Geoff's Asian Adventure (NO THIS IS NOT A PORNO!)

There is a time where everything must end.

2011-11-10T18:07:00.000+09:00

Hello to everyone who has followed me in my written journey over the past year and 3 months or so.

I have been back in South Africa (as you all might or might not know and indeed as you might or might not care) for 42 days. I have not written here for 57 days. To be honest I have not been able to figure out what I could write to complete the documenting of what has been quite an amazing year. Writing about my travel following the completion of my contract would become very long winded (leaving you with so much reading that you probably would give up before being even half way through). I had the idea of getting some of my pictures up for you to take a casual gander at. That proved to be a little difficult with my arrival to limited bandwidth and comparatively prehistoric upload speeds that we have in this country. I had begun to do a post summarizing my time in Korea but then that was a little self indulgent – if you are reading this post then you are more likely to have read about those experiences in previous posts.

What I have decided to do below is write about the most telling thing that I have learnt while I have been away from friends, family and familiarity. This is introspective but it is something that I want to share with anyone willing to read on. I preface what you read below with this: this is my personal opinion and is in no way a statement towards anyone.

In the past 14 months I have: Jumped off a bridge, soared in the clouds, swum with tropical fish, witnessed the beauty evident in cherry blossoms, experienced the thrill of touch, taste, sound, smell and sight. Amongst all this and a great deal more I have learned that there are 2 things that are absolute in life – Family and Love. Everything else is circumstantial and erodes or morphs over time (depending on how you prefer to think about it). Regardless of how you think about all things erosion can take place though. This occurs if you hold on to what you had so tightly and for so long that your grip on that thing’s reality becomes skewed. This in turn can cause its place in your mind, in your heart, to become just a little bit hard and void of feeling. You have damaged what you once dearly coveted because you were unwilling to accept that change is inevitable.

This is something I have learned and more importantly, learned to accept. The application of what I have learned I have had to apply to my relationships in life.

Family will never leave you. You might get disappointed, sad or angry with them at times but your family will never stop being there for you, with you. Families are love with no boundaries and no clauses. Cherish, respect and at the very least honour your family as best as you know how.

Your family’s love is unconditional. When you choose to love, you should do so with all your heart but when it is time to let go, you should not hold on too tightly but rather accept that situations change, relationships evolve and you should be willing to evolve with those relationships. Should you accept and evolve you will save yourself a great deal of anguish.

I know I am guilty of holding on too tightly and not accepting change. This journey of self discovery has helped me evolve, to be comfortable in and of myself. It has helped me to accept that some things may stay the same but most things are dynamic. To all who have enriched my journey and to all who have enriched my life you will always be in my heart.

I have described to you all how much I have learned and grown for this experience and I now strive to be more flexible, and fluid. That said I will never allow my heart to harden because that is not who I am. You all will always have a place in my heart, no matter what the direction or the nature of our relationship, may take.

Signing off for the final time from my Asian Adventure, thank you all so much for following my adventures. May we soon become reacquainted in an all new life changing experience!

Bali in a couple of bags of nutshells

2011-09-16T23:19:00.000+09:00

Hello Hello, to anyone who is still following these musings of mine.

My last post was on 24 July. It is not 16 September.

I am currently in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on leg 4 of my Asian Adventure having spent 2 amazing weeks in Thailand with the wonderful Sandy Lam, whom I miss greatly as she has made her way safely, thankfully, back to her home in San Francisco.

Life certainly does move fast doesn't it. In the intervening time between this post and last, I signed off in Korea by having Adam stay with me for about 8 days. It was a good 8 days. We went to the DMZ.

If you will remember, I had been once before in January...wow... that was 8 months ago... wow...moving on...

This time around I got a clear shot...urm... I mean line of sight... *clears throat*, into North Korea from Camp Bonifas - A US army instilation on which the meeting room, for the uneasy neighbours,...

Hey what do you know, twice I checked my slepping on MS Word for some tricky words and twice I got them right 1st time. There is hope for me yet... again drifting off topic, sorry about that, back to it then...)

...that you see on TV, can be found. We also partied it up in Deagu until about 2:30 in the morning. With the last hour of that approaching, we went to a Noribang (Kareoke room) and Adam proceeded to fall asleep after 15min - despite the attempts of Ashli Itami, Libby Lundeen and myself to shock him into staying awake by belting out a number of inebriated tunes at the top of our lungs, for the full hour no less!

In between all that I had summer holiday camps to get through, which I did easily enough and I was given 8 hours to pack up my flat and vacate the premises on the day my contract finished. There were other hassles too but today is about celebration.

It is about my 1st holiday holiday, as a tourist, outside SA. My Trip to Bali, Indonesia with the lovely Ms Deborah Brown.

This was the trip that we had planned for our contracted summer leave. Basically I just needed to get out of Korea and rest and I kinda wangled my way into Deb's plans.

It was an amazing trip with an amazing friend and travel buddy. Far be it from me to say "I must tell you everything abou the trip", as there is not enough time in anyones life to sit down and read all that.

Instead I have constructed 2 videos - one of the 6 days we spent in Kuta and one of the 6 days we spent in Ubud. The viewing time is 20 odd minutes for the videos combined but they are comprehensive reviews of the places we saw and things we did. I hope you enjoy them.

Sit back

Relax

And Enjoy...

Who knows, I might have another post or two before I get home - I have taken A LOT of photos in Thailand and in Cambodia (so far) and I am sure there will be loads more of Malaysia as well. You will have to wait and see. If I do post for these places it will be in the same format as today's post.

Hope you are all well.

Keep smiling, keep shining
Knowing you can always count on me
For sure
That's what friends are for!

Have a goodie y'all - Geoff out!

2011-07-24T15:30:00.000+09:00

Oyay; Oyay! The Adventurer has returned!

The last time I posted was around a month ago and in the intervening time I have seen a movie (called – The Conspirator) and done a lot of lazing about. Time is slowly ticking on my time here in Korea. As I write this I have 1 month and one week left (Though 12 days I will be in Bali).

With time being so short, this begins the last post or 2 or 3 of my adventure within Korea. I may have a post or two in me about a Korea adventure before Korean wrap up (My twin, Adam, arrives in 2 days, so I am sure that there might be a thing or 2 to say about that).

Today I am going to talk about “Spring Break”. In the States it roughly equates to our Matric Rave. From what I am told, it is a great deal more crazy than events in the good ol’ R.S of A with a lot more bikini clad woman and inebriated school leavers all looking for a good time.

EG:

On the weekend of 16-17 July I went to Daecheon on the west coast of Korea. On this weekend, dotted on this piece of coastline, is the town of Boryeong. Every year for the last 14 years it has hosted the “Boryeong MUD Festival”.

The idea began when some people from Boryeong who extolled the virtues of mud based cosmetics thought they needed a way to promote the products and so in 1998 the Boryeong Mud fest was born. With so many foreigners occupying teaching job in Korea the idea of mud wrestling, mud water slides and covering every conceivable piece of the human body in mud was bound to attract attention. Over the years the festival has become more and more popular such that over the 2 weekends in 2007 that the festival was held, roughly 2.2 MILLION visitors stopped by. Why did I bring up Spring Break? Well, in speaking to a few friends here the festival has become an equivalent for Spring Break. What could be better than thousands of half naked people, the beach/ocean, booze and mud wrestling!? For those not inclined to the ways of the partying foreigner sometimes the level of obnoxious, beer swelling, behaviour, presented in most part by visiting foreigners, is a bit off putting. That said Sandy and I went and it was an absolute blast.

We met up with the Adventure Korea Tour Group early on the Saturday morning (07:30) in Downtown Daegu (hoping that our overnight accommodation would be much better this time) to set forth on the 2.5 hour bus ride to the coast. We were very much optimistic about the experience and looking forward to a lot of fun. Our 1^st stop was the mud beach which is about 15 min away from the main festival site. 11:30 we climb off the bus and are presented with this vast expanse of dark brown ground with a bunch of activities set out (Mud soccer; mud wrestling; Army training; Pyramid building; and chicken fights - where one person sits on top of two people’s shoulders and attempts to push their shoulder seated opposition down to the ground).

Thanks to Kirsty Moore for these Photo's

We march off to retrieve our clothing to be used on the beach and then squelch down to the various activities. My favourite was of course the soccer however no one knows who won because of the level of chaos that ensued with 75 people running in different directions, with 4 soccer balls on the field. I did also enjoy the wrestling.

Basically it was girls vs girls and guys vs guys. The 5 guys on my team had one man about 6ft tall and the rest of us were below that. The other team had no man below 6ft. A challenge, yes? The whistle is blown and I head straight for the skinniest guy as I figure, even if I have to go kamikaze on his ass, he will bend out of the ring like a reed in the wind if he has my weight to deal with. Sadly my position was all wrong so I change tact. I decide I will be a limpet and hang on for as long as possible that hopefully he will make a mistake and fall out. Next thing I know my face is being shoved in the mud and all my team mates have been eliminated. I lock my wrists around his waist and pretzel my legs around his thighs. Then I have 5 guys prying my limbs off him. One man per limb they are swinging me, readying me for the flight out of the ring. In a last ditched attempt to escape I wriggle and twist as violently as I can – kinda like this fish:

Hoping they will lose their grip and I could at least surprise one of them and take them out before i get disposed of.

Sadly...

I failed.

It was great fun none the less and I was left with a stiff back and grazes all over my body to show for my courage in the face of dirty adversity.

Mud beach over with... oh wait, bugger, I left my sandals at the beach *makes mental note to buy cheap flip-flops when get to motel.*
Additional note: this is the 2^nd time I have left a pair of feet apparel somewhere and I have also lost 2 umbrellas.

Continues...

Mud beach overwith, we put our stuff in our motel room and go looking for some grub. We have some yummy galbi-sal:

After lunch we decide to wait till Sunday to have a go at the festival rides and just hang around the beach. I swim, Sandy looks at shells and crabs and we both meet up with Deb and her friend Darren who were also at the festival.

We go for smoothies and dinner before Deb and Darren depart back to Daejeon and Sandy and I – buggered at this point, make our way back to our room. Low and behold, what do we find...

Our room’s floor and Sandy’s bag were covered in water as the freezer part of the mini fridge has defrosted because of a short in the wall that tripped the power and turned the fridge power off. WE HAVE NO LUCK WITH THIS TOUR GROUP!!! We tried to find the tour operators but couldn’t so Sandy roused the building manager from his sleep and very grumpily he helped us out. Add to that we thought we did not have hot water but it turns out that we have to drain the nearest reservoir while we wait for the water to actually heat up.

That's one angry baby!

Oh and here is what caps off our dealings with this company on this weekend: When we climb on the bus back for deagu, the tour manager says that ONE OF THE PASSENGERS IS IN CHARGE for the trip back as he is getting on the Seoul bus so that he can get home. HOW FRIKKING UNPROFESSIONAL CAN YOU GET!!!. We didn’t have anyone on board who spoke the language and we made a stop that we were unaware of that wasted 20min when we were only about 10min outside the city. It was so frustrating for 3 girls that they got off the bus then and there and caught a taxi back into Deagu. Since getting back from the trip, I emailed the company and made min and Sandy’s dissatisfaction clear. They offered us 40 000 Won each off our next trip. Sadly we are not taking another trip with them and they are yet to get back to me about that being a refund into our accounts.

Anyway – back to the weekend...

We woke on Sunday and had our pre-packed cereal for breakfast and then checked out. After putting our bags on the bus we went into the Mud Park at the festival grounds and had a ball. We both did have to go to the 1^st Aid tent to get mud washed out our eyes and I still have mud in my right ear but it was great fun. Sadly I do not have pics of Sandy or I covered in mud as I was worried about the safety of my camera. I have loads of others though (I went back with my camera once I had cleaned up).

After a swim at the beach, shower and cup of coffee we headed back to Yeongcheon, in the main happy, and very very very tired. It was a great last major adventure for us.

I may still get upto shinnanigans once Adam arrives but I will keep you... POSTED!

Adios for now

Bungeeeeee!!!

2011-06-27T19:48:00.001+09:00

To begin - I would like to dedicate this post to my mom, whose birthday it was a couple of weeks ago mom - I'll be home soon enough :)

Now...

Whenever I do something or set myself to do something, I aim to do it with integrity, honesty, respect and to do it to the best of my ability. This applies in all facets of my life, from the friendships that I hold so dearly and (arguably) too tightly, to my working environment and professional and intellectual goals. The whole point of me coming to Korea was to challenge myself and the notions that exist in my young mind and to do this with integrity, honesty, respect and to do it to the best of my ability. The end game for the past 10 months and for the coming 3 revolves around 3 things:

1. Travel

2. Putting myself outside of my comfort zone

3. Experiencing things that I would otherwise probably not try back in SA.

This post is particularly about numbers 2 and 3.

One of the things I have always wanted to do/ have looked intriguingly on at, was bungee jumping. It would normally be the 1st step in an individuals quest for a rush/flight. I started with a rather tame leap of a mountain back in November - So one could say I am kind of regressing :-P

However with warm weather set in here in the R.O.K more and more out doorsy things have become appealing to me. I hiked up a decent sized peak and then I saw a day tour available to go white water rafting and bungee jumping. This trip was made all the more interesting as I was travelling with my 4th and so far 2nd worst case of Tonsillitis in the past 1 and a half months.

(Please forgive me for the pun that is about to occur)

I had to leap at that opportunity, so I signed my name up for the day trip that took place a couple of weekends ago.

The adventure was set. I had my sun tan cream primed and was stocked with painkillers and meds from the Dr. I was not going to miss this opportunity. However, as always with these tours, 1st I needed to get myself to Seoul.

In an effort to save a bit of cash for impending expenditure I caught the 18:20 Mugunghwa (slow passenger train - refer to Transport) from Deagu to Seoul and settled in for the 4 hour ride. (You could ask - "Why didn't I take the bus? It is cheaper and only takes 3 hours". If you chose to ask that question to yourself then you have not been reading my blog carefully enough. TISK TISK! A reminder - I DO NOT enjoy bus rides and avoid them as best I can). The trip did give me the perfect amount of time to finish reading this book...

Which I borrowed from Sandy.

See I actually am reading!!!

I began the book by enjoying the detail in the descriptions. Then I got a little bored because the book stopped being about what I was enjoying about it but it brought me back in a lovely way through the courage of the main character and the love his family genuinely have for him. A recommended read if you are up for it.

As is always the case when I get to Seoul I had to find accommodation, so I travelled to my regular area where I have now stayed 4 times and grabbed a motel room.

Bright and early the next morning (7:00) I met up with other travellers going on the tour and we started our 2.5 hour bus ride to the Hangang river white water experience.

At the reststop

I got a little more acquainted with a few people (Dave, Laima and Julie)...

Dave (Left), Julie (Back Right), Laima

...who were going to be in my raft and then we grabbed our gear and headed for the water. There were 9 of us in our raft plus two guide - here is one of them:

The journey on the river took about 2 hours and along the way I got to have my 1st swim in 10 months!!! Sadly due to the lack of rain in the 3 weeks preceding this trip, the water level of the river was very low, which meant a little less white water and a lot more getting stuck on rocks that we would normally glide over.

It was all great fun though except for one irritation I had. One of my team members DID NOT KNOW HOW TO PADDLE! It, for some reason was getting to me - I think because her lack of technique the other 4 of us on that side of the raft were paddling out of sync, which was causing some hassles with directionality.

"If it was bothering you so much, then why did you not suggest to her how to paddle?" Well I thought we were all there to have a blast and there was no need to be picky, so I left thing as was and stuck to my task. Sadly unless we had underwater camera we were prohibited from bringing our ones along so I have no pics of the actual rafting.

Lunch was spicy squid stir-fry with rice (of course) and the normal Korean side dishes and then it was off to the bridge for the big jump.

Dave mentioned to me that last time he was on the trip they only had 30 people jumping, we however had about 60 as almost everyone wanted to jump! I stayed at the back of the queue so that I could take some nice pics (and one video which you need to look at sideways if you want to see what I did eventually) of people jumping. For those of you who are interested I am going to tell you how it all went down (another pointless pun - do what you will to me when I get back to SA). If you have done bungee before and don't care on the process, then go and make yourself a cup of tea and maybe everyone else will be done reading this bit when you get back so that you can resume your goggle eyed enchantment at my tail of courage beyond measure.

You signed up and payed your fee and then your weight was taken. I was sitting at a light 58kg (though my ticket says 59). Based on your weight you were given a letter of the alphabet to let the operators know what kind of rope they should use for you. My letter was B. The height of the jump was 53m up from the river and the initial free fall would take you down about 35m and then you would bounce around gradually staying closer and closer to the river as your momentum slowed down losing about 5-10m of bounce each time. The initial pull as you reached the tension threshold of the rope was the oddest feeling - kind of like having all your organs in your torso squash against your rib-cage. As you were bounce around a guy in a row boat was to row into position to pick you up when you were not bouncing anymore and the operators had lowered the winch to which the rope was attached, such that you could be collected by the boatman and taken back to tera-firma.

I didn't quite have that last bit. The operators lowered my cable a little too much so for about 2 minutes while I was waiting for the boatman top get to me (as he had started late) my head was bobbing in and out of the water while I was hang upside down. I didn't exactly expect that. But hey, no harm done. It was an incredible rush and an even more incredible experience. I was lucky that Laima - with her good photography skills and incredible camera, as well as Julie (with my camera) got some shots of my jump for me. Here are a few of my "Jump Shots":

Laima took this and the next (best) photo.

Due to the extended period of time it took for everyone to jump I got back to Deagu just after the last bus and train so I stayed the night there and headed back to Yeongchoen around 10am on the Sunday morning.

WHAT AN ADVENTURE!

To clue you all in - I have officially got my Bali trip with Deborah planned and I have also got flights confirmed for Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia. Here is to a few more adventures ;)

And The Cultural...

2011-06-25T16:37:00.001+09:00

At the start of June we had yet another long weekend in Korea. It was not the 6 day gem that we had in May but we did have 3 days. Saturday was taken to clean up our lives and apartments followed by a viewing of the movie “The Ghost Writer” All in all very relaxed. Sandy and I went for a walk into the forest to a spot I found on one of my running days. From here you can watch the sunset. We took a bottle of OJ and a bottle of wine and had sundowners watching the sunset. It was a really lovely evening. Here are some of the visuals can be seen in this post's video.

Sunday following a leisurely morning we went through to Daegu for 2 main reasons: One was so that I could buy some cereal and the second was so that Sandy could get a nice haircut. Sadly, the 1^st salon we looked at was closed and the 2^nd was booked until 19:00 so we obtained my cereal and headed back to YC.

It was here that Sandy thought: “Bugger it, Geoff you can cut my hair.” I tell you what – I was more than a little scared. I have learned through the years that hair is sacred to 2 kinds of people: Indian males and Women in general. After a lot of calming words from Sandy she placed the scissors in my trembling hands and said very calmly: “Just tie my hair into a pony and cut just below the band. It will be fine.” I was then assured that if things went horribly wrong but managed to avoid killing her by cutting something that I wasn’t supposed to, that if the hair cut was not to expectation she would go to a salon to get it fixed. Slowly I let my hands squeeze the scissors. And slowly strand by strand the hair separated away from Sandy’s head until... “That must be about 10 inches” says Sandy. I was worried thins looked a little skew. Upon telling Sandy she was non plused and has proceeded to tell me how much she like the cut as it looks edgy and her friends seem to like it too. Yay! 20 points for me. But please let it be 2 years before I cut someone’s hair again :-P

That night was another slow night that culminated in another 10-11hrs of much needed sleep. I have not been feeling all myself the last couple of weeks so it was great to get decent rest. Monday was a relatively early start as 3 of us (Colleen included as well) headed to Gyeonju. None of us had explored it properly yet and we were aiming to cycle around looking at historical sites. I wanted to visit one site in particular. As it turns out we never got around to doing either of those things this time. We did though go see a very full Bulguksa Temple and then stopped at a folk craft village and museum. It was there were I got Barry – my little gold Buddha. We resolved, following an exhausting and hot day of walking around and looking at stuff that we needed to come back to Gyeonju to do the cycling and also ride Quad Bikes! Here is a videographic summary of our visit to Gyeonju:

That just about does for now. Next up: Water, Rapids and the feeling of air against my face ;) Stay tuned to Geoff’s Asian Adventures for more exciting times :)

The Natural...

2011-06-17T12:20:00.000+09:00

A few weekends ago, Sandy and I had booked a tour to take us to Seoraksan National Park in Gangwon province right up north in Korea. Not quite DMZ but not far off. The idea was to take a slow train ride on Friday night up to Seoul and stay overnight. That proved highly successful. We took along my laptop and watch a couple of Episodes of a show called “Dollhouse” (a very intriguing show that Sandy introduced me too)…

Synopsis:

A private drug company called “Rossum Pharmaceuticals” has developed a way to delete and replace all signs of memory and personality from the human brain. This company uses this new technology to create “Dolls” whereby the rich and they well to do of society pay money to have human beings (who voluntarily sign away periods of their life to have their minds completely wiped) imprinted with personalities and memories of other people and situations that were completely foreign to the “Dolls” human beings, such that the people who hire a doll can live out their fantacies. The show is about one particular “Doll” called “Echo” whose body slowly adapts to house all the personalities that she is given by this company. We are lead through her transition from “Doll” to humanities savior.

If you don't feel like reading the rest, here is the video summary of pics. I warn you - it is nearly 12 minutes long.

Arriving in Seoul we got a motel room for the night and awoke bright eyed and early on Saturday for our tour pick up at 7:30. Low and behold – despite strict instructions not to be late as we leave at 7:30, we only left Seoul at 8:05. Grrrrrrr! Sandy and I had to rush to find breakfast to try and be there on time (FYI – I had one chocolate and one blueberry muffin and Sandy had a chicken salad).

Half way to the park we step off the bus and realize – “flip, it is really bright”. I had left my sunnies at my flat by accident and Sandy didn’t have any to begin with. So we bought a pair each at the rest stop. After seeing Sandy’s (Bought with the express purpose of allowing them to fit over her seeing eye glasses) I liked what she got better then what I got :-P

Following a Bimbimbap lunch where we met Nick (New Zealand) Jennifer (US), a friend each of theirs, and the cutest Beagle pup, arrival at the National Park occurred at around 14:10. We then had a choice to make:

Climb the steepest climb on offer, with the POTENTIAL of an amazing view of the surrounding area and the ocean in the distance

Take a medium toughness hike, pay money to get on a cable car for a good view and then take a stroll to see a waterfall.

After an inner conflict that lasted the 40min bus ride from lunch to the Park I managed to convince Sandy of our choice. What did we do?

THE STEEPEST CLIMB OF COURSE! My reasoning to Sandy: You have seen better waterfalls in Hawaii, I am sure, This is Korea – where what we hope is normally what we get and thus an anticlimax, thus the waterfall is probably not that good anyway AND when would we ever be able to see a view like the one that we can again. With the worry for her muscles, still in her eyes, Sandy bravely agreed to trek the peak called – Ulsan Bawi. At the time there was a bit of debate as to if we would actually be able to see anything because of a bit of cloud cover that arrived but we went anyway.

Water coming out of NOWHERE!!! Very cool trick of the eye.
There is a pipe running from ground up into the tap structure

All was fine and dandy until we got to the rock face. The Korean people have been nice enough to put steal steps that go up the rock face almost vertically, to allow us to get to the top. That was a little hazardous. If you slipped you could seriously injure yourself and the people walking behind you but we made eventually. The hike up was about 1hr 40min for me and about 1hr 55 for Sandy. The peak was 873m above sea level about 900m lower than the elevation of Johannesburg. There was a bit of cloud around but it was still a great view. The park itself was really impressive. Green as far as the eye could see with interesting shaped rocks everywhere, just a truly beautiful sight. It was great to be in the fresh air even if it was not as peaceful as there was still a lot of noise from everyone visiting the park.

After a short rest we slowly made our way down to meet back up at the tour bus where we were taken to our accommodation for the night. This, though, caused a little consternation for Sandy and I. On the Bus ride to the park – the tour manager asked for a list of names of couples who wanted their own rooms with bed (as everything else was Ondol (sleeping on heated floors-traditional in Korea). Sandy and I thought a bed would be great after the hike so we put our name down. When it came time to receive the room key for our room with our bed, any sense of order disappeared and people just grabbed keys. There was no reference to the list that had been compiled and we got shafted as the accommodation had run out of bed rooms when we tried to get a key. We got stuck with an Ondol room. We would not have mind but for the following:

1. Why take a list of names when you were never going to refer to it?

2. Why did they not ask the accommodation how many rooms they had with beds, when they called to tell them that we were running late?

3. Why did they not just say to us “Listen there are not enough rooms, do you mind having Ondol?” ? (Had they said this we would have been completely cordial and said: “cool”.

These were the 1^st set of contentions – 2^nd set to follow.

That night it was suggested to us to go to dinner at a certain restaurant as the food was good and cheaper than other places (Dinner was not included in the tour). When we tried to see what other places there were we were not allowed to look around and forced to go to the place that was just recommended. After a long day’s hike and having our room taken from us we were less than amused. Food was nice enough though and I had something called “Wild Grape Wine” which tasted like Kosher wine (And thus, to me, very yummy). I maintain that what we paid was probably not the cheapest as this place had no revised menu of prices. They probably just had a verbal agreement with the tour people that their patrons would come there and I think they upped their prices a bit because of that.

That night was hot and uncomfortable and breakfast the next morning was worse.

Contention number 2.

I would love to know why Korean motel owners insist on having the under floor heating on even in the heat of summer?

1. When we tried to find someone to ask if they can switch it off (we did not have control of it in the room) there was no one in site (on both occasions we looked).

2. Why was there no way for us to turn on our air conditioning when clearly there is a unit in the room, for use by the patrons?

3. We paid a lot of money for this tour package which included breakfast. Breakfast was 2 slices of toast with peanut butter and jam on. The Coffee had no milk/ sugar (we never had any). Orange Juice was warm. Everything was self serve (which is fine except when you only have 2 toasters making your tour breakfast for 75 people – the process is rather slow).

As I said – we paid a fair bit to do this trip. The least they could have done was:

Provide milk and sugar for the coffee (Which they could have gone and bought from the small shop outside the motel)

Provide enough toasters to do at least 10-15 people in one go rather than 2 people at a time. (Which would have been more time efficient – we ran late because of it)

We were paying for breakfast, not army rashes so they could have supplied cereal with small bowls and milk (Which would have been cost effective)

They could have had the cups with OJ poured and set out for us to take if we wanted instead of having 2 bottles open at a time and people having to pour for themselves (Would have been way more time efficient. Not to mention complementary to the guests who were paying good money for an enjoyable experience).

It may sound like I am complaining a lot – that may be, I do know that having already booked another overnight with this company, before I went on this trip sadly I will have to put up with their inadequate customer service again. They are great for day trips. I really enjoyed myself during the day.

Breakfast was 2 slices of toast and a small class of OJ

After breakfast we went on a nice 2 hour walk through the valley by our motel. Again the views were beautiful and it was the perfect hiking weather. On the way back to the buses (where we had lunch and made our way back to Seoul) I had an interesting chat for the whole 45min walk back with an Aussie chat. Well we didn’t so much as chat as he Quizzed me on SA and told me anecdotes. It was enjoyable none the less. Here are some more photos:

When you walked through that gate, you were to make a wish and one day it will come true

Look how clear and clean that water is!

Sadly the bus ride back was also fraught with annoyance – this though was not the fault of the tour company. Due to the weather that weekend a great number of people went out of Seoul and to the national park and surround to enjoy the sunshine. Thus, these same people all tried to get back into Seoul at the same time on Sunday. There are but so many roads that lead to Rome (or Seoul in this case), so a journey that was supposed to take 3hrs in the bus took us close on 6. Luckily Sandy and I had enough time to catch our 2 trains to get back to Yeongcheon.

So ends Nature. On to Culture!

A little bit of Yeongcheon

2011-06-02T23:03:00.000+09:00

So most of you will not have seen much of the area in which I actually live. It is a small (in comparison) county city 50 odd minutes drive South East of Daegu.

This is my little piece of Korea from 20 stories up:

Here is a short tour over my running route (or one of them at least) around Yeongcheon I hope you enjoy it.

Welcome back to all of you (just by the way ;) )

Ok.. now…Busan, here we come, really!

2011-05-23T22:07:00.000+09:00

May has been a very nice month for English teacher in Korea. On the 5^th was Children’s day and on the 10^th it was Buddha’s Birthday. Both days are public holidays in Korea. What makes them even more enjoyable is that the former fell on a Thursday and the latter on the following Tuesday. Because of that the school generally take either the Friday or the following Monday off as well to give them an extra long weekend. In the week leading up to these my schools were conducting mid term exams, so that basically meant that I would be teaching 1 day in the space of 2 weeks.

When our schools originally confirmed that we would have extra time off Sandy, Deborah and I originally planed to take a quick trip to China. The logistics involved in organizing this proved a little difficult to arrange in a short space of time, so we shelved that idea. It was then that Deb suggested Busan, which we were going to do the following week in any case (as neither she nor I had been yet, Sandy had been a couple of times). And so begun the planning which involved finding places to stay, making sure we 3 could meet up, and deciding what we wanted to do and see. Places to stay proved difficult to organize, as apparently places were fully booked (which as we found out was not the case). I assured Deb that “It’s Busan – there must be loads of motels and we will easily be able to get rooms when we get there”. This was not as easy as the statement suggested but we did get a place to stay for all 3 nights we were there.

Here is our stay in Busan:

After School on Friday the 6^th, I met Sandy at the train station and we made our way to Busan. We had tickets and it was all fine until we got onto our transfer to get us to Busan. There were already people sitting in our seats. We were thoroughly confused and after checking other cars and trying to find a conductor to help us we find 2 seats that are at the doors and take a seat. When a conductor comes around she asks where were we going as we were not in assigned seats.

As it turns out we had climbed on the wrong train. It had arrived before our train and was at the platform at the time our train was due to be there. So… we did what you would expect. We assumed that it was our train and hopped on as we didn’t see any delayed notices on the boards. The train we did get on actually arrived ino Busan 30min later than we were scheduled to arrive with the tickets we originally booked. I still don’t know what happened but the upshot was that the conductor said we were still going to same place so not to worry.

Upon arrival into Busan we went to find dinner. It was humid and drizzly. Thereafter we attempted to find a motel that was suggested to us by a friend. We walked around for about 30min and eventually decided that we could not find it and settled for another place. After I met Deb at the station, when she arrived later that evening, we all had Strawberries, swapped stories of why none of the 3 of us are staying in Korea for a 2^nd year and then we went to bed – sleeping 3 sardines side by side on the one bed.

Day 1

Saturday we decided to head to Haeundae where

Korea

’s most famous beach is located. It was better looking than anything else I have seen in Korea but still nowhere near what we have in beautiful SA. We played around on the sand for a bit and then went to the aquarium. Lunch was slotted in-between those two events. We went to an Indian restaurant called “Ganga”. It was really great food and great company :)

The Aquarium was very impressive. I can’t remember when I went to Cape Town’s aquarium (I know it was years and years ago) but this place was still greatly impressive with the range of water life on display. They even had a couple of Cape Penguins! (Who just so happened to be in an enclosure with a few fake penguins so as to make it look more lively – difficult to do when the things don’t move :-P)

After lengthy discussions on what to do next we headed to Shinsegae Centum City – The biggest department store in the world according to Guinness Records peeps. The span of the place was MASSIVE!

Click here to read up about - The largest Department Store in the World

We walked around a little admiring things, grabbed some coffee at a small coffee shop and then headed up to “Spa Land”. “Spa Land” Is more a very modern and upper crust Jimjilbang without as much nakedness I think (speculation as I am yet to go to a Jimjilbang).

There are various kinds of sauna’s you sit in (ranging from 36 C to 67 C) and you can also go outside to the foot baths, or outside scrubbing pools. If you wanted you could have proper massages or facials and such (things you would normally find at a Spa). Those, though, would cost you a little extra. We spent about 3 hours there and I spent about 1hour of that time in automated massage chairs and the rest of the time moving around between the various saunas.

After having some trouble we eventually found a place to stay for the next two nights and passed out, aiming to refresh for our 2^nd day of adventure.

Day 2

On, what appeared to be a lovely Sunday morning we spent our time getting up and grabbing breakfast at Café Pescucci whereupon Deb got a call from our friend Lisa saying that she and another friend of ours – Alan were heading to Geoje-do (Geoje Island) to try and take a ferry tour around some of the other islands. We slowly resolved to join them and made our way to the bus terminal to get us to Geoje-do. The bus ride was about an hour and once we got there we were at pains to find out that Lisa and Alan were on the opposite side of the island to us and we were not in walking distance. After some lunch we decided to go and do some pottery making.

The Pottery Place

What we failed to realize is if we did so we would need to come back 1 month later to fetch our creations following glazing. What we ended up doing was having a personal guided tour of 2/3 of the island by taxi before we hopped on a bus back to Busan.

Day 3

After 3 days of muffins for breakfast I caved and got a toasted Samie
and a Cappucino the size of my 2 fists put together

Our last day started off a little drizzly. I thought it would disappear so left my umbrella in a locker at the train station. Deborah did the opposite.

Since I had arrived in Busan I had wanted to go and see Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. It was located right next to the see and had been established on the Cliffside.

The temple on the day before B-dog's birthday

So that was where we went. What was drizzle became a 1hour torrential downpour and we were left scurrying for cover while at the temple (EVEN THOUGH we were covered by hundreds of lamps that were put up in recognition of Buddha’s birthday the following day (Also a public holiday in Korea). The temple was beautiful and I am sure it would have looked even more amazing on a dry clear and sunny day. Even without the lamps – for me it is the most beautiful temple I have seen in

Korea

Taking advantage of what we thought was a slowing rain we made for the exit of the temple only for the deluge to return half way back to the bus stop. Deb – umbrella in hand helps shield Sandy and I fall on my sword allowing the girls to get away with minimal dampness. I on the other hand was a little wet. Safely arriving back in Haeundae we grabbed our trains and headed back to our cities. Sandy and I got backing just after 17:30.

The trip back had it’s own 10min of fun – I thought I had lost my wallet with my Alien Registration Car, bank card and a couple of other things (as well as some cash) in it. Sandy’s keen eye found it though, as we were pulling away from the station. Buddha’s birthday proved restful. I completed my project of hand making 3 sets of scrabble and I am sure I watched a movie as well. That will do it for our mid semester break for a couple of days dedicated to children and Buddha.

Life is never dull on Geoff’s Asian Adventure! Stay tuned folks!

Busan here we come

2011-05-17T16:03:00.000+09:00

After a little period of inactivity I’m back giving you the latest from Geoff’s Asian Adventures.

Since last we “spoke” I have traveled to Busan for my nice long weekend; had school picnic day and I have seen the following movies: “Water for Elephant” (with one of my schools on a staff outing); “Source Code” (with Sandy on the 1^st public Holiday that lead to a long long weekend); and “Thor” (this past weekend).

Here is my very un-Barry-Ronge-like review of them all

Water for Elephants

Staring Reese Whitherspoon and what’s-his-face Pattinson from the dreadful Vampire trilogy that shall not be named –

A “Titanic” type story where a man recounts how he first joined the circus back in the American prohibition days. He is a failed Vet, who for some reason or another (I don’t know because I missed the 1^st 10min of the movie), is running from someone/something and ends up hitching a ride on a train that is moving a circus around the country. He meets the circus owner’s wife, falls in love with her and is also given an elephant to look after. Not my first choice of flick so see.

I was supposed to be given a choice of film but that offer was retracted along with a number of other Admin promises made about this day-long story short reaffirming my reasoning why I have not signed on for this for another year.

That said back to the movie…

A standard romance really. Reese Whitherspoon was elegant. The elephant was cool (in my opinion she should have featured more according to the title). If Vampire-boy does it for you then go ahead and see it. I have seen better romance based movies but it was not bad.

Source Code

I have seen a few action flicks this year (“Red”, “Inception”, “Indestructible”, “The American”…) all of which I enjoyed and all of which have their merits. This movie however ranks 2^nd (behind Inception) for its creativity and action packed, explosion filled nature. It was anticipated by both Sandy and I when we saw the trailer and it didn’t disappoint.

Staring Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Jeffery Wright and Vera Farminga, it is a clever Sci-Fi idea about stuff that happens to the brain before death. (I am being deliberately because I recommend you see it! Really enjoyed the 2 hours I spent watching that movie and think you should do the same.

Thor

What more do you need. Superheroes; Cool battle suits; A man mountain of a lead character who dominates when he corrects the wrongs he created; fights, lightening and of course Natalie Portman (Interesting movie to be in following “Black Swan”).

Again a very nice way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday afternoon. Action packed with some pleasantly surprising witty humor and a very well chose cast, Chris Hemsworth has a few more action flicks in him and I look forward to his appearance in “The Avengers”

That done – back to the recent trip to the coast (and the point of these 2 posts)

Easter Whimsey

2011-04-30T16:35:00.001+09:00

Welcome back to Geoff's Asian Adventure!

So... roughly 4 months left in Korea.

WOW! How time has flown by. It is already the start of May!!!

This post goes out to my 3 South African posted imediate Family members. It was Colin's Birthday 3 days after the events of this post took place and it was also my parents 30th Anniversary the day after that. So this one is for you 3 amazing people :)

As the title suggests this is a post about the happenings of Easter weekend. April has been a slow month and yet again we chose to rest up and enjoy a leisurely easter weekend with Face Painting and Egg Dying. and really... there is not much more to say other than enjoy the first of two video's covering those 6 hours.

To find out what happend next let me introduce you to someone:

(A warning to our sensitive viewers - the "graphic" nature of some of these visuals might be disturbing... well not really, but that was what I was going for :-P )

I thought to try and keep the visual appeal of this post going, here are some spring pictures from the area around one of my schools and also of my city.

The month of May is going to be quite a month as I am off to Busan; Tongyeong; some hot springs and a few other things I am sure, so keep safe and keep logging on!

Geoff OUT!

My Average Day in Korea shown to you in the space of 5min 52sec

2011-04-24T22:49:00.000+09:00

I took my camera with me to school one day so that I could show you one day in my life.

This was the result. Enjoy :)

Blossom(s), Bubbles, and Buttercup (well Tulips)... It's finally Spring time!

2011-04-16T13:16:00.001+09:00

*Enters virtual confessional*
*Clears throat, and swallows nervously*

Forgive me followers for I have sinned.
It has been 2 weeks since my last post (I think).

*The weight of the appology lifted, sits up straight and sends fingers into a frenzy of activity*

____________________________________________________________________________________

Hi there.

How are you? No seriously, I sincerely want to know how you are? *takes a sip of rediculously sweet Korean instant coffee*

I am glad to hear that :)

How am I? Well thanks for asking...

Post my birthday weekend I'd say that my blood alcohol levels have finally returned to normality and I have just about recovered from a rather nasty bout of Tonsillitis brought on by this...

CHINESE YELLOW DUST: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Dust

Apparently.

Luckily for me I was sufficiently recovered by Friday night to head of to Daegu, with Sandy, where we had dinner at Bennigans...

... and hopped on a bus (after some confusions as to which bus and then which bus stop) to the part of Daegu where my newly-arrived-to-Korea, friends-from-back-home, Pedro & Kirstey, stay. We spent the night with them (catching up and sharing experiences) and woke up bright eyed...

...and bushy tailed at 06:00 on Saturday morning, to head to the train station. We were catching a train to Masan...

What we saw at the train station

From where we would catch a bus to Jinhae to see the 49th "Jinhae Gunhangje Festival".

This is (apparently) the best place in Korea to see the arrival of spring with the blooming of thousands of cherry blossoms. It was here where we met the very cool Joanne and Chad Newton - a couple who were friends of our friends, whom they had met on their orrientation. Sandy and I then realised... we were on a couples day out :-P Pedro&Kirstey, Joanne&Chad, Sandy&Geoff and later we were joined by Hanri&Elizabeth (Joubert). Fun times in relationshipville :-D

During our travels toward the festival this is what Sandy and I were expecting in our very imaginative minds eyes:

This is what we actually saw when we arrived:

It was no less beautiful though.

Sandy and I had been to a few fests thus far so we were the wise young heads of the day. We were with 6 people who had not, as yet, been to a Korean festival. They were not to know that all festivals had the same vibe and the same stalls (there were even masking making stations like the ones we frequented at the Andong Mask Fest last year). And so they were all rareing to go as fast as possible to see as much as possible inthe timewe were there. Sandy and I were just happy to to enjoy the sunshine, warmth and pretty blossoms on the trees. I think if I could choose, my phrase for the day to the other 6 would be: "Just chill and enjoy the sights, sounds and warm weather - no need to rush"

We did a lot of walking and Sandy got a straberry jam waffle, and me McCain chips, in batter, on a sick, for lunch. Later we endulged in some ice cream too. The highlight was heading to the top of the valley and seeing a 360 view of the landscape with spots of white in the hills, where trees could be found to be in bloom.

We climbed this many steps:

...to be able to see that!

We attempted to get to the coast to see the tree lined beach but we had a silly little navel base in the way so that proved unsuccessful. We did take a nice long walk on a very straight road lined with blossoms. And we took a lot of photo's.

Getting back to Masan proved adventurous as it normally does when you leave festivals. There were so many people waiting for busses that you would be lucky if you did not have to wait for a couple of busses to pass before you could board one that was empty enough.

This was amongst a row of sensible signs like: Don't cycle, Don't litter, No smoking. BUT for the life of me I can't understand what they were trying to get across here - No wrapping your finger in bandages?

Sandy and I got separated due to this fact of festivals in Korea. As it turned out Sandy arrived at the Masan train station only about 5 min before I did despite me waiting for 15min for another bus that I could get on. The way back to Yeongcheon entailed sleep-arrive at Dongdeagu, walk to another train, sleep, walk to taxi, walk to respective flats, and finally sleep. It was a very relaxing if travel busy Saturday, with great old and new friends. Thanks to Sandy, Pedro, Kirsty, Chad, Joanne, Hanri and Elizabeth for making it a memorable trip!

Oh... quick cap on Sunday:

07:45 - woke up

11:57 - caught a train to Deagu with Sandy

12:45 - find Sushi restaurant and eat Sushi for lunch

13:30ish - get McD's soft serve ice cream for dessert and head to HomePlus

15:15 - Board train back to YC following successful cereal purchasing.

16:00 Through the rest of the day: Chatted to folks, had dinner, watched "Dispicable Me", watched Mumbai beat Delhi in the IPL, slept.

There. Done. Now you know how I am :)

Until next time this has been Geoff's Asian Adventure....

No Creative title for this post just: 4 days of birthday fun. (PART 2)

2011-03-30T07:17:00.001+09:00

Welcome back all.

I hope you had a tastey cup-o-hot-bever-age (this last bit of the dash is to be mentally pronounced like the -age bit in the medical term "gastric lavage") and a couple of biscuts... (pronounced like Sybil from "Fawlty Towers*")

*one of the greatest slapstick physical comedy shows of all time that was given to us by the dementedly brilliant minds of John Cleese and Connie Booth*

And are ready for the second dose (that is two clues as to the contents of this post - come on, keep up...) of events from my beerthday weekend.

Friday involved waking up to 74 people seeing it was my birthday via their Facebook sidebars and politely dropping me a kind birthday wish (This happend during late Thursday and early Friday because of course SA is 7 odd hours behind) and then the day faded into another school day. Then it was the evening. That was to become an entirely different beast.

The plan was ambitious: Dinner with great people at Maya's Indian restaurant followed by a night (and a morning) on the town and a day to follow that at Woobangland amusement park. Funny thing "Ambition".

You need to make the right decisions to achieve what you had hoped. On this night and morning... I failed dismally - with an absolute blast of a time the resultant consequences ;)

Dinner was fantastic. After meeting up with Alana, Alan, Lisa and Marelize at Dongdaegu Train station it was decided that Alana, Sandy and I head off and meet upwith Andrew at Maya while the other 3 will wait for the arrivalof Deb from Daejeon and with all luck a comunicationless Pedro and Kirstey. At 1st Sandy, Alana and I walked into the wrong Indian restaurant but were almost lured to stay there by the smell of decadence that engulfed us. HOWEVER - we did have guests and a booking@Maya to attend to, so we promptly found our way to the correct resaurant. Slowly but surely everyone arrived and the festivities began. I was particularly pleased that Sandy would finally get to meet so many of the awesome people I have had the pleasure to meet on my journey thus far.

Where I sat, it was Sandy, Alana, Andrew and I. our little table grouping decided to each order a difffernt thing and share it around. I had the Butter Chicken to eat and Plain Lassi to drink. Alana had a Lentil curry, Sandy a Lamb curry and Andrew I think a vegetable curry *all dishes were eaten with Naan bread. Conversation was flowing and I had particularly long chats with Deb, Andrew and Kirstey.

Front Row Left: Alana; Andrew; Marelize; Lisa; Kirstey; Pedro
Back Row: Me; Sandy; Alan; Deb

There were even 2 Birthday Cakes greatfully supplied by the Lisa (a big one) and by Pedro and Kirstey (a small one, which apparently looked a little like me, that I took home to have at my leisure). It was a great dinner made that much better by some amazing people.

After dinner we all went our separte ways and Sandy and I headed into Downtown Deagu to meet up with others who had come through to party.While looking for our room at the "Green Motel" I bumped into Jeff, Carey-Lee, Leon and Grant who had come down to Deagu from the Andong are, for the night's festivities. 2nd group of invitees accounted for. At the green motel we found Ashli with Soekie, Rachel and Krista, who were staying in rooms adjacent to us. 3rd group found.

Ashli was to be my guide for the night as she knew the spots a lot better than I did. She presented me with a T-shirt that she and Alana had made for me to wear on the night.

The Front

The Back

The night is best summed up in pictorial form so rather than try and describe something that was a "had to be there night" here are loads of pics from the differnt venues. (Courtney pops up in a lot of these photo's because that is just something she seems very good at doing and because she took my camera for a little bit)

1st port of call: Gogo Vinyl. (Well it was supposed to be but we just ordered a drink in the mini bar area and left, so we never actually got there - ominous signs)

Drinks Line-up: Mini papsak - Don't know what went into it, it was called Peach... something, something

2nd port of call Who's Bob.

Drinks Line-up: 5 shots of beer (beer-pong losses); 1 taquilla; 2 Kalua and Milk's and one Flaming Dr Pepper. This was interspersed with 3 cups of water as well

It was there where I met up with Sean, Courtney (who was well on her way when we found her as she had been drinking with friends in the 2 hours that she was waiting for me to finish dinner - Sadly Sam had the lanygitis so it was thought best she stay back in Pohang), Dirk, and eventually Ian and American Joe as well. It was hear where we stayed for the majority of the night actually.

In Soekies hand...yes the green thing - that was what my 1st drink for the night looked like

Not only did those spec make me SUPERCOOL, next to the mercurial Courtney
but they were also lenseless ;)

Soekie looks like one "naughty" librarian/school teacher and Ashli...
I have no idea what she was trying to do but she looks stoned

At this point I was still well sober, as was Krista (Far left) Courtney... not so much
and Rachel (2nd Left), well that's just crazy Rachel is all

I think we stayed at Who's Bob until about 01:30-02:00. While frequenting this ever more rowdy bar, I teamed up and won with Ashli at Beer-Pong against Jeff and Carey-Lee/Leon (who seemed to be rotating their participation in the game).

That looks very Marilyn Manson/K.I.S.S. 'esque

One of many failed attempt to land the ball in a mug, as Ashli downs a glass we just lost

Who's "thumbs up" is that?

Ashli the picture of concentration before the victory shot; oh and there's Courtney again

Krista supporting the winning team

Beer Pong being set up

"Who's Bob" was certainly packed tonight

I had the most engaging conversation with Ian and Joe,going from the cricket to Zimbabwe, to Libya, to Democracy and two party states, to movies that end at in appropriate time and finally how that affected my perception fo the 1st Lord of the Rings movie. It was great. I can always count on Ian (and a lot of alcohol by this point) to toss in interesting conversation topics!

The 2... erm... our names aren't spelled the same so... Geoff and Jeff

Carey-Lee; Grant; Leon and I before the start of my downfall, get up, and down fall again, with a little Taquilla
(IT MAKES ME HAPPY...!)

Joe at the back and Ian with me after our insightful chat

With my 2nd Kalua Milk finished we left Who's Bob and went to...

3rd port of call: Organ Bar:

Drinks Line-up: 2 shots of B151 (AKA - "Death in a shot glass"); One glass of Coke, A glass of water

In heathier times on arrival at "Organ Bar"

I am trying (and succeeding) to teach Matt the South African handshake

The ladies saying their good-bye's to me before "Death in a shot glass"

I hadn't even had "Death in a shot glass" and Krista was looking less than impressed by my
complete coordination failure at having to find the straw for my coke on the 4th attempt

She then decides to show the camera (in Ashli's hands) how red my ears are

A gent by the name of Matt (I think) joined us in our travels there and this is where the night turned to the adventuous. I had a glass of Coke and was then bought my 2nd shot. It is called B 151 - or Bacardi 151.

Just after my 1st Shot of B 151 (presented to me by Ashli)

The long and the short of the "adventure" is that I had 2 of these shots and according to Wiki this alcohol has a content that is roughly equvalent to double that of standard rum.

After the 2nd shot of B 151 (presented tome by Matt)

I got back to my room@the green motel at about 03:30. Knowing that I was being optimistic about the amusement park meeting time later that morning I decided to send a couple of SMS's to people who I was meeting at what was to be between 10-10:30. I drew inspiration for the following visuals from French Cut ; Just Blog Off and Hyperbole and a Half to showcase what I thought while standing in my motel room doorway at 03:30:

This too proved fool hardy as no sooner did I enter the room and wake Sandy than I had to make my way to the bathroom and...

The written content of this portion has been censored for concern over the writer's pride

the progression of events that lead to an inevitable conclusion:

I did this ALL on MS Paint

... At 7:30 I finally got to sleep and ended up sleeping until 10:50. Luckily Sandy in her continued, star-quality, awesome wisdom had seen fit to let the revelant party's know that I would not be joining in the Amusement Park fun as I was is in to fragile a physical state to do so. Eventually at about 12:00 Sandy and I left the motel and made our way back to Yeongcheon. I got back to my flat and slept off most of the rest of the day.

The last day of my Birthday weekend proved to be just what the doctor ordered - restful and relaxed. I cleaned my place, and Sandy and I went for a nice long walk along the river side later in the afternoon. Supper was a reasonable version of Spag Bol from Mr Pizza with Colleen and Sandy in attendance and we then had some of the 2nd birthday cake for desert while watching "How To Train Your Dragon".

4 words, 6 digets, 1 mathematical and 1 gramaticle symbol:

2011: 25th Birthday in Korea = Winner

Shooo - you had enough yet? Just breath. It's all over now. I am not going to force you to read any more bad puns or look at any more pictures of me (for the time being anyway).

That is me until the next time I do something crazy cool, Yo!

Stay tuned to Geoff's Asian Adventures but until next time - Anyong!

No Creative title for this post just: 4 days of birthday fun. (PART 1)

2011-03-30T07:16:00.002+09:00

It would be remiss of me to not dedicate this post to someone. Two people in fact. The 1st is a classly wise lady and the 2nd... well... I just (by some inexplicable conincidence) happen to share a mother, bloodline and birthday with this philistine.

I there-by dedicate this post to you Granny Essie and Adam - my twin (but equally believable, adopted) brother.

*Admirable mention goes out to Dale Morris (who's birthday is 26 March - a date on which some of the activities (or lack there of) occured)*

It began really with a phone call on the 22nd of March. I was sitting at my desk at Yeongan Middle School (my Monday and Tuesday School),whiling away the minutes to home time, having finished my classes for the day. The phone rings and as it generally is when I get a phone call in business hours, it was my Co-Teacher at Gogyeong Middle School (My Wednesday and Friday School). The conversation went like this:

Geoff: Hello?
Co-T: Hello.
Geoff: Hello.
Co-T: Hello.
Geoff: Yes Hello. (at this piont I knew who was on the other end of the line)
Co-T: Hello. It Gogyeong Co-Teacher
Geoff: Yes, hello, what can I do for you?
Co-T: It Gogyeong Co-Teacher, Understand?
Geoff: Yes I know. I understand.
Co-T: It Gogyeong Co-Teacher, Yes, understand?
Geoff: YES! I understand.
Co-T: Yes, ok... Tomorrow school Anniversary.
Geoff: Yes,so what does that mean?
Co-T: Tomorrow school anniversary, so no class.
Geoff: Ok, so do I still come in to school?
Co-T: No class, so you be at home, take a rest. Understand?
Geoff: Yes I understand, thank-you.
Co-T: Understand?
Geoff: Yes,Understand.
Co-T: Ok, see you.

*Hangs up*

Happily I had the day beforemy birthday off. A nice early birthday present. I took the day, not even to sleep in - I woke up at 7:10, so I did a load of washing, cleaned up my place a bit, refined the lesson I was to be teaching later in the week. The biggest part of my day though - after beginning the walk to the location in question about 8 times before stopping and thinking not to do it only to get annoyed and start heading to said loccation again (7 more times) and eventually deciding - "screw it, it will warm up soon" - was going for a haircut, in anticipation of summer. I now, for the 1st time in... 5 years I think, have a nice shaven head - hairs 1cm (or thereabouts) long each.

Thursday I woke up for school and the 1st thing I see was this:

Sandy had given it to me the night before and made me promise I would not open it until my actual birthday. Once opened and read I could not help but have a lump inmy throat because of this:

Massages from all my friends in a giant card that even had this:

on the back.

Reading the 1st few messages was very satisfying and then I noticed a name at the bottom of one of them:
Stu

And then:
Car&Cand

And then:
Joe and Sarah, Bern, Hamster (Dale), Tris, Jade

All the names barring Car&Cand (who were roughly 8800km SE of me - in Melbourn Aus) which were roughly about 13500km's SW of me.

BUT HOW!

I got such a lump in my throat reading all the messages sent from so many of my special people from back home and from Korea. That was Sandy's gift to me and what a gift! Turns out, at the start of March Sandy combed through one of my "blog update emails" for the names (and thereby email addresses) of people who I had talked about, to her, adnausium (both in Korea and Back home) and strived to get as many messages, from those I care about, as possible and put it together in the most awesome birthday card!

If that was not enough I walked out my door to go to school and caught a glint of unusual colour in my eye as the door closed behind me. I turned around and this is what was revealed to me:

This was a plan between Sandy and Ashli that unfolded while I was watching the cricket the previous night. Despite Ashli's coughing and splattering and Sandy's characteristic loud foot steps I didn't notice a thing so it was quite a surprise to find a giant birthday cake and a couple of wishes traped to my front door. On the handle was a chocolate care package of cake and choc milk that was meant for school but I failed to notice that fact and put inside to be enjoyed when I got home.

School on this day, was school. I conducted a lesson on traditions and facts about birthdays in Western Culture, and came back to my flat to go out for a lovely Sushi dinner, Mango Smoothie and Gelato ice-cream with Sandy and Chris.

We chatted away for a couple of hours and then Sandy and I spent a bit of time together before I went back to my place and finished the day watching Aus lose to India in the cricket. A good, relaxing, heartfelt day on the day of my birth back in 1986 :)

Part 2 of this adventure is to follow shortly - Stay tuned to Geoff's Asian Adventure.

HEY! That was MY idea, now what am I supposed to do for my birthday, HMMMMM?

2011-03-16T17:41:00.000+09:00

Salutations fellow travellers!

It is the month of March, a month in which birthdays abound. As a result I dedicate all my blogs posted or performed in March to the following Birthday babes/bros:

Sandy Lam, My Aunt Anthea, My Grandmothers, Adam, Dale Morris, Joe Spring, Lauren Davis, Andrea Muller and ... ME!

Seeing how it is a bithday month, what better way than to (more or less) kick it off with a Birthday. It was Sandy's birthday on the 8th. It was difficult to celebrate on the day as such but have no fear, Sandy - Purveyor of the clipboard, Dictator of direction, Empress of excitement - was there.

Now, you won't know much about Sandy so here is a little insight:

When it comes to timeliness, conscientiousness, and precision planning - Sandy is your gal (Sorry Jade - Sandy has a clipboard...

... ergo - you are trumped ;) ). For her birthday she had gone to pains to ensure that there was a reservation at Holy Grill...

... For around 14 people. She also spent 40min in the Tourist information centre outside DongDeagu Train Station co-ordinating her post day-of-birth party with the helpful staff within. Following our day of activites, on the bus back into Deagu Sandy even asked us to look at the menu of Holy Grill that she had printed out and decide and write down what we were eating and drinking so that she could hand the order into the manager when we arrived so as not to overwhelm and backlog the small kitchen! OR-GA-NIZED EK SE!

1st on the list was...

Well first we actually had to get to the centre of activity , the hive of entertainment. After arrival in Deagu we all climbed on the Subway and made our way to Seongdangmot Subway station and bus terminal where we purchaced ticket to Hap-ga (about a 50min drive away) The bus was departing at 13:05 so from 12:40 we hung around to await all attnding guests, the list was as follows:

Sandy, Me (Both back row), Ashli, Colleen (2nd row left), Courtney and Sam (Second row right), The Klug Twins (Pips and Jacquie-front left), Dan and his lady friend (3rd row right), Melinde (To Sandy's Left) and Sandy's friend from the States Liz and her friend Jacquie (The very front Left).

On arrival at the cultural village where we were doing all our activities, we were all a bunch of confused foreigners who were blindly wondering around like lost sheep.

Luckily for us, Dan's girlfriend was from Korea so her language and communication skills came in super handy and we were all very grateful. We mad our way into the village eventually and 1st on the lists of activities was...

Traditional Korean Hard Candy making.

It took a while but Sandy and I eventully got our rhythm to make the stuff however and Ajima (Korean Old Lady) seemed to disagree and shuffled me aside while she continued and finished the project with Sandy (Can anyone say D.U.N.C.E)

I was given back my pride when I was allowed to break the toffee type candy into pieces using a little stick.

Following candy making it was off to Strawberry Picking (which had been my idea for my birthday, oh well - off to Woobangland instead :-D)...

Rewind back to 2007... Strawberry Picking in George

Geoff's Asian Adventure featuring special guests: Joseph Spring and Geoff of 2007

Well, this was Strawberry picking, The Korean Way.

Courtney having a picking good time

This was a lot of fun and brought back a lot of memories if GEORGE 2007, but the highlight for me was our last activity before heading back into Deagu - traditional Kite making. For the 2nd activity out of 3 where some of us proved to be challenged kite makers but we all got it done in the end.

We were even given the opportunity to fly them before getting back on our bus for Deagu. It was great because the wind had really picked up so it was a great kite flying day, though not for some challenged kite flyers...

Ashli only got her Kite off the ground with about 5min left before we had to catch our bus.

Sadly Sandy's kite was taken out by a rouge attack from a telephone post - who has yet to be caught and brought to justice. I had a more sucessful time even if Courtney tried to knock me out the sky alla Red Baron vs the US.

Back in Deagu for dinner and it was off to The Holy Grill for supper. Here we were joined by Joe and his Girlfriend as well as Michael and Emily (None of whom could make it for the activity day). Much food and merriment was had and I got to have a nice getting yo know you chat with Sandy's good friend Liz and her friend Jacquie. To cap off the evening Sam, Dan, Courtney and Ashli arranged a cheese cake and a chocolate cake with a "26" candle, party hat and party poppers for Sandy.

It was a great day with great people - I hope my birthday weekend is as good :)

Stay tuned for more right here on Geoff's Asian Adventure!

Geoff out...

Anyone up for a spot of soccer?

2011-03-08T22:15:00.001+09:00

At the beginning of last week Ashli came to me and said she was going down to Gwangju to watch some soccer, Gwangju FC vs Daegu FC. She asked if I wanted to go with, and I did. This is the account of what was a highly entertaining weekend that involved a total of 7hours travelling to and from Gwangju.

On Saturday 5 March we took a train to Daegu where we climbed on the 10:00 bus bound for Gwangju. You may remember from a couple of posts ago that the bus ride is 3 hours. This was a 3 hours that was filled with Choc-Holic AND Blueberry Yogurt Ice Cream; A failed attempt to sleep which became a semi successful attempt at a nap, and of course Muse; Parlotones; One Sock Thief; Box Car Racer and Eagles of Death Metal. Before Ash and I knew it we had arrived@U Square – the location of the main bus terminal in Gwangju.

After a failed attempt to play a joke on Soekie, we hightailed it back to her place to drop off our stuff and then sped in the opposite direction to the Gwangju World Cup Stadium to try and catch the start of the game.

We actually found our seat about 7min in but it was all good. It was a dull 1^st half, no goals. We were sitting in the West Stand by the Corner flag. Good viewing ground.

The ground was not as impressive as Soccer City but to be realistic – it would take a lot to beat a ground that seats 90 000 and hosted the 2010 World Cup Final. After more FAILS trying to find out where Soekie’s friends were sitting we closed that door and just decided to enjoy the game and see if they found us (Which in the end, they – Rachel, Krista, Jurgen and a new South African arrival to Gwangju: Amori... did).

Left to Right: Jurgen, Anne Marie, Ashli, Soekie, Rachel, Krista

Come the 2^nd half the game livened up and Gwangju took the lead through some shocking defending, only for Daegu to equalise and then take the lead in the space of 10min Things were going great for Daegu until roughly the 80^th minute where a goal against the run of play and then a penalty on 87 min lead to the game finishing 3-2 to Gwangju.

After a significant amount of indecision and mulling around we eventually got on a city bus bound for Downtown Gwangju where we had (well... I had) a lot of baked chicken for supper. It was there that I got to chat to and get to know, Jurgen – originally from KZN but has lived all around the country, qualified in carpentry I believe. I think the last time I got to have a “male conversation” solely about sports was back in August last year with Ian from England. It was great we talked about Rugga but mainly (and for obvious reasons) cricket. We did so for about 2.5hours in total that night, interspersed with darts (which I was terrible at) at Soul Train (a bar). Following Soul Train we went to Ethnic Cafe where we chilled for the rest of our night out.

Put simply, that was my past weekend in Gwangju – short and concise for all you avid readers.

My next post will be a re-cap of Sandy’s Birthday weekend. Her birthday is today so I dedicate this post to her :)

Have a good one brave and fellow intrepid travellers!

Stay tuned to Geoff’s Asian Adventures for more wacky fun

Daejeon with Sandy; Lisa and Deb

2011-03-08T18:30:00.000+09:00

I had not been to Daejeon for a long time – since the Deli Tours Fest actually in October 2010, so I arranged with Lisa (who was joining in on the travels to Dageon from her city – Daegu) and Deborah to come through for the weekend to visit Deb.

A week or so before I was to leave, I asked Sandy if she wanted to join me as she had not been to Daejeon as yet so she came along as well. We left Yeongcheon at about 12:00 on the Friday afternoon and got to Daejeon at about 16:00, on a lovely sunny, if slightly chilly day. Having not planned anything for that night Sandy and I just found our Motel and then just explored a bit before going to Indy (an Indian restaurant run by Indians people, so the food was bound to be good – thus I was super excited about it, as it had been talked up so much by Deb and Andrea) for an amazing curry for supper. I had Chicken Taka-tak, which was a tomato based chicken dish with some chilli’s though not all that many. With it I had buttered Naan and Lassi. SO SOOOOOOO GOOD! After dinner we tried to find the cinema to go and watch “Black Swan”, but as it turned out we walked in the wrong direction to try and find it, so we ended up going back to the Motel where I was able to watch some cricket.

Saturday morning we had time to kill before we were to meet with Lisa and Deb at 13:00 for lunch and after a breakfast of Fruit waffles and yoghurt, we decided to visit the National Science Museum.

It was a very impressive place with all manor of things on display, from evolution and space travel, to Korean Army vehicles, Air-force planes and Korean ancient history instillations.

We spent the morning there and made our way back to Gallaria to wait for Lisa and Deb to arrive for lunch. At this point Sandy was not feeling herself so we thought it best that she head back to Yeongcheon to rest.

While I waited to the other 2 ladies to arrive I explored a little (mainly coz I was asked to meet them on the Beans and Berries side of Gallaria and I had no idea where that was :-P). Incidentally I never found but I did see both ladies approaching in the distance so I just followed their trail to meet them at the pre-arranged meeting spot. Lunch was a rather tasty sandwich from the food-court at the department store, where we sat and chatted and caught up for about and hour. At this point I thought… “I would like to do something else now” so I threw out the suggestion that was proposed while we were arranging the weekend – Dr Fish Café!

Here is a video montage of the weekend :) :

Dr Fish (which was actually called Trinity Café) is a place where you can go and dip your feet in a pond filled with Remora type little fishes that eat the dead skin off your feet. I had wanted to try a place like that since I got to Korea. At first it was rather ticklish particularly when I had about 30fish attracted to just my right foot, leaving my left and both Deb and Lisa rather starved (excuse the pun) of attention. I do think though that they just moved in order from foot to foot as while we were dangling our feet in the pond two other ladies joined us and eventually we had no fish giving us any attention until they left. I think we actually sat with our feet in the water, just talking for about 3 hours and after that we stayed at the coffee shop for another hour drinking coffee and catching up some more. It was great! I really think I have made good friends with Deb and Lisa. I really enjoy their company, so hopefully when this adventure ends and new adventures begin, we can all keep in touch.

A 4hr coffee time was followed by Dinner at… you guessed it – Indy! I never mentioned I had gone there the previous evening but was more than happy to go again, I loved the food so much! This time I had Mango Lassi with my Lamb Vindaloo and Buttered Naan. After dinner I walked with Deb as we saw Lisa off at the Subway stop (she was headed back to Daegu that night). I had thought Lisa was staying the night so we could share a motel room but that was no longer the case, so I decided to save myself some cash and asked Deb, who graciously allowed me, to stay at her place for the night. Deb lives far out of central Daejeon, in the area known as Techno Valley about a 30min bus ride out.

The Inside of "Indy"

I got to her place and like Soekie’s the previous week, I liked how she had set it up in very minimalistic fashion to save cash for Asian travels post her Korea contract. We watched “Law and Order – Special Victims Unit” and some cricket and then went to bed. The next morning was followed by much the same, however for the 1^st time in a 3 odd months it was raining! I left Deb’s at about 11:45 to get back to central Daejeon by 13:00 as I was meeting Sam and Ruth (two friends, I met doing my TESOL course last January, whom I had not seen since they left for Korea in June and August respectively, the previous year) for lunch. We went to Pascucci Café and had a nice catch up and I was able to pick their brains about China (where they had been over Lunar New Year) as that is one of the places I want to visit.

All in all it was a great (and much less alcoholic) friend-filled weekend. Thanks to all 5 ladies for their company and friendship!

Stayed tuned for my next adventure right here on Geoff’s Asian Adventures!

6 Months well spent, with 6 months of mystery remaining!

2011-03-08T18:16:00.000+09:00

So ladies and gentlemen, I have reached the half way mark of my time in Korea and what a time it has been.

Intimidating and exciting.

Fun and frustrating.

Depressing and uplifting.

Just 6 words (of many I could use) to describe my time here.

I have had the dead skin eaten off my feet by fish.

I have made a traditional mask and watched, LIVE, the most exciting F1 race in recent memory.

I have sang at a Nori-bang, gone paragliding and ridden the circle of death at an amusement park.

I have seen a 4D movie, been a hamster for 5 minutes, watched lanterns float away on a river, been skating, temple gazing, learned a couple of the Buddhist ways, oh... and taught some Korean Middle schoolers some English along the way.

I have done many many things but more important than all of the things I have done are all the amazing people I have had the pleasure to meet, all of whom I hope to remain friends with for many years to come. These are their names:

Lisa; Deborah; Ashli; Soekie; Andrea; Andreya; Lauren; Natasha; Jasmine; Alan; Jeff; Colleen; Courtney; Sam; Dan; Andrew; Grant; Dave Gray: Dave Wiley; Carey-Lee; Tarrick; Dirk; Libby; Joe; Matt; Melinde; Pips; Jacqui; Ian; Adean; Marelize; Alana; Emily; Barry; Brandon; The Three Brians; Cotie; John; Kristen; Michael; Pol; Jana; Rachel; Chris; Cassie; Ruth; Sean and Wynand.

And let me never forget that I have found Friendship, Companionship and a true bond with my girlfriend Sandy. Time remains the ultimate test for us but those are decisions to be made, just not for a little while yet. Whatever happens between us, I have made a friend for life in her spectacled self.

So what has the experience been like?

Teaching: 60%

Things started of all pretty and shiny and new. 6 months down the line, I know that this is not something I want to do for another year.

Why?

Well, I do not feel the Korean education authorities fully appreciate the expertise that native speakers can bring to the English classroom. We are used more as a party trick to keep the children occupied for 45 min. We are supposed to be CO-TEACHING and for more than half the people I have spoken too, this is not the case and we are being asked to TEACH ENGLISH when we have not necessarily been trained how to do that. This could be because their Co is not very good at teaching in any case and is taking time off. It could be that the Co feels they could better use their time than help you (which is supposed to be their job), or it could be that the co really just doesn’t care about teaching in any form any more. I am not saying anything about any of their character. In fact, as people I like all the co teachers I have, but as teachers, they should be doing better because of their years of experience. There are exceptions where wonderful people are great co-teachers (like the school I am at once a week) but I think that it is just that – the exception.

In the public school system the levels in one class are so wide ranging that it is difficult to know what to teach from day to day (no matter how much I like the children I teach). Even their textbooks have no fathomable structure and purpose to them. They just appear to be a random collection of grammar points and phrases that have been put together for the purpose of rote learning. No one in any Korean school ever seems to know what is going on, on a day to day basis and you get told your schedule on the day which creates havoc for your personal planning and scheduling.

The biggest let down for me has to be being used as a party trick and not feeling like a part of the staff (as much as everyone tries to be friendly to me). To go through this professional environment for another year would not do me or the students I am teaching, any good.

Travelling: 100%

I have been all over Korea, from North (Panmunjeon on the North Korean border) to South (Mokpo for Formula 1 racing), East (Pohang – where 3 awesome Saffa’s, 2 grand Floridian ladies and one awesome Irishman stay) to West (Daejeon where the lovely Ms Brown stays… ok, so I still need to go a little more West but I will get there).

I have slept on floors, in sleeping bags, on ondol, under covers, on planes, trains, subways and busses.

All of this has been done in Korea. I really do feel that I have taken advantage of what Korea has to offer and still have so much to look forward to in the form of the: Cherry Blossom Festival, Mud Beach, Jeju-do, World Body Painting Festival and the IAAF World Athletics Champs.

For me to sit here and not say anything about the benefits of taking time for yourself and travelling (at least some of) the world to see the sites would be irresponsible. It has done wonders for me and my beliefs and maturity. Knowing that I can make it by myself 1000’s of km’s away from home for a year is bound to have a positive effect. You get to see and do great things and meet so many new people. Human beings are a social species. Without those who we have met through our lives, we would not be where we are today. I just happened to like the social aspect of travelling so here is to another 8 or so months (After Korea I am going to tour Asia for a bit) of great things, actions, people and places.

Mark it down – Thailand, China, Cambodia, India, Sri Lanka with maybe a stop along the way in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Vietnam

Life: 80%

It has been different and incredibly challenging. Being responsible for my own bill, has taught me budgeting and financial responsibility. The weather has given me coping skills in the most extreme of climates. The communication barrier has brought out new and interesting ways of exploration. Public transport has been a blessing, the food sometimes a curse. I look forward to going to the Korean restaurant in Rivonia (if it is still there) when I get back and knowing what to order and how to do it.

The sheer population density of Korea is something that has gotten to me a bit. Everything is up and on top of you. I will enjoy the wide open spaces of home when I do get there. Living alone for the 1^st time has also been a challenge. I have lived away from home to an extent when I was at Varsity but there were always a minimum of 4 other people around me in my dwellings. This is forced me to confront my fear of loneliness and to seek ways to ensure that it never becomes a force in my life.

It has helped me appreciate the unconscious things in life: cutlery, an adequate sewage system, baths, the South African climate, being able to read the contents and nutritional value on the side of the box of the food you are buying, and just starting up a conversation with someone at the bank or standing at the till in a shopping cue.

Finally it has begun to help me clarify how I want to go about my future.

Here is to clarity!

Overall Score of Korean Experience: 80%

The essence of what I am saying in this post is this

Life is short, so grab it by the scruff of the neck and just go for it! Never regret your decision!

I certainly haven’t

Stayed Tuned to Geoff’s Asian Adventure - next you find out what it is like to have fish eat skin off your feet and, what it is like to watch a Soccer match in Korea ;)

Gwangju Times...

2011-03-06T17:45:00.000+09:00

I would like to dedicate this post to Jade Fernely – on whose 23^rd birthday the 3^rd day of this epic weekend took place.

A little while back (2 weeks to be precise) I had some time to myself, so I hijacked some travelling that was being done by my friend Ashli. She had arranged to travel to Gwangju to visit our friend Soekie in the city of Gwangju. Sadly there were no trains there so it was (and I loathe even just typing this) time to take a bus trip.

To do that we had to get to Daegu 1^st and this is where yet another awesome fun weekend started.

Part 1: Deagu

Ashli and I left for Daegu on Saturday just before Lunch and moved to the Stage at downtown Daegu where we met up with Alana, a friend of Ashli’s from Orientation and subsequent friend of mine. Alana, you may remember joined me on my paragliding adventure. Lunch took place at the adequate Gorilla Burger and my world was so unrocked, I can’t even remember what I had to eat :-P BUT dessert was grand as we made our way to Holy Grill ad bought ourselves some “Sexual Chocolate” for dessert. Think Devils chocolate cake, with choc mouse pudding inside covered in Ice Cream. Hmmmmmm.... *wipes away drool from the corners of mouth*

Anywho, the excitement of going to Daegu to hang out with Alana was all about going to the baseball batting cages, which we consequently did.

The Set up...

Batting cages are like indoor cricket nets with a bowling machine, except the machine doesn’t aim for ground first, but rather your chest. The cages in question have 2 speeds – 110km/h and 130km/h. After a couple of warm up sessions so was presented...

The Bet...

1 person

3 alternating round in the cages

Which means 45 balls to hit

First 2 rounds, tipping the “pitches” counts

Last round only clean strikes count

Batter with the least amount of hits buys the 1^st round of drinks

Was I confident? Given my cricket background – just a smidge

The Outcome...

First Round Scores: Ashli: 12/15; Alana: 4 or 5/15; Geoff: 14/15

Second Round Scores: Ashli: 14/15; Alana 8/15; Geoff 14/15

Third Round Scores: Ashli: 13/15; Alana 8/15; Geoff 13/15

The Winner: Geoff – Prize: Adulation of seasoned softball players and a free drink :-D

We had loads of time to kill so we decided to go and see a movie – “Unknown” starring Liam, He-should-have-been-the-next-James Bond-and-not-Daniel Craig, Neeson.

Great action thriller along similar line to “Taken (2009)” though we not too fond of the ending. Dinner that night was Japanese which in the main was sushi with broth as a side and there were also some like deep fried pork type things, the name of which I just can’t remember. And so the drinking started...

We went to a few of the regular haunts in (for foreigners that is): Who’s Bob; Organ Bar; and of course we started drinking while we were at Holy Grill for dessert. I got the chance to play some pool which was great fun, though I lost 2 games on technicalities. I think pictures would best explain this section...

There was planning that had also begun about ending me on my birthday but I would rather choose to reflect on the things that didn’t kill me that night and not on the things that undoubtedly will come the weekend of the 24^th of March. I think at some point Alana put a hay-maker (punched) into Ashli’s gut for no apparent reason, I was given a shot of alcohol called B21 I think and Ashli had a rather vocal disagreement with a friend on the phone though I am not sure that there was anything to disagree too. With all the beer and cocktails and THE shot (which felt like fire all the way down my throat and settled warmly in my belly), needless to say I slept very well that night, only to have to get up at 7am to make sure Ash and I caught our 8am bus to Gwangju.

Part 2 – Gwangju: Day 1

The bus ride was 3 hours long with a 10min rest stop at some point about 1hr into the trip. It was a very unmemorable experience until we got to U-Square which is the main bus terminal in Gwangju.

Rough guide to the sms conversation that took place between Soekie and Ashli:

Ash: We r@the station. Where can we meet u?

Soekie: Meet outside Dunkin Donuts

10 minutes later after getting lost in this airport size BUS terminal

Ash: We r@Dunkin, waiting for you.

Soekie: So am I, wait…

Soekie calls Ash:

Soekie: Where are you guys?

Ash: Outside Dunkin, where are you?

Soekie: Same… Oh wait, are you at the BUS terminal?

Ash: Yeah, like I told you last night

Soekie: I am at the TRAIN station, like you told me last night.

Ash: No I said Bus didn’t I?

Soekie: *Laughter* No you said train – be at the BUS station in 15 min.

Downtown Gwangju in Panorama

A little while later, despite Ash’s continued support of her theory, Soekie produced proof that Ash’s (Drunken) sms sent the night before, actually did say train and not bus station. No harm done and it was a good laugh.

After dropping our stuff at Soekie’s place, which she has set up really nicely, we went in search of lunch which was going to be Shabu-Shabu but that place was closed to we went to Mummy’s House a little local place and I had a very tastey and cheap rice dish. That was followed by a trip to the 1980 Civil unrest Memorial where we hung out in 17 C sunny weather for the afternoon before heading to Soekie’s favourite hang-out spot (and subsequently my favourite place in Gwangju) – Ethnic Café. The place was set up like a bedouin cave drinking hole (even though it was just in the basement of some random building). The only thing that was missing were the hubbly pipes!

It was great. This was where we began our drinking for the late afternoon/evening, with 2 jugs of flavoured Soju (Strawberry and Kiwi I think). I really think I could have stayed there the whole night and just slept in our little nook that we had nestled ourselves in. Ashli did actually drift off for a few minutes!

Thoroughly mellowed we went to a Shabu-Shabu place in downtown Gwangju, for dinner. Soekie’s friend Rachel – from Iowa – joined us. That was the 1^st time that I had had Shabu-Shabu and was seriously impressed. Hope to find one in Yeongcheon.

Dinner was followed by dessert which was pastries from Paris Baguette and then more drinking – we went to German Bar where some of the greatest quotes of the night came to life – here is where they follow (having context and “being there” helps to make them funny, but we laughed ourselves silly in this empty, German themed, pub that was playing American Country music):

So tonight in Gwangju I cried at a German bar, while listening to country music (Itami, 2011)

Geoff: Im white
Soekie: No your Caucasion
Ashli: Caucasion, THINK ABOUT IT COCK.... ASIAN!

What I’ve learned so far in Gwangju, Weizen Beer gives you wisdom and after consumption it turns to knowledge, BIG BUT please handle with care. Not for the faint-hearted.

With Downtown being rather quiet and a couple of other places we tried to go to closed, we headed back to Soekie’s place where we had 2 bottles of red wine and snacks between the 4 of us. One bottle (which I had bought to thank Soekie for her hospitality) was good…

And one bottle (bought 10min before at the 7/11 shop down the road) tasted a little like vinegar.

It was at this point in the evening (15:00 SA time I think) I gave a great friend back home – Jade – a call to wish her a happy happy 23^rd birthday. After that I couldn’t help laugh and record Ashli being show how to say “S**t, no one understands me” in Afrikaans. This is the Video Summary of the Gwangju Visit - in it is the Afrikaans lesson. Have a Laugh – I certainly did.

Rachel left us at about 1am I think and we went to bed.

Day 2 in Gwangju was a very fun day: Trick Art exhibition and ICE SKATING! The Trick Art was basically where art installations have been made and painted in such a way that the viewer can interact and become part of the art through photography. A couple of my favourite poses are below and that will be followed by a short slideshow of the rest.

We spent about 2 hours at the exhibition and then went in search of Ice Skating which we found at the Gwangju sports council complex – right next to the Gwangju soccer stadium (FNB’s Calabash is better :-P). For the 1^st time in my ice skating career, safety was taken seriously and we were required to wear helmets and gloves. It was also the 1^st time that I had worn skates that were 75-80% comfortable. Nice one!

Unlike Ashli and Soekie, I had to be back at school on Tuesday (for what turned out to be 1.5hours of desk-warming) so that meant that I had to leave Gwangju by 17:30 to allow me to catch the last train back to Yeongcheon at 21:00. Thus after skating we headed to the Bus terminal, had lunch and ice cream and I caught my bus back to Daegu.

Thanks Soekie and Ashli for a great time in Gwanju (going back there for a soccer match this weekend I think :-D)

Coming attraction: Daejeon with Sandy, Lisa and Deb; A 6month review of my time in South Korea

Stay tuned to Geoff’s Asian Adventure Fellow Travellers!

Where-san?, Why in ULSAN of course!

2011-02-28T13:29:00.000+09:00

Over the Chinese New Year (Happy Rabbit Year to everyone) I took a trip a little closer to the coast, to Ulsan where good friends, Lauren and Andreya, reside. It is a big costal city with a small population. It had a bit of a PE or False Bay feel to it. I liked it. The day I arrived I met Cristy (Excuse the spelling if incorrect) (from The States) a friend of Lauren’s and Yepu – the Maltese puppy that the two ladies were looking after for a friend. Sweet dog, though I am still a big dog kind of guy. We went out for Korean Sushi which was fantasmagorical! Following that Lauren and I went back to her place where I dropped my stuff and we chilled until going to Namaskar (An awesome Indian restaurant) for supper with Andreya. While at Lauren’s I was introduced to a brain teaser puzzle that is used in Japan. The Idea is to get all 6 people across the river. The catches are: The robber can only be without the policeman when she is on her own, the 2 boys can not travel with the mother or be alone with the mother and the 2 girls cannot travel or be alone with the father. Give it a go:

http://freeweb.siol.net/danej/riverIQGame.swf

So Namaskar…It was here that I had my 1^st encounter with Lamb for 6 months and what a great dinner it way. Lamb kalla with Buttered Naan. Mmmmmm…

Let me stop you right there and state categorically – the 3 days I spent in Ulsan were very probably the greatest 3 food days I have had in Korea (from a “Food I miss” perspective)

Oh and I had a Mango Lassi to drink - *wipes the drool away from the side of his mouth*

Dinner was followed swiftly by an early night, as we were both dog tired, and that early night turned into a late morning as we rolled out of bed at around 10:30. This was the day that Lauren suggested taking me to Old Downtown Ulsan too see the market and we could go to the Cat Café (which I had hear about and Sandy went to one in Seoul, but I wanted to check it out for myself). With it being one of 2 major holiday in Korea, the place was pretty deserted, which all told, I quite liked as it gave me a feel for Ulsan without all the hustle and bustle. We had lunch a deliciously cute … urm… *drops voice an octave or two* cute, I-talian place where I had the seafood Risotto and Lauren some creamy chicken pasta. After wondering around the market for a while we eventually went to the Cat Café and hung out there for a couple of hours before we met up with Andreya for supper.

The Cat Café was interesting. About 10-15 cats just wondering around, sleeping, running crazy like from one end of the room to the other, and just sitting, staring as if trying to take control of your mind and make you there servants. All the cats were very well cared for and groomed. We were asked when we got out coffee and flap-jack to not feed the cats. This proved a challenge when they are all over you trying to get the cream off of the flap-jack. I had lifted a piece up to my mouth and suddenly *SWIPE* the cream was gone. It appeared that the cat had actually got the cream (I hand credit to the clever yet obvious pun, to Lauren). Overall it was nice to be among “domestic” animals for the 1^st time in 6 months, though as was pointed out to me, the cats are probably a little feral. This was evidenced by an incident where I was given some fish to give the cats several cats were literally walking all over me and one took it on themselves to leap and try and snatch the fish out of my hand, getting 2 of it’s claws hooked in my thumb in the process.

Some fun for Cat Lovers everywhere - enjoy this little animated short film that explains cats perfectly:

At some point during this day I was exposed to the 1^st of 3 enduring memories of my 1^st visit to Ulsan; that being: Lauren taking me up on my offer to tie her shoe laces because they were CONSTANTLY coming undone.

Supper on this night was meant to be Vietnamese and then Thai but both places were closed so we wondered the streets and eventually followed a few Koreans to what looked like a Japanese restaurant. “Bugger! It only opens at 19:00. What are we going to do for an hour?” What we did was head to Andreya’s home away from home – Starbucks – and had some coffee while we chatted about our Korean futures and waited for the place to open. When we did go and eat, boy did we eat! Between the 3 of us we ordered a giant bowl of flavoured 2minute kind of noodle, 8 croquettes, and a salmon dish for mains.

Normal fish, not prawns, shrimp, octi, squid or muscles, is something that I have not at all much of in Korea. In fact, it is a popular dish at one of my schools but I choose ot to eat it because I struggle with the amount of bones in the fish. When I saw Salmon on the menu of this place I got very excited because it was fish that I was more familiar with. Together, we 3, travelers of Asia, decided to share it and boy was it good! ZERO bones and superbly cooked! It was a great day.

Endearing memory number 2: When it was time for the bill for our meal, Andreya took over. Her attempt at asking for the bill brought 1^st smiles, then giggles and then laughter between the 3 of us. In Korea the students are know to say “finishee” when they have completed something. Andreya did the same when it came time to trying to tell our waitress we were “finishee” and wanted the bill.

Stocked up on food and ready to go, we went to one of those trick photo booths and this was the result – good fun :-D

Day 3 was a visit to the beach which was unimpressive and flat-DO NOT LET THE PICTURES FOOL YOU. Up high it was pretty to look at but not much from the ground. This beach – Ilsan Beach – was located in Andreya’s area and for the afternoon was walked around the point taking photo’s – it was a really nice day and a nice setting for photo’s. Here is what I mean:

Enduring memory number 3: Every family, couple, group of friends that was talking a photo, Andreya offered her services to take a photo of the whole group – no matter how big or small. She was Ilsan point’s unofficial photographer. Her reasoning was based on sound principles of Karma: “When I am in Spain and want photo’s with me in them, this will come back to me and people will offer their services to be my photographer”

That evening we went to a Duck barbecue place and again a picture speaks a thousand words or rather a thousand mouthfuls:

Great food + great wine + great friends = great fun

Food was followed by some festival games where I scored 814 where the top score was 874 on the Hammer machine. Andreya proved to have skills as an assassin with the target shooting and Lauren found a new friend in “Jin-Ho” following her dart throwing exploits. I also had a swing or 3 in the batting cages.

…and yet THE EVENING WAS NOT OVER!

Lauren and I went back to her place for a bit of a breather and then met Cristy and the very cheery and stereotypically gay man I have ever met – A Korean chap who asked me to call him Cherry. Really nice guy and we all tried to party it up until about 01:15 when we realized most places were just filled with drunk foreign and Korean guys just trying to pick up Korean girls, so we went home and I traveled back to Yeongcheon the next afternoon. It was a thoroughly enjoyable 3 and half odd days with some really god friends.

Stay tuned for my next installment on Geoff’s Asian Adventure

One of the reasons why I am travelling…

2011-02-22T23:19:00.003+09:00

So, train ride back from Daegu after buying my cereal was a lot more enthralling than I originally planned.

I got to my seat and was listening to my music as I normally do when I was joined by a Korean gent who asked me to cal him Ray. He is a University Student in Deagu and was on the train home back to Gyeonju where he lives with his family. He is studying computers and management, hoping to revolutionise shopping malls. Or at least this is his end goal. We just chatted the entire 35min back to my stop in YC. He enjoys talking to foreigners as he wants to improve and practice his English. He learnt his English from the TV, Radio, Movies and going to private academies. He was a very nice guy. We talked about politics and Education in SA and Korea and he told me some of the history of Korea – the most interesting of which was the origins of the Mugunghwa (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibiscus_syriacus) and Saemaul trains in Korea. The former is the national flower of Korea and the latter is a social movement that was started in the 1970’s (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saemaeul_Movement) meaning that you can only help yourself be prosperous but the community is there to help you so in working for yourself you should help each other. We talked about Why I came to Korea and that we both want to travel and where we want to travel to.

It was a really enjoyable train ride at the end of which we exchanged email addresses and have already exchanged an email or two between each other. VERY COOL!

This has been Geoff’s Asian Adventures – Adventures to come: My Trips to Ulsan and Gwangju to visit Lauren Andreya and Soekie, My Birthday Weekend, the arrival of new friends, and so so many more. Stay tuned folks :)

The Great Cereal Hunt of 2011

2011-02-22T23:19:00.000+09:00

The date was 27 Jan and Sandy was on her way back from Vietnam with Ashli in Thailand. It was Colleen and I holding the fort in YC. But on this date Colleen was going to meet her parents in Seoul, who were coming to visit. I went through to Deagu with her in the morning with 2 goals: to Hang out and to find Home Plus a shop chain here in Korea.

Why did I want to find this place? Well, I was taken to it by Ashli at one point and it was there that I found British Brand TESCO – cereal of which I am now a dedicated fan. I wanted to find and know where Home Plus was so that I could buy cereal when I was in Daegu.

The 2^nd goal proved a little elusive while Colleen and I were looking but after she had gone, I approached tourist information at the train station and asked them to direct me, which worked perfectly and I not only bought 3 boxes of cereal but all 2 slabs of Chocolate. With 2^nd goal achieved, what was I to do? Well I decided to hang out in because I had to breathe during the 1hr 40min screening of the movie, I high tailed it out of the cinema and caught my train home. This was all in an effort to catch up to the two hours of my life that had escaped me while I put myself through that sorry excuse for an action superhero, comic book, based movie. That was Daegu and this is another enthralling train ride home…

Geoff’s Asian Adventure continues shortly…

2011-02-22T16:39:00.000+09:00

A couple of Fridays ago was Graduation day at my main school – Gogyeong Middle School. This is the day one which the 3^rd graders are officially seen off to the wider world of High School. There is a giant prize giving of sorts and to me it was a bit strange. Let me explain why…

The class size of the 3^rd graders was a staggering NINE students, and yet there were something like 20 odd awards. Not much for competition, but I suppose it is good for ones confidence when every student gets at least one prize. It was a very subdued and respectful ceremony.

I was late in arriving for it.

Why was I late? Well…

When I asked Mrs Won (my head Co-teacher) what my schedule is for the day and asked if I can watch the ceremony, she told me to stay in the Teachers Lounge by my PC. I did this not knowing (which I have known, as she had displayed her hesitancy with e before) that she was incorrect in her instructions. Sitting at my desk the PE teacher came in and asked me what I was doing here and told me to join the presentation, which I am glad I did.

Grad ceremony

This is what the school grounds looked like on Grad day:

Before the students left I even got given a chocolate as a gift to say thank-you.

When all the pomp and ceremony had die down I joined the staff for a lunch of Galbi-sal (small, bite size cuts of pig meat, which you cook in front of you on a stove in the middle of the table and eat with a variety of sides). As with every meal, the now retired principle tried to correct the way I held my chopsticks and the Science teacher tried to get me hammered on Soju. I had a couple of beers instead.

Tanks full and dutch courage obtained – Nori-bang (Kareoke) time means P.A.R.T.Y time! We drove back to Yeongcheon and went to a Nori-bang room where all the staff (save Mrs Won) had a go. I sang Billy Joel’s classic - Piano Man (thinking it was old enough and well known enough for Koreans to know it. I was wrong). It was a slow mood-killer (despite the merits of the tune). All the rest of the teachers were singing fast songs or disco versions of slow songs (As I told you: Party time!). Despite getting a score of 92% for it I had to redeem myself and followed that up with Ricky Martins late 90’s primary school disco fav – Livin La Vida Loca.

Mood rescued I even scored 100% on my rendition which earned me a couple of hugs and a high 5 or 2. Songs that followed included: 500 miles (NOT by The Proclaimers, as I had thought, still go 99% for it though even though I had summarily killed the mood again!); Yesterday; Another One Bites The Dust; Hotel California and a dismal attempt at Call Me When You Are Sober – Evanescence (NOT MY FAULT – the Kareoke version was much slower than the normal version and I struggled for timing). Graduations over, now it is 2 weeks of desk-warming and the start to the new (and probably my last) semester in the Korean teaching system!

More adventures to follow soon ladies and gents so stay tuned! :)

The (Martial) Art of Zen Buddhism

2011-02-18T22:18:00.000+09:00

The date was 29 Jan. The time was 11:30. The place was Yeongcheon train station where I was imminently to jump onto a train headed for Gyeonju to begin my trip to enlightenment.

flashback

Fade to black… 2 weeks previously… Fade into past time…

I had been wondering what to do with some of my time on winter holiday, seeing that I was not given sufficient time to head out of Korea, when I had a thought.

“Temple Stay.”

I had been wanting to do one and it was on my list of “Things to do while on an Asian adventure”

(along with: jump off a ledge attached to a giant rubber band; ride an elephant, pet a tiger, see an orangutan, run off a mountain with a cloth attached to my shoulders and a seat attached to my back; amongst other things – incidentally thus far I have accomplished the last in that list… NO, not the “amongst other things” bit … the “run off a mountain with a cloth attached to my shoulders and a seat attached to my back”)

So I began searching and after a couple of days trolling over google I found what I had been looking for. There was a picture of a guy doing the splits and touching his toes at the same time, and all this was about a 1-1.5m off the ground and below it was a picture of a monk in worship at a Buddha statue.

“That’s the place for me,” I thought. So I booked a spot for a night (as a trial stay for potential future stays) and took a walk down to the bridge over the local river to watch the sunset over the ice covered waters on the crisp winter horizon, to celebrate.

FAST-FORWARD TO PRESENT TIME…

My journey to Golguksa temple was fraught with peril of the terrifyingly dull kind. It took me 2.5 hours to get to the temple when it should have taken me 1 hour. Stupid language barrier. Anyway…

I registered my arrival with the main office where I met Kate – A Brit who is staying and training at the temple. I was later to find that a Frenchman, a Dutchman, a Norwegian and obviously a Korean or few, were training and staying at the temple. The Frenchman and the Norwegian (who is going for his 4^th Sunmudo Black-belt in August) were asked to baby-sit the waygooks (foreigners). Again I am getting ahead of myself…

After collecting one of the most comfortable yet insufficient pair of pants I have ever had to wear, and my vest (the getup we wear to let the monks and administrators know we are temple stayers) I went to investigate my pad for the night under the instruction that I would have the place to myself. There was not much (not that you need much) though there was a fridge if you brought food (which you were not permitted to eat on the grounds) and the infiltration of modern society and its demands dictated the presence of a LAN cable for internet connectivity. I was to sleep on Ondole, which is the heated floor. It was very warm, despite the temp outside being -18C. More description later.

16:30 ish and I had 1 hour until the start of my programme and supper so I did a speedy rush around the temple to take pics and for a walk. Absolutely breathtaking views though they were better the next day when the sun was not hiding behind the valley hills. Arriving back to my room the Admin lady told me I would actually have company for the night. This was when I met Shtef and Reinholdt. Two chaps from Gemany. The latter is a German teacher in Shanghai and the former (a psychologist in Germany) is his friend, who had come for a visit, and they had decided to come to Korea for an 8 day temple stay. Supper nice guys – Reinholdt was a real character, I can just imagine what sitting in his classes must be like. Sadly our association was not all bratwurst and beer, as I never got much sleep due to Shtef’s snoring, but I suppose when you are getting up at 04:00, nothing is enough sleep.

17:30 was dinner and this was what we had:

It was really nice. I was really hungry having not had much of a lunch so went back for a couple of helpings. There was a guideline at the temple that you do not leave any food or sauce on your tray as it means that you are living beyond your means, which is not what (to a small extent) Buddhism is about. You, also, were requested to be punctual and if you were not there was the threat of 3000 full body bows as punishment (which in discussions later I found out would take you about 9 hours if your body did not give way long before then)

After dinner was our “orientation” were we watched a video about the Sunmudo roots and how it links with Buddhism and it’s principles. This was followed by 2 hours Sunmudo training. 10min of breathing, 10min of scilent sitting meditation, 1 hour of warm-up exercises and light work and then 1 hour of training by the Norwegian triple black belt. Sunmudo is actually a beautiful martial art. It is about achieving balance between mind and body and it more about overcoming the limitation of the mind and the body, than it is about aggression and defense. The grading system revolves around a series of movement sequences that are graded from 1 – 10. You then write a 20page paper about a topic given to you about a week in advance about Buddhist teachings and your own thought and journey towards those the topic. Here is a video of what it looks like:

MY WORD – In the warm up I moved muscles I had not moved since my 2^nd year at Varsity. The epicenter of the punishment was in my shoulders. We did sequences of punches, rotations and flexes that would get faster the more you do and then slow down to change to the next movement. The total number of each movement you were required to do should add up to 100. when you were finished with the section of the warm-up you would have done in excess of 500 movements.

After warm-up the waygooks were taken aside and we were instructed by the Norwegian how to do the 2 movement sequences that you learn as you progress through your training. By this point my shoulders were shot so anything that needed me to lift my arms was done with a contorted face and locked jaw. In this practice each movement was supposed to be specific and localized i.e. if you were doing twists from side to side you had to only use your torso and abs. Your waist and hips were meant to stay rooted to the floor to act as your centre of gravity. What struck me most about the exercise part of the experience was the balance and muscle control. Remarkable – hence I remarked!

21:30 we got back to our room, showered and went to bed, to wake up at 04:00 to make sure we were at the main shrine for morning chanting and meditation, the total time of which went for 1.5 hours. My word was IT COLD!!! My roommates taught me on the walk up to the shrine that the crunch of the snow/ice under your shoes gives one an indication as to how cold it is outside. Were they messing with me? They were very genuine guys so I don’t think so. After the early wake-up we were to experience something unique, a traditional Buddhist breakfast – the process of which is very complicated and can be explained here, if you are interested.

After breakfast we got a bit of free time, which my German colleagues took to sleep and I tried to read but that lasted all of 15min before I too fell asleep. At 8’ish we were supposed to meet the monks of the temple for team and a chat but they never showed so we sat talking to 2 of the Martial Arts masters for about 2 hours. It was a very interesting chat, listening to their stories, opinions and choice behind coming to stay at the temple.

The last activity in our program was a demonstration of Sunmudo conducted by the masters of the art. There were also a couple of other cultural dances – the videos for which are below:

So ended my 1st but hopefully not my last temple stay. On the bus back to Gyeonju I got a chatting to Pol from Ireland, Yanna from Swellemdam and Brian from the States. So many interesting people on a very interesting if sleep deprived experience.

Stay tuned for the next Adventure…

Welcome back fellow travelers!

2011-02-18T13:22:00.000+09:00

Much time has passed since my last post.

In this time I have made a patriotic bowl come mug (still trying to decide which object the size of it dictates it is)...

... and seen a couple of 4D movies (and 4D is not all it is cracked up to be - MegaMind is good fun even in 2D and The Green Hornet is crap no matter how many D’s you see it in).

I met a bloke on a train who is now a Korean pen pal of mine, contemplated the beauty of Africa while watching the sun set.

I have marveled at the living organism that is any modern day city and stayed at a Zen Martial Arts temple (where I met a couple of awesome Germans, an Irishman, a chap from The States and a young lady from Swellendam).

I have gone in search of a House and Home type store only to come back with Breakfast for the next Month; and finally visited some dear friends at a PICTUREsque (with picture/photo being the emphasis here) but far from costal’ly pretty/impressive, (when one compares the beaches at Cannon Rocks or Llandudno for example) city...

...,where I hung out at a Coffee Shop that was running wild with some real hip CATS.

I have also experienced a proper Snow Day such that I stayed home from work because the snow was too thick for me to get in and sung Kareoke with a couple of drunk Koreans.

Along the way I have taken many an artistic picture.

3 fisherman in a panoramic experiment

Varied of length documentation of these events may or may not occur, for that you will have to wait and see but soon to follow I will begin by telling you about my 2 days that I spent@the temple.

Keep your ears open and your eyes peeled...

On the Border of an uneasy ceasefire

2011-01-23T15:25:00.000+09:00

On the 15^th of January I embarked on one of the Touristy things I wanted to do in Korea, but that said it is a must do. I took a tour through the Adventure Korea tour company to the Demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. This post is a little factual but I am hoping interesting, there will also be a number of slide shows to show off pictures.

I was picked up outside Hongik University Subway Station in Seoul at 09:30 and from there we had about a 40min drive to Tongil Bridge, the Military control line for the South Korean side of the Joint Security Area at Panmunjeom between North and South Korea.

For those of you who don’t know how it works the DMZ is a 4km wide 250km long stretch of the Korean peninsula. In the centre of this strip is a de-facto border with 2km on the North Korea side and 2km on the South Korea side. This stretch was established at the end of the 2^nd World War when things were still greatly heated between the US and the Soviets who supported South and North Korea respectively. Since then, this area has been the symbol of the tension that exists between Kim Jong Il (North Korean) leader and the rest of the world really. Interestingly enough the South Korean government is promoting the area as a tourist attraction and nature reserve in the hopes that it will become the symbol of unity between South and North should unification ever occur.

The 1^st stop once the checkpoint was cleared (where we were not allowed to take photo’s and had to hold up identification cards/passports so that the soldiers could check who we were) was Imjingak at Paju City.

This centre was set up as a memorial to the Korean war. Here I had a look at an old rusted Steam Locomotive and mulberry tree that were both retrieved from the DMZ and transplanted to their places of rest. From here you could also see The Bridge of Freedom – a railway line that crosses the Imjin River and allows supply trains to go through to North Korea once a week.

Visitors to Imjingak tie ribbons and flags with messages of piece to the fence that leads into the DMZ

From there we moved on to Lunch was rice, kimchi and a whole heap of Soy-bean products. The area inside the DMZ is very famous for its Soy-bean production.

Lunch

There are actually houses inside this joint security area and the people who live here do not have to pay taxes to the Korean government and male members of the families who live there do not have to do the otherwise mandatory army service that is required, because they pretty much have to live their lives as if they are in the army anyway. After lunch I had a very interesting chat with our main tour guide and he was less than complimentary about the current Korean government. He went as far as saying that “The president of Korean is not my president”. Apparently previous government administrations were seeking and achieving the gradual withdrawal of US soldiers from the country and as a result a decrease in a major factor that was fuelling the animosity between North and South.

Me with our tour guides

This administration however, is again asking the US for aid in keeping North Korea in check and thus the US withdrawal has been halted. This is something that our tour guide did not look on at all favourably. There were certainly some interesting opinions flying around.

Lunch was quickly followed by a visit to Panmunjeom itself, where we were taken into the 3^rd infiltration tunnel that was being dug by North Korea in the hopes that they could launch a surprise attack on Seoul. Thus far Southern forces have discovered 4 such possible infiltration tunnels, all of which were being dug from the Northern side of the DMZ with the aim of getting to Seoul. What the North did not expect was that they would have to dig (with picks and spades) and blast their way through granite and they primitive tools they were using certainly did not help them. The 1^st tunnel that was discovered was done so in 1974, the 2^nd in 1975, the 3^rd in 1978...

At the enterance to the 3rd Infiltration tunnel

...and the 4^th interestingly enough, only in 1990. That the 4^th was found only 21 years ago when the other 3 were found a minimum of 22 years before that, makes one wonder 2 things:

1. How many more tunnels have they North dug?

2. How far have they gotten?

The tunnel that has gone the furthest is the 3^rd tunnel which progressed 1600m across the DMZ but considering it was another 56km to get to Seoul it had a long, long way to go. As Tourists we were allowed to go 235m into the tunnel which was located 300m underground. At the end of the tunnel are 3 steel doors about 10m apart, which are sealed to prevent anyone from either side getting across.

After Panmunjeon we were taken to Dorasan Station which is South Korea’s northern most train station. It is from here that the supply train goes through to the North once a week and there is also a commuter train that takes South Korean people from that station into Seoul. I even got a joke stamp in my passport to say I was this close to North Korea

Our final stop was at the Ohdu Tongil Unification Observatory where we were given a glimpse onto North Korean soil. Well we would have had a glimpse had it not been for all the snow and haze. After that we made our way back to Seoul, safely returning from the DMZ!

For your humble enjoyment, I present to you my best work yet with Windows live movie maker - My DMZ Trip in 9min. I hope you enjoy it :)

Until next time fellow travellers - Tune in again to Geoff's Asian Adventure

A(nother) Day on the slopes...

2011-01-11T16:01:00.000+09:00

Today’s adventure described herein was the trip Sandy and I took to the Bears Town Resort 50min away from Seoul

We decided to take this trip when we both found out that we would have Friday 07 Jan off from our winter teaching. I, in fact, had an entire week off of teaching, so I was defiantly up for it.

Why did I get the week off you may ask? Well, on Monday I arrive at Imgo Middle school prepared to impart my language on the sectors of students that I would be teaching. With my lessons set to start at 10:00 I get to the bus stop to get to school at 08:40, so that I would have time to make sure I was prepared. By taking this bus I would be at school just after 09:00 so I would have more than enough time to ready the class. 08:40 comes and goes and for one reason or another I am not on any busses heading towards Imgo. So I decide to stick it out and sit at the bus stop for the next 40min waiting for the next bus going my way.

It arrives so I hop on, expecting to arrive at school around at about 09:45. Not as much time as I had wanted but it was workable. Oh and I would be able to thaw my hands and face as it was -1 on this day , so I will arrive to school a little icy.

SUDDENLY I RUSH TO PRESS THE BUZZER TO GET OFF THE BUS – it is going the wrong way!!! Before I am too far off the beat and track I jump off the bus and figure if I start walking in the right direction I could jump on the next bus that comes past/I could grab the next empty taxi.

Long story short – I walked the 8 Km’s to school from the point where I got off the bus, in -1 degree temps, because as it happens, for the entire 50min that it took me to get to school, no bus or taxi came past. I arrive 10min late – at 10:10. I am shown to a class of 5 - 3^rd grade girls and asked to teach and I will get to speak to Mrs Yoon (my 1 great co-teacher, (I have 2 useless ones as well)) when she is done teaching her class. After the girls had a little giggle at the 10min it took me to thaw my lips so that I could actually talk properly, we had a discussion about restaurants which became the lesson.

When finished, I go to the teachers office and (now this is why I had the rest of the past week off) am told that Winter camp for this week is cancelled because the Principle is nervous about students travelling because of the recent Foot and Mouth outbreak that recently struck Yeongcheon farm animals. I get to stay home.

Taking advantage of this, I had already booked a trip up to Seoul as I was going on a tour of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) (Basically a 4km wide stretch of land that that separates North and South Korea), I tag along on Sandy’s adventure of going snowboarding on the Friday.

Sandy had yet to go skiing or boarding, so she was desperate to take some of her free time to do that, so we left Yeongcheon at 07:12 on the Friday morning and got to Seoul at about 10:00, where after some confusion we caught a bus to the Bears Town resort to enjoy our day on the slopes. Aside from the train ride to Seoul, the whole experience was relatively cheap and we got a good 3 hours on the slopes.

I had to unpack my whole bag, in the middle of the subway station, to find my Seoul Subway card

Rather than talk in intimate detail about the slopes and such here is a video about the day – sit back, relax and enjoy the pics and music.

That evening we headed back into Seoul found a motel and grabbed Pizza at a place called “Mr Pizza” which... ended up being a slightly tense meal due to their salad bar regulations but dessert mellowed the environment out and back at the motel for the night we settled into some good old fashioned TV watching. Sandy had found Discovery channel so we watched “Man vs Wild” where Bear Grylls...

...was teaching us how to survive in the Sahara desert. Good day all around, it was off to bed and early to rise as the next day I would be embarking on my Tour to the DMZ (Described in my next post)!!!

I have snow, I have a board – let's see how this turns out shall we...

2011-01-06T10:30:00.000+09:00

Hi all! So it has been a little while since I last wrote with due reason. Thing have not been going too swimmingly for me of late. I had a bad case of flu over Christmas, which I duly spent in bed and it has been dreadfully cold over here for the last while which certainly has not helped my mood. In a nutshell I have been rather depressed and homesick for the last month or so, but I am happy to report: With some advice from some wise sages of Korean life and with the support of my wonderful girlfriend Sandy and my great friends Alan, Lisa, Marelize and Deborah, I am in a much more positive frame of mind as I head toward the 6 month mark of being in Korea. A great deal of my slow assent back to happiness can be put down to my New Year weekend on the slopes. This post hopes to illuminate all of your minds as to my 1^st experience of proper snow and what to do with it.

As briefly mentioned earlier the weather has been rather ghastly for the last month and a half. This of course is to be expected – it is winter after all. That does not, however do much to increase my enthusiasm for the scale of the cold that I have experienced (which I am in no way used to back home). To give you some idea: the coldest day I have experienced has been about -12C during the day and about -14 at night. The average by my completely unscientific guessing skills has been about 3-5C during the day and -3 to -8 at night. With this cold however, I have been exposed to my first experience of snow!

The 1^st time I had about a 20min experience of snow was one evening in early December when Sandy and I were walking to go get supper. WE GOT SNOWED ON! I duly stuck my tongue out and caught a snowflake on it – as is the cliqued thing to do J

My next experience was when I got to school and it started to, I guess, pelt down. The snow fall of those 3 odd days created rather thick snow and ice on the roads and the pavements. Watching the cars crawl through the sludge that had been covered in snow and then sand/salt (still unsure which-but either is used to make roads drivable) was a very enlightening experience. Cars even had snow chains around the tiers, which I was told was a little silly as there was not enough snow to warrant that, and that all that was doing was damaging the tiers. At the time of this mass snow fall I was still on the mend from my flu, so I have yet to participate in a snow fight or build a snowman.

During this period though, I got a message from Deborah saying that she was going on a skiing trip with Marelize and other from Daegu and surrounds. I emailed Marelize and the rest was just logistics – I WAS GOING SNOWBOARDING!!!! Oh... AND I WAS GOING OVER NEW YEARS EVE!!!! Below is a video-pictoral summery of my trip:

On Friday 31^st December 2010 I got up at 7am and caught my train (arriving@09:40) to Daegu, where I was meeting Marelize, Alan, Lisa and Jac (a friends of Marelize’s) at 10:30 to catch our train to Yeondong at 11:00. Having arrived in Daegu rather early I found a soft spot to sit, placed my earphones in and pulled out my book – “Good Omens” by Terry Prachett and Neil Gaiman. 1^st to arrive and wait with me was Lisa followed by Alan and we then waited for Jac and Marelize who arrived at about 10:45. We climbed on our train and 1hr 20 odd minutes later arrived in a rather chilly Yeondong and climbed on a bus to Muju another 40min away where, when we arrived we met up with Deborah who had caught a bus from Daejeon.

See how cold all us South African's look!!!

It was good to see all these lovely people with whom I flew to Korea on 17 August 2010. It was definitely a lift that I needed. In life one meets few people who you just feel comfortable with and who make you feel at ease no matter the situation. I have been lucky to have met 8 such people in my Varsity years and now these 4 people along with Lauren (who stays in Ulsan) and Andrea (who is with Deb in Daejeon), not forgetting the people I am close to in Yeongcheon. It is in times like I was experiencing that you lean on those around you and I’d like to thank all these people for helping get my spirits back up.

In Muju – we climbed into 2 Taxi’s and drove our accommodation, called a Penshion (Essentially a rented floor of a house). It was really decent digs for the 2 days – 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a big lounge, 2 bedrooms and a balcony with a stunning view of snow capped mountains and a lake.

The Accomodation

The View

Decisions then had to be made. It was 14: 50 and we had not had lunch yet. So... do we have lunch or go to the slopes for some skiing before the slopes close at 16:30, to re-open at 18:30. We decide on lunch but due some urm... preferences we end up not having lunch and go straight to the Ski Shop to collect our gear. I had said I wanted to go snowboarding, as it sounded so much cooler and more of a challenge. I try on my boots a couple of times until I got the correct size and then claim some waterproof clothes for rent as I figured it would be awfully unpleasant if I had to trudge around in wet Jeans (due to the dampness of the snow). All kitted out we climb into the van and wait for the guys at the ski-shop to take us up to the slopes. It was a rather cramped 15min but we eventually get to the slopes in one piece and are told we will be picked up at 22:00.

We headed into a giant hall to put our shoes and valuables in a locker it is now closer to 16:00 so we decide to wait until the slopes re-open at 18:30 before we try our hand at anything. Instead we finally get something to eat. Where my 5 companions had chicken burgers I needed something a little more substantial so decided to get a bowl of Udong noodles...

Bottom Left: Kimchi, Above that: Pickled Radish, Above that: My Cinammon Chierro,
Then my Hot Choc and bowl of Udong

It was about double the price you would pay anywhere else for the same dish but I suppose when you have a monopoly on food you can charge what you want. I also bought myself a cup of hot chocolate and a cinnamon chierro for desert. The 2 hours that followed were very therapeutic for me I just chatted with everyone particularly with Deb and bitched about all the issue I was having. It was nice to get it all out and have such a sympathetic ear to talk to. 18:30 came round and we head off to the slopes - which looked Awesome under floodlights!!!

Staring at the big slopes we were not aware at the time that we had to buy a ticket to go up them but regardless of that, we all thought, “shit that’s high... let’s find a bunny slope to practice on first”. We all walk around for a bit until we find a sufficient practice area.

It was rather amusing for Alan and I, who were carrying our snow boards around, as we watched the skiers of our group, get there bearings on the skis. Deb was less than comfortable on her extended long feet, Marelize even fell over and it was like watching a turtle on their back as she struggled to get up. Later in the practice area, where I would unclip my boots form the board the skiers tried to keep their skis on and look awfully funny crab walking back up the slope.

Deb on her Skis

We all practiced for just over an hour and then went in for a break and a cup of hot chocolate. The break brought about talk of moving onto the grown-up slopes and then bodies started to drop out. Alan was not well, so he opted to stay inside and Lisa and Deb chose to stay with him, so Jac, Marelize and I ventured out to what we assumed would be our death.

After a couple of aborted attempts to figure out how much the ski-lift/conveyor belt cost to use, we eventually found that we could get a 1 go ticket which we duly did. We climb onto the lift and were a little concerned that we could fall off or drop out equipment when a safety bar came down.

We calmed down a bit and glided past the end of conveyor belt which ran about half way up the slope and my companions got a little worried as they believed we would get off at that point. We didn’t. Just after we cleared that error of belief up Marelize announces that she has dropped her ski poles. We look down and see nothing but there are no poles in her hands. We established (after a good laugh) that she must have dropped them just at the end of the conveyor belt. So we decided to just tell the lift operator when we got to the top of the slope.

Getting to the top of the slope was an adventure in itself! The lift get there and none of the 3 of us can figure out how to get the safety bar up. I got a little tangled in my board and Jac had his ski poles bent around his legs! The lift operator had to stop the lift to allow us to get off – sigh, silly foreigners who have no experience of snowing!

Jac bent back hi ski poles and then we waited... and waited... and waited... We ended up waiting for about 30min in the -14C temp at the top of the slope but eventually Marelize’s poles arrived and we agreed to stick together on the downslope. I thought I would be the one going fast so I said if I go too fast I will fall over (as I had yet to figure out how to stop) and wait for the others to catch up. As it turns out, the slope was virtually like Ice and the skiers flew down the slope while I, through observation of more experienced Koreans, was able to mange my speed and even get my turning going! All in all it was a great 20min going down the slope. Jac got to the bottom so fast (as there were not very many ways for him to stop) he ended up waiting for me for 10min and then we waited for another 5 min for Marelize to arrive, who also through observation, had figured out a way to go down the slope in a slower fashion.

Covered in Snow Marelize and I hose ourselves down with an air pressure hose just to get the snow off and we then make our way inside to gather our things and head to the parking lot as it was 21:55. Our haste had no effect however, as our ride was not even there. After a couple of phone calls and 20min waiting in the cold, we find our ride in section 5 of the parking. We hop into the van and again we wait... and wait...

All in all we sat in the van 40min before we left to return our goods to the ski-shop. 1^st we were waiting for a Korean gent to come back from the slopes with his rented gear and then we waited for a car to drive up so that they would not lose their parking spot. It is now 23:35 and we are at the ski-shop hoping to get back to the Penshion before 00:00 so that we could see the New Year in but there were worries around that we would end up spending new year in the back of a cramped van. We end up getting back to our place at 23:50. As we pull into the driveway 2 more of Marelize’s friends arrived – Johan and Gerrit. Both gentlemen own cars. We were supposed to get a lift with these guys but about a week before the weekend Gerrit dislocated his shoulder snowboarding so that plan changed to train and bus. However they still joined us and drove through in Johan’s car and they arrived just in time to see in the new year after about 5 hours driving because of accidents on the roads. We were all eternally grateful to both of them as they bought us groceries for the next morning’s breakfast and what’s more they didn’t ask us to pay them back for them. Seeing in the New Year we had some wine, some vile Korean beer called “Cass” and some sparkling wine.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Not much debauchery but loads of chatter and wholesome enjoyment. Having mixed drinks I thought it best to head to bed at 02:00 and woke up at about 09:30 later on New Year’s morning. Johan, Gerrit and Jac all left pretty early and that left the rest of us to enjoy some fantastically cooked scrambled eggs and bacon courtesy of Lisa and Deb. Thrown in some yoghurt, OJ and coffee it was a worthy 1^st breakfast to 2011.

We then packed up went back to Muju where Alan, Lisa, Marelize and I said goodbye to Deb and made our way back to Daegu via bus and train trips. Once back in Daegu the executive decision was taken to go out for supper and Lisa and Marelize lead the way to a place called “Poom rooftop garden restaurant”.

It was a lovely dinner. I had some pork fillets with rice, butternut and teriyaki sauce. That was what I paid for. Then there was what Korean’s call “Service”. This is in no way the tip you give to waitering staff in SA. No, no. This is what the waitering staff can do for you – without reward and tip. So we were each given a soup, garlic bread, salad, small 1cm³ coffee cake for dessert, and a desert coffee. I had a Mint Mochachino. All that was complimentary. It was great and a wonderful way to end our New Year’s weekend with great friends.

This coming weekend I am heading north again, for a spot more snowboarding and I am taking a tour to the DMZ. Wish me luck ;)

Stay tuned for more from Geoff’s Asian Adventure...

A taste of home...

2010-12-21T23:15:00.000+09:00

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.

2010-12-18T12:17:00.000+09:00

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!