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Showing posts with label Photos. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Photos. Show all posts
Grant's last weekend
I decided that Grant's last weekend in Korea could not be spent merely lounging about and we decided to take advantage of my two days off and head to Busan on Friday morning. Still reeling from my failure as a tour-guide in Seoul, I was determined to do a better job in Busan. Though I had been there twice before, I had never really taken in some of the more popular sights, opting instead for relaxing on the beach and looking at fish. This time, I decided, I was going to do Busan differently. I wanted Grant to walk away from Busan with something more than just a suntan and a lingering scent of fish. I wanted him to leave feeling that he had accomplished something or seen something special. And so we arrived in Busan late Friday afternoon and our adventure began.


First on the list was finding some accommodation, and after my last stay I knew exactly where I wanted to go. We made our way to the rather luxurious Dejavu Hotel and spent a good half an hour soaking in the air conditioning, queen sized bed, giant TV and double bath before heading out to our real first stop (in terms of my tour-guide responsibilities) - Gwangalli Beach.
"Hold on a minute," you may be thinking to yourselves. "We thought you wanted him to leave with more than just a tan."
The beach, while quite lovely, was not the reason for our visit to the area. From the beach front, there is a beautiful view of Gwangan "Diamond" Bridge, nicknamed Diamond Bridge because of the way that it lights up at night with shimmering lights in ever-changing colours. There is also a wonderful view from the beach front of what I assume was Haeundai (the other beach area) which was lit up like Vegas with neon lights showering every building and what I was determined (but Grant didn't believe) was a Ferris Wheel doing the rounds. The Gwangalli Beach area is also, according to some friends of mine, the best place in Busan for restaurants, clubs and pubs. And so we walked along the beach front, took in some wonderful views, some decent Italian food and wandered the side-streets lined with pebbled and lit-up gutters (they looked more like beautiful streams than anything else) before heading back to the hotel nice and early - we were tired out from the bus ride and the walking and had a long day ahead of us, after all!

Waking up at eight o'clock on Saturday took a ridiculous amount of effort. I think that I have become far too comfortable sleeping in over the last month and am not used to early morning wake-ups anymore. But eight o'clock it had to be if we were going to fit everything in! Though the first stop of the day was supposed to be the Forty Steps (or the Sa-ship Gyedan in Korean), on exiting the subway, I discovered that the directions I had looked up were wrong. We quickly found a map of the area and discovered that we were in fact far closer to what was supposed to be our second stop, Busan Tower, so we decided to make our way there instead. After climbing a steep hill and many a step, we found ourselves at the bottom of the tower, sweating profusely despite our showers ten minutes earlier thanks to the ridiculous heat and humidity. We walked into the air conditioned building and elevatored up 120 meters to the top of the tower where we were delighted to find not only wonderful views of the city, but also a stronger air conditioner - I don't quite know which we were happier about. After taking in the view and the icy coldness for as long as we dared, we made our way back to the park surrounding the tower, where I played a traditional Korean throwing game before we decided to try and find the Forty Steps once more.


The Forty Steps were not easy to find. We wandered down the streets, my wonderful Busan map in hand, getting thoroughly lost until a Korean man approached us and walked us in the right direction. The Forty Steps and the area surrounding it were renovated a number of years ago and restored to the condition they were in after the Korean War. This basically means that the streets are cobbled rather than tarred, the lamposts are wooden and there are a number of bronze statues scattered about the area. While the history surrounding the area was certainly interesting, the area itself was rather boring and so, after a photo-opportunity on the steps and a stop into the nearby (air conditioned) convenience store for a drink, we made our way to the next area.


Next on our list was supposed to be a famous Korean market place that stretched from Napo-dong subway station to the fish market in Jagalchi, but we opted out of it because of the heat and decided to make our way straight to the fish market by subway. After a brief break from the schedule for a non-fishy lunch, we made our way into the market place and were surrounded by all the different fishes in bowls and tanks, alive and dried, all waiting to be sold. We did some looking around and had just made our way into the restaurant area to do some more looking when one of the fish tried to make its untimely escape. It was quickly caught, of course, and the man who caught it held it up for us, a gleam in his eye, asking if we wanted to try it. It would be an experience, we decided, and the fish had obviously chosen us. We would do it. We sat down at the table and were brought the side-dishes while the fish was being prepared for our consumption. As the fresh sashimi was placed on our table, we suddenly realised that neither of us had bothered to ask how much it was going to cost. We shrugged the thought aside though, figuring that a couple of pieces of sushi couldn't be that much, and even if it was a little more than it was worth, it was still an experience worth paying for. We made our way through the sashimi, which I wasn't too fond of, and got up to pay.
"Aniyo," the man bellowed, gesturing for us to sit down.
"Oh my God," I whispered. "There's more."
The horror in Grant's eyes showed me that he felt the same way. We were both stuffed! We hadn't anticipated this meal and had already eaten a full lunch before hand. Plus, more meant that it was going to be more expensive! But what could we do? We didn't want to offend the man who had gone through so much effort to prepare the dish and we didn't want the fish to have been killed for nothing. We sat back down and waited, our stomachs moaning as we tried to squeeze everything down to make room for more. The next course came, this one far more to my taste than the overly-chewy sashimi, and together we managed to eat our way through a little more than half of it before giving in to our complaining stomachs and getting up to pay the bill, which ended up being double what we had expected. Kicking ourselves, we made our way a little further down the fish market before deciding that neither of us wanted to look at another fish and heading towards the harbour.


Taejongdae was our next destination with its fairly easy hiking trails and its wonderful view - on a clear day, it is said that you can see one of the Japanese islands from the Observatory. But after looking at the map and realising how long it would take us to get there, thinking of our already aching feet and imagining how sweaty we would be by the end of it, we decided that walking there was not an option. Instead, we decided to take a ferry around the island and take in the views from the sea. And so we made our way to the harbour and bought ourselves a couple of tickets for the ferry that traveled between Napo-dong and Haeundai Beach. As we were waiting to board the ferry, we made a new friend, Mr Lee, who started talking to us in fairly good English about our jobs, South Africa, the weather, baseball and any other subject that came to mind. He became fast friends with Grant, and messaged baseball caps, baseballs and ten rand notes were passed between them before the trip was over. I got to see Taejongdae from the boat as I had hoped, though the smog prevented us from seeing the Japanese island, and the other side of Gwangan Bridge (it was indeed a Ferris Wheel that I had seen the night before) as well as numerous other sights including lighthouses and scenic views of the city before we came to a stop at Haeundai Beach and made an unplanned stop at the aquarium. After wandering around there for a couple of hours, we made our way back to the hotel for a brief freshen up before heading out for a night on the town.


We had done our research and had decided that Seomyeon was where it was happening in terms of Western bars. We even found one that sounded decent for dinner and wrote down the directions, expecting someone there to tell us the best place to go next. We arrived outside O'Briens only to find it deserted. O'Briens, it turned out, had moved. We started walking around, but quickly got lost in the maze of skyscrapers and could find no Western Bars and, worse still, no restaurants. By 10pm we had just about given up, when I spotted a pub in the distance that looked vaguely decent, but by the time we were finished eating, neither of us was in much of a partying mood, so we made our way back to the hotel once again for an early night.


Sunday morning started with a phonecall from one of my friends who never stops talking, and so by the time I hung up the phone, it was 9:30, an hour later than we had intended to wake up and half an hour before we were supposed to check out. We bundled up our belongings as quickly as we could, throwing a number of things into my handbag much to my shoulder's dismay, and were out by 10:30, a little later than we would have liked but not too disastrous. With our backpacks safely stored in a locker at the subway station, we made our way to our last destination - Haedong Yong-gungsa, a Korean temple that is uniquely located next to the sea. It would be my first temple visit, and I was my usual trigger-happy self, dying to capture as many pictures as I could. Unfortunately, we had limited space on the memory card, and I was only allowed 150 photos - a limit that weighed on my shoulders with every squeeze of the trigger and twist of the focus. It may seem like a lot, but consider that in one day I took 450 photos. That should tell you just how much of a limit 150 placed on me. Even though I had been told that there were better temples to visit, once we arrived and were greeted by the calming sound of the waves and the beautiful statues, shrines and buildings, I was immediately reassured that this was the right place for my first temple visit. We strolled between the statues, me clicking away of course, had our pictures taken beside the giant golden Buddha, rubbed the stone Buddha's belly for luck and thew coins from a bridge, aiming at the bowls that some of the statues held. Grant and I have different interpretations about what the bowls mean - I believe that each statue had a specific significance (health, wealth, happiness, etc.), and if you hit the one that you were aiming for, you would be granted luck in all of your future endeavours of that kind; Grant believes that if you get the coin in any bowl, you can make a wish - but whatever the symbolism behind the act was, it was interesting and fun, and the Koreans had a good time watching us attempt it. We then caught a taxi to the nearest subway station, went and got our bags and headed to the bus station, getting the soonest bus we could. The bus ride back was also an interesting one, as Grant made another Korean friend. The man sitting next to us, who we later came to know as Kim Eung-jo, started chatting away, practicing his broken English, and I became the translator converting his broken English into something that Grant would understand. And so we arrived back in Cheongju with bags fuller than we had left with, experiences under our belts and two new Korean friends.

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Busan
So, when I was going over my Bucket List last week, I noticed that I was missing a couple of posts that I had totally intended to write and never got around to. One that I was particularly sad about was my trip to Busan. I started writing a ridiculously long blogpost about it, but gave up on it when I realised that it was too long for anyone to want to read it. So, I have decided to reminisce and tell you about the different things that you can do when you are in Busan. I will tell you about what I did during my three visits to my favourite city in Korea, where I stayed, how I travelled (and the problems with each method) and what I was disappointed to not be able to do. If that last sentence makes no sense at all, you have to excuse me. I have clearly been in Korea for too long.

WHERE TO STAY
I have been to Busan three times during my year in Korea and have stayed in two motels. I will tell you about my experiences at each hotel and why I chose to stay at one of them twice.

Botel - I stayed in the Boatel in Haeundae on my first visit to Busan over Buddha's Birthday. The room was lovely and spacious with a king-sized bed, a jacuzzi tub, a large TV and a computer. Our first impression of the room was fantastic and we weren't too concerned about forking over 60,000 won per room - it was a price to pay for luxury, or so we thought. I quickly learned that the sink leaked and got lost during my stay trying to find the motel in the maze of sidestreets the surrounded it. It was convenient that the motel was located in Haeundae which was exactly where we wanted to be for our three day stay, but it also meant that finding our way around the rest of the city was a little difficult as the subway line that Haeundae is on is separate from the others.

Dejavu - On my second visit to Busan, I left my accomodation to chance, deciding to see what I could find when I got there, and I ended up staying at the Dejavu motel. I found the motel purely by chance and, as I didn't want to pay too much, was fine with a 45,000 won room. On arrival in the room itself, I was thoroughly impressed - a king sized bed, a giant TV, a computer, a two-person bathtub and a sauna-shower lay in wait, dying to be used. The motel was also very conveniently placed for exploring the city - it is close to Yeonsan-dong subway station which connects to two of the three lines that you might want to travel on. Being in site of the subway station, I had no problem with getting lost this time, and I had no other problems at the motel, so I chose to stay here on my third visit to the city. The second time around, the computer in our room had no internet access but, on telling the staff, we were quickly moved to another room that did. All-in-all, I would highly recommend this motel to anyone wanting to visit Busan.

TRAVELLING
There are three ways to travel around Busan (aside from walking, of course): Subway, Taxi and Bus. I will tell you my experiences using each of these methods of transport.

Subway - Like Seoul, Busan has it's own subway system, and I found Busan's version a lot easier to navigate than the Seoul equivalent. That Busan is smaller obviously affects the subway and how many stations need to be placed throughout the city and how many lines need to connect them, but I still found the subway journey to be far more comfortable in Busan. There weren't as many people, there weren't as many changes, and it was easy to find the station that you needed to get off at without being confuzzled by a jumble of letters strewn across a delicate map of coloured lines.

Taxi - I struggled with taxis more in Busan than I have struggled anywhere else. Apparently the accent in Busan is different from the other Korean accents, and they found my attempts at Korean more difficult to understand than usual. This was most noticable on my first visit to Busan when I tried to get a taxi back to my motel at 3am. I knew how to get there from the Haeundae subway station, and directed the taxi to take me there. Before I knew it, I had arrived at Haeundae bus station. This wasn't right!
"Haeundae subway?"
"??"
"Haeundae metro?"
"Opsseyo."
According to my taxi driver, there was no Haeundae subway station. I ended up rattling off every Western restaurant that I had seen along the beach-front near my hotel and finally wound up saying "aquarium", which he thankfully understood. He took me to the aquarium and was kind enough to give me a discount on the taxi charge because of the miscommunication, which I thought was very nice of him, but needless to say, this was not a particularly good taxi experience for me. This also happened to be the night that I got lost by the way - trying to find my way back to the Botel proved more difficult than I had imagined, and even when I could see the motel rising in the distance, I still got lost along the sidestreets trying to find my way to it. Epic fail.

Bus - I have yet to ride a bus in Busan. I was supposed to ride a bus during my third visit there in order to get to Taejongdae, but this ended up being an absolute fail. This was purely because I couldn't find the bus stop! I knew the bus that I was supposed to climb on, I knew the road that it was supposed to drive on, but finding a bus stop was an absolute fail, and as I was tired from walking around all day and sweating profusely from the heat, my quest was not long-lived. So I cannot really tell you what riding the bus in Busan is like, but I can tell you it's difficult to get on one.

WHAT TO SEE AND DO
Busan is a pretty big city, and even after going there three times, I still haven't been able to do everything that I wanted to. But here is a list of things that you can see and do in Busan.

Busan Tower - The most obvious stop during any trip to Busan, the tower has spectacular views of every area of the city. 120m high, the building is air-conditioned (a huge relief during the summer months) and there is a marketplace on the ground floor selling touristy bits and bobs for reasonable prices - a great place to look for gifts for your return trip home. Outside the tower are a few traditional Korean games that you can play and two convenience stores. The tower is situated in the middle of a park which looked rather lovely, and if you have the time I would recommend walking through it. I, however, did not, and therefore cannot give too much advise on this matter.

Fee: Around 4,000 won
Subway station: Nampo-dong (do not confuse with Napo-dong)

Forty Steps - The 40 steps or "sa-ship gyedan" is an area in Busan that was restored to it's post-Korean war state. What this basically means is that the streets are cobbled, the streetlights are wooden and there are statues spread throughout the few blocks that are included in this area. I didn't find the area to be too interesting, but there was a museum and there were a couple of statues that allowed for some good photo opportunities, so I would recommed making a short stop here, especially as it is a short walk from Busan Tower. If you are walking to the 40 steps, it can be rather confusing and difficult to find. If you get off at the right subway exit, it is right in front of you

Fee: Free
Subway station: Jungang-dong, exit 13.

Jagalchi Fish Market - Though I will admit to not being fond of the idea of a market entirely revolving around the selling of fish, I will admit to finding this market place absolutely fascinating. There are fish that you will never have seen before in your life, fish of all shapes and forms and in all stages of being cooked and eaten, and once again it is a perfect photo opportunity. I liked the area so much and had so much fun that I ended up going there twice! Also, contrary to my expectations, the area did not smell particularly fishy, and that was a rather pleasant surprise. If you are hungry, there is a restaurant that serves all the fish that you see in the market and you can pick one out for yourself. Be careful to ask for a price though, as you do not want to be surprised later.

Fee: Free (unless you eat lunch)
Subway station: Jagalchi

Ferry from Napo-dong to Haeundae - If you are tired after a day of running around and just want to relax for awhile but still take in the sites and sounds of Busan, I would recommend taking a ferry. Ferries run between Napo-dong (in walking distance of Jagalchi Fish Market, 40 Steps and Busan Tower) and Haeundae beach on a regular basis. The ferry terminals can be difficult to find, but a taxi should be able to take you there if need be. I would not recommend walking, as it is very easy to get lost.

Fee: 80,000 for an hour and a half trip to the opposite ferry station or 120,000 for a round trip ending at the same ferry station.

Haeundae - Haeundae Beach is a very popular area in Busan and one of the main reasons for visiting the city. In summer, it is difficult to find a place on the packed beach and restaurants along the beach front are crowded. It is possible to rent a jet ski or go on a banana boat ride from the ferry terminal, and there is a busy nightlife if that is your scene.

Haeundae Aquarium - Located on the Haeundae beach front, the aquarium is quite unique in that it is located almost entirely underground. Though it does not really compare to the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town, it is still a fun activity to do while in Busan and a fun way to spend a couple of hours. They also offer shark dives if that is your kind of thing.

Fee: 22,000 with extra costs for things like shark dives or a 3D movie experience.
Subway station: Haeundae

Rock n Roll Bar - also located on the beach front, this bar which serves mediocre Mexican food and cheap cocktails also has a spectacular view of the city. I would recommend paying a visit to the bar at night when the city lights are shining away.
Fee: 3,000 won and up for cocktails; around 8,000 for a meal.
Subway station: Haeundae

Yong-gunsa Temple - A uniquely located temple that overlooks the sea. Most temples in Korea are situated in the mountains and require a hike to get to them. Yong-gunsa is not one of these temples, and is the only temple in Korea to be located along a coastline. This provides beautiful, scenic views and a wonderful sense of calm. The temple itself can get fairly busy, so I would recommend visiting it early in the morning before the crowds start arriving. There is no subway nearby, so your best bet would be getting a subway to Jangsan station and finding a taxi there to take you to the temple itself.

Fee: Free, though you might want to contribute a donation
Subway station: Jangsan and taxi-it-up the rest of the way.

Gwangan "Diamond" Bridge - Easily seen from Gwangalli beach, this bridge is nicknamed the "Diamond" bridge because of the way that it lights up at night. This is definitely an area that you want to visit at nighttime, as it is not nearly as beautiful during the day. Gwangalli beach is smaller and less popular than Haeundae, but the view of the bridge at night is a must-see in my opinion. There are also a number of good bars and restaurants along the beachfront, many of which are Western oriented and tourist-friendly. I have it on good authority that this is the place to go if you want to go out in Busan.

Fee: Free
Subway station: Geumnyeonsan

Museum of Modern Art - If art and sophistication are your kind of thing, then you may want to pay a visit to Busan's Museum of Modern Art. They often have special exhibits that you can pay a little extra to visit, however I did not opt to do this on my visit. Instead, I walked around the museum taking in the artwork and it was a calming way to spend an hour or two of the afternoon.

Fee: Around 7,000 won
Subway station: Busan Museum of Modern Art

China Town - Also known as Choryang Foreigner Shopping Area, this area is filled with authentic Chinese restaurants and restored houses that hold hidden treasures of books and ornaments. This China-town is also a bit of a Russia-town, and the other foreigners that you find here will usually be Russian or speak Russian-tainted English. There are statues and lanterns spread around the area and it is rather picturesque, so once again, I would recommend making a stop here.

Fee: Free
Subway station: Busan Station

WHAT I WOULD HAVE LIKED TO SEE
As I said earlier, even three visits is not enough to see everything that there is in Busan and there were a few things that I would have liked to see and experience that I didn't get the chance to. Here are some of them:

Shinsegae - Busan houses the largest department store in the world, and I would have liked to visit that even if it was just to have my photo taken outside of it. Unfortunately, time was of the essence and I did not have a chance to visit the store or even have my picture taken. Boo.

Pusan International Film Festival - An annual event, this film festival attracts foreigners from around Korea to participate in the festival which is often marked by a spectacular fireforks display.

Napo-dong market - Me and my shopping, right? Well this market is located between Busan Tower and Jagalchi Fish Market, so if it isn't too hot and you can muster up the energy, I would recommend walking through it rather than taking the subway between the two places. Unfortunately, the day that I visited Busan Tower was just too hot, and we opted for the air-conditioning over the shopping.

Taejongdae - This area is supposed to house easy hiking trails and spectacular views. It is said that on a clear day you can see one of the Japanese islands from the Observatory. There is also a great view from Suicide Rocks which is protected by a giant statue of a woman who is supposed to represent a mother to prevent people from jumping to their choppy deaths into the sea below.

And so, that is Busan. If you are thinking of visiting the city and would like some more information about it, read this personal account of one of my weekends there, or feel free to ask questions in the comments.
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Thailand: Third Time's a Charm
I am sorry that it has taken longer than I expected to get around to this, but it is finally time for the last part of our Thai trip.

After an early night on Saturday, we awoke ridiculously early on Sunday and finished packing up all of our belongings before heading to the reception area to wait for our taxi. It was still dark out, and so we sadly did not get to say the proper goodbye that I'm sure we both would have liked to Koh Samui. Instead, we yawned as we were driven to the ferry station to catch the 5am ferry to Surat Thani. The ferry took around an hour and a half, and on our arrival to Surat Thani we were driven to the ferry company's offices where someone tried to get a taxi for us. Unfortunately, Thailand is not like Korea in the respect that taxis are not operational 24/7, and we had some difficulty finding one that would take us with all of our luggage. Eventually the company managed to find someone and we patiently waited for our ride to arrive. When it did, we were very tempted to send it back and tell them to get us someone else. The car was falling apart and a noxious smell emanated from the fan that he insisted on turning on. We just didn't have time to wait for another one, however, and so we climbed into the car (which had no seatbelts) and made our way to Surat Thani airport. There were a number of dodgy situations on the way including the realisation that the car's brakes didn't work properly and that the accelerator didn't come all the way back up when released, but we made it to the airport in one piece and with time to spare. Jess and I had a quick breakfast of banana pancakes that were just pancakes with a banana on the side rather than real banana pancakes, and eventually boarded our flight to Bangkok.

On arrival in Bangkok, our nine-hour adventure began. First stop was the Grand Palace. We climbed into a taxi and were on our way about half an hour after landing. The taxi driver did not look like the most savoury of characters, but we weren't too perturbed. When he demanded that we pay the toll fares, we were a little unimpressed, as our previous drivers had paid them for us, but despite our grumbling, we coughed up the cash. Soon we were stuck in the traffic outside the palace gates, and asked the taxi driver to stop where we were, as we figured that walking would get us there faster than driving would. He was not impressed with this and was even less impressed when Jess pulled out a thousand baht note instead of the four hundred that he was owed. Apparently he didn't have change and insisted that we be the ones to find it. And so my search began for a vendor who would break the note. After asking around, I finally found someone and we were able to get the taxi driver off our backs as he drove away probably mumbling about foreigners and we walked away moaning about taxis.

Before we made our way to the Grand Palace, we decided to look around the area a little. Hordes of people were wandering the streets, and before we knew what was really happening, we were being swept away with the crowds towards a small temple that would prepare us a little for the ones that we would see later in the day. It wasn't anything spectacular, just a small building, but the work that had gone into it's creation and the pure quantity of people who were filing into it astounded me. We snapped a few shots here, being the typical tourists that we are, and quickly made our way outside before we could be trampled by the next lot of worshippers.

We walked across the road, occasionally stopping to look at the wares being sold which included about a million flowers and the odd bird in a cage, and found ourselves at the Grand Palace itself. Jess quickly realised that she was not wearing the appropriate attire, and was able to rent some astonishingly bright clothes to wear over her own. Once she was dressed, we tried to make our way inside, only to be informed that this was the Thai entrance - no foreigners allowed. Okay... so we made our way to the next entrance. Thai. No foreigners allowed. Eventually, after a long walk, we found ourselves at the foreigner entrance and found ourselves bombarded by people wanting to take us on tours around the whole area, despite the fact that the buildings were closing in less than an hour's time, and the tours would take an hour and a half at least. After avoiding the tour guides and weaving our ways between the tourists, we made it to the ticket booth and bought ourselves tickets to see the museum and the Grand Palace itself. Our first stop was the museum and we wandered around the air conditioned rooms (being watched closely because our cameras were out) looking at ceremonial bits and bobs and pieces of Thai history. When we were about halfway through our pleasantly paced wander, we were informed that the Grand Palace was about to close, and that if we wanted to see it, we would have to make our way there now. So we rushed through the rest of the museum, taking in as much as we could without really stopping, and practically ran to the palace.

The Grand Palace itself was absolutely beautiful with gold embossing practically everywhere. Lots of photo opportunities present themselves and Jess and I took full advantage with our cameras flashing and snapping away. We wandered between buildings and even made our way into the Wat Phra Kaow, supposedly the most holy Buddhist temple in Bangkok, where we each snuck in a photo despite the sign that told us not to. We really only had a minute in the temple itself as we were pushed and shoved along until we found ourselves outside once more. We then made our way to the palace building and took a couple of photos with the guards (just as strictly stationed and silent as their Buckingham counterparts) before getting back on the road.

Off we went to our next stop of the day - Chatuchat market - for... you guessed it... some more shopping! This time both of us had very specific aims in mind, and we got thoroughly lost in the midst of the market trying to fulfil them. I was in the search for a very specific gift for Dad and Jess was on the prowl for more sarongs to give as gifts and try as we might, we couldn't find them. We had a map, we knew where they were supposed to be, but we couldn't find them! We asked a number of people for directions, but we couldn't find them! Finally after wandering between stalls for hours, we realised that we had been going in completely the wrong direction, and eventually managed to find our way to the stalls that we needed. By this time, it was getting dark, and once we had purchased the last of our "necessities", we decided that our time in Chatuchat, as entertaining as it had been, was almost over. Our patience was wearing thin, and our stomachs were crying out, so we decided that food was needed before our journey to the airport could begin. Not knowing where to get food, we decided to ask a taktak driver to drive us around the area so that we could find something that looked good. The first one we asked informed us that for 50 baht, he would take us to his Sports Shop. Not liking the sound of this one little bit, Jess and I bolted and reconvened away from the drivers to decide what to do next. We were trying to decide when another driver approached us.
"What are you looking for?"
"Food," we replied rather exasperatedly!
"How much?"
"50 baht."
"I will take you."
He pointed to a place on the map that seemed nearby and we agreed to get into his tuktuk. The journey through Bangkok began, and I was rather enjoying the ride, not really noticing that anything was off until about ten minutes later when I looked at Jess's face and found horror written all over it.
"What's wrong?!"
"Where is he taking us?"
"Huh?"
"We have been going for ten minutes. Where is he taking us?"
The thought suddenly dawned upon me that this man could be taking us anywhere to do anything to us, and we would never know where we were and no one would ever be able to find us. I was just about hyperventilating when the driver pulled up alongside a restaurant and told us we were there. Relieved beyond words, Jess and I gave him our money and headed inside, only to find that the prices were far beyond our budget. Not to worry, we decided. We would walk around and find somewhere else. We had barely walked ten steps when the driver was before us once again.
"Why?"
"Too expensive!" we replied in unison.
"I'll take you somewhere else."
"Free?"
He wasn't too happy about that, but after a bit of persuading, he agreed. A few minutes later we were arriving at another restaurant, this one slightly better priced, and we had a wonderful last Thai dinner before finding ourselves a taxi back to the airport.

Our trip to the airport in Bangkok was almost a story in itself as we once again had a taxi driver without enough change. However, a solution was quickly found, and we arrived at the airport in one piece, which was good enough for us. We quickly sorted through our luggage, finding space for our new prizes and then checked everything through and made our way out of security and into the departures lounge. We managed to fit in some last minute shopping with Jess buying a few keyrings and chocolates for her co-workers before climbing onto another plane, this time heading back to Korea, much to our dismay. And thus our Thai adventure came to an abrupt end with us arriving back in freezing, snow-covered Korea after a 9-hour flight.

To read the other installments in the series, click here and here.
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Thailand Take Two: Koh Samui
So I lied and didn't end up posting more about our Koh Samui trip when I said I would. I am sorry. Here it is now!

After our 28-odd hours of travelling, we finally arrived at our hotel. Driving along the "beach" towards it, we couldn't help but be a little trepidatious - the "beach" appeared to be nothing more than a sliver of sand before the water started, hardly what we had imagined ourselves suntanning on. And then we arrived at the resort. We were greeted at reception with cups of very sweet iced tea and we sat down to sort everything out before being taken to our room. There had been a bit of a mix up, as the website that we had booked through was not the website that gave the hotel our confirmation, and our request for separate beds somehow got lost by the wayside. In any case, after a quick chat with the manager, everything was sorted out and we were taken to our room - a wonderfully cool cemented room with a king sized bed (and an extra single beside it making it the biggest bed I have ever seen), a small bathroom with a rain-like shower, a large TV and a veranda that housed our own personal sitting area, fish pond and jacuzzi tub. After taking in the room and freshening up, we were on the move and heading to our first site of the trip - Big Buddah.

I have a number of Buddah statues in Korea, many of them big, so visiting Buddah was not a unique experience on my part at least, but it was certainly different to be visiting him while surrounded by turquoise seas and palm trees. There were also a number of other different features to be found - the ritual of placing flowers at the base of the Buddah and the option to have a monk spray you with holy water for good luck being two things that I don't recall seeing before. Another thing that I don't recall seeing in Korea were the number of shops that surrounded Big Buddah. Our spending spree, which had started before boarding the plane to Thailand, continued as we wandered the stalls bartering on prices for dresses, sarongs, handbags, sunglasses and shoes. Needless to say, we both walked away with a number of prizes in our hands.

It was late by the time we were finished shopping, and we were weighed down with bags, so we decided to just head back to the hotel and take advantage of the room service rather than explore any further. It had been a long day, after all, and we had another one ahead of us. We found a taxi without a problem.
"Mimosa resort?"
*Blank stare*
"Mi-mo-sa?"
*Blank stare continues*
"Mimosa, Maenam beach?"
"Ah!" It finally dawns on him where we need to go. Not a problem. We occasionally struggle to get Korean taxi drivers to understand where we are going too. This is something that we are used to. He motions for us to get into the car.
"How much?" We had been warned to ask this each time for fear of being ridiculously overcharged.
"500 baht."
Jess and I look at each other. We had been told very clearly by the hotel that it shouldn't cost more than 200 baht to get back from here. Do we risk it? We decided not to. Even when the driver offered to take us for 300, we weren't budging, and so we ended up deciding to try our luck on the road. A short walk later, we were on the main street and quickly found ourselves being picked up by a truck with couches on the back for travellers. He didn't know where Mimosa was, but he was prepared to take us to Maenam beach for 100 baht each. It wasn't the best way to travel, sure, but it was relatively cheap and easier than walking. So we climbed on. Twenty minutes later, we were told that we were at Maenam beach and, after looking around us, we decided that things did indeed seem familiar. We must be close.
We started walking in the direction that we thought our hotel was in. When we hadn't come across any signs fifteen minutes later, we checked our map. Yes, this did seem right. Can't be too far now.
Half an hour later, the road we were walking on was pitch black and we were really starting to get worried. We stopped and asked for directions, but the man we asked couldn't speak any English.
Finally, fifteen minutes later, we saw the first sign for the Mimosa Resort, and we finally knew for certain that we were on the right track. A bit more of a walk and a short scooter ride (thanks to another hotel's staff member) later, we were back at the hotel, looking more than a little disheveled I'm sure, and we made our way to our room for a relaxing night in of eating and watching movies.

We were up bright and early the next day for our first real adventure. Unfortunately, however, the driver that was supposed to pick us up was not. Not to despair! While we waited, we took the opportunity to be charitable and hand out food to the monks to celebrate the coming new year. This in itself was a slightly awkward activity, as monks passed by the tables laden with food which we were instructed to place into their waiting carriers without touching them. If our attempts at getting this right weren't embarrassing enough, it was truly mortifying when the taxi finally arrived to pick us up and the only way out was to climb under the table that the untouchable monks were on the other side of. It was certainly an entertaining way to start the morning.

Once the taxi arrived, our adventure-day truly started. We were taken to a small dock where a speedboat awaited us. We climbed aboard with about 20 other people and the hour-long ride to Ang Thong began. Ang Thong National Marine Park was, according to the brochure we read, the inspiration for the novel and movie The Beach, however nothing else that I look up seems to support that, so it could be utter rubbish. Regardless of whether that was the case, however, the marine park did hold some more amazingly turquoise waters and some deserted-looking islands. The trip there was a rather uncomfortable one. About halfway in, the first person started getting sick, and another had joined her far less discreetly by the time we arrived at our first stop. As you can guess, we were VERY relieved to get off the boat by that point.

The first stop was at a little cove where we were able to do some snorkeling. Having never snorkeled before, it took awhile for me to get used to the equipment, and I ended up holding my breathe while using the goggles for the first half an hour rather than attempting to use the snorkel. Eventually I did get used to it, though, and thoroughly enjoyed floating around and watching fish in different shapes and shades. About fifteen minutes into the swim, I tapped Jess on the shoulder.
"Do you feel that?"
"What?"
"It's like I'm being stabbed with needles!"
"Yeah," Jess agreed. "Maybe we have cuts that we didn't know about?"
We both shrugged it off as being inexplicable and carried on with our swimming until, about an hour in, it was Jess's turn to tap me on the shoulder.
"I saw a jellyfish!"
"No..."
"Yes!"
She pointed it out to me, but I didn't see it at all and just assumed that Jess was going mad until she saw another a few minutes later, and this time I did see it (and just about poked it!) That was it for me! I swam back to the boat as fast as I could, and Jess followed moments later, giggling as she told me that she had seen me kick at least three of them on my way back.

After our snorkeling adventure, it was just about time for lunch. We made our way to an island a few minutes away (for which we were all grateful when the same girl started getting sick again). The island itself, though beautiful, was not particularly entertaining, and after doing a bit of canoeing and eating a lunch of curries with rice and fruit, we were back on the boat and heading to the next stop.

The next stop was one that I hadn't expected and was not too excited about. We arrived on another island and made our way along a very unsteady plastic walkway onto a small strip of sand. I looked around us, wondering what on earth we could be doing here, when my eyes fell upon steps. Steep ones. Steep, uneven ones. Steep, uneven ones that were sometimes made up of nothing more than bags of cement. Not many people know this, but I don't like steps. I blame the time I tripped down them in middle school, but basically, I am just not very good at climbing them and always sense that I am going to fall down. So the prospect of climbing these steep steps that were not real steps was not one that I was looking forward to. I slowly made my way up and was the last to get to the top where there was a pretty view of a turquoise lagoon that I refused to look at because I was too shaken. I should have taken my time up there, because the way back down was far worse involving shorter, steeper steps that required me to put my ballet days into action and walk down with my feet at curious angles. Once we were halfway down, I managed to snap this shot of the lagoon (feeling much better now that the worst was likely over) and then we made our way to the bottom once more and relaxed on the beach while we waited to get back on the boat.

The boat ride back was an adventure in itself, really. The sea, it turned out, was furious with us and threw us around as we tried to make our way back to the mainland. While most of us were clinging to our seats and holding on for dear life, one of the British girls (who we believe to be around 18) was screaming for more.
"Give it all you've got! Come on! You can do better than that! Bring it!!!"
Soon Mother Nature really did bring it. One minute we were being thrown around, and the next we were soaking wet while being thrown around as the heavens opened up on our poor little vessel. I was a tad unlucky, as I happened to be under an opening in the roof and ended up getting absolutely soaked, but I don't think I was too much worse off than anyone else on the ship. Everyone was a tad miserable, and so Jess and I, at the request of the group of Brits, decided to cheer everyone up with a rendition of Journey, followed quickly by Proud Mary and I Will Survive, our noraebang nights finally coming into use. It certainly did make the time go faster, and before we knew it, we were back on solid ground and off for the last part of our adventure.

One of the main things that we wanted to do while we were in Thailand was to ride an elephant! I have had the chance to do this before back home, but I have always been too chicken. With Jess there, rooting us on, I decided that it was time to suck it up. Once we arrived at the park, we quickly changed out of our wet clothes and made our way to the elephant riding booth. An elephant was provided for us, and we made our way galumphing rather uncomfortably along a path while the driver picked bamboo leaves from the passing trees and made us each a ring and one small bird, which Jess took when we finally realised what it was supposed to be. The ride itself wasn't at all what I had imagined (I had pictured us actually riding on the elephants backs, when instead we were on couches that were carried by the elephant), but it was fun nonetheless, and we got a good picture out of it to boot. After our ride we spent some time feeding the baby elephants (my favourite was the naughty one who stole bananas from the other elephants mouths) and trying to get a monkey to play with us. Jess managed to get his attention, and he seemed rather fond of her when he reached out his hand to hold hers. We were so captured by his cuteness that we didn't even notice his other hand reaching for her back pocket where the bamboo bird was being stowed. And so, bamboo bird was no more. This wasn't enough to deter me, however, and I kept trying to be his friend until he had the same moment of uber-cuteness where he started reaching out to hold my hand, and I realised that he was going for my camera. After that, I wasn't so keen for Mr. Monkey to be my friend. When our driver informed us that it was time to go, we were more than ready, being damp, smelly and all-in-all pooped.

We arrived back at the hotel and immediately started getting ready for our New Years Eve dinner. Of course, by immediately I do mean that we took long showers and baths, took our time putting on our make-up, fussed and faffed and eventually left the room about two hours after we had entered it. We left looking fabulous, however, and made our way to the restaurant where the New Years Eve gala dinner was in full-swing. Full-swing, it turned out, did not involve many people, but we had fun nonetheless playing carnival-style games, winning silly little prizes and tasting some of the Thai sweet delicacies, some of which were about as good as they looked (which wasn't very). When we were done with the games, it was time to start our feast and we found our seats at the table and began our buffet dinner. Singers, dancers and musicians entertained us throughout the evening, and we also had a go at entertaining them. When the singers were taking requests, Jess and I eagerly shouted for Journey only to be told that they didn't know it, and we should come up and sing it ourselves! We politely declined until another couple took the stage and warmed up the crowd. After that, we couldn't say no! And so, our noraebang practice was put to further use, and our singing careers took another step forward. A few minutes before midnight, white lanterns were passed from table to table and each person was told to write a wish. At midnight, the lanterns were all set off into the sky in a beautiful ceremony, and moments later the fireworks display began. All-in-all, it was a wonderful way to bring in the New Year.

We managed to sleep in a little bit the next day, but were still up by 9:30 to indulge in the buffet breakfast. After breakfast, we got the hotel to call us a taxi and made our way to Chaweng beach, the main beach of the island and, of course, the main shopping spot. We wandered down streets, bargaining down prices and made a few purchases (one of them being an extra bag in which to carry supplies) before heading back to the resort for an afternoon of relaxation.

We had decided that no Thai holiday could be complete without a spa treatment, and since the resort was also a spa, we took the opportunity to book a massage a piece. While Jess went all out and decided on one of the packages that they offered, I was more trepidatious and decided instead on a simple Thai massage. I have never been a big fan of massages, but this one went over rather nicely for the most part with only a few pangs and twinges making me uncomfortable. By the time our massages were finished, it was time for our final dinner at the hotel (which was perfect as per usual). After dinner, we made our way back to our rooms and spent the rest of the evening packing up and preparing for our last day in Thailand and our return to Korea.

To read about our time in Bangkok, click here.
To see the first installment, click here.
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Thailand Part One: Getting there
When I was thinking of coming to Korea, a friend of mine asked me a very interesting question.
"What are you going there to do?"
He wasn't asking about the job. He wasn't asking about my social life. He was asking about where Korea would fit into my life goal. Was I coming here to save? Was I coming here to spend? Was I coming here to travel? My answer was simple enough... all of the above. I wanted to save enough money for a car. There were certain things that I wanted to buy here - a laptop and a camera being the two biggest expenses. And, since I would be in Asia, I wanted to travel.

I have travelled a lot in my twenty two years. My family is big on travelling, and I have been a bit of a jetsetter since my first trip to Zimbabwe when I was three years old. Since then, I have visited Zimbabwe once more, seen America, stopped over in London, taken in Portugal, Spain and Mallorca, eaten in Italy, toured France and that's not including the multiple stop overs in countries like Amsterdam and Dubai. But, with all the travelling that I have done, Asia has never been high on my parents list, and while I know that there may still be plenty of travelling in my future, I couldn't let this opportunity go by unnoticed. And so, when Jessica suggested travelling to Thailand, I jumped at the chance and, after a couple of hiccups involving flight complications and the difficulties that come from dealing with Orbitz.com, on 28 December our journey began.

As Jessica had the late shift at work, finishing up at 9:30pm, we decided to head to Seoul on Tuesday night to make it easier getting to the airport the next morning. We knew of a hotel near the bus terminal, and we even made sure that we had their calling card to make it easier for a taxi to take us there. Alas, we hadn't counted on the taxi drivers being morons, and none of them (even the ones with the GPS) were prepared to find the hotel, so we ended up walking there instead. Having assumed that catching a taxi would be easy, I had opted not to bring my winter jacket, instead going for a hoodie and leather jacket so as to save space and weight in my luggage. Now that we were walking to the hotel, I was absolutely frozen and by the time we got there, I couldn't feel my hands or my face. I was relieved when we got into the room to find the heat had already been turned on as it meant I had a chance to thaw out. Once I was fully thawed, however, we quickly found that the heat was getting too much and, with no way to turn it off, we resorted to opening up windows to let in the cool night air. Needless to say, the combination of hot and cold led to a rather restless night, and by the time 6:30am rolled around and the alarm was going off, both of us were slightly sleep deprived.

Once we had woken up a bit, with a little help from the Starbucks on the corner, we made our way to the subway station and boarded the train to the airport. With only one transfer, we felt that we had plenty of time on our hands. What we hadn't expected was that the train would take so long, and we ended up getting to the airport a little later than we had planned. But we managed to make our way through check in and security without any hassle, and our holiday was off to a good start. No sooner had we passed through security than Jess spotted something that would truly kick our holiday off in the right manner - a Coach store. The spending started before we even left the airport with each of us walking away with a bag a piece, feeling a little giddy about our purchases, but definitely in the holiday spirit of having some fun.

Our first flight was to Hong Kong, and we arrived on time without any problems. The first thing that we did when we got there? Convert some of our cash to HK Dollars and start checking out the shops. More than anything, Jess was relieved to see yet another Starbucks, and this time it was one with seasonal supplies unlike it's counterparts in Korea. After checking out the bookstores, we made our way there to grab some gingerbread lattes and then patiently waited for our flight to Bangkok.

Once again the flight left without any complications, and we arrived in Bangkok at 7pm as we had planned. What we hadn't planned for was the passport check. Sure, we knew there would be one, but we hadn't expected to wait in endless queues to get through it. An hour or so later, we were grabbing our luggage and heading through the arrivals doors to find a taxi.
"Taxi!"
Easy enough.
"How much?"
"One thousand, two hundred baht."
Thank God we had remembered to ask and thank God we had done our research. The number of tourists who must get ripped off every year by these 'taxi drivers' waiting outside the arrivals gate astounds me. We politely declined the lady's offer and made our way downstairs to the public taxi rank where we managed to get a taxi without any fuss for a mere 500 baht. Forty-five minutes later, we were arriving at the bus "station" in Bangkok where Westerners were piled onto an island in the middle of the busy traffic. We managed to check in for our bus and were then left to wait amongst the foreigners as we tried without any luck to find a place to sit. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long, and within half an hour we were on our VIP night bus to Koh Samui.

For more about our trip to Koh Samui, click here.
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Daejeon
Since buying my camera, I have started to read a lot of photography blogs. Mostly I read them to learn about techniques and new products, but often I just glance over the text and focus on the pretty pictures instead. Over the last few weeks, a lot of these pretty pictures have involved hot air balloons. I believe that there was some big convention or festival in the states and tons of people gathered to watch hundreds of hot air balloons hover over the cities. Of course, with their bright colours and blue skies, it was the perfect opportunity for amazing photos to be taken. So, when I heard that there was going to be a hot air balloon festival in Daejeon, a short 45 minute bus ride from where I stay, I decided then and there that I had to go.

I don't think that I have mentioned it in this blog before, but I really don't like Daejeon. I haven't been there all that often, so I will admit that my opinion on the city isn't particularly well founded, but after the first time I went there I described it to my friends and family in an e-mail as being "hell on earth" (fair enough, I was referring more to Costco than the city), and this time didn't do anything to improve on that impression. Once again, it wasn't really the city that disappointed, but the circumstances, and I feel a little bad that Daejeon always has to take a bad rap for the bad times that I end up having there. Perhaps I need to set aside a weekend to go to Daejeon and actually do something enjoyable, but that will be a story for another time if it ends up happening.

I arrived in Daejeon after a shorter than usual bus trip and my spirits were high. I was going to a hot air balloon festival! My camera was burning a hole in my bag. I quickly grabbed up my cellphone and tried to call the friend that I was supposed to be meeting. I had sent him a message on leaving Cheongju, and was hoping that he would be just about ready to go.
But alas, no answer.
Hmmm... Maybe he was in the bathroom or something. I quickly typed up a message saying that I was there and as I clicked the send button, my phone buzzed with excitement. New Message.

"ey sorry turns out change of plan, in jochiwon with lady friend"

Now I don't know where Jochiwon is, but it sure as hell isn't Daejeon! I stared at the screen for a good couple of seconds before reality dawned on me. I was in Daejeon, on my own, not knowing where I was going and I had just been stood up. I had been relying on this friend, who was supposed to be spending the night near the festival grounds having gone to the rock concert the night before, to tell me where to go and I found myself stranded. I quickly tried to phone everyone I knew, trying to find out how to get to the balloon festival. After about five tries, I managed to get hold of someone who knew what was happening, and I was sent Korean instructions to give to the taxi driver. I clambered into a taxi, my good mood severely depleted, and made my way to the festival.

As we approached the festival grounds, my mood lifted ever so slightly as I saw some balloons hovering in the air and some hanggliders floating about. But, as we came to the festival itself, this initial lift in my mood gave in to gravity and came crashing to the ground once more. There wasn't a single Westerner. I stood out like a sore thumb. I made my way into the Deli Tour Show in the building opposite the fair ground and wandered through it, feeling a bit like a lost puppy. The large quantities of alcohol and food couldn't entice me though and I covered all of the stores in a matter of minutes. Reeling slightly from the feeling of disappointment, I made my way back outside and across the road to the balloons. I watched as Koreans queued for "rides" in the colourful monstrosities, but I wasn't interested in spending five minutes going up in a balloon tethered to the ground when all I wanted to do was fly away from here and from my disappointment. I watched as children were given the opportunity on the ground to pull on the ring and release the fire that would force the balloon into the air. I wandered between happy families, cutesy couples and squealing children, snapped a couple of photos and quickly made my way out of there.

I arrived back home at least five hours earlier than I had planned and immediately plugged the camera into the computer. I wanted the day to have been worthwhile in one respect even if it was a disappointment in so many others. The photos weren't what I had wanted or expected. They were either under- or over-exposed, my bad mood having led to impatience and laziness. The colours were dull. The smoggy, misty weather hadn't helped my efforts, and I knew that I shouldn't be too hard on myself, but I couldn't help it. I managed to salvage a few and find one for my photo of the day, but I wasn't impressed. The photos that I had been trying to emulate mocked me from their spots in the blogosphere.

All in all, despite the disappointment, a lesson can be learned from my trip to Daejeon. First of all, don't let my mood affect my photography (possibly the topics and subjects, but not the quality). And second, don't make plans with Ben.
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