I’ve devoted much of this weekend to planning my trip to Thailand.  Ideally I’m supposed to be planning this trip with my friend who is going to meet me there, though I fear our different time zones, tolerance for correspondence and travel experience will make planning funky.  No doubt her gmail account is at maximum Briana capacity.

Question: Why are these travel bloggers expressing delight when they see a white tip shark?

I went to the COEX at Yongsan in search of a reasonably priced, waterproof, digital camera.  I’ve ended up with a decent point and shoot that will survive me tipping over the boat as will probably happen at least once.

Thailand Torture

I have been sketching out possible Thailand itineraries all day, and I’ve come to a conclusion: every place we go and every activity we do is going to harm me or scare the crap out of me.  My only experience riding in a longtail boat was nerve wracking, and I don’t fancy mean fish in the reefs.  I’m looking at you, sharks and barracudas.  The jungle is full of malaria.  My fair skin will, undoubtedly, burn, and I will break out in a painful rash on my ass.

Tropical paradise is looking a bit more like a torture sauna right now.

My Weekend Trip to Seoraksan National Park

I’ve declared that I will, by God, enjoy my remaining months in Korea.  Accordingly, this weekend I went with Molly on a trip to Seoraksan National Park on the East Sea.  Molly gets off of work late, as most hagwon teachers do, so on Friday night we took an 11:40 bus to Sorak, the city nearest the national park.

We hopped in a taxi to Seorak Youth Hostel which, we found out, was about 2.5 km from one of the park entrances.  I’d called ahead to let them know that we’d be arriving late, but no one was at the counter.  I didn’t know what was the best thing to do.  I considered the efficacy of crashing in the lobby until someone came to the counter, and also considered how convinced my companion would be about this plan.  The taxi driver helpfully came inside and, when no one answered his call, promptly banged on a door and woke up the attendant.  (While he was knocking on said door, I had no idea who would answer.  I worried he was waking up other guests.)  Well, the attendant was not happy with us.  If looks could kill I’d be in a hospital. After charging my card he threw it on the desk instead of handing it to me.   I got the key and  scooted away from his malevolent glare.  It was a cute room.  Bigger than my apartment, I think.  I slept in a bed.  I haven’t slept in a bed since my trip to the Philippines.

In the morning it was really hard for either of us to get going, which we confessed to each other and were happy to find out.   But after a lot of snacking and stalling, we got our asses in gear and went to the park.  It was an overcast day, and the mountains were shrouded.  It was still breathtaking.    The mountains here are very rocky and steep, though not so tall. We were at the feet of strange Gods.

Word to the wise: don’t bother yourself with packing water and snacks.  We passed two restaurants and several more snack bars.    And that’s just on the hike!  The part of the park in the valley is crammed with tourist crap.  I even saw an arcade. The Koreans definitely do national parks differently than us Americans.

We were doing this all by the seat of our pants and didn’t have any particular hike in mind.  There was a large metal Buddha, a Buddhist temple in the valley with a hell of a view.  We hiked part way to Ulsanbawi (Ulsan rock), which looked unreal.  It gave me goose bumps.  We stopped at another Buddhist temple instead of going further, though we hand no intention of going the whole way.  I must lose weight and get strong.  I want to see these things.  I’m such a pansy.  I’m constantly afraid of spraining my ankle, which is a valid fear because I’ve sprained it three times this year.  Aigo!  I shouldn’t shit on myself too much, though.  I have been getting stronger and losing weight.  Even if I was in the best shape possible we wouldn’t have gone to the peak because it was late.  We hiked back down and stopped for a very expensive steak dinner.  Molly was wiser than I in trying to dissuade me from my frivolity, but we did anyway.  There was a swanky hotel all done up with hokey British memorabilia.  They had two double-decker busses in their yard, a fake suit of armor in a lobby with fake books on the shelves.  There was an Abbey Road themed cocktail lounge, but we ate in the restaurant which had pictures of British queens in ornate frames.  When I call this hotel swanky, I don’t think it would rate more than a midrange hotel back home.  I’m sure it’s price wasn’t midrange, but the quality sure was.  Molly said it looked like a country club that had gone to seed decades ago.

It was great being in the country side.  We had fresh air and found the people to be very friendly.

It rained all day Sunday, so we had to skip our plans to go to Sokcho beach and instead caught a noon bus back to Seoul.  Traffic was killer, so our three and a half our trip turned into a five hour trip.  To entertain ourselves we took photos of strangers.  There was one dude across the isle who was asleep the whole trip, but he was one of those clowns who hangs their head forward and sleeps, but keeps waking themselves up when their head lolls to hard onto their own shoulder.  For hours this guy was doing that.  What a champion.  At one point Molly and I were both asleep and her head lolled and hit me waking us both up.  It made me laugh.

Next weekend I’ll make a day trip to either an island or a walled city.  And perhaps I’ll write about it a dully as I’ve written about this trip.  God, I have no heart for writing about trips if I’m not in them at the time.  Maybe some of these pictures will do it more justice than I have.

Molly at the feet of foreign Gods

Moi

Anyone for some bundaegi? (Bundaegi is silk worm larvae. It's quite common to find it for sale by street vendors, and the smell is awful.)

You don't really wanna make me unleash the dragon

Silly toilet sign at a Buddhist temple. The little dude with the exposed butt taking a piss is a monk. This cheeky frivolity really clashes with the sincerity and awe of the place.

My fantasy of Asia.

Ulsanbawi

An upright boulder carved in, I'm guessing here, old Korean. This is near the temple which was the end of our upward hike.

A monk worshipping at the large metal Buddha in a valley.

We definitely were not dressed for such a restaurant. Even if the dinner contained salad dressing from a bottle.

My date seemed rather stiff.

What luck that the girl behind me, unbeknownst to me, was making the same face. (Well, to be fair to her, her face is much prettier than mine right now.)

Molly and I are killing time

Fuck you too, hat!

Molly wanted a photo of the young man behind me. He had a loud (for a Korean) cell phone conversation which annoyed her greatly. He snorted when he laughed, besides, his greater offense according to her, of his high, feminine voice.

Our trip, as that saying goes, didn’t even scratch the surface of what Seoraksan National Park has to offer.

Bye-bye Amanda, Hello Travel Plans

I learned today that I’ll have an ample two weeks of summer vacation instead of the one week which I had been told to expect.  At the risk of making my blog the graveyard of my aspirations, I’m going to declare my intention to take a trip to China in August.  I want to go here:

Guilin, China

This week is a busy week for me, so after work today I’ve unhelpfully done none of the things which I’ve needed and planned to do.  Curses.

Saturday night was Amanda’s last night in Seoul, so I went to her place and helped her finish cleaning and packing.  We stayed up until five in the morning.  In the morning I took some photos of her apartment and neighborhood while she made some last minute skype calls to friends and family.

It was a good day for traveling. We took one of the many conveniently located airport busses.  What a perfect bus ride for her last view of Seoul! We went past so many verdant Korean palaces, old walls, and all the while the sky was a heady bright blue.  Everything was so vibrantly colored.  She was running quite late and it was a miracle she got to her plane.  She was going through security during boarding time.  Before heading back to her home state of Arizona she’s spending two weeks in Thailand, the lucky slag.

That neck scarf could put your eye out.

Sniffle. Bye Amanda!

So she’s in Thailand at the moment, probably alternating between rapturous adoration and high velocity stress.  (She’s already lost her camera.  She lost it on our trip last year to Beijing too.  Looks like I’m not the only one who is mildly prone to problems while traveling. C’mon Amanda, I’ve donated way more to the locals of the Philippines. Pick up your game!)

I wandered about the sleek airport for a while, reminiscing about travels with friends and family, feeling grateful but also a dim sense of loss.   Maybe I was indulging myself, but when I got on the bus bound for my district, it evaporated.   I’m grateful to be here still, and that was hammered home to me even more today when I learned that only two NSETs from my district were granted that elusive six month contract.

Spring 2010 Teacher’s Trip to Namisam

I am determined to be happy for the next eight months in Korea, absolutely determined.  I will choose to be happy.

Friday afternoon two bus loads of middle school teachers went on a trip to an island in a river (was it the Han? I’m not sure, but we were definitely an hour east of Seoul) called Namisam (Nami referring to a Chosun dynasty general and sam meaning island.) I always go on the teacher trips because it’s nice to get out of Seoul and spend time with my coworkers.  They are always so considerate and sweet, and I especially like hanging out with the older teachers because they treat me like a favored niece.  I miss having women older than me in my life.  Feels like family.

Namisam was absolutely lovely.  So many trees.  Species of pine I didn’t recognize, ginkos, Japanese maples and many more besides which I couldn’t name.  It smelled wonderful too.  Fresh air perfumed by flowering trees.  Swoon.  I’ve been to several parks outside of Seoul, and this was by far the classiest of them.  The restaurants and shops were minimalist and made of good smelling wood.  No cheesy plastic Disney-like animals cluttering up the grounds, none of that infantile Asian aesthetic best-known in the US by Hello Kitty.

Putrid.

Mrs. Kwan (the impeccably dressed) and Ms. Choi (the foreign English teacher babysitter) and I walked around the grounds together.  It’s pretty surreal to see your coworkers dashing past you on tandem bikes and giggling.  Adorable, but surreal.  I wanted to rent a family bike.  It’s a two seater, but instead of sitting one behind the other, both people sit side by side.  There’s also a place between them for a small child and a roof.

Kyopta!

Mrs. Kwan doesn’t know how to ride a bike, so the family bike was a perfect choice for us.  But the young guys who were renting the bikes were trying to discourage us, highly discourage us, from renting one.  Why?  They said that two women rented one earlier today and got into a crash, ergo it is dangerous for two women to rent one of these bikes.  You need a man, apparently.  (I choose to be happy, I choose to be happy.)  Needless to say I insisted.  Mrs. Kwan sat on the right side and I sat on the left, where the break controls and functioning steering wheel were.  This is the closest I’ve come to driving since I moved here!  We survived unscathed.  It’s not a zippy thing, but I’ve wanted to try one since I first saw it last fall.

I should probably mention that the principal and the vice principal were extra warm and welcoming to me after Thursday’s dramatic debacle.   On the short ferry ride back to shore they insisted on taking photos with me.  Endearing, awkward for all of us, but totally endearing.

We stopped at an outdoor restaurant outside of Seoul and ate duck galbi (barbeque).  Delicious duck.  Though full, I jokingly pined for more duck, which was a mistake because the teacher’s ordered more.  It was a huge plate.  Oops.

Mrs. Kwan (left) and Ms. Choi (right)

Monks at Namisam

Me and Mr. Kim, the principal

One of these things is not like the other

Duck, duck, Ms. Choi

I forgot to mention that while I’ve gone on every teacher’s trip I’ve never seen this many teachers.  We’ve never needed two buses before.  I asked another English teacher why the difference.  We have a new principal this year and all of the teachers like him much more.   I agree whole heartedly.

(Wordable Wanderings)

It’s a rainy July here.   It has kept me from my natural anti-depressant: jogging.  It wasn’t raining yesterday afternoon, but I wasn’t able to  jog then because I was busy.  No, whats the word that also ends with a y and describes me?  Lazy.

The sorts of things that a lot of people in my generation seem to do a lot, and thus I assume they find fullfilling, like drinking and dancing and drinking, don’t cut it for me.   And I’m pretty lucky that at 25 I’ve seen a lot of they world.  But it is all starting to look the same.  For fucks sake I’ve seen an H&M in Beijing, a quarter of a mile from the Forbidden city.  C’mon China, are you a xenophobic, communist country or aren’t you?  There’s probably a Gap Kids on the plains of what once was Xanadu.  Where can I go to fullfill my unrelenting need for change?  That is one reason why I am considering the Peace Corps.  (I realize talking about joining the Peace Corps is probably like talking about the plot of that book you’ve had knocking around in your head for years: don’t do it.)

Tonight my co-workers and I went to an Outback (something you’d not catch me dead doing in the states out of a false sense of self-righteousness and taste).  It was delicious, and I ate a lot of rare steak and ribs.

Tonight, the paranthesis rule (!)