Korea finally

I've been in Korea now for a little over 2 months. Really only 2 days more than 2 months. Maybe 2 months, 2 days, and 2 hours who knows. Something like that. Depends if you count arriving in Busan or Daegu. Let's see where I should start.

I guess the airport since all epic journeys begin at some kind of station. I guess returns can't really be epic unless I'd been away for more than 20 years maybe. There might be a different rule if it's your hometown or something. So LAX. I can't really think of anything worth mentioning about the flight over except that what I thought would be a nice seat when I picked it on the seat map wasn't all that great. I liked that I was on Northwest flight 1 from LA to Tokyo. I think that was probably the most interesting thing.

I got to Busan and met my recruiter who drove me to Daegu. The old awkward conversation with the Korean thing. I always hate awkward conversations with strangers that happen only because both people feel obligated to talk to the other. It was alright for one of those though. Got to Daegu took a 2 minute tour of the school and went to my new apartment to sleep. My apartment was pretty disappointing. Full of useless chairs and tables. It's much better now and I'm actually quite happy with it. If I cleaned up a bit maybe I'd take a picture of it.

Work has been going fine. They stuck me with a few classes on Saturdays but I decided I was fine with it since Alex and Young Mi would be working anyway and I knew I'd do absolutely nothing with it. Plus half the week I barely have class. I teach for less than 3 hours so I was never dying for the weekend to come which is a big change. They gave me 4 extra classes the last couple weeks but I'm getting rid of a few next week. Actually next week I only have 29-40 minute classes but I'm waiting for them to give me a couple more.



Let's see what else. There was the World Cup. Korea unfortunately didn't make it to round 2 but we saw the Togo-Korea game in the middle of a big intersection. So it was fun to see Korea win with a giant field of red horns. The Koreans are known as the red devils. That was actually the night that 2 new teachers came in and I got out of class early.



I also took a day trip up to Seoul to see an old Austrian friend of Alex's. An Austrian, an American, a Canadian, and a Korean hanging out in the streets of Seoul. It always sounds like the opening to some bad joke when everyone is a different nationality. Of course, to the Koreans were all just Miguks or Waygooks (American/Foreigners) hanging out with a native daughter. Young Mi had her nationality questioned by some Korean kid. "Mom, where's that girl from?" "I'm Korean." "Mom, where is she from?" Funny only because usually kids only ask that question about people who don't look like them. Foreigner by association. We went to the Gyeongbukkung Palace and Insa-dong. Both places I'd been before. It was quite a silly day probably since we woke up about 4 hours before usual and we exhausted by 4pm. The Austrian was all jet-lagged and only knew she was staying with a guy named Kim which can't really get anymore vague in Korea.



I also went to Gyeongju with my boss and my newly arrived Canadian co-workers. That was quite a long day. I should really start updating this thing more often.



Basically things are going pretty well with everything. I've been having a bit too much fun and am already 200,000 won below my savings goal for the month with another week to go. Luckily, this next paycheque should have some extra money. We've been teaching morning classes for the past week which isn't too bad since it's really only an extra 2 classes with a 4 hour break between them and the regular working day. The nice thing is that I get an extra 150,000 a week. Not that much but enough to pretend that I saved 1,000,000 total this month. I bought some new clothes though, went to Seoul, had 2 really fun nights out, and got a personal trainer for the month.

I've been going to the gym during my 4 hour breaks and they have a really nice sauna so by the time I get back to work the morning feels like it was a different day. The trainer is actually a pretty good deal, too. 200,000 won for 16 sessions. It's a lot of money though so this will probably be my first and only month of doing that. Maybe I can work something out with them because 280,000 a month (membership fee) for fitness seems crazy especially when it's only 10% of my salary. I don't need 4 private sessions a week. Of course, I could come out of Korea with a totally awesome body. I'll have to put myself on a strict budget though. Anyways, I guess that's about all I feel like writing at the moment. Well I could write more but you're probably getting sick of reading this. Until the next.

Los Angeles Times

I go so long between entries these days. I'm not quite sure why that is. It was once because I didn't think I was really doing anything all that exciting, not that what I was doing wasn't fun but it just didn't seem like anything worth writing about. Drunken nights, while quite fun, tend to not make very interesting stories so I didn't bother writing about them. However, I have been in Korea for exactly a month today so maybe I should now make an effort to update this thing more regularly.

I had a good time while I was in Whittier. I can't say that I did all that much. My friend, Joey, would go to work at 8:30 when he should've left much earlier and I would sleep in until the mid-afternoon. I guess somedays I woke up a little after 12 but you get the picture. Then it was time for a bean and cheese burrito down the street and to watch back-to-back episodes of Law&Order on TNT. I was pretty much at the whim of my friend's schedule. I was practically a wife or pet dog. Sometimes I would clean up the house out of boredom. There were 5-6 people living in the house and none of them liked to clean so the one time I vacuumed there must have been months worth of dust. I swear I've never actually witnessed the carpet change colours after being vacuumed. Pretty much of all them were gone during the day and I came to the conclusion that if I actually were a housewife and had no car and no company during the day that I would probably want to have a baby. Caillie, the illegal resident, was a sometimes companion during the day but she had classes and work. I thoroughly enjoyed her company though. I was prepared for all that though and had I been in Edmonton I would've been sitting around the house and have it be colder outside and sit around at night also. It's too bad I had to pay for rent and utilities in LA but I guess most people pay rent. In case you didn't know, English teachers in Korea have free accommodation. Anyways, once Joey came home and my tail stopped wagging we'd have a good time. We'd go for sushi with Matt or watch TV at home and drink lots of beer. Sometimes we'd even leave Whittier.

A few days, I had little adventures. I drove down to CBS Television city for a taping of the Late Late Show but I thought was too late to get in so just drove by. It was one of the days of the big immigration protests. I also had to take the bus and subway to downtown LA to go to the Korean Consulate. I had a big fat book so the the 1.5 hour journey (one-way) (3h total) didn't seem that long. I managed to make it to a taping of Real Time with Bill Maher. That was pretty cool but also really surreal. This will sound really stupid but Bill Maher looked exactly the same as he does on television. I expected him to look different in person. Mind you I never saw him out of the stage lights so that may be part of it. The set also seemed really small. Anyways, it was pretty much just like watching the show but from inside the TV but further away and with an unchanging view. Well actually our seats weren't great because cameras blocked my view of the host and all the guests so I actually did watch the monitor most of the time. After we went for Ethiopan food. Interesting as well considering neither of us knew anything about Ethiopian food.

I also went to a Bob Dylan concert in Bakersfield. I got to sit with his mom way at the back of the Robabank Center (something like that) where she fell asleep. Joey meanwhile was 3 rows from the front. Then there was Joey's birthday party at a Latin jazz club, a cinco de mayo/Joey and Matt's combined birthday party, a trip to the Getty Museum and 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica. Then on one of the last days we took a trip downtown and saw historic Los Angeles, Union Station, Koreatown, the tar pits, and maybe something. Also, Jelena, which was nice. I met her one of the other times I was in Whittier. Alex, my friend in Korea, went to Whittier and knows her better than I do so I thought I'd take pictures to weird him out.

I guess that pretty much sums up LA for me. That and a few catchphrases and singing out Wikipedia won't make sense to any but a select few. I guess I didn't mention Korea at all so I should probably change the title of this entry. Anyways, here are some drunken photos.


Joey and Laura, lovely wife of his friend


Laura's lovely husband



A photo of them together too bad not to show.


View from the Getty Centre. Smogarific.


Jelena and Me.


Can you spot the pseudo-penis?


My daytime companion and her boyfriend who account for the 0/1 roommate since he was away for training.


So long, buddy.

Ko REE Ah

I'm still in Los Angeles and haven't broken any laws. I was going to try to get a job working illegally but decided to not bother anymore. I'm only in LA for another 2-3 weeks and I was just too intimidated to go in to places and ask them to break the law for me. Actually, I may have broken the law, I don't know.

When I was going through customs they didn't like the look of me and took me to the special interogation room. Well actually, they didn't like that I didn't have a return ticket and no job. I told them I wanted to stay for 2 months because someone I knew was getting married at the end of May. The guy told me he didn't want me to stay in the country that long and would have to break it into 2 trips. Ultimately, I ended up buying a one-way ticket back to Edmonton that was for April 29th so obviously I didn't end up using it. I don't know if that counts as breaking the law since I'm still entitled to be in the country. I had planned on going abroad again from LA. I wasn't sure where: Australia, Japan, or back to Korea, possibly France. I ended up going with Korea and here's why:

I was thinking about going to Australia but decided I should have a bit more in the bank before I went. I also figured it would be fall/winter in Australia so I would go back to Korea and work for 6 months to save some money and wrap up my Korean experience in a better way. I ended up coming across a really decent position in Daegu, the same city I worked in before. It sounded really good. I'll have a better schedule working from 4-10pm Monday to Friday. I'll be teaching 22 hours a week or thereabouts. I'll be living a lot closer to downtown than last year but will still be on a subway line so that's a double plus. There will also be 4 other foreign teachers there divided between 2 schools, which should be a lot better than working with 1 couple from Sudbury that rarely spoke to anyone outside their relationship. Not only will I be teaching better hours, less often, with better people and living in a better part of town but I'll be making $300 more a month. As long as the job turns out as well as it looks on paper I'll probably end up finishing the contract. So I'll have to put off Australia until at least then but I'll get there eventually.

Places been, decisions made, photos posted

I should probably write a few entries but you know how it is. The longer you wait the more daunting the task of updating. I don't think I really feel the need to come back with a bang but I have 3 months of my life that remain unchronicled. I guess I'll just jump right in.

So I got back from Hawaii and barely had anytime to relax before heading off to Mexico. Well I guess I had a couple weeks but I like to pretend to be a jetsetter, which I guess I kind of could be just looking at the last 6 months or so but between jet trips my life is quite dull. I sat in front of the TV listening to music and playing sudoku. So grand. I don't even know if I like sudoku but I play them compulsively now. So that sums up about about 2-3 weeks.

Then I flew down to Las Vegas. I won about $200 and then I lost about $200 plus an extra twenty. I met my Korean friend, who is white and from Oregon but I know him from Daegu. He did about the same as I did minus the winning $200. From there we took a quick detour to the Grand Canyon in a rental car and drove over the Hoover Dam. If you want to get out of your car head over to the Arizona side. Those Nevadans are always after you money.



From this point I will only make bullet points to save time. Some of the highlights (and lowlights):

But first, here's a map of the route we took:



Sleeping in a rental car in a Tuscan parking lot

Crossing the border to Mexico (still upset about no passport stamp)

Being on busses or in bus stations for 30 hours straight including a 14-hour overnight bus where I thought I slept horribly but according to Alex, who was afraid of being stabbed in the neck the whole night, slept quite well

Taking a train through 'amazing' vistas in the Copper Canyon where the views were unimpressive for 4 hours and then unviewable for 7 because of the overwhelming blackness of night

Eating ramen noodles on said train since there was no Mexican food on the Mexican train



Spending a night in the drug capital of Mexico, Los Mochis

Trying to read while Platoon dubbed in Spanish blared through the speakers on yet another bus

Finally, starting our Mexican vacation in Mazatlan about 2.5 days after being in Mexico





Eating marlin quesadillas, which are delicious

Having my mother be called a whore by some old Mexican lady

Meeting a friend of Alex's who we had been planning to meet but were unable to since our plans didn't mesh, at the airport in Mexico City by sheer coincidence. Crazy how that happens

Dancing to blues music at some bar with a 40 something health statician from Seattle

Finally meeting Alex's aunt and uncle and young cousins who we arranged to meet so many different times that meeting them seemed highly unlikely

Soaking up some sun in Mazunte



Taking a 6 hour ride in an suv through dense forested hills where going straight for more than 10 seconds was nearly impossible and nearly orgasmic the 2 times that it happened



Seeing Zapotec ruins at Monte Alban outside of Oaxaca



Literally falling out the doors of a bar after a few too many tequillas and twisting my ankle (only slightly)

Somewhat impressing some Norweigan girls with my unintelligible Danish

Consuming lots of chocolate in the chocolate capital of Mexico, still Oaxaca....mmmmm chocomilk



Watching a Zapotista demonstration

Meeting my grandmother, great-aunt and uncle at a bus station in Mexico City

Being serenaded to by a Juan Gabriel impersonator, a very popular Mexican singer, a Mexican Elton John you might say

Going to see the hometown of my great-grandmother and seeing the house where she was born and hearing how it became abandoned and was used as a place to get high



Losing badly to my cousin at a gladiator-style competition on an inflatable platform (Alex and my cousin, Fernando, well my mom's cousin technically)



Watching him dislocate his shoulder playing the same game by putting too much force into his swings

Going to a soccer game only to find out that we couldn't get tickets and just drinking for pretty much 8 hours instead

Having beers with my cousin while he drove on the freeway

Going to see giant pyramids outside of Mexico City only to return as a lobster and clown (my nose always burns)



Watching Alex go ga-ga at all the Don Quixote iconography in Guanajuato though this picture has very little to do with that piece of literature but apparently I took no photos of the Don



Stealing a bottle of water in the dead of night from a locked fridge at the hostel in Guadalajara out of unbearable thirst (I left 10 pesos with some other money on the counter)



Getting very nervous the next morning when I saw the surveillance camera

Staying with my grandma at her time share in Puerto Vallarta



Saying goodbye to Alex from a bus in Puerto Vallarta

Staying another 2 weeks in Puerto Vallarta reading trashy detective novels and Dostoyevsky

Flying back to Mexico City, and then to Oaxaca with my aunt and grandma only to see everything there for a second time (photo appears for a second time for comedic effect)



Going to a family reunion in the hometown of my great-grandmother, Real Del Monte(ditto)



Finding out that I'm probably descended from the man who started the first labour strike in the Americas by paying such poor wages

Seeing the sights of downtown Mexico City



Flying to Los Angeles with a screaming 12 month old girl, I do mean screaming after 7 weeks in Mexico (was supposed to be 4 but then I decided to stay for the reunion)

Seeing my original friend from Whittier though he worked each day I was there but it's ok (I'll come to that)

Binge drinking in Pasadena on St. Patrick's day

Going on to Denver to see another one of my Danish friends who is actually Asian and from Los Angeles but who I know from Denmark



Going for happy hour at a local bar and confessing all my secrets to said friend



Finally, returning to Edmonton (we live on the very edge of the city but my parents moved last week so I'll never see this 'sweet' view again. If you look closely you can see the reflection of my camera and without looking closely you can see powerlines)



Playing Sudoku at home for a week in Edmonton

Flying to Washington, DC via Minneapolis and Detroit to spend some time with my Danish friend who is actually from Hungary but who I know from Denmark

Eating lots of cookies from Potbelly's

Getting a bit lost after a quick electoral trip to the Hungarian embassy when the zoo turned out to be a bit further from the embassy than appeared on the map (I suppose groundhogs aren't the most exotic animals at the zoo)



Seeing another Danish friend who by now it will come as no surprise is actually from Memphis and listening to his classification of all people into 3 categories: Ninjas, Pirates, and Robot Dinosaurs



Flying back to LA to see the same friend

Going to Bakersfield to go see a Bob Dylan concert, he sat in the 3rd row and I sat in the very back row of the Rabobank stadium with his mom, though she is quite cool for a mom

I guess it's time to break back into a narrative. I'm actually staying with my friend in LA right now. Well, I'm being charged rent so I don't know if that's staying, probably not. I had nothing going on and for some reason I thought it would be smart to move down for a month or 2 while I decided what to do with the months after that. One of his 6 roommates was moving out so it seemed predestined that I come occupy the room for awhile so I did. I still need to go about finding an illegal job here. I'll have to think of something. It really is too bad that there's this big immigration debate going on in the US right now. I think it's probably easier to work under the table when what you're doing isn't thee hot topic of the day.

Also, I've signed a contract to go back to Korea. It's a cliffhanger.

Blueshoewhotwo in Hono-lulu

Ok, I have to admit my traveling has become a bit obsessive. This one however had been planned a long time ago by someone else. It was back when I had a contract with one of those Korean hagwons. I was supposed to still be in Korea around xmas, well actually had I not broken my contract I would still be kicking about in that place. My parents decided it would be nice to me over the xmas break of which I had at least 4 days off (from the 28th to the 31st and who knows how few days after that) so my parents thought they´d fly me to Hawaii since it was about half-way for both of us. There really is nothing else in the mid-Pacific.

I´d been home for a little over 2 weeks and then decided I´d go visit a friend in my connecting city since nothing is ever direct from out-of-the-way-from-everything Edmonton. I spent a few nice days there meeting my friends family and some of his college friends from Taipei and Kathmandu. Strange that I´ve technically been to both those cities. I guess Taipei airport doesn´t quite make the cut for having been there but anyway. I went snowboarding even for a day and kicked some ass at Scabble. How the word ´fax´ could earn me so many points I´ll never know.

My parents flew out from Edmonton and I met them at the airport. We went to board the plane and they announced they were looking for volunteers to take a different route to Honolulu. So instead of going direct, I volunteered and spent some time at the airport in Seattle and earned myself a free flight voucher. I arrived 2 hours after the rest of my family but what is there to do in Hawaii after dark anyway.

I didn´t really do all that much in Hawaii. I sat on the beach. I sat by the pool. My albino self gradually became flesh-toned. I read a half-decent book and another now that I think about it. My parents, 2 sisters, and grandmother were there for about 2 weeks. Actually, one of my sisters left on December 30th since the thought of spending New Year´s without her boyfriend was too traumatic. I was as pleased with xmas as I could´ve been.

I guess I can mention something about Pearl Harbour. Even though it´s technically Harbor I still feel like throwing in the all important ´U.´ So anyways, we had to take a limo there. They are the same fare as regular cabs in Honolulu. I was a bit embarrassed to be the first one out of the limo to Pearl Harbour. Then we waited in line for a few hours and another few hours waiting for our group to be called. Finally, we saw a short film and got on a little boat to go see the USS Arizona. I was as moved by this as I usually am by such things. There were a bunch of patriotic Americans of course but being Canadian I can´t say it was all that important to me or stirred up many feelings. There were quite a few Japanese tourists there since the Japanese love Hawaii. At one point, a couple of Japanese guys were talking away in Japanese and began to laugh about something. Some guy decides to get over offended and yells at them telling them that Pearl Harbour is not funny. This coming from a guy who had to be told repeatedly that video photography was not allowed at the site. It was just strange to see what racist feelings Pearl Harbour provoked. There were quite a few white folk chatting happily while there but according to this guy the Japanese needed to be extra solemn while there. I wonder what he would think about being in Hiroshima or Nagasaki.

So there was that and more beach and a hokey luau ceremony. I´d been to Hawaii before and I think that time was better. There was a point in the show where there´s this barebacked woman facing the rear of the stage shaking her hips and all. The moment she turned around the reveal all these leis covering her chest was the moment I heard the most disappointed communal groan.

Let´s see. There was New Year´s. I never really enjoy new years all that much. It just kind of reminds me of all the things I didn´t accomplish the previous year. My parents were pretty lame about it and went to bed around 10´30. My grandma decided to go back to the hotel room as well. My one sister was back in Edmonton and the other with her little Hawaiian fling who was from West Virginia and sold timeshares. I watched some fireworks on the beach. Pretty impressive ones I´ll admit but I think there´s a time limit to how much you can enjoy them.

Then I spent another few days about the sun and sand doing very little. It´s nice to relax but I´d already had, oh I don´t know, 3 months of no work, all play. Then we took a limo to the airport and flew overnight to Minneapolis and spent a good five hours waiting for our next flight and that was how I spent the days from December 20 to January 5th.

At Home

Well, I've been back home now since December 3rd and I've pretty much done nothing. I managed to surprise my mom on her birthday which was on December 3rd, the longest day of my life. I got off the plane before I left. My sister came to pick me up with her roommate's dog. Then we drove to the restaurant where they would all be eating. "All" meaning my parents, my sisters, and my grandma. We got there and were walking to the door when we see the other sister driving past in her car, then my parents. Luckily, in Edmonton, it gets dark at like 3pm in December so they didn't see me.

When we walk into the restaurant my mom is right there talking to the hostess. She turns around and looks right into my eyes and then starts talking to the hostess again. One of those mindless looks where you aren't really seeing. Anyways, she doesn't remember and was surprised to see me home 2 days before I had said I was coming home.

From that time on I did absolutely nothing until maybe the 20th of December. I just remember having trouble adjusting to the time difference for pretty much that whole time. Getting tired around 8pm and having to force myself to stay awake until a respectable time to go to bed. I saw a movie called Just Friends, I think. It was definitely not worth the money. I also saw Syriana which was quite a bit better.

Aside from those terribly interesting things. I was at home doing even less interesting things. Watching TV, eating food that was easily identifiable, doing x-word puzzles and what not. I really don't know what I was doing those few weeks actually.

I always hate coming back home. I magically revert to my teenage self and feel like I've never left at all. It's an awful feeling really. I just look at the calendar and think, hmmm another x amount of months have passed, where have I been? what have I been doing? I mean, I know what it was that I was doing but as soon as I get back to Edmonton it feels like it never happened. Like I had been in a coma for months or stepped into some time wormhole. So all of the sudden, all these things have happened to other people and I've just had a dream. It was a really nice dream, well Wonderland not so much, but it didn't really happen. I'm just all of the sudden older without anything to show for it: some photos, passport stamps, and memories of things that no longer seem real.

I think I'd make a really good spy. I mean I'd be able to pull off any nationality and I'm only able to concentrate on the present. Nothing else feels real to me. So I could be reborn as some diamond merchant in Amsterdam, some scientist in Chicago, or an industrial engineer in Buenos Aires. Well maybe I can't pull off those professions but you know what I mean. I could go there and only know those lives and places. I'd have vague impressions of having been other people in the past but where I am at that moment, the person I am at that moment, would be what defines me.

No Seoul Pun

Seoul was quite a long time ago but I will do my best to finally wrap up my time in Korea.

I got out of the station without incident and got into a cab. I didn't have the address of the place I wanted to go but I knew the station I would have to get to. I didn't want to take the hassle of bringing all my luggage onto the subway. I ended up taking a luxury cab but it still wasn't all that much. I tried to bring the image of the map I had seen to get to the hostel into my mind but couldn't quite manage to conjure it. There are PC bangs all over Korea but I can never find them when I need to. I walked around some developed area with fancy restaurants and Koreans in fancy clothes. After pulling my suitcases and backpack all over the place some guy offered to help me. I was having to take a break every 15m. I found a PC bang and the address and realized I was on the wrong side of the street. I left my big suitcase on the street while I headed upstairs. I'm always disappointed to see that it hasn't been stolen. I eventually got to the hostel and I chatted with the girl who was working there. She bought me some ramen and we talked.... about her boyfriend and my time in Daegu. Her boyfriend was doing his military service.

I met a bunch of Japanese people who were staying there at the time. I went to bed and woke up late. I'm ashamed to admit I didn't have much interest in seeing Seoul. Maybe if I had a bit more energy or hadn't seen more interesting sights elsewhere. I went to the national palace and did the audio tour since it was so cheap 2000W I think. There were hardly any people there or anything that hadn't been rebuild sometime in the last 20 years. I suppose it was important to see though. I was still a bit torn about leaving Korea and didn't know how to feel about leaving. I still don't know how I feel about Korea, actually.

I think I went to Namdaemun that day. Maybe it was dongdaemun, I don't know. The more commercialized one. I really didn't see anything very interesting and tried to walk back to the hostel but I got lost. I always get lost, well take streets that I think will lead places but only lead to dead end or progressively smaller darker alleyways.

The next day I tried to go to Seoul tower. I was well on my way and fond the gondola up to the top but opted to walk. I was following a path that seemed to be headed in the right direction but as I kept walking I became convinced that it was leading me away from the tower. It started off heading upwards but later started going downwards. I ended up hoping over this little barrier and climbed the hill on my own. There were quite a few leaves and didn't look like many people decided to stray from the path. I was gripping trees and roots to climb up this hill at some points. I always feel stupid when I stray from the main routes and that I might end up stranded for days or become some unindentiable body when I'm finally found. I wonder if there's an equivalent to John Doe in Korea. Either that or I become convinced that I'm going to stumble upon a dead body. I always end up finding trash or broken picnic tables so I realize that I'm not actually in that remote a place. I finally make it to the top and casually climb over a barrier there. I didn't just walk up the mountain like some kind of caveman. I followed the road just like everyone else. The worst part was that Seoul Tower wasn't even open. I got there at the perfect time too. Right around sunset so you could see it lit up by the sky and then a nightscape of the city. I didn't realize it was supposed to be closed and then came across a sign that said it was supposed to be re-opened on December 1st. That was the day I was there. Maybe it was the second. At any rate it should've been open. The view from the top of the hill would've been more impressive had I been able to see through all the trees.

I went to the other market that night but wasn't really in the mood to be there. It was pretty cold too. This was the night that some guy asked me if I was Japanese. I still don't understand that. I also ran into some drunk guy who stole my waffle and started eating it. Then he offered to give me parts of it back. Then he jabbered away at me in friendly Korean and seemed genuinely surprised that I couldn't understand anything he was saying. This was actually the night I was lost but it doesn't matter. This isn't a very accurate account of what I did in Seoul but more of the impression that's been left on me.

I met a Dane that night though. He was born in Korea and looking for a job teaching English. A Danish Kyopo. I don't think they're very common. He told me I spoke Danish well even though I really only said a few sentences. It was still nice. I ended up leaving my towel with him. I felt a bit bad about it since it was long overdue for a wash.

I took a crappy tour of the DMZ. The Japanese people took the USO tour which I guess is much better and you actually go right to the border and can take a few steps into North Korea. I only got to go to some lookout point. It was still pretty interesting though. The worst part was that I had to wake up around 5am and the tour didn't start until 9 or so. It was all so I could be picked up my hostel even though the guy was 40 minutes late or something. The cave was pretty interesting but of course, photos were forbidden. At the lookout point you could only take photos if you stood behind some big white line. I still don't understand that. There was also a nice trip to a jewelery factory. Fascinating. I left after 2 minutes. I hate tours that sneak in trips tofactories.

I forgot to mention this little station. They've already built the station heading to Pyeongyang. They even have a little place where you can stamp your passport. I thought it was official thing. It turns out you just stamp it yourself. I was a bit hesistant about mutilating my passport so I debated it once I got the front. Then some guy from behind just took it and stamped it for me. It's pretty lame I think and it's upside down. I'm still worried some customs official will be disappointed that it's been mutilated but there you have it. There were other people debating about the implications of doing it. It's now a little spot of shame inside my passport but at least I wasn't the one to deface it.

I was pretty worried by this point though. By the time I got back to the hostel I only had 2.5 hours before my flight. I really thought I'd be back before then. It was a stressful ride to the airport as I watched the minutes go by. I got to the airport with only 55 minutes until my flight. The driver also wasn't very happy with my excess luggage. I could probably go into my luggage programs a bit more but don't really feel like it. I had a suitcase that weighed in at 35kg. My backpack was 27kg. I had to take out 5kg from the big one making my smaller backpack and labtop case extremely heavy. I was really surprised I made it onto the plane.

There's a really nice thing about line. In order to wait for the least amount of time, one has to either arrive right at the beginning or right at the end. It's all about timing really. I could've arrived an hour earlier and still had to wait just as long. It really depends on when the person before you gets there. When I was waiting at the Indian embassy in Kathmandu, I was in an ideal position. I was there an hour after the guy in front of me but it didn't matter because anyone who had come between figured they wouldn't get in or didn't bother coming to try. So anyways, it was lucky that I made my flight and didn't have to wait in line. Well I guess I had to wait for maybe 5 minutes.

Then I ran around the airport trying to sneak in my last meal and get rid of my excess won. I somehow dropped my boarding pass along the way. I was surprised when someone was handing it back to me. Eventually, they were ready to board my row and I left Korea feeling as confused as when I got there.

Final Days in Daegu

Back in Korea I really didn’t do all that much. I had returned for a grand cocktail party in Alex’s apartment where everyone got quite toasted. It was nothing compared to my last trip to Itaewon Pub Crew so I almost felt sober. I even wore my suit to the party, I got to know Young Mi and her friends. A good time was had by all.

I think I stayed in Daegu for about 5 days. I really can’t think of anything that I did. I went back to my old area. My pizza guy was so happy to see me. I saw one of my old workmates, well I don’t know if I can call her that. She doesn’t speak English and never spoke to me. Grace Teacher. I thought about going to see my replacement at my old apartment but decided against it since it would be kind of weird. Weird even to think of that really. I walked around downtown a bit but mostly just lazed around Alex’s apartment.

Of course, I waited until my last day in Daegu to do important things like close bank accounts. I didn’t want stacks of Korean money, although I could’ve felt like some kind of smooth criminal with so many bills. I’d love to get stacks of bills from the bank but since my bags were overloaded as they were I opted for a cheque. I assumed she’d give me an international bank draft but she gave me a cheque that couldn’t be used outside of Korea. I had to FedEx it back to Korea to have it wired to my bank in Canada. Idiocy really. I should’ve known it wasn’t wise when I didn’t see a single Roman letter on this little slip of paper but I thought I’d impress a bank teller with my foreign cheque. She didn’t seem impressed with it at all. They could’ve accepted it had it been Chinese or Japanese but Korean cheques were taboo for Canadian banks.

Alex treated me to a last meal in Daegu and then I got in a cab with a giant suitcase(35kg), a laptop case, a giant backpack (28kg), and a smaller backpack. All of them overloaded. The laptop case and smaller backpack were both really heavy but since Air Canada didn’t weigh them when I checked in I don’t know how much they weighed.

I got to Daegu station and managed to buy a ticket and get on a train to Seoul. It was my only real time on the KTX. It was technically my 3rd time but since you can’t see the countryside passing you by quickly there’s no point saying you were on a train going 300km/h. I was in Seoul an hour and a half later.

Back to Korea via Bangkok and Taipei

I’m the most behind I’ve ever been. I’m writing about things now that happened over a month ago. It’s time to get caught up, I guess.

So I spent a night in Georgetown, Malaysia at some little hostel that hosts people competing in Koran reading competitions. I again spent time only in Little India. I was the only one using utensils, also the only non-Indian so I guess that’s what made me stand out a bit more. I returned to my room only to find that I was locked out. I remember getting into the room and not only was some guy awake he said something to me that made me think ill of him. I can’t remember what. It was also very hot.

I had a cold shower and worried I wouldn’t make my bus to Hat Yai. I waited where some guys told me to wait. An hour after my bus should’ve left I went to the counter where I bought my ticket. I guess I was supposed to go there to begin with. Shame on me for listening to people who worked at the bus station. Anyways, I had to repay the fare, I got a slight discount on account of me being a retard and I was off….. about 4 hours later. I sat and read the last of my Harry Potter books.

I read all the way to Thailand and then across the border as well. I decided I would just go to the airport when I got to Hat Yai. I was in some kind of weird mood near the end of my trip where based on poor logic I decided that since my trip was so close to almost being over that it might as well be over. Also I plan to journey through Thailand some other time so I wasn’t very keen on seeing all that much. I got to the airport and tried to buy a ticket from Bangkok to Incheon so I wouldn’t have to do it later. It turns out that they had no flights to Korea. All the flights had been cancelled, probably because not enough people were flying. I decided I would sort it out in Bangkok and just fly there that night. So that’s what I did. Harry thwarted his nemesis en route. I got to Bangkok and didn’t plan on leaving the airport but went airline to airline asking for fares. They were all grossly overprices. Like $600 one-way whereas my cheapo fare would’ve been $240 one-way had there been flights. I really didn’t know what to do. I thought I’d even fly to Macao and then go through China and take the ferry again. I ended up on Kao Sanh road. A Thai friend of mine found me a cheap place to stay despite her being in Chicago. I think my room was less than $1. Yeah, like 20 baht or something. I also found a cheap fare back to Korea on China Airlines.

The next day I toured Bangkok. I got up late. Had something to eat and went with some Tuk Tuk driver who told me that I was there on the only day that all these temples and things were open. Buddha Day. I doubted him really until his cohort inside the Lucky Buddha temple affirmed his story. It was also supposedly a time when all suits were on sale. It was the last day of this massive sale. I don’t know how but I got kind of swept up in this so now I have a Thai suit. I really don’t know what possessed me to buy it. It wasn’t that expensive but something about the custom-tailored part persuaded me. I even got 2 custom made shirts. I don’t deny that I was scammed but it wasn’t that bad a deal, well for Thailand it was but what’s done is done. I saw a few temples and sat around some places but didn’t do many noteworthy things.

I went to bed early which is pointless on Kao Sanh road since I couldn’t get to sleep until the bars closed. I caught the 5am shuttle to the airport and then boarded the biggest plane I’d ever been on. I still don’t understand why they need a huge double decker plane to fly from Bangkok to Taipei. Well only first class was on the upper deck, you know what kind of plane I mean. I sat next to a woman from Malawi and a Chinese man. She was one of the few who actually wanted to go to Taipei. Hardly anyone wanted the customs declaration for the Republic of China. I don’t think I saw Taiwan anywhere in the Taipei airport. I checked my email there though and some middle aged American kept saying ‘Fuck’ about something.

So after my next flight I was back in Korea and immigration went much smoother than I thought it would. I imagined myself being detained for not having an ongoing ticket, which seems a bit silly now. He asked me a few questions though which is actually nicer than just being stamped and ignored as a living being. I took the bus to Seoul station and within 2 minutes of entering the station was offered a job. I kind of wish I’d asked for some details but knew I wouldn’t be returning to the job market for a few more months. I called Alex and then boarded the KTX bound for Daegu, well it was bound for Busan but that would be misleading. I was almost able to take the newly opened second line but I was lucky to get on line 1. I took a taxi and was back at my old sleeping ground. I even had a little greeting party awaiting me. Alex, his newly acquired girlfriend Young Mi, and his co-worker, Nathan. It was nice to get back to somewhere kind of familiar.

Pulau Pangkor

Well I can't sleep so this is the most productive thing I can think of doing without leaving my bed. Laptops are great aren't they.

Anyways, I left Kuala Lumpur headed for beach and relaxation. The monsoon limited me to the west coast of Malaysia. I picked Pangkor since it was described as being more lowkey than any of the other places on the west coast. I don't know how you heavily promote something as being lowkey but that's what the government is trying to do. It was pretty lowkey actually.

I took the bus to Lumut to catch the ferry. We stop in Lumut and these Scandinavian girls ask the driver about the ferry terminal. He says 5 minutes. I assume, as the girls do, that this means in 5 minutes we will go to the ferry terminal. I could tell there were others left on the bus besides these Scandinavian girls. The driver gets back on the bus and tells us to get off. Turns out the other people on the bus were European tourists as well. Stupid tourists. I thought there were natives left on the bus.

I end up spending the next few days with the Scandinavian girls. We got along but had only lowkey fun. They were waitresses from Sweden but waitressed in Oslo. One was Vivian and the other Tess I think. We shared a triple and went to the beach and ate at restaurants together. I ended up getting burnt the one day I spent at the beach. It was hardly even sunny. Not a bad burn though. It was pretty cloudy the second day and the girls decided to leave. I ended up deciding to leave as well. It was a nice beach though. It just wasn't beach weather. I decided to just cross over into Thailand as soon as possible. I really don't know why. I was getting a little tired of traveling. I'd been traveling for about 5 weeks at this point and it was just a random trip with no particular destinations or things to see. Plus I didn't want to see very much since I'd imagined I'd be back in South-East Asia at some point.

I ended up in Georgetown that night on Pulau Penang. Nice town and I could've spent more time there. I was only in Little India though. That was the only place I saw Indians eating with their hands. My 6 hours in India outside of trains didn't expose me to much. The next morning I went to catch the bus to Hat Yai, Thailand. I ended up missing it because I was supposed to go to the ticket booth where I got the ticket and not to the place where the people who run the station told me to go. So I had to buy another ticket and wait for 3 hours at the bus terminal with my book. If only I hadn't had to lug around a heavy backpack with me everywhere I could've seen a bit more of Georgetown.

Kuala Lumpur

Let me think back to my time in KL. I wasn't there very long and didn't really do all that much. I woke up early enough and left Singapore. I slept for most of the bus ride. Malaysia and Singapore both kind of have little slogans that they hang up at immigration. 'Death for drug traffikers.' I was there before the Australian was executed in Singapore so 'death to' signs were more comical to me then. Oh, Israelis aren't allowed to go to Malaysia. I've been a few places where people have said that Israelis are the worst tourists. I know that's not why they aren't allowed into Malaysia. Malaysia's largely Islamic.

I really can't think of anything that interesting that happened to me while in KL. I met some guy from Korea. Why are Koreans that aren't in Korea so untypically Korean. This guy had a big bushy head of hair. An Asian 'fro if you will. He didn't do anything but hang out at the hostel from what I could gather. I tried to go out sightseeing one afternoon but those monsoon rains got in the way. I ducked into the National Museum of History. My shoes were all wet and squeaky since I'd been wandering around in the rain in a little plastic poncho and had submerged my whole feet in water. My pants were soaked right through too. I really only felt bad because I had followed a woman who had just cleaned the floors. I relearnt about Malaysia's rotating monarchy. They've actually have 13 kings or something since independence in 1960 (I think) and only 4-5 prime ministers. The country has 9 sultans but only one can be king so they take turns.

I went to the Petronas Towers. I didn't go inside though. I meant to go the next day but they say you need to get there early since they limit the number of people who can go in. I woke up too late and knew it was my last day so I went to the Kuala Lumpur Tower which is uglier but has a higher observation deck. I also discovered I had seen 3 of the 10 highest towers on my trip. One in Seoul that I only saw in passing and the strange tower in Shanghai. KL's tower was 2 or 3rd.

I really like being in Islamic countries. I think it's something about the mosques and architecture. I've really only been to Turkey and Malaysia but it just makes them feel so much more foreign. Sarajevo was actually my first Islamic city. Downtown Sarajevo is actually really nice. Malaysia though was the only one where the women covered their heads. I'm not sure what it was but for some reason I found myself staring at them so much more. Something about it being mysterious or just different. The men were dressed pretty securlarly though. Funny to see some guy in t-shirt and jeans walking around with a woman in full muslim get-up. Malaysia has a fair number of Indians and Chinese, obviously. I took a photo of some women waiting for the bus outside of 7/11. Turned out blurry though. It really is a diverse Asian country.

My pics of the Petronas towers look incredibly unnatural. I swear I didn't do anything to them.



I really liked the base of them. Some strange reflective material makes it look there's motion. After I took it I looked at it my little screen and thought what the hell? After I took this some guy started talking to me in Portugese. I just look at him like what are you saying? He was from Brazil and thought I was too. We had a little chat but I think he was disappointed. He really wanted to be a fellow countryman. I really should be a masterspy or something. People have thought I was so many different nationalities. The strangest one happened while I was in Seoul. I was in Dongdaemun market and some guy says to me "Japanese?" I did have a hat on though but still. Then other people are sure my ancestors are nothing but northern European. People have thought I was Turkish, Chilean, French, Russian. I know I've mentionned this before but it seems to be a recurring theme in my life. Do I really have this ambiguous nationality look?

For the record, I'm quite a mutt. in decreasing order, I'm part English, Irish, Spanish, Scottish, Austrian, German, French, Welsh, and a teensy bit Dutch. Not Danish at all, or Turkish or Japanese for that matter.

Singapura

I'm calling it Singapura since I'm pretentious and it's more fun to say it that way. I arrived in Singapore around 4am. It was a pretty nice airport. I never get to spend much time in nice airports. They are always crummy airports. So I was tired and dirty but really that was nothing new. I remember stepping outside and it being really humid.


Bad pic but I like it.

I walked over to the Terminal 1. I never understand why people take the escalator or trams in airports. You've either just been on a long flight or are about to be. What do you have against movement? The moon looked nice. It was actually too early for the busses to run so I had to sit and wait for them to start. I had some burgerking and exchanged the rest of my Chinese yuan. The subway started at 6am (not sure why I didn't to talk about the busses instead). I found my hostel alright. Luckily I used the 15 free internet in the terminal to research a place to stay. Lonely Planet didn't really have their act together on accommodation for Singapore. Of course, I wasn't able to check-in at 7am. I walked around for a bit. Found the Raffles Hotel and tried to buy some things that fell out of bag on the flight.


Tried to take a nap but just rested really. Then I went out in search of something to do. I decided I would go to Little India since my trip to India wasn't that Indian. It was monsoon season in Singapore so suddenly it starts raining like mad and I duck into an Indian restaurant. I'm a bit hesistant about the food since I'd never eaten Indian buffet style. I ordered rice and chicken. Of course, I get all these sauces to dip stuff in or pour onto things. I like my food plain. I'm a gastronic dullard, what can I say? I try my best to eat it the proper way but I guess I failed because the guy next to me asked if I'd ever had Indian food and told me I didn't look like I was enjoying it.

He seemed nice enough this guy. He was there to have his fortune told by this other Indian guy. Once I'd finished and it was still raining, this guy Joe, told me my fortune. He foresaw good things in terms of relationships and friends or whatever. I forget really. He did tell me that I was unable to stay put very long and like to be on the move. Gemini is an air sign you see (so that's what it is). This first guy left and Joe and I talked about Buddhism.I have a very limited knowledge but he explained the basics to me. He also told me about yoga. I didn't realize it was about waking up centres and bringing it all in line. I'm not the least bit spiritual.

Actually, I had some kind of weird desire to go to Singapore. I'd been there before you see. Most people would say I haven't.I was there in February or something of 1982. I was born in June. So yeah, a prenatal vacation (maybe that's what it is). My parents had a layover in Hawaii too. I had a kind of strange experience when I went to Hawaii a few years ago. I sometimes wonder if I left a part of myself in Singapore back in 1982. Anyways, it's kind of beside the point but I wondered if anything would happen in Singapore. It did strangely feel like I'd been there before but that could've just been it was the most Western place I'd been since coming to Asia and people spoke English everywhere. My uncle had been working in Singapore at the time. My parents were never big travelers. I didn't even leave Alberta until I was 8 or something. A big fishing trip on the border with Saskatchewan. Well and when I was 2 I went to Vancouver but only because my aunt was working there.

Later I was invited to say since they were having some kind of gathering.2 British graphic designers, one a prof. So I had a few beers with them and told one about teacher in Korea. The one prof seemed quite interested despite my warnings. Who knows? Universities are much better places than hagwons. Joe also took me to his Hindu temple and showed me around. So he taught me about 3 religions or disciplines and he was into astrology and all that too. He was in his late 40s. We had some roti and he showed me around the department store for south asian expats where things were really cheap, well for Singapore I guess.

I had gone here at night when it was a lot more lively. I always feel like such an outsider at religious places. I don't take pictures.

Then we went back to the restaurant. A native Chinese Singaporean with a crazy laugh joined us for a bit. Very strange lady. The some native Indian Singaporean who was in 70s came. I guess they didn't get along because the crazy lady gave the odd man the finger to the back of his head. This guy had had a stroke a few months before. They said he was always a bit weird though. He had just gotten up but had been awake for 25 hours. He found out that I had been an English teacher and told me to take lessons from Sidney Poitier in To Sir, With Love. He sang the theme song to me. Then started asking me all kinds of personal questions. "Was I able to make love in my country?" I thought I must have misheard but nope. "Did I enjoy making love? How long have I been making love? With whom had I made love? etc." So strange being asked these questions by some old Indian man in Singapore. I learnt a lot that day.... and had my drinks and food paid for. (I actually had donated $10 Sg to something for the children. Maybe there is such a thing as Karma, or at least in Little India there is).


The next day pales in comparison since I only did typical tourist things. I did get to experience the embarrassing accompaniment (if that's the word) to an ATM. I could've sworn I had my credit card. I also tried to go see the largest fountain in the world. The Fountain of Wealth. Closed, probable an omen. Singapore was nice but really I felt like I'd been there before and that I'd be there again so I wasn't that sad to leave it after 2 days.

Pleasant Singapore. I ate at one of the restaurants across the water.