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Water World

I had to spend last night at a love motel.

Why?

Let’s start at the beginning.

Sunday night I return from my weekend spent watching the bullfights in Cheongdo (more on that later) and hanging out in Daegu. I walk into my apartment and immediatly notice that the floor feels squishy underneath my feet. Normally when this happens it’s because an air bubble has formed under the cheap wood grain patterned linoleum that covers the span of my apartment, but this is different. I Flip on the lights and walk around for a bit trying to figure out what the problem is when I hear a loud squelching sound a notice water coming coming out from underneath the linoleum where one sheet overlaps another. It turns out that there is a layer of water trapped underneath. So much water that when I step firmly on the floor in the center of the room I see small ripples migrating towards the wall, which makes the floor look like a cheap water bed.

Elsewhere in my apartment pools of water have formed on top of the linoleum but luckily none are near any electrical devices and my dirty clothes hamper remains untouched. I try to access where the water is coming from and even contemplate trying to clean up the mess myself but it dawns on me that I’m too tired, too hungover, and it’s too late in the night for me to care. Instead I decide to deal with it in the morning.

I wake up for work the next day and realize there is a lot more water than I originally thought. This is evident in the water that has now begun seeping out into the entryway by the font door. I arrive at work and explain the problem to my co-teacher, who eventually calls the landlord. I’ve gotten used to assuming the worse in these types of situations so I’m already thinking that I’ll end up having to foot the the bill for any repairs that need to be done or at the very least have to stay somewhere else for a few days while the problem gets sorted out.

By lunch my co-teacher has talked to the landlord and he says that the water is coming from a broken pipe under my kitchen sink. I’m told that I need to go home and clean out the area underneath the sink so that they can come and make the necessary repairs in the morning. Fair enough, I can do that. I’m also told that I should try to clean up the water that is already on the floor and that the water valve to my apartment has been cut off to keep anymore from leaking. I’m not really excited about having clean it up myself, but I figure any effort on my part that can bring quick and painless end to this dilemma is well worth it. I’ve heard and read many stories involving english teachers going through hell because of household malfunctions–sometimes because of negligence on the part of a landlord and other times because teachers are expected to deal with the problems on their own, with little or no help from anyone. In my case, I’m lucky to at least have a co-teacher who can do my bidding for me. I head home hell bent on getting as much water up as possible.

After an hour of sliding around in flip flops with a makeshift mop (really just a swifter sweeper with an old towel attached to the end of it–not the best tool for the job), I realize that I am doing nothing more than moving the water from one place to another. It’s clear that that I won’t be able to remove it all and at this point I’m thinking it will probably require some professional assistance.

So lets review what we know so far:

1. A pipe has broken underneath the kitchen sink.
2. There is water all over the floor, made worse by my attempt to clean it up.
3. The pipe will be fixed, but until then the water to my apartment has been completely cut off (No shower, no laundry, no flushing of the toilet).

I throw some shit in a bag and head to a love motel for the night. Lucky for me there are a slew of them in my neighborhood so I pick one at random and pray that it won’t break the bank. For about 35 bucks I get room with the following amenities: a round bed, an interior that looks like it belongs in a Tim Burton movie, a satin robe that barely goes past my butt (not that I tried it on) and red neon lights that are attached to the ceiling. I’m officially set for a one-man psychedelic orgy photo shoot and best of all, it has running water.

While at work today, my co-teacher tells me that not only has the landlord fixed the problem under my sink (which actually turned out to be a faulty water heater) but he’s also taken out my recycling for me. Little is said about whether there is still water everywhere except that I should turn on my ondong floor heating system so that whatever water remains will dry more quickly.

I walk into my apartment halfway expecting to see the water still there, but to my surprise there is not a drop to be found. From what it looks like, he pulled up all the linoleum, removed the water, and laid it back down. I Imagine he had to to move the furniture around to do this, but if he did I certainly can’t tell. He also took it upon himself to clean the mirrors and television glass, take out the garbage and arrange some of my shoes next to the door (which actually creeps me out a little). I’m considering sending him a thank you card as well as a request for his services on a weekly basis in exchange for english lessons.

So what stated out as a near disaster turns out to be only a minor irritation due to the help of my awesome co-teacher and and a landlord who either felt sorry for me or is simply an overachieving neat freak.

It’s too bad really. I was somewhat looking forward to spending another night the porno infused love motel.

Ciao,

Kimchi Dreadlocks

Busan e-FM Week 19: The Gravitational Pull of Haeundae

About 'Open Mike in Busan'

Introduction

Today’s topic is one relatively small but important part of Busan, Haeundae-gu, which is where Busan e-FM has recently moved to.

"The new multicultural heart of Busan"

I feel Busan e-FM’s move is an interesting issue in itself. Because – according to the station’s adverts – this is meant to be “the new multicultural heart of Busan”. As a foreigner here, I see this as a very important subject. You see, because of my job I can live anywhere I want to in Busan. Right now, I live in Saha-gu, but if there’s supposed to be a place here which is multicultural, it makes me wonder if it’s better to live there myself.

Saha is very different to Haeundae. There really aren’t that many Western foreigners living there at all. When I first came here in 2006 I walked around the area for three days, and never saw another Westerner at all. But as soon as I visited Haeundae, I saw several other Westerners within 30 minutes. So it definitely feels more multicultural here.

Versus life in the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of Busan

In some ways it doesn’t matter to me if I’m not living in a multicultural area; there’s something to be said for living out in the far west of Busan, because I feel it’s more of a real Korean experience. With few other foreigners around it’s much more isolating, and it has also really meant that if I made friends, it had to be with Koreans.

I think as a foreigner here, when you live in a place where there are a lot of other foreigners, it’s easy to start meeting up with them and kind of disappear into your own community. That doesn’t help you learn Korean or integrate with Korean society though. Of course you do it because you feel isolated, but in the end I think it only helps continue that sense of being isolated as a foreigner. Having said that, there actually are reasons why living in a multicultural area can be attractive, so it can matter where I live as a foreigner.

The Haeundae advantages

But Haeundae has its advantages. Even though I have Korean friends, most of our conversations are translated, so it is tempting to live in an area where it’s easier to make English-speaking friends. And I think in multicultural areas a kind of ‘support network’ builds up. So, for example, you get more doctors and other professionals who speak English, the local authorities create more activities for foreigners, and – this is a real issue for me now – even the schools you want your child to go to are based in the area.

The schools issue is a really pressing one. My wife and I had a son last year, and this being Korea we’re already trying to plan out his education. I think school can be very difficult for a child... especially a child who is different. So I’m not sure about whether my son should go to a normal Korean school. Maybe it wouldn’t be a problem, and maybe it would – this is a huge worry for me. But Busan’s two foreign schools [Busan Foreign School and Busan International Foreign School - I know, shades of the People's Front of Judea and the Judean People's Front in those names] both decided to base themselves here in Haeundae. Well, it’s really difficult to live in Saha and send my son to school in Haeundae, so if we want him to go to a foreign schools, we’ll probably have to move here.

I don’t expect a foreign school to open in Saha, and I understand why, but it’s disappointing that both foreign schools ended up being in the same district, especially when that district is right on the edge of the city rather than being more central. Along with other things such as all the festivals that happen here, it means that Haeundae has this kind of gravitational pull, and the more it develops in this direction, the more gravitational pull it develops – so to continue the astronomy metaphor, it feels like a bit of a black hole, sucking everything in.

In the end, Haeundae will probably only continue to grow as a multicultural area. Some people say this is a good thing, but I’m not so sure. Even the British Prime Minister said recently that multiculturalism hasn’t worked in my country. In the city I’m from, arguably multiculturalism has been a disaster.

Multiculturalism – I have seen the future and lived it

Historically we had a lot of immigration in my home city. For example, even though I’m British, I have an Irish surname because my family were immigrants once too. But we integrated. In recent times though, there was more concern with respecting and celebrating people’s differences. That’s good... except there’s a risk that if you go too far, immigrants stop trying to integrate, because they can just live their own lives in their own community, and suddenly you have two separate communities trying to live in the same place. In my city, that eventually led to race riots [and some ethnic cleansing I found myself on the receiving end of].

What’s happening in Haeundae reminds me a little of my home city. It will never be as bad as my city, but sometimes I wish that it was OK to be a foreigner here and just live anywhere in Busan, without feeling that I ought to be living in a so-called multicultural area, or that worse, I really have to. But if what I need as a foreigner is all in one district – like the foreign schools – it makes integration harder. In fact it would be great if I didn’t feel I had to send my son to a foreign school, but once you create them and all the foreign children go there, it makes it harder not to choose that option yourself.

So my son will become part of that ‘separate community’ problem, and even I’ve been sucked into it despite my own reservations.

KNN moves to Haeundae

So as a foreigner it feels almost like I can’t escape from Haeundae – it’s almost inevitable that I’ll have to live over here eventually. But actually, the whole Haeundae issue is not just about foreigners – I was very surprised for example, that Busan’s biggest media company [KNN – Busan e-FM’s parent company] moved over here, because in England you normally expect local TV and newspaper companies to always be based in a city’s centre, where they can reach each part of the city more easily.

So I wonder if it means that Haeundae is becoming Busan’s new city centre – even though it’s actually on the edge of the city. It’s remarkable considering that twenty years ago this part of the city was really not that developed at all [in fact, I think it wasn’t really even regarded as part of the city]. People who bought property here back then must have made a lot of money. In fact, it’s becoming so expensive here perhaps soon I won’t be able to afford to buy a place in Haeundae anyway, then my son will have to commute further to school.

Moving – to the next Haeundae?

My wife and I are actually looking at properties all over Busan right now. I must admit, despite my reservations, I do like Haeundae as an area, and I’d love to have a view of the sea from my apartment. But I have mixed feelings about buying into an expensive area. I’d love to buy into the next Haeundae, because as a financial trader I suppose I’m always thinking about longer-term investment opportunities.

But where is the next Haeundae? I’m wondering whether it’s going to be Dadaepo. It has a beach and crucially, I understand the subway line is going to be extended there. It will never really be what Haeundae is, but you have to think what it might be like in twenty or thirty years. After all, if you could go back in time thirty years to Haeundae of the early 1980s and show people what it looked like now, they probably wouldn’t believe it. The change here has been huge, and it is a nice place, but it’s a pity that I feel in some ways I have to move here. Personally as a foreigner, I’d love Busan to be more integrated, rather than focused on one area.

Links
Busan e-FM
Inside Out Busan

Air date: 2011-03-02 @ ~19:30

—

Busanmike.blogspot.com

Twitter: @BusanMike
YouTube: /BusanMikeVideo
Flickr: /busanmike

How Much Are you Worth?

I have talked about this problem before, but I will but it into a more realistic context/story:

You wake up in the morning and you grab yourself a fresh cup of coffee, rub your eyes and sit down in front of your computer. DING! goes your email and you find a letter from some company that you’ve never heard of but, they have heard of you and want to purchase your photos. You skim through making sure that it is not one of those ever-so-obvious scams where they want you to send all your banking information to some small African country. You soon realize that this is a legit offer and they are asking some serious questions.

“Dear Awesome Photographer person in Korea, we love your photos of kimchi and random temples. We would like to purchase them for our office and are wondering how much it would cost for a high resolution image. We have attached a copy of the photo that we found on your flickr page”

So… now what do you do? Most of the time I send out a bajillion emails to friends and people that I know in the field and see what they have to say and skirt the issue with the potential client until I get a response that satisfies me. However, this is NOT the way to go about things.

Today over my morning coffee I found a great article on this exact issue. The Article on Digital Photography School was written by Mathew Dutile and it brings up some excellent points.

I really want everyone to take the time to read this article in its entirety. Read and think about it. let me know what you think.

For me the main thing is all about confidence and being firm on your pricing. Confidence is key. If you clients sense that you are not sure about your work or your prices they will use that to their advantage to get a better deal. They may also think that you cannot produce the goods and will not commit to the deal.

I think the most intriguing piece of advice has to be about “knowing when to walk away” This is extremely important to know and understand. I remember once when I was doing some wedding photography the client hired me for next to nothing. The groom was a friend and I thought that I was helping them out. They later came to me and showed me pictures and styles that they wanted me to shoot like. They were from another photographer that was charging 5 times what they were paying me, I should have just walked away.

A while ago I was telling a friend about that situation and they told me a story about a person who did just that. She walked away from numerous clients. Soon they were begging her to shoot for them and actually increasing the price. There is power in the world “No” but just be courteous.

Here is the link to the article again. Give it some thought and let me know what you think about it in the comments section below.

—

Jason Teale

Photographer, educator, podcaster

Podcast Website Instagram

Photographing Korea and the world beyond!

Cheongdo Bull Fighting 2011

This past weekend was the yearly Bull Fights in Cheongdo a smaller city in Gyeongsanbukdo. I have attended this event for many years but have missed it recently. Upon my return, I noticed that the site was greatly improved and the venue was amazing!

The city has constructed a new stadium specifically for the event in recent years which makes the whole festival that much more enjoyable! From restaurants to art exhibitions they had it all. It is truly a good time. Sadly, I was called away this year and had to leave shortly after I got there.

Some tips that I would give if you plan of visiting next year are:

Bring a monopod to rest your camera on.
Use a long/fast lens if you have one. (Brings the action in closer)
Bump up your iso. (It may look like decent light but it is not that great for movement)
If you are shooting from the first row rail, stand in front of the stair to not block anyone’s view.
If shooting from the seats, sit a few rows back to get the rail out of your frame.
The colours can be a bit drab or cool, so shoot in raw and/or warm them up a bit with a filter in PS

One more thing to note is that the drive out there from Ulsan, particularly just past Unmunsa was unbelievable. There is a stretch along a lake (HWY 69) that was lined with cherry Blossoms. It was amazing!

More Awesome Articles and Video about Cheongdo Bull Fighting 2011

Qi Ranger’s Youtube Channel

Chris in South Korea

Mikee Dee

Tigers and Magpies (2010)

Taejongdae Clam Tents on Yeongdo Island - Busan Awesome

http://busan.cityawesome.com
Visit our Facebook Page! (and 'like' us too!)

This is a strange memory, but I remember being 14 years old and watching a random show on the Discovery Channel or something similar on Okinawa. The people in the show were diving into piles of squid and clams and other strange sea aliens that I didn’t know the names of. It was cool when I was watching, but later that night, I’m pretty sure I had some Fear Factor-style nightmares, and I might have wet the bed. Not sure.

So anyway, flash forward to present-day in Busan. Who would have thought that one of the coolest things to do in this city was to eat the stuff that made me pee the bed all those years ago?

The Taejongdae clam tents are seriously a fun time. We show up after a long-ish bus ride to the end of Yeong-do, walk along this parking lot overlooking a pebble beach, and stroll down, scoping out the tents. I always feel like the prettiest girl at the ball as all the ladies who work the tents shout at my friends and me (Hey! Come on! You! Here!) and try to coax us into their tent. Don’t stress too much about the selection process: all are pretty much the same. They have no menus; our particular lady told us “memory” when we asked her for one, as she gestured towards the buckets of seafood out in front.

I’ve been here twice now, and both times, you just kind of mime what you want (or speak some Korean if you’ve got the skills), and the ladies will take care of the portions. I think clams (조개 – jo-gae) and mussels (홍합 – hong-hap) are the best things to go for here. There are also prawns (새우 – sae-oo) and some smaller shellfish, as well as Gaebul (the weird sea penis-looking things… I steer clear) if you’re feeling saucy. (NOTE: Just to be clear here: you’ll need to cook the clams. Sorry, just had to say it. You might want to use the scissors as well to cut the clams away from their shells).

There are no “prices” posted, but both times I’ve gone, it’s been about the same. For five people, mussels and clams, beer and some soju should run you 80-100k, depending on how much you drink. Another time, we had 10 people eating and the total was 160. Not bad, considering how much you get, and considering that the divers are about 50 meters away plucking the shellfish out of the ocean.

Taejongdae is also a really nice scenic park that give you some nice views along the ocean, so you can go hiking before or after you eat. There is a small train (think something like those trains that go around the zoo) that goes around Taejongdae, and there is also a small ferry/tour boat that goes around a couple small rock islands off the coast. I’ve heard that you can get a ferry from Jagalchi market to Taejongdae, but I’m not sure about this.

Directions:
FROM JAGALCHI/NAMPO: get to Jagalchi metro station exit 10 and take bus 8.
FROM SEOMYEON: get the 88-B or 88-A across the street from Judie’s Taehwa. The ride is about an hour.
FROM POINTS EAST (east of Seomyeon): Metro to Daeyeon station, exit 2 and take the 101 all the way to Taejongdae. OR you can take the 139, 1001 or 1003 to the Munhyeon stop and transfer to the 101 there. The ride from Daeyeon will take about an hour.
FROM BUSAN STATION: Bus 101, 88-A or 88-B will do the trick.

Take the bus to the END of the line (TaeJongDae) and you’ll get off in a parking lot. Turn left and you’ll see the entrance to the park. Turn RIGHT after the Family Mart, BEFORE the main gate. Walk down the path (it looks kind of seedy) till you come to a parking lot. You’ll see the tents and the ocean. ATM and bathrooms are to your left of the parking lot, slightly uphill, and overlooking the clam tents.

View BUSAN! AWESOME! in a larger map

—

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BusanAwesome

Tradition Korean Lunch

Sunday 17th May, 2011

After coming home from Busan last night, Mr Kim, the hotel manager said there was a message for me from Joy. .... Joy.... Joy..... I'm thinking, who is Joy?! and how did they know how to contact me. I had no idea! I looked at Daniel, thinking, hmmm did you meet a Joy???? Hmmm!...

And then it clicked! Joy! from Pub Garagie. True to her word, she left a message at reception saying she was going to come pick me up at 1.30pm tomorrow. Hahaha I didn't know what to think. What else did I agree to do on Friday night??? Ekkk!!! All I could do was wait until tomorrow and see what I signed up for...

Daniel kissed me goodbye and I said to him if I wasn't home by nightfall, come looking for me or go to the Pub Garagie, atleast you know where she works!!

There was a wedding in the hotel today and it was FULL of Koreans dressed in Traditional clothing so I was sure I would be easy to spot. Soon enough 1.30pm rolled around and I went downstairs to wait. Joy was already waiting for me and when she saw me she gave me a huge hug and said 'ohhhh Tahneeeeee!!' I was so surprised she actually remembered my name. Noone ever remembers my name. Not even English speakers! We went over to her car and I thought now would be a good time to ask what we would be doing, or where we were going. She said we would have lunch with Dick and Hansy and then, who knows! I thought, ok yep, sounds good; and so off to lunch we went...

On the way there, Hansy rang Joy to tell her they were already there and waiting. We were only about 10 minutes away. Joy lives close to the Basketball Stadium, up in on of the back streets. I haven't really been in the back streets of Changwon, but it's such a cute kept secret. It is mainly all residential houses and they either have a small courtyard or a wrap around balcony. She lived on the top floor, with two other room mates.

We all greeted each other outside before we made our way up the stairs. Before entering, we took our shoes off and went into the lounge room, where they already had the table set up. She soon told us to have a seat as lunch was about to be served.

I have never been to a Koreans house for lunch, so I didn't know what the tradition was, but I soon learnt. We sat on the floor and got comfortable. I laugh when I write this. It was quite funny seeing Hansy, Dick and myself trying to cross our legs and spread them out, trying to get into a good sitting position. We managed, but I'm amazed at how Joy and her flatmate could sit in the same one position for ages, while the 3 of us kept moving and changing positions- hahaha I loved it!
Getting comfortable

Getting comfortable

Apparently Joys flatmate (I'm not too sure what her name was, but I think it was mina??) had been cooking all morning for us. I felt so bad as I was not expecting any of this, but she was happy to do it. Mina has been friends with Joy for a long time and they recently started renting this house together. She has a 10 year old daughter, who also lives in the house and a small maltese dog, who just kept barking and barking and barking at us, until they took her to the beauty salon for the rest of the afternoon.
Bark, bark, bark!!!

Bark, bark, bark!!!

With the beer flowing and orange juice for me, Lunch was served; and it looked AMAZING. I could not believe they had cooked all this for us and all out of generousity. All up, there was about 5 courses! First they brought out the all famous Kimchi, with Korean pizza, which is like a huge omelette and some noodles. Then we had squid and boiled chicken with soup and then rice pudding. I was already full after the first serving! The food was so tasty and again I just couldn't get over how welcoming and hospitable these girls had been with us.
Lunchies!!!

Lunchies!!!

Joy cutting up the squid

After a delicious lunch, we headed outside onto the balcony to take in the view and rest our full belly's. The location of their house was so good, being close to the shops, schools and main road. Although it close to everything, it was in a very quiet area and you didn't hear any traffic. Mina's daughter soon came over with two of her little friends. They brought back the pup from the beauty salon, who I can tell you, looked like a little windup toy. For W25,000 The little pup, got a bath, clip and new hair dye. That is so cheap! in comparison what the grooming rates are back home. One of her friends also brought over her pup, cookie. A fluffier, bigger maltese, minus the hair dye
I love this photo of the girls and their pups

I love this photo of the girls and their pups

Back from the beauty salon!

View from the balcony

I love these trees

It was a lovely, warm afternoon and made me remember about lazy, sunny, Sunday afternoons back in Sydney. How I miss them. It's just strange to think I was in South Korea, in someones home, with some great company and to top it off- Joy brought us fresh, giant, juicey, red strawberries. My Gosh they were good.

Dick and cookie

Hansy and the gifts he brought over

I didn't realise how fast the afternoon had gone. It was now close to 6pm and Daniel finished work at 4pm! He was probably wondering where I was by now, as I'm usually always at home first before he is. We started saying our goodbyes and Joy and I made plans to go hiking on Thursday. We also plan to go shopping, but I'm not too sure when. I told her to let me know as I'm more flexible with time, then what she is. Hansy and Dick gave me a lift back home. I can't believe how random, but how awesome, my Sunday was.

Thank you Joy and Mina
x
Mina and Joy

Mina and Joy

Tradition Korean Lunch remains copyright of the author Two Otters, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The Economist, Censorship, and Korea’s Youth

The Economist Has Criticized the Korean Government’s Use of Censorship
This week, one of the world’s most influential magazines, The Economist, has criticized the online censorship laws in Korea. K-bloggers who are resident in Korea do need to be careful. As those who have sharply criticized Korea or individual Koreans know, posting articles online can be a dicey activity. Many K-bloggers have received threats, and are prevented, in general, from criticizing certain aspects of Korean policy-making. Most famously, the blogger Minerva was prosecuted in Korea, although he was eventually acquitted.

This Criticism is Too Late
To everyday Koreans, this is not new news at all. Neither is the story of Minerva. Most recently, the author of Black Out Korea, has been the subject of harsh criticism by native Koreans who found the content of Black Out Korea offensive. Here, the Seoul Gyopo Guide has opined that while the blog may indeed be offensive and in poor taste, that doesn’t mean that these scenes don’t exist in Korea. It is a fact that a casual observer can easily find them, with little or no effort. Nevertheless, death threats were reported made.

Anything Stifling Creativity is Bad
Despite the tardiness of The Economist’s criticism, the thesis is quite true. In particular, this statement is telling:

Yet South Korea’s mild paranoia about controlling information harms its reputation as a liberal democracy and undermines its potential as a creative powerhouse.

Why is this a problem? It is a problem because the most creative segment of the population are young, college graduates, who have the vitality, imagination, and the qualifications to turn that creativity into invention. For those outside Korea, it may be easy to point at the record low unemployment rate in Korea as evidence of its economic progress. However, just below the surface is the fact that Korea is over-educated, and under-employed to the extreme. Today, The Korea Times pointed out that the number of college graduates that are unemployed and not looking for a job are at an all-time high.
This is a particularly scary development. If the main consumers, and those that demand the best innovations in all consumer goods are the young, and those young are increasingly unemployed or under-employed, then how will they be able to buy the newest products? They won’t. In turn, that demand for the latest and greatest innovation has kept Korea’s companies on the cutting edge of development. That advantage could also be jeopardized in the long run.

These Aren’t Today’s Problems But…
This combination of censorship, chaebol dominance, and the unemployment of Korea’s college grads will not result in economic failure overnight. Then again, Japan’s decline has been gradual, but definite. Even without Japan’s latest natural disaster, Korea has taken the lead in many respects when it comes to innovation of consumer products, from home appliances to mobile phones. Some of that has been the result of policy, but much has been due to the decline in size and influence of Japan’s youth on its economy. Korea must avoid duplicating the slow, excruciating decline that is occurring in the Land of the Rising Sun.

—

www.seoulgyopoguide.com www.twitter.com/thelostseoul

Friday night crazies

Friday 15th April, 2011

Today was like any other day in Changwon. The weather was beautiful, the birds were singing, the cherry blossoms are changing, Life's great.

I just thought I'd go for a bike ride around the city and get some lunch along the way. This morning I confirmed all our booking details for Spain. We have our accommodation in Madrid and Barcelona all booked. We have our tickets to see a bull fight booked. I can't wait!! We just have to organise our care hire once we decide to leave Barcelona and drive back to Madrid. We are hoping to stop at Zaragoza on the way back and perhaps some of the other little towns inbetween.

Today would be a perfect day to take some photos of the landmarks around the city. So I went to the Basketball Stadium, which is home to the Changwon Sakers. I also took photos of the giant round-a-about, and some art displays at The City7
Art sculptures at The City7

Art sculptures at The City7

Tiger art!

Arty indeed

Art outside the basketball Stadium

The Sakers Basketball Stadium

Team Sakers!!

City Hall

Warrior Statue

The massive round-a-bout

Fridays always go quick and soon enough Daniel was back home. We started getting ready to go out to dinner to the local IP Bar. It's the place to be, either there, or The Westin or O'Brien's Bar.

Daniel ordered the Burrito's and I thought I'd try something new, so I opted for the Seafood Spaghetti. Last time I was here I had their signature Chicken Salad and it was absolutely DIVINE!

The food takes a while to be served, especially if it's a busy night. In fact, One time, they got so busy, they got confused with the orders and totally forgot about Daniel's meal! They felt so bad about it, they gave us a free drink and apologised. They know how to take care of their customers.

I was so surprised when I got my meal. The plate was massive and smelt sooooo good. I was really looking forward to this. Daniel's burrito was good too, but it's usually quite spicy and I don't like spicy food, so I don't usually order it.

There was noone from work at the IP Bar, so we decided to go downstairs to the Pub Garage (pronounced- Pub Garag-ie) and everyone from work was there! I had a feeling it was going to be a late night...

I got talking to alot of Daniel's work mates and they're all really nice guys. Alot of them have been doing this line of work for years and had some really interesting stories to tell. I also got talking to Joy, the manager of Pub Garagie. She speaks English well and has been working here for a while. She asked me about my nails, because earlier in the day, I put gems on them, and before you knew it, she was inviting me to go to her house for lunch on Sunday with Hansy and Dick (from Daniel's work) I said- 'Alright! Sounds like fun' and proceeded to give her the details of the hotel so she could ring me as I don't have a phone. I really didn't think anything of it, as our conversation got interrupted with jager shots and more random conversations.

Don't ask me what time we left, or how we got home- I have no recollection of this. All I know is that I woke up around 2.30am not feeling too great. You can just imagine what kind of night I had. Unfortunately Daniel had to work the next day, but he was feeling fine. I on the other hand, was grouchy, due to my broken sleep and I was nursing a hangover. I managed to sleep most of the day and watch reruns of our favourite show at the moment- Pawn Stars, which is about a family run Pawn Shop in Las Vegas and people bring in all sorts of things to be pawned or sold. It's such a good show and I totally recommend it. My favourite is Chumlee. He is this chubby, not too bright, worker at the shop and everyone makes fun of him. ahhhh Chumlee

In the evening, we headed out to Busan for a night out

Friday night crazies remains copyright of the author Two Otters, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Finding the Snow Fields: Road to Nari Basin

I realize it’s mid-April, and photos of snowy Korean fields on an island off the east coast might contradict the reality of bursting cherry blossoms along my neighbourhood stream in Busan (as well as trigger an unexpected chill in my Canadian readers who are enjoying the thaw of spring), but snowy fields is what I’ve got to show you.

They were taken in a place called the Nari Basin, which is the only flat stretch of land on Ulleungdo–yep, I’m still posting about Ulleungdo (the island was gorgeous, why stop now?)–and surrounded on all sides by volcanic mountains.

Like most places we ventured to during our off-season stay in early February, the Basin, we discovered, wasn’t accessible by local transport.

The coastal road bus

After a morning drive that wound up into Ulleungdo’s hills and cruised along its coast from Dodong, the bus dropped us in the village of Cheonbu, where, upon our mention of “Naribunji” the driver pointed to an uphill road in the distance and shook his head at our enquiry of another bus heading there.

Facing a long steep trek in already-damp boots that weren’t built for snowdrifts wasn’t making me the cheeriest foreigner on Korean soil, but we forged ahead anyway, with the exact time and distance the journey would take a vague notion in our minds of “a few hours.”

About 20 minutes in, we passed this grave, with the mountains climbing skyward behind it.

Soon after, a Korean family of three drove by, spotted us, slowed down, and picked us up. We climbed into the backseat and the five of us spoke in broken English, with a few key Korean words thrown in by Joe, who far surpasses me in his ability to communicate with the locals in their native tongue.

They were headed to the Basin. The drive was icy, steep and miles long; we never would have made it on foot. Photos of the fields in fall show rust-coloured grass framed with red trees carpeting the mountains surrounding them. But this day they were bright white, their wide banks shining under the sun.