Korea - the second time around.

(first published on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 at 3:30am)

So it's been about 9 months since my last note and I'm sorry for the delay! I know you all hang on my every last update :P So here's a brief summary on what we've been doing, and what we plan to do in the months to come.

As you probably noticed, at the end of our one year contract we took a two week trip to Thailand. After having never missed a day of work for a whole year, not to mention suffering through the frigid Korean winter, It was a well deserved and much needed break. We spent about 2 days in Bangkok, which were mostly uneventful. After being blasted by the heat coming out of the airport we made it safely to our hotel and decided to explore a bit of the surrounding area. We walked about fifteen minutes, had a delicious meal of pad thai and a coconut drink (in an actual coconut!) and made our way to Khaosan Road. Here we did a little shopping and just wandered around taking in the sights. We stumbled upon a temple, but when we tried to go in we were told by a man at the front gate, "no no no, the temple is closed now, you can come back in 30 minutes.But if you take this Tuk-Tuk he will show you around the city for only 20 Bhat!" I know... I know... oldest trick in the book right? I even told myself not to fall for this before we went! But we got caught up in the hustle and ended up jumping in. The Tuk-Tuk ended up taking us to 2 tuxedo shops and a travel agency - both of which wanted us to spend gratuitous amounts of money on things we didn't need - as well as 2 temples. In the end the Tuk-Tuk just left us at the temple. We never did buy anything, nor did we pay the Tuk-Tuk driver, so really we got a free mini tour of the city and a free ride to 2 temples, all it cost us was our time and patience at the suit shops. I chalk that one up to a 'cultural experience.'

After Bangkok we went up north to Chiang Mai by way of the overnight train. It was an alright experience, minus waking up to a cockroach crawling across my face, fluorescent lights blaring in our face while we tried to sleep and the train being 2 hours late to the destination. Needless to say we chose to fly back down to Bangkok :P Most of the train went to bed by 10pm, but John and I were wide awake. So to make due we crammed up into one bunk and just chatted until we got tired. That was kind of nice.

Chiang Mai is a really nice city, despite the pollution. We stayed in a great hostel, the owner of which was extremely helpful and offered us free rides to dinner and the night markets. We got to try "Thai barbeque" which is a combination of Korean bbq and Chinese hot pot. It was such a huge buffet and there were so many options, it was a really great meal! After dinner we made it to the night market, which has amazing stuff at ridiculously inexpensive prices. I did a lot of shopping there... On our second day we went to the Elephant Nature Park, which was an outright amazing experience. I can't recommend this place enough. Being able to get up close and personal to the elephants, all the while hearing of their harrowing rescue stories is awe inspiring as much as it is heart breaking. I really really loved my time there, and would do it again if I could!

Our next stop was southern Thailand, where we spent time in Phuket on Patong beach, Koh Phi Phi, Krabi, and Surin Beach (back on Phuket). Patong beach is a crazy place. I'll leave the details for another time, but there were everything from transvestites to crocodiles meandering the streets, both of which made us want to hide in our hostel. After just one night there we made our way to Phi Phi, which was definitely our favorite spot. The food was AMAZING (this may be biased considering we've had very little western food for the past year... but even so it was delicious) and the atmosphere was really laid back and just plain fun. Our days were spent sunbathing - as evidenced by our sunburns - and our nights spent relaxing beach side at various bars. It was the epitome of a Thai vacation if you ask me.

After Phi Phi we spent 2 days on Krabi, and then our last day was on Surin Beach. The only thing we did on Surin was eat lunch and play in the water, but it was one of my most memorable days of the trip. Literally all we did was splash in the waves and swim around, but the company and the atmosphere made it the best place in the world. We were sad to leave Thailand, but ready to get back home (to Gob!!)

Now that we're back in Korea my plan is to do it right this time around. We're making sure to do a lot more cultural things, as well as spend more time seeing more of Korea itself. I've made it to a couple "cultural events" at Hongbeop-temple here in Busan, where they usually have an English speaking monk give a talk and then plan an event for the foreigners. The first I went to was a Korean calligraphy class and the second we learned to make mandu (korean dumplings) and hwajeon (sticky rice cakes with flowers and sugar). The events are always a lot of fun, but I especially enjoy the talk about Buddhism at the beginning.

We have a three day weekend coming up in May for Buddha's Birthday, but we're unsure what we'll do. Our options are open, but we'll probably end up going to Seoul, Jeju-island, or Geoje-island. Whatever the case, I'll try harder to keep you all updated. ^_^ That's all for now!

THANKS FOR READING!