South Korea Uncut

Wonju Hanji Festival - September

2006-11-09T05:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some pics from the Hanji Festival. A time to celebrate traditional Korean paper.

Korean beauties practising for the fashion show.
Pre-school kids checking out the the festival.

They're looking at the paper pulp, before it gets watered down.
The finished product - hanji for all.
The containers of watered pulp, ready to be made into paper.

Love Hanji.

Visiting Hwanseong Fortress

2006-11-08T22:13:00.000-08:00

I'm sorry, it has been such a long time.It was a combination of procrastination and pure laziness.

This is a Sunday afternoon trip that Tiki and I took to Suwon. It was a spur of the moment thing, but it turned out perfect. Although, it was freakin' hot. When we got to Suwon, we visited the Hwangseong fortress and its temple. It's a huge fortress encapsulating part of the city. It was pretty wicked.

Tiki, the Korean soldier.
A bronze statue of a very important leader.

He is so important, that I can't remember his name.

The fortress and the city of Suwon.
The tiniest motorbike in the world.
He's obviously comfortable with his manhood.

Climbing Chiaksan

2006-08-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

Tiki, Ross and I took a bus trip out to Chiaksan - to climb the beast. It was a beautiful day for a beautiful adventure. We visited a temple along the track and saw various waterfalls. We were feeling pretty good, until we got to the foot of Birobong. Ooooo eeee. Stairs, stairs and more stairs. We finally reached the top, and couldn't really see anything because of the fog.

Well worth it!

Where's Wally?
Tiki looking tough as - because he made it!
Stairs.....
Water goes in, water goes out.

We are smiling, to mask the pain.

A Monty Python Affair...

2006-07-16T04:43:00.000-07:00

Naomi got hold of me ' Can you help me shift my bed please. I'm trading it for a double." Sweet, so I went round to help her. The day was a a combination of weather, 80% humidity coupled with blasts of heavy showers.
We had to put the bed and its base into Naomi's little van - so by the time the mattress had taken up the whole boot of the van, we had sweated up a storm (where's a man when you need one?). Then we got the base down to the van. While we were figuring out where to put the rest of the bed, Naomi's landlord barks some Korean at us. Apparently he was offering to help us.
So we loaded up his van, and he followed us to the drop off point. It started hosing down again. We were nearly there, when we took a left turn up a street. The boot flew open, and out popped the mattress onto the main road. Right in front of Naomi's landlord. Bugger! Naomi and the landlord ran onto the main road, and quickly restuffed the mattress into the boot of the van. The damn thing wouldn't shut. So Mr Landlord had to put the sopping mattress into the back of his van, and I had to sit in the back of Naomi's van holding the door shut. 5 speed bumps later, we arrived. We managed to fix the boot (kiwi ingenuity) and grab the new bed. We sandwiched it into the back seat and left one of the doors open with the mattress hanging out one side.

A Day At The Beach...

2006-06-04T22:36:00.000-07:00

Nomes, Jill and I went for a road trip to Gyeongpo Beach. It was hot on the drive over and freezing when we got there. There were some dancers on the beach. This kid was shaking his wee hips to the music.
The beach!
Many a romantic horse and carriage rides, complete with music.
Looking cute!

The scenic drive over.

Oh, The Randomness...

2006-05-13T03:23:00.000-07:00

This is a game outside dairies everywhere. It's called Touch crane, and is the same as those arcade machines where you control the arm to grab a prize for you. In Korea, the prizes are quite different. There is your standard teddy bears and toys, but you can also score whiskey miniatures and MP34 (this is not a typo) players. Well, this one had a surprising prize. Tucked away in the corner, was a ceramic penis!
Jill and I were at the markets downtown, where we saw this headless chicken trying to escape on the back of a bike.
A man down the main shopping street, with his mates. Take a closer look, he's in a wheelchair, with a drip. I thought this was strange, 2 days later, there was a man at a sock stall. He was in his hospital pyjamas, slippers and complete with his half full catherter bag hanging out the back of his pants.
A wedding procession with a twist. This groom is tied to the back of a car, and walks around town with balloons and no shirt on, while his bride watches from the open boot of the car. The wedding party drives along in cars, making a lot of noise and fun of the groom.
Fishing, Korean styles.

KOREA, IT'S ALL ABOUT SAFETY...

2006-05-13T03:07:00.000-07:00

Yep, another Engrish T-shirt. I can't get enough of it!
It's completely normal to ride around in the city, without a helmet on. (It's probably so they wont ruin their hair). More importantly, check out the hairstyles. Very common in korea, but it would stop traffic in NZ.

Yes, it is a market in the middle of a road. The cars just drive around it.

Tasty Treats

2006-05-03T23:29:00.000-07:00

These two chicks were dancing outside an electronic store, to advertise a sale that was on. It worked, Tiki went into the store... The power of advertising!
Tiki with the soju characters. Soju is a very cheap, Korean spirit (NZ $1.50). The locals have it with their meals. It gets you very drunk, but tastes like arse.
Mmmm, shabu shabu. Originally from Japan, this is one of my favourite meals. It's a 3 courser. The first course is a boiling pot of spiced water. You cook your shaved beef and veges in it. The next course is homemade noodles, cooked in the same pot. When you've finished that, they empty your pot, and do a fried rice in front of you - with rice, egg, seaweed and veges. It is unbelievably delicious.
Marinated beef short ribs, that you BBQ yourself. All the stuff in the bowls are various side dishes; like kimchi, peppers, cooked leaves etc.

2006-04-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,
Well, it has been an interesting week. Tiki left two Sunday's ago, so that was very sad. Then I lost the camera (I left it in a taxi), ARGHHH! So, there goes 200 photos of us in Seoul. It's kind of heartbreaking.
It was fab to have Tiki here, and he got on really well with the locals. So well that I will be receiving free dentistry from one of the friends he made here. Yay!
I found a hat here in a department store called E-Mart. It says "Lake Taupo Lift Operator" It was so random, that I had to buy it.
The weather here is heating up pretty rapidly, and it's still spring. There has been gradual weather change, just a sudden jump. Today it's 27C! It's going to be a long hot summer - go the air conditioning!

Random Stuff - Korean Style

2006-04-17T19:20:00.000-07:00

T-shirt shopping is always fun, you never know what you'll find.
No trumpets.
Outside the cartoon museum - Seoul
Kid with a mullet and a ginormous ice cream. No one scoops here.
A dog who has been to the salon. I can confirm that his hair was cut and dyed, that he is wearing a stripey t-shirt, and that he is wearing a nappy.

Watch This Space

2006-04-17T06:23:00.000-07:00

Apparently I am not doing this blog thingy right. So when I can, I will knuckle down and start writing about my adventures.... And of course, add lots of photos. Check Tiki's blog if you want a better update!

2006-03-29T04:44:00.000-08:00

This shop door is for real.
Me, Jung-Mi, Jason, Jill and Caroline - Caroline's last night in Korea.
Bunny cakes made from bread (not bunnies!)
Rice bashing at a market in Seoul.

2006-03-29T04:38:00.000-08:00

Tapgol Park - a temple and old men.
Stack-o-chickens, in a restaurant window
Outside the Cartoon Museum
What the...
Teddy Bears getting hitched... completely normal!

2006-03-29T04:35:00.000-08:00

Sitting on chairs made of money - Yay!

2006-03-29T04:32:00.000-08:00

Outside a cute cafe in Seoul

2006-02-23T00:59:00.000-08:00

He manu hou ahau, he kohanga i rerea - I am a new bird that has left the nest

Kia Ora

2006-02-21T23:03:00.000-08:00

Kia Ora
Off to Korea in 3 days time!