FINALLY: The life and Seoul of the Party...

Firstly let me say that I apologise that this post has not been applied in chronological fashion. I typed it all up and everything and was ready to post and suddenly when I wanted the text it had disappeared from the document I had written.

Now back to the story...

Cheosok supper had come and gone and it was time to climb on a train Deagu bound to catch our connection to Seoul using the SUPER FAST (i.e. 301km/hr max speed that I saw) KTX Bullet train. We were all “moer se” tired from our awesome dinner the night before but could take solace in the fact that we had 3 hours to sleep on the KTX. Saying goodbye to Dan and Courtney (who were headed back to Pohang for their own Choesok Adventures) Ashli, Colleen, Sam, Sandy and myself disappeared into the distance at not such a “rate of knots”. I enjoyed the trip for as long as my MP3 Battery lasted, but luckily Sandy in her awesome wisdom had seen fit to prep some Pb&J sandwiches and apples for the ride and I bought us some biscuits.  Time flew as we eventually arrived in Seoul at about 11ish that morning.

1^st task was to find our accommodation: Yellow Submarine Guest (INSERT URL FOR YOUTUBE LINK) house  - cool right!!! Well after getting lost and getting a Nice Korean man to help us, we found the place only for a Swedish man to tell us we are at the wrong place. We need to find Heondea Guesthouse-Yellow Submarine Version 2.0. As it turns out we were right at our place once we got off the subway but we couldn’t figure out the directions :-P

Bags down and 20min well rested we set off to get lunch and found this awesome Korean BBQ place where we chowed on some Galbi (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_barbeque ) Which BTW was amazing!!! Essential it is like a hot-rock but you have the grill in the middle of your table and cook the meat yourself until you are that hungry you just eat it even thought it may not be cooked as you like it :-P After lunch we headed to Iteawon (– The western suburb of Seoul. It has been turned into a very western site because there is a US army base very close by that has about 30 000 US Army personal working there.) Along the way I think we stopped at 2 coffee shops and numerous shiny, cuddly and clothing shops (see: Sisterhood of travelling...well...anywhere with anything really...). Since getting to Seoul I had been trying to get hold of a certain Lloyd “Mr President” Miekle – a friend of mine form Rhodes who has been in Korean since Feb. He stays in Incheon which is in the north west of Seoul. This task was made all the more difficult as I didn’t have a phone yet and thus used Sandy’s (until it’s battery ran out) and Sam’s. Eventually we got hold of each other and arranged a meeting time and place. Until that time though we still need to kill some of what was left... (i hope that makes sense-it sounds funny so I will not correct my Eng here).

*NOTE: Any pics shown from this point of the trip were taken by Sam/Colleen as I had forgotten my camera back at the motel. They both have a great eye for images so I am sure that my blog has been enhanced through the use of their pics*

We walk into more shops of varied stock-I buy a couple of things and we stop for Coffee one time in the afternoon. Actually we found a little side shop that stocked foreign groceries. I took a small advantage of this and bought Basil, oreganum, Curry powder, and a couple of other things. I didn’t have too much cash on my otherwise I would have bought Milo and Oros as well. Then it comes time for supper and we find this awesome little Irish pub (as we all craved food that we consider to be normal) I did not want to spend too much so I shared a honey and mustard, Cajun, chicken sandwich with Sandy. Colleen had Fish and Chips (tasted really good as well, and I think of Sam and Ashli one had nacho’s and one chicken strips (I THINK). This delectable meal was followed by our meeting up with Lloyd who had suggested going out and painting the city red as such, but none of us were all too keen so Lloyd was a very good sport about it all, so we had a drink at one pub...

and he then joined us on out night time trip up Namsan Tower (Much like Hillbrow tower just much prettier, cleaners, safer, well actually almost opposite to Hillbrow actually save for the fact that they are both towers). We wondered around at the tower and then Sam, Sandy, Lloyd and Ashli went up to the top while Colleen and I stayed and watched a lights and music show that took place instead. This portion of the trip is best shown in pictures.

After saying out good bye to Lloyd who somehow figured a way to get home, we slowly made our way back to our place. That said we did this over the course of about 1.5 hours and it was close to 2 am by the time we got there. We were all so ZONKED that we just fell on our beds and went to sleep.

Interlude: Michael Jackson Getting Older (I showed this to my students for my growing up lesson and laughed all 9 times I played the video)

Whose Line: Song Styles - MJ Getting older

Day 2 we took it very easy and had a nice slow morning with our breakfast (supposedly being supplied by the motel) of Cornflakes, an apple, coffee and a few other things.

I was rather underwhelmed by the experience really. For what we were paying we could have had more on offer. A subway ride (Where sandy impersonated the chick from “The Ring” 
 and funnily enough some locals too :-P) on a beautifully clear and sunny day took us to Changdeokgung Palace where we walked around viewing the Architecture and just taking awesome very arty Pics (see BELOW).

Leaving the palace we found this wicked little rice cake cafe and had... NO YOU’RE WRONG!!! We didn’t have coffee, HA! POX ON YOU!. We actually had some herbal tea. Being that it was such a lovely day we made our way to the stream that runs directly through the centre of Seoul, so as to clean up the image and environment a bit (apparently), and walked along there until that got boring and we made our way to Namdeamun Market – The 2^nd Biggest market in South Korea. (The biggest is Dongdeamun Market, also found in Seoul). Again much eyeing of clothing and shiney was done and I even bought 2 things. MAN THIS PLACE IS WORSE THAT THE ORRIENTAL PLAZA ON A SATURDAY. (People who do not know JHB I apologise for the exclusion). It was packed with anything and everything you could think of!

We got so tired that we eventually left having eaten some delicious watermelon, and made our way to Holly’s Coffee shop (Yes we were back in old habits, sigh). We did need to recuperate a bit though, so while the girls all bought coffees of varied natures I resisted and just enjoyed the company. At my behest we traversed several different subway line to make our way to Olympic Park. That said it was not as exciting as I had hoped, though I did get to see my 1^st Korean road accident (A bumper bashing involving 3 cars).

This was not the accidetn in question just BTW

One was parked at the lights with another behind it and a 3^rd one got it all wrong and smashed into the 2^nd one that then went onto the 1^st one (presumably because they were not using any hand break). They were not going too fast so everyone was ok. That said – in SA there would have been remonstrating and swearing and cops and and and. Here it was all rather cordial. They got out there cars and the guys who were hit went to check that the bad driver was ok. Then I just they just called tow-trucks and exchanged information. Very cordial affair.

A night cruise on the Han river was next on the agenda and this is where my poor planning came to bite me. I got so so cold – I had summer stuff on and it was suddenly really cold. I took Sandy’s black bin bag of newly purchased floor pillows and used those to break up some of the wind and try keep my body heat. There was this old lady on the boat who was just going off at this one guy – we all guessed she was a mother in law of the guy and she was tearing him a new one and we couldn’t figure out why. Eventually another gentleman who was with that group got up and escorted the old lady inside and calmed her down. We didn’t see her for the rest of the trip though so she must have been kept below deck :-P

Some well earned sleep was had by all and the next morning we did MORE window shopping (by this point I am bored so just sit outside taking pics of arb things while the girls looked around) and had breakfast at Dunkin Doughnuts before heading back to the train station to catch our train home.

 We were all exhausted but it was well worth it! VIVA SEOUL VIVA!!!

And-ong ‘die’ adda hand Darren...

A couple of weekends ago (2^nd & 3^rd October) I travelled to Andong (http://www.maskdance.com/english/main.asp) for the Annual mask festival. It is one of the must see’s for anyone doing this teaching gig. We caught the late morning train through to Andong where we met up with James Lee (who was introduced to us on our 2nd weekend in Yoenchoen, by Chris) as he was also headed to the fest. Following out 1hr 20min  train ride we disembarked only to find we had no idea where we were actually going. Luckily James met up with some of his friends and we just followed like lemmings off a clip (insert pic).

We arrived at the main site and immediately set out n search of food. Sandy found this delightful waffle pace that made like schwama pancakes (PIC) a long with éclairs and waffles.  Whilst order food I noticed some of James’ friends standing by what looked like an amusement park ride. Turns out (excuse the pun when it becomes apparent) that it was like a barrel roll ride. You got strapped in like on a roller coaster and then proceeded to get beaten up by a machine that was a little wanting on some of the safety aspects.

There was no padding on the bracing so as a result my shoulders and clavicle’s were destroyed by this 8min barrage of metal bars as I slid from side to side in my seat. Unlike Sandy (who joined me on the ride with James’ friends) I managed to save serious bruising on my legs by wedging myself in place such that I did not bounce up and down while moving from Side to side. As Sandy so eloquently put it: “We just paid W3000 to get beaten up!” For further reading on Korean Amusement Park rides see http://sandysinkorea.blogspot.com/2010/10/korean-amusement-parks.html  

After catching my breath and letting the colour return to my face we all then tried to contact all the various people we were meeting there. The Pohang crew (plus Melinde and the Klug Twins (All from SA), minus Dan who was working) as well as a bunch of other people we were in orientation with (Dave, Emily, Michael, Jason... I forget), were eventually liaised with and all I had to do was find Jeff so I could drop off my bags *As I say that, I see him with Carey-Lee* - GREAT SUCCESS!

Jeff took all but Sandy and Colleen (we bumped into the Pohang crowed upon exist from the fest site, while the former 2 chose to stay and walk around the grounds) to have Andong Jjimdak (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andong_jjimdak) the famous local dish, which was amazing! A couple of beers later and dropping off my stuff at Jeff’s, we were back at the camp grounds where we all went and made our own masks.

Andong Jjimdak

An evening of Fireworks, where Sandy and I eventually found our way onto the river bank to sit directly under the Fires Strings (Korean Fireworks where you have 5 lines laced with somethig that burns like a sparkler, that is strund across the river) (Korean and Western best explained through pictures)...

...was followed by a substantial amount of alcohol consumption at the two pubs Jeff took us too. The South African End of the Table (Grant from Mitchell’s Plain, Carrey-Lee from PE, Sookie from Pta, Leon from the WC as well&myself (plus our honorary South African Andrew (From New York but was at the World Cup for 3 weeks) got considerably rowdey and hilarious as the night got earlier and earlier. When Dave from England joined in the banter there was no stopping us! Also in attendance were Jasmine (who I had travelled with to SK) and Kate who was from CT but had been in Korea since Feb. This was where I heard of the Drinking game ‘Titantic’ (not played and to be avoided by me in future) where a shot glass sits in a glass of beer and the bottle to fill the shot is passed around with little by little the shot becoming fuller and fuller. Whoever pours the defining dose into the shot glass that sinks it has to down the lot!! Lethal Stuff!

Suddenly there was mention of dancing and Sookie and I could not have gotten out of there fast enough. We hopped into a taxi (@01:30) with a pair from the states who are college friends of Jeff’s and were staying with him and the male American tells him where we want to go. 40min later we have no idea where we are and the meter is sitting at 40 000 Won. My thoughts shit this guy has heard wrong, he is taking us out of the city. Sookie and I pipe up to check and he has heard wrong. We were now 16 km outside Andong and heading for a middle school in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully the driver turns around and even knocks 10 000 off the fair for his mistake. It is at this point that the dancing party has returned home minus Dave and Andrew, as they didn’t want to pay the entrance. I go to sleep and hear Dave arrive home. That was all I heard luckily. He got in at apparently 04:30 with Andrew, and was rather hammered and had an hour long rant about something but  I somehow slept through all of this. I later heard that Andrew had found the washing machine was rather comfortable and was sleeping on it with his legs out the window until his feet got wet, so he moved to the floor like the rest of us.

 07:30 I awaken and wonder through the mass of sleeping bodies to eventually have a shower and Sookie, having woken up, and I head to the festival site to get breakfast and buy stuff before I was to leave at about 12ish after meeting up with everyone. I got to see the Korean "Bob Dylan"...

I have bought loads of things which I hope to start sending home soon. After some more wondering around we all went and caught the train back to our homes so ending out mask festival. Next up is... The Jinju Lantern Festival this weekend!

Upcoming features: "KOREAN F1-YIPPY!!!" "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jumped over a ..." ; The Musical stylings of ‘Hauser Front loader’ AND a special Treat: Michael Jackson getting older.

Geoff’s non pornographic Asian adventure continues shortly...

P.S. Here are a few more pics from the festival itself. There was so much going on that I figured it would be way easier to just put it in pictures.

James surveying the layout of the Festival site

Me with one of the mascots

Dave, Jeff and Carry-Lee, on the way back to the festival from Jeff's place after putting down our bags

The Heart Stopping Train Ride...

It was on the train ride home that a big event in my Korean life occurred. I had been spending a lot of time with Sandy over the past month and I a growing affection for her looks, style and positive permanently beaming personality. I decided to tell her this and ask her out.

It all began with a series of cartoons and notes about our Seoul experience, (the wisdom I had gained from travelling with 4 women and she with 1 man amongst 4 women, what it would be like to have mini Elephants as pets... (YES DALE I know you have copy right on the idea)...)...

WICKED COOL RIGHT!!!

... drawn on serviettes’/ napkins and passed between us (we were sitting a row apart). I claimed a napkin and penned my thoughts about her and asked her out. The response was not as I had hoped as I was placed gently in the ‘Friend Basket’ but was at piece with the idea and left it alone.

Following a couple of days of rest and reflection, I headed to Sandy for pancakes (she asked if I wanted to come over and have some)

Following which I was about to begin a marathon Net Session, when she “passed me the ball”...right into my face! She conveyed that she would like it if we saw where things went between us, she informed that me that she just needed a couple of days to think about what I had said and had decided to take this risk and adventure with me. I was stunned...

 for a couple of minutes which then gave way to calm, but complete, excitement. We have been a couple for just under a month now and things are going brilliantly well. We realise the uniqueness of the situation and the trickiness it could pose in the long run and as a result are just taking it one brilliant day at a time.

Ladies and Gentlemen readers of My Asian Adventure: I officially reveal to the cyber world at large that I have a girlfriend.

Yey! :)

Much more than that, I shan’t say as it is neither proper of me, my place nor is it the purpose of this blog. If you are interested to the point of interrogating me, just pop it in an email/FB msg :)

The sisterhood of the travelling, well... anywhere with anything really...

A Diatribe on the perils....lissly lovely experience of travelling with 4 women as occured for my trip to Seoul:

If you have a long journey, you will become the bell-boy while the ladies freshen up, so get used to it.

I looked after bags on arrival

If there is a lot of walking, you stop at a lot of coffee shops.

Breakfast and... YOU GUESSED IT! Coffee, on the last morning

If there is a lot of walking and you stopped at loads of coffee shops, you will stop for bathroom breaks (though I must say these ladies were good about doing what the needed to do so not to hold up the itinerary), so get used to it.

The Ladies inscribed here-in

If it is shiney you will stop to have a look, so get used to it.

If it is brightly coloured, you will stop to have a look, so get used to it.

Just a snippet of the Madness at Namdaemun Market

If it is made of leather or cotton, or polyester (i.e. if it can be worn or used as an accessory) or is cute and cuddly, you will stop to have a look, so GET USED TO IT.

I must add though, the little tike on the couch was rather C'WEET!!! (Cute+Sweet)

If it fits around a wrist, finger, neck, toe, YOU WILL stop but by now I AM TIRED OF BEING USED TO IT. *Sits outside store and takes aimless photo’s (LIKE THIS ONE:)*

WHY!? Because I was B.O.R.E.D
THAT'S WHY!

At the end of the day YOU WILL BE DOING THIS:

Nuff Said right!

Thanks Giving Dinner (Unimaginative I know - but I wrote about it in the last post. Now for the visuals)

The Place Cards Made By Sandy for our dinner



After Bowling - off to De Vinci

 

Dan and I not really helping :-P I felt underdressed
when I came in his suit




My Hands at work:
slicing and dicing an Octi




A really cool shot (if nothing else)
taken (By Courtney Spitzner)
from the roof of our Building




Cheese Cake ATTACK!
 It was gone in 2 minutes. It was crazy!




On the menu: spicy octopus, stir-fry vegetables, tofu soup, spam musabi (yay, Hawaii—represent!), stuffed fried tofu, Dessert: Cheesecake and three flavors of ice cream: strawberry cheesecake, once in a blueberry, and almond in snow



Pohang and Yoencheon's finest bowlers

Yoenchoen City Lights at night (By Sam Wloch)

Coutney, Hostess with the MOSTEST - Sandy, and
Dan in front of our massive meal.



Colleen eating with her STAR WARS Chopsticks







All the crew at the Train station on Saturday before we departed for Choesok
(By Courtney Spitzner)







Do you see the bowl of Octi Heads? YUMMY!