skyblu

I had a rather uneventful Saturday outing with my boss and his family. After which I met 8 South African women in a shopping mall near my house... After all these months of not seeing another foreigner... you wouldn't believe how suprised I was when it turned out that they were Afrikaans! So now I have a whole stack of new friends - though they all live more than an hour away from here where I live on the side of the hill outside Ulsan. So on Sunday I set off for Andong. Unfortunately the earliest train from Ulsan to Andong leaves here at 8.18am and arives at 10:56am. I must admit that I think I go on these trips just for the ride on the train. It is mesmerizing the way that kilometer of kilometer ... read more

I went up to Seoul by plane to attend a two day conference at Ewha University. Beautiful place, well organised, people can speak English (in comparison to Ulsan that is!). I had to fly back on Sunday afternoon... which only left me with a few hours to explore. Stayed in a hostel called "holiday in Korea". I can truly recommend it to other travelers. And it is ideally located if you want to see the old palaces. The closest one being less than 50m from the hostel! Though the map provided by the hostel isn't very helpful! Here are a few photos I took. Was really on the run to make it back to the airport in time... so not too much of interest... And for the life of me I can't remember the names of ... read more

Kimchee! If the look of this thrills you then Korea is the place for you. Add in the smell of fermenting cabbage and you have the full Korean gourmet experience! Sorry for the sarcasm... But I really cannot get this stuff down. And the smell of it... Well you have to be here to know the true extent of it! ... read more

I arrived in Korea safely last night, I got to Ulsan at about 7.15pm! That was after being thoroughly searched in Dubai airport and having my suitcase unpacked and searched in both of the Seoul airports! It must be something about being South African???!!! I had a very sweet Korean man in Dubai behind me in the queue, and he followed me with the guards and waited so that he could give me my shoes which they left! Anyway, the towels are as big as facecloths, the bed as hard as a plank. The toilet runs off electricity and has so many buttons that it makes you dizzy - took me 30min to find out where to flush the damn thing! But the people are exceptionally friendly and helpful. Alhoewel ek sou gedink het as mens ... read more