It is Monday night here, and I'm at the tail end of the Lunar New Year holiday in Korea. Unfortunately this year it fell on a weekend so we only got one extra day off, but as I will explain below it was still a good holiday. Before that though, a quick update on what I've been up to since my last blog (not a lot!)
January was a pretty full on month for teaching, I had extra classes at both schools, and although they only added up to about an hour extra each day, I had to prepare a bit for them and I finished the month feeling pretty tired. Still, the working hours when compared to other jobs were still not too bad (1-9pm). Plus I received a little extra money, and like Tesco say, 'every little helps'.
In part due to the extra teaching which tired me out, and also that Lisa was away in Vietnam for 2 weeks with some of her friends, AND the cold weather, I lay pretty low for most of the month. Two events that bucked this trend were a trip to Sorae, and a visit to Hongdae to see a Queen tribute band.
The Queen tribute band were part of a 'Rock Night' that was being held in a club called Funky Funky's. In my first year in Korea I spent a lot of time in that club, and had no particular desire to go back, but the band came highly recommended from Neil and Kyongmi so I decided I had to see them. Neil, Kyongmi and I had a few drinks at their place first, then caught the bus into Hongdae and made our way to FF's. We got there a bit before 'Queen' came on, just in time to see a Mika tribute, and a crazy Daft Punk tribute who all wore motorbike helmets, but they were pretty good. Then it was time for Queen. The lead singer came on in a black leather jacket and white vest, complete with fake moustache and slicked back hair. He looked great (interpret that as you will!), but sounded better. His voice was amazing, and he was a great front man. The guitarist was also superb, complete with Brian May style wig and jacket. It was a great set, they played all the classics and Neil and I especially enjoyed 'I Was Born To Love You'. I think Neil took some pictures so if I can get a hold of some I'll post them here.
The only other interesting thing I did in January that merits a mention was a Sunday trip to Sorae, near Incheon. Sorae is a fishing port located at the mouth of a small river, I had seen it a few times when on the nearby motorway but had never thought about going there. After working out how to get there by bus, off I went. It only took about 20mins on the bus, and upon arriving, I went for a walk about the large fish market. Being a Sunday, it was very busy with folk buying and eating all kinds of fish and other seafood. I wandered about for a while, had a walk across a rickety old railway bridge, and a cold walk along the river bank, and then headed back. Here's a couple of photos and a link to some more on FB.
Fishing boats at Sorae.
View seaward from the bridge.
It was an interesting afternoon, and probably one of the last new places I feel I had left to explore within a reasonable distance from my home here in Incheon. Seoul still has some places left to visit, but most other places within an hour or two of Incheon that I wanted to see I already have. I suppose that is another indication that my time here in Korea is drawing to a close, I am starting to run out of things to do. If I ever came back to Korea to work and live, I would definitely live somewhere other than Incheon.
Into February, and the 1st weekend saw another ski trip, this time to Vivaldi Park. Callum had managed to procure some free ski passes, so we (Callum, Craig and I) headed there on a free shuttle bus early on Saturday morning. We arrived to a very cold snow park, where things were just getting going. After getting our passes and renting our gear (I opted for a snowboard again), we hit the slopes. To begin with it was quite quiet, but it quickly got busier and busier, to a point where we were waiting 10-15 mins to get on the lifts. I remembered the basics of snowboarding, but still fell over a lot and had to deal with the increasing amount of other people on the slopes, so there were a few collisions. Mid-morning, Conor, Steph and their boss Daniel joined us, and at lunchtime we went to the summit restaurant for some lunch and enjoyed the views. After a few more runs in the afternoon, we boarded the bus back to Bupyeong and had 'several' beers.
It was a great day, and I thank Callum for the opportunity, but as I will explain below, it may be the last time I ever snowboard.
View from the summit at Vivaldi.
Craig and Callum on the slopes.
Coming down on the gondola after my binding broke. You can see the huge queues for the lifts.
Lisa wasn't up for the trip to Vivaldi, but still fancied skiing, so we decided to head to Gangchon this weekend (where I 1st skied in December) as Conor and Steph were going there and also because it can be reached by train (Lisa's not a huge fan of buses and we also knew the traffic at LNY would be terrible). So, it was up bright and early on Saturday to get the subway to Cheongyangni station where we boarded the train to Gangchon. Upon arrival we checked into a motel and met up with Conor and Steph. They had brought the car, so once we'd got ready we drove up to the ski resort. Conor had also bagged some free passes (where do all these passes come from?!) so that helped with the cost. This time I opted to ski. What a revelation it was. I immediately found it easier. Easier to go down the slope, easier to move on the flat snow, and easier to use the ski lifts (although getting off took me a while to master). It felt so good to be able to move down the slopes and not be falling over every 100m. In fact, I never fell at all on the beginner slopes, we had one run at the Intermediate and that caused some problems but even getting back up proved easier on the skis. Here's a couple of pictures and the link to the album on FB.
Lisa on the slopes.
The queue for the lifts. Not busy at all!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=385768&id=777495416&l=77535d9386
After an afternoon skiing we headed back to our motel to freshen up and then went for a nice dakgalbi dinner and couple of beers. The next morning, Conor and Steph headed off back to Seoul but Lisa and I hung around and rented some quad bikes. We went along the same road as I had on the last trip, although this time it was a lot snowier which made things interesting. I love quad biking, it's great fun!
After the biking we caught a train back to Seoul, and made our way over to Gangnam. We had tried to go to a Brazilian restaurant there before Christmas but it was fully booked, so this time I made reservations. Basically, you pay 25,000 Won (about £12) and this gets you some small side dishes and an unlimited supply of meat. The waiters come round the tables with all sorts of different meats, steak, pork, lamb, sausages, ham, all delicious. After a while we got too full and had to decline any more, but it was a great feed. After dinner we walked back to Gangnam station and got the bus back to Incheon from there.
The outside of the restaurant (I forgot to take pictures of the food)
Today, I had a lazy day with Lisa, we headed over to New Songdo in the hope that a Western cafe there would be open but it wasn't, so we came back to Yeonsu and had some tofu stew and then ice-cream. I am planning on giving up junk food for Lent, so it may have been my last ice-cream for a while!
Although January was a quiet month, I have been busy planning my trip to SE Asia in May/June. I've booked my flight to Bangkok, so all the major travel is now booked and paid for. I still need to decide on my overland route from Hanoi-Bangkok, but that can wait a bit. I have also booked my ticket back to the UK in June, so I will leave Korea for good on the 27th.
In the near future, Lisa and I are planning our road-trip that has been postponed a few times, we have long weekend at the start of March so we're thinking then. Lisa is still waiting to hear if she has been accepted into the universities she has applied for in Australia, but all signs are looking positive and I am confident she will get in. Once that has happened, we can think a bit more about those plans but for now they are on hold. Still, that's a while away yet....plenty of time to sort things out. I will finish with a wee photo of me dressed in some lovely ski gear. The next blog will probably come in a month or so, so until then, in the style of Tony The Tiger, I hope your Lunar New Year was Grrrrrrrrrrreat!
In the near future, Lisa and I are planning our road-trip that has been postponed a few times, we have long weekend at the start of March so we're thinking then. Lisa is still waiting to hear if she has been accepted into the universities she has applied for in Australia, but all signs are looking positive and I am confident she will get in. Once that has happened, we can think a bit more about those plans but for now they are on hold. Still, that's a while away yet....plenty of time to sort things out. I will finish with a wee photo of me dressed in some lovely ski gear. The next blog will probably come in a month or so, so until then, in the style of Tony The Tiger, I hope your Lunar New Year was Grrrrrrrrrrreat!
Sorry.
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