Pre-Japan blogtime

Hi,
To make this post a little more exciting (can a blog be exciting...of course!) I'm going to set a challenge to you, the reader, but also to myself, to test my writing skills and imagination. Yesterday, Neil, Greg and I went to Seoul and met Tom Cruise. Pics and a video are below, but in my post today I'm also going to try and include as many titles of films he has starred in, or will star in, in my blogging. Your mission should you choose to accept it, is to identify as many as possible and then leave me a comment with your answer, or for those of you who don't have Blogger accounts, a Facebook post would do. For those of you have neither....answers on a postcard. Mission Impossible? I think not.

So, the last time I blogged it was New Year's Day I think. Unfortunately, I had to work the next day, the firm I work for decided they would not give us any easy rides over the festive period, so all the young guns were ready for their English lessons on the Friday, but I was not! The last few weeks have been all about being reserved and trying to save cash, I feel I know the color of money all too well right now, such is my attention to how much of it I am spending. The Won-Yen exchange rate is pretty poor right now, which means I will have less to spend in Japan. I am hoping it will improve and I have been hanging on to try and get the best rate, but that in itself is a risky business. It's a shame because I really wanted to buy a Samurai sword this trip. As it turns out, Samurai swords have been flying off the shelves recently, my friend Gordon who lives in Kyoto got caught up in it on his way home from work the other day, as many Japanese people were rushing to a store to buy the last samurai they had left in stock. Sounds pretty mental.

Greg and I are preparing for our trip, we still have to get our passports stamped with a re-entry permit so we can get back into Korea, and also buy our rail passes before we leave. We fly out with Korean Air on Friday, I joined their website to get discount tickets, I get a flyer pass at the silver level, but unfortunately I am not a goldmember yet. Maybe if I do a bit more travelling I can achieve that! the rough plan is to do Kyoto on Friday, then meet Gordie (legend) on Saturday and have a night out with him, and then head up to Tokyo on Sunday, and then back down to Osaka on Monday night. By the time we head back on Tuesday morning, I am anticipating being pretty tired, so I will probably want to sleep on the plane, but I also have a window seat, and I love looking at the view. How to see the view but also sleep at the same time? I suppose I'll have to have my eyes wide shut ha ha!

Anyway, back to Korea. I have been doing a bit exploring of the Yeonsu-Gu area, I went for a nice walk the other day down by a kind of river (more like a storm drain really), here is a photo looking up the river.



It was bitterly cold that day (the river was frozen over) and it has been for the last while. I used to think I liked the cold, and ice and snow, but these days i consider myself to be more of a rain man. Roll on the days of thunder and lightning, and long hot summer days!
Today, Greg and I took a trip to the Incheon landing memorial and then climbed up the hill and walked back to Yeonsu-Gu via the trail. I think Greg enjoyed seeing the various pieces of military hardware from the Korean War era. I am glad I wasn't in Incheon at that time, it must have felt like the war of the worlds back then. There is still the threat from North Korea of course, but if both parties make all the right moves another crisis can be averted I'm sure. For now, both sides still seem to think they are top gun though. Anyway, here are a couple of photos from today.



It was a shame the visibility was so poor, very hazy, with a sort of magnolia/vanilla sky, that although meant we couldn't see much, was beautiful in itself.



Me at the top of the hill. I was losin' it a bit at this point, due to my fear of heights. Ahhhhh!

And so, onto the highlight of the year for me so far (early days yet!). Yesterday, Greg, Neil and I went to Yongsan CGV and awaited the arrival of Mr Cruise, in Korea to promote his new film. There was already a big crowd gathered by the time we arrived, but being three big Western boys (some might call us the outsiders) we were able to make our way to almost the front of the masses so that when he arrived, we were in prime position. Tom has a reputation for being very good to his fans, and he didn't disappoint. He must have spent almost an hour singing autographs, posing for photos and talking to fans, including us. I think he was genuinely surprised to see some Western faces in the crowd, and exclaimed "what are you guys doing here?" when he saw us! We had a bit of banter about some of his films, and told him that "Scotland loves you" to which he replied "I love Scotland". So there you go, for those of you north of the border, Tom Cruise loves YOU! We had all brought along DVD's for him to sign (we would have been happy with one, but having one each provided some collateral), and despite me dropping mine (thankfully, there are a few good men in this world, and one of them gave it back to me), he signed them all. We also got to shake his hand and when we left he said goodbye to us, and he seemed genuinely happy to have seen us. I was certainly happy to have met him.
Here are a few pictures, a video (loud!!!) and also a couple of links for pictures and a video taken by a Korean company in which you can hear us and see our arms!








http://tv.jknews.co.kr/article/news/20090117/8580075.htm (the Korean video with us)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=206137&l=697ec&id=777495416 (my facebook album of TC)

A good weekend is almost over, and now I have four days of teaching left before Japan. This time next week I will be far and away in Tokyo, maybe sipping on a cocktail, but definitely drinking in all that Japan has to offer. Until then, goodbye.

HELP ME.......TO HELP YOU.

How many did you get?