for the place was that it was warm – though even that became a problem (described later).

Sandy wanted to go out for some food as she was hungry so I quickly set up my sheets and bed, so as not to wake the guys who might be sleeping when I got back and headed out. It was now nearing 00:10 and we found a nifty little restaurant where sandy ordered some food and Ashli and I had glasses of water.

We were just generally too tired to talk and Ashli had the flu so she was saving her strength for the food and friends of the next day.

After the meal we stop by a little corner cafe and buy some OJ and Milk for breakfast for the next morning and get to the hostel for some rest. I enter the room (mentally wounded by the smell as I enter) and climb on my bed trying to get to sleep.

It just isn’t happening

The heaters are set way too high and where I was only wearing my PJ’s and one pair of under clothes I end up taking off my shirts and my long johns before I could get to sleep. Oh and then there were two loud Americans who were speaking at full volume just outside the bedroom door failing to pay any of the other sleeping men any courtesy by shutting their traps! Sigh.

Woke up the next morning feeling less than refreshed but had a shower (which helped) and went up for breakfast. Sandy and I were clever; we had packed some cereal for ourselves to eat and having bought milk the previous evening + OJ to share, we had a pleasant breakfast. I had also made a Pb&J sandwich that I had brought with so I gave Ashli half of that to eat as well.

Off to Itaewon we go...

We were in Itaewon nice and early so we had time to walk around and shop before heading to food heaven at 14:15.

I did some souvenir and GIFT ;) buying as well as I couple of foods from the foreign food products such as TACO and TACO sauce mix and then we went to Cafe Mielie (run by 2 Austrian Chefs) for our pre-Christmas gorging! We sat at a table with the 3 of us (Ashli, Sandy and I) and Ashli’s friend Summer. Unfortunately Soekie was very ill so she was unable to join in the festivities. Here are some pictures:

All the attendees of the Itaewon Christmas December 4 2010

Ashli and Summer looking at the Menu (Mid-page turn)

A rooftop view of Iteawon from the Restaurant

A-fore-mentioned Santa handing out pressies

Ashli astounded at the amount of food we were given

Menu was: Succulent Turkey; soft and creamy Mash; Borsht (Beetroot Soup); Some roast veg with the Turkey; Meat Loaf; cranberry Sauce and Pumpkin Pie-for dessert.

Borsht with Cream and a Mug of Gluvine

The plate of food

Various gifts were distributed by Santa: Gloves; Scarves; Socks and Festive headgear.

Sandy even had to sing for her pair of toe socks :-P

We ate, drank (Yes drank – Wonderful, yummy, warm Gluvine (of which I had 3 mugs worth and thusly got very warm and happy) and were merry and then it was time to go. Ashli and her friends wanted to go out, Sandy and I were not as keen so instead we went to Lotte World instead.

Lotte world is owned by Lotte conglomerate. They are the Consumer bigwigs in South Korea. They have a number of different ventures from an amusement park to shopping malls, fast food places, chips, biscuits and OJ. Lotte World is the Amusement park that is attached to this ridiculously big shopping mall.

There was an Ice Rink  in the middle (ala Northgate) as well as games, restaurants, the works. But what amazed me about the place was the indoor amusement park. There was an Outdoor, much bigger, one but there was an indoor one for when it gets cold as it was at the time of this adventure. At the time they also had a Christmas parade with various cartoon and Christmas characters marching and dancing around the top floor of the place above the Ice Rink.

There were floats, fire, costumes, dancing, lights and laser shows. It was truly a spectacle. Sandy and I though had our hearts set on going ice skating (having read about Courtney and Sam’s trip to the slopes and Ice Rink in Pohang, on their blog). So we paid our Won grabbed some skates, put on our gloves (a rule of that particular rink) and got onto the ice.

I can’t remember when the last time I went skating was but it was just as energy sapping as I remember. We went well in circles for about 50min, with Sandy particularly impressive as she was effortless able to pick up speed and slow down while I was trying so hard just to keep my balance.

After skating we went and competed against each other at a racing arcade game and had a game of Air Hockey (Both of which I won: Air Hockey score being: 15-8 to me ;) ). After smoothies we were less than excited about going back to the hostel so decided to find a motel and stay there instead, being happy to forgo having already paid for the night at the hostel. We had a good very enjoyable night’s sleep and met up with Ashli again to get breakfast and head home by lunch time on the Sunday.

Another adventure done and dusted! Tune in again for more from Geoff’s Asian Adventure!

35 Points you should remember about Korea in general

Food

·         The food is spicy!

·         Fruit and Vegetables are quite expensive, even when compared to South African Prices.

·         Any form of Beef is VERY expensive – so if you like to eat beef like I do, know that you will be spending a lot of money in the purchase of said product. Chicken is a little less expensive and Pork is the least expensive.

·         Any Korean food you have at a restaurant will come in good sized portions and there is no charge to refill the side dishes that are brought with the meal as they considered a compliment to the meal.

·         In Korea, they do not accept tips. It is considered a service to the customer that he/she is not required to pay for.

·         There is a lot of seafood on offer so get used to it.

·         The fish is bonier than back home and you will be hard pressed to find filleted stuff.

·         Korean’s do not do 3 distinct meals a day. They generally have the same kinds of food 3 times a day – including Rice, and a pickled dish called Kimchi.

·         What Korean’s call soup is more like a broth and is generally very spicy. A “soup” comes with any meal you order and it is standard with all school lunches. Also standard is rice and Kimchi. (Though you do not have to have stuff if you prefer not to.).

·         Get used to using chopsticks as at school and restaurants there are no knives and folks. You get spoons and chopsticks. That is it.

Transport

·         It is generally relatively cheap to get around – see my transport post.

Weather

·         In Winter (November through to Mid-Feb) it gets COLD!!! We are talking 0C during the day and up to -12C at night in some places. Thus come with/buy a good pair of leather based shoes/boots.

·          Make sure you have a windbreaker jacket as the wind is the worst part of the cold.

·         Make sure you have a lot of thermal underwear.

·         LAYER, LAYER, LAYER! As your schools will have heating systems which can make things very hot in class when it is so gold outside – so you will need to wear layer in order to strip down to be comfortable.

·         Have/buy gloves (sometimes multiple pairs), beanies and scarves for the exposed skin.

·         In Summer it is stinking hot – and the humidity is generally 98% so have light fabric shirts and trousers. Sun block is a must as are sunglasses.

·         Home and classrooms to have Aircon and it will be A MUST, do not be afraid to use it. It is a very useful tool to dry clothing(due to the humidity, things stay damp a long time, AND due to the cold things struggle to dry)

INTERLUDE: Seeing as it is the holiday season I have and amusing little video that I was introduced to by Colleen - it is great fun :)

Clothing

·         See “Weather” for some clothing advice.

·         Korean’s don’t wear shoes inside schools or homes and a lot of restaurants, so you will need to get slippers to wear in school. You can wear them at home too but what you do at home is your own business.

·         Not only do you wear slippers at home, you have a separate pair of plastic ones in the bathroom.

Things to know around the home

·         The geyser and under floor heading is operated by a central heating system that is controlled by a panel on a wall somewhere in your flat. NEVER! (including in winter, when you are not home/if you have enough blankets, when you sleep) leave the heating system on. The reason for this is that the Gas bills can get very expensive very fast! ASK YOUR CO-TEACHER, THE FIRST TIME YOU SEE YOUR FLAT, HOW TO USE THE SYSTEM.

·         There is a separate button to turn on the geyser. You have to use the system in order to have a shower, so when you are done, turn the system off. ASK YOUR CO-TEACHER, THE FIRST TIME YOU SEE YOUR FLAT, HOW TO USE THE SYSTEM.

·         Cooking is done by gas, so get used to gas stoves, they are tricky to monitor heats for cooking. The gas line for the stove is controlled with a valve close to the stove. Thus the gas valve open or closed based on when you are/are not using the stove.

·         You generally will not get an oven, but you will have a fridge, stove, Micro, table, chair and bed.

·         You may or may not have bedding and kitchen wear when you move in. It depends on your school.

·         Flats are generally small. In some cases very small – just prepare yourself as it may not be what you expect (in a bad way). Whatever you get it is liveable – try and make the best of it.

Personal Hygiene

·         In Korea, a large proportion of toilets are “squats” meaning you don’t sit but squat when going to the loo. It is rather disconcerting and takes a little getting used to but just be aware of it.

·         Toilet paper is as a general rule: NOT FLUSHED AFTER USE. Rather it is thrown away in a bin beside the toilet. Not something I agree with but that is how it is.

·          IF you are so averse to this you can do with the TP what you normally do, i.e. put it in the toilet, BUT be aware that it seems to clog the toilets easily. Thus be conservative on the amount of TP you use when you use it.

·         You will be very lucky to find a bath in Korea, so get used to showering and note that water pressure can be low and showers awkward (depending on the size of your bathroom and how modern your place is).

·         Rubbish and recycling is a big thing there. THEY WON’T however tell you how to deal with your rubbish and recycling.

·         You need to buy specialised rubbish bags for the area you are in. You can find these rubbish bags at any shop – BUT you will need to ask for them as they are not anywhere for you to see. They are behind the counter so you will need to ask for one and here is what you say:

Shi-le ham-ni-da (Help me)  sseu-laegi bong-tu (May I have the regular trash bag) juseyo (Please).

·         Recyclables – Group: paper and cardboard (placed into a cardboard box/paper bag), glass and plastic (Which must be rinsed out prior to recycling), and tins separately. For the 2^nd&3^rd grouping you can put those in normal plastic shopping bags that you will end up collecting from the shops you go too. Place them in the appropriate bins or next to the food bin, for collection later that day.

·         Food waste is NOT THROWN AWAY WITH OTHER RUBBISH. It is separated into a food waste bag and emptied into a food waste bin. (Incidentally the leftover food waste is used productively for compost and animal feed!)

So that is a point guide on things you need to know. I hope it is insightful!

So I am more than a kilometer up in the sky, with just ground between me and death... hmmm... I hope my shoes don’t fall off!!!”

Good day Ladies and Gents around the world for anyone and everyone who is reading this. I have done many amazing things on this adventure of mine and there are many more adventures that I am yet to have but so far this is the most extreme thing I have done in South Korea.

The date was November 6^th – and as such I dedicate this post to my tall great friend - Tristan, whose birthday it was on this day.

Every adventure must have a beginning and this adventure begun in early October when Ashli sent out a Facebook post about namely: “Who wants to go paragliding?”. She works with a teacher whose niece went and showed her the pictures form the day. This started a chain of events that led to 8 individuals, 6 from around The States, and 2 travellers from SA going Paragliding in the Hills about 1 hours drive away from Gumi.

Ashli and I trained through to Deagu (where I saw this shop front sign)...

 ...on the Friday night after school (to allow us to catch an early train to Gumi the next morning – thus allowing us to sleep in a bit on the Saturday as we don’t have to travel as far). We met up with the lovely Soekie (from Pretoria) and Brain (from The States) and spent the night going between pubs as Ashli showed us the sights. 1^st stop was to find the famed – PIZZA IN A CUP!

I think that this was over hyped by Ashli as I was expecting cheese and meat and herbs and stuff with no dough base to speak of OR for the dough to be shaped to a cup and I was sadly left underwhelmed (that seems to be happening a lot lately :-P).

We went to the following pubs: Who’s Bob...

 ...Organ...

...and Vineroo (a little hole in the wall where you get Mini-“Pap Sak”). I was desperate to play a game of pool and found a table only to have this overly intense American tell me that he will play me for the right to keep the table. This was not the kind of game I was looking for but played him anyway. It got down to the 8 ball and I missed out but was never more relieved as that was the least fun game of pool I have ever played. Eventually the table cleared and Ashli and I played a couple of games which was fun. The highlight of the night was listening to Brian tell us his stories. He is undoubtedly the funniest person I have met here. Organ also had undoubtedly the coolest set of posters displayed, like this one...

The next morning we caught our train to Gumi and met up with Sam, Courtney, Alana, and Lindsey, who were joining us in this expedition. We were picked up by our guide from Gumi train station and drove for about 1hr to get to the mountain area that ended up jumping off. The drive to the top of the mountain was perilous with the twisty turny roads going up in this Toyota Quantum type vehicle.

From Back Left: Brian, Courtney, Sam, Directly up from Sam was Alana, Up from her was Ashli, then me, behind me was Lindsey and behind the camera was Soekie

Here is Soekie :)

Sam was not at all happy as we were going around the corners up this mountain, in some cases at quite a speed. We made it up the mountain alive...

...and then found out that it would be a long afternoon as we were going to go down one at a time. Ashli was the 1^st to go and we were all very apprehensive watching her prep and waiting for her to get off the ground. Suddenly she has a false start and falls. But it was not bad at all – there was not enough up draft in the chute so they just dropped about 30cm and went into a bush. Brushing herself off, Ashli and her instructor get back up and do the run down the hill again. This time...

LIFT OFF!!! (Below is a slideshow movie of the weekendof events - Music provided by Zebra and Giraffe - appropriately titled: Long Way Down! WHAT! You expected something that wasn't cheesey? Sorry for you...)

We were all so excited as it looked like so much fun!

We knew we were all going to go through with it when we saw Ashli disappear into the hazy distance.

After Ashli went as the Guinea pig to test the wind strength our guide came back up and said we would be going down 3 at a time as the wind was right to do so.

At this point I must tell you how cold it was up there! MY WORD – the wind chill was shocking – luckily I had a few layers and was given overalls to wear for my jump so I survived fine. Courtney and Sam though were a little under prepared for the cold. I Lent Sam my RMR tracksuit top (which I believe helped, sadly I had nothing to lend Courtney.

Following up Ashli, 1^st up was Alana, Lindsey and Brain, while they were suiting up and jumping off mountains the rest of us were freezing so we went and found a wind break and slept until our times came. We were even treated to a lunch of “Gimbap”...

...by the jumpers who were up there to do their thing. While enjoying our rice-ham-radish-cucumber-seaweed roll I was suddenly rushed out the door as it was my turn to jump off the edge of a cliff.

My heart was racing as I was getting into my suit and helmet get-up.

Then I was strapped up and latched into the harness for the parachute and my little turtle shell seat. “Run on the count of 3” – I was told by my tandem partner.

That is my tandem partner telling where to run on "3"

“1”... “2”...   ...   “3” I started to run. Next thing I knew I was in the air and my legs were dangling about 1200m above the ground.

All that was going through my mind was –  “I am wearing slip-on shoes, I REALLY HOPE THEY DON’T become loose and fall off”. I’m pretty sure I would have severely injured someone if that was the case, but luckily it wasn’t :-P I shuffled back into my strapped on seat and enjoyed the thrill of being in the air – feeling the icy chill of the air rush past my face, looking at the hazy afternoon horizon (sadly I couldn’t see much as it was way too hazy). My partner and I chatted and he took some pictures of us in the air – he used a camera that was set on self-timer, screwed into a pole and attached to a spring, which was tied into one of the 25 odd karabiners on the equipment (so that the camera wouldn’t fall to the ground and smash into a million pieces, if he dropped it by accident).

The feeling was remarkable. So much so that we are going back there in the spring to do it again.

We glided for about 10min and then I was asked: “Do I know Spider-dive?” I said “no” and suddenly we were gaining speed, spiralling to the ground – before you wonder how I survived, it was a completely controlled manoeuvre by the pilot. The G-force from the spin had my head pinned into my seat. I was incredible and then I lifted feet and started running as we landed.

In 12min it was all over.

On my trip down the mountain I was joined in the skies by Soekie and Sam and once we all landed we climbed back into the Bus and drove back to the top to wait for Courtney to have her go. We got back to find hot Raman noodles (think “2-minute noodles”) and fish cake broth waiting for us. In the cold and on adrenaline it tasted amazing! Because it was Tristan’s birthday and it was about 9am SA time, I decided to give my dear friend a call to send him my wishes. It was great to speak to him and all my Korea – America friends joined me in singing happy birthday to him – it made my day, and I hope it made his.

Following Courtney’s jump we drove back down the mountain and handed over our fee. There is a lovely photo (see below) of all the money the jump company made from us – but it was well worth it.

After eventually getting back to Deagu Ashli and I went and spent the night with her friend Kristen who took us to ‘COSCO’ the next morning. ‘COSCO’ is the American version of MAKRO but think maybe about 5 times bigger. I bought myself 2kg of normal cheddar cheese, a Kilo of Bacon (which I later found out was Maple Bacon from Canada, so every time I cook with it my place smells like Maple Syrup) and a Kilo of Raisins (which I planned to use to make “Bobotie”).

What a weekend!!! A highlight so far.

The plan is to go snowboarding very very soon, so I hope to have that post for you once I have done it.

Stay tuned to Geoff’s Asian Adventure for more very very soon...