Autumn in Gunwi

Stunning stunning autumn pics!

The Mystery of My Left Side on Jeju Island

Hi all!

How you'll doing?

Well, this is gonna be a looooong email. I've been dreading typing it....

Early Saturday morning, I met the rest of my tour group (40-strong) at Gimpo Airport in Seoul, for my first adventure trip with ADVENTURE KOREA. We flew to Jeju Island, south of the Korean mainland. It's also known as Honeymoon Island here, as it's the most beautiful part of Korea, and thus an attraction for many Korean newlyweds. Well, I loved it so much, that I definitely want to go back. The air is so much cleaner, brisk sea breezes blow off the ocean, just like the good old Cape of Storms. And everything just looks cleaner than on the mainland. And there are mandarin orange orchards growing everywhere! And I was shocked to see palm trees! In Korea!

Anyway, our first stop was a replica museum showing life in Seoul during the 1960s-70s. It shows just how fast Korea has grown in the last 50 years, from being a poor, rural country that couldn't grow enough food to feed its people, to becoming one of the world's leading countries in technology today. 

Life in rural Korea, just 50 years ago, when Korea was the poorest country in the world.

Next was a volcanic crater, which is now overgrown with trees. We were told we would see lava tubes. This turned into the biggest group joke, as there we were, a bunch of tourists pointing their cameras at every possible - and impossible - angle, trying to see the lava tubes! Still a huge mystery, by the way! We then went horseriding, followed by traditional Jeju pork bbq.

Volcanic crater

It was to be the weekend of My Left Side. I'm still trying to decipher any hidden code re my left side...but surely this is no coincidence. Read on, and you'll see what I mean. In the restaurant, one of the waiters spilled warm - almost hot - stock on my left shoulder as she was moistening our table's bbq cooker. Well, the pork was delicious! My shoulder and feelings? Wounded.....Back on the bus, someone walked past me and the hair on the left side of my head got hooked onto her bag, or something, which resulted in me getting everyone's attention by yelping Ow! Ow! OW!!! Then a ferry to Udo Island - 15min ferry ride on a nice choppy sea to Udo Island, which is supposed to look like a cow lying on its side (mmmmm.....left side?). Another mystery since none of us could see this! 

View of Jeju Island from Udo Island.

We went up another mountain, which has a cliff called LION ROCK, at least we could see the lion!

Lion Rock on Udo Island

Many people were riding horses, and mountain hiking. There were also some free range cows.

On that note, I'm convinced that the animals in Korea speak a different language! When the dogs bark, they sound like screaming children. The cows sound like donkeys, not like any cows I've ever heard back home! The horses were silent! Also, it seems that the smaller the people, the bigger the bugs! Korea has giant bugs. The earthworms look like baby snakes. The spiders are humungous, as are the ants. Giant cicadas, grasshoppers, dragonflies and some other strange things. Thank Goodness the cockroaches are minimal, I've only encountered 2 medium sized ones in my 7 months here. Hallelujah!

Anyway, we stopped off at a few more beaches, the last one being a coral sand beach, meaning...the sand is not beach sand as we know it, but more like a gravel made of eroded coral, which really hurt your feet, but it's still very pretty.

Back to Jeju Island, to a buffet dinner, then on to check into a VERY nice hotel, the Ocean Grand, right on the beach! A small group of us (8) - (German, Swiss, South African, Canadian, American) went to the local supermarket, bought some lemonade and soju, and went to sit on the beach, and proceeded to get to know each other better, then went to look for a noraebang (karaoke), sang till our voices were gone and our throats were raw. The Swiss, Janine, and I went back to our hotel room, while the others went swimming at 1AM! (It was really nice meeting some foreigners who, for a change were European and NOT English teachers!)

Next morning, we went to see a Chinese Acrobatic and Motorbike show. Oh my word! Again, the Chinese really know how to put on a show! They had the audience in near panic attacks with their death-defying stunts. Amazing amazing stuff! If ever you have the opportunity to watch Chinese acrobats live, grab it with both hands and feet!

Then off to a green tea farm and museum telling the history of tea. Then off to another beach, this one with black sand. The unique thing about Jeju and Udo islands, is that there are lava rocks everywhere. People use them to build low stone walls, as property borders, on sidewalks, etc, etc. Basically, you see black porous volcanic rock everywhere! Of course, they sell pumice stones everywhere too! At this beach, we could walk through man-made cave tunnels that the Japanese had excavated for use by Kamikaze pilots while they hid and plotted attacks on the Americans during the war. We also watched a group of giant jellyfish fighting hard against the strong high tide that was bringing them in to shore.

Kamikaze cave

Next was a visit to the Mysterious Ghost Road. At the point that the road goes uphill, the bus driver switched off the engine and the bus continued to roll....UPHILL! We got out and tested this weird phenomenon for ourselves. We poured water on the road... it ran uphill. We placed a plastic water bottle on the road...it rolled uphill. Freaky Freaky...but true. I saw it with my own eyes. I thought that since it's a volcanic island, it must have something to do with magnetic fields. Apparently, it's all an optical illusion. The road really looks like it goes uphill. I still can't believe that it's actually the other way round. None of us can. You have to go and see it for yourselves. It gives another meaning to SEEING IS BELIEVING....apparently, this is not true.

Water running 'uphill'.

Next was LOVELAND! A theme park dedicated to sex and love! One of the very few places in Korea where you can see sculptures of the human body (and certain anatomical organs) in all its natural glory, more often than not, intertwined with another human body, in numerous, creative positions! I'd have taken pics of everything for you guys to see this marvel for yourselves, but my battery died and refused to switch my camera on! They even had a museum of artifacts, and a display of dioramas - if voyeurism is your thing. From an artistic point of view, it was very well done. There was also a gift shop, where sales staff (and some customers, too!) were way too eager to demonstrate how certain items worked! There was a 21yr old on tour with us, whose parents were also present. The poor kid was quite embarrassed at first! LOL!

Next, a souvenir shop for gifts, where I bought special Jeju orange chocolate, then I bought more Swiss chocolate at the duty-free store at the airport. Seems like all I buy when I go travelling, is chocolate!!!

Anyway, coming back to the mystery of my left side! While we were queuing up to check in, this ajumma (older Korean woman) bashes me on my LEFT arm with her elbow and shoves me aside so she can pass through this long queue of waegooks (foreigners). Now, I'm not exactly small and light. She's not exactly big and heavy. So you can imagine the amount of force she exerted to achieve this! OW!

Arrived at Gimpo Airport 21:30, took the subway across Seoul to catch the final bus to Daegu. Subway took more than an hour. I ran from the subway station to the bus terminus, they wouldn't sell me a ticket. After a long, exhausting day, and getting shoved around by ajummas, it felt like Korea was just being plain old nasty to me. I was sent to the bus, where I stood for 20min waiting to see if there would be a spare seat for me. Unfortunately there wasn't, as I had to stand and watch other people who had tickets get on the bus. The bus left without me and I burst into tears. Stranded in Seoul at 23h00 on a Sunday night, and work the next morning in Gunwi is not a fun prospect! Fortunately, another Korean (a med student, she told me) was in the same predicament. I phoned my co-teacher, crying that I had exhausted all possibilities of trying to get back home so I could be at school the next morning. I had even tried to get a flight to Daegu, but all the counters were already closed at Gimpo Airport when I enquired about that. So she offered to help me. We took a taxi to another part of Seoul, from where we managed to catch a later bus to Daegu. Arrived in Daegu at 03:30, I checked into a motel, and took the first bus to Gunwi at 06:10. Got home and into bed for 30min, then up and showered and off to school! Now how's that for an adventurous weekend?

Oh! And woke up with a pain on the LEFT side of my neck!

Oh well, the mystery of my left side goes unsolved......

This coming weekend, it's me on the long road to Seoul again.....and the DMZ! (DeMilitarised Zone). You know the James Bond movie (Pierce Brosnan) where he gets captured by the North Koreans? And tortured? That's where I'm going! Onto my James Bond adventure!

More on that next week!

I'm trying to upload pics onto facebook, but having problems. I'll send you guys the link once I get it sorted out.

Much love and hugs!

Andrea

News Update

Hi all

How's everybody?

It's been a while since I wrote you guys, but it's been kinda quiet here, just the normal humdrum for a week or two, but that's all about to change!

Well. 2 weeks ago it was Chuseok (pronounced "Chew Sock" - lol) , the Korean Thanksgiving holiday! Long weekend, hooray!!! A rare thing in South Korea! Man, these people work toooooo hard!!! And lately, everyone's been telling me that I look tired! This didn't make much sense to me, since I don't even do that much here..... Then finally, the penny dropped! If I were back in SA, by now, I would already have had 3 school breaks. But, being in SK, I've only had one :( No blinking wonder I look and feel tired!!! :)

ANYHOOO.... Back to Chuseok. This was the weekend that a few friends and I had planned on going to Andong for the big Mask Dance Festival, which was subsequently cancelled thanks to SI fears (Swine Flu). I eventually decided to stay at home and REST, since there would be many more eventful weekends coming up this month. Shehaam came to visit me on Sat, stayed over and we went into Daegu on Sun, just to feel like we had actually done something/gone somewhere on this rare opportunity of having some time off!

Much of the same thing the following weekend, shopping and movies, and vegetating!

And remember motor-mouth-American-make-enemies-everywhere-I-go-Geoff? Well, his replacement has arrived....and she's South African! Her name's Bernice, from Jhb, and we get along great! So, the SA network is improving, and nogal all in my area!

And then....this weekend. I had to attend an In-Service training conference on Co-teaching in Gyeongju on Thurs and Fri. This was great, as it meant only 3 days of school! Now, Gyeongju is another very famous city in SK. This used to be the capital of the ancient Silla dynasty here. The city is filled with museums and art dating centuries back. I had been wanting to go, but hadn't got round to it yet, so thoughts were to stay over on Fri night after the conference in order to do some sightseeing. Well, that was the plan. However...... there were a few hundred of us attending the conference (Korean English teachers as well as Native English teachers (that's me) ), so of course, I was making friends left, right and centre, as well as hooking up with some old friends. Bernice introduced me to some of her newly-made friends who had also just arrived in SK. So, Thursday night saw a massive group of people heading downtown for fun. We started off at a Western bar, then off to a coffee shop, then off to Noraebang (karaoke)!

Andrew, Bernice and Michael

Say "Kimchi!" With Paul and Cesar

Noraebang-ing

Got back to our very nice hotel at 2:30am - see, we were being responsible! - got to bed at 3am, couldn't sleep, so might as well have stayed out ALL night - lol! And boy, oh boy! Were we in a zombie-like state for the rest of the day! (Must be getting old - who would have thought!) I was asleep on my feet, but still couldn't stop singing at every opportunity. If a cell ph rang, I ended up singing along - and yes, it was usually K-pop! And yes - it was usually during a lecture! I must be starved for Western company or something, cos even I was aware that I was acting like a big kid all day! One by one, we ditched our plans to stay over, as a torture-rack began to look more inviting than the prospect of sightseeing in our zombie-states!

And back home, and here I am....

Next weekend, I shall fly to Jeju Island, the most beautiful part of Korea. News and photos of that next week.

Love you all.... Enjoy your nice warm weather. My side, it feels like winter already and it's only autumn here. BRRRRR! Better go ski-ing when Winter hits here :)

Ciao!

Andrea