hades riviera

The thing about going to sleep really early is you wake up pretty early the next morning...i was wide awake around 0600...it was light out, but i didn't want to get up yet...my normal alarm clock for work doesn't even go off until 0700!!

my mate cory is going to kill me if he ever reads this, because it's all about my very poor planning...well, more like complete lack of planning...the entire day my plans for what to see kept changing...if i'd figured out a proper itinerary at the beginning of the day i'd have been able to see quite a bit...as it was, i backtracked way too much...anywho...

since friday was the day after the official holiday, i hoped the post office would be open...i was wrong...so i'm still carrying around letters i've meant to mail for around a week now...argh...i really wanted to mail the letters...

my first place to see was livadia palace, i mentioned it in my previous post...i hopped on a marshrutka from a small bus station really close to my hotel...(again, the hotel was quite conveniently located)...i hopped off around 20 minutes later...i think...i'm not good at figuring out how much time has gone by...

i made my way to the kaca to buy my ticket, only to discover that i had arrived 40 minutes before the palace opened...oops...i should mention that it was snowing rather heavily, and i was cold, so this was not good news...there was nowhere indoors that i could see, so i walked toward the gardens, hoping to find a way to kill time...

that didn't work very well, but i did find the romanov family chapel (remember in the previous post when i mentioned that that family had owned this palace at one time?) so i was able to get inside for a few minutes...the chapel is quite small, not really what i was expecting for the family chapel of a tsar...not only the chapel of the tsar's family, but the chapel in which tsar nicholas took an oath of fidelity to russia...before going in i wrapped a scarf around my head, so i would be dressed appropriately...guys take off their hats when they go in orthodox churches, women cover their heads...hmmm...there was a service going on when i walked in, so i stood at the back and watched for a while...at 5 till 10 i walked back to the ticket lady and was able to purchase my entrance ticket...i think it's the most expensive place i've been in all of ukraine!!! almost $7!!!

to see livadia palace you have to join a tour...which is led in russian...there are no tours in any other languages...unless you've booked a private tour on your own? needless to say, i had no idea what was being said...at all...i heard a lot of words like angliski, americanski, and such, but i still didn't know what was being said...so i entertained myself by taking heaps of photos...the first room you see is the gala room, which is where all the plennary (sp?) meetings took place during the yalta conference...it's big and white with a fireplace at one end....you don't actually get to go in the room, you simply stand at one end and use your camera to zoom in on the table and fireplace at the other end...i wonder if it was the real table? How many translators were present at all those meetings? Were small items ever lost in the nuances of translation?

I don't know what the other rooms we saw were...the rooms on the ground floor were set up as they were during the yalta conference...(7-11 february 1945)...the rooms on the 2^nd floor were set up with exhibits of photos about the romanovs, the russian military, and other russian life...about half of those exhibits had english captions, so i was able to understand what i was seeing...it was while we were on this floor that i realized just how cold i was...this is mid march, and it's still pretty cold...the meetings of the yalta conference took place in mid february, how did they keep the place warm? In all the photos everyone has on warm coats, but i'm wondering if they wore those coats during the meetings as well? As cold as i was, there was no way you could've paid me to take off my coat...

this is where my lack of planning was just plain stupid...after the palace tour i caught the marshrutka back to yalta and ate lunch...a lovely little cafeteria style place right next to my hotel...from there i walked to alexander nevsky church...i'd seen a couple photos, and wanted to take my own photos...the outside of the church was far more interesting than the inside...the iconostasis was partly covered, as if it was under repair/renovation, and there was very little lighting...

from there i walked back to the wee little bus station, and caught another marshrutka going back the way i'd already been...i wanted to take a cable car up a ways to a place called the ay-petri plateau...i got off that marshrutka at 1455, only to see that the cable car was closed...the sign said they closed at 1500, and i was ahead of that, but apparently they didn't wait all the way to 1500 to close...darnit...if i'd gone from livadia straight to the cable car this wouldn't have been an issue...actually, what i should've done was taken the marshrutka as far as it would go in the morning, and seen vorontsov palace, where another of the yalta conference delegations stayed...(the brits i think?)...that palace is in alupka...then the cable car....but i didn't plan, and ended up missing those two...

from the missed cable car i took the marshrutka back toward yalta, hopping off at a place called the swallow's nest...it looks like a pretty fancy castle...it's really small, i didn't bother going in...it's the view of the castle that you go to see...the castle was built for a private owner, there is no historical value as far as i know...it sits on the edge of a cliff, it's really pretty...

then the marshrutka (i'm getting really tired of typing that word) back to yalta...i should've done all these things, then seen the church in town; i know i would've had plenty of time...originally i thought of walking a path from livadia to the cable car station, but the weather was such crap i didn't think i'd be able to see anything...so i guess i wouldn't have been able to see everything anywho, unless i'd done it all backward...if i ever get back to crimea i know what i'll want to see...in yalta anywho...

once back in the city i walked along the waterfront promenade again...crazy windy...still fun to watch people...i took a few photos of some of the statues, it had been too dark the night before...one of them was pushkin, i don't remember the others off the top of my head...

a lowkey dinner, another supermarket trip...i decided to try two drinks i hadn't had before, and was sorely disappointed...one of them appeared to be lemonade in a glass bottle...after nearly breaking my hand to get the cap off (why don't i carry a lighter?) i was gutted...it was a cream flavoured lemonade...not at all what i wanted...i really dont like the smell of cream drinks...yuck...the other was a fruit mix...i wasn't quite so gutted, but i wasnt impressed enough to finish it...darnit...

another early night...

together again!!

Mom and hana arrived early the morning after I came back to Korea…I spent my day at Lindsey’s flat, killing time before going back to the airport to spend the night…mom and hana’s flight was scheduled to arrive at 0500, public transport doesn’t run that early…both flights to Korea on which I’ve arrived have come in early, so I knew there was a good chance that would happen again…and it did…their flight landed 50 minutes early, so they were completely through customs and immigration just before 0500…which meant we got to sit down on the benches and wait for the trains to start running…

Hana brought me presents!! A set of stationery cards, and a box of thin mints…I could talk for days about the awesomeness of girl scout cookies, particularly thin mints and samoas…yum…even so, I didn’t open them up straightaway, I didn’t want to waste that awesomeness by eating them when I wasn’t hungry or craving the cookiesJ

After asking the an information desk to call our hotel to get directions, we hopped on the train…too bad it was overcast and foggy, mom and hana weren’t able to see much…not that Korea is stunning, but it would’ve been nice for them to see a bit more at that point…they’d flown into Korea in the dark…what seemed like ages later we got to the particular subway station, found a taxi, and gave him the little sheet of paper given to us by the information lady…he put the hotel into his GPS and away we drove…it seemed to me that we were going in a giant circle, and later I was proved right…nor surprisingly, mom and hana had no idea…lol…our hotel wouldn’t let us check in until 1400, but they did let us leave our bags for the day…so after figuring out a basic plan of attack, we started walking…why does it always seem that I walk in the wrong direction from what I want? I wanted a coffee shop, and it took us foreva to find one…as we learned later that evening, if I’d walked in the other direction, we would’ve found one almost straightaway…argh…anywho…

After lingering over coffee, the weather was still not great, so I decided to have them come with me to yongsan electronics mart…I needed to get a new camera, and wanted to do it as fast as possible…I knew what I wanted, and I had an idea of how much I should be paying for it…which made the whole process fairly easy…the first guy I talked to kept trying to up sell me, so I told him I’d keep looking…which I did by going to the guy across the aisle…he was way cheaper, and not so pushy…even though I was thinking about getting more than just a camera, (I would love a bigger tripod, that’s also light) I stuck to just the camera…I’m still thinking about that tripod…hmmm…hana and mom just watched while I went through the whole process…

By that point, everyone was hungry for real food…hana’s tummy wasn’t feeling so great, she wanted something bland…mom just wanted Korean food…so we walked until I saw a small, typical little Korean restaurant…no English to be seen…I’ve never had to pick out food for other people before, it’s not fun…at least, not for me…other people like it…all three of us were okay with our meals…from there, we went into the I’mall at yongsan station…lots of western stuff, but still entertaining for the ladies of the family…I don’t remember how long we spent in there, but I do remember all of a sudden feeling tired, and not wanting to be on my feet anymore…

Back to the hotel…the 20 minute walk from the subway station to the hotel wasn’t fun…a very early night for all of us…hana and I slept well, for at least 10 hours…lack of sleep and jet lag will do that to you

The next morning we got going later than I thought, but since everyone was still a bit tired, that wasn’t so much a bad thing…mom had shown me a list of things she thought she’d like to see in Seoul, so I picked a couple, and we started from there…she wanted to do the city bus tour, which started near one of the palaces…I suggested we see the palace, then hop on the tour…so we took the subway to one of the stations near that palace…the station is called gwanghwamun, which is the name of the giant plaza area in front of the palace…there are statues of admiral yi sun shin, (I’ve mentioned him in earlier posts…to sum it up, according to Korean history he pretty much singlehandedly turned back the Japanese in a number of battles in the 1590s when the Japanese were invading) and king sejong (he and his advisors invented the Korean alphabet used today, among other things…he’s considered to be one of the greatest Korean kings)…on one side of the plaza is the American embassy, which has to be one of the ugliest buildings I’ve ever seen…it doesn’t blend in at all…

It turns out that under the statue of king sejong, there is a basement area you can enter, and learn about him and some of his accomplishments…I wanted to get to the palace, mom and hana overruled me…so down we went…it ended up being fun…we had fun playing with the digital interpretive stuff…taking photos of ourselves, and putting hats on…mom even took a photo of hana bowing to me…which is the way life should beJ

From there we went to the palace…gyeongbukgung…I’ve written about this palace before…it was built as the main palace of the joseon dynasty…it was destroyed in 1592, by the Japanese, but later rebuilt…now it’s probably the busiest of the palaces in seoul…when I first came back to korea a year ago, they were rebuilding the front gate, so it was covered…that has since been finished, hana and mom got to see the new gate…(which I didn’t point out to them, so I doubt they noticed)…we wandered all over the palace…there are a lot of areas to explore, we didn’t spend too much time in the busier areas…at least, we tried not to…there were several school groups around, I have a feeling that happens every day…we found the area where you can put on old school traditional clothes…I chose the clothes of a commander, hana’s costume of choice was of someone below me…again, as it should beJ…it was fun, and something I hadn’t done in a loooong time…

By that point, it was past lunch time, and we were hungry…so we went to kimbap cheonguk…which translates to kimbap heaven…I picked four “flavours” and the three of us shared…I don’t think hana and mom were really all that keen about kimbap…dunkin donuts was across the street, so that was dessert…

Back on the subway, we went to coex…mom had expressed an interestest in seeing the largest underground mall in asia…it’s a mall…some useful stores, some not so much…hana and I got some jelly bellys, which I hadn’t had in ages…but mostly, we sat and watched people…it was the first chance mom and hana got to see “Korean fashion”…snarky comments ensued…

Back to the hotel, plans made for the next day, daily journal written, and sleep…

The next day we started with a visit to a coffee shop of a chain I hadn’t yet tried…(I never did get around to trying all the different chains I saw in seoul)…and from there we went to the starting point of the city bus tour…I think we just barely missed a bus, but the weather was nice, so it wasn’t much of an issue to wait for the next bus…they come every 30 minutes or so…the original plan was to ride the entire route (which is supposed to take a couple hours) to see how everything fits together, then pick a place to get off the bus and explore…after going for a little while, we decided it would be better to get off when we got to a place we wanted to see…the first place we chose was a traditional village…unfortunately, hana’s tummy didn’t want to wait that long…she got crazy motion sick, so we had to get off the bus earlier than planned…when Koreans learn to drive it seems to me that someone tells them that the break or accelerator should be depressed at all times…which means there is a lot of start and stop motion…I’m a bit used to it, but I still get sick from time to time (and I avoid taxis In korea wheneva possible) but hana isn’t…we stayed on the bus as long as possible, then we just had to get off…the tour lady didn’t seem to understand what was wrong, she asked if we would be continuing our tour later…she didn’t seem to get that we really needed to get off the bus RIGHT NOW…

Fortunately, we got off the bus near itaewon…as far as unplanned places to be, it’s not horrible…the bus recordings say it’s a must visit area for shopping, but it really isn’t…the economy of itaewon is very dependent on the US military base right next door…if yongsan wasn’t there, this area of seoul wouldn’t be anything exciting…there is shopping, but it’s far from the best place in town to shop…there are lots of international food options, but there isn’t a lot of korea in this part of the city…hana needed “comfort food” so we ended up at mcdonalds…it’s a place I try to avoid as much as possible, but her tummy needed it…after that I wanted to go to tartine, which is a Canadian pie place a bit down the road…

Eventually we got back on the bus and made it to the traditional village…namsangol…it wasn’t originally a traditional village…the city took five traditional houses from various parts of the city and moved them all to this location…if I remember correctly, most of the houses are of the upper class…or the way the upper class used to build their houses..in other words, servants quarters and the like…there are “actors” sitting in a few places, I guess they are supposed to be showing certain activities…but when you see them texting on their phones, or see a plastic bag in the area, the feeling isn’t quite so authentic…after we walked in the entry gate, I realized why the place seemed so familiar…my school this past year had come here for a field trip…the school didn’t explore the village, we only went to a performance in the theatre…so it was nice to see what else happens in the area…

This day was 29 april…another big event was to take place that night…(that night Korean time anywho)…after the village we took the subways back to our hotel, picking up dinner along the way…then the three of us watched the royal wedding (prince William to kate middleton)…let me say I’m glad I’ve never married (and never will marry) a prince…planning that wedding must’ve been super chaotic, and super stressful…I can’t imagine planning a wedding (or being in one, for that matter) when you know people around the world will be watching…like many others, I thought pippa stole the show…

ulan bataar and an orientation

my second full day in ulan bataar started when i woke up at 0720 after a full night of sleep after going to bed at (what i call) a reasonable hour...yay!! it took me long enough to get over jet lag from the ireland trip...
not surprisingly, i was slower getting started than i wanted...whoops...i had an orientation scheduled for 1600, so i figured i'd walk to a couple sights before then...

since i'd finished a letter while waiting in the airport in seoul, i stopped at the post office to mail it...after living in korea, it's always shock to come to countries that charge so much more for postage...in korea, mailing a letter to the US costs 650won (about 60cents US, currently) to send a 20gm letter internationally...by comparison, in the US, sending a letter or a postcard internationally costs 98cents US...and here in mongolia, it costs 1000MNT (mongolian turkrik) to send a letter internationally, which is currently about 83cents US...that's not a whole lot, but when you send postcards and letters like i do, it adds up...i figure i'll buy plenty of postcards here, then mail them from korea...sorry guys if you really wanted the mongolian stamp...i save money where i can:)
lonely planet said it was too far to walk, but according to the map both sights were straight down a majour street...i figured i could just walk until i got somewhere...it only took me 40 minutes to get to the farthest place, so i have no idea how it could possibly be "too far"...granted, i like to walk more than most people...lol...the walk was super easy, but it was really really really windy...i walked past the bus stops along the way, and there seem to be plenty of buses in the city...of course, all the route maps are completely in mongolian, meaning i can't read at all...
again, the day was super sunny...granted, it wasn't at the right angle for many good photos, but oh well...
the first place i visited had a really tall buddha...17m tall, or something like that? covered in gold...the next place was really close to the buddha, but involved going up a bunch of steps...a memorial to soviet soldiers...according to the guidebook, the memorial is to honour fallen heroes...there is a tank there that saw action against the nazis in world war two...the memorial itself isn't anything flash, but the views of the city from up there are great...and so is the wind...i thought i was going to be blown off a few times when strong gusts blew through...

walking back up the street toward the center of town, my next stop was at the winter palace of the bogd kahn...kahn means king, or leader...the full name of this guy is rather long, and to an english speaker does NOT roll off the tongue...he was the 8th living buddha of mongolia, and the last king of mongolia...this palace is where he lived for 20 years...it's heavily inspired by the chinese, so it seemed totally familiar to me, since korean palaces are much the same...the best part of this guy's palace was the front entrance gate which was totally flash...conveniently there was something there on which i could balance my camera and take a photo of me:)...(i love photos with me!)...the sign said thursday was a day off, but i saw an open door, and who am i to walk away from an open door...as i mentioned, the palace is chinese in style, not at all european...so there are a bunch of buildings that make up the palace, not just one building...it was basically set up as two courtyards, with pathways going across...i don't think people spent much time outside while living in this palace, but i could be totally wrong...since it's only the beginning of spring, the trees were still yucky looking, and there wasn't a lot of colour in the entire complex...
from there i walked back into town...when "planning" my day, i thought lonely planet was somewhat accurate in saying it was too far to walk to these places, so i figured it would take me a lot longer to walk than it actually did...i gave myself an hour and a half each way...obviously, it didn't take that long, and neither of the sights took long either...so i ended up back at my hostel with a few hours to kill...i could've gone out and seen something else, or just continued walking, but i didn't...i played on the internet instead:)
at 1600 i went to an orientation meeting at the office of the ger to ger project...they gave me a small guidebook listing where i would be going during my tour, and what i would be doing...they told me a bit about nomadic culture...the proper ways of doing things, behaviours that are considered impolite, etc...i also got some language information, and a small dictionary...some basic words and phrases i could use to communicate with my host families...i also paid for the trip, and they gave me the logistical details i needed, like what time to get to the bus station, etc..i learned how to play a couple games as well...

on the way home from that office, i stopped in the supermarket again, and made sure to get a few vegetables...from the orientation and reading my guidebook, i knew it was unlikely i'd be eating many, if any vegetables during my tour...after dinner i forced myself to go to sleep early, since i needed to wake up at 0600...

together again

In the summer of 2008 (summer for the northern hemisphere, that is) I spent 5 weeks studying spanish in the guatemalan town of quetzaltenango...no one calls it by that name though, it's almost always shortened to xela (shay-la)...xela is a great place to study spanish...it's the 2nd largest city in the country, but there are almost no tourist sights there, so there is nothing to distract you from studying...foreigners go there because there is very little english spoken locally...there are a number of spanish schools, all offering basically the same thing: 25 hours a week of 1 on 1 spanish tutoring, along with a homestay...it's a fantastic way to learn the language...and in guatemala, it's CHEAP...anywho the point of all this is that i met quite a few people during my 5 weeks there...and one of them just moved to korea!!! yippee!!! she moved to incheon, which is the 3rd largest city in korea, it's where the majour international airport of korea is located...to get from my subway stop to hers takes 78 minutes...her name is lindsey, she grew up in iowa, but has lived in denver for the past 6 years...

needless to say, i was more than excited when she told me she was moving to korea...the world of travelers is pretty small, but it never ceases to amaze me how often i get to see someone i met in one area of the world on the other side of the world...yahoo!! i suppose someone who is willing to go one place outside of their comfort zone is willing to go somewhere else as well:)
lindsey arrived in korea about two weeks ago, but spent her first week in an orientation/training session in the city of jeonju...she said there were about 400 people in her orientation...she doesn't yet have a hand phone (mobile phone, cell phone, handy, whateva you want to call it) so figuring out how/when to get together took place completely over facebook....and when she was a few minutes late i kept wondering if i had written the correct meeting details in my message...lol...it's amazing how much we depend on phones...we ended up having lunch right next to the subway station, and i introduced lindsey to one of my favourite korean foods...donkasu...fried pork cutlet...in germany they call it schnitzel...koreans say it's a traditional food here, and while that's probably true, it's a traditional food in a whole lot of countries:)...i had my absolute favourite korean food: sundubujiggae, which is spicy egg and tofu soup...

since lindsey has only been in korea a short time, and doesn't know much about korean culture or history, and i'm a big geek, i suggested we go to changdeokgung, one of the 5 palaces in seoul from the joseon dynasty...changdeokgung is the only one labeled a UNESCO world heritage sight, (the designation came in december 1997) i think it's the one that was least destroyed, or perhaps it's best to say best preserved...changdeokgung was originally constructed in 1405, as a secondary palace to gyeongbukgung...a year later, the back garden was created, it's now known as the secret garden, and you can see that too, with a separate ticket...lindsey and i opted to skip that part, since it isn't spring yet...heck, winter is about the only time the secret garden isn't really worth it...to see changdeokgung, you have to join a tour...there are a couple english tours throughout the day, japanese and chinese too i think...cory taught me a long time ago that it's easy to "lose" the tour group...and the tour guide doesn't tell you anything that isn't in the brochure or on the signs next to each building throughout the palace complex....

a korean palace from the joseon dynasty is nothing like a european palace...these palaces are composed of a bunch of different buildings, each with a specific purpose...you can tell which buildings are more important based on two things: their size, and their location...the closer to where the king "worked" and lived, the more important...the bigger, the better...you don't get to go in any of the buildings anymore, but even back in the day when the palace was lived in and used, there wasn't much in most of the rooms/buildings...as you can see from the photos i've posted, the buildings all look somewhat alike...the same colours used to paint, the same general style, etc...obviously, the wooden boardwalks are from modern times, when the palace was made more accessible for people with disabilities...i think red was a royal colour...surprisingly, the original paints came from china! if i understood our tour guide correctly, back in the day the painting was redone every one hundred years or so, but now it's redone every 20 or 30 years...i couldn't tell if that was because the quality of the paint back then was better, or whether it just doesn't take so long now...

the buildings are all fairly close to each other, and i have no idea how people remembered how to get from one place to another...there are gates and walls all over the place...the gates are pretty small, and most tourists have to remember to duck their heads, or you end up with a lovely bump on your noggin...surprisingly, i actually remembered to duck through every gate this time:)...
the palace (like pretty much everything else in the country) was burned down in 1592 when the japanese invaded...well, much of it was burned down...according to one site, it was burned down by angry korean citizens after palace inhabitants were evacuated (to what is now a northeastern suburb of seoul, uiju) just before the japanese got to seoul...apparently they didn't like the idea of their leaders running away...nearly the entire palace is made of wood, it probably burned pretty quickly...repairs and rebuilding were completed in 1610 or 1611...if i remember correctly, changdeokgung was the official #1 palace for a little while at this point, as gyeongbukgung was still being rebuilt...i just checked, and changdeokgung was the primary palace until gyeongbukgung was rebuilt in the 19th century...overall it served as the main palace longer than gyeongbukgung...

this main throne hall looks big and relatively empty to me, but this is where a lot of official palace business was conducted...the king sat on the throne for hours on end, and it doesn't look at all comfortable to me...it's like a bench chair, with a very straight back...(not that he would've been able to lean back even if he had been so inclined)...according to our guide, the gold screen behind the throne is unique to korea, and can't be found in japan or china...(koreans are constantly pointing out differences between themselves and china/japan)...
the palace was constructed in keeping with the principles of geomancy, if that's the right word...a bridge was built over the stream/creek that runs in front of the main gate...to the back of the palace is a mountain...
not only was changdeokgun the primary palace longer than gyeongbukgung, it was also where the joseon dynasty ended...the last meeting of emperor sunjong (why he was an emperor and not a king, i don't know) and his ministers was held in changdeokgung, just before japanese annexation in 1910...afterward, even though he was no longer in charge, he and his wife (the empress,) the crown prince and the crown princess lived there until they died...

when you enter the main gate of the palace, they give you a brochure...there are bits and pieces of random information, as well as a map of the palace...some of the information is about changdeokgung, but there is also plenty of information about the other palaces, and the royal shrine...i don't currently have the brochures from those sights, but i'm guessing they're all similar...seoul has gotten pretty good about having literature available at all it's tourist sights, for geeks like me who like that stuff...temples are about the only place that don't seem to have those brochures...(which i think is good, since temples shouldn't have to produce literature...they're not there to teach you anything)...by the time i leave korea this time, i'll be leaving behind a ridiculous collection of brochures, as i collect them from every place that hands them out...

the palace can be reached by walking straight out of a particular exit of a nearby subway station...out of another exit of that same subway station, you can get to the area of seoul called insadong...it's quite touristy, and full of kitchy souvenirs, but there are TONS of great little galleries to check out, as well as a few good restaurants...since lindsey is new to korea, i thought she might enjoy walking through the area...it's a pedestrian zone, which is lovely...of course, there are hoards of people, so you're always stepping out of someone's way, or making them go around you...most of the hoards are foreigners, i'm sure there are other places in seoul that koreans go to get all this stuff...come to think of it, they probably don't go get all these souvenirs, they already have them, and aren't likely to give them as gifts...i'm talking pencil boxes, decorative bags, ceramic everything, etc...in addition to all the kitchy souvenirs, there are lots of unique individual stands...it's like a year round local fest...

in addition to all the stands of unique and not so unique stuff, there are tons of nifty little buildings...some are shops full of more kitchy stuff, and some are galleries with awesome stuff...i've spent many an hour wandering through tiny little galleries...there are more than 100 galleries in the area...sometimes it seems as though the buildings themselves (like this three story mall on the left...i love the umbrellas, they go all around the 3rd floor) are art exhibits themselves, and sometimes not so much...there are tons of little alleyways, it would be really easy to get lost in this area...well, almost...everything tends to circle back to any of the main streets in the area...

at one end of the most main street of insadong these traditional games are set up...you pick the "arrows" out of the containers, take a few steps back, and try to throw them back in...believe me, it's a lot harder than it looks...a LOT...at school, during traditional holiday times, i've spent some time trying to figure out the secret to this game...i have yet to figure it out...it's funny watching the kids try to figure it out, just because some of them have advanced motor skills, and some of them, well...don't...(is that mean to say?)...
after you've worn yourself out playing games, you can step into one of several tea houses...(i sound WAY too much like a guidebook)...i'm all for tea, it's really grown on me in the last year, but it's hard when all the containers have chinese characters on them!! its nice to smell the different teas, though this isn't the cheapest area of town in which to buy...it is howeva, the area with the widest variety...it's also a great area to get gift sets of tea...of course, you can also get the accessories for tea...the decorative/ceramic cups with the tea strainer in them, tea bells, etc...as we walked by one tea shop, there was a line out the door...apparently people really wanted to taste one type of tea in particular...we didn't feel like waiting in line, so who knows what we missed? hee hee...

i can't help it, i love these fans...hand painted, or so i'm led to believe...i wouldn't be entirely surprised if that's not really the case...there are quite a few fans at this display, and many that look just the same down the street...who knows...either way, they're pretty...insadong is supposed to be a place in seoul where you can get traditional hand made paper products, so maybe so...
in addition to the stalls of unique jewelry/items, there are stalls of traditional food...i'd write all the names, but i don't remember many off the top of my head, and believe me, you're not going to remember any of them unless you've spent time in korea...it would be easy to do a tour de food just in this area alone, and totally overeat...(not that i'd mind doing such a thing:)...of course, you can find all the food in other areas of seoul as well, at cheaper prices...western/foreign tourists = higher prices...if i remember correctly, the rule in insadong is that the names on the buildings have to be written in hangeul, the korean alphabet...it's the only place i've ever seen where starbucks isn't written in english...when you read it out loud in hangeul, its something like "su-ta-buk-su"...

after insadong, we were hungry...walking past all the food wasn't easy...lindsey decided she wanted street food, a craving of which i was fully supportive...on the way to a nearby subway station (we walked to another station entirely, having come out of another side of insadong) we stopped quickly in tapgol park...like so many other korean parks, there is very little green...but it is a nice area, a little more calm...a couple pavilions, a few statues, a very tall pagoda, etc...
according to a web site, this park was built on the former sight of weongaksa (weongak temple)...apparently the temple was known as heungboksa during the goryeo dynasty, but was renamed when it was enlarged during the joseon dynasty...why this is important, i have no idea...after all, the temple isn't there anymore!! the park was built after the temple was destroyed, a couple of the joseon kings didn't think much of buddhism...the park was built at the suggestion of an englishman, but they don't know when or why he made the suggestion...

there are a couple monuments/memorials in the park...the proclamation of independence was read here, though i don't know whether that's the proclamation of korean independence from japan, or korean independence as a full nation...(korea celebrates two independence days each year)...the web site also says this park was the site of the start of the 1 March 1919 independence protest...(clearly, the protest wasn't a success, since japan remained in charge of korea until the end of the second world war)...
it always kills me to see the pagoda in the glass case...but it also makes total sense, given that it would be completely destroyed, (and rather quickly at that) if left exposed to the elements...(the air quality in seoul is sorely lacking)...you can see it quite well when you get close to the glass, (and there are plenty of handprints) the detail of each carving is impressive...i think the official count is 10 levels...

a quick subway ride, and we arrived at yongsan station...across the street from the station (once you figure out the right exit, as there are tons of exits from the building) are a bunch of street food stalls...the menu at each is pretty much the same, so of course i love them all...fried food always smells good, and almost always tastes good...even though it's not healthy...i chose deokbokki, with hard boiled eggs that had been mixed in...a spicy mix of yumminess...lindsey went for something that i would call pakoras, and mandu (dumplings, like the polish call peirogis)...heaven!!
the reason i wanted to get the street food near yongsan station is because there is also a fabulous sauna nearby...called the dragon hill sauna...the biggest sauna in seoul, and well worth the 12,000won entry fee...it's 7 floors, though no one gets to go on all the floors...(two are for women only, 2 are for men only)...you walk in and pay your entry fee, they give you a key with a number on it, a t-shirt, two hand towels, and a pair of shorts...the number matches up to a particular locker, in which you put your shoes...from there you walk to the men's or women's elevator, and go to your appropriate floor...in the locker room you find the locker with the same number, and leave your stuff inside...lindsey and i wanted the naked floor, so we left the shorts and t-shirts in the lockers too...go down the stairs, and the entire 2nd floor is full of whirlpools, showers, a dry heat room, a steam room, etc...each whirlpool is a slightly different temperature, and the temperatures are posted on the wall...it's amazing how easy it is to feel the difference between 41°C and 46°C...41 is warm, but comfortable, 46 is hot, and not at all comfortable...even the difference between 41 and 43 is noticeable...43 is lovely...there is a cold pool too, at 17°C...it's a shock, to say the least...but after a minute or two in there, nothing else seems too hot, at least not straightaway...we spent two hours soaking, steaming, etc...i managed to lose my towel, so i ended up using my t-shirt to dry off...hee hee...
after the dragon hill, a quick run through emart (the korean version of walmart, and this particular one is like a super walmart) then home...a great day catching up with a good friend...

vietnam 2

after mui ne, we took a bus up to the hill station of dalat...originally "discovered" by a frenchmen, it was an escape from the heat, especially during the summer...before the advent of air conditioning, it was a favourite place for vietnamese students to attend uni, as you don't need air con in dalat...since it was another holiday, it was difficult for us to find a room, and those we did find were ridiculously expensive...the room we finally went with was huge, and under the eaves...awesome...
the last ruler of vietnam was a guy named bao dai, and in dalat alone he had three palaces...you can see all three of them, but the most popular to visit is his "summer palace"...i don't know what i was expecting, but it wasn't much...he was so influenced by western culture that it was the same as seeing a house in the states...not very exciting...about 3km from the summer palace are the waterfalls of cam ly...not very exciting either...man made i think...if not, they certainly look it...i saw a zebra available for riding there, but opted to skip that...the most interesting thing in dalat is probably a place called the crazy house...created by a woman called hang nga (i think) who is the daughter of the guy who took over after ho chi minh died, it's a combination of alice in wonderland meets gaudi...strangest architecture ever...
dalat is built around a man made lake, the book says it's 7km to walk around...a nice walk, i did it three times in three days:)...a very easy walk...there were people running around the lake at all hours of the day...
the second full day we were in dalat i did a lot of walking...more than a half marathon, at least...one of the reasons was that i walked out to more waterfalls, 5km out of town...the falls at datanla were much better than cam ly...still not the greatest, but they looked awesome in comparison...plus, they've built a bobsled rail, soooo much fun...i rode down and up twice...i'm such a scaredy cat when it comes to going fast, i never catch up with anyone on those sorts of things...i loved it...
while we were in dalat, nalayna read her guidebook and realized there was an area in south vietnam she wanted to go see...since i wanted to keep going north, we split up again...she went down to the mekong delta, i went up to nha trang...
nha trang is another beach town...in the states the name is probably known because it was a popular R&R spot for US military personnel during the war in vietnam...it was super overcast while i was there, so i didn't spend time on the beach...(shocking, i know)...i went to see cham ruins, which weren't very interesting because they had been renovated...they just didn't look very authentic anymore, if that makes any sense...while walking to and from the towers i saw a fishing village, which was nifty...some of the fishing boats (we saw them in mui ne too) are circular...they're like big woven baskets...people get in them off the boats, and they only have one paddle...i wonder how long they stay out in those "boats"? i also wandered around in a photo gallery for a while...the guy whose name is on the gallery has apparently won several awards...some of the photos definitely caught my attention, but others didn't seem all that special...all the photos were black and white...he doesn't use a digital camera, and develops all his own work...the people pictures were what caught my eyes the most...the last thing i saw in nha trang was another wat...the wat wasn't anything exciting, but there was a giant buddha 150 steps up the hill behind the wat...he just sits up there, as if to look out over the city...the city views were awesome...i would've liked it even more if the kids hadn't kept pestering me to buy postcards...
after nha trang i kept going north, to a town called quang ngai...(pronounced hwang nai)...most people in the states have never heard of it, it's not a popular spot on the tourist trail...the only reason anyone goes there is to see the memorial at son my...most of you probably don't know that name either...but i bet all of you (or at least many of you) have heard the name my lai...son my is the name of the area where the massacre by US soldiers took place...somehow, they got information that led them to believe that vietcong were hiding in the area, and that the area in general was supporting the vietcong...what ended up happening was awful...US soldiers helicoptered in, and went through the hamlets in the area, and destroyed them...while destroying them, they also massacred many of the inhabitants of the hamlets...at least four hamlets were completely destroyed...many old men and women, younger women, and children were brutally murdered...and the whole operation was photographed by a US photojournalist...my lai is the name of one of the hamlets, though i don't know why that is the name so well known...it's not even the name of the hamlet where the most people were killed...the total number of people killed was in the hundreds...the US military knew it had screwed up badly, and in an effort to cover up what happened, swore all the soldiers to secrecy...that obviously didn't work...a year later, the US military also went back to the area with huge bulldozers, and ploughed up the entire area, so there was nothing left...when you visit now, you wouldn't know that anything had happened there...it's about 12km outside quang ngai, a very peaceful little area...there is a musuem showing many of the pictures taken that day...in the museum is a comment book, and some of the comments left by visitors over the years are pretty emotional...many of them have been left by vietnam vets...even though the US destroyed the whole area, the vietnamese government went back and rebuilt some of the ruins to memorialize what happened...now you can see exactly where all the houses stood...and next to where each house was, there is a sign listing the name of the family that lived there as well as the family members who were killed...there are cement walkways between the houses, with footprints in them...bootprints representing the soldiers, and bare feet representing the villagers...
after quang nai my next stop was a town called hoi an...they call it an ancient city, and it's certainly been around a long time...originally, it was an important port for all of southeast asia...it's still very commercial, but now everything is catered to tourists...there are LOTS of tailor and shoe shops...you can have any clothes or shoes you want made in hoi an...you can barely walk 5 meters w/out someone trying to get you into their shop...the town itself is another UNESCO world heritage sight, so there are no cars or buses downtown...yay...of course, that doesnt stop the motorbikes, and some of those drivers are pretty aggressive...the beach in hoi an, about 5km down the road is great...i wish i had had time to lay out there!!
my second full day in hoi an i took a bus out to more cham ruins...these were a LOT better than those in nha trang...this area is called my son (not to be confused with the memorial place of son my that i just mentioned)...archeologists have divided my son into groups lettered A-K...the best ruins to see are groups a, b, c, and d...the ruins are a similar to khmer ruins, and the ruins at sukhothai and ayuthaya...which isn't all that surprising, considering the groups had been invading and conquering each other for centuries before the modern states existed...

BEIJING, CHINA 2006

Thursday, December 28, 2006
BEIJING, CHINA
This year Christmas fell on a Monday, which means that New Years Day was also on a Monday…which meant that the winter break given to most teachers at hogwans was just over a week…most of us finished sometime on Friday, 22 December, and had to return to school Tuesday, 2 January…much nicer than the break I got stuck with last year, which was only four days in total…this year I made travel plans before switching schools, so I traveled with teachers at my old school…we had all traveled together previously to Vietnam, so I knew it would be a good time again…
We took off on Saturday, 23 December, to Beijing, the capital of China…landing at the airport, we got off the plane and onto a bus which took us to one of the terminals…it was definitely not what I expected at an airport that will be part of the Olympics in a year and a half…I expected something more modern and up to date…I don't know if they'll be doing anything to the airport (expansion, renovation, etc) before the games…as we exited the building, we were greeted by the usual taxi touts, who want you to take an "official" taxi somewhere…usually at a price that is at least double what a metered taxi would cost…having been warned against taking these, we took a regular metered taxi…the driver knew where to go, (and didn't take us a roundabout way) which is no small feat in a city the size of Beijing…I had previously made reservations at a hostel, which turned out to be fantastic (except that the common area was chilly nearly all the time)…we arrived early evening the first day, so we didn't do much except eat dinner and talk about what we wanted to see and do over the next few days…we signed ourselves up to go see an acrobatic show, a kung fu show, and the opera…we also figured out transportation to one section of the great wall…our hostel ended up being awesome in regards to information in general, especially transportation around the city to see everything…
The first full day we all met for breakfast in the common area…the hostel also offered food, including western breakfasts…I love banana pancakes, so those were a staple for me…ivan consistently got toast, eggs, French fries and bacon…paul and correne mixed it up…after eating, we got on the city bus (the number, where to get on, where to get off, and cost were all information the guesthouse helped us with) on our way to tiennamen square and the forbidden city…the bus cost a whopping 2 yuan…which is equivalent to about 25 cents…practically nothing…and that was an expensive bus that was air conditioned during the summer…other buses were only 1 yuan…we got off, and immediately started taking pictures…at one end of tiennamen square there are a couple huge gates…not gates in the standard western sense, but gates as in you have to go through a tunnel in the middle to get through it…huge, ornate, impressive…at one end of tiennamen square is the end of the forbidden city…well, one of the gates anywho…(can you tell that Chinese culture has traditionally built a lot of gates?)…this gate is the famous one with the picture of mao…(who is still very much revered in china)…it's called the gate of heavenly peace…it was from this gate that Mao declared the people's republic of china…there are 5 doors through the gate, and social hierarchy determined who got to use which one back when…only the emperor got to use the middle one…we took a lot of pictures, as were all the other tourists…through that gate into a "courtyard where you can buy tickets for the forbidden city…the area was full of tourists, and touts…the touts come up to everyone, offering everything from special tours of the city, to tours of other sights, to knick knacks for sale, etc…at first you don't mind so much, but after a while, it wears on you, and you start being rude to all of them…since this is how they make a living, some of the touts are very persistant, which can be incredibly annoying…finding the correct line to buy tickets wasn't so easy…the proper tickets are for the palace museum, but of course that wasn't stated anywhere…anywho, after buying the tickets we walked through the next gate, prepared to be wowed…unfortunately, as soon as we walked through that area, we saw that one of the major buildings, the library, is under renovation…(the whole city is undergoing a LOT of renovation in preparation for the 2008 summer Olympic games)…definitely a disappointment…howeva, that wasn't too much of a disappointment, because the 'city' is HUGE…no one is kidding when they say you need to allow at least half a day to see the area…lots and lots and lots of art…lots and lots and lots of temples…a beautiful garden that is probably way better looking in summer…lots of pavilions…lots of mini gates…there is a starbucks somewhere in there, though we didn't see it…this particular starbucks is currently the center of some controversy, as many Chinese people want it gone from the 'city'…I can't say I blame them…an American icon in the middle of a cultural relic of another country…I'm not the most patriotic of people, but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want a Samsung store in the middle of ellis island…(please don't tell me there is anything like that there?)…the downfall of not having vendors in such a large place is that we were really really hungry by the time we left the city…hunger probably contributed to us leaving a little earlier than we normally would've…howeva, we were there for a good four hours…(the cold contributed as well, I'm sure)…on the way home we ended up on the most crowded bus I've ever been on…very very very crowded…but I got the impression that that was normal for locals…there are a zillion of them, and only so many public buses…evening entertainment was an acrobatic show…while not as good as what we saw in north korea, it was still great…I don't know what the acrobats put on their resumes, but they are really good at what they do…being that flexible is amazing…after the show, we took a taxi back (feeling more than a little carsick by the time we finally got back to the guesthouse) and all slept soundly…
The next morning was the same morning routine, though a whole lot earlier…the four of us, as well as two other girls staying at the same place, were all going to the great wall…we chose a section of the wall that isn't as highly touristed, and the tour isn't combined with any other tour…(the section of the wall at badaling is often combined with a tour to the ming tombs)…our drive there was less than two hours, and quite scenic after we got out of the middle of the city…knowing how cold it might be, we had all bundled up, big time…I had five layers on, two t-shirts, a long sleeve shirt, two sweaters, and a coat…I guess that makes six layers…the others were all the same…when we got to the wall, the driver said he'd be back in four hours to pick us up…we were excited that we could do whateva we wanted…at this particular section of the wall, you have two choices to get up…take a cable car (ski lift chair) or hike up…then on the way down you have three choices…hike, cable car, or toboggan ride…we took the toboggan ride down, which was great…back to the wall…it's an amazing sight…it covers half the country, and was never militarily breached…(the Mongols did get through, but that's cause the commander of one area let them through, thinking that the Mongols would help quell the internal unrest in the country)…it's a fantastic engineering feat, over 1500 years old…lots of stairs, lots of ups and downs…lots of great views…it is said that it is one of only a few man made things that can be seen from space…I don't know about that, but some people swear by it…we got there early enough that there were very few people, and we were able to get lots of good pictures…you don't think all the stairs are a big deal until you look back and see what you climbed…(and the next day when your calves are ready to fall off)…I think we could've walked all day, just to see how far we could go…amazing…since the wall is so well touristed in general (even our section, which wasn't as heavily visited as other sections, still draws quite a number of visitors) there are lots of vendor stalls set up…no food, but LOTS of souvenirs…silk robes, t-shirts for $1, purses, wood carvings, etc…anything you could want…when you walk by each stall, the vendor tries to get you to look at his/her stuff…the vendors are VERY aggressive…if you are good at bargaining, you can find stuff and get it down to cheap prices…I'm not so good at bargaining…in fact, I'm terrible…and I know it, so I don't buy the stuff at all…after all my fellow travelers exercised their formidable bargaining skills (they really are good at it) we got back in the van and drove back to the city…as this happened to be Christmas day, and our little group was in the holiday spirit, we decided to splurge on dinner…after finding a tony roma's listed in the guidebook, we hopped in a cab…the restaurant was supposed to be in a fairly upscale mall…(the mall included a store that sold bmw clothing, as part of the bmw lifestyle…the mall also had a little jewelry kiosk called eva jewelry…obviously my fame has extended to asia!)…it turned out that tony roma's was no longer there…but there was a sizzler…being very very hungry by that point, we decided to go for it…for those of you who don't know, sizzler proclaims itself to be a steakhouse…that it is, but not a high class place…every meal comes with the buffet bar, which can also be ordered as a meal itself…it's not bad, but not great either…(very little option for dessert, and we all know that I remember restaurants by their dessertsJ)…the steak is not the best available, but we still had a good time…and, more importantly, the restaurant was HOT…we all shed our coats, as well as two or three layers of clothing…since our guesthouse wasn't all that warm, it was great to be comfortable, even a little roasty…a good meal, good conversation, and then back to the guesthouse, the end of day 2…
Waking up day three, of course I had to take a shower…on my way to the shower, I stubbed my toe…BADLY…blood everywhere (part of the nail fell off) and quite painful…I felt like the biggest idiot, as I was walking rather oddly for the next couple of days...on this day we had decided to go see the temple of heavenly peace…as with all temples, it's not just one building, but a large area, with gardens and several actual temples, all dedicated to something different…we took a bus again from close to our hostel, but this time when we got off, we had no idea which direction we were supposed to go…the bus stop was not in an open area, (the day we went to tiennamen square it was easy to figure out where to go, as the monuments were tall) so we had no clue…I don't remember if we asked a passerby, or if someone asked us if we needed help, but the result was the same: we figured out which direction to go…a five minute walk later, we were next to one of the gates (the west gate) of the temple…after paying for the entrance ticket we walked in to find ourselves at the end of a huge park area…this temple is situated on a north-south axis, with buildings/monuments to see in all four directions…the main paths going east-west were wide and lined with trees, and somewhat reminded me of European gardens…all of the temples in this area are round, with square bases…this is based on an ancient chinese belief that heaven is round, while the earth is square…we visited all the areas of interest in the temple…one of the temples was where the emperor would go a couple times a year (for less than 4 hours each time) to pray for a good harvest…called the hall of prayer for good harvests…(what else would you call it?)…another spot is the echo wall…it actually works, if you stand in the right places…one person on one side (east or west) says something, and the person on the other side actually can here it…the wall is perfectly round (I've forgotten the correct word) so the sound travels well…it travels so well that we could even tell who was talking! Of course, with so many people trying to do the same thing, it got really confusing, really fast…the wall is 65 meters in diameter, it's not small…this wall goes around the imperial vault of heaven, which used to contain tablets of the emperors ancestors, to be used in the winter solstice ceremonies…this vault isn't so impressive to look in after you've seen so many other temples/vaults/etc…we also went to the southern end to see the round altar…it's 5 meters high, in three levels…the top tier, according to the Chinese, is supposed to symbolize heaven…supposedly, if you stand in the middle of this and say something, the sound waves bounce off the marble, which is supposed to make your voice louder…due to the group of Chinese men all (slowly) taking turns, we didn't get our turn to try...on our way out of the temple complex, we stopped by the garden of seven stones…they were placed there to represent the peaks of one particular mountain area…but there are actually eight stones in the garden…the manchus wanted to feel that they were part of everything, so when they invaded, they added an eighth stone to symbolize their part in the world…(who wants to be represented by a rock?)…almost across the street from the temple of heaven is the pearl market…it's a 5 story market, that obviously sells pearls, but also sells just about anything else you might want…if you are good at bargaining, it's awesome…electronics, tea, t-shirts, silk, shoes, knick-knacks, etc…sooooooo much stuff…since it's all fake, the prices they tell you at the start are absolutely ridiculous…we felt as though we were able to get better deals than summer visitors, simply because there weren't as many shoppers, and the vendors were less likely to turn down our offers…we ended up spending a lot more time in there than we had anticipated, but it was fun…when you walk through markets like that one, there are all sorts of things that all of a sudden, you "need"…on our way home, we had picked out another restaurant to go to for an early supper…but, due to all the construction and what not, the address at which it was listed, was no longer in existence…we're sure the restaurant was probably moved to a new location, but we didn't have that information…definitely a disappointment, but hey, what are you gonna do? We ended up taking a bus back to the hostel (again, another supremely crowded bus…the Chinese pack a whole lot more people onto a bus than the Koreans) and ate dinner there, before heading off to the kung fu show…(which we almost didn't get tickets for, though we never really did figure out that entire story)…the show was fantastic…not what any of us thought we were going to see…I think all of us thought we were going to see demonstrations of skill…but it was a story instead, which, in the end, turned out to be awesome…the acting was good, there was a lot of work being done by the stage crew…we walked out of there feeling like we had seen something really really good…it wasn't all just acting out a story, there were demonstrations of kung fu skill…wow…
For our last full day in Beijing, we decided to go to the summer palace, which is in the opposite direction of any of the other sights in the city…again, our hostel provided us with excellent directions on where to catch the bus, and, for the third time, we got off at the last stop…we purchased the entrance tickets, and as we walked through the first gate, one of the very first buildings turned out to be under renovation, and was completely covered…howeva, as with all the other areas we had seen, the summer palace wasn't what most of us would think of as a "palace"…it consists of temples, gardens, and pavilions, that all go around a lake…some of them are connected by a long corridor, others are not…the lake has always been there, but was expanded and deepened by emperoror quianlong in the 18th century…the summer palace has been burned down a couple times, only to be rebuilt years later…we walked through the entire length of the corridor, around most of the lake…saw many of the temples, climbed many of the stairs…it's such a peaceful area…at the end of the day, we all had decided that this was our favorite sight, except for the great wall, just because it's the great wall…there is a marble boat at one end of the corridor, (which is technically a hallway, though there are no walls on the side, only a ceiling of sorts) it's huge…along this corridor there are 8000 paintings, they're all very intricate…amazing…since it was so cold, the lake was nearly completely frozen…as we walked around, we could see people walking across the lake, and other ice skating…ivan (the irish guy in our little group) had never seen a frozen lake (does it not get that cold in Ireland?) so he was determined to go out on the ice…we stayed there for over three hours, and still felt as though we had missed parts of the palace…finding the bus to get back to the hostel was easy, and for once, VERY WARM…I knew it must've been roasting for everyone else if I was warm…dinner this night wasn't at the hostel…instead we went to a restaurant very near the hostel, so ivan could have peking duck…there was only one English menu, and it seemed as though none of the servers understood a word of English…which lead to a lot of pantomiming…ivan's duck was good, as was paul's sweet and sour pork…my spicy chicken was good, as were correne's egg rolls…none of this sounds very fancy, but the way it was presented was very aesthetically appealing…after dinner we walked back to the guesthouse (correne and I stopped along the way for another treat from dairy queen) and got in the van that took us to the opera…we had been told that the peking opera was world famous…after the show, we weren't quite sure what it was famous for…it was a series of three small skits of sorts…the first one went for quite some time, and there was no sound involved, just a pantomimed fight on the stage…the choreography was good, but it left something to be desired in terms of outcome…the second chapter involved a lady "singing"…I put that in quotation marks, because to our ears, it sounded more like a cat singing…maybe that's the way opera is done there, but wow, it wasn't all that pleasant…the third chapter was more of the same…while the performance itself wasn't anything we would like to see again, the costumes and choreography were really really good…even now, after having time to think about it, I'm still not sure how it became 'famous'…an easy taxi ride back to the hostel, hanging out for a little while, then off to sleep…
the last morning our group didn't see much of each other…correne and paul were going back to seoul, ivan and I were continuing on to hong kong…