Fun at Suseong lake

Having a few days off because of Chuseok gave us the chance to go to Suseong, an area of Daegu that I hadn't been to before. Suseong is considered one of the more affluent districts of Daegu and has many coffee shops and good restaurants and also has a man made lake.





I'd wanted to go for a while just to see what the place looked like so we upped and went. Tuesday was the day before Chuseok so most people had the day off and there weren't a lot of people around, the weather was also great, perhaps the last day of Summer.





We hired a duck, well a ducked shaped paddle boat and made our way around the lake. It was a lot harder than it looked and afterwards we really needed a breather so after a walk around the area we headed for some ice cream. After that we went looking for restaurant and chose to go in La Bella Cucina. The place was really good, maybe the best restaurant I've been to here in Daegu and the best Italian food I'd had in Korea so far. A fun day in Daegu.

Peace and quiet

I spent all of today, Chuseok, at home with my wife where we had a lazy day. Some of my co-workers went to Jeju, Busan and even Japan and I couldn't help feel a little jealous on hearing their plans. Still it's been good to be with my wife and just relax. My wife works so hard these days that I enjoyed her putting her feet up almost as much as she did. I cooked dinner and we drank Jack Daniels and coke. The programmes on TV were pretty dire. The love/hate relationship with cable in Korea continues.

Today it rained pretty much most of the day. Like a typical day back home in 'sunny' Bolton. I went for a walk at around 4pm, just me, my mp3 player and my umbrella. It didn't feel like Korea, Daegu or Chilgok and it was great. No kids running around, no significant daytime noises with hardly anywhere open and also very little traffic where I went. It was nice to have the place to myself for a few minutes. Couldn't help but wish there were twelve Chuseok's a year.

Pencil case

A bookended week with Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday off for Chuseok but everyone having to be there on Monday and Friday. Nobody wanted to be at work yesterday. This girls pencil case brightened up my day.

Some people, no manners

Some good news today as I received an important package from home in double quick time and also got my Chuseok gift from my workplace. The gift was probably better than last years one and whatever I got I wouldn't have complained. I'm a guest in this country and my employers don't have to give me a gift whenever it's a big local holiday.

However, two things have been on my mind today. Yesterday one of my co-workers had her bike stolen. It wasn't even hers, someone had loaned it to her. It was stolen from work, well inside the building but in a main area on the first floor near the lift. This is where the students leave their bikes before going to our academy, it's also where I leave mine when I take it to work. Someone nabbed it, we don't know who but probably not a student as the crime doesn't fit with the students who we were teaching yesterday and I don't think they could actually carry the bike any distance. It was locked up and whoever took it will need to break that lock, clearly not a young student.

So who took it? Could have been workers nearby, could have been older students using a close by PC room. Perhaps some random opportunist theif. We just don't know and probably never will do. I've heard of bikes being stolen here before but in general things are still much, much safer and crime free than life back home, and that's coming from someone who has been burgled here. Hopefully my bike won't get nicked, it's old enough and wouldn't pass for being worthy of taken I feel.

The other thing was when I was in Homeplus this afternoon waiting in line to get served. Someone was in front of me and I was waiting for my turn and as that person was finishing up, some young girl pulled up beside me and just pushed her way past me. The rudest thing I've seen here in ages. I was incensed and nearly walked out of the shop as the server did nothing. I cursed my lack of command of the Korean language. I should have told the girl she was in the wrong but it would only have caused a scene.

I was annoyed because this thing hasn't happened to me in months and months. You can see this quite often if you look for it but this was just so blatantly rude it really affected me for a while. Sometimes my wife (who IS Korean) and I despair at the lack of manners of some people. I just wish my wife had been there at the time to give this girl an ear bashing. Did she do it because I wasn't Korean or would she have done that to anyone? I have my doubts as to whether or not she'd do that to a Korean who was older. Sometimes this country just gets to you no matter how long you've been here or how much you like the place and the people. It's one thing having an old woman push past you but some snotty little teenage girl. It won't happen again.

Five days in Hong Kong

A break away from it all. Time to leave the behind the day to day working life of an ESL teacher in Korea. Over the Chuseok (추석) period I spent most of the time in Hong Kong with my wife. We also had enough time to visit Macau, twice. On reflection though we enjoyed our time in Hong Kong I feel that we didn't do as many things as we did last year. If I could do it again there would be a few things done differently but of course that's not possible, still perhaps next year. Still the point of the vacation was to relax, enjoy the days off and to be with each other. We definitely achieved that.

We had planned to go to Hong Kong a few months before Chuseok arrived but we didn't actually book the flight and hotel until a couple of weeks before departing. For a time I thought that the holiday might not happen or may be truncated but thankfully we both managed to have five consecutive days off together. The day we departed for Seoul-Incheon-Hong Kong was also the day we got married so the vacation turned out to be a honeymoon. Too short for a honeymoon I know but next year we will more than make up for that.

We arrived in Hong Kong before midnight on the Thursday. As it takes up to one hour to get out of customs and to arrive at the hotel most places were closed or would have been closed after dropping our stuff off at the hotel so we decided to relax, get some beer and some food from the local convenience store. We were pretty tired to do anything else. Myself, I only slept twenty minutes the night before and we had a long day, setting off for Seoul at seven AM and spent most of Thursday lugging suitcase and heavy bag around the city.

After a fine sleep that night we headed for Macau the next day - write up to follow. We got back from Macau in the late evening but instead of going back to the hotel to freshen up we headed out for a meal in the Soho area. Last year we spent time there too and I can tell you that pretty much every restaurant there is superior to all the foreign restaurants in Korea. Such a choice of places to eat. I immediately felt at home again in that area. In Korea, especially Daegu where I live there are precious few places to have a good quality non-Korean meal. We went to an Italian restaurant and I ordered the finest Lasagna I have ever eaten and still, three weeks later wish I had more of that on my plate. Washed down with some decent beer, i.e. not Korean OR Heineken the meal truly hit the spot. The night was coming to a close we headed back to hotel ready for what lay in store on the Saturday.

Little did we know that we would end up in Macau again just the very next day... Aside from going back, temporarily to Macau we decided to spend the morning and afternoon shopping. We took the excellent MTR train to the Citygate Outlets mall (near the airport). I perhaps selfishly stocked up on some hard to find food supplies that I wanted to take back to Korea. We also spent quite a bit of money buying clothes, shoes and other items that are a bit cheaper there than other parts of Hong Kong and Korea (wish I had taken more money in general though away with me). After that we ate and headed off to Macau and after coming back we again headed to Soho but to a different restaurant, this time a Mexican one that we went to last year. Initially we didn't want to go back to somewhere we had eaten in last time but we couldn't decide where to choose to eat and we were running out of time. We were both thankful that the place stayed open after all the places had closed down as they let us eat our meal in peace enjoying each others company. The clocked ticked down and before we knew it, it was late and we were tired and headed back to the hotel.

Onto the Sunday and I owed this day to Boo Young and tried to let her do as many things as she wanted to do. We took the Star Ferry across Hong Kong and initially headed to Tsim Sha Tsui. We knew what were looking for. I was buying a wedding present for my wife (we agreed to try to find ones in Hong Kong). We were headed for the Tiffany jewellery store. After trying two of their stores we managed to find a necklace which my wife loves and seems to be very happy with. Then we decided to go window shopping in the surrounding area but couldn't find what we were looking for so headed to Kowloon park and had some ice cream. It was one of the only times we were able to sit down and enjoy the scenery in the hot weather. It would be nice if there was such a park in down town Daegu. Stopping for a rest gave us time to plan our next move as we headed to the very large Langham Place mall in the Mong Kok district of Kowloon. Having been before we knew what the place was like but it's such a big building, fifteen stories of shopping. Boo Young enjoyed herself there. We also took time off to have lunch, a korean looking dish which was from Japan. Similar to bibimbab here in Korea but with beef and rice and some vegetables. Very enjoyable, the meal gave us the energy to sift through all those stories.

The day was far, far from over. After the shipping we headed to the Ladies Market in Tung Choi Street. We went there again last year but at that time it was late evening. This time was a different experience. The street just doesn't seem to stop. Stalls and stalls and stalls selling mostly similar stuff ranging from the Asian looking to the cheap Western looking clothing. Most of the things on sale were clothing, artifacts, pottery, DVD's and watches but there were some good stuff too. If you go there just MUST bargain and haggle and never ever pay what they ask for. By bargaining and having a tough stance you can get 30-60% off everything. To be honest the things they sell are made at ultra cheap prices and not worth much at all but some do look good. Bargains can be had, I picked up a nice leather bound pocket notebook, some scarves and two nice looking Chinese style bowls, plus some tat. I enjoyed the bargaining and could have bought much much more but to be honest we didn't need anything and our bags were already filling up so we headed back to the excellent Star Ferry and headed to the hotel on Hong Kong Island.

Feeling refreshed after taking showers we decided to leave early, around 6pm to go to Victoria Peak. This is one of the premier attractions for tourist visiting Hong Kong. The 'Peak' is actually a mountain, Mount Austin which has a tram which climbs the mountain at a steep gradient to take tourists to the top. At times the ascent appears to be improbable as it looks just too steep but the tram manages it and when you get to the top it is more than worth the wait. The view is magnificent. To our astonishment there was a mighty cue when we got there which I thought might take two hours to get to the front. It only took us one hour but headed up the tram to take in our night time view. After a meal which wasn't as good as last years we took many pictures of the fantastic view of Hong Kong, Kowloon and Victoria Harbour. At night the view is a sight to see. So many lights it feels like all of Hong Kong is lit up. Very picturesque. Sadly we couldn't manage to take a decent picture of ourselves there but paid for a professional picture which was worth the money. Again, it was getting late and after a long day, our last full day in Hong Kong 2009 we made our way back to the hotel.

Waking up early to take advantage of the free shuttle bus we departed from the hotel. Alas our plane back to Incheon was for 2:30pm so we didn't have much time left. We again headed for the Citygate outlet to take in some more last minute shopping. I managed to cram my suitcase full of much needed items for Korea life from the supermarket there. If only there was a supermarket like that in Daegu I would be so much happier here. Such choice and quality it was refreshing and stimulating to be able to get whatever I wanted. Our time in Hong Kong was over but never to be forgotten due to the circumstances. I'm sure we'll be back again as there is much to do and enjoy but not for another year or so.

Some great points about the holiday were; We relaxed, spent wonderful time with my wife, managed to pick up some souvenirs and see some more places in one of the great places of the world. It was also reinvigorating for me to eat several quality meals and enjoy the diversity of drinks there, specifically the choices of beer.

Some not so great points; lot of travelling around left me tired and ironically needing some more time off, we didn't go to some of the places we planned to, some of the Chinese tourists (not the Hong Kong locals) were the rudest bunch of people we've ever encountered. Koreans have something of a bad reputation and rightfully so at times but they have nothing, nothing on the Chinese people we met in Hong Kong. I found this stange as it wasn't like this last year or when I was in China in 2006 where the Chinese people were pretty kind and in general not rude at all. Perhaps we were unlucky...

No matter, this didn't sour our much needed time out in Hong Kong. At no stage did I miss Korea or think about work at all. Having said that I felt good when I returned to Korea, it is my home away from home for the time being.

Chuseok: Korean Thanksgiving

Over the weekend here in Korea we had one of the major holiday periods, Chuseok (추석). Chuseok is a traditional Autumn festival where people celebrate over three days. This is a time where a great majority of the population go to their home town to visit their relatives or to the place where their oldest relatives live. It is a very important time of the year and people make great effort to navigate their way across the country to go back home. I spent the holiday time out of the country with my wife in Hong Kong and Macau.

The holiday can be viewed as an equivalent to the North American holiday Thanksgiving. . During this holiday, families celebrate by eating a large meal consisting of lots of traditional Korean food. During this time people also visit tombs of their ancestors to pay their respects to older generations. Traditional costumes such as the hanbok are also worn at this time and the family sometimes gathers around to play games.

People also give gifts to their families which can be purchased in most shops during the run up to Chuseok. Examples of gifts, which are in gift boxes, would be expensive fruit, alcohol, toiletries and food such as (bizarrely to me) spam. These gifts can range from the easily affordable to being very expensive, depending on what the gift is. Often bosses of companies give employees such gifts as a token of appreciation. At my previous academy I don't recall ever getting one but where I currently work everyone seems to receive one. My girlfriend got some expensive seaweed and I got what you can see below. I won't need to buy toothpaste for a while.

Bound for Hong Kong

Just one day left at work before a five day vacation. Starting tomorrow, Korea begins to celebrate Chuseok which is their Harvest festival and one of the biggest holidays of the year. I have managed to get extra time off work and am heading off to Seoul tomorrow morning to do something very important and special before flying to Hong Kong. Last years trip their was a great experience and one I can't wait to repeat and do the things I couldn't last time. Today I will be on autopilot, like most Wednesdays. I need a holiday so badly its not true.


The forecast for Hong Kong is pretty grim though. Looks like its scattered thunder storms during my entire stay. Hopefully they will be scattered while I am sleeping. Regardless a wet holiday is still a holiday. I will be spending a fair bit of cash if I see something which takes my eye and cannot wait to sample some decent quality food. Daegu lacks good Western restaurants and that's not something you can accuse Hong Kong of lacking.


And on top of my trip to Hong Kong I am going to squeeze a day trip to Macau. That's Macau - where the casinos take in more money than on the Las Vegas strip. Macau is just one hours travel from Hong Kong so time is no issue. I have never been inside a casino before and don't exactly know what to expect other than to come away a poorer man, money-wise. I think inside the buildings photography is prohibited but overall I hope to take some pictures on my holiday that have some essence of the time I spend there. The rain cannot dampen my enthusiasm for this trip out of Korea. Time to relax and enjoy myself.

13 months

Looking today at the mental countdown that I'm constantly running in my head, I have just three weeks to go before the Chuseok holidays and my trip off the peninsula. More importantly there are just thirteen months before I finally leave Korea. One of my co-workers told me today that he has 111 days left. Lucky him, but at least I'll be able to save quite a bit in the remaining months. The upcoming holiday is well needed and is timely. As for the future, it seems a long way off but is within touching distance. Will my sanity hold up or will something be forever lost in Korea?