Nepal mut be a backpackers paradise. It's been shoved against the greatest mountain range in the world and had two massive countries as neighbours jostling over who can control the people and the power. Almost anywhere in the country you are reminded of the mountains at arms reach, whether it is at surise from a $3 hotel roof or the thunderclouds and changing alpine weather that rolls in during the afternoon, its breathtaking.

 

After arriving in kathmandu we spent a day catching up with Kirk and Ang, visiting a local Hindu Temple we headed straight for Pokhara in the west. Here competing with the Kumbu region for trekking tourists is the Annapurna Range with 3 of the top 0 highest mountains in the world towering above you. Pokhara itself is a small service town for the surrounding villages but nestled along the lakeside is a bustling tourist street full of hotels and guesthouses bubbling with pizzas, beers, and trekking shops. We had to indulge waiting for our trek as the weather opened and didnt stop for three days. Finally, clouds clearing we hired a porter (hereafter affectionately known as sherp) and headed on a 12 day hike to the Annapurna sanctuary. We walked up through steep river valleys to 3000 meters on our secnd day following over 4000 consecutive steps to Ghorepani . which although is a small detour form the usual trek both Sherp and our guidebook told us would be worth the early orning sunrise vista over the ranges. It was spectacular. From left to right covering 100 degrees of vision were Dauligiri, Annapurna, her brothering peaks of Annapurna South, I, II, III and IVFrom the view at Poon hill we walked 5-7 hours each day between setlements in the mountains. every hour or two are teahouses run and maintained by local people letting out cheaps rooms at $2NZD a night and great food considering the altitude and accessibility only by foot. Keeping at arounf 2500-3000m for the forst 5 nights we slowly climbed over the last two days to Annapurna Base Camp. Hidden in a sacred Nepali sanctuary, the set of 3 lodges is 4200m above sea level but is flanked by a 360 degree view of mountains rising around you. The mountains all over 6500m spew more than 6 glaciers into this small valley head creating a massive morraine wall over 100m high to view the peaks. Although surrounded in cloud, peppered by thunder, hail and snow and drawing in each breath as if breathing through a straw upon arriving, the next morning the weather was perfect and the peaks lit up like candles almost appearing to flow lava from their tops. We quickened our pace heading down the valley following the Modi Khola from its source to Naya Pul before taxiing back to Pokhahra in 3 days.

 

Next time I'm heaing East to see Everest and Gyoko glacier! I have thousands of photos just waiting....

 

 

I'm sitting in Pokhara in the pissing rain supposedly 3 days after the official end of the rainy season here in Nepal wondering why I can't see the lake in front of us let alone the 8000m peaks surrounding the city. We arrived from Kathmandu by bus yesterday after enjoyiong a bevvie with Kirk and Ang deciding to do the 10 day Annapura Sauntuary trek to the base camp at 4500m. Hiring a Sherpa, and setting off are going to have to wait until the rain clears. In the mean time China was a blast1

 

From Beijing we over night trained to Xian the historical capital of China before the northern Beijing came to promenence. The train was cramped and had six bunk beds to a compartment. We had the two tops bunks with enough room to raise me knees let alone lift my bum. Xian despite all reports is a great place. Its a walled city with a 25m high 20m thick wall surrounding the center with the suburbs sprawling out around it. The main attraction here is the Terracotta Warriors. Buried for centuries this subterranean army guards the former emperor in his grave. It consists of soldiers, generals and cavalry in individual regiments, each member with unique clothes and face individually carved before they were put in pits measurubng more than 4 football fields.

 

From Xian we again took a 16 hour train oveniught to Chengdu. This train on a more local route was a lot dirtier and crowded with people. Sleeping in separate bunks we braved the locals and spent little time away from our books an ipods getting up only for the neccessary. Chendgu is more of a gateway to more interesting ports in China with most visitors here waiting for tickets through to Tibet or further south. We arrived and left for Songpan, a quiant little mountain village some 2500m up in the Himilayan foothills. Predominantly Tibetain these people live off the land and were amazing frienhdly and colorful. The main attraction here is the horse trekking. We took a four day trek up the base of Ice Mountain with only our two guides and horses fro company. After an 8 hour ride through small villages and along ridges bordered by ice peaks we arrived at our homestay. From here the next day was a 6 hour return trip to the house up the valley to Ice Mountain. We stopped at the head of a valley for a sublime view of the peak and area at 4400m above sea level. After another night eating vegetarian stews and watching Chinese period dramas we returned to Songpan for a bus to Chengdu. Our final day in Chengdu involved a visits to the Panda breeding Sanctuary. Unlike most crowded and horrific Asian Zoos I have seen this was refreshingly open, clean and green. This the the worlds premiere Panda base managing to be the only one to successfully breed Pandas in captivity. Currently holding more than 30 Giant Pandas they are all on display sitting bolt upright chewing on bamboo. You can walk up to the enclosure where 10ft away the Pandas are eating and playing with only a trench between you. Also in the nursery were three baby pandas less than 2 months old. Looking like hairless drowned rats they resembled more a Beijing sidestreet dish than a national icon.

 

From Chengdu after enough trains we wimped out and flew to Guilin. It's a poetic area with Karst scenery dotting the area. The limestone peaks give it a fairytake aura and its difficult to leave. My English doesnt do this place credit, you will have to wait for the photos. But after 5 days or bamboo rafting down river, mountain bike rides through the countryside, and days seeing how Tsingtao's one can drink we pulled ourselves away for the flight to Bangkok. A night of fine food and fancy hotel including rooftop pool and all later we flew Royal Nepal Arilines to Kathmandu. I'm not sure it's an experience I would repeat in a hurry, who would trust a national carrier who goes to 6 countries using only one plane in their entire fleet. I'd rather have the Beijing side street dish.

 

I'll try with some phots when the internet connection is quicker.

Only a year out from the games and it's clear that everything is geared up and running to prepare for one month when everyone is going to be looking and judging. I've always held distorted poverty ridden, organised chaos thoughts about China but it's an amazing place. We arrived Monday morning to the banging as some of Beijing's 2 million extra employed workers constructing what will be the worlds biggest airport. Our hostel was in the cities hutong district, which formerly the home of the masses with narrow streets servicing compacted areas of humanity has now been renovated into stores lining the passageways. Still through open doors behind the bean bagged coffe shops you can see the cramped poor housing conditions of the owners. Nevertheless the food not only along here but everywhere is amazing. Lamb kebabs BBQed on the street in front of restaurants for $0.20NZD to enhace a feed of the best beef, pork, chicken and lamb ever, even veges here taste good. Must be the MSG.

 

Apparently judged as one of the better walls, I certainly havent seen better (Berlin might complain), the Great Wall of China is amazing. We took a 3 hour bus to a remote part hiking along 10km of partially restored, crumbling wall resting in each of the 30 towers along the way for breathtaking vistas of the bricks across the countryside. We ended at an area called Simitai and paid for the joy of using a zip line to go down from the mountain.

 

We visited the Forbidden City and Tiannimen Sqaures as well. The sunset behind chairman Mao's portrait in the Sq. with well over 5000 people was amazing. to back it up a trip to Beijing wouldnt suffice without a bike around the city. I'm sure we were followed by police both uniformed and plainclothed as we biked by the forbidden city, however they would have to have penetrated the throng of vendors, touts, and scam artists who seemed to be hidden at every turn. You'd think if I wanted to buy an overpriced piece of art, Olympics hat or Beijing tourist book I would have bought it already so F%$#k off!!! It is a pity that some of the cultural relics in the city where cloaked under scaffolding restoring the for 2008, even chairman Mao's body was off limits, but a stroll without throngs of tourists was worth it.

 

Im writing this from Xi'an, hoime of the terracotta warriors before we head off on our travels towards the South of China on friday ensuring stops in major cities to catch the World Cup in the weekends.

Saturday marked the end of a year in Korea for a few of us here in Ansan, so celbrating in the true way we donned some very metro shirts tie dyed shirts and headed into Hondae in Seoul for teh world famous Carnie Station. Apparentely even Australia can claim one of these all you can eat and drink restaurants. $22USD buys you all the BBQ meat and salads you can eat along with a range of tap beers and a bar full of spirits. A normal night ensued which involved small doses of karaoke before being removed from the room due to crowding, a club and the local ice bar where everything inside is made of ice. The bar, the seating, the glasses, even a fake toilet are all made of ice.

 

Yesterday was my final day at work and although as happy as I am to be moving onto my next journey it was sad to say goodbye to all of the kids. A couple or classes organised some parties for me as I showed the new American teacher the ropes, kids to constantly keep an eye on and the ever roaming hoardes of children ready to ask for lollies.

 

We fly out on Monday morning for Beijing for a month in China before hitting Nepal in October and India in November. I'l try to put up some posts and/or pics when I can but I'll be back in NZ on December forist so if you are around a BBQ steak, pie and speights would be perfect.

 

 

It has been a busy couple of weeks. Angela arrived and soon after we had Matt and Karen stay for three days exploring Seoul. We visited the War Memorial museum and although I have been before we hada  good walk around inside. In just under two hours we had quickly explored half of the exhibits and one gets the feeling that a good day would be required to take in all the inforamation. It's amazing how much war a peaceful country has been involved in. We also explored Itaewon, took in some good pub food and filled our culture quota with the Monet exhibition. Although only a small part of his collection it was obviouls he was a; on some good drugs and b;mentally insane. Always seems to be the talented ones.

 

Matt and Karen continued their journey on Monday through to Nepal and it was really exciting talking about their plans realising our trip isn't far off either. I have 7 days of work left and a couple of weeks to finish our preparations before we fly out. We are in the middle of visa applications and at this moment are passportless as they are in the hands of the Indian embassy after the most ridiculous application process ever. The consulate is only open for 3 hours to accept aplications and for one hour in the evenings to collect your finished product. I'm rambling. bye bye 

The Boreyeong Mud Festival is the biggest in Korea and has to be the most fun you can have here without shooting things over the border. We joined a tour group early Saturday morning in Seoul and had the mandatory Maccas breakfast before taking the bus 4 hours to our destination half way down the Korean penninsula bordering the Sea of China. Our first stop in the afternoon was a massive mud flat that is used by the Korean Special Armed Corps as a training field. The antics incuded a ccular blow up wrestling ring, numerous races and just general carnage as people were covered head to toe in mud over our compulsory army fatigues. This even before the mud fighting and tackling had started. our team won both the mens and womens team and individual wrestling titles. Showrs consistd of a water tanker with a maniacal Korean on top with a high pressure hose.

 

After a beer to restore the order we headed to our accomodation closer to the swimming beach before spending the rest of the afternoon covering ourselves in yet more mud from pools spoadically placed along the beach. Each pool had different kinds of mud and different Koreans always keen on tempting mudless foreigners into their hovels with different coloured mud. Needless to say we enjoyed the sun, clean air and beers playing football, volleyball and swimming in the sea. After dinner and a marvellous version of the New Zealand anthem from our thrid storey balcony tunes were required. Brad and I managed to find a internet cafe and bought the owners speakers from his own computer as he was playing a game. Everything is attainable if the priace is right. After this it all got a little hazy with 'Kim Jong Il' the new drink made with the combined madness of soju and Jagermeister. We camped ourselves along the beach before indulging in one of many nude runs to the sea and back to our clothes. By the end of the night the running had decreased to a strut and the shamefulness had been removed with more than one Krean posing for photos in our glory. I apoligize in advance if one of these comes into your possession.

 

Sunday with clear skies, heat and humidity along with a few hours sleep wasn't pleasant but we managed to sunbath, swim and make our way to the bus terminal for a torturous ride home, and I had a seat!!! Photos up when I get some.

On Saturday we held the first Ansan Convienience store Golf Open. Each person receives a score card and follow the rules enclosed and drink a beverage at 9 different convienience stores on an already planned course through the streets of the city. Your score is the amount of sips it take you to consume your vessel. Penalty points are also added for slow play, speaking Korean, dropping or spiling beer and arguing with your marker. The days game lasted only 4 holes before our 8 players were reduced to 4 following a nasty hole involving an entire bottle of soju to be skulled.

 

The night continued in normal fashion with a trip to Beer Plus and watching the All Blacks dimantle the Springboks. The next golf game is tentitively planned for this weekend but I have revised the score card to include less soju and a lowering of the beer size from a 740ml to a standard can at each hole.

Spirit MC is the Korean version of the popular Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride. They all are free style fighting competitions where the majority of fighters now come from at least 2 and sometimes 5 or so martial arts disiplines. The guys were from 70 to 125kg and stood toe to toe in the ring for two five minute rounds of fighting. Few fights lasted this long with most losers tappig out after being chocked in a wrestling position or KOed from either a kick or punch.

 

The competition was in a gymnasium in Seoul and comprised of 15 fights, named The Road to the final". The first 8 fights were lower class fighters without the same training but just as entertaining with some massive weight differences between some pairings. The later fights were fighers with records who were competing for belts. they had dance routines and songs for their entry along a catwalk to the ring. the best was a full karaoke performance wearing a yellow sequined shirt while his opponent warmed up in the ring. The fight of the night was an American lad Ross Ebanez against a local Korean fella. Being some of the only foreigners there it seemed appropriate to cheer the yank. He won the fight by knock out after pining his opponent on his back and laying repeptive punches on his face. After a right hook he was out before his head hit the floor but the ref failed to stop the fight and at least another left and right bounced his unconscience head off the floor and into the next incoming fist before the ref called it off. We were duely rewarded at the end of the match with a rope climbing double fist pump salute from the champ. We obligied with raucous cheers which has landed us on Korean TV.

 

Now "thats gold".

To celebrate Brad's birthday a number of us headed to Everland. It is about 40mins away but by magically weaving through the streets of outer Seoul the bus driver managed to take a good 90mins off my life. I'm not getting that back. The resort itself is huge. There are 3 main parts with a zoo, a theme park and the water park. Not interested in either depressed tigers or overcrowded lines for rollercoasters we had our hearts set on the water park. Carribean Bay has both indoor and outdorr attractions althoug by far the most interesting is outside. We tried the standing wave machine, numerous tube waterslides, the wave pool and three speed slides. The speed slides were the best. One started in a darkened tube where you slid slowly until the slide droped away at a sharp angle allowing you to leave the slide momentarily before plumetting down the sharp incline. The wave pool was highly amusing. Lifeguards patrolled two areas in the pool. One, where you had to wear a life jacket if you went deeper than 1.6 metres and a zone of 2 metres wide stretching the entire pool where the 2 metre high wave broke. We were asked numerous times whether we were swimmers as we body surfed the waves as being able to swim is a foreign concept to adults who float in a pool in life jackets screaming at the sight of a wave.

 

Oh I didnt mention that through this entire experience you wrent allowed on a ride or in the water without a swimming cap on.......

 

God help any Koreans who actually go to a normal beach. Couple of pics below.

He was out in full force last weekend. Brad and I traveled on a bus to PyeongChang, better known for its upcoming bid to host the 2014 Winter Olympics it is also host to the lesser spectator sport of a annual football tournament. We joined a team from Incheon full of 50 year old buys with a penchant for the booze. The ride thre was a 3 hour affair full of soju, beer and kareoke. The bus had its own system hooked up to a mic travelling up and down the isles of the bus belting out timeless Korean tunes in the key of awful. Not involved in the frivolity Brad and I cautiously watched from the front as especially one fella, aptly named the soju master frequented the chiller for more and more until the walk to the ront of the bus replicated the ease of a Vietnamese land mine crossing. We arrived and played a game within ourselves on a grass pitch, which for me was a unique experience here in Asia. After 30mins I could actually smell the booze coming out of our skin. We retired to a lodge about an hours drive away for the night and the FA cup final.

 

Sunday was the tournament and we played 4 games, again on a grass pitch. We lost all I think but the 28 odd degree day was filled with drinking and a magnificent pork BBQ (butchered on the spot). We left at 2pm and after yet another stop at a restaurant which would easily be condemned in New Zealand for any number of 100 reasons not including the poultry wandering the toilets for Seoul. Here, there was more than slight interest in the size of Brad and my manhood. The topic of conversation wa to use chopsticks to produce a rough estimate of each players penis size and then a request to follow the lead. We politley diverted conversation but this only spurred one guy on to casualy grope me while I was eating my hotter than the sun noodles. I think I was molested at least half a dozen times. The 5 hour traffic congested trip home has since left me slight of hearing. The kareoke was in full voice with half cut men prancing the isle for three hours. This after a day in the sun and numerous football games following a sleepless night and a prison hazing was the perfect end to the trip known in the Vercs history as random.

Last weekend Ansan pulled one out of the bag and held the Ansan I nternational buskers Festival. With the sun beaming down and maing it uncomfortable we hit the streets bottles of wine, crakcers and cheese in hand in search of some fun lovin carnies to laugh with and at. We found our first merry bunch of small handed circus folk. They were from France and were a combination of music, acrobats and singing, not to mention a little nudity thrown in for good measure. The highlight however was a tubby nude man rolling over his mates playing what could only be described as an upsidedown fry pan (there you are wokhead). We moved along the street to watch some chinese acrobats with a top notch fella speaing the perfect combination of English and Korean with a Chinese accent....perfect...But his actors were sublime. A dragon personified as a dog was being toyed with jumping around and generally scaring small children. It was done very very well with so much precision put into the movements that I had to shake my red wine fuelled stooper to understand the reality. But not to be outdone a girl produced some contortion which short of snapping her spine was unbelievable. In one of the less pornographic poses she bent herself in half sitting on her own head, if she doesnt like the travel and cabbage diet of the circus, Im sure she could easily find a job in Thailand at any number of shows.

 

In the last half of the day we watched another Chinese performer balance himself on rolling cylinders before moving on to some well less talented Aussies who were trying to bore the crowd out of their money. Our last stop on the way to watch spiderman 3 (dont watch that, its 2.5 hours you wont get back) were some English lads with probably the least amazing talent to go on but the most enjoyable show. The crowd swelled to a good size as the three danced and sang in Korean and English gtting the crowd involved. Top notch entertainment if I do say so. We finished the day off after the torture of the movie with some all you can eat shabu shabu for dinner.

Contrary to popular opinion I'm not dead but instead have been leading a peaceful, non-eventful couple fo months here in Seoul. After having a few mates visiting from NZ and Japan spring has turned and the weather has become more accepting of a few beers in the sun and after purchasing a BBQ the Ansan massive have had three booze and bbq flavoured parties. All of our apartments have a flat top roofs which are perfect for a day/night in the sun with some great tunes. Although recent events involving a soccer ball, a hotel, nudity, cardboard boxes, a convience store and several visits from policemen mean the next few weeks may have to be slightly more sombre or a return to Beer Plus to take the good times indoors.

 

Last weekend I had a first. To celebrate a couple of birthdays we headed into Seoul to the clubbing area known as Hongdae. Our first stop was a hookah bar. Slightly different from the widely available hookah in the middle east, hookah bars in Korea use the same device but instead use fruit flavoured insense. This is smoked through a 2 foot high bong on the table top with two mouthpieces to inhale the smoke. Our room was a small inclose on the terrace on the 4th floor overlooking the main clubbing district. With bottles of vodka coming for 35USD to our table and ofcourse the hookah we headed for a dance at the western nightclub before retiring home around 5AM, me minus my cellphone. Another one bites the dust. Hopefully Ill have some pics of the weekend soon.

The last month has been full of football. I not only got pitchside tickets for an international but starting playing againt for the mightyness that is Intersuwon Football Club. Made up of a local bunch of primarily poms, Scots, Paddys and token representatives from NZ, Aus and South America we play in the Seoul Sunday League. After losing our forst couple of games we have started to get some combinations together after settling on some positions. I have been holding my own in the defence remembering everything from my Soccer days back all those years ago.

 

For the international game, the local bunch of ex pats known as the Ansan massif brought an entire row and retired to the World Cup stadium in Seoul, appropriately named due to their shared hosting of the 2002 World Cup with Japan. The stadium itself was amazing and although not at capacity still attracted over 40,000 spectators which I think contained the majority of the foreign community for the Uruguay-Korea friendly. Even the Red army behind the Uruguayian goal in the first half could not coax a Korean goal. nevertheless at the opposite end Uruguay toyed with Korea and seemed at about 50% scored two goals at will. This much to my amusement 2-0 stayed the score as Korea failed to get anywhere near close despite their highly over-rated Manchester United played Park Ji Sung. Since the second half was as entertaining as a English rugby backline four of the Ansan massif stormed the pitch and managed to fend, out-run, and step their way through the meagre security and polices forces to halt the match for about 5mins until they were tackled. Shortly after the match we caught up with our mates who weren't apprehended or even fined. One was asked to stay beside the field while the police chased another so he Promptly left. The others were caught, taken to the sideline, given a drink (I can only assume this was water but it is Korea) then let go. this story having spread like wildfire will no doubt/hopefully inspire more would be more soju induced streaking. Got a couple of pics of them on the field.

One of the few things I knew about South Korea when I first arrived was it's well known communist partner to the North. All this became a lot clearer after 1 month of teaching when Kim JOng Il (their dictator) decided exploding a nuclear device would be the best way to making friends with the rest of the world. None the less plans came together and Ave and I found ourselves after all the red tape, democracratic applications, and not so democratic applications on a bus to the border with a bus load of predominantly English teachers from Seoul.

 

We were handed our visas with as opposed to being pasted into your passport were designed to be hung around your neck stating the normal array of details from nationality to profession, the later which I decided to make up on Daves application for a little humour and the feact that a statistician might be a; reveered and b; unknown in the North. South Korean immigration was simple. An airport style set up, line up look on a computer, stamp and off you go. Although due to the hostile nature of the border we ofcourse had to board another bus to be transported the 4km across the De-militarized Zone to North Korean immigration. The DMZ was quite amazing with swamps and an obviously increased amountof wildlife including several species only found in this area on earth due to the lack of, you guessed it people. Immigration at the North consisted of a large white tent where we where forced to line up in an order only known to the North KOrean guards pushing us around. Passports and visas in the left hand and cameras in the right hand, presumably punishable my the amputation of either for those who get confused. during my inspection at the border the soldier asked my name, position and natioality to confirm it matched his records. This later to my amusement is to find any mistakes, spelling or otherwise for the sole purpose of imposing a heafty fine in USD. Fines were also issued for our stay to anyone not displaying thier visa on the outside of their chest the correct way around at anytime, littering or any other minute offence. Nevertheless everyone was admitted and we proceeded on another bus journey to our hotel.

 

All the buses travelled in convoy through the North Korean countryside lead and followed by military vehicles and flanked every 50m by soliders armed with weapons and red flags. The weapons for insolent foreigners and the flags for anyone taking photographs outside the allowed areas; ie anywher but away from anything North Korea. If a soldier raised his flagthe entire convoy would be stopped and everyones cmaera searched until the illegal photograph found and deleted and the perpetraitor fined.

 

The level of poverty was extremely obvious. Farmers ploughed their fields with undernourished cattle while children and women wearing cold war seconds military clothing cleaned the baron fields of stones or debirs. There was no vegetation anywhere, everytime the winf blew your visibility was cut with clouds of dust coming from the miles of bare dry soil. Clusters of clay/brick houses stood between long dirt roads on which groups of Koreans walked and cycled as the only vehicles I saw were those near the various miitary installations.

 

Out hotel was in an area with other hotels, restaurants and tourist shops, a convienience store, entertainment pavillion and carpark. Although it wasn't a compound in the true sense no nationals not working there were allowed in and it was clear you weren't allowed out unescorted. here the currency was USD and our hotel was 4 star serving everything from heineken to tacos. The mixture of staff were South Koreans employed by the multination companies making a killing in their tourism adventure and North Korean nationals no doubt working at the higest station one can achieve outside a backside riddled with bullets in a attempted border crossing. Our rules were simple. We werent allowed to discuss the South or politics of any kind and any reading material, or electronic equipment was forbidden. Our cellphones and any batteries or chargers were confiscated before entry.

 

We did two hikes in North Korea. Its called Diamond Mountain by most Koreans and the views hiking up only a short distance are amazing. The hillsides were dusted with snow contrasting the floors of the valley with the organ pipe shaped rocks protruding on either side producing sharp cliff faces and exposed slopes. The walk on the first day went up to the top of a peak, up a series of sharp staircases. On the second day the walk followed a valley up to a Korean teahouse perched on a cliff overlooking a frozen waterfall. The trek continued futher but was cutoff by ice to trampers. So after the usual photos and throwing stones onto the ice we followed the meandering path towards the carpark alongside the frozen river.

 

Obviously we indulged in a series of jars that night including some karaoke and other mayhem but they are stories for a conversational touch.

 

Leaving was them same procedure as the incoming trip. Again led by the military to the border in convoy we were watched by soldiers on both sides looking for any excuse to stop our buses. Once through immigration as walking back to the buses several bursts of automatic gunfire in the distance quickened our stride. From the confines of the bus several closer rifle shots rocketed from the hillside. Following the shots several soldiers standing guard on our buses ran towards the disturbance however there was no way in hell I was getting out of that bus or even raising my head. Believe me once we started up and got back into democratic country I have never been so glad to see an american solider waving at our buses.

Some of you know Dave, many of you wil know the raving alcoholic blond haired loony, Lowrie and as of Sat he has been here in Korea as the start of his OE. This week I took the week off and together we have been doing all the Seoul tourist traps and generally talking as much bollocks as possible while letting him explore the weirdness that is Asia. Its been quite refreshing to have someone from home. All the small things that after a certain amount of time in a foreign country you forget come back to life. Dave notices all the things which I was amazed with when I first arrived in Japan, neon lights, vending machines everywhere, the complete lack of anything but straight black hair. Its been a good laugh trying all the weird food and stupid customs again.

 

So this week we visited;

 

Seoul Tower which climbs 300m above the center of Seoul in Namsan Park with revolving restaurants and the coolest urinals I have ever seen. It was quite an experience havang a coffee that high above the second biggest metropolitian area in the world. I can't wait to get a chance to see it at night.

 

Namdaemun and Dongdaemun Markets each surround two old gates to the city and sell everything from fake clothes to the best ginseng money can buy. This year apparently the item of choice is North Face jackets. Every second Korean wears a black North Face puffer jacket, must have been one big trauck that they fell off the back of.

 

Gyeongbokgung Palace is the biggest in Seoul and housed the royal family when they moved the capital here in the 14th century. Although it was destroyed by the Japanese during their rule it is now being restored by the World Heritage Fountation. Its a huge area and amazing to walk around and see the temples and surrounding moats.

 

The Korean War Museum was closed the day we visited but this saved us from spending 3000won on reading meaningful things inside. On the grounds are the vehicles, boats, planes and artillery from every war on the Korean Penninsula and others. We braved the heavy snow and sub zero temperature to sit inside tanks and explore the workings of anti-aircraft weapons. Loved it.

 

I've added a few photos and tonight we are off to North Korea to hike up the Diamond Mountains... the cold war is over right?

It has been a busy couple of weeks with Clapton and school but I managed to squeeze in time in the weekend to travel up to Phoenix Ski Park early Saturday morning with Davy, Kirk and Tom for two days of snowboarding. Not as big as Pyongchang where we went over Christmas but it has some amazing slopes and some great runs, including a few black diamond runs which I tried my hand at not so successfully but still a hurdle which has been tried. The best boarding was the Sunday morning where after a late night we hit the slopes at 830. The temperature was warm and the sun shining on us as we traveled up the lifts. Due to the early morning the slopes were empty and the lines for the lifts too. We managed half a dozen runs on a 1.7km run from the top. Was amazing to fly from the top to bottom without biting the snow in a pile up and finally have some space. If you havent done it already I suggest you do. Its like surfing on Red Bull.

 

Im loking to have one more weekend on the slopes before winter ends. Although the bank account may not appreciate it at that cost, its not the cheapest sport!

I saw Eric Clapton in Seoul last night and it was amazing. The concert started at a resonable 8pm, however the trip from Ansan changing a couple of times of the subway and getting dropped of at the opposite end of the large Olympic Park in Seoul by the taxi took all our available time. The concert was held in one of the arenas used to host the gymnastics competiton in 1988 and must have seated about 10,000 people. Eric supporting act was J.J. Cale although we only arrived in time for Eric's first song where he started off playing a lot of his newer songs and some older more Blues numbers before accompanying band left the stage for a perfect rendition of Wonderful Tonight. As the set continued the tempo was lifted and the guitar solos got longer and before finishing with a sterling rendition of Layla. The raw guitar and piano is something that is made for live music and Ill never forget it. After the obligatory break for the encore Cocaine rocked the whole place with more Koreans singing and dancing than a rocking Karaoke room.

 

The whole set was unbelievable. The whole band had his passion for music and needless to say each song wound up around the 8-10 min mark after guitar, bass and piano solos. Worthy of a special note were the pianist of unknown gender, even though we could see him/her on the large screen.

 

Im rambling now so Ill leve it their. Off snow boarding this weekend again so Ill have some more stories next week.  

Asia is the world hub of fashion crime. Now Angela will tell you that the chavs in England have that right to themselves and I myself would argue that a walk through Eastgate mall can have you running for the mullet police camera shot quicker than Michael Johnson on steriods but I think we have found a clear cut winner. Asia. I was first tipped off when going through customs in Osaka when a gentleman wearing a astroturf cap walked past me but only today I saw a man sporting pink bike shorts and matching vest in the gym. This combined with the stanard attire in Japan of men paying top dollar to wear anything pink and shiny. Although it is less the case in Korea I think it is catching.

 

Although some will fight this, I myself am a fashion guru of sorts. Pioneering the anti sneakers and jeans movement of the early nineties and co-founder of the mulet wall in 1998 with Ed Cameron. However recently living in two countries with dubious clothing styles I have discovered I have gone downhill. Only last year I progressed to the rolled up jeans look as a measure of the heat. I still stand by my original stance on that but combined with the manbag in late 2005 things may have gone downhill. It was capped off today when I put on my white trainers with the jeans and saw no problem in going to work. It has gotten out of hand.

Didnt really seem like back to work this year. I got the long weekend due to Christmas falling on a Monday (which is more than those stuck in Japan, suckers) but as these countries dont believe in Boxing day that and New Years day were the only two holidays which I had available. So in all honesty it feels like a long weekend especially with the temperature rearely above 5. New Years was pretty quiet. We had our fair share of beers throughout the day but kept it quiet and saw the New Years in inside the bar with a sambuca shot, as one does.

 

I'm working days for my first time in Korea and changing from my 4pm-9pm schedule has been difficult. I now have to rise to make my Monday 10:30 class and I finish up at 5ish. Its still the same old job of attempting to teach English Conversation to children who are hell bent on rote learning. Its a pretty standard set up. We have 20 odd teachers who teach everything from Maths to Science to English. My department teaches English Conversation to children whose parents specifically pay the horrendous money or to those students who are in the highest streamed classes at our school. Myself and the only other teacher teaching English Conversation teach 5-6 40min classes a day. Because I speak absolutely no Korean anything I do with them is considered a conversation class cos they have to interpret my questions and stories and speak to me in English. Thus I have free rein over my classes and what they learn. No assessment, planning or anyone looking over your shoulder. Just the foreigner in front of the kids. I didnt say I earned my money.

 

1 more month of these day classes then the kids can go back to school and I can get up at midday again!!!

 

 

To celebrate Xmas in true northern hemisphere winter style the local expat group of 12 booked a chalet at a leading ski resort on the opposite side of Korea and headed up the mountain for 3 days of sore bottomed fun (in a strictly non prison movie sort of way). We travelled on the Sat morning leaving Ansan at 6:30 on the subway to meet our bus in Seoul only to transfer buses again at another location. Needless to say that as we got closer and saw the signs celebrating the resorts bid for the 2014 winter olympics we were happy that we had successfully negotiated our way onto the right bus.

 

Our chalet was amazing. Although it had a maximum occupancy of only 6 we managed on the first night to sleep 12 and the second after meeting some Korean friends on the slopes 18 people. Two storeys, two toilets, two balconeys looking out over the mountains, heated floors and on the side of one of the slopes it was a perfect haven for our trip. Although a couple of the boys did hit the piss pretty hard during the night and the days as well most people had a few but kept the madness to a minimum due to the days of boarding and levels of tiredness.

 

The resort although really bust during the day with families camled down after dinner as punters returned to Seoul and once the lights were switched on the whole place really got a life of its own. Night time definitely was the best time to board, with less people on the slopes, perfect weather and everything looking like a giant Christmas tree covered in snow it was surreal. Im not sure the photos quite captured it but it really was quite magical boarding down a slope lite up by lights at close to midnight.

 

I have never boarded before and it was my misson to learn in the two days I had at my disposal. On the Sat I stuck to the beginners slopes and after a frustrating few hours pulled the pin in substitute for a cold one. The Sunday was a different story. Everyone brought a gondola ticket and took the 25 minute ride to the top of the mountain. It was beautiful rugged hill country and nothingcompared to ski fields in NZ. Even at the top it was only 1400m above sea level allowing lots of trees and bushes to grow offering a stark contrast to the slopes back home. After returning to base we hired our boards and Tom and I continued our slow pogress from the day before but decided the easier way to learn was to jump in and take on the advanced slopes. One we named the tree run weaved a goat track through trees before opening up on a steep wide slope. We did this 6 times each time getting better. Towards the end not only were we getting down almost unscathed but we were getting upset at other people for getting in our way and falling over in front of us "professionals". After 8 hours of boarding we were comfortable on the slopes and I cant wait to get up again and start my orientation with the jump circuit.