The APPT Seoul

This isn't actually a post about poker. But good friend Ed happened to qualify for the tournament so shipped himself over for the weekend. Luckily for me he went out in the first day, but that meant we had all weekend to spend together; clearly that's why he qualified in the first place, right? ;)

Actually, mutual university friend Sun-Ho is also in Korea taking up holiday visiting family. Being a poker fan he spent much of Thursday evening swooning over professional poker players (while I'm sitting there at the open bar going, "Greg who now?"), but also being a fan of the salsa dance, I took the boys out to Caliente on Friday night to check out Sun-Ho's new moves. Speaking of which, it's the 2008 Salsa Congress in Seoul next weekend, but no doubt there will be more on that nearer the time.

So there was Insadong and Changdeokgung and Seoul Tower and the War Museum, but more than anything else there was silliness and geekiness.

Which reminds me of the "Rolling Ball" exhibition. Some geeks got together to present their marble rollers. It was amazing. Not to mention the weekend stay in the Sheraton Walkerhill hotel. So I was late to work on Monday morning, but I did have a good breakfast...

"Once upon a time,

in a coastal village there lived a beautiful girl who used to gather seaweed. In the distance there was a rock called Aebawi where plenty of seaweed grew. One day, this young girl was taken out to the rock by a man in a boat. The man, who had a pact to marry her, promised to return to the rock to pick her up after she had collected seaweed there and he went back to the village. At dusk, she waited for the man to come and take her home, but he was unable to come and fetch her due to wild waves. That very night a terrible storm arose and a large wave struck the rock, drowning the ill-fated girl. From the time of her death, the fishing catches turned bad for the village and so a rumor started circulating among the villagers that it was due to the dead girl's bitter soul. Finally, the people of the village decided to offer carved wooden phallics as a sacrifice inside Haesindang to console the bitter soul of the unmarried girl.
Mysteriously, after that, the village again enjoyed a good catch. The ceremony where wooden phallics are offered is still held even today on the first full moon of the lunar year."

-Samcheok Fishing Village Fork Museum

Possibly number 1 on Lauren's (yep, you're my excuse^^) "to-do in Korea" list (alongside being naked with strangers at one of Korea's hot-spring spas) was to ogle at the giant phalluses at Haesindang's Penis Park. Having got right in there with the saunas and public baths as soon as we arrived in country, it was time to tick box number two and check out the penises.

At the weekend we took the three hour bus journey to Samcheok on the east coast of Korea (which took a whopping near five hours on the way back), and on quickly booking into our quite honestly awesome motel (think wide screen TV, high speed internet and decent sized bed with no holes in the covers for 35 000 won, or approximately £17.50 between two) we hopped on bus 24 (with the help of a couple of nice high school girls) which dropped us outside the park.

Granted, it was a little silly, but some of the representations were undoubtedly constructions of the imagination! It was just a bit bizarre to see little old ladies tending to their seaweed and oh! up on the horizon are some giant penises. Certainly got a bit of a eyeful when we reacted to a "여기요!" (over here!) to be faced with an old Korean man acting out some graphic fellatio... I just can't shake the memory! *cries*

The following morning, while in the area, we hopped on to bus number 60 which took us to Hwanseon cave. So it turns out I'm a little less fit than I thought as I'm sure the climb up the mountain shouldn't have been that tough, but it was so refreshing to get some fresh air and green scenery into my system. The caves themselves were huge, but not that inspiring to a non-geographer such as myself. Still, the signs around really seemed to be clutching at straws in order to maintain the visitor's interest (cave popcorn? Statue of the Virgin Mary -- really??) but certainly made for more amusing photographic opportunities.

Despite the cold rainy long ride home, it was a nice weekend away from the big city. Have developed tonsillitis again though, so that's not so much fun, and I'm a little dubious of that throat-specialist-of-a-doctor I've been seeing since the last dose of antibiotics he gave me didn't seem to solve the problem...

They killed Wash! (i.e. I ♥ Joss)

Life
Somehow life got busy. I don't know how, or when, but not so long ago the days at school were seriously dragging and I was struggling to get through to the next 'checkpoint', be that the next national holiday or kindy field trip. But somehow, I guess since we stopped feeling guilty about leaving over an hour earlier than the other teachers at school, the days are flying by and with them the weeks, and now, months.

But not only that, it seems my Sundays in front of MegaTV have been somewhat limited lately. It's a shame, since I do love a good Sunday afternoon film, but travelling Korea's most "well-touristed" sights, fuelling my growing salsa dancing obsession several times a week, and working on my slowly improving Korean skills seem to be taking up the majority of my free time. Nonetheless, last Sunday I sneaked in a morning film.

Serenity
Reminiscent of my childhood obsession with vampires, I spent a good portion of my revision days at university watching all 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer plus commentaries and generally falling in love with creator Joss Whedon. On chatting to a fellow Whedon fan about Buffy's final villain Caleb, I learned that the actor was the star of another of Whedon's creations: Firefly.

Now I've heard several times over that the show was a flop due to FOX airing the series out of order, and yet a good handful of my geeking acquaintances were selling the series to me. The concept - set in the future after "Earth-that-was" has long been destroyed, a bunch of misfits follow captain Malcolm Reynolds in his Firefly spaceship, taking on whatever jobs they can to rub a few pennies together - honestly sounded a bit, um, crap. Sci-fi isn't my preferred genre of big-screen action, but in true Joss style, the characters are so endearing, and Mal is so dry-humoured and witty, that to this show, too, I became addicted.

So of course watching the follow-up film Serenity was a must-do on my ever-long to-watch list. I am in fact amazed that it took me this long to get around to it.

If I'd not seen the series I'm not sure I'd have been quite as enthralled: even though the plot was well executed I didn't feel all the characters were developed well, and that it was taken for granted that the viewer knew the background of their relationships. (Like, was there any sexual tension between Caleigh and Simon? And where did Inara spring from?!) Nonetheless, Mal's character shone through from the start, and the film resolved all hanging issues nicely. And of course, someone had to die; I can only apologise for the spoiler.

OK, enough rambling about random films I'm watching.

Another national holiday
Yesterday was Buddha's birthday and thus another day off work to take advantage of. Unfortunately due to frolicking in Busan, we missed the Lotus Lantern parade last weekend. Still, last night Lauren and I got to Jogyesa Temple in central Seoul to witness the lighting of the lanterns that have been slowly increasing in number across the country over the past couple of months.

It was a beautiful ceremony, and I was dead impressed at that monk playing that really big drum, but not being of remotely Buddhist origin the mass praying became a bit much for us.

Meeting the locals
Now admittedly people often like to practise their (occasionally limited) English skills on foreign passers-by. You can feel the covert looks on the subway, and can tick down the seconds until they pluck up the courage to engage you and ask the inevitable "Where you from?".

Not quite so covertly, on the ride home last night a bunch of high school boys were rock-scissor-papering it up under my gaze, daring one another to talk to me. Not fitting the usual motives, it actually turned out they couldn't even understand my basic "How old are you?" question despite the fact they've probably been studying English at school for a good several years now. Rather raised some doubt regarding the intense Korean education system. Still, it was amusing watching the boys beating each other up (literally and mentally) and simultaneously handy getting a free Korean lesson in at the same time. As politely as I knew how, I declined the invitation to meet them again...

Pottery making
To back-post even further, on Saturday Lauren and Anne-Sophie, a friend from my Korean class, hit the traffic-logged roads towards Icheon: a small city in the southwest of Seoul famous for its pottery and annual ceramics festival that is currently being hosted. Icheon is also apparently famous for its rice "that tastes so good it needs no side dishes", but it would seem that I'm no rice connoisseur as it neither looked nor tasted much different to the various rice-based creations that are doled out in every food establishment I've visited.

However, rather than a rice tasting day, we booked a pottery tour, of which the highlight was making our own clay creations.

Lauren turned out to be some kind of ceramics master, but without a doubt, despite a self-titled aptitude for arts and crafts, out of our group including the two fellow Brits who'd joined up with us, my attempt was literally the flop as it just failed to sustain any kind of pot-like shape. The nice lady watching over me was even in looks of despair, shaking her head with noises of "어떻게!" under her breath.

Unable to face the failure any longer, I succumbed to my clay and embraced the shape it was insisting on assuming. Still, with a burst in the fiery furnace and a lick of celadon, I'm sure my makeshift dipping dish will serve me well...

Taking the bullet to Pusan

Today is Children's Day. I can't say I'm well acquainted with the concept since the UK don't host any such day off, but Wikipedia has taught me that it's not an unknown holiday across the globe. I shan't complain.

Since this year the 5^th of May fell on a Monday, Lauren and I took advantage of the glorious spring weather and long weekend by grabbing a couple of KTX tickets down to Pusan.

KTX stands for Korea Train Express. Reaching speeds of 300kmph (or approx 180mph) we got down to Korea's second biggest city at the opposite end of the country in a measly 2 hours 40 minutes. I guess due to the bank holiday the train was pretty much booked out by the time we got to Seoul Station on Saturday morning, but we managed to get a couple of "standing tickets" that allowed us to sit on those not uncomfortable seats between carriages. It wasn't a bad deal.

Pusan, or Busan depending on who's romanising, is, essentially, a big industrial harbour. Despite having the second largest population in Korea, in the 48 hours we were there we noticed a distinct absence of cosmopolitanism in this fishing port city. Not that it was a bad thing by any means. It was great to see the sea and ride from one end of the subway to the other in less than an hour.

As we stepped off the train we noticed it was "much like Seoul, but hotter". Thus, we headed to the beach. Certainly having lived in this country where white skin is not only maintained but actively sought, sunning myself is not currently high on my agenda. I was surprised, then, to see masses of flesh roasting itself on the sand; less surprised when I observed it was all attached to Korea's western counterparts. On a stroll down Haeundae beach on a sunny Saturday afternoon we were sure we had encountered more Westerners than on your average day in the foreign district of Itaewon.

Now, behold the following excerpt from the Lonely Planet, or The Book as we now mockingly refer to is as:

"Remember the Simpson's episode when Homer ate blowfish and was told he had 24 hours to live? This restaurant serves that fish. A worthwhile restaurant for anyone who wants to experience a seafood delicacy and earn bragging rights: 'I ate poisonous fish and survived'."

Despite scorn for those necessary books that travellers clutch to them like babies, we wanted to earn those bragging rights. So we did. And just for the record, I ate poisonous fish and survived.

Saturday evening we headed to Gwangan beach for a night-time stroll by the beautiful Gwangan bridge, and on spying the big wheel in the distance, we went to Meworld for a romantic view over the city. I asked Lauren if she had something to tell me, but alas, no confession of love this time^^ Randomly Lauren recognised a university acquaintance along the beach -- a long way to come for a chance meeting I suspect.

On Sunday we took the subway/bus up to Beomeosa temple. Settled back into lush scenery, it was a beautiful getaway, and with Buddha's birthday on the horizon, the temple was adorned with colourful paper lanterns making for pretty decorations.

Not yet templed-out, after a quick pajeon (spring onion pancake) lunch we took the cable car from Geumgang Park to the top of Geumjeong mountain. From here we decided to embark on the hike past Nammun village (where there were old men playing foot-volleyball - that's football with a net), down a long rocky slope, and up a demoralising road to find Seokbulsa: a temple with many Buddhist images carved into rocks. It was an effort to reach, and debatable as to its worth, but it was certainly an achievement to have found.

Instead of braving the climb back, we hitched a lift with a couple of guys who "happened" to be going to the same spa as us. Hurshimchung is allegedly the largest jjimjilbang in Asia, but the saunas and baths didn't seem so much bigger than our local spa. Still it was great to soak the aching limbs and bum around in the pyjama-like attire that they provide you with.

That evening, as Lauren was flicking through channels on the TV in our cosy motel room, she came across this: Nudlnude. This is a Korean cartoon-style pornography film - short clips of someone's wacky imagination, not leaving much to ours. If you decide to click on the link fear not; I have been unable to find any video clips.

This morning we embraced the blue skies and took a trip up Pusan tower to behold the size of the city and the beautiful view of the port. And before speeding our ways back to Seoul on the super-duper train, a trip to Pusan wouldn't have been complete without a wander round the fish market. With most of the produce still being alive, the smells weren't as pungent as I'd feared they would be, and the array of sea life available to the consumer was large.

All in all, a lovely weekend away; relaxed and enjoyable - and the weather is so beautiful at the moment that I'm not even dreading work tomorrow^^

Weekend in Jeonju

WorknPlay, the recruiting company who originally arranged our trip to Korea, hosted a trip to the traditional hanok village in Jeonju this weekend. Normally I scorn bus loads of tourists who get off, snap some pics, and get back on the bus feeling like they've "experienced" the country, but for ₩30,000 to include travel, accomodation, food AND activities, it seemed a small price to pay (boom boom) for a bit of outside-Seoul adventure.

I guess there is a reason why the LP only gives Jeonju a single page of listed activities, but being on the aforementioned tour, we probably got to do a whole lot more than if we'd attempted it as independent travellers.

What we did:

- We made our own bibimbap. Jeonju is particularly famous for its unique style of bibimbap. I'm not exactly sure how it differs from other places, since as far as I can tell one day some guy decided to chuck all his vegetables in a hot bowl of rice, mix it with some hot sauce and make it a national dish. Anyway, it tasted good. Maybe not the best I've ever had as it was supposed to be, but certainly not the worst. That might have been the one we had in Itaewon that was recommended by the Lonely Planet.

- We watched a local girl playing some traditional harp-like instruments, and some men story-telling in the art of traditional Korean singing. The word "traditional" is going to be used even more in this post. Beware.

- We made boxes in the style of hanji - a traditional Korean paper art form. It was good to be on the receiving end of the arts and crafts lesson. The contest at the end for who had made the best box actually turned out to be self-nominees followed by a rock, scissor, paper competition. This is not an uncommon method for sorting difficult situations out for children and adults alike.

- There was a small festival going on with many Korean ladies dressed in hanbok (traditional dress) making tea and ricecakes. We were invited to look around and join in. We learnt the correct method of drinking tea (hold cup on palm of left hand and sip with right hand three times) while sitting cross legged under gazebos.

- We slept on the floor of a traditional Korean-style house (hanok) with the ondol (underfloor heating) on full blast. Even though most of Korea is still heated in this way, I reckon many people have proper beds these days. Still, sleeping on the floor wasn't a problem, but the rock solid (bean-filled, I'm sure) pillows were more of an issue for me.

- During the festival there was a mammoth 100-person bibimbap being made. This involved many of the local community getting their chefs hats on with industrial sized wooden spoons before doling it out to the masses. Or at least, one hundred of them.






Anyway, so that was our weekend in a rather large nutshell. Certainly nice to get away for a bit, meet some other foreigners (and hear about how most of them have unfortunate working conditions too, making us feel mildly better about our situation), and get a hands-on "traditional experience". Not sure I'd recommend it as a travelling hotspot, though.

Cherry blossoms, umbrellas, and the biggest church in the world

So it would seem that I will not be Korea's next weather girl. Despite grey cloudy skies, I thought - in the spirit of my earlier spring-time post - that I would venture out with no jacket nor umbrella. Mistake. The latter half of the afternoon decided to spit a few drops down, and, having tested the water (so to speak), decided it was time for a large downpour. It continues.

Nevertheless, wanting to take advantage of the day off work, I met Lauren and we headed to Yeouido - again. This time, there were certainly blossoms blooming with joy. There was also a large host of umbrellas. So that was why there was a queue at the bench in the subway station with a photograph backdrop and fake cherry trees. We did wonder why they didn't just go outside and picture themselves with real blossoms.

Wanting to reach the long-awaited festival, we opted to follow the big crowd of umbrellas. They took us down the main street of trees, but save a few photographers and food sellers, I'm not sure I'd call it much of a festival. Perhaps blossoms and sunshine are necessary to bring the whatever-it-is-I'm-expecting out. They say that there will be fireworks on the last day. But not having official dates for this thing will make it difficult to attend without camping out there for the rest of the month.

Still, the multitudes led us right to Yeouido Full Gospel Church - the largest church in the world. It seemed distinctly closed, but we managed to find a way up via a long corridor and a back door lift. It was big. If I'd not known better, I'd have put it in the 5 biggest. But no, it has the largest congregation in the world. So that's quite a number of churches it's competing with there.

Visiting family

On Saturday mamma and I travelled south of the river to spend time with her two sisters, one of their daughters, and one of their daughters, making for a big girly family reunion.

My cousin’s daughter (if you work out all the family relationships) has been going to an English hagwon since she was essentially two years old (four in Korean age), so two years on she speaks pretty good broken English. She enjoyed showing me all her English books and showing off her knowledge by answering my stock “What colour is it?” and “How many are there?” questions. As entertaining as this was, if I were after some more sophisticated banter, I was unsurprisingly out of luck. Since my Korean is just a smidge less than fluent, trying to tune into a bunch of Korean women nattering about the latest beauty trick (or whatever I imagined they were talking about) got a tad dull.

Today my mum and I were meeting my uncle and his family (who fortunately for me speak good English even if they choose to speak in their native tongue) for lunch at the COEX Mall in downtown Seoul. While we were there we took the opportunity to stroll around the neighbouring Bongeunsa Temple.





Like many of Seoul’s ancient sites, Bongeunsa is just plonked in the middle of the high rise apartments of the area (well, I’m sure the temple probably came first), but surprisingly made for a peaceful retreat from the buzzing of the nearby traffic. Buddhist monks led mass praying while others went to bow on the large marble floor in front of the 23-meter high Buddha statue that over-towers the local high school. Red paper lanterns have been put up around the temple complex in preparation for Buddha’s birthday in May – May! The year is whizzing by – while posters commented on the changing beliefs of Buddhists in the 21^st century.

The lunch was good too.

Turn of the seasons

Last week it was snowing; this week it is bright and sunny. They said the seasons change fast, but this is practically tropical.

To celebrate this gorgeous weather, I'm inside procrastinating against planning my afternoon classes. School has been a tad stressful lately with the introduction of the new English program in the kindergarten where plans get changed hourly. "Not fixed yet," and, "This is first time" are common phrases heard around the staff room.

On the plus side, my mum is currently visiting in Korea, with the rest of the family to follow next week. It's great to have my own personal interpreter; sometimes I forget she can speak Korean ;) We spent last weekend meeting my grandma and getting our hair permed - "magic" straight perms are all the rage here, but are getting taken over in popularity by "setting" perms that give you long curly locks - and doing a touch of sight seeing.

Among other things we headed to Deoksugung where we enjoyed a peaceful stroll around the palace as well as taking touristy photographs with the palace "guards". Like Gyeongbokgung, Deoksugung hosts a re-enactment of the ancient changing of the guard ritual. This time I took video. I'll post it when I'm back on my own PC.

We went to mourn the late Namdaemun gate which has now been totally blocked save a small viewing window. Sheets for graffiti have been pasted up for people to express their regret. We also visited the gothic Myeongdong Cathdral. Scaffolding and false facades continue to be the bane of my travels.

Fun Fridays

Of course this should be entitled with a singular Friday, since I will only be referring to one - namely yesterday - of the many Fridays in existence. To compensate for the misfortune that we've had to work for the past two Saturdays, we were graced with the blessings of a long weekend. Thought I'd get a head start on the reports.

Taking advantage of the weekday, we finally made it to the Van Gogh exhibition. Despite getting in first thing in the morning, our viewing pleasure was still tested by the flow of keen Seoulites and groups of school trippers. Was glad not to have visited at peak time. The exhibition itself was well laid out in chronological order making it easy/interesting to see the various themes and styles the artist adopted throughout his life.


Over lunchtime we headed to Gyeongbokgung - the Palace of Shining Happiness. It was the main palace of the Joseon dynasty but was burned during the Japanese invasions of the 1590s. It was rebuilt to high glory during the remaining years of the dynasty in the late 19th century, but was largely demolished under Japanese rule in 1911. It continues to be restored today; in fact Gwanghwamun - the main gate of the palace - was dismantled last year for renovation and will not return until 2009. Another landmark of Seoul whose presence I will not be graced with this visit.

At midday we witnessed the hourly changing of the guard re-enactment. Since the palace no longer inhabits royalty, this is a commentated ritual carried out for the benefit of tourism. I did wonder whether being in possession of a shaped straight beard was in the guard job description, but on close inspection many were definitely stuck on. Apparently close up photography of peripheral facial hair is frowned upon, as is imitating guards for amusing photographic purposes.


The palace itself showed a glimpse of its former beauty and grandeur. Being aware of many of the features of palaces in general from our less than extensive tours of other such structures, the tour that we received was not as informative as we'd hoped. Still, the few rays of sunlight that struggled through the haze of fog lightened the palace to its reputation of Shining Happiness in the middle of the high-rise offices of Seoul.

Dead Sea scrolls

Having been to the Dead Sea this summer, it was disappointing to find that that the scrolls were then on exhibition elsewhere in the world.

Now in Korea, various billboards informed us that they are currently on display somewhere in Seoul, but they took us by pleasant surprise as we went for a unassuming stroll around the War Museum to find that this was the location of their exhibition.

The display was impressive, filled with video explanations, dramatic lighting and thunderstorm sound effects depicting the excavation of the scrolls, information about various Biblical sites, relics from the ancient Middle East and stories of the life of Jesus.

Disappointingly, this was all in Korean, so regardless of the thoughtful layout, we were not to benefit from it.

We came across a fair number of Western looking people around the museum, so the museum is clearly a spot on the tourist route. One would therefore assume that there might be some kind of English explanation, especially since the display has most probably seen a good number of English speaking countries, not to mention the entrance charge for the viewing.

Still, good to have seen them, even if my knowledge of the content/context is a little hazy. One mustn't complain *too* much; after all, we are in Korea...

Gyeongju: the ancient capital of Korea

Tiring of the busy streets of Seoul, the lack of direction and the days filled with watching films (as relaxing and entertaining as that might be), Lauren and I decided to take a mini-break out of the capital. Flicking through the guidebooks we decided on Gyeongju - as described by the title of this entry, the ancient capital of Korea.

On the four and a half hour journey down south in the comfortable plush seats equipped with foldaway table and foot rest in a somewhat dated style, I took the opportunity to read up on this cultural haven we were about to encounter. Gyeongju was the city that allowed the Silla kingdom to flourish and bring together a united Korea back in the 7th century. It had a succession of 56 kings over three centuries before internal corruption and external forces brought about its decline. The sights that we were to explore are tributes and relics of this time of affluence and power.

As we stepped out of the train station we were immediately presented with images of Gwani and Geumi – the characters of Gyeongju. Of course, we were still in Korea; city of culture or not, there is apparently no escaping the excuse for the cute. We spent the first night in downtown, meandering through the handful of streets adorned with neon signs, bars, cafes and restaurants before retreating a couple of streets over to the dimly lit back alley where our hotel was situated.

Gyeongju is split into four areas: downtown, the Bomun lake resort, Bulguksa (holding the main temple of Gyeongju) and Namsan (the mountainous region).

We spent the first day enjoying the crisp air walking through parks filled with tombs (see right) – large mounds not dissimilar in function to the Egyptian pyramids; magpies – the city bird of Gyeongju; and oblivious exercising elderly Koreans. We gazed at the findings in the National Museum, including articles found at the bottom of Anapji Pond – a beautiful garden created to represent utopia: constructed so that at no point is one able to view the pond in its entirety; and the Emille Bell – which a tour guide might tell you can be heard to a 3km radius if only hit lightly with a fist. We looked upon with mild disinterest at the Cheomseongdae Observatory – allegedly the oldest astrological observatory in East Asia, built with 366 bricks to represent each day of the year. Obviously their years were different back then.

Equipped only with a tourist not-to-scale map, we embarked upon walking to the Bomun lake resort. We were not, however, prepared for the 6km walk along the highway with nothing in front of us but more road – not making for a particularly inspiring walk. We eventually caught a bus for the final kilometre which rode us by the largest watermill in Korea, though with a 13m diameter it wasn’t that impressive. What excited us more was handling Walther PPKs (yes, real ones) at the local shooting range and practising our target shooting. Even better, we got to keep our paper targets as proof of our proficiency, or, in my case incompetence; I think I will have to forgo that career as a secret agent for now.

Clearly an area developed for tourism, with no tourists around but a handful of mothers with children on rented plastic tricycles, we decided to move on (by bus) to the Bulguksa region. Once we’d settled into our hostel – in which we decided we were the only guests – we wandered around the small grid of restaurants and entertainment establishments looking for somewhere to eat.

Considering the choice available to us, we felt a distinct eeriness as we barely crossed another human being on our scout. The term ghost town sprung to mind, almost as though the neon signs were flashing due to bulb failure and a stray cat might crossed our paths looking for scraps. Naturally since we’d chosen to visit in the time furthest away from peak season, we were not expecting huge numbers of tourists accompanying us through the sights. In fact this rather worked to our advantage, not having to battle through crowds, queues and groups of noisy tour buses. However the fact that we’d read that the area gets swamped in peak season implied we might cross someone, but alas, no such luck. Despite the lack of tourists, the restaurants still appeared to be ‘open’ with the owners sitting around watching TV on the off chance someone might walk in, although whether they expected to receive business or not is debatable. (Left: the empty streets of Bulguksa as the day comes to an end)

We suspected that the restaurant that we eventually chose might not have seen customers for a few weeks and hoped that the inflated tourist menu might come down a notch in view of this, but to our dismay the stated prices stood. Disconcertingly an elderly lady sat at an adjacent table and watched us eat. Her glazed look, stooped back and walking stick made me wonder whether she was indeed focusing on us, but when she came round afterwards and pointed at the leftover rice it suggested that perhaps this was her intention – to stare.

In Bulguksa temple the next morning we did come across a number of other tourists which rather begged the question of where they’d all been the night before. Regarding the temple, it was interesting to wander around and see various Buddhist monks performing their daily meditations, unfazed by the number of onlookers. From here we did the 3km hike up the side of a mountain to reach the Seokgaram Grotto: a large Buddha statue in a small temple shaped hut. It was an impressive sight but knowing little about it, it seemed like we were intruding on some kind of religious pilgrimage as other Koreans bowed down to the Buddha while we looked on, forbidden to take photographs. Still, I’m sure it’s a different story in the summer.

We arranged a taxi tour to other places around this area inaccessible by public transport. We were taken to Golgulsa Temple where the main attraction was a large Buddha statue carved out of the side of a rock – reached by a series of upward slopes and a set of poorly carved steps. Again, it felt as though only the particularly religious and diehard tourists would make the effort of the climb, yet the engraving was pretty amazing. We moved onto King Munmu’s underwater tomb, though this was just an excuse to see the beach as the ‘sight’ was just a pile of rocks out to sea. Still, we breathed in the sea air and bought some dried squid from one of the various sellers along the shore. (Right: fresh squid hanging to dry)

On the way back into downtown the bus driver of the bus we’d waited patiently for decided he was an ex-rally driver, jumped a red light and smacked into the back of a truck. Luckily no one was hurt – despite the old man at the front picking out shards of glass from his clothing – but the bus took a pretty large beating. No one seemed particularly disturbed by the incident and we all just piled on the next bus to come along.

Our final visit of the day, and indeed the trip, was a short ride out to the Namsan area where we visited Poseokjeong: an old banquet place now remaining parkland, with a small water channel where people would sit and play drinking games back in the days of the Shilla dynasty. It was pretty, but without knowing the full historical relevance of the place we felt we’d seen enough.

The train journey home was filled with idle chit chat to a couple of elementary school girls, eager to practise their English. We exchanged telephone numbers – all Koreans seem insistent on this ritual upon a five minute chat in the supermarket – and they have dutifully text to inform of their devoted English study. These maniacal Koreans and their devotion to learning, eh?

Today we headed for the Korean War Museum. It had a large section on the various wars of ancient Korea, but the main feature was naturally the Korean War. Here my knowledge on this subject went from minimal to passable, though my interest in guns and tanks is limited and thus my attention waned as the end of the walking tour approached. Still, I am impressed with Korean museums as much effort is put into making the displays fun and attractive, making the information easily accessible. I must endeavour to swot up more on the subject before making the trip up to the North, though...

Photos of Gyeongju

Seodaemun Prison

This morning Lauren and I braved the icy winds in attempt to get to the Seodaemun Prison. 

Not knowing much about even why it was there – vague thoughts of the Korean war came to mind – the tour that we were taken on shocked me far more than I believed myself possible of getting. Having had images and films of the holocaust thrust upon me and the rest of the world since an early age, going to say, Auschwitz, was less than a surprise, and although horrifying in any kind of moral sense, the shock value was subdued by prior knowledge of events.

Admittedly the Japanese invasion of Korea is so far removed from Western culture that it is unlikely to be high on any history syllabus, and so I am less surprised to learn that I knew very little about it, save a few hazy recollections of stories I might have heard at home with my grandmother having lived through it. But hearing how Japan refused to take any responsibility for the invasion, let alone the torturing of the political prisoners (of which there were graphic representations) – “comfort women” still rally outside the Japanese embassy every Wednesday to this day to pressurise an apology – made me wonder whether there would even be such a museum in Japan to relay their version of events.

The prison has been moved out of Seoul for practical use, and what remains is a preservation of part of the original buildings used during the invasion. It is a well laid out museum, with several mannequins acting out torture scenes as they would have been done in the torture rooms, representations of cells, torture instruments and “wall coffins” – self explanatory upright boxes, in which Lauren had the (dis)pleasure of being locked in for a minute. There was a video of the testimony of the only two remaining survivors of the prison after Korea was liberated, fully pulling at heartstrings as the final words were, “Japan, apologise”.

Changdeok Palace

Never forgetting my British roots, it would be against my nature not to pass comment on the weather. Thus I feel it is integral to mention the beautiful blue skies and fluffy white clouds that adorn the view from my apartment, but mock me as I step outside to the icy air, yet again forcing me to succumb to the knowledge that mother nature has deceived me once again...

If it weren't for my extremities, I would certainly relish in the clear days. Today was in fact the perfect day for a stroll round 창덕궁, or Changdeok Palace. As wiki has just informed me, the literal meaning of this name is "Palace of Prospering Virtue". That's nice, isn't it?

Anyway, as I was saying, it was a perfect day for a stroll round the palace. Apparently we weren't the only ones who thought so, as we witnessed the filming of a Korean drama. Coming back an hour later after the full tour of the grounds, they were still filming the same scene involving grown ups standing around in hanbok while children ran around them, making those chirpy bird-like noises well-behaved children in films always do.

We suspected it was our tour guide's first tour, since she was very apologetic of her English, slipped up with a comment of "Oops, I meant to say...first," and was surprised when the circle of the grounds overran by half an hour. Still, she tried her best to engage her audience, with jokes of pretending to be royalty and explaining how there is no Father Christmas in Korea due to the traditional underground heating systems - he can go down the chimney but at the other end he is still outside! Although she got some feeble laughs, our hearts went out to her as she asked for the tenth time, "What do you think...was used for?" and still failed to get answers.

Nevertheless, I am 100% more informed about the Joseon dynasty than I was when I woke up this morning, I have passed through the gate of longevity, I have kicked my way through autumn leaves and I have marvelled at 750 year old juniper tree that has made its way as a "Natural Monument". It doesn't get much more productive than that. Left: the brown trunk-like sticks are merely support for the alleged 6 metre girth of the Changdeokgung Chinese Juniper.

On top of this, I cannot fail to mention that I have frozen my fingers off through attempted photography, but happily defrosted them in a traditional tea room on the heated floor while drinking Hundred Herb Tea. It was surprisingly pleasant^^

Aquarium

Continuing with the tourist theme, we headed to the COEX mall - a huge underground shopping mall and allegedly the largest shopping centre in Seoul.

On the subway journey there, an elderly man struck up conversation with the interrogative "Where you from?" Amused, I participated in the exchange. After going through the usual, "How long you in Korea?" and, "What you do in Korea?" he took me by surprise by asking, "You marry?" I replied negative. This in turn provoked, "Every month you send money family?" I replied confusedly, "Er...no...?" to which he then said with an air of realisation, "Ah, because when you marry you need the money." Uh huh, that's my reason for keeping my earnings to myself...^^

Anyway, we arrived at the COEX in time for lunch. The plan was to go to the Aquarium, though naturally we had to stop off at the various stationery shops along the way^^

We came across the clothes shop Bongzi&Bongzi, with the fantabulous claim, Made by Jesus. In an increasingly Christian country, I'm not entirely sure how they feel they can justify such an assertion...



Finally at the aquarium (having felt like we'd been taken on the long way round by the signs to the back of the store) we came across plenty of interesting and exciting sea-life.

We were:

• dismayed at some of the tiny enclosures, especially for the larger creatures like the crocodile (but were relieved at the small, locked cabinet for the tarantula);
• simultaneously appalled and intrigued by some of the genetically modified goldfish (see above picture);
• confused by the twin-headed tortoise;
• amused by the inventive displays including fish in the toilet, fish in the washing machine, fish in the vending machines;
• excited by the walkthrough shark tank.

All in all, an afternoon filled with wonder and excitement as we fulfilled our inner children, meandering around the huge display of underwater creatures.

More fishy pics

Baby birthday party

So apparently I went through one of these affairs when I turned 1 too, but since I don't remember that occasion, attending our friend's baby's one year birthday party last night was a peculiar event indeed.

We arrived at the restaurant unprepared for just how big an occasion it was to be. Our friend was beautifully made up in hanbok, completed with curled hair and careful makeup. She was carrying her son - also in traditional dress - with a professional photographer milling around snapping pictures left, right and centre. At the end of the restaurant was a table adorned with cakes and towers of ricecakes, along with a selection of items in a basket each representing a potential career path for the baby.

At the entrance of the restaurant we were presented with a raffle-style ticket, which we were to place in the relevant pot depending on which future we predicted for the child. The options included a ball (assumedly representing a sportsman), crayons (creativity), a stethoscope (doctor - the mother's hope), and a banknote (self explanatory).

The ritual was bizarre. There was a compere with a mic and if we'd not known better we might have thought we'd walked into a small town auction. He began by encouraging the guests to guess what time the baby had been born. Not really understanding what was going on until we were filled in later, we obviously didn't join in the competition. It was a shame since the 'winner' was presented with a gift - though for all we knew it was a wrapped up empty box. Jokes.^^

The baby was then dressed in some kind of white necklaces representing longevity (엄마 or 오빠 care to inform?^^) before the compere instructed the father of the baby to perform a cheesy dance making heart shapes with his arms, chanting "I love you" to the baby. It was very amusing, and I couldn't help feel that our friend was mildly embarassed by this. Then came the ceremonial baby item picking. He went for the money, much to the delight of his elders.

So after we'd eaten our share of the food (having maxed out on sushi a few days earlier we weren't particularly revelling in all the raw fish available), and having had our pictures taken with our friend, we weren't really sure what to do with ourselves. Since we didn't know anybody - nor could we converse with the people who were there - we made an early exit; our cue taken from several of the other guests who'd done the same.

It was a beautiful occasion and an excuse for the parents to get dressed up, but we couldn't help leaving feeling slightly bemused by the experience...^^

Today we visited the National Museum of Korea where we had our fill of ancient Korean relics. It was interesting, but there are only so many Buddhist paintings, Chinese medicine chests and kimchi jars that one can take in one day ^^

Helicopters

Potentially being our last day in our current area, we decided to pay a final visit to the first restaurant in which we dined in Korea. This involved consuming a somewhat sizeable lunch of shabu shabu (샤브샤브) (left: the vegetable accompaniment to boiled meat, followed by noodles, followed by eggy rice-soup), rendering us rather full.

It was thus that our original plan of meeting our US army friend to visit the Seoul Museum of Art became rather unfeasible as we rolled into our agreed meeting place three quarters of an hour late. Well, this along with the fact that our friend accidently drove us in the wrong direction (but presented us with an exciting trip through an underground tunnel - twice) and that once finally at the museum we were told to "U-turn, u-turn, and P1" - implying the carpark was a fair distance away. Attempting to battle the heavy traffic, something was telling us that today was not the day for art appreciation.

Instead, as per a previous daytrip suggestion, we were taken to his workplace where we were shown round the helicopters. It was very exciting. He was a good tour guide, encouraging us to sit inside and play with the controls; he let us climb on top and showed us the ropes of what helicopter fliers get up to; he took photos of us and made us feel like right tourists ^^

Just as exciting, he surprised us with Christmas gifts: Lauren got her requested oatmeal in various flavours while I've been given my fix of Babybel - not quite the English cheddar I'm missing but an exciting Westernism nonetheless! (Oatmeal?! I've been away from England too long...)

Job wise, we're supposed to be meeting Kinderschool woman tomorrow morning to talk about transferring our visas, as well as meeting Comedy Duo about moving apartments. Since the latter are offering us a better contract it's probable we'll take the job with them, but I guess that means one of us has to phone Mrs Evil-Turned-Nice sooner or later and tell her the bad news...

But as far as I'm concerned, after the initial disappointment of moving away from where has become home, I'm quite excited about moving (mould-free apartment here I come?^^) and leaving this state of coasting, unemployed...

Lotte World

Allegedly the biggest indoor theme park in Asia, or something. It was good.

Caught the Christmas Parade where we waved to the dancing white people that went by, and felt disappointed we'd not seen their jobs advertised. Rolled our eyes at the screaming Koreans as they considered the slightest dizzying experience the thrill of their lives. Hung out on Magic Island where we took in the views while we swung with the icy cold wind rushing past us on the Gyro Swing. Enjoyed the Christmas lights as we encircled the arena on the Aeronaut's Balloon Ride. Ate candyfloss. Marvelled at the Disney ripoffs with the magical castle and Lotte World logo. Etc.

Sarcasm aside, I had a really good time, but I have difficulties expressing genuine emotion sometimes. Thrill seekers probably shouldn't get too excited by the prospect of Lotte World, but fanatics of cute fantasy villages could. Luckily I wasn't feeling this cynical yesterday ^^

Went out drinking with the Korean teachers from our old school afterwards, and was irritated to get woken up to a phone call from a recruiter this morning asking if we could work part time this week. I said no.

On that note, we have a potential new job starting next week, but it's a Canadian school and the director is a bit worried that we're Brits. We shall see.

Pics to follow.

Life in the PC Bang

It's distressing. Despite the convenience of the close proximity to my apartment, the computers in the internet cafe, or PC방, don't have any form of MSN messenger, you can't download anything, and the owner insists on sitting next to me, snapping his gum really loudly. I can even smell it. He occasionally looks over my shoulder to see what I'm doing, which is very disconcerting. Last time I tried to sit in a different seat he insisted I sit in this one. I don't know why. Kids usually come to these places to play online games, and I hear as far as they go this is quite a nice one since it has a non-smoking area. At 1000 won/hour I can't really complain, but it's just not the same as being in the comfort of my own home...

Nevertheless, I write up the day's events, bleary eyed and irritated by the guy next door. Slept through my hangover this morning, to be forced out of bed by the cable guy coming to disconnect my internet. *Sniff*.

OK. I'm over it. Really. ^^

Anyway, I didn't make it to graduation, but since none of my kids were graduating it was pointless for me to go, except maybe for the amusement of seeing seven year olds dressed up in gowns. I did turn up at school near the end of the ceremony to wait for Lauren, but I opted to hang out in the Teachers Room (where the few teachers that had made it automatically went to their ex-desks...) I stole the "What's The Time Mr Wolf?" book that I'd seen lying around - an exciting childrens story with a puppet wolf resembling a black, snappy Badger out of the Bodger and Badger duo. I'd had my eye on that for a while, so I was secretly glad the school closed so I could have it. Jokes. ^^

Lauren and I headed for Yongsan where we went for a job interview. We liked the layout of the school but there are some serious power-tripping women in this country, as the principal made it perfectly clear that she would consider our applications along with all the other interviewees she is seeing this week. Still, hopefully we'll hear back from her soon with a reply, whatever that may be. It was strange since we didn't really find out any information about the school though it seemed decent enough, but nor did she really ask us any questions about ourselves.

Slightly bemused by the fifteen minute 'interview', we headed out in search of some fun. It felt as though we had all the time in the world to play with, and we wanted to make the most of this. Of course this isn't true - we really ought to be getting a new job ASAP, but why waste a beautiful Saturday afternoon job hunting when we could be outside enjoying the non-icy cold weather?

We went to Myungdong where we wandered the high street shops. We revelled in the Christmas decorations, found new addictions in decorating our own sticker photos - in shops just filled solely with photo booths where you can dress up, take photos, and decorate your own backdrops and borders - and took advantage of the free hugs - people just standing in the streets with a sign reading "FREE HUGS". With fairy lights lining the shop windows and a crispness in temperature, there was certainly a festive feeling filling the air.

In the evening we went up to Seoul Tower via the Namsan cable car. It was very romantic looking down on the lights of Seoul *^^*

On the subway tonight I found a newspaper entitled "The Learning Times" - a newspaper for learning English. This weekend's feature article was part of a script from Sex in the City with Korean translation. Interesting vocab you could pick up there...

Tomorrow we're off to one of the US Army bases to remind ourselves of Western food and English literature. In fitting with the theme of the day we're meeting our army guy - the only one we've met so far - at Starbucks. Should be a blast.

More photos