New country, new blog....

I am now in France, so it is time to have the final say on this blog, which is:

My new blog is called Merloi et moi and can be found at the imaginative location of: www.janerawlings2.blogspot.com

Thank you and a bientot!

It's the final count down...

Yes, the time has come. Almost. Just another 12 hours before I try to haul my bags out of the apartment and get myself to the airport to come home. It's been emotional... sometimes accident prone, and often embarrassing, but my time in Korea has been an amazing opportunity, and I have not wasted the last few days in this country (and here is just another example of pavement driving, you can even see the oncoming scooter!).

After returning to Korea from China, I unfortunately went down with a nasty case of bird flu - not the avian kind, just the female equivalent of man-flu, (which is like man-flu, but much, much worse). Still, with Gemma having left for sunny Australia there was still Kev to entertain, so on Monday morning we managed to drag ourselves our of beds in time to catch the 5.30am bus to go skiing. The ski resort was very similar to the ones on the East coast of the U.S in that it was a fairly small selection of slopes on hills rather than mountains. Interestingly, they only had blue runs or black runs, and some runs which would be half and half- not very fair on a beginner!

However, having skied even the most gnarly, double diamond, "expert only" runs a few times, we concluded that in Europe they would be nothing more than a slightly shorter than usual red, as there were no large patches of ice, grit, rocks, precipices, crevasses or long trains of out of control ski-school kids nearby as with most European black runs...now where's the fun in that?!

The resort we went to was Yongpyong which is one of the candidate resorts for the 2014 Winter Olympics as advertised absolutely everywhere... but I would be very surprised if they were successful as there were no runs long enough or steep enough for a downhill ski race, the half pipe had the side profile of a plate, and the gondala lift took 17 minutes to get to the top, and about 4 minutes to ski down (would have been much quicker if the "blue" run had been steep enough that you didn't have to walk...)

However, all in all it was great for one day of skiing, and had I not felt so ill I may have gone back for a second day.

So, what to do on the last few days in Korea?! We headed off for a tour of the war museum which was really interesting (and not just because you could climb inside lots of military planes). It seems that Korea is not only one of the few countries that never appears to have tried to take over anywhere else (largely because throughout most of it's history it was defending itself against the Chinese or Japanese) but it also seems to be a place that England has not tried to own. We did turn up in the late 19th century asking for trade, and at one point occupied a small Island for a couple of years, but then it appears we wandered off elsewhere and just opened trade routes (although the history books claim that we did much unauthorised surverying...)

We visited an aquarium today which did, as I had hoped, have a Korean twist on things... namely the displaying of fish in everyday unusual items such as drinks machines, a washing machine, and yes.... a toilet bowl.

They also had a decent tank of sharks which always grabs your attention, and a huge sea turtle which I don't think I have ever seen before in an aquarium.




So, to conclude my time in Korea, we went to a restaurant called "Mad for Garlic" which seemed to pay tribute to Dracula as you would expect of a Korean Italian restaurant (?!). All good fun though and we did manage to get a decent bottle of red, and some steak, even if the garlic may stay with me for a few weeks...

And so, it is time to leave Seoul. I have had a great time here although it has been tough at times, mostly due to being quite isolated or me doing ridiculous things to embarassas myself, and I swear I never normally fall over at all! Seoul is very modern and doing extremely well for itself with an incredibly high standard of living. At the moment though, there are very few Brits out here and I could have done with a few more young females for company, but I strongly suspect that in a decade or so, Seoul will be like many of the other up and coming Asian cities and a fantastic place to live and work. I have certainly never felt safer anywhere. I have to say though, I will not miss the view from my flat too much....

Thank you to everyone who has kept up to date with my exploits... I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have amused myself in writing it (probably not I would guess) but my mum likes it so that's ok. You never know, there may just be a next chapter round the corner, who knows....

Anyong haseyo, and kamsahamnida (goodbye and thank you)...

Visitors to Korea and China

Well the final week of the project went well, despite me developing a nasty case of comedy falling flat on my face whenever a flight of stairs presented itself. Pointy boots and flared suit trousers are not good for your health. I managed to go splat twice in one day, which did at least even up the scuff marks on my suit knees, and of course my bruises!

Gemma and Kev arrived here last Saturday, so I thought it was only right to take them out for some Korean food. I went for the tamest option I could; a Korean BBQ but there's no getting away from the fact that a) everywhere you go you will be served Gimchi (previously mentioned pickled, fermented and chillied cabbage) and b) it just doesn't taste great to unaccustomed palettes... and I still class myself in that category.

So, after a brief stay in Korea, we headed for Beijing - the city of high rise, bicycles and smog as it turned out. We had a brilliant guide called David, who said he had not seen an orange until the age of 11; massive changes he must have seen in twenty years as he was chatting away on a mobile phone much of the time. He was the hostess with the mostess, with the most amazing whistlestop tour I have ever been on. We managed to fit a huge amount into 3 days, partly because rather than allow us time to read the signs around the palaces etc. he gave us a summary on fast forward mode; quite difficult to understand at times.

We of course went to the great wall, which was as impressive as you would expect, and I never realised before that it was 6000km long. Did make me wonder though what purpose it actually served as there were many areas where a small ladder would have got you over the top no problem... I have perhaps missed the point. What I didn't miss though was the opportunity to get into fancy dress! I would have prefered the warrior outfit myself, but the Chinese guys were looking at us a bit wierd so I thought I would be feminine for once...

The food was fairly palatable to Kev and I, although Gemma wasn't particularly keen but after the 5th meal of chicken and peanuts, it was getting a bit repetitive. It was also served to us in huge quantities, and it seemed we were often closely supervised by the waiting staff; I'm sure they were just being helpful but I did feel a bit like I was on stage.

Then we hit the dumpling restaurant. There are 180 varieties of steamed dumplings in China, but we were assured we would only be served 16 of them. However, I lost count after 25 and Kevin ate far more than I managed (I actually had to have a lie down afterwards as I was beginning to get stomach cramps). Technically speaking, I am not sure that I would have counted that many varieties as every other course seemed to be: "this wan is... Pork!".

Tip of the week: Chinese Soju and Korean Soju are very, very different...

We were given a complimentary bottle of Soju with our lunch on a few days... no problem I thought, well used to drinking the odd shot of this stuff (mere 20% in Korea). The tiny, thimble sized glasses really should have rung some alarm bells. It wasn't until we had set our gullets and insides on fire, that we read the bottle... 58%!! It cannot be good for your health!

In Beijing we got to visit Pearl factories, jade factories, silk factories, ming vase factories and found out that had the Ming dynasty in around the 1300's not been abruptly ended by Ghengis Khan, within 50 years or so they would have been very likely to have had an industrial revolution as they had the beginnings of mass production techniques. More surprisingly, back in the 600's not only did women have rights including the right to divorce, but it appears that the fashion was for dresses that started under the bust, rather than above it...

We also wondered whether they might want to change the wording on the packaging for westerners in the Silk factory...

We also had a tour of Tiananmen Square, although we were given none of the history, and although I took this picture from a distance, Gemma and Kev are convinced the soldier is blowing me a kiss. I beg to differ...

We had a tour of the Forbidden city which is fanastic - a huge expanse of palacial buildings (9,999 rooms in fact) - well, you need a lot to maintain 3,000 concubines, and then we went onto the Summer Palace which was incredible too. As incredible was our guides excitement at bumping into "the best musician in China" - he said his Daddy would be so proud of him as this man is a celebrity in China and has been on the TV. I couldn't resist a quick video, so I will leave it up to you to decide if he is set for international stardom...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BsGa2jX-tY

After a few days in Beijing, and a large amount of shopping, we flew to Xian to see the terracotta warriors, and quite a lot of smog. The story of the Terracotta warriors is fascinating.

They were only discovered in the 70's by a farmer digging a well, who would have missed the whole lot if he'd been more than a metre in the other direction (he is till in the museum every day signing autographs!). There are hundreds of them, and they were all smashed when they were discovered, so archaeologists have been painstakingly piecing them together ever since.

The emperor who ordered them to be made wanted them to be built to protect him in the afterlife, and it took 700,000 people 38 years and a third of all of the palace income to complete them and his burial tomb, which is thought to be a vast underground palace but is as yet uncovered. The Chinese know where it is, but don't think they have the technology to dig it up and preserve it all at the moment, so are leaving it until a generation does have the skills - unbelievable patience! The figures are also over 2000 years old which is staggering. What amazed me most though is that every single soldier is different, and was modelled on the actual army of the time down to the hat, uniform and moustache! Originally they were in full colour too though now most of this has worn off. They also stand in 3 different museums as they are all standing in military positions, with guards on the flanks, archers and even horses and chariots. They also had chomium plating technology which until this discovery was thought to be invented by the Germans in the 30's, and their weapon blades have stayed sharp for over 2000 years.

What isn't quite so fantastic is the fact that upon his burial, the Empress, all of the favourite concubines, all brothers and sisters and top officials were also buried with him, and therefore had to commit suicide or be tortured if they didn't.

I have never been anywhere so polluted and dusty - it was really nasty trying to breathe - Gemma and I have both developed chesty coughs since and I'm not at all surprised. Our guide was actually saying "at the top of this hill, you should be able to see a huge mountain behind it" but we couldn't because of the smog. It doesn't often rain there which doesn't help. This picture of a buddhist temple isn't just a foggy day... it's always like this apparently!

The other highlight of Xian was having a Chinese massage. We were made to wear big baggy pyjama type things and had a fantastic massage although there were a few unusual twists, such as the element where she really punched me in the back a lot, (anyone who punches me that much would not usually get away with it!) and then the punching in the head element. I think she must have just had it in for me though as the other two didn't get this wondrous treatment... perhaps it was something to do with the fact that all over China I managed to pick up so much static that anyone who touched me got a shock - not particularly friendly when some nice Chinese lady was welcoming us to a factory and shook my hand and visibly jumped back a few feet after getting a shock... oops.

I'm back!

After 2 weeks of severe blogging technical difficulties, the site is finally working again. Just one problem, they have converted all the language to Korean so I am having a few issues. however, I am sure I will resolve these shortly and continue the updates - of which there is much as I have now got company out here in the form of Gemma and Kev, and as you can see, Kev is absolutely delighted to be here...

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)