Whiling away the winter weather

So rather than brace the zero degree temperatures (which admittedly really aren't that cold, and definitely preferable to the -14 of last week, rather showing that I'm not really English anymore) I've found a new source of entertainment. Don't get too excited. I replaced the batteries in my television remote control. Yep, that's right. My excuse for lack of blog posts is I've been watching TV.

When I think about it, that's six months of MegaTV (Korean on-demand service) I've been paying for but not taking advantage of because my remote was dead. So I could say that I'm just getting my money's worth now. I even skipped salsa class on Saturday for it. But one needs nothing time once in a while. Right?

Well, I did go to a ballroom dance workshop on Sunday. All is not completely lost. And this weekend is Lunar New Year, which translates as a 4-day-weekend. Watch this space for non-TV related blog posts. :|

Winter dancing

Went to a three hour workshop on basic ballroom dancing steps today with Joey and Helen.

>Getting your toes stepped on as a bunch of beginners make their way round the room just like in the movies? Painful.

>Storming across the room in an attempt to master basic American tango? Invigorating.

>Waltzing to Christmas music to find that it's snowing outside? Priceless.

Winter is here. Again.

And at one fell swoop the trees were bare, the pavements were covered in a blanket of yellow ginkgo leaves, all the Koreans had cracked open their winter wardrobes, and, for the first season change of the year, Chi-Hé followed suit by paying attention to the Weather Channel.

The sun shines brightly, the skies are blue, but there is no doubt about it. Winter is here. Again.

Digging for potatoes

It's been a busy month with Halloween decorations going up left, right and center in preparation for the "Halloween Fun Day" next Saturday - yes, that's right, Saturday - where all children and parents will come and bob for apples, among other activities. Rain was forecast for today, so I prepared an exciting pumpkin craft to stick around my classroom, but luckily the sun shone on brightly facilitating the planned sweet potato dig.

We went somewhere out and beyond Uijeongbu (i.e. out and beyond the north of Seoul) to a lone sweet potato patch somewhere in the middle of some farmland. I don't know if this is kindergarten owned land, or a random patch that the bus driver decided would be a good place for potato digging. Nonetheless, we all got our hands mucky pulling apart potatoes for the kids to take home. Much like the mass-production-bat-making lines Marie and I have been instigating in the classroom, this seemed rather like child labour as the bus driver shouted commands and urged faster picking. No prizes for guessing what's on next week's menu at school.

Simon's in Busan at the moment, but tomorrow morning - after David's birthday party tonight and thus a potential struggle out of bed and aching head - I will meet him four hours out of Seoul in Andong. It's famous for its soju, traditional masks and meat, so hopefully there will be much relaxing and won't be too hardcore on the sight-seeing...

First day back

Today was the first day teaching back at the old yu-chi-won. This week is pretty cushy with only two hours teaching each morning; next week won't be much worse since they cancelled my elementary classes, so it's just 20 hours of teaching kindy a week from now on. This will give me lots of time to go to the bank/post office/stationery shop, surf the net, read, or whatever tickles my fancy once I've done ALL that preparation for my classes. Considering how stressful I found this job to begin with, 6 months down the line it all seems to be working out in my favour :) Also, the weekend just gone is the first that hasn't been laden with storms or extreme heat. However it's still mid-August, so no doubt there is more to come...

In other news, have decided to apply for a masters course starting Autumn 2009 in linguistics. It sorta seems to be up my street. Am just waiting for applications to open so I can get on that.

Finding solace from the sunshine

After meandering the men's floors of Migliore and Doota (multi-storeyed fashion shopping malls) and the Korean take on high fashion, yet also largely finding exactly the same goods at every stall, we walked down the steps from the extensive Dongdaemun market to Cheonggyecheon: a man-made stream that, from City Hall, runs a full 5.7km due west of Seoul before reaching the Han River and eventually emptying itself in the sea on the west coast of Korea.

Under Pres Lee Myung-bak when he was mayor of Seoul, the stream was turned from a covered roadway to an attractive watery retreat from the cityscape. Dipping a toe in the fall of the fountains was a welcome relief from a hard day's shopping and an ever-increasingly forceful sun. The rains have stopped, but summer is by no means over.

Men's fashion


Cheonggye stream

Lotte World

Rob, a fellow salsa dancing Englishman, lives a five minute walk from Jamsil subway station. This also happens to be the gateway to Lotte World: "A World of Magic and Fantasy".

From the first time we met to the present day I have sung the amusement park's praises to this incessant sceptic, but having avoided it for two years Rob was adamant he would continue to do so. Now on the final stretch of his time in Korea I finally persuaded him - as a general theme park enthusiast - renouncing his absence would be worthy of his time. With girlfriend Jenny and boyfriend Ian in tow, we made it a date and finally got there last Sunday morning.

It continues to be a Disney rip-off (I swear that parade car was playing the Looney Tunes theme) but hosting all the big rides plus a decent number of small ones, it definitely deserves a mark in my 'Theme Parks of Korea' book.

Despite being the largest indoor amusement park in the world[1] the outdoor Magic Island is really where it's all happening. I mean, granted, the Crazy Bumper Cars are indoor (a big selling point for Rob) and considering the small scale of the four storeyed arena the French Revolution does a pretty impressive take on thrilling. But there's no Gyro Swing to whirl you out over the lake, or Gyro Drop to leave you contemplating the size of Seoul 70 meters above ground. Ian claimed he wouldn't be riding anything with Gyro in the name, but of course this was just a pretense.

Despite being a weekend during Korea's only week summer holiday with the sun shining so forcefully we're left to wander how we didn't all result as red as ripe tomatoes, the crowds weren't too hideous to battle. The queues inevitably hotted up as the day progressed, but with such exhilaration from the fluffy characters that sporadically flashed you a wave or the newly sprouted animal ears from the majority of the people, a good rest in line between rides was probably called for.

As long as you can tolerate a bit of waiting, having experienced Lotte World at both end of the year during the two Korean holidays, I don't think this is a place you could ever want to avoid. Besides the dizzying feeling of being on hallucinogenic drugs, that is. But being a country with a strict prescriptive drugs only policy, this is probably as close to the real thing you'll get.

[1] according to the ever-trustworthy Wikipedia

West Sea Isles: Getting Away From It All

Tiring of the rain in Seoul, following a reliable Google forecast for further showers in Incheon, that's where we headed on Tuesday afternoon.

We took line 1 of the Seoul subway the full two hours to the last stop of Incheon to be greeted with a scorcher of a day. Shying of imminent sunburn we enjoyed a late lunch served by genuine Chinese people immersed in a sea of red in Incheon's China Town. I know they were Chinese because they weren't speaking Korean.

Full to the brim with pseudo-Chinese food (I hear that the popular 'Chinese' dish jajangmyun was invented here in Korea's China Town) we took a very slow crawl up to the top of Freedom Hill where we found a statue of US General MacArthur who led South Korea into victory against the North back in the days of the Korean War. Surrounded by flowers and a beaming sun, we spied on a nearby couple doing the couply thing of snapping posed pictures of beautiful girlfriend in front of beautiful flowers behind huge camera lens. People seem big on photography here, and nearly everyone has a big SLR camera. If you have a girlfriend I'm sure it's like an unwritten rule that you must photograph her, with as big a lens as possible. That's just what I've noticed.

Now by the time we'd taken our really slow wander round Incheon city walking off our really huge lunch and watching guys take photos of girls with really huge cameras, it was a bit late to make it to the islands off the coast. Instead we made the alleged twenty minute walk to Wolmido Port in around forty minutes. Being predominantly main road lined with factories I'd probably recommend the recommended five minute taxi ride next time.

Save the Korean drummers in drag bouncing up and down to Korean pop music, we could easily have been walking the sea front of Blackpool. I was impressed at how few the crowds were considering this is the Korean summer holiday (and they generally don't get a whole lot of that). Maybe this just isn't a prime holiday spot, but that works for me.

Having heard a rather large downpour overnight we took a lazy start on Wednesday morning before pouring hot water into our instant coffees at the nearest convenience store. We took the 3000 won ferry (with Koreans intent on feeding their corn chips to the gulls) across to Yeongjongdo (home to Incheon International Airport), waited a half hour before swiping our T-money cards on bus 222 to take us to Jamjindo wharf before getting another 3000 won ferry over to the little island of Muuido.

We were lucky that it was only intermittently spitting during the day and was otherwise a pleasant sort of overcast. We hopped on the local bus across the island to Hanagae beach where - after a huge bowl of kalguksu (shellfish and noodle soup) - we flitted between frolicking in the water and lazing on the sand. We were definitely the only foreigners to be seen, but no one seemed to mind I wasn't swimming in my clothes like many of the other women. The evening brought low tide where the water seemed to instantly disappear, leaving behind a huge stretch of shellfish ridden wet sand. It was absolutely beautiful to walk across and to look confusedly at the various crawling sea life between our toes.

We were offered a lift back to the ferry port by an eager university student (and his less eager girlfriend) ready to practise his English. It was very kind of him and saved us a bus journey. Back on Yeongjongdo we justified the 13000 won Airport City Limousine Bus that would take us right to our doorstep by the fact that we'd have otherwise had to fork out for accommodation for the night. Escaping the sounds of Seoul, not seeing another white person for two days and breathing in fresh sea air, it really did feel as though we were well and truly Getting Away From It All.

Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival 2008

It wasn't Glastonbury (and certainly wasn't supposing to be) but the heavens opening for the first two days of Pentaport was certainly reminiscent of true summer festival weather. Ian and I got ourselves a couple of day tickets for the final day of the weekend where we were graced with blue skies and sunshine ready to enjoy some live music.

I was very impressed with how they'd dealt with post-downpour mud issues, rather rendering all the wellie sellers redundant. The ground actually seemed to be chiefly sand which is always going to be a lot easier to walk on than wet grass, but crates were laid out to step across the particularly muddy areas making the walk from one stage to the other a lot less arduous.

Despite being a small festival, there was a decent amount of advertising going on with various stalls and activities set up. We especially enjoyed the Guitar Hero at the Microsoft stand before we were told to move on due to the queue forming behind us. They had a bit of ingenious cash system set up where you charge the chip on your wrist band, but since you'd still need to carry cash on your person it was a little irritating to have to trudge across the field for a top up when you needed more beer.

It seemed as though all the foreign acts had been called in from the UK with the likes of Travis, Kasabian and The Go! Team playing. I heard that The Vines were pretty patronising towards the Korean stage crew, but otherwise it was good to see the British rock scene being represented across the globe. I was pretty impressed to see the Korean crowds rocking out to the likes of Staines massive Hard Fi, but I guessed here would be one of the few places you'd find people moshing to Feeder.

There were also several Korean bands of varying genres. Oh! Brothers with their rock 'n' roll spin impressed us enough to buy their CD from the cheap Hot Tracks stall, but our favourites were definitely this Korean reggae band. They weren't playing on either of the main stages so weren't well advertised, but I have later found out these Asian Rastas to be called 우주히피 (Space Hippies?). Video to follow.

There wasn't anyone who I was particularly dying to see - apparently they had Muse in last year which would have excited me more - but the sunshine and chilled atmosphere made it a great venue for a few drinks and a few live bands.

The Biggest Electronics Market in the East

Hoping for better weather was certainly optimistic as we're forecast for heavy showers all week. To escape the rain on Sunday Ian and I headed to Yongsan: host of the largest electronics market in Asia.

The market is apparently spread over several buildings, each containing hundreds of shops selling anything with a plug. However I'm only yet to explore the iPark Mall, the huge building just by the subway station. With several floors of cameras, computers, games, TVs, MP3 players, mobile phones and any accessories you can think of, plus clothes, stationery, jewellery, other usual department store peripheries and a multi-screen cinema, I don't see why I'd really need to venture outside of this safe haven of commercialisation.

Outraged by my poor sound quality when attempting to watch DVDs on my computer, Ian went in search of some new speakers. Unfortunately we've decided it's a PC fault, but he's still come away with a nice low-cost pair of speakers.

Even though bartering is a supposed must, it seems as though if you ask one seller for a price, you'll be kept a close eye on by all neighbouring stall holders, ready to pounce with a similar quote. It's difficult to tell if the sellers are actually in competition with one another, or if they're all just out to rip off unsuspecting foreigners. Still, whether fair or not, compared to our Western counter-shops it seems you can usually pick up an electronic bargain or two here.

Summer rain

After 7 months apart, Ian has finally made it to Korea in time for my summer holidays next week.

As the perfect introduction to the country, Seoul (considerately) decided to pour it down all day. It did alleviate the feared mugginess, however a trip up Seoul Tower for an overview of my new home will have to be postponed. Instead we headed for a meander around the National Museum of Korea. It still contained all the usual findings from the various eras in Korean history, but we managed to catch a 'summer concert' by some K-rock band under cover while it rained in the distance. It was fun.

We also went to the "The Glory of Persia" exhibition there, on until the end of August. Naturally I then proceeded to plan our next trip to (ex-)Persia. So much world to see! The exhibition was actually really good - easy to navigate, English translations, and a video with a load of Persian images.

I took Ian salsa dancing in the evening, but naturally having travelled 5000 miles in the last 24 hours, he's still a little jet-lagged. I hope the weather brightens up a little tomorrow!

The sounds of summer

With some parts of days reaching 100% humidity but no precipitation to show for it, air con is now my friend. It dries the room out nicely before sleeping, and prevents melting into a puddle of sweat each time my heart takes a beat.

Still, despite the air conditioner having taken a fonder place in my heart than the fan (that will ultimately kill me), the hot weather doesn't do too many wonders for my day to day mood. It's definitely too hot for any strenuous activity such as rigorous nursery rhyme actions, and I certainly don't want to raise my voice above usual conversation levels. Unfortunately we can't always have what we want, though.

In our introductory phonics lessons Lauren and I decided to follow the British Jolly Phonics program. I cannot commend this program enough. Rather than most of the standard phonics books that teach the alphabet first and then focus on the sounds that the letters make, Jolly Phonics focuses on learning the sounds of the letters from the very beginning in the order that they are most heard, before building up to each of the 42 most common sounds in the English language.

It has worked well in getting many of the children to sound out simple three letter words, but now that we're moving onto more complicated vowel sounds (e.g. 'ai' in 'snail', 'ie' in 'die') the split in the levels of the kids is becoming more apparent.

It's optimistic to think that every child goes home at night, enthusiastically sounding out every English word they lie eyes on. However realising that some children aren't even familiar with the letter 'a' while others are reading full sentences without prompting begins to make me feel uneasy.

"Teacher, teacher!" they wail. "What's this?" they ask, pointing to a pig. Wide eyed and infuriated, I turn to the child intelligently asking the final sound in 'train'. "Teacher!" they persist. Manners nor patience are something I've been able to successfully instill. I have hopes yet.

It's not as though we haven't reviewed every letter every lesson since the beginning. Naughty children anger me more than I ought to let them. Enthusiastic children with no memory retention are irritating, but I suppose they get bonus points for trying (but if they'd tried a bit harder at the beginning we might not be in this mess now). But there isn't even a word that describes my contempt for stupid AND naughty children.

Now, it is likely that there is a strong correlation between poor understanding and bad behaviour; if a child can't get my attention by giving correct answers they'll be damned if they don't hear their name once in a 15 minute English session. This doesn't stop me from disliking them the most, though. Go ahead, climb out of the window; at least you won't be disrupting my lesson.

Unfortunately I'm not allowed to pick and choose the kids I want to teach. Nor am I allowed to actually encourage them to climb out of the window. In reality, their dying would probably disrupt my class a whole lot more.

I hope to stream my classes for the next semester. I just have to convince myself that a class full of the worst kids in school that make my blood boil (and it's already reaching boiling point, so it won't take long) will be worth the one with the angelic bright sparks, happily nattering on in English, eager to soak up all the knowledge I can impart...

The finished hanji masterpiece.

In desperation to make a hanji lamp, Lauren scoped out this nice lady in Insadong to help her make one. Being interested in that kind of thing, I tagged along last Saturday to make the bulbs; today we papered up the wiring to make it look more lamp-like. Bleach gave the added 'aged' look.

Shame that this newly discovered lady is leaving this month to the next province; I would have liked to have made more stuff with her. We literally got in there at the last minute, and I'm glad we did. I've expressed my excitement over papier-maché before.

Despite the fluctuation between heavy rain and heavy humidity, I'd kind of forgotten it was the rainy season now. So unusually (just when you don't have an umbrella and you're squeezing two people plus a few several shopping bags under one) it poured it down, forcing us to guard our freshly made paper lamps with our lives. We didn't pay sa-man-won for these for nothing, you know.

Death by fan

"Death by fan?" you ask. "So what's this all about?"

People (and this is limited to the people of South Korea) believe that if you leave an electric fan on overnight you will die. That's right: die. One can only assume that Koreans are more susceptible to death by fan than the rest of the world so, being half Korean, my level of risk is significantly increased.

So, it is thus that I endure the ever-increasing heat and humidity and attempt to embrace sleep without my trusty electric fan. Air-con is just a no-no for me; the dry recycled air that leads to a twitching nose and a scratchy throat can stay put while the weather is still tolerable.

However, despite managing to fall asleep reasonably easily, at the strike of 04:00 this morning I found myself rolling around in a sweat, internally complaining about the heat. To make things worse, my ears caught a glimpse of that incessant whine that cannot be mistaken for anything but a hungry mosquito. Now, once you know one of those is in the room, sleep just doesn't come easily. You try to remember that it's going to bite you whether you are asleep or not, but this is not always a comforting bedtime thought.

After giving the air-con a whirl to ease my discomfort I finally drifted off, inevitably to wake up to find the little booger had bitten me no less than three painstakingly itchy times, with a collection of nibbles thrown in for good measure. I may have to risk the possibility of death by fan in order to keep myself dormant as flying insects make a meal of me. Alternatively, I could buy some repellent.

Hanji makes me happy

Last Friday was another national holiday. Unfortunately I spent most of it watching chick flicks and popping pills as an irritating summer cold crept up on me, but nevertheless the time off was much appreciated. Come rain or shine or deathbed sickness, the Korean teachers here always make it to class, making us feel a little guilty about exercising our sick-day rights. A paid, guilt-free day in bed certainly beat slogging it out at the 유치원.

Lauren had arranged a hanji paper lamp-making session with a lady down in the traditional street of Insadong for the Saturday. This sounded like a nice relaxing way to get out of the one-roomed place I'm calling home these days. However, on discovering the lady's absence from her shop, my slowly developing Korean skills were called upon as I dialled the number to find out where she was. "Closed," she said. Most disappointing.

Sunday was Dano - a traditional Korean holiday. For the first time since our very first weekend in Korea, we went to the Namsangol Hanok Village to see what was going on. Reflecting on our memories of those first impressions we received eight months ago, revisiting the site certainly highlighted how quickly the time has passed since our arrival, but yet also how much has passed in this short space of time.

This recreation of a traditional Korean village hosted a variety of activities for its visitors this Dano day. There was a traditional food market, traditional games, 'traditional swing ride', hair washing with 'extract of changpo', a taekwondo demonstration, and Lauren even tried on hanbok. Unfortunately, given our love of a bit of craft DIY, the sign 'Traditional Craft Making' had its back sadly turned from us. Still, the weather was perfect for a wander - sunny but not too hot or muggy - and everyone seemed to be out smiling and having a good time.

Taking a final meander on our way out, what did we come across but a whole street lined with arts and crafts stalls! We were in heaven. Options included soap making, jewellery making, tie dying, Corn dolly making and more, but since our hanji experience in Jeonju the papier maché experience won hands down. While Lauren was creating a masterful paper doll, I was gluing up a traditional mask. Unfortunately the heavens opened big style, making the process doubly as sticky, but the end - if slightly rushed - finish was most exciting. If I'd not spent so much time ripping up pieces of paper to stick on it, I'd assume that it'd been painted.

Hanji is definitely up there on my favourite things to do in Korea. I hope the lamp lady comes back soon.

Korean wedding

On Monday morning I was surprised to open my eyes to clear blue skies. Why I was surprised I'm not sure, since most days prior to then had too been this hot kind of hot I've been complaining about. During my first class of the day I asked the ritual, "How's the weather today?" to receive shouts of "It's sunny!" No later than the second class I asked the same question, only to be faced with "It's stormy", and a racket at the windows.

The rains have come, and they've not stopped yet.

Last weekend was Alex's brother's wedding. Kindly, Lauren and I were invited along, but as the day grew closer to the event we became a little apprehensive as to why we were going. What would be the premise of our invitation? Still, it's always good to occasionally put oneself in such situations in order to build up a little extra character. And of course it was good to have the opportunity to experience a Korean wedding ceremony, too.

And regarding that, it was a little bewildering. We subwayed it down to the relevant "wedding hall" - ballroom type places used specifically for marriage ceremonies, often with cheesy photos outside displaying Just Married signs (luckily I didn't notice any on this such one; obviously a classier venue^^) - just in time to poke our heads around at the ceremony. We didn't stay in the room to watch. Not being formally seated among the masses of family guests in the main hall, it all felt a bit voyeuristic.

More bizarrely, neither did Alex, brother of the groom. "Nah, I don't need to see that," he said. Instead we headed for our sit down meal one floor down while we watched the couple make the rounds of greetings on the big screen. The fancy camera work and replays of Behind The Scenes really made me feel like I was watching a reality TV show, though Alex assures me that the screens are not a regular feature of all Korean weddings. With Korea's love of technology, it wouldn't surprise me if they were.

Many couples these days opt for a 'modern' wedding, incorporating both a western-style and traditional Korean ceremony in the one event. So the bride started her day out in a sparkly white ball gown for the exchanging of the rings with her husband-to-be in a fancy tux; commenced the transition between western and Korean style wedding by changing into more regular smart dress for greeting the guests (why they needed to change for this was a little confusing); and, once all the guests had eaten their what they all hoped was locally produced steak[1] and gone their separate ways, the couple changed once more into full-blown hanbok for the traditional Korean wedding ceremony.

[1] a very topical issue. Might write about it another time.

The whole affair was practically over in two hours. The Korean ceremony - which among other things included bowing to each set of parents and force feeding one another traditional ricecakes - seemed to be a close family do only (so if we felt voyeuristic before...), so if you were neither related to the bride or groom, a foreign onlooker, nor present for the ring exchange, you probably only came to show your face and eat the free food. Not much different to a fully western style wedding then, except these kinds of guests might also come for the free booze and all night party that were absent from this event.

Before I attended this one, I was thinking that I'd like to have a Korean wedding. OK so I have Korean blood, but culturally I am as British as they come. Nevertheless, I'm open to exploring my native roots. (Of course this wedding option would only occur were I to marry a Korean man, otherwise it really would be taking the mick.) However as pleasant as it was, I do now realise that I'm definitely up for the bridesmaids, cringe-worthy speeches and marquee that I just wouldn't otherwise get to have.

Though it is a good excuse to own hanbok; maybe I can have two weddings...or just incorporate the whole lot in one...or maybe I need to find a husband and get my head out of the clouds. Wait, I'm not looking to get married any time soon. Post while you're far far behind, Chi-Hé.

Indiana Jon-seuh

It was cheesy. It was long. Obviously a Spielberg movie, but I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing these days. Was glad to see the map and hat in full flow, though. I'm no Indy connoisseur, having only seen the Last Crusade for the first time last year, so I'm not going to go into a historical rant about poor jokes and references. All I can really say is that: it was cheesy; it was long. If cheesy and long is what you look for in a good movie, it's probably right up your street.

And holy Moses, it got HOT. But not that nice kind of bright sunshine with a nice breeze hot. We're talking full-blown mug. This is the first of it, and it's only gonna get worse. Now my gas bills are down to a sensible price after that long icy winter, I now fear for my forthcoming electricity bills with visions of the AC on high ^^; *sweat*

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^^

Suwon fortress

Yesterday was a perfect day for a stroll around the ancient Suwon fortress. (On a quick weather note, every day at the moment would be perfect. The sun shines, t-shirts are out, and sometimes you can catch a cool breeze to ease the ever warming heat. Summer will be a killer...and it's sad that I've heard spring just doesn't last that long.)

Suwon is another city just south of Seoul, but is still covered by the subway line so made for an easy day trip. Even though it still has a backdrop of high rise apartment blocks, it felt less manic than downtown Seoul with a far more friendly atmosphere to the place. Our taxi driver over to the fortress was certainly very excited to find some Brits to talk footie with, opposed to the Americans/Canadians he said there was lots of (and there are. I think I've met a mere two fellow UK citizens since being in Korea). Not that he was getting much more than smiles and nods of agreement, the driver seemed happy enough to be chatting away to us in Korean.

Anyway, the fortress wall is pretty much fully intact (though naturally it has been restored since its construction in 1794) and makes a complete loop of the inner city. It took us a couple of hours to do the walk at a relaxed pace.

There were several men wandering round in traditional guard-like garb, as well as couples and families alike making the most of the beautiful Saturday afternoon.

Ladies smell the springtime flowers while shading themselves from the harsh sun with a parasol. Wouldn't want to upset that sought-after pure white skin.

Old men (and less old men) can be seen all over Seoul - evidently in Suwon too, and I guess the rest of the country - working out in these public parks with the free exercise equipment.

Coming face to face with this guy through a window gave us both a shock as we were walking round on opposite sides of the wall. Him more so when I got out my camera.

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.