Blogs from Jeollabuk-do, South Korea, Asia - page 9

A good night’s sleep. After Sunday night’s troubles, it was just what we needed, and it was just what we got. The jjimjilbang we stayed in was comfortable, and all three of us slept solidly through the night. In the morning we had time to go through the baths again, to get all loosened up before hoisting back on our packs. Outside we caught a taxi to the express bus terminal, where (after doubling back to collect the slops Cath left behind) we found a bus to the small coastal town of Gyeokpo. From the bus stop we headed straight for the beach. We dropped our packs on the rocks among a whole bunch of rock bugs and headed straight for the water. This time the West coast sea was the perfect temperature, and with the ... read more

Ahhh, to wake up in a Yeogwan... After a fantastic night's sleep, we had the luxury of being able to wake up and take a bath! So different from the usual 3 day hygiene drought we've become so accustomed to Last night, as we were finishing off our pizza, we met a bunch of Korean folk who'd just finished off their shift at a rafting stall, and, after chatting a while they suggested we join them first thing in the morning for a river raft by their strongest driver. So, Good and clean and fresh (tra la la la) we headed off down to the river that runs through Muju. The slow cruise in the middle of the mirror water with the unusually fresh mountain air in our faces, early in the morning, was a ... read more

Learning to make silk Another long weekend, and this time, on a tip from two of our co-teachers, we headed off to the mountain town of Muju for the 11th annual Firefly festival. Muju's claim to fame is it's clean air. As we travelled on the 3.5 hour bus ride from the world's 10th largest city into the winding mountain roads, it was certainly clear that the air became clearer and more refreshing. When we arrived in muju, we found that the town had been decorated with huge helium balloons and there were little stally everywhere. We too some time to wonder along some of the stalls, where Cath found some beautiful dresses, and decided she would come back for one later. We managed to find the festival's info office, and on their advice caught a ... read more

Spring time in Korea Well last weekend I was suppose to go with the Kunsan hiking club on their continuing trek along the Bek Do De Gan trail, the group was leaving Saturday night at 9:00 pm to start the hike at 3:00 am Sunday morning, the hiking club uses two big buses to carry all the hikers. I had to go up to Seoul for a meeting on Friday and visit with my girlfriend on Saturday. When I went to work on Monday I was told by my friend that the club did not do their hike, seems like there was an accident. The back bus ran into the front bus, which left the front bus stuck, so the hiking club had a party and drank. So this weekend was kinda the peak for the ... read more

Jeonju.... I think this may be one of the nicest city's I visited. Though I only spent a day here I just really enjoyed the feeling the city has. There are not a lot of sky rises and overdressed people rushing around on tight filled day schedules. I visited the Hanok Village where Korean tradition is kept. There are around 800 traditional style homes and in the village that must be kept that way, the owners are not allowed to make modernized changes to their homes. There are also lots of traditional style shops and mini museums to check out. As I was heading there I met a guy Lee who spoke very good English and offered to show me around. I was a little hesitant but after speaking with him for a while I though ... read more