Ladies and gents, hope all is well!
Colleen and I are doing great, feeling good, healthy, all that stuff (except for maybe Sunday morning, after indulging on $0.75 mugs of Angkor Beer). The past week has been a lot of fun.
After our stint in Northern Thailand, we made it to the Bangkok airport, and flew into Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The flight itself was fine, and a steal at $60, taxes in... we were so zonked from the overnight bus ('recliner seats'.. hmm.. I think VIP bus in Thailand stands for "Value Is Poopy"), that we slept for pretty much the whole thing, including the normally loud and turbulent take-off. Getting into Phnom Penh was wild. Cambodia is still a very poor country, only emerging from hellish civil war and genocide recently. It's one of the few capitols out there without tall buildings. The people live on very little money, and competition for everything -- taxis, guesthouses, etc -- is very fierce. When you arrive at an airport or bus station, it's like a scene out of "Night of the Living Dead," with a dozen people or so surrounding you and soliciting business. When we finally made it to our guesthouse, the friendly owner offered us some services... "you want tuk-tuk (motorcycle taxi) tour, shoot an AK-47, weed, anything?" To re-use a line I've spouted all year, we weren't in Kansas anymore.The next day, we hired a tuk tuk driver to take us around the city. He didn't cost us much at all, made us feel like big wheels... which I spose we are, in Cambodia.
Our first stop was The Killing Fields (see the movie of same name), which was the primary site of Cambodia's mass genocide back in the 70's under the Khmer Rouge. We then went to "S-21," a former highschool turned prison/torture chamber under the Rouge, and now a museum. This stuff was staggering, to say the least. Seeing skulls, mass graves, tiny horrible prison cells evoked a real gutteral sickening feeling. This rivals the holocaust as one of humanities worst moments, and it happened while many of our parents were disco dancing back in North America. Absolutely chilling, heavy stuff. Made us feel a lot of sympathy for today's Cambodians, and we turned off the heavy bargainers inside us for the rest of our stay, leaving big tips and donating lots.
The next day we caught a bus into Siem Reap, which is the home of Cambodia's pride and joy, the magnificent temples of Angkor Wat. We arrived, experienced the same zombie onslaught of tuk tuk drivers, and finally settled in to a very posh hotel at the ripe price of $15/night. Big fuckin' wheels, we are. We rented some bikes and cycled out to Angkor to catch the sunset before they closed. The next day we hired a tuk-tuk to take us around the temples, which is a vast complex of stone and jungle. You can google it, or stay tuned for our pictures, because it really is something else. Some may know it from Tomb Raider, all the ancient temples with crazy jungle trees growing through and around them. The driver was a great guy, so we bought him noodles and beer at lunch... one or two can't hurt, right?
That night we indulged at Siem Reap's "Bar Street" (official name), and actually ran into a couple of StFXers, and Colleen met one of her old friends, apparently a girl who she consistantly runs into in weird places (i.e. lifeguarding courses, Ireland and now in Cambodia, no less!) Later we came across a bunch of Koreans at a bar, and freaked them out when we started speaking Korean to them. We later convinced them to hit the dance floor... hence the slow morning after cheap Cambodian beer.
The next day we headed back to Bangkok, by land, along Cambodia's infamous "shit road from hell" (unofficial name). We shared a taxi, becasue the buses are worse than horrible, so we hear. We got into Pla's, did some laundry and exchanged our long sleeved shirts for some bathing suits and flip flops from our suitcases currently parked in her apartment.
We then flew down to Phuket Airport, in Thailand's south, (a steal at $50 return trip each!) from which we took a boat out to magical Koh Phi Phi Island ("The Beach").
We're on the island and have fallen in love with everything about it except for the rain! It's been raining everyday here since our 1st day, but we've still managed to do lots. Tune in next time for our full Ko Phi Phi adventures!
All our love,
Jake and Colleen
Friday, July 18, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
South East Asia to Date
Hello friends and associates. Hope all is well! Colleen and I, in a whirlwind, have finished our contracts in Korea, said many good-byes, and packed our lives into bags and boxes (sort of deja vu from last year, when I left Canada...).Rather than heading straight home, I will reluctantly miss the Highland Games and tour through South East Asia.
The first stop was Hong Kong for 3 days, which is sort of between Thailand and Korea. The city was amazing.., east meets west, in a big way. It was a British colony up until 1997, so it truly has an English feel to it (complete with double decker buses!). Bangers and Mash meets millions of Cantonese Neon Signs along the most beautiful skyline in the world. Unfortunately, I came down with some sort of 24 hour food poisoning (I'm blaming an Irish Pub's chicken sandwich... damn the Irish), so the whole experience was quite the blur.
Next, we were off to the madness that is Bangkok. We stayed on Khao San Road, which is a famous carnival of a tourist street, made famous in the beginning scenes of the Leonardo DeCrapio film "The Beach." It was complete chaos. You could buy everything from fake Harvard diplomas to tailored suites. We later met up with my former co-worker's fiancee, Pla, who lives in Thailand. She showed us some sites, then took all of our messy baggage to her house, so now we only have to carry around a back-pack. Bless her Thai heart.
The next day, I went in for some dental work. Yeah, thai dentistry. The price was right, I'll put it that way. The dentist was a complete pro, but I could see where the cost was being cut. Par example, she began drilling away at my cavity, and when she saw me squirming in pain, she said "you now what? I recommend you have an injection to numb your mouth... 100 baht ($3.00)". To which I replied, in a painful soft voice "fuck yes."Anyway, all's well that ends well. I went back to my hotel and swam in the rooftop pool. $20/night got us a pretty decent hotel with a rooftop pool and bar. This resulted in my first Thailand sunburn.
That night we met up again with Pla, and she took us to a Thai restaurant on the river. The food was awesome, I can see why it has become so fashionable back home. Later she took us out drinking in the Pat Pong district, where I saw a Thai Elvis impersonator (who claimed I looked like Buddy Holly), along with some other crazy shit that I can't even describe with words. We finished the night off drinking "laow cow" (local discount whiskey -- "horrible stuff," according to Simon Stewart, www.silkwheels.com) with some guy on the side of the road.
The next day we were off to the old capital, Chiang Mai, on an overnight bus. The bus was shit, but cost $12 for a 12 hour ride, and because it was overnight, it doubled as a nights expense in a hotel. We arrived at 6am and staggered into a great, clean hotel, (also with a pool) for $10/night. We went to explore for a bit to see some of the markets and temples. We agreed to be touted around town on a bicycle rickshaw with an anciently kind driver. He doubled as a tour guide, and seemed to be a bored, retired man that wanted to show off his city because he was genuine and very helpful. He offered his services for approx $3 for the whole day. He took pictures of us in the temples and told us a ton of stories. It was a nice relaxing way to get aquainted with the city.
The next day we went on a trek. It was a pretty tame 'trek,' but loads of fun nonetheless. The first part of the adventure was a trip to an elephant camp 45 mins out of town. They plunked Colleen and I on an elephant and we were off on a 30 min tour through jungle, mud, slopes, and elephant poop. It was a crazy thing... when do you normally do something like this? We did feel some guilt though, I can imagine the elephants don't have a very good life there... so I bought a bunch of bananas and kept our playful paciderm well fed. Ours may've been the loon of the group though, he sure went to the beat of his own drum. Made for some funny detours. After that, we hiked through the jungle to a waterfall, took a bamboo raft down the river, and visted a hill tribe. Jake of the Jungle.We got back from the trek, showered, and hopped the overnight bus back to Bangkok, to meet up with Pla, sort out some laundry, and catch a flight to Cambodia. Pla was her usual courtious self, and made our few hours in Bangkok very comfortable.We made it to the airport, and flew into Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
We are in Siem Reap now, and have one more day to go here before we go to Koh Phi Phi ("the beach" from "The Beach"). After that, a stop in London to meet up with my former Xaverian Weekly co-hort Kate. Colleen goes on to Ireland, after meeting up with her mom, and Jake'll wind up in Antigonish on July 26th, at around 3-4pm. Just in time to shower and get ready for the Big Top.
I'll see you then!
Jake (and Colleen)
The first stop was Hong Kong for 3 days, which is sort of between Thailand and Korea. The city was amazing.., east meets west, in a big way. It was a British colony up until 1997, so it truly has an English feel to it (complete with double decker buses!). Bangers and Mash meets millions of Cantonese Neon Signs along the most beautiful skyline in the world. Unfortunately, I came down with some sort of 24 hour food poisoning (I'm blaming an Irish Pub's chicken sandwich... damn the Irish), so the whole experience was quite the blur.
Next, we were off to the madness that is Bangkok. We stayed on Khao San Road, which is a famous carnival of a tourist street, made famous in the beginning scenes of the Leonardo DeCrapio film "The Beach." It was complete chaos. You could buy everything from fake Harvard diplomas to tailored suites. We later met up with my former co-worker's fiancee, Pla, who lives in Thailand. She showed us some sites, then took all of our messy baggage to her house, so now we only have to carry around a back-pack. Bless her Thai heart.
The next day, I went in for some dental work. Yeah, thai dentistry. The price was right, I'll put it that way. The dentist was a complete pro, but I could see where the cost was being cut. Par example, she began drilling away at my cavity, and when she saw me squirming in pain, she said "you now what? I recommend you have an injection to numb your mouth... 100 baht ($3.00)". To which I replied, in a painful soft voice "fuck yes."Anyway, all's well that ends well. I went back to my hotel and swam in the rooftop pool. $20/night got us a pretty decent hotel with a rooftop pool and bar. This resulted in my first Thailand sunburn.
That night we met up again with Pla, and she took us to a Thai restaurant on the river. The food was awesome, I can see why it has become so fashionable back home. Later she took us out drinking in the Pat Pong district, where I saw a Thai Elvis impersonator (who claimed I looked like Buddy Holly), along with some other crazy shit that I can't even describe with words. We finished the night off drinking "laow cow" (local discount whiskey -- "horrible stuff," according to Simon Stewart, www.silkwheels.com) with some guy on the side of the road.
The next day we were off to the old capital, Chiang Mai, on an overnight bus. The bus was shit, but cost $12 for a 12 hour ride, and because it was overnight, it doubled as a nights expense in a hotel. We arrived at 6am and staggered into a great, clean hotel, (also with a pool) for $10/night. We went to explore for a bit to see some of the markets and temples. We agreed to be touted around town on a bicycle rickshaw with an anciently kind driver. He doubled as a tour guide, and seemed to be a bored, retired man that wanted to show off his city because he was genuine and very helpful. He offered his services for approx $3 for the whole day. He took pictures of us in the temples and told us a ton of stories. It was a nice relaxing way to get aquainted with the city.
The next day we went on a trek. It was a pretty tame 'trek,' but loads of fun nonetheless. The first part of the adventure was a trip to an elephant camp 45 mins out of town. They plunked Colleen and I on an elephant and we were off on a 30 min tour through jungle, mud, slopes, and elephant poop. It was a crazy thing... when do you normally do something like this? We did feel some guilt though, I can imagine the elephants don't have a very good life there... so I bought a bunch of bananas and kept our playful paciderm well fed. Ours may've been the loon of the group though, he sure went to the beat of his own drum. Made for some funny detours. After that, we hiked through the jungle to a waterfall, took a bamboo raft down the river, and visted a hill tribe. Jake of the Jungle.We got back from the trek, showered, and hopped the overnight bus back to Bangkok, to meet up with Pla, sort out some laundry, and catch a flight to Cambodia. Pla was her usual courtious self, and made our few hours in Bangkok very comfortable.We made it to the airport, and flew into Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia.
We are in Siem Reap now, and have one more day to go here before we go to Koh Phi Phi ("the beach" from "The Beach"). After that, a stop in London to meet up with my former Xaverian Weekly co-hort Kate. Colleen goes on to Ireland, after meeting up with her mom, and Jake'll wind up in Antigonish on July 26th, at around 3-4pm. Just in time to shower and get ready for the Big Top.
I'll see you then!
Jake (and Colleen)
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Hong Kong
So, we've arrived in Hong Kong, and all is well and nice! We are experiencing a bit of the reverse culture shock that we were expecting to get back in Canada because this place has so many of the comforts of home. The food, people, architecture, shopping and of course... the English fluency is fabulous. It's a lot more like home than the pretty homogenous Korea.
We can't write much now, we're on a public computer, but we'll get around to writing more soon-ish.
Xox from The Peak's coffee shop,
Colleen (and Jake)
We can't write much now, we're on a public computer, but we'll get around to writing more soon-ish.
Xox from The Peak's coffee shop,
Colleen (and Jake)
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Heading Off to Begin Another Adventure
So, we are almost done our contract here in Korea, and figure we will let you in on our travel plans before we arrive in our respective hometowns in Canada. We're trying to say all our goodbye's without any tears. It's ha
rd knowing that the life we made for ourselves over here over the past year will be over, possibly leaving good friends that we've made behind forever. Our academy, students, coworkers and boss, though at times nutty and frustratingly untranslatable, both in language and culture, will be missed dearly. We will no longer walk down the street and be inundated by children that know and trust us screaming our names, showing us their toys or begging for money to buy ice cream and Popsicles. We wanted to get some of the huge banners that our boss made over the year of Jake and I and our students and send them home, but it might not be possible. Hopefully pictures will have to suffice.
So, we are leaving Korea early on Tuesday, July 1st, and will be in Canada a month or so later (Jake less, me more). This is our semi-tentative itinerary for the next month. Who knows if it'll look anything like what we actually do, but it's a good framework.
July 1st-4th: We'll be in Hong Kong checking out the heavily British influenced architecture and food options, while still being in an official part of Mao's China. We're hoping to go to Victoria peak for it's scenic view on Hong Kong Island (photo above, thanks Wikipedia), visit the CNN center and visit our anchor friends (they don't know us yet, so it might be a problem if there aren't tours running), buy some cheap electronics, sleep in the tiniest possible hotel rooms and eat some Western delights that we've been deprived of this year.
July 4th-6th: We'll be in Bangkok for some dental work (Jake needs some fillings, and they are dirt cheap in Bangkok, but not dirty, in the worlds largest medical tourism city). We'll meet up with Pla (Simon's fiancée), and she'll show us some local sights before we board a train to Chiang Mai up north.
July 7th-8th: We will take an overnight train to Chiang Mai, a few hours north of Bangkok, almost near the Thailand/Myanmar/Laos boarder. The beautiful area is supposed to have secluded mountain tribes, and a vibrant city life. Some common things for tourists to do in Chiang Mai are to ride some elephants into the rain forest, go trekking through the highest mountains in all Thailand with some hilltribe guides, go bamboo rafting, get or learn traditional Thai massage, take Thai cooking classes from a famous Thai TV chef, or train to be a Muay Thai master!
July 9th - 10th: After taking another overnight train
back to Bangkok, we'll hop onto a flight to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We'll visit some museums and the Killing Fields from Cambodia's government led genocide in the 1970's that killed an estimated 1-3million Cambodians (or Khmers). A sobering but necessary trip to one of the poorest countries in Asia.
July 14th - 21st: We will catch a flight from Bangkok to Phuket, in south Thailand, on the western side of the Kra Isthmus (or the long, narrow peninsula thing separating the Indian Ocean from Gulf of Thailand) and go island hopping in the Andaman Sea/Indian Ocean. We will most likely go to Ko Phi Phi Don, and Ko Phi Phi Lei (the island where The Beach was filmed, below), and possibly Krabi (on the mainland). We will kick back, maybe go scuba diving if the weather permits, and wander around probably the most picturesque island's in the world! (or at least we think so).
July 21st -23rd: We'll head back to wild and frantic Bangkok after some relaxing times on the beach in the South and do any last minute sight seeing and shopping, and say goodbye to Pla, and the rest of Asia (for the time being at least).
July 23rd - 26th/29th: The morning of the 23rd, we'll be up and in an Etihad plane to London, via a stopover in Abu Dabi, UAE. Once in the land of Big Ben, we'll meet up with a British pal, and see the sights. Jake takes off back to Halifax on the 26th, just in time for St. Andrew's infamous "Big Top", while I will stay until the 29th. My mom will be joining me in London, and we will head over to the Green Isle to see some family and drink from the Guinness Brewery once again. We will be in Ireland (probably just around Dublin) until August 8th, when I will fly into Pearson.
Our trip is going to be so unbelievable and unpredictable, and we are very excited to be able to do all this travel. Unfortunately, we can't make it to Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Taiwan or Malaysia because of time constrictions. We'll just have to do those places another time. :)
Hopefully these plans put our families at ease being able to know where we plan to be and when. We are so excited, and hopefully can post some pictures when we get into some internet café's along the way.
Cheers and love,
possibly one last time from Ulsan, South Korea!
Colleen and Jake
rd knowing that the life we made for ourselves over here over the past year will be over, possibly leaving good friends that we've made behind forever. Our academy, students, coworkers and boss, though at times nutty and frustratingly untranslatable, both in language and culture, will be missed dearly. We will no longer walk down the street and be inundated by children that know and trust us screaming our names, showing us their toys or begging for money to buy ice cream and Popsicles. We wanted to get some of the huge banners that our boss made over the year of Jake and I and our students and send them home, but it might not be possible. Hopefully pictures will have to suffice.So, we are leaving Korea early on Tuesday, July 1st, and will be in Canada a month or so later (Jake less, me more). This is our semi-tentative itinerary for the next month. Who knows if it'll look anything like what we actually do, but it's a good framework.
July 1st-4th: We'll be in Hong Kong checking out the heavily British influenced architecture and food options, while still being in an official part of Mao's China. We're hoping to go to Victoria peak for it's scenic view on Hong Kong Island (photo above, thanks Wikipedia), visit the CNN center and visit our anchor friends (they don't know us yet, so it might be a problem if there aren't tours running), buy some cheap electronics, sleep in the tiniest possible hotel rooms and eat some Western delights that we've been deprived of this year.
July 4th-6th: We'll be in Bangkok for some dental work (Jake needs some fillings, and they are dirt cheap in Bangkok, but not dirty, in the worlds largest medical tourism city). We'll meet up with Pla (Simon's fiancée), and she'll show us some local sights before we board a train to Chiang Mai up north.
July 7th-8th: We will take an overnight train to Chiang Mai, a few hours north of Bangkok, almost near the Thailand/Myanmar/Laos boarder. The beautiful area is supposed to have secluded mountain tribes, and a vibrant city life. Some common things for tourists to do in Chiang Mai are to ride some elephants into the rain forest, go trekking through the highest mountains in all Thailand with some hilltribe guides, go bamboo rafting, get or learn traditional Thai massage, take Thai cooking classes from a famous Thai TV chef, or train to be a Muay Thai master!
July 9th - 10th: After taking another overnight train
back to Bangkok, we'll hop onto a flight to Phnom Penh in Cambodia. We'll visit some museums and the Killing Fields from Cambodia's government led genocide in the 1970's that killed an estimated 1-3million Cambodians (or Khmers). A sobering but necessary trip to one of the poorest countries in Asia.July 11th - 14th: We'll take a bus to Siem Reap (also in Cambodia) to check out one of the world's greatest architectural marvels; Angkor Wat (above). Siem Reap's French colonial history lends the small town/city a very unique flavour of culture, architecture and cuisine!
July 14th - 21st: We will catch a flight from Bangkok to Phuket, in south Thailand, on the western side of the Kra Isthmus (or the long, narrow peninsula thing separating the Indian Ocean from Gulf of Thailand) and go island hopping in the Andaman Sea/Indian Ocean. We will most likely go to Ko Phi Phi Don, and Ko Phi Phi Lei (the island where The Beach was filmed, below), and possibly Krabi (on the mainland). We will kick back, maybe go scuba diving if the weather permits, and wander around probably the most picturesque island's in the world! (or at least we think so).
July 21st -23rd: We'll head back to wild and frantic Bangkok after some relaxing times on the beach in the South and do any last minute sight seeing and shopping, and say goodbye to Pla, and the rest of Asia (for the time being at least).
July 23rd - 26th/29th: The morning of the 23rd, we'll be up and in an Etihad plane to London, via a stopover in Abu Dabi, UAE. Once in the land of Big Ben, we'll meet up with a British pal, and see the sights. Jake takes off back to Halifax on the 26th, just in time for St. Andrew's infamous "Big Top", while I will stay until the 29th. My mom will be joining me in London, and we will head over to the Green Isle to see some family and drink from the Guinness Brewery once again. We will be in Ireland (probably just around Dublin) until August 8th, when I will fly into Pearson.
Our trip is going to be so unbelievable and unpredictable, and we are very excited to be able to do all this travel. Unfortunately, we can't make it to Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Taiwan or Malaysia because of time constrictions. We'll just have to do those places another time. :)
Hopefully these plans put our families at ease being able to know where we plan to be and when. We are so excited, and hopefully can post some pictures when we get into some internet café's along the way.
Cheers and love,
possibly one last time from Ulsan, South Korea!
Colleen and Jake
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Baseball and an Island Getaway
With several handy long weekends in May and June, we've been able to get around a bit more, especially with the weather warming up, and the sun shining strong. We had 2 consecutive Monday's in May off, and one Friday in June.On one of these weekends we made it to our first Korean baseball game. It was the Busan Lotte Giant's v.s. the Woori something-or-others.... haha.
We organized some lovers of the game, and some that had never seen one (mainly Brit's and Scot's) and met at the Ulsan bus terminal. We took an hour bus to Busan, just south of our city down the coast and rushed to make the first pitch. Those of us on the beer run missed out on this, but the sacrifice was a necessary one. In Korea, it's amazing. There are only a few vendors in the baseball stadium, but there are 711's and Family Marts outside that you buy beer and food etc. at to bring into the game. I'm sure it's technically "illegal", but it's so common that it can't be stopped. I mean, come on! They built a 711 on stadium grounds, what do you expect. So with beer in tow we started what would become a ridiculously fun and frothy night in South Korea's 2nd largest city.
There were a total of 13 of us, mainly English teachers, 11 from Ulsan, and 2 Busaners (who were obviously the ones that encouraged the extreme shenanigans...hahaha. jks). We had a medley of Canadians, Americans, Brits, Koreans, and one Aussie. At one point, I walked both in and out of security at the front gates to restock on beer, with an OPEN TALL BOY IN MY HANDDD! Haha. I smiled at the nervous security guard, took a swig of Cass Red, flashed my ticket, and walked in with a backpack stocked with 2 more pitchers of Hite. It was freedom at it's peak. Canada could take a few pointers from the Busan Lotte Giant's...
The next weekend we sporadically took a bus to Geo Je Do which is an island just south of Busan. Though you can take a ferry and be there in about 45 minutes, the bus took a startling 6 and a half hours! We arrived in the little fishing town just in time for beer o'clock, had a few of the most gigantic beers on this planet, got some dak galbi and settled into a nice love motel for the night. The next day we explored, confused and without a plan. It was Buddha's birthday so we visited a local temple that was nestled into one of the mountains near a fishing bay and wished the tubby guy a happy 2571st birthday or something like that. Unfortunately because of high winds, all ferries had been canceled, so we had to tackle the bus ride again.
On the June 6th long weekend, we made our way down to Busan again for the sand festival. It was a typical Korean festival, with lots of families, a free umbrella give away, and some sand mounds with pictures on the side. Not quite the sand sculptures we were expecting, but a fabulous weekend with a lot of sun and waygook's (foreigners) freaking out the Korean's by wearing bathing suits, women in bikini's and men with "naked uppers" (as our boss describes the 'horrible' and 'strange' phenomenon of us Westerner's)
Our weekends have been great, and we haven't much time left to soak up the craziness that is Korea!Xoxo
Colleen (and Jaker)
*Pictures*
Monday, April 28, 2008
Bloomin' Ulsan
April showers brought on some April flowers this year in Ulsan. With the winter months in Korea offering nothing but drab concrete scenery, April's blooms have been a welcomed change.
The most "famous" of these blooms are the cherry tree blossoms. The light pink and soft scent that lasted only about 10 days in Ulsan turned our barren winter into a beautiful spring scene again. We're now hitting temperatures in the high 20's, and Ulsan has once again become the more welcoming, colourful place we remember when we arrived last July.
The return of summer is all too reminding of the fact that soon enough, we'll be out of here (check out the fancy-dancy high-tech countdown feature of our blog). We've been in the midst of settling up our affairs, such as plans for next year, our teaching replacements, and our post-Korea travels.
Firstly, we've both somehow managed to get accepted into more university. I'll be plugging away at King's in Halifax for a one-year Journalism degree, and Colleen will be w
orking on her Master of Marine Management at Dalhousie. We're both more than excited about this news. They were our first choices, and when the acceptance packages landed in Ulsan (after miraculously surviving the Asian mail system), we both jumped for joy. We're currently hunting for an apartment in Halifax, which can be tricky when you live on the other side of the world. The internet listings are helpful, and mom and pop MacDonald are good allies in Nova Scotia. Anybody have a room for rent?Next, we secured our replacements for next year. The newest teachers at Sang Jin English Academy will be a lovely couple from Buffalo, New York; the first Americans to grace Mrs. An's establishment. We told her they're on the border, and that's close enough to satisfy her love for the Canadian accent. Eh?
Currently, we're diving into our South East Asia plans. We finish our contract on June 30th, and the next morning (Canada Day, no less), we'll be on a plane to Hong Kong. We wanted to get one more taste of China, and we're interested to see the blend with the British influences from the colonial day. Cheap electronics and Bruce Lee's star on the Chinese walk-of-fame are also on the itinerary.
A few days later, on July 4th (Independence Day... hmm... weird), we'll be off to Bangkok. We've heard so much about Thailand from our co-worker, Simon (a Brit by way of Bangkok), that we decided we had to check it out. We'll have a spot to stay with his gracious Thai fiancee Pbla, who grew up a few hours outside of the capital. She'll give us the dime tour of Bangkok, which will hopefully include some shopping, bar hopping, Muai Thai kick-boxing, the Thai Beatles, and the coup de grace of all travel -- a Bangkok dentist. I recently discovered that I need some fillings, and apparently the dental clinics in Bangkok are amazing and cheap. Beautiful dental assistants greet you at the door with a wheel chair. Ah, to be "wealthy" in a developing nation. If I return with a gold-plated smile, you'll know why.
After this point, our itinerary gets a bit foggy. We've got vague ideas of bumming around South East Asia, with Cambodia, Vietnam, and perhaps Laos in our sites. Simon's been filling our heads with all kinds of destinations, as he is somewhat of a S.E.A. guru. For more info on the area, you can check out his Cycling in South East Asia website. After seeing the sights, some idealistic beach time in Phuket will be necessary, of course. We'll also be interested in putting our new PADI Scuba licenses to use. We'll then return back to Bangkok, the major air hub of the area, and fly home. We haven't quite decided which path to take -- back across the Pacific, or maybe around the opposite way, with a potential stop in London UK to meet up with our pal Kate.
I plan on being back in Nova Scotia just in time for the St. Andrew's Big Top... if you're in the area, get on your drinking boots.
In other unrelated news, Colleen and I have become involved in the local ex-pat magazine, which is sort of a monthly lifestyle/travel mag. I've been writing articles and Colleen has been taking photos. Romantic, eh? It could be the beginning of something huge... maybe some day we'll take it underwater like Steve and Eleanor Zissou. Anyway, the magazine is called the Korea Sun, and you can click here to access the website. There are plans to soon expand it into neighbouring cities like Daegu and Busan. It's run by a fellow MacDonald, Sarah, from Saskatchewan. We've discovered that we may or may not be related... she's got roots in Antigonish. We think.
That's all for now... take care, one and all, we'll see you before you know it. For something really random, I'll leave you with a picture of a rooftop performance by Colleen and I at our last house party. The fun don't stop.
Jake
Photos from Facebook:
Colleen - March pt.1
Colleen - More March
Colleen - April
Thursday, February 21, 2008
And The Visitors Begin Rolling In
Coinciding with the coldest temperatures of the year, January and February have been host to our first Canadian visitor's in Korea!January 24th - February 3rd was Irme time.
February 8th - February 19th was Daddy Roman time!
Having visitors was exciting and strange, as we haven't hung out with anyone that we've known longer than 7 months really since we've been here! So having people that are parts of our past was a totally different and neat experience! Especially being able to show them around Korea for their first visit here!
Irme came with gifts of packaged pasta sauce, parmesan cheese, English magazines, chocolate and her witty banter!
We showed her around town, discussed our school politics, played Jenga with 10 year olds, and drank until we could not drink any more. Seriously.
We typically went out until 7 or 8 am, minus a stint we had in Busan (one city over)
, when we got in at 10 am after a crazy night in meeting up with a fellow x-ringer/Antigonisher, having dinner, hitting up a few bars, and then the casino... If grad week and Irme week didn't kill me, than I don't know what will! It did take about a week to recover though!Great company the whole way through, whether "drunken" or sober, I think Irme enjoyed her time in crazy So Ko.
After recovering for approx. 4 days, my dad came over for a visit! It was the lunar (or Chinese) New Year, so we had a five day weekend! We took the opportunity to go up to Seoul for the first time, and meet up with my dad who flew in on a Friday night. Jake and I found a reasonable hotel, that was in transition from being a love motel, into a regular motel. The area was a little deserted, but the floors were heated, we had a water cooler in the room, fresh towels and instant coffee and tea every morning, two double beds and free VHS rentals all for $30/night! The stripper club next door was boarded up, and looked like it went bankrupt, hence why our hotel was no longer catering to the hourly customers, but transitioning into a regular hotel. The hallways were still adorned with red and blue lights though.
We picked up an exhausted and almost luggage-less papa Friday night around 10. After recovering the lost luggage at the airline office, we had missed the last bus into Seoul and cabbed it. The next few days we did some Seoul sightseeing. We went to Itaewon, which is a VERY western part of Seoul, where it was actually rare to see Koreans, which was mind boggling for us, but no big deal for my dad. We found some great pub food, bought some Toronto and Montreal Hockey jersey's, and explored for a while.
On Sunday
we went to the DMZ on a half day tour. The DMZ (DeMilitarized Zone) is the 4 km that separates the North and South Korean border. It is apparently the most heavily guarded border in the world, as the two countries are still technically at war, just at a ceasefire. The border is guarded with both Korean and American soldiers, who stare at the North, and make sure that the North doesn't cause any trouble. The soldiers on the North side are watching the South 24/7 to ensure the same. We got to check out some of the recently discovered tunnels that the North Koreans tried to dig in order to infiltrate Seoul... seriously strange stuff. It's one of the most bizarre situations in the world.On our last night in Seoul, at Jake's insistence, we checked out a WWE show, who were conveniently on tour. We actually had excellent seats, and being one of the few english speakers out of 20,000 people, our chants and slogans stood well out and were actually acknowledged by some of the wrestlers. Jake yelled an extremely dated "LET'S GO SPARKY" at low-level wrestler Bob Holly, and we think only he and Jake got the joke.
Roman spent the rest of his stay bumbling around Ulsan, photographing many a Monk and school girl. Our boss, Mrs. An, graciously carted him around, showing him the sights. We took him out on an exceptionally dull night at the bar, leaving him to wonder if we actually had any friends at all. We do, folks. They were just... busy that night.
For those who wish to come over and take part in the Colleen and Jake reality camp, we suggest checking out Kayak.com, one of the best travel sights we've come across. We're already knee deep in it, trying to chart our course back to Canada in the summer.
All the best,
Colleen and Jake
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