Blogs from Gangwon-do, South Korea, Asia
January 28th 2012
Sat 28th: Another early start! Left Seoul around 8 am and headed east to Gangwon-do. Our first stop was at Yongyeon Cave. After donning a hard hat we were allowed into the cave. The cave was well set out with a walk way around it so you could see the stalactities and stalagmites. The cave was pretty deep and bigger than I had imagined. In the middle of the cave there was a light and water show, where fountains lit up and sprayed water. A little tacky, but the rest of the cave was quite good. We were meant to take a little train upto the caves, however due to the snow, the train wasn't working. The area around the cave was pretty peaceful and picturesque with all the snow. The cave is located along the ... read more
January 14th 2012
Ranked in the top 3 winter festivals in Korea, Hwacheon Ice Festival is popular among Koreans and foreigners alike. For the past 7 years, thousands of people have flocked to Hwacheon to attend this chilly festival and this year it was my turn. First things first – Hwacheon is in Gangwon Do province (yes the one I live in!) which is known for its deep winter freeze. Saying it’s cold is an understatement – rather it chills you to the bone and even when you're wearing 2 pairs of socks, 5 jumpers (or jackets) AND boots you can still feel the cold. On the plus side, festivals like this one help all us waygooks make the most of the chilly weather, and keep our minds off the cold. We arrived and instantly found ourselves amused by ... read more
January 1st 2012
Happy New Year! Hope you all had a good Christmas and that Santa brought you everything you asked for. Thought I'd give a little update to fill you all in on what's been going on here over Christmas. The last week of school before Christmas was pretty fun, nice and easygoing. The week ended on Friday with a school trip to a chocolate making factory with the little kids. You can imagine the carnage that 50 little kids armed with tubes of liquid chocolate would cause. It was all over their faces, clothes, the floor, but luckily some of it made it to actual solid chocolate form which they could take home. Back at school we had a big buffet lunch with them all, after which Santa Claus (or Santa haraboji in Korean) paid a visit. ... read more
December 10th 2011
This is a note I wrote myself to remember my first race. It took place in Korea in April of this year. It was a 22km hill climb on the east coast of Korea. Since I am in the middle of a 4 week travel binge I decided to post this before finishing my blog about Roma.. or Istanbule... or Budapest... Prague... the road trip to 14 different countries in 4 days. Hope this satisfies your blog fix. I haven't proof read this and I didn't originally intend to make this public so I hope nothing appears that I will regret? April 9, 2011 6:05pm Tomorrow I will race for the first time. My journey started 7 weeks ago as I started training after a 2.5 month hiatus. Training was not as good as hoped but ... read more
November 15th 2011
Warning: This blog contains images, descriptions and a video of oversized stone, wood and fibreglass male genitalia, and is laced with words conveying double meanings (literal and sexual). If this is likely to cause offence, then please do not read. The world is filled with bizarre places and practices which demonstrate that truth is indeed stranger than fiction. But few are more peculiar than Haesindang Park in the fishing port of Sinnam on South Korea’s east coast, whose fame (or should that be infamy) is attributed to a local legend. Many years ago a young maiden called Aebawi was married to a local fisherman. One day prior to a fishing excursion, he placed his wife on some rocks, promising to return. However, the weather dramatically changed and a storm rapidly brooded and erupted, and despite the ... read more
It's only a mountain away.......
Published: November 1st 2011Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Seoraksan
October 24th 2011
Do something everyday that scares you. That’s the motto of my 18 year old daughter, Jessica. Luckily for me, as an American living in Asia, accomplishing that is no problem! There’s the little things, like riding a subway throughout a new city without being able to speak or read the language. Or perhaps it’s simply getting lost in the markets – again with no language skills. Then there’s the biggies. The ones you look back on and say, hmmm, now that was a little crazy, but now that I’ve done it, I feel like I can handle traveling the world. For me, that’s just a handful of things. Included in that list would be using a squatty potty – over troughs, mountains of s*#t, or open air behind a rock. Also included would be the art ... read more
Jung Do Island (And a whole bunch of other stuff!)
Published: February 8th 2012Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Chuncheon » Jungdo Island
June 3rd 2011
Today it's Friday - and that makes me happy - as it means the weekend is upon us baby. And this weekend we have a long weekend as it's memorial day on Monday. I'm sitting at my desk right now indulging in rice "That's why I put on weight" cakes from Korea. GOD they are delicious. Here's the good and the bad news of it - the good is that my allergies have COMPLETELY gone away as eveey desssert here is literarlly made up of only rice and sugar (goodbye butter/milk etc!) but the bad news is well it's rice...RICE all the time! However, I am not here to write to you and grumble, so I'll move on as I put the fifth piece of rice cake into my gob! First things first, I'll start with ... read more
A not-so-casual sunday evening at Hongcheon river
Published: February 8th 2012Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do
May 18th 2011
For many of us foreigners living in South Korea, there’s something about Sunday night. It’s that one night you occasionally find yourself missing the comforts of home. More so, the Sunday night dinner tradition that many expats are used to back home. For me, Sunday night is “roast night” with my family, so moving to a place where the idea of a roast was virtually nonexistent took a bit of getting used to. So you can imagine my surprise and delight last Sunday, when things took a turn for the better. My friends and I had been hanging out at Chuncheon’s famous Gongjicheon Park, sunbathing, playing in the fountain, and even running through it because the weather was so warm. We suddenly received a call from our Korean friend who invited us to Hongcheon River for ... read more
A few weeks in...
Published: February 8th 2012Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Chuncheon » Taegye-dongApril 25th 2011
Right...so here I am! A few weeks in and starting to find my feet in Korea.... This week I'm observing and getting a feel for the classes I'll be teaching - I'm teaching boys and girls, and let me tell you I get the feeling the boys will be a handful. The problem is the kids over here are bored shitless in their English classes - so they need to be awoken - I almost feel like bringing a bloody firework into my first class and letting it off. They are so excited about having a 'real' English teacher teach them...I'm hoping they will at least partly behave for me. Although we are warned to be strict aka not crack jokes, not be there 'friend' for a few weeks - that's right, I've got to try ... read more
The beginning of my epic Korean Adventure
Published: February 8th 2012Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Chuncheon » Taegye-dongApril 4th 2011
Annyong! I'VE TOUCHED DOWN IN SOUTH KOREA BABY! So, I arrived at my EPIK orientation in Daejeon after 16 hours of travelling! That night, I met my awesome roomy Cateline (a lovely Irish girl) , and she took me out on the town (this is another big city a couple of hours out of Seoul) where I met heaps of expats. And got so many emails! ha, gotta make friends somehow. BUT anywho, onwards and upwards, got taken to my apartment last night. And can I just say WOW! This lovely Korean lady Young - my co-teacher - who I'll be teaching with...said it was as big as her apartment (that houses her famiy of 4!) but my god , she wasn't wrong! I'm talking THREE BEDROOMS, a big living area, two balconies....overlooking Chencheon city...very nice! ... read more
