Blogs from South Korea, Asia - page 353

Asia » South Korea August 17th 2006

Well...it's now 11 a.m. Korea time...in one hour i will head back to the airport. I actually have several hrs before i leave Korea but I have been going nuts here in my room. There is nobody around to talk to...boo hoo...ya i know...so i'll go hang out at the airport...have some decent coffee and a bite to eat..finish my book...have more coffee.. and i'll eat before boarding the plane cause the food on the airlplane SUCKS. At least at the airport i can entertain myself by people watching....walk around and spend some of this korean money..not that i have much and even if i did it wouldn't go very far. Things are very expensive here. And I've requested steak for my first meal back home.Thanks Adrie for not making spaghetti even tho its my fave ... read more

Karaoke Anyone?

Asia » South Korea August 17th 2006

Sue70

We're sitting here in the ferry port waiting to board our ferry when we discovered internet access at 500 won for 20 min. That translates roughly into about 60-75 cents for 20min. Not bad! Just a quick update then.... We hit Mr. Pizza last night with the Fab Four and they were so sweet! One of the girls had showered and changed into pajamas... a little strange but funny. They treated us to dinner (which I thought completely unnecessary) and when they mentioned karaoke I was all for it! Erika was a good sport about it, as she is not a singer but came along anyway... I treated us to the karaoke and Erika bought them a round of beers. Only fair, right? It was a lot of fun and we were all really silly. I ... read more

Crazy Korean Four!

Asia » South Korea August 16th 2006

Sue70

Well, we had another tour today. The funny thing was that it was the same tour guide, the same bus driver, and most of the same people as yesterday, including the four young Koreans who offered us tangerines (or Mandarin oranges) and made me laugh. The tour started off with a shopping expedition at a very pricey store. I didn't buy anything, but Erika got a mask to hang on her apt. wall. It was actually a pretty good price. Then we headed to Elephant Town where we were told that to get in to see the show, it would be another 12 000 won each. (That's about $15.) We decided to opt out and then the guide handed us free tickets. Strange but nice!!!! The guide had also asked the four young Koreans (who had ... read more

From the bowels of a place unbeknownst to most...

Asia » South Korea » Suwon August 16th 2006

Myself out (of focus) with Mengyu

the_frontal_lobe_disinhibited

And thus it begins again... the walk down the slime-covered, demon infested path to one's current location. Little has come to pass, yet feeling the urge to write, one has come to give birth to abomination once more. Since the last chapter there has been a few meetings, greetings, gushings and splatterings. It all began with an arranged walk down a stream in Seoul (one mentioned a few times in this blog, previously known as "The Homestead") with the one and only Mengyu. Friday night took us there in the discernibly cooler, yet still hot, muggy weather we've been despotised with recently. Beginning with a short walk we moved down the stream until finding a place to sit and eat a few nibbles. We then moved a little further down and found a place to dip ... read more

ANOTHER CULTURE SHOCK AWAITS

Asia » South Korea » Incheon August 16th 2006

mamasamme

Just when i thought i got it all figured out...bang...welcome to Korea. Let me backtrack a bit. Left Chaing Mai on Monday nite train...thought i'd be ok with just a fan...mistake. Not as great a train ride as the first time. Oh well..i slept most of the trip. Get into BKK. and i feel like a pro..I know exactly where i'm going to stay for the next several hrs., how to get there, how much the taxis and tuk tuks should charge me...ya...i'm cool. After a nice cold shower i head out for a coffee and a bite to eat..a bit of window shopping then back to to guesthouse for yet another shower before going to pick up my luggage at the train station. Get a taxi to the airport...and the waiting begins. First off...i used ... read more

All this and lunch too?

Asia » South Korea August 15th 2006

Sue70

Well, Erika and I took our first of two tours of Jeju Island today. As expected, the tour was conducted completely in Korean. Fortunately our tour guide could give us the most important details, which were, when do we need to be back on the bus? We started off at a famous rock in Jeju City (not sure why it's famous?) and then proceeded to Happy Town. Happy Town turned out to be a gymnastic/stunt show that featured death-defying trapeze-like acts, gymnastic feats, and motorcycles in a great big sphere, going around and around. Made me wish I had a better camera! The next stop was a bonsai tree growing place. A "thinking garden" or something like that. After that we had lunch at the Miniature World. Many sites from Korea, quite a few from other ... read more

Jeju Island

Asia » South Korea August 14th 2006

Sue70

So we made it! The flight was fine and quite short. They checked my bags though and wondered if I had any spray bottles. Why, I'm not sure, since my two backpacks were sent through checked luggage, not carry on! Oh well. I didn't have to throw anything away and I wasn't arrested, so all is good. :) We stayed in a little place last night that, believe it or not, got too COLD during the night! It was the first time that I had gotten cold sleeping since I'd been here! The owners of the place were sweet and didn't care if we paid up front or at the end and tried hard to communicate with us even though they spoke so little English. We had another hotel booked for tonight, tomorrow and the next ... read more

Seoraksan National Park

Asia » South Korea » Gangwon-do » Seoraksan August 14th 2006

Dizzying valley

Lexy925

This weekend, I went to Seoraksan National Park (in the northeast corner of South Korea) with about six other Fulbrighters for a day hike. We had a fabulous time. It was a beautiful place, and the hike was nice and relaxing. It started out with a very bumpy ride, though. We almost missed our 7:30AM bus out of Chuncheon, but fortunately we caught it right in time. However, we were stuck in the back of bus, and it was very bouncy and windy as we made our way through the mountains. So, needless to say, we had a case or two of motion sickness. We wondered if the journey would ever end. But it did, eventually. We transfered buses in a city called Sokcho, and once we got to the national park, it was smooth sailing. ... read more

Super Seoul

Asia » South Korea » Seoul August 13th 2006

Seoul City

Carrol

Seoul Arrived safe and sound in Seoul on Sunday night. We went out to find something for dinner which proved hazardous as Carol spent the next 24hrs very ill. Anyways, she ok now. I wandered around a little and went to the tourist office (about the only place anyone speaks english) and booked some places around the country to stay. Seoul doesn't feel like a city of 10 million. It is extremely safe, women and children wander down small alley ways at all hours. I was approached by a few middle school girls one afternoon, they wanted to interview me for their english homework. Can't imagine a teacher in Vancouver getting away with assigning a project that involves approaching strangers on the street. Gangchon We took the train north east to Ganchon, about 1.5hr, were we ... read more

Off we go!

Asia » South Korea » Busan August 13th 2006

Sue70

Well, Erika and I spent the last two days in hot, sticky Busan, where we were crammed into one little room that had 3 sets of bunk beds, 12 people using the bathroom and no a/c. A little cramped and hot! We were not that impressed by Busan, and are looking forward to our next few days in Jeju City on Jeju Island. We have a room in a motel tonight, but then move to a 3rd class hotel (or motel?) tomorrow for 3 nights that actually looks pretty good! Yesterday we went down by the coast to see a lighthouse. I think that the distances that they indicate are wrong; they say 1km but actually it's more like 4km, especially since most of it is uphill and hot. We got out to the lighthouse, climbed ... read more

Brief history of South Korea

Korea was an independent kingdom under Chinese suzerainty for most of the past millennium. Following its victory in the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Japan occupied Korea; five years later it formally annexed the entire peninsula. After World War II, a...more history

Forum Topics for South Korea

let's share your infrom...Posts: 1

Snowboarding near SeoulPosts: 4

How to get to Laos from...Posts: 2

Anyone wanna travel aro...Posts: 4

South KoreaPosts: 5

Staying in MokpoPosts: 3

Mud Festival in KoreaPosts: 1

importing AMERICA beefPosts: 3

GWANAK MOUNTAINS.Posts: 1

Finding A Job In South ...Posts: 3

Finding A Job In South ...Posts: 4