Grateful Seoul

I’m now at the airport, waiting for my first of 3 flights that will in 20 or so hours bring me home. The trip has gotten off to a positive start with an upgrade to business class for the first leg of my journey from Seoul to Tokyo. It should be a comfortable 2 hours. Hopefully this is a positive omen, as 12 hours across the Pacific could be made much more comfortable.

The past week in Korea after the trip was great. Had a chance to say bye to some of my favourite Korean foods and some friends as well. Although much will be missed, it is time to leave. Really, my flight is boarding.

Just a quick update from the Bangkok airport, where I am in transit to Koh Samui. Having just spent a week in Vietnam split between Saigon and Mui Ne, my trip is winding down. All that is left now is some serious beach time shared with some time by the pool.

Saigon was great. There was plent to see in the city and its surounds. Much of the sightseeing was historical, mainly about the “American War”. From there it was up the coast to Mui Ne, a small fishing town about 200 km. or 5 hours drive north. Although nice, it was a little too quiet for my liking with even less going on than Luang Prabang. But it was a nice escape from the city and the air was clean, along with the water.

I think my travels can be summerized as: Beer Lao -> Angkor Beer -> Bai Saigon. I’m not sure what will be next, but I’m anxious to get there with only 9 days left. If I can pry myself from the sunshine, I’ll add some commentary about the beach… but don’t count on it.

When we left off, I was taking it easy in Laos. Twelve days later and I’m still taking it easy, but am now in Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City / Saigon). In arriving here, I’ve traveled through the Kingdom of Cambodia visiting Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. Both were quite the contrast from Luang Prabang. Although Laos is not a rich nation the small corner I touched is well established on the tourist scene and I don’t think it really shows its true colours. Things were relatively clean and well kept.

Seim Reap while offering one of the worlds wonders with the temples of Angkor Wat, still has dirt roads and a habit of leaving garbage anywhere. Angkor was fantastic. Very unique and definitely special. Phnom Penh while still having lots to offer was for me a little less appealing. Bigger, dirtier and to some degree less friendly. Still some good sights to see with recent historical significance such as the S-21 museum and Killing Fields. Both of which saw atrocities committed in my lifetime. Plus I had my first experience with firearms.

Having been in Vietnam for about 6 hours now, my first impressions are very positive. Saigon is electric, just as the books described it. Even after such a short time the city seems to have a positive and active energy to it. It seems like there are more scooters and motorcycles than people here, leaving very little space for me to walk. I’m booked into a full day tour of the city tomorrow and am looking forward to seeing the sights.

It has only been four days since I said good-bye to Korea and I’ve made my way to Luang Prabang, Lao PDR. For those not familiar with it Luang Prabang is a sleepy hamlet in northern Laos. There is very little actually happening here, yet it is quite the tourist destination. Today at lunch it hit me that I have seen more tourists from more places in the past 3 days here, then I had in over a year in Korea. Yet, this place has the population of a large Korean apartment complex.

Why are all these people here you ask? Why would backpackers flock here when they could be in Bangkok or at a full moon party? Why come to a place that just about shuts down at 11:00 (there is some sort of curfew). It could be the Beer Lao, which at about $0.80 for a large bottle in a restaurant puts every Korean beer to shame, or perhaps just the laid-back atmosphere. Don’t get me wrong, this place has all the trappings of home (I am online now after all), it just moves allot slower. There isn’t a single traffic light in town yet I haven’t heard a driver use their horn. It also doesn’t sound like they ever get out of second gear. No one is in a rush to do anything, or get anywhere.

The city itself has earned an UNESCO World Heritage destination. It has many temples, each unique, and many cultural assets near by. Today I took a slow boat up the river (the town is on the Mekong and one of its tributaries) to visit the Pak Ou caves. The caves are home to all the “expired” Buddha icons from the surrounding area. Once a Buddha image fades or a statue is worn out from too much belly rubbing it is placed in these caves. There are thousands of Buddhas there, large an small, older and newer. It was quite the site. Also of note, on our way up river to the caves I was amazed to see the boat driver chatting away on his cell phone. We were a good hour away from town, cruising along the Mekong and the guy was getting a great signal. Amazing.

I’m here for another 3 nights of easy-goingness. Will be visiting some waterfalls tomorrow and definitely enjoying a few more Beer Laos. I did try and add some pictures here, but the connection and computer are just too slow. Perhaps another time. Next stop Seam Reap.

Two days ago my career as an English teacher came to an end. I’m very happy about that. And, in just a few short hours I’ll be on my way to the airport for a one month sojourn in Southeast Asia before my final, much anticipated, journey home. Before I leave, I figure a few parting words for Korea are in order.

I have been here for about 15 months and overall the experience has been very positive, as good or even better than I had expected. Right now I have no regrets about coming here, but am equally excited to be leaving. Although I enjoyed living here, Korea is not, nor could it ever be home for me. Frankly, I could never live somewhere that both officially and culturally labeled me a foreigner. Overall, I’d say I had a good run here. I’ve met some great people, enjoyed myself thoroughly and have seen many new parts of the world (4 countries so far for those of you keeping track at home.

It is now time for phase 2 of my Korea plan, which has always been to travel in Southeast Asia after I finished work. Over the next month the plan calls for stops in 4 more countries. For those who are interested, (in theory) I’ll be posting form the road. In practice this may not happen as much as we’d all like it to, but you never know.

I’d like to end this with some parting words of wisdom, but I’m completely distracted at the moment with details of of my upcoming trip. What I will provide are some statistics, because I like them.

Since October 2006, this site has received 7,824 visits. Those are by no means unique individuals though. I figure my immediate family must account for lots of that, but 44% of you are new visitors. Also interesting is that the average time spent on the site is a little over 1 minute 10 seconds. I think the car show girls might be keeping that that number up, because the writing is not that lengthy. Also of note, the site has had visitors from 97 different countries or territories. Still waiting for Greenland though.

At this time one week ago I was on a plane bound for Tokyo. It was to be a brisk 3 day 4 night trip, packed with sightseeing and, of course, eating. Overall, the trip was a success. Tokyo is a great city and there are some very obvious differences with Korea. All I want to say about it is that Tokyo is very organized, clean and for the most part well thought out.

After arriving at Tokyo International Airport (Haneda), it was an easy subway ride to the hotel. The first day was spent in the area around the hotel, but since I left for the airport before 6 in the morning and was going to the fish market just as early the next day there were no big adventures. Rest was needed.

Day two brought what was to my favourite part of the trip. A visit to Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market. Perhaps best known for their Tuna auctions, the market was still buzzing when I arrived around 7 in the morning. Unfortunately, the Tuna auctions (held around 5:00 a.m.) are no longer open to the public, so I had to settle for a walk through the main retail area, with thousands of others. Aside from the tourists, the market was filled with locals picking up fresh fish for themselves as well as others buying larger items (i.e. tuna) for what must be restaurants. Needless to say the market was packed and the narrow isles were a challenge to navigate with motorized carts whizzing around loaded with fish for the trucks parked outside. The most impressive sight was the tuna though. These are big fish, and it seemed like every other stall was selling it.

Here we see tuna, whole, being prepared and finally in manageable chunks.

After wandering through the market is was time for breakfast. And, the only thing you should have for breakfast at the fish market is fish. Just outside the main market building are several rows of retail buildings, many of them housing restaurants. Choosing which to visit was difficult as more than one had significant lines which is always a good sign. We voted with our stomachs, and and chose one that we would get into within a half hour and had locals both inside and in the line. The restaurant has about 12 seats along the sushi bar and not much other room. Once we got in, we were treated to the best sushi I have had, ever. Being just steps form the market, you know the fish was going to be fresh and I was not disappointed. The set menu we chose cost ¥3 500 (about $30) each. Not cheap, but worth every yen. For this we got about 12 pieces of nigiri suchi plus some rolls.

I’m not 100% sure of what everything is, but I can say it was all fantastic. We were first given these 4 peices, the 2 on the right are tuna, the other two are???

Next came a plate with 4 more pieces and the only English spoken at the restaurant “No Sauce”. I believe we have (from left to right): ebi (shrimp), another tuna, eel(?) and scallop.

Then something I’ve never tried before, sea urchin roe. The texture was interesting, perhaps mushy. The taste was fresh with a strong dose of sea water.

Just in case you were wondering exactly when I had breakfast, here is a quick time check.

Finally, after the set course was over, we were shown an English note by our sushi chef informing us that we could chose 2 more pieces from the counter. I went for the toro, or fatty tuna belly. Wow, it literally melted in my mouth. Simply the best I’ve ever had.

The rest of Sunday was spend wondering around the various main areas of Tokyo, including the electronics district of Akihabara. That was less impressive than other areas, as one thing Seoul does boast is the largest electronics market in Asia (if not the world). We also went to the shopping area of Ginza and Harajuku an area popular with the young people. Unfortunately, we arrived too late to see all the kids in their costumes which was a bit of a let down.

Monday brought another whirl wind day of touring around the city. Of note was the man-made island of Odaiba, home to some interesting architecture, notably the Fuji T.V. building.

They also have a super-big ferris wheel, which needed to be experienced. Here is a view from the top, some 165 meters up where I was not completely comfortable.

Monday continued with trips to Shinjuki and Shibuya, home to one of Tokyo’s buisiest pedestrian crossings and 5 way scramble. Unfortunately, things were pretty quiet in Tokyo over New Years, and the masses of humanity I was expecting weren’t there. Still a good area to wonder around in though with lots of narrow streets lined with shops.

Monday was also New Years Eve, and brought a second great dining experience. After some research I decided on Gonpachi. Aside form having a good representation of Japanese cuisine, it is know as being the inspiration for the restaurant where the big fight scene in Kill Bill 1 took place. It didn’t disappoint in both looks and importantly, the food.

We’ll start with the looks. Here is a view from our seats at the bar surrounding the open kitchen.

This is the restaurant from the second floor.

Finally, the kitchen itself.

Next, out dinner. With seats right in front of the salad station we had a good preview of what was available and couldn’t resist their classic Cesar salad. This was in no way Japanese, but it looked great and was something you don’t see much of in Korea. It was great.

After the salad, we had a tuna appetizer. Here raw tuna is dressed in sesame, soy and wassabi and stacked with greens.

Next came a selection of meats, including 2 chicken skewers, one with green onion the other ground chicken.

Then roast lamb.

Finally, some soba noodles, on of the house specialties. If you looked at the menu on their website you will see that they use some whimsical names for their dishes. Our soba dish, a mixture of various ingredients over the noodles, was politely named after a Japanese sexual act.

To top off the night, at midnight they brought in traditional Japanese drummers and passes out Saki to all the guests. A very nice touch.

Capping off our trip to Tokyo, on New Years day we joined thousands of Japanese in a visit to a local shrine. The Meiji Shrine, located near Harajuku. Along with a beautiful setting in the woods, the visit also showed us the sense of order and organization that Japan is known for. While walking through the woods to the shrine and as we approached the narrow entrance everyone was patient and followed the instructions being given. To help things move smoothly they even set up a big TV showing the line ahead and to provide helpful instructions.

Not sure what these are, but they were on the side of the path on the way to the shrine.

Here is an arch close to the main shrine.

Here we see that we are in the year of the rat.

Overall, Tokyo was great. One other thing that I saw allot of was cars. Not just standard Hondas, Toyotas or Mazdas, but at least a dozen Ferraris, low-riders and even what looked like a race-spec Acura NSX and Corvette. Most of the time the cars where whizzing by, but I did manage to get this one picture of a Rolls Royce, pimped out with 22 inch wheels. Interesting.

It seems like I’ve taken a bit of a blogging hiatus. I’ve gotten set in a routine and, unfortunately, it does not include updating the blog. You’ll just have to trust me that there really haven’t been any events which have motivated me to write about them. That does not mean nothing has happened.

Perhaps the most interesting of things from the past months was another wedding. My third in Korea, if you are keeping score at home. This was was quite different from the others. It was a traditional Korean wedding, complete with chickens. The ceremony was completely in Korea, which fit well with the traditional clothing, which looked great. That also means that I can’t really tell you what was going on. Here are a few pictures.

Here is the groom and friends before the ceremony. They really enjoyed the outfits, especially the hats.

The groom with the brides family.

I told you there were chickens.

For some reason, the grooms carries the bride away after the ceremony.

Aside from all that, I have another short trip coming up. I’m going to Tokyo for 3 nights at the end of December. If you have any travel advice, please share. Also, as of today, I will be finished work in 51 days, which is very exciting.

Just got back from China earlier this evening. All in all a great trip. Hardly a restful vacation, we were constantly on the move, seeing or doing something, and there is lots to see and do. Was in both Beijing and Shanghai, two great cities, that are worth visiting if the opportunity arises. I hope to post a full report, or series there of, over the next week or so, but in the meantime I’ll leave you with a snapshot of my purchases. This wasn’t a shopping trip, but while I was there I did pick up a few things.

Not pictured are two pair of shoes. It was fun. Who knew that so many quality brand name products could be purchased in China for incredibly low prices? Stay tuned for more.

As an astute reader, you will have likely figured out that my life here in Korea is far from stressful. Work generally goes smoothly, and rarely if ever occupies my mind outside of school. Other than that, there is nothing that has caused me any worries in the past 11 months (yes, it has been that long). Unfortunately, that all changed in the weeks leading up to this past Saturday.

September 15th was my Dan promotion test (a.k.a black belt test) in Taekwondo. Ever since I started this martial arts adventure back in December, I’ve been working towards the coveted black belt. Master Kim’s announcement that I would be testing on the 15th was met with both excitement and anxiety. Although I had spend the past 2 months preparing to take the test, I never really knew when it would happen. Learning about it just two weeks before didn’t help.

Following the announcement, training kicked into high gear. We focused on the specific elements of the test: punches in “horse-riding stance”, kicks and poomsae (a series of movements, meant to demonstrate specific Taekwondo skills). Fortunately, this was nothing new, and it was just a matter of refining the motions to meet the judges discerning eye. You see, black belts are awarded by a panel of judges. I think that is to prevent just anyone from getting their black belt.

The fourth and final element of the test was to be full-contact sparring. This is not something that was practiced much. Perhaps half a dozen times or so since I started. The sparring was perhaps my biggest concern, as I really didn’t have much of an idea as to what I’d be doing. To make it even more interesting, the week before the test I learned I would be fighting a woman, Jillian, from my class, who was also testing. That just added to the nervousness, as I wasn’t (am and still not) completely comfortable with the idea of co-ed fighting. But, if that is what was needed to be done for the test, so be it. I wasn’t going to let the idea of kicking a girl prevent me from reaching my goal.

Test day arrived, and we headed off to Seoul to join 100 plus kids and 5 other adults at the test centre. After a big group warm-up, where I was surrounded by a bunch of 10 year olds who were amused at my non-ability to do the splits, it was waiting time. We got to sit and watch as all the kids test first. Perhaps the best part about waiting was getting to watch the kids fight. Given their youth, some did not have the best control of their kicks, and there were a few shots landed “below the belt”. It was straight out of one of those home video shows. Even the crowd groaned in unison.

Also to note in the picture, the 3 gentlemen on the stage. I was introduced to one of them after the test. I was told he was the “chairman”. Although I don’t know exactly what he is the chairman of, but I guess it is important since he spent a Saturday afternoon watching a bunch of kids doing Taekwondo.

After about 2 hours of watching, it was time for my test. Start to finish, including the sparring, it took less than 10 minutes. Probably closer to 5. After the first segment (punches, kicks and poomsae), I felt pretty good. In fact, I even caught a glimpse of one of the judges giving me a strong head nod. I’m choosing to interpret that as either good job or well done, but it might mean something different in Korean. Then it was time for the sparring.

I have very little to say about it. I was kicking a girl after all. I can say it was fun, and I wish we did more of it in class. The point of the sparring is to see if we can apply the skills we have learned. Taekwondo is an Olympic sport, people win gold medals doing this stuff. I’m not going to say anything else about the sparring, I’ll let the video do the talking. Feel free to laugh, I did. FYI, I’m in blue. You can watch it here.

After all that, I bet you are wondering if I passed or not. So am I. I’ve been told it takes about 2-3 weeks for the results of the tests to be announced by the Taekwondo central committee. That being said, the Monday after the test Master told me “My think is you belt change.” Read into that as you like. I’m gonna wait for the official word.

I’m off to China tomorrow. I can almost taste the Peking Duck.

Yes, it has been a long time since the last post. Well over a month in fact. But you already know that. Lets just say that I took a summer vacation. I’m a teacher after all, so it should be expected. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much vacationing involved. Really just more work. I did find time to go to Taiwan though (posting about that is the next chore on my list). For now I’ll say that Taipei is a good city and it was great to get out of Korea for 5 days. Also of note, September will be my tenth month here. From my perspective it doesn’t seem like that long.

Just after my last post we started “intensives” at work. That means in addition to the 17 classes I regularly taught I also had to teach an additional 8 in the morning. The entire schedule changed, and I worked from about 8:30 - 6:30 every day, with a full schedule of 6 1.25 hour classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. As much as I enjoyed working somewhat normal hours it was tiering, and that is my excuse for not posting. The reason for the intensives is that the kids all have summer break. So, rather than going to camp or playing the park all day as I would have, they are sent for more schooling. English, math, science, you name it, they take classes during the day in the summer. Fun!

All that is over now, and I’m back to my very comfortable 3-10 schedule. I still have 17 (out of a possible 20) classes with the majority of them being very advanced. This means I can talk normally with the students as most of them have spend years overseas studying English, and their level reflects it. That makes the job a little easier and more enjoyable.

In Taekwondo news, since I was working during the day I trained at night. Instead of the usual foreigner only class, I was right in the mix with about 20 kids ranging in age from 10 to 16. Needless to say I stood out. Also, it was the advanced class. The kids had all been Taekwondoing for years. They are good. Needless to say it was a fun experience. My regular class is pretty relaxed, and if we make a mistake we are shown the proper way to do something. When the kids screw up they do push-ups. Lots of them. I wasn’t too out of place, as I had recently earned my red belt (the one before black). Now I’m training for the black belt test sometime in the future. I don’t have a date yet.

The last bit of news is another trip I took. To Costco. That may not sound too exciting, but when you live in a place with little access to western food it is very exciting. Some delicacies I was able to procure included: old cheddar, granola bars, rye bread, deli meat, dill pickles (not sweet!) and avocados that cost less than $4 each! I’m still enjoying the bounty I brought home.

My next scheduled adventure is a trip to China at the end of September. I’ll be there for 8 days, flying in and out of Beijing and hopefully spending some time in Shanghai as well. If you’ve been or know anyone there I’m open for any suggestions or contacts. Thanks.

That’s all for now. I’ll leave you with a few pictures from Taipei, just to whet your appitite.

Two weekends ago, work decided that they would take us on an adventure. We were going rafting. I was excited. I’d been rafting before. It was fun. Lots of fun. In fact it was one of the few times I remember enjoying an activity where there was a risk of injury or worse…

The day began nice and early with an eight a.m. departure from school, followed by a 2 plus hour bus ride. No problem. As we approached the departure site I caught a first glimpse of the river that would be our natural roller coaster for the day. From my vantage point, I could not see the perils that surly awaited us just around the bend.

Once we got off the bus, the first, and most obvious thing to do was to take a picture of the group. Everyone was all smiles at this time, not knowing if we would be as happy once the river released its furry on us.

After the picture we were divided into boat groups. It didn’t take much to figure out how that was done. Boat 1: people in appropriate aquatic gear (i.e. a bathing suit) and boat 2: people with only street cloths. I really was not all that surprised with the clothing choice of those in boat 2. I am in Korea after all and some things are just different. They seemed happy.

The next step was water safety and rafting instructions. These were presented completely in Korean. I guess none of it was all that important because my Korean colleagues laughed allot and didn’t see the need to translate a single word of what was said. The three foreigners who were there (myself included) worked together and were comfortable with the rough translation we were able to assemble.

Finally it was time to get on the water. We carried our rafts down to the river and once we got close, I realized why there was a group still in street cloths. They were not keen on getting wet. Interesting, given we would be spending the next few hours very, very close to water. Their desire to stay dry was short lived. Moments later the guides had us all standing in waist deep water. Getting to that point involved a few screams, but fortunately, no tears.

We then started off on our adventure. At the beginning, the river was quite calm and gave everyone a chance to practice the key paddling skills that would be needed to deal with the rapids we would soon be facing. We reached the first bend in the river and I got the sense that it brought with it the first set of rapids. Everyone was on edge. Then we saw it.

Nothing. Just some mildly choppy water. It didn’t stop everyone from working together as a team to tame the beast that wasn’t. And so we continued. Between patches of faster water we had time to swim and generally goof around. I took a few pictures with my trusty waterproof camera. Here is boat 1. The aqua-prepared group.

We then arrived at a rest stop, and met up with the much wearier and less aqua-prepared boat 2. They still managed to look happy-ish.

By now I’m sure you have all noticed the lovely helmets we are all wearing, for our safety. Let me tell you that I did not see a single rock sticking up out of the water. The only rocks to be seen were the cliffs on one side of the river. On the other side were roads and farmers fields.

At the break there was time for more goofing around. The guides flipped over a raft and an impromptu water slide was created. Here I am testing it out, followed by one of my colleagues.

After the break we continued down the river, never finding the dangers I was hoping for. Although less than adventuress the day was still lots of fun. Really. After rafting we enjoyed a nice Korean barbecue dinner and headed home.

The first week of July was filled with celebrations of varying importance and significance. Number one for me was Canada’s 140th birthday. Although I am far from the true north strong and free, I still managed to celebrate properly. I spend a rainy day with fellow Canucks, beers in hand, under a tent, outside of a convenience store. It was a great afternoon, which led to a great night. The festivities concluded with fireworks in the park. I bet you didn’t know that you can buy fireworks just about anywhere, any time in Korea. I like that.

Next on the list of celebrations was Sean’s and America’s birthdays on July 4. I’m not usually one to celebrate Independence Day, fortunately Sean’s birthday was incentive enough for me to take part. Given that it was a work night, things didn’t get started until after 10:00. The plan was a night hike, with a few drinks and lost of fireworks. We succeeded in all aspects. The hiking was good and combined with the darkness, it was almost adventurous. Just getting up the hill was very exciting for the team from work (Sean is in the center, bottom row).

Once we reached our destination, a great lookout point at the top of the hill, it was time to take more pictures and set off fireworks. Both were lots of fun. Here are a few, more can be found in the gallery here.

On our way down we came across a small temple / shrine in the middle of the woods. Even with the doors closed we could see the glow of candles within. It was quite the site.

Pictured above is, simply put, a heart attack on a stick. Look closely, what you are seeing is a hot dog that has been battered and then coated in French fries before taking a dip in the deep fryer. This lovely treat was on display at various stands throughout the Dongdaemun Market area in Seoul. No, I did not try one. It really doesn’t look that good in real life.

I was otherwise occupied with some shopping. The market itself is more of a series of “malls” or multi-floor buildings with each floor dedicated to a segment fashion. On each floor were many (50+) individual retailers each selling goods that fit with the floor’s theme. I stuck with the mens wear and came out with a few t-shirts. As it was a slow day the bargaining was easy.

Just thought you would all like to know that I earned my brown belt the other week at Taekwondo. For those of you who can’t read Korean, that is my name on the left side (so I’ve been told). Also shown in the picture is the proper way to fold the uniform.