Day 178 - Wednesday 5th April 2006 - Colin's Account

Another new place and the land of Kimchi, a type of fermented cabbage with chilli. Sounds disgusting, but I promise you it's superb. It gets dark here a fair bit earlier than Hong Kong and is a lot colder.

The first part of the day was obviously still in Hong Kong and having decided to skip going back into China and up the coast to Shanghai and then taking a boat to Korea, we are flying instead. This wasn't just laziness, by the way, as the Chinese embassy is shut today and so we would have had to have spent at least two extra days in Hong Kong waiting for a visa.

The service to the airport is excellent. There are several bus stops in the area which whisk you free of charge to the train station in Central district. At the train station you can actually check in for your flight and having rid ourselves of our bags, we were able to relax on the train for the 30 minute journey to the airport, situated on Lantau island.

The flight to Seoul, which takes about three hours was uneventful and we were soon going through immigration. You don't need a visa to enter South Korea and our passports were duly stamped with a ninety day entry permit. You are supposed to have an onward or return ticket, as in many places, but as is often the case, we have no definite idea of where we are going next, so always buy one way tickets. This always makes the travel agents gasp, but not one country has yet to object, long may it continue.

They did however object to my Thai hunting knife which was at the bottom of my rucksack and all but forgotten by me. When I pulled my rucksack off the conveyor belt there was some bright yellow house brick type of thing attached to the strap. A customers lady ran over and said 'so sorry, but you have knife?'. Suddenly realising I did, I dug it out of the rucksack and handed it over. Several other customs guys came over to examine it and seeing the military style sheath asked me if I was army!

One of them piped up that he thought it might be too long to be allowed in to the country, but he would measure it and check with his supervisor to be sure. A few minutes later he came back and said very apologetically that it was a bit too long and so would I mind if they kept it until I was ready to leave the country. As we are leaving by boat and won't be coming back to the airport, I told him to keep it or throw it away as he saw fit and he was quite obviously upset at depriving me of one of my possessions. Waving us off through the exit doors, they wished me an enjoyable stay in Korea.

Finding your way around Seoul is a bit of a minefield. Allegedly they have almost no street names and number 27, for example, could easily be next to number 322. The humble fax is alive and well here as people fax each other maps of how to find their address. Knowing a few landmarks is also very helpful.

Having been dropped off by the airport limousine bus at slightly the wrong place we had no chance of orientating ourselves and after wandering around aimlessly in the cold and dark for 20 minutes trying to work the map out, we hailed a passing taxi. Needless to say he also had no idea of where our chosen Guesthouse was, but we had the telephone number and he spent 5 minutes on the phone getting the directions.

One we were on the way, I noticed he hadn't put the meter on and asked him to do so. His reply was music to the ears after the usual antics of cab drivers (Sorry Phil) around the world. He said 'Sorry, but no charge, only service for you'. The fact is that the Koreans are unfailingly polite, very helpful, kind, generous and seem to love Westerners and English speakers in particular.

This opinion was about to be slightly dented at our guesthouse as, although they were polite, we were presented with a huge list of rules and regulations on our arrival. Amongst them were no food or drink, especially alcohol, in your room. No washing (of clothes) after 3pm, Internet off at 10pm, 1am curfew, no shoes and no smoking (or you will be asked to leave without refund). As the room was a little bit mouldy, smelly and run down like the rest of the establishment in general we felt this a bit harsh and resolved to move on quickly. We soon found out though, from an American called Robert, that few of these rules are actually enforced, which is just as well as we found a wine bar and didn't get in until 1.45am on our first night.

This was only slightly before a Japanese guest who had been on the local tipple called Soju staggered in. When I told him we were off to Japan in a few weeks, he said 'don't bother, awful place'. I persisted saying we wanted to visit and how long should we stay. 'Oh two days, actually maybe just one' he said and with that lurched off to one the dormitories to sleep it off. 

Day 179 - Thursday 6th April 2006 - Sam's Account

Walked all day today. We moseyed around Insadong a very happening road just near to our hotel and found an excellent Korean restaurant to have a vast feast of the most deliciously amazing Korean food. Excellent (see the photo when we get round to sending it up!).

A street show of traditional dancing and drum playing was drawing crowds at the bottom of Insadong road and we watched a few energetic and colourful performances before moving on.

We then visited Gyeongbokgung Palace, which was OK but fairly uninteresting. It reminded me of a smaller, modernised, less grand Forbidden City. The palace has been renovated and unfortunately has absolutely no character left in it at all other than a few original features (under floor heating chimney ducts / a mural). The folk museum attached to the palace was much more worth a visit although we didn't learn an awful lot because it mainly covered the Neolithic, stone & bronze ages, although the design and layout of the exhibits were impressive.

Dinner was in a local small smoky bar. All the suits were in there winding down from a long days work and the noisy chatting added to an energetic atmosphere. American break dancing was showing on a drop down screen in the background. Hmm. We ate the bars speciality; fried chicken in a cinnamon batter washed down with the local beer "Cass".

I smelt like I need disinfecting!

Day 180 -  Friday 7th April 2006 - Colin's Account

We have had enough of Seoul Backpackers Guesthouse and early this morning I nipped out to check out the competition and a bare 30m away, I found a little motel run by an old Korean lady and her son. The difference was at once obvious, instead of a list of what you can't do pinned to the wall, there was a list of what they can do for you and our room although smaller is much nicer. They actually give you towels and there is a TV, a fridge and a bath. The whole place is much better looked after with eggs included in the 'free' breakfast, as opposed to just toast and a much more sensible breakfast deadline of 10.30am as opposed to 9am. Oh and it's cheaper. So I told her I'd be back in 30 minutes and rushed off to get Sam and check out of Seoul backpackers before their 10.00am (or we'll charge you for another day) check out time. 

This achieved we headed for the City bus tour, I know, I know, very touristy, but it was really useful. The usual hop on hop off type of service with something like 31 stops. We first stopped at the new National Museum, completed last year. The original was used by the Japanese as part of their government buildings during the occupation of Korea, so it was felt a new one was needed. It is huge and you have to walk for about 4km to cover all the exhibits.

We stopped in Itaewon, a shopping area, but it was not very interesting or up market. Next stop was Namsangol, a traditional Korean Village that they have rebuilt in the centre of the city. The houses date from about 100 years ago and depicts life for the well off at that time. Full of the day to day things they would use, together with the odd 'resident' in full regalia made it a fascinating visit. All the floors have under heating and the smoke from the fires escapes up ornate chimneys attached to the sides of the houses. Attached to the village area is the time capsule, containing over 600 everyday items. It is due to be opened in 2394 AD on the one thousandth anniversary of the city of Seoul. Inscribed on the stone above the capsule are wishes of hope and prosperity from many dignitaries around the world. Jacques Chirac, for example, who wrote when he was still just Mayor of Paris. 

There is a mountain in the middle of Seoul called Namsan and on top is the North Seoul Tower reaching some 418m above sea level. Using one of our discount vouchers, which you get free with the city tour bus tickets, we paid to go up to the observation deck. From here on a clear day you can see parts of North Korea and the China Sea. As you walk around, each window in the tower faces at a slightly different compass point and in the top corner of each window is the city or cities that you will find in that direction, together with the distance. For your info the North Pole is 5500km and the South Pole 14500km. The farthest point away from us is Buenos Aires in Argentina at 19100km with Santiago in Chile a close second.

They have a beautiful and very classy, revolving restaurant even higher up the tower and in a moment of weakness, I reserved a table for the two of us for tomorrow evening.

Day 181 - Saturday 8th April 2006 - Sam's Account

Decided to hop back on the City Tour bus again today. It really is such an easy way to get around. Our first stop was Namdaemun Market which was a real hustle bustle as markets usually are. I bought some pink high heeled shoes for this evenings posh meal Colin has booked. It was either that or arrive in my hiking boots, so the 10 000 Won investment to save my dignity (and Colin's for that matter) was well worth it.

The second stop was Yongsan Station where they have an enormous electronics market that Colin was aching to see.

It is huge, no vast. Well whichever is bigger! In fact, it is too big and having traipsed around for an hour or so we still hadn't found any PDA's, or Palms to be precise. Disgruntled we left and decided to grab a sandwich to keep us going until our posh dinner this evening.

Unfortunately finding a sandwich was like trying to find a Palm. It took us ages to find somewhere to eat and then ended up having to queue for Pizza Hut. Great, not! Although I have to admit it did go down very well after all. So all in all the shopping centre is an absolute nightmare, you can't find a thing and the place is so vast you are exhausted just by looking at it!

Moving on, we decided to walk to our next stop as the traffic was mounting up and thought it would be quicker on foot. Impressively, we found it without too much difficulty. I say impressively because as we have already pointed out there are no road names in Korea so even armed with a few tourist maps it's total guess work to find where you want to go.

The second stop was the war memorial museum and the army equipment was interesting. Missiles, tanks, fighter planes etc... We even saw a scud missile which had been used in the Gulf war.

We then went to the USA Army base camp to enquire about visits to the DMZ (demilitarised zone) and on arrival we were brusquely asked by fully uniformed army men to produce  our I.D. We dug out our passports and asked for the tour bus to the DMZ. "You gotta be jokin!" he drawled. "It's the USO that organise all the tourist stuff."

"Terribly sorry old chap" we profess and make a quick exit having been given instructions on how to get to the USO (United Services Organisation) to book our tour. Ooops!

Clambering back on the bus we sit watching Seoul go by until our last stop; Deahangno which is an area with lots of theatres, jazz & blues bars and as usual in Seoul, loads and loads of restaurants. This is evidently where the young hip wannabe's hang out and I felt an old, un-hip has-been compared to these lot. Humph! Anyhow, I managed to stand tall and bought my very cheap, but very effective pink scarf to go with my shoes for this evening along with some nail varnish. I know, I know I keep talking about it but the last time I went to a posh restaurant was for my 30th and I'm really looking forward to it.

Back at the hostel I was trying to glam myself up with my backpackers wardrobe and the few accessories I had. We were off.

Jumping in a cab (yeah baby, no buses for us tonight!) we made our way to Namsan Seoul Tower where the cab dropped us to then take the cable car to the summit.

At the summit we went directly to the lift which took us up a further 120 metres and our ears popped as we arrived at 480 metres above sea level and the rotating "n.GRILL by VIPS" restaurant. Odd name I know, but it rotates and is high up and I'm a sucker for all that jazz!

The view over Seoul at night is beautiful and the service is impeccable. Too good in fact, so we had to ask them to go away and leave us alone for a while so we could actually enjoy the evening without being constantly interrupted with bread, butter, wine, water, napkin and whatever else service. God life's a bitch!!

The food was very good. Smoked salmon salad starter - Soup (I had wild mushroom and Colin had Clam chowder) - 250gm rib-eye steak with all the trimmings (even some posh mash) - cheesecake & ice cream - coffee. Wow, what a gut buster! Fabulous.

We were kicked out by the cleaner vacuuming under our table and thankfully managed to find a bus back into town where we could then pick up a cab as the cable car had finished for the night.

Day 182 - Sunday 9th April 2006 - Colin's Account

A lazy day walking around Insadong with it's numerous art galleries and bars. Bright neon lights abound and Korean restaurants and big American fast food places fight it out for street space. Internet cafe's do not exist as such in Korea, it all seems to be PC gaming places with some internet facilities and they are all even more scared of allowing me to plug my laptop into their networks than they were in Laos.

Sometimes it seems more alien here than anywhere else we have been so far. I can't quite put my finger on it as they are quite westernised in many ways and quite a few speak some English. On the flip side, their way of doing things makes for some big difficulties. The Internet cafe's I have already mentioned, but also travel agents seem to specialise in only one type of travel. All our efforts to book a domestic flight at several different places all met with the comment that they only 'do' International travel. ATM's will accept your visa/debit card, ask if you would like to make a withdrawal, talk to you in English and then right at the end just when you whip your wallet out to receive the 'readies', it will tell you it doesn't accept foreign cards.

Some restaurants will serve tea, but not beer and others beer, but not tea. What makes it particularly difficult in Seoul is, like Hong Kong, many places are on the 2nd, 3rd or 4th floor with only a little sign on the street. Fine in HK where the signs are often in English as well as Cantonese, but not here, so I guess we are missing a lot of potential places. Something else different is that we are regularly stopped by students with questionnaires or tests for us on their English pronunciation. They always want us to sign their 'paperwork' and have their photo taken with us. They don't actually get us to grade their work and I assume that they will all give themselves A+ grade's once back at home. One girl wanted my photo, my signature, my name plus the spelling and my address. I assume she's knocking up the fake ID's as I write.

Day 183 - Monday 10th April 2006 - Sam's Account

Stayed in bed all day.

Day 184 - Tuesday 11th April 2006 - Colin's Account

Still in Seoul and I've booked for my girls to come over to Thailand this summer for six weeks. So a holiday of diving, swimming, sunbathing, beaches and tropical weather beckons on the horizon. I have also booked a trip to the DMZ (Demilitarised zone) at the 38th parallel, sandwiched between the North and The South of Korea, for tomorrow, it should be very interesting. There is a dress code, checkpoints, passports are obligatory and you have to sign a waiver in case the North Koreans happen to launch an invasion while you are there, but more on this tomorrow.

Lunch was 'interesting' as for once there were no pictures and we had to wing it. The girls at the table next to us seemed to have a good feast on the go so we ordered the same as them. A bit of a mistake! The soup was some sort of milky coloured fermented gruel that was, frankly awful and the rest, while nice and spicy, had quite a few additives. It was expensive and probably from a packet. However everyone was very friendly and took pains to try and help us order. After the event, I sort of wish they hadn't bothered. Never mind you live and learn, the food is normally excellent in Korea. 

Today we are heading south of the river to the 1988 Olympic stadium and park. Our first ride on the Seoul underground went off without a hitch, despite the fact that some stations appear to have the same name.

The underground costs 900Won for up to 12km and then 100Won more for the next 6km. The trains are much wider than the UK, which is just as well as people were rolling on huge trolleys loaded with boxes, which they then had to carry up the stairs to get back to street level.

The Olympic park is quite impressive with flags from nearly every nation on earth. Speed skaters fly around the paved walkways and the Olympic eternal flame still burns brightly in the centre.

The museum contains a potted history of the modern Olympics plus a history of the ancient competition. Several sportsmen and women are featured including Jesse Owens, Emile Zatopek, Nadia Comaneci and Mark Spitz.  Downstairs is an area where you can play on various sports simulators, but we ran out of time to be able to have a go on these.

Nearby is the Lotte theme park, a Korean Disneyland, which we avoided and a huge shopping centre with an amazing food section on the ground floor with piles of Kimchi, Squid, various Korean delicacies including dog, pastries and pretty much everything else. The shops were mainly designer labels and I had to drag Sam away before she caught sight of the Lancel handbags.

I haven't given you my usual info on the local beer yet so, for the record, the main brew is Cass or Hite and the prices vary widely. Some places charge 4000Won for a 330ml bottle and others 5000Won for 500ml. Draught is cheaper at 2500-3500Won for 700ml in huge long glasses, so there you have it.
 

Day 185 - Wednesday 12th April 2006 - Sam's Account

Today was the first day we had to actually get up early in ages. Shock horror! In many ways it was good having an actual schedule for the day.

We were off to see the DMZ (demilitarised zone) which is a stretch of land 4 kilometres wide along the entire boarder of North and South Korea; 2 kilometres of the DMZ is in North and 2 belong to the South. The border is at 38 degrees latitude across the entire Korean peninsula.

Now to put things in situation for you :

After the defeat of Japan in world war II it was Koreas misfortune to be occupied by two armies; the Soviet Union in the North and the United States in the South. By 1948, the Soviet and American troops had been withdrawn from the Korean peninsula, but while the Americans only supplied arms for self-defence to the South, the USSR provided the North with a vast array of weaponry to create a powerful army. On Sunday 25th June 1950 at 4am the North Korean army invaded. American's responded by sending in troops, who were soon joined by UN forces who supported America's action. The USSR absented herself from security council deliberations. After an extremely bad start for South Koreans, who were pushed back to a holding on the South East coast at Busan, they rallied and with the UN, within a month had thrown back the North Korean army to the North of the country. Having lost the war the North Koreans decided to outsource the job to the Chinese. In November 1950 over one million communist Chinese troops poured into Korea and pushed the UN troops back to the 38th parallel. Negotiations for a truce after six months of stalemate fighting dragged on for two years and eventually led to the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) and the truce village of Panmunjeom where both sides continue to periodically exchange heated discussions. The war ended in 1953 with Korea in ruins, Seoul was flattened having changed hands no less than four times and millions of people were left homeless with industry destroyed and the countryside totally devastated. In the South, 47 000 Koreans had lost their lives, and 200 000 wounded. Of the UN troops, 37 000 were killed (mostly Americans) and 120 000 wounded, Combined military and civilian casualties in the North were estimated at up to two million.

And today?

Today, although the younger generations resistance to Confucianism is unsettling the societies hierarchy and the government and heads of industry are viewed as greedy and corrupt, Korea has a bright future. The people are hard working, highly educated (as some ensure they have 2 or 3 degrees to secure a good job) and motivated. Their film industry is now successfully taking on Hollywood in terms of box-office sales within Korea. The South has a lenient "sunshine policy" towards the North. Mines have been cleared and the road and rail networks have been paved to show the way to a future reunification with the North, which, when you ask people, tell you that this is what they want.

One day the DMZ will disappear but as South Korea prospers and North Korea continues to suffer almost famine conditions (people are dying of starvation there already), the cost of any future unification grows by the year. To raise the standard of living in the North to equal that of the South would be a far greater challenge than that faced by West Germany when it reunited with the East. Also, after living for so long under two completely different economic and political systems, the mind-set in the two halves of Korea is very different. Defectors from the North can have considerable difficulty adapting to Southern ways.
-------
The first stop on our tour was Imjingak Park and Freedom Bridge. These are located 7 kilometres from the Military demarcation line. Following the end of the Korean war some 13,000 prisoners of war crossed the bridge for freedom in the south. Many families were separated during the war and today you can still see the yellow ribbons and messages of hope that their families will one day be reunited.

The second stop was a Theatre and Exhibition hall. The DMZ theatre shows a short film vividly depicting the history of the Cold War and reconciliation, the past and the future of the DMZ.

Next we visited the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel which is the third of four tunnels dug by the North to invade the South. This one was discovered in 1978 and is only 45 kilometres from Seoul. The latest tunnel to be discovered in the North East of South Korea was in 1992. The Southern Koreans are now constantly on the look out for further tunnels and believe that the North's effort to invade them through this tunnelling system continues. The 3rd Infiltration tunnel is 1635 metres long, 2 metres high and 2 metres wide. It is apparently capable of accommodating the rapid movement of about 10 000 battle-equipped foot soldiers through it per hour. This visit was definitely the highlight of the day's tour and our guide explained to our little group of three that when South Korea discovered this tunnel the North decided to coat all the walls in coal in the hope that the Southerners would not believe it's true purpose. This tunnel would have taken a further 20 years of excavation to reach Seoul and the planed method of attack on arriving in Seoul is still not known.

We left the Tunnel in a fairly unconventional way; our guide told the guard that I was pregnant and therefore we all needed to take the shuttle train back up to the surface. I was not best pleased about this allegation especially as I had been counting on my walk back up to the surface as my days exercise. Without wanting to get our guide in trouble, I just nodded gravely at the guard and patted my tummy. We all hopped on the train for the 73 metre ascent.

Our fourth stop was the Dora Observatory. From here you can see the border village of Gijong in North Korea, which is a fake. No one actually lives there at all other than some military personnel, who raise and lower the Korean flag morning and night. Looking through the binoculars the eeriness of the whole place hit us. We could also see Kaesong, Koreas 3rd largest city in the far distance and this is inhabited. The inhabitants mainly work in factories which produce goods for South Korea. It is absolutely amazing to learn that although the North and South are at war they are actually doing business together! Most of South Korea's household goods and clothes are made by the North and brought through the DMZ for delivery to the South.

Lastly we stopped at Dorsan Station which drew media attention when President Bush visited in 2002. It stands right on the Southern demarcation line of the DMZ, the northernmost station of Gyeong-ui Railway in South Korea. This Train station has been built with the future in mind and it's destination is Pyeongyang, the capital of North Korea. This railway station is at present unused other than for shuttling military personnel to and from the heavily protected boarder. The amount of investment that this station has received in view of its inutility is a perfect illustration of the hope Southern Korea has for a reunified future.

Day 186 - Thursday 13th April 2006 - Colin's Account

We are leaving Seoul today and heading south. Having booked a ticket on the KTX, Korea's version of the Japanese Bullet train or French TGV, we headed for Yongsan station in downtown Seoul.

The train on the outside looks very similar to the TGV and brought back memories of the dozens of trips that we have made between Lille and London, in 'another' life. The speed is indicated on a TV screen in the roof of the carriage and at one point we reached 303.4kmh.

Arriving in the seaside town of Mokpo, which is the end of the line for the KTX, we soon found a excellent motel, which even has a computer and free internet in every room plus all the usual facilities, for less than we paid in Seoul.

The town itself has that certain something that, wherever you go, always suggests the seaside and as a fishing port there are several markets, all dedicated to fish and fishing. A dried fish market with dozens of shops and stalls, complete with drying racks and strange fish hanging to dry in the wind, competes with the many fresh fish stalls. Neither of us could name one in ten of the different fish, but piles of eels lay on the pavement together with huge skate and rays. One shop boasted enormous slabs of fish which where nearly as big as coffee tables and that was just one piece. God knows how big the monster was that it came from.

Other stalls were busy finely slicing hake, amongst others, to make Sashimi and Sushi. Further along were shops full of nets, wading boots, anchor's, GPS equipment and storm jackets. Outside many of these were men and woman hunched over bales of wire sewing new nets or repairing old ones.

Our most pressing task was to find the ferry port as we are leaving tomorrow for Jejudo, a sub tropical island 4.30 hours by ferry from Mokpo. As there are half a dozen terminals, numerous companies and very little English spoken or understood, this was not an easy task. Finally we found a shipping company that has two daily sailings to Jejudo from the International car ferry passenger terminal, even though Jejudo is part of Korea.

On the way back we managed to find the centre of the town and saw that some sort of festival was going on. Roads were closed and large stages set up at strategic intervals with music and bands playing. On one stage a old guy had decided to get stuck in early and was warbling some strange tune all on his own with no audience. We quickly moved on, especially as there is a biting wind coming in from the direction of China.

Day 187 - Friday 14th April 2006 - Sam's Account

We travelled over to the South island of Jejudo today by ferry. The island is also known as "Honeymoon Island" and is used as a holiday destination for all the Koreans during the summer months of July and August. The ferry crossing took 5 hours and cost 28 000 Won each for second class. On arrival we saw what second class actually was; a raised carpeted platform which you sit or lie on with 20 other people. 3rd class was the same set up, but you share with 50 people and only have one window and no TV. Very odd. Considering this is a day time trip we couldn't understand why they didn't just have seating for everyone like the good old P&O ferries back home. Anyhow, upper second class were bunk beds and first class was your own cabin with a double bed. Bizarre!

Having had a hot Kimchi stew for breakfast, I snuggled into my sleeping bag and slept for the whole journey. Colin played on the arcade games (which apparently were like the old pub ones which he used to be pub champion for!) and found the bar. He was bought a few beers by some Korean guys who were all drunk and made some new friends of them even though none of them spoke any English and our Korean is just as non existent as it always used to be.

We luckily managed to share a taxi down to the Southern coast of Jejudo on arrival at the port and hopped in with a Korean sailor who was wearing his full regalia of a blue and white sailor suit. This saved us messing around trying to understand the bus system and finding the bus stop etc... We paid 15 000 Won for the two of us, which was half the price of the full trip to the South. The bus would have cost around 4 000 won per person + a cab ride to the bus station, so we got a fairly good deal. The taxi driver was quite pissed and as Colin lolled around in the back with a soppy grin on his face, I got us buckled up for the journey which was quite hair raising at times.

On arrival in the South of the island, a town called Seogwipo, the taxi driver took us directly to a cheap motel and we checked in for 15 000 Won a night.

We found a better motel to check into for tomorrow. Kevin, the Korean owner has just started his motel business 4 months ago and couldn't do enough for us. There is internet, a kitchen, we can hire bikes AND HE SPEAKS ENGLISH. HOORAY!

The evening was spent in a Tea & Beer house which was a cross between a rustic beer house and a posh pub.

I love the Koreans, they are sooo friendly, honest, hard working genuine people. Korea is a fascinating country although a difficult place to travel. Not necessarily because you can't read or understand anything at all, although that of course is a major handicap, it is just that they have a totally different way of living to us which destabilises you, because it is a developed country. It is at least as expensive as France here so compared to China everything is 10 times as expensive. Basic tasks like finding an internet cafe, hopping on a bus to our desired destination or finding a quick sandwich are near to impossible. It is cold here at the moment, but when the sun shines this is honestly one of the best places to come for a real cultural discovery without leaving behind the modern conveniences of Western living standards. Either bring buckets of cash so you can hire a cab for the day to get around or a lot patience.
 

Day 188 - Saturday 15th April 2006 - Colin's Account

Moved hotel today as we have found another option called the Hiking Inn, which charges 20,000Won per night. The owners 'western' name is Kevin, not his real name of course, which is totally unpronounceable. He spent two years in the States, so his English is good and he has bikes for rent and free WI-FI internet.

He is a very nervous, plump chap who has been open for only four months and keeps offering us free cups of coffee and saying sorry. Having said that he's been very friendly and helpful, although it can be hard getting much sense out of him in the morning as there seems to be a celebration of some sort happening at the moment.

Found a dumpling place for lunch that was recommended by the Lonely Planet, but even though one type was filled with Kimchi, they were sadly not a patch on the one's in China.

The rest of the day was spent strolling around the town of Seogwipo, working on my book and talking to my mum on the phone whose birthday it is.

Day 189 - Sunday 16th April 2006 - Sam's Account

"Chick chick chick chick chicken lay a little egg for me, I haven't had an egg since Easter and it's only half past three, sooo chick chick chick chick chicken lay a little egg, yes, lay a little egg for me!!!" Going mad? No, it's just my Gran's Easter song. Happy Easter! I'll miss the Easter cake with the 12 marzipan apostles I have to fight Dad for each year, but, this said I had my own Easter treat from Colin; a little pack of 3 Ferrero Roche. Cor they went down well!

We had a really lovely, but tiring day today. We hired a couple of mountain bikes and set off along the South coast, westward, to soak in some sunshine rays, breathe the salt sea air and blow the cobwebs away! The scenery was really very beautiful; a mixture of Cornwall's rugged coast line and Southern Mediterranean villages. Tangerines and oranges were being sold everywhere and on one of our stops an elderly Korean lady gave me some Tangerine segments, which were delicious. Needless to say we ended up buying a few.

Our first stop was Oedolgae, where the coastline is particularly beautiful and we soon pressed on (up hill) to Jungmun beach, via a deserted coastal pathway. We collapsed and had a drink, then munching on a chunk of pineapple on a stick we were soon off again, cycling past the International convention centre, Yakcheonsa and then on our way back the World Cup football stadium. Thousands of sober, high spirited, happy fans were pouring out of the stands as we rode past.

We didn't feel the need to pay the high entrance fees to see the various en route attractions on our cycling trip as the main pleasure was just simply seeing the scenery.

In the end we had spent 5 and a half hours cycling and we were very pleased to get back to our hostel for a warm bath and something to eat.

We slept very well.

Day 190 - Monday 17th April 2006 - Colin's Account

Having failed dismally to hire a moped to get us around the island as they are only available in Jejudo-si (Jejudo City), we are taking the bus instead.

After a 40km bicycle ride yesterday, we have realised that the island is just too hilly to travel any serious distance by bike.

Our helpful hotel owner ran us up to the bus station, ensured we got the right tickets and told the bus driver where we wanted to be let off. We are heading for the Jeju folk village which covers 160,000 sqm and contains approx 100 traditional buildings from the late 19th Century. Split into sections there is a mountain village, a hill country village, a fishing village and a shamanism village. There were also examples of the houses inhabited by the diving women (Haenyeo) of Jeju. These women who often continue diving up until the age of 75 go down as far as 20m and can stay under for over two minutes. They dive in all weathers to collect edible seaweeds and shellfish. The tradition is slowly dying out, but there are still several thousand of them working the seas.

The mainland also used to exile people to Jeju and there were small settlements dotted around the island with minimal security called exile homes.

A famous Korean soap opera was filmed here and cardboard cut-outs of the stars surround the houses where it was filmed.

The houses are made from stone with wattle & daub and thatched roofs. The poorer houses have just one wooden support for the roof and many of them have charcoal kilns outside. All in all it was very interesting although many of the houses were same same, but different as the Thai's would say. We stopped at small restaurant for a late lunch where I had Kimchi, with well, more Kimchi.

Our bus driver on the way back could certainly have competed with the Russian bus driver we met in Lake Baikal, Siberia last October, as he also spent most of the journey on the wrong side of the road overtaking everything in sight. Another birthday today, my cousin Karen, happy birthday!

Day 191 - Tuesday 18th April 2006 - Sam's Account

We were going to climb up the dormant volcano in the middle of Jeju today. Woke up late to bad weather and thought better of it! Spent the day on internet doing research for our travels and trying to obtain a good deal for flights to Oz from Japan. I'm constantly on my new computer 24 hours a day at the moment. My tenaciousness has nothing to do with the MBA on-line study programme I was going to do and lots to do with various business ideas for when we get back to Europe. Some are mad and outrageous, others deathly dull and wouldn't make money anyway, but I'm enjoying knocking all these ideas around. Maybe I'll find a good one, we'll have to wait and see ...

Korea is not geared for Westerners at all. We cannot get onto their web-sites as it is all in Korean. "Isn't that normal?" I hear you say. Well yes and no in the sense that Japan has search engines both in English and in Japanese. I can't compare it to the Chinese search engines as they are all restricted as are most information web-sites like the BBC, by their government. Hey ho, just another example of how difficult it is here not speaking the lingo.

Day 192 - Wednesday 19th April 2006 - Colin's Account

We are trying to escape from Jeju, having spent the last couple of days doing practically nothing. Decisions to fly to Australia either direct or via Bangkok and miss out Japan or instead fly to Kathmandu have filled the day.

Korea is, understandably, fiercely independent and this tends to spill over into everyday life. For example, trying to find flights is exceedingly difficult. Unlike in Japan or Thailand, where you can get the local version of Google in English, it remains unpopular in Korea. Nothing exists in English and the only on-line booking engine in English, specifies that you must pay with a domestic Korean credit card.

After hours on the internet and a bucketful of 100 won coins, used in calls to Travel agents, I have discovered that flight prices are very high, because there are no low cost airlines to help drive prices down.

Giving up for the moment, I decided to eat at a street market, which was a mistake. The corn on the cob had been boiled in a sweet fish soup and was absolutely foul! The things on a stick, had the texture of a cross between a sponge and jelly and were equally disgusting. Having chucked the whole lot in the bin, something I haven't had to do since foolishly buying a takeaway in Blackpool, we repaired to a local bar and drank beer all evening instead.

Day 193 - Thursday 20th April 2006 - Sam's Account

Happy Birthday Gran! Whilst Gran was kicking up her heels in a posh restaurant in Kent, celebrating her 90th Birthday with our family, I was at last scrubbing myself clean in a new hotel in Jeju Si.

We had decided to travel back to the North of the Island to then catch a ferry back to the mainland. Our hotel in the South only had hot water from 6.30pm-9pm and we were always out at that time, so we were getting quite stinky. Lovely!

The new hotel in Jeju si was great : 24 HOUR HOT WATER, HOORAH!!! Mind you, having had a look around we started to realise why. The lounge was jam packed with porn movies and we had been surprised at the size of the televisions in the rooms when we'd checked in. Some were cinema size! It all became very clear to us as we eventually took the time to soak in our surroundings. The lady on reception who was asleep all day and only came awake at night was just a clue from the tip of the iceberg so to speak, but they were friendly enough with us and the room was a great price, so who were we to complain or judge.

Jeju si is just another Korean city with wall to wall American shop and restaurant chains. MacDonald's, Burger King, Starbucks, TGI Friday's, Dunkin Donuts, Tony Roma, Nike, The North Face, etc... You name an American chain, Korea has hundreds of them in the same town.

The American influence in Korea is phenomenal. Everyone watches baseball and break dancing competitions on the TV. and all the younger generation get overly excited about anything at all. The teams and teams of school girls who seem to be absolutely EVERYWHERE you look are regularly screaming in excitement over the most unbelievable rubbish. But hey, maybe I didn't do too badly on those stakes a few years back...!

Day 194 - Friday 21st April 2006 - Colin's Account

Having left our bags at the hotel we took a taxi to the ferry terminal. The driver initially went the wrong way on purpose so he could bump up the fare and I had to eventually shout at him to stop. Luckily for him I only had a large note, otherwise he would have been paid less than the meter displayed.

We booked 2nd class tickets to ensure we had bunks, as third class is just a carpeted floor area, about a third the size of a football pitch and sleeping up to 200 people.

The hotel we are staying at is a study in bad taste. It is actually, clean, tidy, friendly and fairly well equipped, but the interior designer was obviously having an off day. Some rooms have giant plasma screens, which clash awfully with the large, ornate gilt dressing tables and various assortment of other mismatched accessories. Even worse, our bathroom has a Snow White and the 7 Dwarves wallpaper border. In the corridors there are numerous UV lights which illuminate strange murals on the walls and ceilings at night, very tasteful.

Next we headed for the Manjang lava caves to the east of the island. Formed some 250,000 years ago, they are the longest series of lava tunnels in the world at almost 9km long. You can only walk 1km along its length, but it's quite impressive and soars to heights & widths of 20m, although at times it is as little as 2m. The temperature is only 9°C in the tunnel and it is very damp. The lighting is very dim and the whole place is quite eerie. As the lava is porous, there are numerous puddles, some quite deep and we were glad of our hiking boots. At the end is a 7m lava pillar where the lava once poured in through the roof. Again this is the worlds largest.

As usual there were hundreds of school kids, if not thousands, milling around and as usual they all wanted to say hello to us and ask our names. I know we are foreigners, but you'd honestly think we were aliens from another planet they way the go on.

Prior to getting on the boat we stopped for lunch where they brought us huge steaming bowls of fish soup and Kimchi. Unfortunately mine had dozens of mussels in it and although I managed to eat one, Sam got the rest. Lucky her, as she said they were the best mussels she had ever had.

We met a couple of young American tourists, who are on holiday just for a few weeks. The girl was born in Korea, but doesn't speak a word of their language and has been finding it quite difficult here. She said that people keep coming up to her and speaking Korean and can get quite unpleasant when she answers in English. Perhaps they feel she has let her true culture and language go, or perhaps as Sam said 'tactfully' to her, they just think she's Japanese!

We're off at last, and having escaped Jeju we settle in to our 11 hour journey to Busan on a rust bucket of a ferry, but it's great anyway.

Day 195 - Saturday 22nd April 2006 - Sam's Account

Having slept so well, I woke up very early and tucked back into my Ray Krock book. I woke Colin as we arrived in Busan at 5.30am, he is exhausted having come to bed at 1.30am.

On our arrival we made our way directly to the International Port, hoping to be able to catch a ferry to Osaka that day. No such luck, the ferry leaves at 4pm tomorrow and arrives at 10am on Monday morning in Osaka, Japan. Hey ho!

We check into a cheap hotel near the port. It is in desperate need of decorating, as are all these places but this one really REALLY needs it. The bath WAS tiled with swimming pool tiles, the room had been recently linoed both on the floor and the walls and then they had realised they had covered the light switches so they had simply ripped huge chunks of lino wall paper of the walls so you can get to the light switches. Very tasteful! Well, it was cheap and served it's purpose so that was OK by us.

After a quick perusal around town (which was totally shut) We made our way to the train station to catch the tour bus around town. It didn't leave until 12.50pm, so we whiled away a few hours phoning travel agents and surfing the web in the hope of finding a decent priced flight to Oz. Got it was hard work.

We haven't seen Busan in the best light. It is cold, very windy and raining constantly today. Yuk! Not the best day for discovering a new place. The city definitely seems to have everything you may want and more, but like all of the Korean cities, these places do not have any soul. (If you'll excuse the pun). They are all masses and masses of concrete blocks, the only interesting architecture is very modern. This is hardly surprising considering the whole place was smashed to smithereens in the Korean war, but the fast reconstruction has somehow left out a key ingredient to make a city come alive.

This said, Busan does a rocketing tourist trade in the Summer with local Koreans who come for the golden sandy beaches, water sports and the phenomenal infrastructure this place has to offer.

Having stopped at the Busan museum it was interesting to note that the City looked JUST like an American 1930's city town before it was totally decimated. Such a shame.

We also paid our respects to the UN soldiers who fought and died here at the memorial cemetery. This is the only UN memorial cemetery in the world. We walked past the 2282 graves, most were young chaps of 20 years old who had given their lives for this cause. Evidently they were of various nationalities but it was evident that the Americans, Australians and the British had lost many more than most.

Seeing how happy, enterprising, healthy, wealthy and lucky the people of South Korea are compared to the Northern Koreans, my mind went back to the Gulf war and I can only hope that the Iraqi's are given the same chance to rebuild their lives as the South Koreans have had. They owe a lot to the U.N., particularly the United States here.
 

Day 196 - Sunday 23rd April 2006 - Colin's Account

Another day, another ferry. This time an 18 hour stint from Busan, Korea, to Osaka in Japan. Our hotel of last night has certainly seen better days, but it was cheap. I think the worst thing was the bath which was tiled inside with little blue tiles, like the ones you get in swimming pools. The grouting was grotty and some of the tiles were cracked or broken. To have a bath was to risk slicing up your bottom or worse.

I read in a Korean newspaper that things are going downhill in Nepal, with curfew's, shoot on sight orders, a general strike and rioting. We have, therefore, decided to give it a miss for a few months and will go to New Zealand (probably!) after Japan.

Our Pan Star ferry to Japan is a great deal more modern than the last one and we have our own room, although this is just luck as the other two bunks in our cabin are unoccupied. All the vending machines only take Japanese Yen, which is not very helpful as we only have Korean Won. What makes it really ridiculous is that the money exchange on the boat only changes Yen into Won and not the other way round. Fine if the ship was were going from Japan to Korea, but it's not.

All this was explained to me the purser, a friendly man in a loud pinstripe suit that would not look amiss in the city of London. He has just come back from five years in the UK, spent in Bournemouth, London and 3 years on the Isle of Man. When I asked why the Isle of Man he explained that there was a good hotel/catering training centre there. He then offered me half price tickets to tonight's cabaret and a free beer to make up for the lack of exchange facilities.

We have only been going five hours and we have already reached Japan and are now making our way up to Osaka. We can see cities and coastline on both sides as we cruise along, which feels strange as we have another eleven hours to go.

The Korean journal is now finished and moves to the Japan journal