Pung Saeng boys tournement, shopping kaos & grading on mass

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Pung Saeng boys have had a competition over the last 4 days (from the 7-10). Both the middle school and high school feilded competitors.

The high school competed over the last two days. There were approximately 10 players from the High school. All of them fought extremely well, with the School taking home 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze.

The competition standard was very high, probably higher than that of the Korea Open, as many of these kids are literally fighting to get into a good university.

As I had 5 days worth of competition, I decided to leave early, and head back to the Dorm for some much needed rest with the Phillipines boys, who were leaving today to fly to Thailand for the World Cup tournement (good luck!).

After an hour sleep, the tourist inside me took over, so I decided to head out for the day, and go to Kukkiwon again (third time), to spend more money.
It was a BIG mistake, as I was surrounded by hundreds of Korean people, who had gathered at the Kukkiwon for grading. I managed to sneak into the centre, and to my surprise, there were approximately 200 kids doing there grading in one go. This may sound harsh, but the grading standard here is quite low compared to back home - hardly any of the junior kids could even kick properly. (Which explains why the majority of the Pung Saeng boys are Forth Dans.)

After spending my wad of $$ at the Kukkiwon shops (for uniforms), I decided it was time to head to another station. I choose Samsung station.

Let me just tell you that Koreans are good are laying out shopping centres, as this one at Samsung was huge, included the World Trade Centre and the exhibition buildings. Even so, with so much space, there was not a square inch that did not have a korean body in it. (Needless to say privacy is non exsistant here).

After about 1 hour getting lost and roaming, I decided to head back to the Dorm again for some rest. When I arrived, I was told training was not on. So I slept for another hour - before the tourist in me again took over.

Dax and Chomlee (phillipines) had told me to go and visit DongDaemun at night, just to get a kick. So I decided to head out again. The Subway trip took just under 1 hour, and I managed to see the sunset over the Han River, which runs through Seoul.

When I arrived at the station, again I was greeted by a wall of Korean people, but with dots of foreigners, all carrying an assortment of bags (bingo, stopped at the right stop)!.

Korea is dotted with many subway tunnels, so it took sometime before I was able to head for the street.

What I encountered was MORE SHOPPING - but like Vic Market, except much larger, with more stores, and then 7-10 storey departments stores also with little shops inside acting like street vendors. After a quick read of the Lonely Planet guide, I soon realised I had landed smack-bang in the middle of barganing central. SO....I managed to pick up another bag for $35 AUD, even though they asked for $50. (All because I told the korean man I was from Australia, and that he liked Guus Hiddink!).

At that point I had had enough, so decided to head back to the dorm. Sleep deprived, I crashed and did not wake up till 7:15am...

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