Better make this quick as laptop power is running out and the stupid power points in this room do not seem to be working. After checking out the wonderful world class beach of Korea Haeundae (agree with the LP that this is bunk) with an awful lot of whities with tatts all over them, which is definitely something I have not been missing, I headed for the mountains. In other words I headed into the city on line 2, which I am near the end of, to then headed north on line 1 towards where I will be going tomorrow, the bus terminal. However fortunately I took a break at Seomyeon where I had to change and went in search of some food. Just as well actually given my privations later when I needed the energy. ... read more

Well I am still listing this location as Seongsan (had to get the blog people to list it so better use it twice) and did spend only the evening in Jeju after all. Having wisely headed off backwards towards Jeju to the lava tube yesterday (it would have been impossible to park my bag back there etc ) today it was a relatively simple matter of leaving it at my hotel while I headed up Ilchulbong, which is the rather abruptly rearing green mountain outside my window . Regardless of the hour the path is always crawling with tourists and the car park full of tour buses. The ticket office actually opens at 4:30 AM because for Koreans it is a rite of passage to climb it and see the sun rise -- it's English subtitle ... read more

for a change this is a morning blog, perhaps because I am trying to make a record for brevity and get out of this hotel. However the main thing was that yesterday was sort of a washout so to speak in terms of the weather. I awoke in Wando somewhat surprised to see that the floor under the window was wet -- there had obviously been sufficient rain to penetrate through the screen on the open window. It was indeed fine but still heavy rain as I raced to the ferry terminal (because I was running late). However got on with only few minutes to spare on to the fast boat to Jeju = the Blue Nara which should be pictured here somewhere. That only took just under two hours so I was able to change ... read more

What could be more Seinfeld than a blog about nothing? Especially given the, er, "relaxed" day I have had today in Wando. And this blog is being hand-typed too to make sure it's short (they breathe sighs of relief). Although I got outa bed at 9.30am, thinking I might be doing something/anything local this turned into an all day digital housekeeping/web-research kinda day to sort of plan the days ahead - which is necessary sometimes, despite my semi-chaotic travel "plans". Wjich need to be adjusted to fit realities, such as not going to Jeju Island on Friday/Sat., cos the hotels will be chocka with weekenders (remember Daejeon and finding a room at 8pm on a Sat. night and how much easier it was on Sunday - the same principle should apply here). This does mean 3 ... read more

Getting off the train from Jeonju in Mokpo on 19 June. Once again I curse the Lonely Planet maps for their lack of street names! I have a good sense of direction, and always carry a compass, but as they only labelled two or three street names on the map I virtually only found a hotel that they recommended almost by accident after effectively becoming "lost" as there was nothing to get my bearings from. It's the Good Day hotel - a very narrow distinction between that and the Good Morning hotel I would think! And the supposed interesting restaurant which was supposedly virtually behind the hotel was nowhere to be seen or has gone out of business - the LP does not generally name restaurants in Korean script, which is also a problem as most ... read more