The last time I blogged mum had just arrived, and now, as I blog again, she has gone! She left on April 2nd after 8 brilliant days (from my point of view, and I hope hers too) that I hope gave her a good idea of what Korea is like and what I am doing here.
So what did we do? Well, I have three different photo albums on Facebook which I will provide the links to below, and they chronocle pretty much everything we did together. However, mum did a lot of other things whilst I was working so you will have to ask her for those details!
Photo album no 1:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102514&l=1378a&id=777495416
The 1st album shows some pictures of a wee trip to the stream through Seoul (the Chungachung), and then the DMZ visit. This was my 3rd visit up to the DMZ, and this time we went with USO (the American Military tour guides). This had its advantages, namely that we got a good military/logistical view of what was going on in the DMZ (where guard posts were and some interesting facts about the military capability around the DMZ both past and present), but it also had its disadvantages, the chief one being that I felt we were given a very Pro -USA Anti-North Korea viewpoint (understandable, given who the guides were!).
Nevertheless, we were allowed into the DMZ itself althought this time we weren't allowed into the meeting houses at Panmunjom because there was actually a meeting taking place that day.
Here is a video of our drive by though.....if you pause the video near the start you can see all the NK soldiers standing about....a lot more than last time. SK and NK. The white fenceposts at the end mark the actual border between SK and NK. I wouldn't fancy cutting that grass.......
After the DMZ we headed back to Incheon and mum stayed in a very nice love-motel, complete with whirlpool bath, huge bed and massive wall-mounted TV...all for 20 quid! Bargain, if you ignore what their main purpose is. That night we went out for a meal with various folk I have met here in Incheon, it was a great Galbi dinner.
The next day (Friday) we caught a bus from Incheon over to Sockcho on the East coast. Cue photo album number 2:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=103100&l=b0c61&id=777495416
The bus took about 4 hours but the seats were huge and there was lots of legroom so it was OK. On disembarking at Sockcho we were almost immediately pounced on by a woman who, after some price negotiation, led us to a rather huge but run-down looking motel. Mum was given a room on the 5th floor, and I was given one exactly 3 floors above. We both had a sea/rubbish tip view, and as we found out later on that night it also overlooked an amusement arcade/baseball range, so until the small hours we were both disturbed at regular intervals by a noise that sounds like someone dropping a bottle softly into a bottle bank (the baseballs being hit with a metal bat!) Anyway after, we checked in we went on a wee explore and went across the empty bridge (still kind of under construction), caught a funny wee hand-powered chain ferry across the harbour and had some dinner. Here is a video of us disembarking the chain ferry, and a picture of me lending a hand to pull us across.
The next morning we got up early and caught a local bus into Seoraksan National Park, considered to be one of the scenic highlights of a visit to South Korea. It was a bit misty, which meant that some of the peaks were obscured, but we decided to head up one of the trails anyway. After a brief stop at a temple we reached Heundal Bawi, which Lonely Planet had said was able to "be rocked to and fro by a small group of people." If you look at the pictures in the album, you can see it would not be the best idea. Maybe this was an example of the current news story circulating of Lonely Planet writers not actually visiting the places they write about, or maybe they were just having a bit of fun.
After a brief stop we continued onwards and upwards to scale Ulsan Bawi (873m). Again, from the pictures you can see that the word "scale" is certainly appropriate I think. It started snowing as we neared the top but we were amazed to find a small tent at the summit serving hot chocolate and the staff had a laptop, presumably for weather updates and to process any people who wanted a semi-professional photo taken. Some commute to work every day though!
After we had made it back down we headed up another (less demanding) trail to see some waterfalls, but in my opinion they were slightly dissapointing, probably due to the enormity of Ulsan Bawi and also that there was't much water flowing in the rivers. We then caught the bus back to Sockcho in time to get the bus back to Incheon. I headed out for a couple of beers with Scott and co as it was his last weekend in Korea, and mum resided in a slightly less classy love motel.
On Sunday we got up early again and took a taxi to Incheon's Yeonan pier with a view to catching a ferry direct to an island called Muuido (about 40 mins from Incheon) but there was none running so we got another taxi round to Wolmido (see previous blogs for details) and caught the more reliable ferry over to the airport island, Yeongjongdo.
Here begins the 3rd Facebbok album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=103512&l=9a421&id=777495416
The 1st 14 photos document the journey from Wolmido to Yeongjongdo, and then another ferry across to Muuido. From the pier we walked over to a nice beach on the other side of the island, stopping along the way for some lunch. The beach was also connected to an even smaller island called Silmido, which hs been used as a location for some films about the Korean War I think. It was great to get out of the city and wander along the sand. If it hadn't have been for the quad bikes and drunk folk wandering about, it could almost have been somewhere in Scotland.........hmmmmmm!
On the Monday morning Dinna (the headteacher at In-Dong, and who very kindly let mum stay with her and her husband in their apartment) picked us up and we went for lunch at a very nice restraunt in Songdo. The next couple of days were busy with mum visiting all 3 of my schools, and various meals with people. Mum managed a visit back into Seoul to get some souvenirs and also went to a Folk Village near Suwon. And then, before we knew it, it was time for her to go. I saw her out to the airport, and we said our goodbyes. it was so amazing to have her here and mum, if you're reading this, thankyou so much for coming out, I will never forget the laughs and things we saw together.
Since then, I have been keeping pretty busy. I am now playing badminton twice a week, which is great, both for fitness but it also makes a interesting change from running on a treadmill for half an hour. I am currently gym-less, so I have been out for a couple of jogs on the street but it gets a bit frustrating what with lots of red-man's and people staring/not looking where they're going. There have also been a fair few nights out (Gordie was over from Japan briefly last week so that was good) and yesterday (Sunday) me and a few boys went to watch Incheon's second league game at home.
See this album for all the photos. This album is titled "Random Korea" and is worth checking quite regularly as I update it quite often.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=98359&l=c22f7&id=777495416
On Saturday I went with one of my school's to an "English Village" North of Seoul. This is a whole village where the staff speak only English and is designed to immerse the kids in an English speaking environment. Of course, being a Saturday, the place was mobbed, and our director, in a fantastic effort of poor planning/cost cutting, had not booked any scenarios (eg post office, police station, airport immigration) for the kids to do so we basically walked around for most of the day. I think the kids enjoyed themselves but if I had been a parent sending my child on that and paying a substantial sum for the privilege, I would have been disgusted with the lack of planning. It is a miracle everybody got back on the bus. All part of a hagwon in Korea!
Here is a quick video of some of the kids playing at fountain (most of them are not GnB kids, there were lots of different schools there at once) and a link to the photo album of the day. Some good shots, even if I say so myself!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=107007&l=7244e&id=777495416
So that's about all the news from here I think, i'll try and update again soon.
Love to all as always, Neil
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