Blogs from Mokpo, Jeollanam-do, South Korea, Asia

9a Departure from Gusan. First stop was Gusan Modern History Museum. Tour was entirely in Korean so Halahbujee followed the tour group and RoAnJoSo chose to do self-guided visit of the museum. From what we could gather, Gusan or Gunsan is a very fertile area where rice grows in abundance. This made it a very attractive target for Japanese pirates, and during the Japanese occupation of Korea, it served as a major rice storage and distribution area. Still touring along the coast so lunch was seafood congee (Sophie picked out the clams and mussels) and a huge seafood pancake (Sophie ate the edges which didn't have any seafood). Food was very good. Stop number two was Naesosa Temple. This Buddhist template was established in 633 CE (CE = common era = AD). There were two temples ... read more

I was running around taking in all the new scents of the campsite. It smelled SO GOOD. There was all this food I had never seen! Luckily, I'm short and the people from Seoul easily lost track of me. I found a present of a whole loaf of bread just sitting in a bag for me! I felt sick after that, but it was the most fun I've had in awhile. I'm not really sure where my owner went, but I live with Paul now and he's the one that took me to meet his friends up on this hill above the ocean where they were setting up tents and hanging things in trees. Everybody kept picking me up. "Hey Sam, how ya doing buddy?" They put their faces so close to me. They don't smell ... read more

It's that time again! Well this past month has been a lot of fun and a lot of work. For the 4th of July we went to Oedaldo and stayed at a traditional homestay. The free water park on the island's been opened up. There's two kinda big pools full of sea water, which was a surprise when I cannonballed into the water. So last weekend was fun in the sun. We set off a lot of fireworks and sang the national anthem on the 4th. Sunday was rather low key, one of our party was very ill from the night before. It's surprising how beautifully green everything is here, after all I came here during the start of winter. It's been very humid here, but I think no different than say Florida or Tennessee. It's ... read more

Well, it's been awhile since I've updated my travel blog. A lot has been going on. For some highlights: My good friend John finished his contract a few weeks ago and we had a big weekend long celebration. I think right now he's in Cambodia, he planned on traveling after his contract was up. It was sad to see him go, but he'll be back in a few weeks to get his stuff and hop on an airplane back to the good ol' USA. The other night while walking home in the middle of the night, with pouring rain and blowing wind that had flipped my umbrella inside out I stepped on a snake. Scared the hell out of me. Of all the things in the world to accidentally stumble upon, a freaking snake. It was ... read more

Earlier this month, from the first through the 7th, my dad and Karen came to Korea. Here's my account of their visit. I saw him Friday the third through Tuesday the 7th. Well on Friday night, I had just gotten off work at 9:30. I knew my dad was taking the train into Mokpo, but we were having problems with his phone being able to reach me, so I walked to meet some friends for dinner. I get into the door and get a call from my dad, he's in Mokpo, and has been since 8:30pm. I took a cab to downtown and met him on the second floor of a building, Imsil Cheese Pizza. They had a lot of luggage, most of it being things from America I'd asked them to bring out for me. ... read more