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Tues 17th, Caught the 10am Hydrofoil from Hakata to Busan,South Korea,3 1/2 hours later we were at our next hostel,a big 4 bedroomed apartment on the 15th floor with good views of the city,owned by a lovely bloke called June who lives in the apartment with us,so much more room than the prison cell we left behind in Hakata,had a look round the town and had a nice chicken meal.
Wed 18th,bought a 1 day travel card for the metro for about just over a pound(great value)went to the fishing port of Jagaichi,so much fresh smelly fish and shell food,some weired looking things,went up the Busan tower about 120 meters high with stunning views over the city,caught a small ferry from the port to Haeundae beach,bit cold today but sure its lovely in the summer,visited a nice temple called the Haedong Yonggung which overlooked the sea,back to Busan and had an unusuall but lovelly meat dinner which we cooked at our table.
Thurs 19th,Another Metro rail card day(you just cant go wrong,easily lost thogh)went to Yeonsan-dong to see 2 stadiums,the Busan stadium and the Sajik baseball stadium,did'nt really expect to get any good photos but we had a walk around and 1 of the gates was open so in we went and snapped away,lovely stadium holds about 54,000,they held the 2002 Asian games here and some world cup games,next the baseball,all locked up but secret squirel Ian finds a gap and before you know it were on the pitch,what a result,we are the pro photographers,back on the Metro to Beomeosa,another really old temple in the hills,wanted to see the fortress here too,so we started climbing up these rocks and kept climbing,seemed like miles up but actually 801 meters high but went on for ages,not that you would know it from Ian because of course he did"nt moan about the height the lack of liquid his bad feet his shoes my hair,but give him his due he made it to the top,pictures to prove it,deserved better food back in Busan after our feat but was"nt up to scratch,Jamie and Ian had dried up rice with a bit of beef to share and I had all sorts of fishy stuff,better food tomorrow.
Fri 20th,nice lay in this morning,trying to find a nice boat tour but could'nt find the 1 we were after so after Jamie and Ian twisted my arm I agreed to let them take me on a city bus tour,we took to the East of Busan an area called Taejongdae,we walked all around the park about 2.2km taking in a lighthouse and an observation area which is also a suicide jumping point,good place to do it as long as you avoid the fishermen below,oh and of course you cant go to far without having to visit a temple or a shrine if your lucky both,flying out to a small island tomorrow called Jeju-do,some books have said its Korea's answer to Hawaii we will see about that,there for 3 day's so will see if we can get internet or not,looking forward to it looks like some fantastic scenery.
Sat 21st,taxi to the airport ready for our flight 13:10 to Jeju island,need to get some money out of the bank before we go,an easy task you would think,not with me,I put the card in the wrong way round and heard some horrible chewing noises needless to say the card didnt come out and we are stuck with some numbers and a bit of Korean language on the screen,not very helpful when we have a flight to catch,lucky for me a nice bloke who could speak a bit of english came to the rescue,with 5mins to spare till bording a security man came running out and retrieved my card panic over,40mins later we are landing on the beautiful but cloudy island,nice meal,watched soccer am with a beer, now 23:00hrs and off to bed ready for an early pick up 8.40 for a tour of the West side of the island.
Sun22nd,up bright and breezy 7am ready for the 8.40 tour bus of the West of the island,1st stop O'Sulloc green tea plantation it was as exciting as it sounds zzzzz wake me up in 10,well it had to be done it was on the agenda,ran to the bus,next stop Halim Park got to be better,went through the nice botanic gardens,then went underground to a couple of lava caves,very interesting a couple of pictures attatched,lunch then into the bird enclosure,Jamie and I got some dirty looks having just eaten 1 of thier relatives in our pheasant soup, rock garden next again some photos on the blog,nice gentle stroll back to the bus leaving at 1pm no problem unfortunately Ian was still annoyed at them getting his lunch request wrong and nearly getting something healthy to eat eg pumpkin soup broth type thingy,not good,having seen the waterfall 3 times we managed to escape and made it back to the coach 5mins late,NOT HAPPY,we got told off he he,we were off again to see Hyeopjae beach not a lot there but nice view and man made beach,another lot of rocks was next on the list at Jusangjeolli,formed by erosion from the waves and winds, impressive as the photos show,5th stop was the Yakcheon Temple,at 30m in height and 3,505m2 it is the largest Buddhist temple in Asia,some great pics on here if you care to have a look,last stop of the day was the water fall at Jeongbang Pokpo,the only seaside waterfall in Asia that flows direct into the ocean.typical Korean meal when we got back.... a pizza from Pizza hut,priceless!!!!
Mon 23rd,Up early again ready to face another freezing cold bathroom but hot shower,bus left at 8.45 1st port of call the San-Gumburi crater,a secondary volcano that erupted from the bottom.....bit of a dip with weeds,2nd stop the quaint folk village called Seong-eup,houses made from rocks, mud with thatched roofs,still inhabited today,very basic but still had 40inch plasma screen tv lol,1 good idea of thiers was the parents had 1 house and the kids had thier own opposite,more rocks next at Seopjikuji,again nice views and good to look at although Ian only went to see the female divers but all he could see was the ice cream shop,lunch of shell fish for me very tricky with chopsticks but good to kill them with,Jamie and Ian with the safe option of beef,feeling fit and raring to go we drove on to Seongsan-llchulbong(sunrise peak)formed by a volcanic eruption under the sea,we all had our climbing heads on again and scaled the top without to much problem,a women did try and put Ian off by offering a coke and ice cream 1/2 way up but I think he had his head down and blowing out of his bottom to much to notice this distraction,but pat on the back again coz he always comes up trumps,worth it at the top for the views,5th stop Manjanggul lava tube,at 13,422 meters it is the longest lava tube in the world,very dark hence the crap photos,amazing to see the destruction it caused.last stop today was the Mysterious road,you have to see this to believe it,apparently its an optical illusion due to the surrounding topography,we drove along the road,the cach driver turned the engine off and pulled to a stop,it looked like we were going uphill so would have rolled back but instead we rolled forward the entire lengh of the road,very spooky!!even a bottle of water appears to roll uphill when placed on the road.picture on here now will try and add the video soon,this website is very slow for uploading so have to find the right time.
Tues 24th,Flying back to Busan today after a nice stay on Jeju island,after a recommendation from our host June to visit a Korean style pork and beef barbeque restaurant we headed off into town,these barbeque places are great not only do you sit crossed legged and use metal chopsticks they bring loads of little side dishes out that fill the table,then you cut your meat up with scissors and cook it on a small cooker in the middle of the table,you then take a little piece of everything and put it in either a lettuce leaf or a stinging nettle sounds horrible but actually very nice,we thought we would pop into the bar opposite called the Jimi Hendrix,an old fashioned bar playing good music and memorabilia stuck to the walls and ceiling, for 1 quick pint before bedtime,10pints later and 5am we managed to get to bed,a good night was had by all.
Wed 25th,an early morning was planned but after the alcohol the night/morning before we made it up 12,not a good start lucky June is such a decent bloke,packed up and cleared off to the station,caught the 14.30 train from Busan to Dongdaegu,changed here for the train to our destination Gyeongju,to call our hostel basic is an understatement,1 mattress,and 1 bit of what looked like cardboard,and just enough room for myself and Jamie obviously Ian had his own room,but what a great place really old and loads of character ideal for a couple of nights,met up with a young lady called Debbie,born in Korea but lives in New York,we decided to all go out together,great for us she speaks Korean,we actually found out what we have been eating,we walked around an historical park with big mounds that were tombs,then walked a bit further to a place called Anapji pond,a lovely place with a lake and a palace all lit up at night and open till 10,pictures to follow, when we got back Debbie sorted my camera out and helped us with our laptop needless to say we did offer to pay her to be our guide for the rest of our stay here,strangely enough we didn't see her again.
Thurs 26th,Caught the no 10 bus from the town to Bulguksa Temple,one of the most famous in Korea,a big 1 with a courtyard so a bit different from the others,2nd bus of the day the no 40 up the hill to Seokguram grotto,must be honest was hoping to see Santa as thats the only grotto I've heard of before,sadly it was just another buddha sat behind a bit of glass,Ian was most annoyed as we were'nt allowed to take any pictures,as he had already 300 pictures of trees, a leaf, a falling leaf and a leaf about to fall,he was nearly in tears,never mind only another 3,987 buddhas to go,got back to base to have a look for the fortress,what they fail to say is it used to be there years ago just some empty land nowadays,oh some nice toilets though,later in the hostel myself and Ian decorated some ornamental Korean boxes,and what a good job we made of them,could be a whole in the market for our new venture.
Fri27th,Left the old town of Gyeongju on the 11.40 train heading for the capital Seoul,took about 3 hours which included a change, then onto the KTX the Korean equivalant of the bullet train but nowhere near as fast,staying in a very nice apartment on the 13th floor with great views in an area called Hongik,its a university area so plenty of bars and clubs and very busy,In Hongik on the last Friday of every month they have a musical festival, pay 20 Won,you get a wristband which lets you get into all the bars and clubs for free(normally some are 20 Won on thier own)some have live bands and some have DJ's,we headed into the heart of it all and ended up in this small basement watching a Korean Punk/Rock band called Yellow Puffer,they were pretty good and it helped that they sang in English,next band not so good so we went to a club for a drink but popped back in to see a Ska band(Ian has the cd)stayed here till the finish,us 3 and 3 other staff(oh yeah we're hard core)and listened to a crap Japanese band,all was not lost we then visited the Freebird club and listened to a an 8 piece band called Small Bus,singer started off well with some Stevie Wonder but his voice stayed the same for every song shame because the band were good,kicked out of there at 3am, it was heads or tails time,no one had a coin so we went back to the night club and jigged about till 6am,I gave a Jigging lesson to one lad who tried to follow our steps,blind leading the blind,but he could'nt keep up and slid out the back door.good night,what more do you need?APART FROM A KEBAB.
Sat 28th,Hope your not expecting too much from us today,got up around 12ish messed about,got our act together and tried out the subway to see the Seoul world cup stadium of 2002,we managed to get inside to find the korean univesitiy cup final being played(lucky sods get to play in a world cup stadium!!)Freezing cold & dark when we left so not much sight seeing could be done for today,back to base to warm up after a lengthy tube ride in rush hour.
Sun 29th,City bus tour day,you know by now we have to have 1 and what a day to pick cold and raining,1st stop Deoksugung palace,not to many buildings but what they had were nice,in 1 of the out house buildings there was the obligatory bell but with it was the worlds 1st arrow launcher built in 1448 with a range of 100-150 meters,and the worlds oldest and largest water time piece built a few years ago in 1536 both unbelievable to see,pictures on here,2nd stop the National Museum of Korea,massive building on 3 floors,we only viewed the 1st floor on Korean history the other floors were about ancient pottery,clothes etc so we got our coats and left,3rd stop The War Memorial of Korea,some great memorials outside again pics on here,then you enter the museum,what a fantastic and interesting place full of information on Korean history from the prehistoric period to the present day,a full exhibition on the Vietnam war was really interesting and topical for us as we will be there in a couple of months,we were in there so long they were closing the doors behind us,just about time to go up the Seoul tower,built on top of Mt Namsan at a height of 236m you can imagine some good views of the city,back to our nice warm beds.
Mon 30th,booked a few things in the morning with the help of Jim and Mien,eg flight to Beijing,DMZ day tour(thurs)K league 1st leg final tickets,in between changing rooms,eventually got on the subway to see Gyeonghuigung Palace,what a place, so many buildings,1st built in 1617 as the kings palace,living like a king was never more apt at the time the height of luxury with underground heating,2000 people lived there including 600 ladies in waiting(lucky man)after 2 invasions buy the Japenese the last 1 in 1910-1945 they destroyed most of the buildings which are slowly but surely being re- built,the last king to stay here was King Gojong around 1945,amazing place,we timed our arrival just right as they were about to perform the changing of the guards,video to follow if we can up load it,had an english speaking tour guide taking us round which was really interesting,back for another legs crossed Korean meal.
Tues 1st Dec,Another short subway trip to Seodaemun prison,built in 1908 to house your normal scallies it was taken over by the japenese on thier invasion of Korea ,the only people that made it into the prison were Korean martyrs who tried to defy the japenese,some of the things that went on in there were unbelivable animals would have been treated better,8 people to a small cell you couldn't lay down in,1 pot to have a pooh in(and no soft toilet paper)mixed cells where they tortured them and an execution building,really was an eye opening experience,the Koreans have kept it open as they say as a learning site to record that history,on a lighter note on the other side of town is the Sports Complex,an area of 591,000m built specifically for the 1988 Olympics comprising of the main stadium(we managed to get into the arena and take pictures,obviously we all won our races and won gold medals)the Baseball stadium,Gym,swimming pool which were all named Jamsil,had a look around the Olympic exhibition,very interesting especially for an Olympic nut like me(roll on Beijing)nice day today oh and I bought myself some gloves ready for Beijing.
Wed 2nd,Time to do a bit of catch up,we had hoped to explore Changdeokgung Palace yesterday but again with quiet a few tourist attractions you learn things when you get there,you have to book to go with a guide so rather than waiting around for an hour and 1/2 we did something else ANYWAY,met up with a nice lad called Alejandro on a 2 week break from the states,told him of our day:s plans and then there were 4,Changdeokgung Palace was first built in 1405 as a secondary to Gyeongbokgung(previously mentioned)although impressive not a patch on the forementioned,both these palaces were both destroyed during the Japenese invashion in 1592,Changdeokgung was rebuilt in 1610 and served as the main palce for another 258 years untill Gyeongbokgung got a lick of paint and bacame the Palce for the reign of King Gojong in 1868,lovely secret garden here(not very secret,about 5 entrances and very big)the guide got a bit cold I think so did'nt hang about done and dusted in an hour,just down the road was Jongmyo Royal Shrine,from the Joseon dynasty(1392-1910)its where the spirt tablets of the king's and queen's are enshrined,to be fair it was getting a bit boring then all of a sudden we turn the corner and blow me down priests everwhere,twice a year about 60 of them converge to the shrine to see off the evil spirts and welcome the good one's,well something like that,and how lucky were we?only twice a year and we were there,and got the photo's to prove it,back to get changed and off again this time to watch the K League Final 1st leg Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma fc(we don't know a song for them)V Jeonbuk Motors,a big game you would think A FINAL!! the stadium was only 1/2 full we could have paid on the gate,anyway the game not great and ended 0-0 will be a better 2nd leg for sure,back to base about 10.30 so a bit late to go out for dinner so easy option KFC how Korean is that???
Thurs 3rd,Got up nice and early 7am for an 8.20am pick up for the DMZ(Demilitarized zone) tour,this is the no go area between the 2 countries,really interesting finding out more about the Korean history this time obviously the Korean war,helps when your sat next to the tour guide(Kim) who was passionate about his country and very knowledgeable,not sure what it is with the guides but they seemed to be rushing around all the time,we went underground to see one of the tunnels the North Koreans have made to attack Seoul,they have dug 4 that they know of,this one was started in 1974 and discovered in 1978,when found out the North tried to blame the South saying they dug it then when they got found out painted it black and said they thought it was a coal mine,mmmm that should work!!!they also have a flag pole each again they kept on raising it to beat the other at the moment the North is winning at 162m,and they are hoping to unify the countries again,tiddly winks anyone??some of the families have'nt made contact with each other for over 40 years,cant imagine that! must be tough knowing they are just over the water,lets hope they can sort there differences out.Last night in South Korea tonight,going to a traditional Korean restaurant reccomended by our lovely host Mary.We have really enjoyed our time here,learned a lot about the history and the people who have suffered a lot over the years from all sides,every hostel we have stayed in has been brilliant,the hosts and staff have been so helpfull you would not believe,we would'nt have seen and done 1/2 the things we have without there help,any travelers out there if you need digs send me a message,I would reccommend all the hostels we have stayed in.Flying out to Beijing tomorrow so goodbye Korea hello China,dont think we can get facebook there so any contact will be on here.
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