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Published: April 5th 2007
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Dancer
On the 1st of March Welcome back to the blemish on webspace that I continue to fill. This could end up being a long one as it’s been some time since I left a mark for you all to suffer upon.
We left off at the end of February and it’s now April. At the beginning of March myself, Scott-teacher and Fiona ventured into Seoul in search of protests and flag burning as it was the anniversary of the initial rebellion against the Japanese army’s colonisation of Korea, alas we saw none. However, we did manage to catch a glimpse of some traditional Korean dancing and some marching bands. There I had my photo taken by a random South African fellow, who we later discovered was actually a member on
DPC... you can view that picture in his
portfolio. After this we ventured off and came across some anti-US protests, trouble was everyone was sitting down with their families listening to the guy with the mic go a little crazy and not even a hint of emotion crossing their faces. It would have been nice to see a little mindless violence, window breaking and some tear gas from the riot police surrounding them, but again,
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Making Korean rice cakes nothing. The flags they were toting however were quite interesting; photo contained. We also visited Gyungbok Palace and were able to see a reenactment of the 'changing of the guards' ceremony. Following this we discovered a kebab joint, in Korea!!!
Also had a bit of a farewell party for Scottie Walker before he left to go back to Australia. This involved me NOT drinking because I had to work the next day, but a crazy Mongolian girl by the name of “The Saucy Mix” brought along a bottle of vodka and I was seduced; into drinking at least. It was delicious and I certainly knew about it the next day.
The following weekend myself and Fiona went on a shoot in Osan and discovered that there are a few folk who play a kind of skirmish with BB guns down that way, we watched this for a bit and when they were finished moved into the play area to take some photos. We were promptly thrown out by a homeless man who claimed it to be his territory, despite a little discussion he wouldn’t budge so we left.
We also made a trip to Oido where we
found a train café and a shipwreck to climb onto. I braved the climb, but took some time to get back down again…
The next weekend was a trip out to the coast and an all day photo session again… loads of fun but not too much to tell.
The following week Paul left Wonderland, his contract was up and he jetted off to Ireland. We had a bit of a work dinner for him and said our farewells.
That weekend was to be my last in Korea (as the following one was dedicated to packing) so I met up with a couple of friends, Mengyu and Jeehe. On Friday myself and Mengyu went to a sauna and bath house, were we sauna’d ourselves into oblivion and stayed the night amongst a bunch of old Korean guys who thought it perfectly amiable to start a fight at 3 in the morning. That Sunday I met Jeehe for tea and we enjoyed a dose of chicken and some coffee afterwards, and excellent evening.
That week I got it into my blood that I was going to purchase my D200 and on Thursday I got home from work
Alternate Flag
During the Anti-US presence protests in Seoul. and decided to go and purchase it… it’s a fun machine indeed.
Found ourselves some break-dancer wannabes outside the station one day too… These are known as “B-Boys” in Korean, another interesting piece of the Korean usage of English for you…
Now it’s April and I’ve made my way to the Syrian Arab Republic. The flight was absolute hell… despite my efforts to make myself tired before getting on the plane I could not sleep and the stewards (for a stewardess I prayed :P) were very slow at getting food and drink. This 10 hour struggle was topped off with an 8 hour stopover in Dubai airport, a very expensive place with nothing but an Irish bar to keep you company. This however did keep me entertained; I met loads of different folk and experienced various tails and tidbits.
After the flight to Syria, I met Masumi at the airport and we made our way back to her apartment, which may as well be a house; it’s huge! Damascus has been fairly cool so far, I have managed to spend my days walking around the city and shooting a few photos with my new D200. There are a
myriad of soldiers and police everywhere and certain things cannot be photographed, meaning one needs to be very careful. Yesterday we made our way out to Old Damascus with the help of Masumi’s friend Ayako. There we were even able to go inside a Mosque, it was absolutely amazing.
So here I will leave you for the time, with the knowledge that I’ve just booked my flight home. So, providing I can find the Emirates Air office in Damascus I’ve got a flight out of Damascus on the 16th of this month and a 4 day stop in Singapore before arriving in Melbourne on the 22nd just after midnight.
Peace.
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glad you made it ok. damascus looks amazing