Goodbye Suwon

Our last day in Suwon today. It will be sad to leave Cam and Penny, they have been really great and have entertained us very well, as well as rushing off to school every day. They deserve their weekend skiing this long weekend!

I will add a bit about about our day out in Seoul on Tuesday, as I was too tired to do all that last night.

We took the train in and visted the War Museum, which was very good. Probably spent too long there though as we had a bit of "museum legs" when we got out. We foolishly tackled the big rambling namdaemun market next - Bill and I together are not the best of marketers, and we had to beat a bit of a retreat for food, and then try again. Eventually I bought a woolly hat, and we headed off to the N'Seoul tower, up the cable car on the top of the hill in central Seoul. That was great, and gave us a good idea of the layout and expanse of the city. A cute Asian touch was all the love letters and litte plastic hearts padlocked to the fence. It sounds as though we didn't do much, but we enjoyed our day.

Cam and Penny met us at Suwon station and took us for chicken galbi, which was delicious. A quick side trp for Cam to show his skill and me to make a fool of myself at baseball batting, and then back to the apartment for some serious (and very slow!) golfing at Pebble Beach. Nathan joined us, and we reckoned that on one par 5 hole between us all we hit 48 balls! It was a pretty late night, as the boys then went back to Nathan's apartment for a FIFA 09 playstation tournament.

I took the plunge this morning and braved the naked sauna. I went on my own, but Penny had taken me over (fully clothed) earlier and shown me what to do, which was handy as I would have been completely confused. When I arrived I was given a gorgeous set of orange shorts and Tshirt, which I put on in the locker area, before heading round to the male/female area of saunas. his was a big room with heated wooden floor, with little cubicles like body-length tunnels at one side that had mats in for sleeping on. When Penny and I went over earlier this room had several people sleeping on the main floor and in the cubicles, but by the time I went, there were only one or two. Off this room was a cafe, a little reading room, a computer room, and probably other things I didn't see.

At the far end were the mixed saunas, where we all wore our orange gear. I chose the coolest one to start off (the temperatures were above the door), and joined half a dozen women who were lying flat on their backs on the floor chatting animatedly. As it was obviously the thing to do, I lay down on my back too, putting my 2 little orange handtowels under my bare legs, which turned out to be a good precaution. After about 60 seconds my head was on fire, so I found a little wooden pillow. Another 60 seconds and my back and shoulders were going to burn through, so I had to sit up. I lasted maybe another 3 minutes then had to leave - I could hear quite a bit of giggling behind me!

Next I tried one of the traditional looking ones, shaped like big beehives. As Penny said, you felt as though you were getting inside a pot-bellied stove, and the floor had some sort of matting that gave off a bit af a funny hot smell. This was a bit better though, and I stayed in there maybe a whole 10 minutes.

The next step was to strip off completely and walk through to the pool room, shower at the open showers along the side, and then hop in. Once again it was obviously a social occasion, with groups of women all sitting round the edges of the pools chatting and laughing, and there were quite a few kids there too (I guess as it's school holidays). I was actually fine with the naked thing, and once I had my glasses off I couldn't even see them all staring at me. The worst thing really was that I dropped my glasses out of my plastic bag of shampoo etc, somewhere alongside the pool, and had to grope around blind in all my glory til I found them!

It was great though, and I'm only sorry I discovered it at the end of our holiday. I'm thinking about going over early tomorrow morning before we go, however.

Cam had a long lunch today, so he took us for a walk in their park, and we had a we go on some of the exercise machines. The lake was frozen, and the boys had a wee play on the ice.

Then we went and met Penny and Nathan at their favourite dumpling restaurant for lunch, which was really good and we were all stuffed full (again!)

When the others headed back to school Bil and I went and had a poke around the market, and then came home, messed about in Suwon a bit, and packed. Bill finally won a packet of rather disgusting pure cocoa lollies in the game machine outside the "family mart" that he had een feeding all week! I think we're going back to our favourite galbi over the road tonight, and then maybe to get some really spicy chicken that Cam likes a bit later.

DMZ

Bill and I have had a big day with our trip to the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas today. We left Suwon in light snow in the dark at 6.30, to meet our tour group at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul. The bus load was half Japanese and half English speaking, so we had 2 guides who generally took turns speaking but from time to time went at it together with two competing microphones which was a bit head-spinney.

It was about an hour's drive down the Reunification Highway to the edge of the DMZ, where we were taken to the Freedom Bridge (lots of things had very laudable names!), where prisoners were exchanged after the Korean War and the train now crosses the river.

Then to Dorasan Station, a huge modern station built to be the major crossing point into North Korea with big warehouses for all the goods to be shipped, but which has never been used except for tourist trains that run up to there and and then back a couple of times a day - the North Koreans have not let trains run into their section for some time.

We went from there to Dora Observatory up on a hill where we could look through binoculars into the DMZ and over to North Korea and see the nearest city. Quite chilling driving up there with all the edges of the road fenced off and signs aying "Mines" hanging on the fence at intervals. We could clearly see the fence on the South Korean side, a double fence with double and triple folls of barbed wire along the top, and manned guard posts. There is a similar one on the North side 4km away, and all the no man's land in between is the DMZ. They were at pains to tell us about how this undisturbed land is a paradise for the regeneraton of native plants and birds, but in the cold winter, with ice on the puddles and no leaves on the bushes, it didn't look too heavenly. There are 2 villages inside the DMZ, one South and one North. The South Korean village has carefuly controlled residents who farm with military guards, but the North Korean village is empty, and just has buildings, a few mainatenace staff, and a huge imposing tower flaunting the North Korean flag.

Next stop was the 3rd Tunnel, dug by the North Korean Army, presumably to invade or infiltrate the South, and discovered in 1978. The South Koreans have discovered 4 tunnels, the most recent in 1996, but there could be lots more.... We were able to go down into this one and walk along 73m underground to with about 100m of the Military Demarkation Line (the actual border, which runs more or less down the middle of the DMZ). It was a pretty big tunnel for them to have dug, much bigger than the ones in Vietnam, but even so it wouldn't have been much fun down there for long. Our guide pointed out the holes for dynamite, and the slope of the tunnel, which both indicated that it must have been dug from the north side. Walking back up the 73m wasn't so much fun!

We were taken for lunch to a Korean BBQ restaurant, where we sat with an older French couple who were very nice - rather them than some of the painful Americans!

After lunch we went to Panmunjeom, the Joint Security Area inside the DMZ where both North and South Korea have buildings and troops, and where they hold all the meetings and peace conferences. The troops used to mix in this area until the "tree chopping incident" when several on both sides were killed and injured - now they keep to their own sides of the area, blue buildings managed by South Korea, and grey by North. Visiting this part was quite an experience. The guide was very strict with us, and told us over and over that we must obey whatever the soldiers said, must stick together and walk in 2 lines, and not stop walking outside the buildings, or move away from the line for any reason. We were not to eat, drink, smoke, or chew gum, and not to point, make eye contact or smile at any North Koreans. We had to dress properly, no untidy jeans, and had to leave our bags, hats and gloves in the bus, and could only take photos in specific spots where the guide indicated, and not with zoom lenses. It was very subduing, and we were all models of good behaviour because we really could feel that there was a fair amount of tension in the air. The South Korean soldiers were vigilantly on guard, some of them half hiding behind buildings.

We were allowed into the conference room, a plain bright blue prefab building with the demarcation line marked down the middle of the table. We could move around inside the room, and actually step a metre or so over into North Korea!

On the way home we drove along beside the river. The late afternoon sun angling down through the clouds onto the water and the hills behind fading into shades of blue and grey were such a contrast to the rolls of barbed wire fence and camouflaged sentry posts on the shore. Hard to believe that they have maintained this state of animosity for over 50 years now. Now that I have been here I would really like to ask Dad more about his time here - I had not appreciated the harshness of the climate, or the mountainous and rocky land, and I think the soldiers must have had a pretty hard time even when they weren't being shot at.

I will add more to this post in the morning - bed time now. Love to all xxx

Baekdamsa Temple

We woke up in Baekdamsa ready for our big walk. Rachel's Dad was able to point the walk out to us no problems, after we phoned Rachel and asked her to explain what we wanted. We just turned right out of his drive and kept going!

But first we wanted breakfast, and found some at a restaurant just down the road. Bill and I are not quite acclimatised to kimchi soup for breakfast just yet, but we did our best, and there was rice as well, and then the owner/waitress brought out a free plate of fried eggs! So, pretty well fortified in the end, we headed off on our 7km walk up into the mountains.

It was absolutely gorgeous! We followed the path of a little frozen river almost all the way, winding around quite high up above the river, with snow covered, forested hillsides above us.

There were a surprising number of other people going up and down, not enough to make it crowded, but we could always see someone else. Some quite young children and a few quite elderly people too, and lots of Koreans with backpacks and collapsible walking poles.

It took us about an hour and a quarter. The path/road was covered in snow all the way, and quite slippery in spots, but in spite of a few slips and scrambles we only had one casualty (me of course, bum first on the road!)

The Temple was completely isolated in a valley, with the river running past it. From there you can do several other walks up into the National Park. They do "Temple Stays" there, where you can stay at the temple and learn Buddhist things, and just contemplate life (and I guess you could use it as a base for further walks). It was very quiet and peaceful. The river bed was full of little stone cairns - I don't know what they were for for, but some sort of prayer thing I guess. There were a few monks flitting about, and we had a very expensive cup of tea in a lovely little teahouse/gift shop.

We mistimed our walk down a bit and had to gallop along so as not to miss the bus, but as it turned out we were in plenty of time. Galbi at Jonny's Dad's restaurant again and then some Poker, and we were all in bed tired out!

Today Bill and I have been to the Korean Folk Village. It was a lovely sunny day, and seemed quite balmy after the mountains (although still thermals, jackets, woolly hats and gloves). The village was very interesting, and we had fun. We wandered around the old traditional homes, and tried some pancakes and meat stew. We watched performances of horsemanship, seesawing, and tightrope-walking, with several classes on school trips.

We also had a go at some traditional sports, sledding on the ice on flat wooden bases with metal runners underneath (the pros stood up, but Bill and I sat crosslegged like the kids), and playing with wooden spinning tops on the ice which you made to go by whipping them with srips of fabric attached to the end of a stick. There were less traditional sports too - we had a couple of goes with all the school kids at sledging full speed down a slope on plastic sledges, everyone in the starting gates and then "go" when the whistle blows!

There was an amusement park too, but the rides were pretty much for young kids. The one that looked the best, the water flume, was iced up for the winter. We had a go on the dodgems (just the thing you have to do in Asia, aye girls?), but the haunted house took the prize for best Asian flop!

Tomorrow we plan to go into Seoul and look about there, and we have booked for a trip to the DMZ on Wednesday.

Dr Fish!

2 things I forgot to say about Saturday. One was that Bill and I had to sleep in a double bed together, which we managed in exemplary fashion with no fuss at all!

And the other was that at the hot pools we tried whole body Dr Fish! It was in a tiny wee warm pool inside a little tent, with room for us and about 6 Koreans. We were meant to stay 25 minutes, but we only handled about 10. I think the Koreans were pleased to be rid of these foreigners, all squealing, giggling and wriggling. It was truly weird. The fish were quite tiny, about 2-3cm long, and they didn't bite, but just sort of landed on you and tickled as they nibbled. If you kept still, more and more came, but it was awfully hard to keep still. Cam did the best, and had quite a colony of them on his chest and tummy (all I could say was thank goodness for one piece togs!) Definitely something to be tried, but maybe only once. I certainly don't think we handled the experience well enough to get any health benefits!

Seoraksan National Park

We are at a little village, Baekdam-sa, in the mountains of Seoraksan National Park, surrounded by snow, staying in a hotel owned by the family Rachel, of one of Cam and Penny's colleagues.

Had a great afternoon yesterday at Sokcho at a swimming pool/hot spa complex in the snow. It was a bit like being at Hanmer in mid winter, but with quite a few more Koreans (many naked in some areas of the complex)!

After that we had a little scramble down to a wee frozen river just outside the hotel and slid about on the ice for a bit in the dusk.

We walked into the village a bit and found a little restaurant for tea, where we sat on cushions on the heated wooden floor, at a little low table and had a kind of hotpot meal of a whole chicken in broth with rice and spring onions and all the Korean side dishes. Also tried a bottle of local wine - quite thick red wine, a bit sweet, with high alcohol content. Not sure I would hunt it out again, but interesting to try.

This morning we are heading off on a walk up into the mountains to a buddhist temple. Rachel told Cam and Penny to do it, but we are not sure how we will get her father to understand that we need directions, or how we will follow them if he gives them!

It's really good being out in the country and seeing a different side of Korea for the weekend.

Suwon

Woke up this morning in Suwon and it was snowing!

We arrived last night, easily following Penny's perfect directions on how to get here. The taxi driver had a few words of English, and formed the impression that we were English teachers, and insisted on us using his phone to phone our "contact". So I rang Cam who managed (impressively) to talk enough Korean to him to reassure him that we were going to the right place.

Penny was doing her private tutoring, so Cam, his friend Nathan, Bill and I went to get "Chicken and Coke in a cup" snacks, and then all the boys had haircuts across the road. They could choose from 9 possible styles in photos on the wall. Bill went for "shaggy medium", and although Cam and Nathan just asked for trim I wonder if they did give Nathan "middle aged"!

Dinner was Korean BBQ at the restaurant across the road, run by the father of one of Nathan's kindergarten kids. The food was great, and we were given 2 lots of free meat, a free beer, and $2 off the bill. Then home for a quick game of High School Musical UNO before bed.

We are pretty comfortable in their wee apartment, with 2 extra beds, one for me and one for Bill.

Today Bill and I spent the morning exploring just around this little area, getting money etc, and playing in the snow. Met Cam and Penny for lunch, of Korean soup and sushi which was pretty good, and then headed off to the Fortress. It had stopped snowing by then, but there was enough lying around to make it really pretty. We explored the central palace, then climbed up to the highest point on the wall, and admired the view. Surprisingly it really wasn't all that cold, and we had a lovely walk round half the wall, finishing up having a go at the archery place, where we found that we were not nearly as useless as the American before us! Bill got 3 out of 10 arrows into the target, and although I didn't get any in several of mine made glancing blows on the target.

It was getting a bit cool and dark by then, so went to Home Plusu shop and Bill bought himself a new PSP game, for half what he reckons he would pay at home.

People here have been so friendly and nice to us. An old chap at the palace, who spoke very good strongly American-accented English that he learned from marines, wanted to sing Pokarekareana with us. And a taxi driver who spoke no English at all, who was a 5th dan in tae kwon do, offered to take Bill to tae kwon do lessons (at least that's what we think it was - Bill wrote down the phone number he was offered anyway!)

For the weekend we are going to a place where we can do mountain walks and they have thermal pools. We are staying at a little hotel owned by the parents of one of the teachers at their school.

We are just waiting for Cam and Penny to come home and then we are going into Seoul for dinner. It's so good to be here with them both, and they have gone to so much trouble to give us a good time.

Dinner at gorgeous little Italian restaurant downstairs in a bar in Seoul - sitting on the floor Korean style, eating pasta and steak (and pickled turnip!), and drinking Argentinian red wine.

Xie tien China

At Shanghai airport on our way to Korea.

We had a great last day in Hangzhou, although the transport was a bit problematic at times! Tried to go to Silk St in the morning, but the driver didn't understand us and took us miles away, so we ended up having great pancakes at a little market in the suburbs. Then caught another taxi to the Linliang Buddhist temple, an absolutely gorgeous peaceful spot, with hundreds of buddhas carved into the rock face of the path leading up to it.

Tried to get a taxi back to silk st but the driver took us instead to a silk factory, where he left us miles from anywhere in the middle of a area of tea plantations! We had no luck getting another taxi, so ended up (after a couple of false starts) on a local bus back to the city.

By this time we were starving, so thought we would eat then have another try for silk st. But no - there was fish hidden in the veges! At this point we gave up on silk st!

Another start at tea and we ended up having almost our most delicious meal in China - a fitting last meal together. A quick foray into the night market and we were done.

Saw Kate and Charlotte off at the other airport this morning on their big adventure, and Bill and I are on our way to Korea. More news soon....

Beautiful Hangzhou

We agree with Marco Polo, we can see why Hangzhou has a reputation for beauty.





Yesterday Charlotte, Bill and I had another go at the Yiwu Trade market, while Kate packed up her stuff. We were surprisingly succcessful. Charlotte's cold ( yes we are blaming you Hannah!) is much better, and she is pretty much back to normal apart from a bit of nose blowing and cough, so she was fully into marketing. Bill bought himself a portable DVD player, which pleases him enormously, and Chalotte found a fabulous pair of shoes - what more could we ask!

Back to the school, and a quick look at some of the students' art work with Peter (and he gave us a painting that his son had sent him - he was very sweet), and a final pack up with Kate before making a trip to the post office with our wheelie bags to post away her surplus stuff. Those bags are so useful - we must have done 3 or 4 trips back and forth between the school and hotel towing the bag!

We went out for tea with Peter, which was very good. Just him and us, and no gumbays, as Peter doesn't drink alcohol. We let him guide our selection, so what we actually drank was corn juice! It was interesting to talk to him a bit about his life, and the school. He does seem to genuinely like Kate, and has been very helpful in his funny way. He had us all cracking up with his desription of a misdirected firework knocking down a wall.

Tea was over pretty early, so we went for haircuts and hairwashes, an interesting experience. Charlotte came out quite short and fluffy but Kate, who really needed the haircut, hardly lost any at all!

Kate was a bit sad to leave Yiwu I think, but excited about embarking on the next part of their trip.

We set off early this morning on the fast train. The stations are pretty crowded with long queues booking for the New Year holiday, but luckily we had booked our tickets at the hotel. The train was great, very comfortable and quick, and we had a bit of a look at the countryside. We have booked the bus to Shanghai on Thurs however - slower and probably less comfortable, but it takes us direct to both airports (we leave from different ones) and that seemed easier with all our luggage.

We had lunch at a restaurant on the lake (where you went with Kate, Jiggs), and then had a ride on one of the wee row boats, and a walk around the lake. We also hired bikes, and rode a bit further round the lake, stopping to watch the musical fountain display.



Later we thought we would walk to a famous teahouse - an hour and a half later we were still walking, and found we were in the night market, and it was pretty much night! So we gave up on tea, and had some dinner (recommend the beggars chicken), and then marketed (again!) The girls attracted quite a crowd to watch their portraits being drawn!



Just about off to bed now. Good to get your email and comments everyone, we love hearing from you