Blogs from South Korea, Asia - page 3
May 2nd 2012
The past week or so of my life had been pretty ho-hum until today. Every weekday, I go to school at 8:20 am. I teach classes, eat strange school lunches, and make lesson plans for the next week's classes. Then, I leave school at 4:30 pm. I go home and eat dinner/nap/Facebook until 6:30 pm, when I walk to my exercise classes at M Pilates. At 7 pm, I have dance class until 8 pm, and then I have Pilates class from 8 pm to 9 pm. After Pilates, I walk home and then have a Skype date with Edward until about 10 pm. After that, I get ready for bed/Facebook/watch tv. I try to go to bed at 11 pm, though I sometimes stay up until midnight. Repeat five days a week. lol The most ... read more
May 1st 2012
Something as mundane as taking a taxi in Seoul has turned out to be quite an experience in and of itself. We hail a cab and take a seat. The first thing I notice is the lack of any seatbelts. "Just don't worry about it" Jed tells me. So I shrug and show the man where we want to go. He looks at it and gives us a crazed, toothless smile and off we go. He's honking and weaving around traffic, while speeding ahead. I clutch the seat and think to myself "we should have walked." We come to a red light and I relax a little. Just as I've relaxed he opens his door, leans far out and spits. Not just a quick spit however, the loudest, most obnoxious spit imagineable. I just glance over ... read more
May 1st 2012
We caught the 7:10am KTX (fast train) to Busan. Train tickets in Korea can now be reserved online at www.korail.com - a very user friendly website! We arrived in Busan just before 10am to rain. It took us while to find our ‘hostel’ as it was actually just some guys apartment that had bunk beds in it. It was in an apartment high rise in the business and bar district of Busan. The 'hostel' was cozy but not as clean as the rest of the hostels we stayed at in Korea. We spent our first day in Busan going to South Korea’s largest fish market, the Jagalchi Fish Market. We wandered the alleys checking out all of the sea creatures for sale and watching old ladies clean fish at a rate so fast it was almost ... read more
Korean seaside villages and sea view motels
Published: May 1st 2012Asia » South Korea » Gyeongsangbuk-do » Gyeongju
May 1st 2012
Ash and I were meant to save our money last weekend and have a quiet weekend in Daegu. However we seem unable to overcome our itchy feet at weekends (need to sort this out somehow!). We still wanted a cheap weekend but had the idea to find a quiet seaside village and beach nearby so we could still get out and see stuff. I researched and found a little fishing village called Gampo just outside of Gyeongju that we decided to visit. We got up early on Saturday and caught a coach from Daegu to Gyeongju and then another from Gyeongju to Gampo. For two hours the total cost was about £3 - bargain. For anyone looking for tourist attractions Gampo is not the place for you. It’s really small and is based around a harbour. ... read more
April 30th 2012
I wasn’t sure if my 3-hour flight from Tokyo to Seoul would warrant any food, but apparently it was deserving of a full meal. Gotta love international flying. After landing at Incheon and going through immigration and customs, I called my friend, Brian, who I would be staying with, and told him I was on my way. But first I needed to stop at an ATM and withdraw some money. However, when asked how much I wanted to withdraw, I was not given any “Fast Cash” options, which are very useful when you haven’t researched the exchange rate of the currency you are about to withdraw. Luckily, there was a currency exchange right next to the ATM, and I was able to lean over and determine that it was a little over 1000 won per US ... read more
April 30th 2012
This blog encompasses some of the meatiest and best meals that Korea has to offer. Two of them are staples in Korean society and one is a little more unusual out here. The first meaty meal that I’m going to talk about is called Sam Gye Tang. Sam Gye Tang is a meal made from heaven and is one of the best meals I've ever had. Basically, you take white and brown rice, ginseng, chestnuts, jujubes, garlic, and "19 various medicinal substances" (quote taken from the menu) and stuff it all into a chicken. Then you put the chicken into a bowl of thick boiling chicken broth. This is like chicken soup for kings. Not only is this meal incredibly tasty, it's also incredibly fun to eat. Since it's boiled, the meat comes clean ... read more
April 29th 2012
We were greeted in Seoul by a plethora of English signs and western amenities. There were 7-11’s and Dunkin’ Donuts everywhere! It’s hard to believe it’s only a 50 minute flight from Dalian! Incheon airport is the best airport in the world. Literally. Furthermore, the transportation system in Korea is phenomenal – so efficient, organized and vast. Getting to our hostel (Phil House) was easy. On our first day in Seoul we went to Gyeongbokgung Palace in the middle of the city. Upon exiting the metro station we were offered a free English speaking tour guide. Its a great deal for both the tourists and the guide. We had no idea where anything was or what it was and she, Helen (14 years old), wanted to practice her English. Gyeongbokgung translates into ‘Palace Greatly Blessed by ... read more
April 29th 2012
The “countryside” was an hour drive outside of Seoul. My friend (Y.) and I took the subway to the outskirts of the city to meet his pal (J.), the other guy I met on the Everest trail. He came into the city just to see me, which was sweet (although his parents live there as well so his family had a chance to visit). He lives about 4 hours from Seoul and is a physician (traditional Eastern medicine and acupuncture) in the army. He has a wife and 2 small girls now. Y. is also a physician, but is in between jobs—he will be managing a clinic starting next month. We hopped in J.’s KIA and drove an hour out of the city through the mountains to a place called Namyang Ju-Si. Korea is really beautiful, ... read more
April 28th 2012
Seoul, South Korea. Hadn’t really pictured myself coming here ever, and was not really sure what to expect. I just knew it was a big city with lots of people in a developed country. It is clean, organized, safe, and very populated. There are poor people, very wealthy people, and most people are working hard just trying to live their daily lives. KIAs and Hyundais, mostly in white, black and gray, are everywhere. Koreans love signs and hang them all over the place. They love pop stars and rice. They respect their elders, to the point where some older people are rude to younger people on the street and there is no recourse (someone old woman on an elevator snapped at my friend). Baseball is the most popular sport, and I keep seeing men in what ... read more
How to maybe, almost, possibly get married in Korea for legal reasons and other daily life.
Published: April 27th 2012Asia » South Korea » Jeollanam-do » Yeosu
April 27th 2012
Jen and I have been dealing with the pleasure of figuring out a wedding, reception, U.S. immigration law and the Koream marriage process at the same time. As you can imagine it's as fun as it sounds. Add to that the fact that we live in little ol' Yeosu on the southern tip of the Korea penninsula and all of the forms have to be picked up at the U.S. embassy which just happens to be open Monday through Fridaand reside in Seoul. We've spent the last few months going over government websites and waking up at unholy hours for a Saturday in order to skype with our immigration lawyer. The most frustrating part is just when you think you've figured something out you see something else that contradicts the first thing you read. But eventually ... read more
