#12 THREE OTHER CITIES START OF SUMMER More trees and flowers are bursting out with flowers and greenery all the time here still. The variety seems endless. Summer is starting, but there are still a few mild days. New crops are being planted in the fields also. The rice is all about planted now in the flooded fields giving good reflections in the water of the mountains and clouds. Most is planted by machinery nowadays. All is well and I now have been here 9 months, with 3 to go. The only bad news is that my very capable Korean Co-teacher and minder has been transferred. Her replacement also seems capable and she is popular with the students too, who still seem to be well behaved (mostly), attentive and studious. It was ‘Teachers Day’ last week ... read more

#10 CAMBODIA-Part 2 PHNOM PEHN I did not stay too long in this city. I arrived late in the only bit of rain I experienced in Cambodia, so took the first hotel offered to me by a tuk-tuk driver. It was OK but a bit flash and very expensive at $16 a night. It was convenient to the river and Museum, just around the corner. So I spent about a day and half here visiting museum, river, Royal Palace, temples, back streets, main market, lake etc. I spent quite a bit of time wandering around the huge yellow Art Deco markets built by the French. It is a massive labyrinth of alleyways selling everything with what seems to be no or little planning at all in the layout of stalls; more interesting chaos. FUN WITH MONEY ... read more

#8- THREE BIG CITIES 1-THE CITY OF DAEGU AND THE SKYTOILET. The closest city to my village is called Daegu (Day-goo) and is the third largest city in South Korea and is about the size of Sydney. It takes me about two hours and three bus changes to get to the centre of the city. By car, it takes about 40 minutes over a beautiful (but dangerous-in-winter) mountain range. In winter, most people drive along the safer valley highway which takes about 50 minutes. I sometimes go to the Downtown area for shopping of rare western items and a change of scene. There are a few things to see around the city, most of which I will save for warmer weather. There are a few movie theaters also, which show the latest ‘big-name’ American movies; usually ... read more

#6 AROUND THE VILLAGE MY VILLAGE The village where I live may be too quiet for most people, but I have not been to a more pleasant village yet. Most of the other small towns and villages I have been to, seem to be mainly built of concrete and are fairly ordinary where you are constantly trying to maneuver around parked and moving cars. Here, most of the lanes are too narrow for cars, so 99% of the cars are on the main road thru town; so these back stonewalled lanes are ideal for walking. The village, Daeyul, is actually designated a ‘Cultural Heritage Village’ and together with another area 2 kilometers down the road, is often visited by tourists from the big city, on the weekends. It may get busier in the holidays; we’ll wait ... read more

FIRST IMPRESSIONS Well, I’ve been here over a month so far and still sort of settling in. I now realize that South Korea is a lot more modern than I expected. Of course, these are my much generalized, comparisons with Australia and my limited experiences in China. Everybody here seems to have a high standard of living. It is fairly clean with not much litter, unlike many Asian countries. The traffic seems to flow well, with good roads and transport system. There are good wide main roads, although some smaller roads can be tight squeezes. Parts of the cities could be parts of Sydney. I visited one of my student’s father’s Fire Station and it was very big and modern, even for a small country town (see photos). All students seem to have Broadband access at ... read more