Don't try this at home...

IF YOU'VE ALREADY READ THIS ENTRY... PLEASE CHECK OUT THE NEW VIDEO CLIP ADDED!!

Last night we went out on the town Korean style, with our good friend Sangwoo. After drinking copious amounts of Dong Dong Ju (like alcoholic sweet milk, served out of a bowl with a wooden spoon) we headed off to a local seafood restaurant. Oh goodie! Still, if you don't eat seafood at all usually, then you may as well go the whole hog and try the most disgusting thing you can think of...

....LIVE OCTOPUS! To anyone who may be offended by the cruelty to Octopi, I am very, very sorry, and I can assure you it will never happen again, but when in Korea...

We even managed to get video footage, so please have a look at these clips.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E2wrkoqHmY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4U-6wq8QEE

NEW CLIP I'VE FINALLY MANAGED TO UPLOAD... THE BEST OF THE LOT!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TXyYNE1bXc

I'm afraid to admit that our table manners were not all they should be... we couldn't help but play with our food, which was kindly pointed out to us when we were asked if we knew the meaning of the word "etiquette". We were however, regarded as celebrities today by some of the Koreans - people who have not spoken to us the entire time we have been here were coming up to us having heard that we not only survived a night of drinking with a Korean, but were game enough to try live Octopus. It wasn't until this point that I realised that even many Koreans wouldn't go near it!

Apparently if you go to a seaside town, you can eat live octopus whole... I can imagine I would be likely to end up with an Octopus face mask if I attempted that manouvre...

Tip of the week: Why faff around trying to pick up food with chopsticks when you can get the food to voluntarily wrap itself around your chopsticks?! That is, if you can get it before it sticks to the plate/table/your face...

Eric Clapton and Prince

Last night, Stuart and I had the treat of being able to go and see Eric Clapton in Concert in Seoul. At some point last week I saw him on MTV and was very surprised when an ad flashed up to say that he was playing in Seoul this week. I didn't really expect to get tickets so last minute, but on the other hand I didn't know if he was popular in Korea or not. It seems we got the last 2 tickets, or at least the last 2 in a decent position. I know the picture isn't the best in the world, but it proves I'm not making it up!

The concert was held in the Olpmpic park in one of the halls which was a great venue, but there was no support band advertised so we were wondering who to expect. No one as it turned out... it was all very efficient - the second we sat down, the lights went down and Eric came on, played for 2 hours, and then went off.

I have to admit I don't actually have any Eric Clapton music, except for Layla (which goes without saying really?) but I would guess that many of the Korean audience wouldn't have been that up on his work either. Still, the music was incredible, his band were great, and when he finished with 3 at the end that everyone knew, there were a lot of glow sticks waved (no one actually got out of their seats until the encore) which I took to be a sign of extreme appreciation by the crowd. There was no beer or throwing things at other people, so it was the most civilised concert I've been to. It certainly got a big thumbs up from me and Stu; so bad, but I had to get a picture of this ridiculous sculpture in the Olympic park in somehow...

Thought for the week:
If you kiss a very large gold frog, does it mean that it will turn into a very rich prince?!

Which reminds me, this is a very lucky year in Korea as it is the year of the Golden Pig (and no, I am not going to start kissing pigs... golden, american or any other variety) and a year this lucky only comes around every 600 years or so. Such faith is put in this that there were a much larger amount of weddings last year than usual in preparation for the best year for a long time in which to have a baby; so a baby boom is expected this year... but fear not, I think I will be safe as I appear to be mostly attracted to an inanimate, metal amphibian.

Wandering here, stumbling there...

Well, I was supposed to be going skiing today but it obviously was not meant to be, as I realised that I would need to get insurance and nobody will insure you (from the UK) if you're already abroad, at least no one I could find in a short space of time. As that involved getting up at 4.30am in the morning, I wasn't devastated to stay in bed.

So, with a day free, I decided to wander from my apartment in the vague direction of Apujeong, which I knew was supposed to be quite an affluent area of Seoul, and see what I found on the way.

I stumbled across this Cathedral which looked quite impressive, and I wondered how long it had been in Seoul (I'm not sure how long Christianity has been in Korea) so as I mulled this over I thought I would walk all around it. Using the date of the construction as an indication of the length of Christianity here though isn't really going to help..... as the next photo shows, it hasn't actually been completely built yet. I can't imagine there are many brand, spanking new Cathedrals being built in the world, but if everyone else has got one, I'm sure Seoul wants one too!

I wandered onwards through some back streets and saw a pet grooming shop which is not the obvious thing you associate with Korea, so I couldn't resist looking in the window. I did have in the back of my mind the whole eating dog thing, which does happen here although it is quite rare as it is very expensive and a delicacy (apparently....I'll pass thank you)

However, there would be little point in grooming a dog you were going to eat, so I felt these pampered pooches were probably very well looked after (if you counted having their coats dyed and decorations attached to them well looked after!) and if this one was ever going to end up on a plate, it would have to be dessert!! (ok, this is an artists impression, but it's very close to the actual Spaniel I saw with luminous pink ears... so wrong!)

Onwards, and after a long walk I thought I'd have a rest and a Jasmine tea in a nice coffee shop. However, as I walked out to leave I literally stumbled across myself - I obviously wasn't concentrating enough to take on the tricky prospect of a flight of stairs, dazzled perhaps by the chrome and glass everywhere, and as the thought crossed my mind of "I wonder if they've got any..." whoompf... my mind crossed a large distance very quickly as the floor disappeared from underneath me, and my feet connected only slightly with 2 steps out of about 10, and I caught myself, literally, by crashing full bodily against my mirrored image in a mirrored wall at the turn of the stair case. After a second it appeared that neither myself or my image was broken, so I casually (yet quite carefully) turned the corner and walked the rest of the stairs to get out of view of the entire, packed top floor who had gasped at the crash, and were probably wondering why western women insist on drinking so early in the day! The irony is, I have never fallen down a flight of stairs drunk, I hadn't had anything alcoholic to drink for a week, and I didn't even have high heels on. Skiing would have been much safer...

During my wanderings, I also came across this sign which made me chuckle (so immature...) along the lines of; have the Korean's copied the idea of Speed Dating and taken it to a whole new level....?! (apologies, I have to amuse myself out here)

Confucius say...

... only a foolish woman plays around with heating before leaving apartment for 6 hours...

It's turned very cold here, and in direct comparison, my heating seemed to go down in temperature. So, not being able to read Korean, I pushed a few buttons here and there and left the dial at full blast (it had been on this setting for days to no apparent effect). Nothing seemed to happen, so I gave up and left it as it was and went out for the night.

It did seem a bit warm on my return, but I took that as just being the difference from coming in from the extremely cold outdoors. However, when I removed my boots, I quickly learnt that my earlier efforts to get the heating to work haid paid off... dividends as it turned out, as I realised I couldn't actually keep one foot on the floor longer than a couple of seconds (the joys of under-floor heating!). It was a bit like when you see people on a very hot beach trying to make it from a sun lounger to the sea in a wierd, chicken-like run.

As I have had an uneventful week from a photographic point of view, I will resort to a picture that traditionally sums up this time of year for me (when I am not the other side of the planet) and also celebrates that the Alps have indeed, finally got snow! Cheers!

Chopsticks & sprouts, bears, eels & pin ups..

Christmas: Chopsticks and sprouts don't go together. Neither do peas and chopsticks. However, as I had promised my Korean colleagues, I did enforce the ban on cutlery for Christmas Dinner with my family, on the condition that no one was granted cutlery until they had picked up a sprout. Easier said than done, unless of course you adopted the stab technique favoured by my mum... I should also point out that Dad wasn't as drunk as he looks, just an unfortunate picture!

And so onto New Year! No need for chopsticks this time, but went for a very traditional English one in a small village near Chippenham. 20 of us dressed up as various tube stations, much to the delight of the local pub we descended on who had a spontaneous pub quiz created for them, as the locals tried to guess which stations we were. So, being true to my London home, I selected Ealing Broadway (well, true to my home actually would have been West Acton - couldn't think of anything for that!), so I give you... Eel in Broadway! (The Eel is the sock puppet in the hat, rather than the muppet in the hat). Also thought that it as it was my last New Year in my 20's it was about the last chance I could ever wear hotpants without getting arrested...

Paddington also made an appearance, and as we decided to walk back the 2 1/2 miles back in the pouring rain along country roads, Paddington's footwear was considerably better than Ealing's.

Also making appearances were Shepherd's Bush (the bush is not visible in this picture, fortunately) and some Blackfriars, the one visible in this picture must have been a member of that small and relatively unknown sect of elderly friars who carry tartan blankets on the back shelf of their Rovers.

New lookalike: I also have to add that to my delight, on at least 3 different occasions, people said that I looked like Zara Phillips, and although at the time I couldn't actually picture what she looked like, I decided it must definitely be a step up from Meryl Streep who must be at least 20 years older than her. Having discovered what Zara actually looks like, I can conclude that it must have been the trilby and the local ale that caused the similarities, because, alas, I look nothing like her!

And so it was back to work, and although for some this is the worst time of year with post Christmas blues, who could be sad when I got to sit next to a pin up again... sorry Forbes, couldn't resist!

Back to Korea: Just as I was congratulating myself for having no slip ups whilst in the Uk, I got to the Korean Air check in desk. Confident in the fact that I had obeyed all anti-terrorism rules by putting all liquids, cosmetics and kalashnikovs in my hold baggage (last time I inadvertantly risked terrorising the crew & passengers with a mini mascara which was binned at customs) I was foiled by the rule of week for hand luggage at Heathrow. It seems that although you can now carry cosmetics in a plastic bag, examination pencil case style, you can't have more than one item or you will be turned away from customs. I had a small handbag and an A4 case containing my laptop. Great. Carrier bag would solve the problem? No, has to be sealable. So over to the conspicuously nearby bag shop where I bought a bag that could contain both my bag and folder, and took up at least twice the size of both (am sure the check in staff are on commission). Of course, once I got to customs, every body else in the queue had bags, cases, pushchairs, bags and more bags with them with a few extra bags for good measure, and they all went through no problem. Was particularly delighted when a businessman got on the plane with a "hold all" that was so big I could have got into it, and yet a small bag with a folder was too much! I was had even in my own language!

So I arrived in Korea after a peaceful flight, and was just having a jet-lag-free nights sleep when someone managed to set fire to the building next door at 4am, which ensured fire alarms & fire engines, police cars and ambulance sirens, combined with loud hailer instructions in Korean, kept me awake for the next 2 hours (and obviously my extreme concern for the inhabitants). Was slightly concerned that the loud hailer might be warning everyone in the building next door (ie. us) to evacuate, but I figured they would have just set off our fire alarm if that was the case. Luckily it seems that I was right.

Just as I was ending the first day back in Korea, I was welcomed by my team with a Korean-Chinese meal, and a menu with English translation. It would seem, however, that my interpretation of beef is slightly different to theirs, in that I wouldn't expect my beef to come with small, curly legs with suckers...