Chuseok in China: Part 1

The morning after I landed from my month-long trip to Europe, I checked my bank balance and noticed that I came in significantly under budget...so, I did what any sane person would do: Bought long-term, low-risk shares on the stock market, and started planning for my retirement.

...Is what I would say if I was the type of person to think of mature stuff like that. But nope, not this guy. It took me roughly 0.3 seconds to go from "SWEET! I have money!" to "Okay...where to next?"

Every fall, Korea has Chuseok, a kind of Korean Thanksgiving, for which we get about 5 days off...after a quick search, I noticed that while tickets to every destination around here were either booked or incredibly inflated, China was still affordable...so, after a long time of thinking it over (1.7 seconds, personal record), I booked tickets to Beijing...less than 24 hours after getting back to Korea.

My good pal Anthony thought this was a swell idea, and he bought tickets too, albeit for one day less than I was going to spend in Beijing.

So, when the day came, I got on the big jet plane and headed off to the land of the last major stronghold of Communism. After a pleasant flight, I got to Beijing and instead of paying for a taxi to get to my hostel, I decided to save as much money as possible and got on a bus. This was a great idea, until I got off way too early and found myself somewhere in the outskirts of Beijing, at night, without a decent map (the one I had with me was worthless as anything more than a coarse napkin). So, I stood there for a few minutes, contemplating which way to start off in, and desperately trying to somehow find where I was on the map.

Eventually, I saw a young Chinese woman and asked her. After much scratching of her head, and turning the map around and around, she declared that she had no idea where we were or where I was hoping to end up. Thankfully, her sister - who came to pick her up - knew where I was going and offered to drive me to my hostel. This was my awesome introduction to the people of China!

The next interaction was less than pleasant, as the surly woman with the perma-frown on her face at the hostel informed me that despite booking a bed in a 4-bed room, I was to be put in an 8-bed room and there was nothing I could do about it. Thankfully, the place was cheap, relatively clean and devoid of cockroaches, though equipped with the thinnest "mattress" I've ever had the displeasure of warping my spine on. Overall it ranked as mid-pack for the accommodations I've stayed in.

For the next part of this and the following posts, I'm going to be mixing up all sorts of random things/days, because, to be honest, I can't remember which day I did what.

The first day I spent walking around for 18 hours. Beijing is an awesome city, with tons of historical sights, parks and random interesting things to see. I went to countless parks and mini palaces where the royalty used to hang out, as well as a lamasery, and a few other random places. Admission was cheap to everything, and it all seemed to be in perfect shape. Despite what people think of communist countries oppressing the histories and religions of their people, China proudly displays its religious and historic roots.

Some of the places from my first day:

Beihai Park just outside of the Forbidden City:

Details of some art in Beihai Park (yellow tiles were a symbol that the building belonged to the Royal Family):

A woman in a traditional dress at one of the five pavilions of Jingshan Park (which used to be part of the Forbidden City, but is now separated by a road):

Detail of the inside of a pavilion (ceiling). It's incredible how much work they put into these things...from afar, they look similar to Buddhist buildings in Korea, but the Chinese counterparts are simply stunning...they have paintings on every surface...you could spend an hour looking at the different pictures and scenes in just one of the gazillions of pavilions:

A view of the Forbidden City from one of the pavilions in Jingshan Park:

One of my favourite sights: The 18 metre tall (about 60 feet, with an other 8 metres/25 feet being underground) statue of the Maitreya Buddha at the Yonghe Temple lamasery. The Lamasery was home to the highest ranks of royalty and religion for hundreds of years. The statue is carved out of a single piece of sandalwood! (Also, a bit of camera geekery...I really put my gear to the test...shot wide open at f2.8 with the ISO cranked to 6400 and I still had to push the shadows a stop or two...very happy with my camera/lens!!)

Burning incense at the temple:

Random Chinese playing a card game in the shade on the street:

Finally, a picture of a hutong. Hutongs are alleyways which, apparently, used to criss-cross Beijing everywhere, but are starting to disappear. Everyone I've talked to and every guide book I read implored me to go check them out. So I did. I wasn't blown away. They're alleys...maybe I'm missing something, but big whoop. Either way...here's a shot of one:








Random picture...here is some unique street food in China...including live scorpions, which get dipped in hot oil, deep fried and served:

Back to communism in China....it's not what most people have in mind. It's more of a capitalist communism, or a state-run capitalism. Gone are the hundreds of millions of people riding basic, single-speed bikes (available in any colour you want as long as you like black), gone are the simple outfits of the proletariat and gone are the middle-aged men with weathered faces reading the People's Daily and having a smoke during a quick break from their 14 hour shifts at the tractor factory. Say hello, instead, to luxury cars, name-brand western clothing and shopping streets filled with retailers for everything from Canon to Burger King and Armani. This, I have to admit, was a disappointment.

There is something profoundly ironic about a billion people paying for McDonald's with bills still bearing Mao Tse-tung's picture.

Speaking of which, the first night I was in Beijing I headed off to Tiananmen Square. Here, you look around you and you are surrounded by centuries of incredible history. Mao Tse-tung's embalmed corpse is supposedly on display a few steps away (though apparently there is at least one body double that gets put on display, so you never know whether you're looking at the real Mao or a wax figure), the chunk of pavement where the infamous "Tank Guy" (the Chinese man who stood in front of the tanks in the '80s) stood, and, of course, the entrance to the beautiful and legendary Forbidden City, known as The Gate of Heavenly Peace, which has been adorned with a massive and iconic picture of Chairman Mao for decades.

I have to admit, it was much more beautiful than I was expecting:

But don't let the colourful lights and pretty flowers fool you...the Army still has an unmistakable presence there:

Okay...this entry turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated...so I'm going to wrap it up here, since on my first day I headed back from Tiananmen Square to my hostel and hit the hay...check back soon for more entries on the rest of the trip!

Cheerio!
T

Hiking scenic Hwawangsan on a random Thursday...

Yesterday (Thursday), I had the day off because Korean high school students had their SATs. Why I, as a middle school English teacher, get the day off is a mystery to me, but one I don't question. When they tell me I get a day off I thank them, smile and get the heck out of there as quickly as possible, before they change their minds.

So, after a hearty breakfast, I set course for Miryang and parts beyond. Miryang is a beautiful city that's actually built on an island at the intersection of two rivers. I've been there before, but not in the last year or so. My route there was going to take me past Cheongyeong (about 40km from where I live).

However, I usually get sidetracked on random roadtrips, and that was the case this time as well. A few kilometres out of Cheongyeong I saw signs for "Hwawangsan County Park." Knowing nothing about the place was reason enough for me to investigate further.

I parked the car partway up the hill by a beautiful Buddhist temple, grabbed my camera, tripod and a couple of extra lenses and took off...completely unprepared.

Now, before I go any further, I should point out that hiking is a massively popular activity with the 35-95 year old crowds in Korea. This, for the most part, is a wholly awesome passion of the Korean people. It keeps them active and fit, and compels them to explore their surroundings. Hiking trails are absolutely everywhere in this country, which is pretty cool too.

Of course, as is the case with many things in Korea, they go all out. Your average Korean hiker will have easily $1,000 worth of hiking gear on him or her. Hiking clothing and backpacks are not only expensive, they're fashionable...it's interesting, that's for sure.

The not so great part of the equation is that Koreans aren't the most environmentally conscious nation, when it comes to littering. This means that when you go hiking, you're constantly looking at discarded beer and soju (hard liquor) bottles, candy wrappers, empty bags, and the like. It's kind of sad. Finally, there's the noise. Koreans are the most cellphone obsessed people I have ever encountered. In addition, especially the older women (who are very fond of hiking) have this weird habit of absolutely screaming into their phones, like they think they have to yell clear across town for the recipient to hear them. Unfortunately, they carry this habit up to the mountains, where you'll be happily enjoying some scenic view, only to have your relaxation shattered by some cheesy ringtone, followed by 5 minutes of yelling). They also love to bring personal radios with crappy speakers cranked to the max with them. This one bugs the hell out of me as well...but...enough of that. Back to the story.

So, there I am...at this temple (dating back over 1,000 years, but as per usual nothing but a few stones remain after a few Japanese invasions, which reduced most of Korea's treasures to smouldering heaps of ash and rubble time and time again).

After checking out the temple (by the way, that's a Buddhist monk or understudy or something of the sort walking across the courtyard), I headed for the mountains: the rocky formations you see in the background.

I was utterly unprepared for the hike, as I left that morning thinking I'm just going for a relaxing riverside stroll. So, there I was in my wel- worn Nikes, Dockers pants, polo shirt and no water or food, weighed down with all manner of camera equipment. However, I have to say it's very satisfying passing scores of hikers outfitted in the latest, greatest and most expensive of gear up massive hills, while I'm dressed like I'm ready to go bowling around the corner or something.

The first bit of the hike was very chill, but at about the two-thirds mark, the trail changed abruptly from meandering through the forest to steep ascents over all manner of rocks. Throughout most of it, you just had to guess where the trail was, and it was an awesome leg workout, as time and again you had to basically put your leading leg up on the next ledge, and power yourself up...it was awesome. Then...it got too sketchy for even that, and hikers were met with ropes strung between metal stakes drilled into the ground. The idea is that you pretty much have to pull yourself up with your hands as much as you push yourself with your legs. Definitely a workout. Looking out from the odd clearings you could tell that you were basically going up at the edge of a sheer rock wall. The trail was to continue along the ridge of the mountain, with big drop-offs on either side.

Then, I got to the top. I was thoroughly unprepared for what was about to greet me. As I ascended the final few feet, I felt the wind blowing over the ridge, it was a surreal feeling. Then, as I started walking along the ridge, I had to be constantly careful that, in my quest to get a nice view, I don't fall off one of the massive cliffs. It was beautiful and just a bit scary at the same time. I didn't take a lot of photos because, unfortunately, the sky was incredibly hazy.

However, here's part of the trail on the ridge:

Soon, I reached the peak, at 754m:

From there on, the downhill hike was much easier, but more confusing. The leaves having just fallen, most of the trails were completely covered with leaves, and it was pretty much impossible to tell where the trail actually was. A few times I was merely relying on the fact that I was going downhill to assure myself that I wasn't getting hopelessly lost.

After a while, however, I bumped into another one of these things that makes you take a deep breath and think to yourself "Yep...this is why I moved to Asia. I'll never see anything like this in Canada."

Up on the top of a cliff of sorts is a roughly 1,300 year old statue of Buddha, carved out of granite. How they got it up there more than a millennium ago is both baffling and impressive:

And this was the view from the rocks on the right of that cliff:

And the view from where the statue is: (this is incredible, by the way...there are about three garbage cans in the entire country...they just HAD to put one right next to a 1,000+ year old statue to ruin the whole feel...makes sense, right?):

The temple was a short walk away (all downhill too! wheeee) from the statue. There, after bumming around and giving my legs a bit of a break, I hopped into my car and headed homeward bound. Of course, I had to sidetrack a few times. I found a couple of really cool temples...both fairly close to Hwawangsan Park.

This one was a little different than most in Korea...the overwhelming light blue colour was amazing! And the writing definitely wasn't Korean or Chinese either...I think this temple has more of a south Asian influence:

And my trusty little car:

Finally, just before the sun set, I found an awesome little hidden temple. What was cool about this (among other things like a ton of flowers in full bloom...in November!!...was a circular pathway in front of the temple. I'm not sure what the significance of it is (I'm guessing it's some sort of Chinese influence), but it's a very rare motif in Korea, most of the walkways lead straight from the gate to the main doors of the temple:

After that, I headed home and relaxed for the rest of the night! :)

All in all, an awesome Thursday! I gotta say this for Korea...I love that I can drive a short distance (I think from my house to the park is roughly 40 km, maybe less), and bump into a random park that gives me beautiful views, a great workout and a bit of cultural and religious insight into the country! It's experiences like this that make this whole living-halfway-around-the-world thing such a amazing journey!

Have a great weekend, everyone!
T

Ulsan: More than just the Hyundai factory and Tongyeong revisited

Hi everybody!!!! (Hi Dr. Nick)...

Been a while again, but I finally have some new stuff to share with you guys...

A few weeks ago my good friend Karabeth and I headed to Ulsan, a major city on the east coast of South Korea. Ulsan is mostly known for having a massive Hyundai car factory there. I think it may be the largest car factory in the country!

Because of this, I have heard that Ulsan is generally not much to look at and suffers from pollution, etc, so I haven't had much of a desire to go there. But then, I found out about a neat little beach called Islan Beach, which has an awesome neighbouring park!

So, KB and I packed our cameras and on a beautiful, warm fall Saturday spent 3 hours on buses to arrive at Ilsan Beach. For those of you who follow my blog and/or live in Korea, Ilsan Beach is like a mini Haeundae or Gwangalli in Busan. Beautiful smooth sand, nice little bay, and tons of small restaurants and coffee shops and the like. Ilsan was a little deserted this time of the year, but still great to walk around at. I thought it would be the perfect place to snap some shots! (And try out my new Light Craft Workshop Fader II variable Neutral Density filter). My first shot of the day at Ilsan Beach:

After walking the beach, we hit up a massive park just down the coast. The scenery changes from smooth sand to cliffs and rocks and paths through the forest. It's a beautiful place, we walked and took pictures until well after dark and still only covered about half the park. We're definitely going to be returning there! The day was kind of hazy and overcast, so I didn't get as many shots as I was hoping, but still got some decent stuff:

At night, we walked down the hill back to Ilsan Beach and got some great views along the way:

Another 3.5 hours on buses and we were home...definitely going back, though! I'm sure not all of Ulsan is scenic, but this corner is definitely worth visiting and re-visiting!

In other random news, I got myself a car!! A sweet 1997 Kia Sephia II with only 100,000 km on the clock. It runs like a dream...perfect little gas-sipping road trip machine:

I miss riding motorbikes, they're definitely fun, but I'm a car guy first and foremost...I tried looking for a bike I can register/insure/ride legally and that's almost impossible around here for the kind of bikes (small engine cruisers) I was looking at. After 5 or 6 false starts (people claiming they have all the proper paperwork, but they don't), I gave up and got a sweet deal on this little guy...I'm stoked...it's really letting me explore more and get out to places less travelled...such as this little waterfall I found near Jindong (Masan). I was sitting at the edge of the rocks and noticed that since the water was coming in at the corner of the pool (rather than in the middle like it usually does with waterfalls), it was making the water swirl...which, when photographed with a long exposure, made the leaves leave a swirly pattern...it was pretty cool...I also took a setup shot because I like them...the setup:

And the final result:

Later that day, I headed to a county park near my house for some night shots (something I've really missed doing, and something that's pretty much impossible without a car in a country like Korea)...still a little too much light pollution (need to get farther out in the country), but I'm pretty happy with it:

Finally, last weekend, I revisited an old favourite: Tongyeong. You guys might remember it from last year:

And:

Tongyeong is a gorgeous little coastal town, with ferries going to all sorts of places, and miles and miles of seaside walkways. In fact, the walkway above had either been extended or they connected two previously independent walkways, but now you can walk for HOURS along this coast path. It's really cool, there are tons of people fishing, walking, families out for strolls, bike rides, etc. More than a few times it reminded me of the Seawall walkway in Vancouver's Stanley Park...which is an awesome comparison, considering it's one of Vancouver's gems.

Tongyeong is always a good time, for a small town it has tons of scenic beauty, and even after having been there half a dozen times, I've never been bored or disappointed.

Unfortunately, by the time I got there on Saturday, it was crappy and overcast, but I managed to get some half-decent shots...same hotel, different view:

The mini island in the above picture (with the water washing over it) is the little rock just to the left of the fishermen in this one):

Finally, when the sun had one down, the sky cleared up a bit, so I got some half-decent colours at the last second...(I have a behind the scenes shot of this as well, I'll put that up later tonight):

And finally, the last shot of the evening, before the light pretty much disappeared:

Well, that's it from me for now...work's been really good, had my annual training (and came away with some stuff I'm hoping to use in the classroom), and I'm gearing up to do my open class, where a bunch of head honchos will come in and decide if they want to keep me on for another year.

I'm not a fan of having to put on a fake show for ONE class, and that deciding my fate (rather than the sum of all my actions throughout the year, every class of every day), but that's how things are done here, so that's how I shall play. I'm hoping to sign one more contract (it will be my third and last one)...so far, the school is already talking about when I should take my bonus vacation for re-signing, and they're telling me to get my medical done (needed for a new contract), so I'm pretty sure everyone wants to see my pretty smiling face back here next year and it's more or less a done deal, and the open class is just a formality. Still, I'm going to dazzle the pants off them with this class!

Thanks for reading, and have a great day, everyone!

T

I finally make it to the Land of the Rising Sun!

Since the day I got to Korea I've been meaning to head to Japan, it being the closest country to where I am (Hitakatsu City on Tsushima Island is a mere 1 hour 10 minutes from Busan), but, for a multitude of reasons it's never quite happened...until this weekend.

Here's a random picture to start us off with...star trails over a lighthouse in Izuhara, Tsushima Island, Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan:



Back to the story...two weekends ago, on a whim, I reserved my ferry tickets, packed my backpack and headed to Busan at the crack o' dawn (getting up at 5:30 on a Saturday sucks). In Busan, after thinking for some minutes about abandoning the trip since the weather looked gloomy and ready to start pouring any minute, I paid for my ticket, got my precious passport stamp and boarded the hydrofoil boat that was to take me to Japan.

The trip itself is pretty cool, the boat rises mostly out of the water (except for a couple of rudder-like winglets) and bounces across the sea on top of the waves! And before you know it (or a can of Mountain Dew and some Paris Baguette pastries later), you're in Japan.

Japan was kind enough to let me get my only negative experience of the whole weekend out of the way as soon as I set foot on its soil. When I got up to immigration - I was the only white guy on the boat -, the immigration officers singled me out while everyone else was allowed to continue on without being bothered. They let loose with a game of 100 Sinister Questions while requesting that I dump the entire contents: food, drinks, camera equipment, clothes, etc. of my backpack on the counter. They asked me about everything, including - I'm not making this up - about 3 or 4 follow up questions upon the discovery of my $1 emergency rain poncho. My strawberry strudels also got about as much scrutiny from the young fellow as would be befitting a semi-automatic rifle. At one point, the officer found my map (on which I had hotels highlighted) and acted as if he had just discovered a plot to destroy the world by some sort of James Bond movie villain. After an intimate spread-your-arms-and-legs-and-let-me-rub-you-all-over, I was once again on my way to discover this great land of the Far East!

But wait...what's this? "Excuse me, sir...Japanese Police," said the cute little man with the neato little arm-band declaring that he is, indeed, a badass cop. I looked back. I had made it exactly 3 steps out of the customs building. Of course none of the Koreans and Japanese who had come before and after me got this special treatment. Another quick game of 20 questions and I was - finally - free to roam around.

I had decided to explore the little town of Hitakatsu first and immediately discovered two things. 1: you'd think that getting used to traffic going the opposite way would be easy, right? You just look the other way...NO! It's not. The entire two days I was there I kept freaking out that "OH MY GOD, THAT CAR'S COMING RIGHT AT US!!!" and then realizing that we were indeed in a different lane. It was very trippy. 2: The cars are...AWESOME!!! The Japanese have a serious fondness for small, boxy, often odd-looking wagon-type cars. Those of you who know me, know that for me that's like waving a steroids-filled needle in front of Lance Armstrong...I go crazy over the stuff!! (Sorry...too soon?) I was in car heaven.

Still, I left the pavement playground and started up a 1 km long hike where they had nearly 100 little Buddhist statues/shrines and some cool views of Hitakatsu itself. Also, this gave me the chance of crossing my first ever authentic Torii - traditional gate - in Japan.

Typical shrine/statue...leaving coins and drinks (often soft drinks, such as the popular Pocari Sweat) seemed to be the prevailing theme:

The hike revealed a few things: the little statues are neat...and the island is infested with MASSIVE yellow/black spiders. Seriously...these things are huge and they're everywhere. I ended up doing most of the hike by waving a long stick in front of me to get the spiderwebs which criss-crossed the path. If the spiders won't freak you out, the massive bugs will. A few times I saw something take flight from the bushes beside me and thought "cool...a sparrow!" only to be shocked when I realized it was a bug. Praying mantises are the size of dogs. I could go on for hours, but you get the idea.

After that, I boarded a bus for the 2.5 hour journey through beautiful mountains and farmlands to the island's main city: Izuhara.

There's not much to Izuhara, but it's a friendly little town built around an inlet that reminded me a lot of the small towns on Vancouver Island - where I am from -, so I was very happy. I bummed around and found a few cool places, left behind from the time some greedy lords ruled the land as far as the eye could see. Most notable were the castle ruins/gardens and the graveyard, both of which are roughly 400 years old. The graveyard is behind a Buddhist Temple which, as luck would have it, was holding a once-a-year lantern festival that night.  The festival was modest, but still cool to be part of in a historically significant - if only on a local level - place.

The steps leading up to 400-year-old burial places...each lit up with a candle (part of the once-a-year festival):

One of the shrines (built circa 1630):

I spent the rest of the day wandering around, exploring the town and realized that the people were incredibly polite and friendly. In Korea, I've sadly grown used to people not saying hello when I say hello to them (if I get a half-hearted grunt, I bask in the sweet glow of triumph and brotherhood), they rarely say thank you and never say you're welcome at stores, for example, etc. In Japan, however, it was the opposite...complete strangers said hello and smiled when they walked by me. Upon buying stuff from stores, the people were always very cordial and polite, lots of smiling, thanking and bowing...it was a breath of fresh air. However, the crowning moment that showed the niceness of the people on the island came when I was standing in front of one of the many, many pop vending machines, trying to figure out what to buy. A gentleman to my left was buying his drink, then he bought another one, smiled, gave it to me, got in his car, waved and left.

After a day's wandering, I anchored down at a lighthouse at the end of a breakwater where I took a few pictures (including the one at the start of this entry) and spent about half the night (sleeping against the lighthouse)...at about 2-3 a.m., the wind got pretty dang cold, so I moved camp over to a park bench, because I'm classy like that. I figured it's one of the last nice, warm weekends of the year, I might as well spend it out in the fresh air, and this allowed me to save a few bucks (accommodation - like food - is much more expensive in Japan than in Korea).

The next day, I boarded an early bus back to Hitakatsu, and decided to get off about halfway through and wander around a little seaside town (whose name I'm still not sure of). It had everything I've been missing: a quiet, peaceful atmosphere, fresh air, warm breeze, plenty of sunshine. I wandered up the highway to a little cove that I had all to myself...where I sat down and read my book.

Some of the scenery in and near that little town...The local school (on the left), about half the village (across the water) and a sports dome (on the far right):

The view from the harbour...absolutely loved it!!!:

Random...one of the many places (about a 30 min walk out of the town above along a beautiful, winding highway) I settled down to read for an hour or so:

A good place to chill for a little bit:

In all honesty, Tsushima Island has very little in the way of tourist attractions or anything that I could really point to and say "You must go there."

However, it was the perfect place to see beautiful mountains, clear water, friendly people and a quiet place - or half a dozen - where I could sit down and read my book. Korea is a very loud country, where it's rather difficult to just get away from it all, especially if you don't have your own means of transportation.


Tsushima, on the other hand, was the perfect place to just wander around aimlessly, find a quiet spot, enjoy a snack, read a book and watch the blue ocean, green mountains and blue sky. It felt like a small town in all the right ways. I'd say it's a perfect little weekend getaway from the hustle, bustle and noise of Korea!

Sayonara!
T

List of ferries from Korea to Japan, including contact phone numbers and emails

Many of us in South Korea are interested in travelling to nearby nations, the most easily accessible being Japan. For those of us living in or near Busan, there are many options to take a ferry to the Land of the Rising Sun, but the information is not always readily available.

Months ago I researched all this and wrote it down on several pieces of scrap paper, but I thought it'd be useful for my future reference (as well as anyone else's) if I wrote it down somewhere where it would be easily accessible from anywhere in the world. So...here is a list of ferries that go from South Korea (Busan) to Fukuoka and Tsushima Island in Japan.

Some of this information may be incorrect and for that I apologize, but, as of a few months ago all of the phone numbers and websites worked. I have also included some prices, though I imagine they vary depending on the time of year, etc, so I'm attaching them to be used as a rough guide only. Please don't base your once-in-a-lifetime travel decision on this blog entry alone (in case some of the information has changed), but I do hope it can help you.

1. Miraejet / JR Kyushu hydrofoil fast boat from Busan to Fukuoka. Takes about 2 hours each way, runs 4-5 times a day
    from each port. Costs roughly 300,000 KRW both ways.
   Contact: mirejet.com or kobee.co.kr   or  051-247-0255 or 051-411-8200

2. Korea Ferry from Busan to Fukuoka. Takes 7.5 hours to go to Japan, 5.5 hours to return.
    Contact: koreaferry.co.kr     or     051 466 7799

3. Mirejet ferry to Izuhara on Tsushima Island. Takes 1 hour and 40 minutes. About 170,000 KRW both
    ways.
   Contact: kobee.co.kr      or      051-247-0255

4. JR Kyushu Ferry to Hitakatsu on Tsushima Island. Takes 1 hour and 10 minutes, runs daily. Costs about
    150,000 KRW for both ways. Leaves Busan at 9 a.m., leaves Japan at 4 p.m.
    Contact: jrbeetle.co.jp      or     051-469-0778

5. Ferry to Shimonoseki, Japan (2 hours by bus from Fukuoka). I believe this ferry takes roughly 8 hours
    each way. It leaves Busan daily at 8 p.m., leaves Shimonoseki daily at 7:30 p.m. Cost is roughly 200,000
    KRW for both ways. Tickets have to be bought minimum 2-3 hours in advance.
    Contact: 051-464-2700

Cheers,
T

Typhoon Sanba blows through Korea...

Yesterday we had the first real typhoon blow through South Korea since I've been here. Others have tried, but until now they had all been downgraded to tropical storms or tropical depressions before they made landfall in Korea.

However, this one started out as a Category 5 (highest possible...winds around 300 km/h) a couple of days before it reached Korea and, while it decreased to a Cat 1 (winds of around 150 km/h) by the time it go to Korea, Typhoon Sanba managed to hit us square on as a real storm.

According to forecasters, parts of Korea were looking at 400 mm (that's about 13 inches for those of you still stuck in the Middle Ages) of rain due to the storm, about 100 mm of it falling within 2 hours. For comparison, New York City (picked a city at random) gets a total of around 1,200 mm of rain in A YEAR.

While all students and some teachers got the day off work, others had to go in to "protect the school," an idea that's utterly insane. I'm not sure how a few dozen people are supposed to protect a massive building from 150+ km/h winds, but forcing employees to commute through a typhoon, then hang around an empty school only to commute back in a city where streets, etc were flooding is one of the dumbest ideas I've heard in a long time...especially since even the official government line was to advise people to stay indoors and stay put.

Anyhoo, I was one of the lucky ones who got to spend Monday at home...like the nerd I am, I was well prepared...I taped/cardboarded my windows. The cardboard helps prevent small debris from cracking/chipping the window and the tape helps hold the window together and prevents large chunks of glass from exploding into your apartment in case it gets smashed.

Typhoon Sanba hit us at around mid-morning on September 17, and peaked at roughly 11:30 a.m., when I took this video out of my apartment building's window:

Thankfully, I have not heard any reports of major damage and during my post-typhoon walk and motorbike ride through Masan, I didn't see anything more serious than stuff that was thrown around and branches down. For a while, though, parts of Masan did flood..this is in the old downtown (Dekkori) area...I'm not sure who took the photo, it's been circulating in local foreigner circles:

The canal near my house usually looks like this:

However, yesterday I realized that the canals around here were not designed only for monsoons (as I had believed for a year and a half), but rather for typhoons as well...yesterday it came dangerously close to flooding! (Thanks to Simon for the photos):

and

It takes an unbelievably immense amount of water to fill that canal!!!

This morning, however, the canal is back down to its normal size, and herons are once again fishing happily in its shallow depths!

One awesome thing about the typhoon was that the water it brought with it made for some truly wicked temporary waterfalls. So, as soon as the weather cleared, I headed for the Bongam reservoir and shot some pictures...

And:

I'm not a fan of bugs, but I like shooting anything interesting...so I had to take a couple pics of this massive Praying Mantis devouring some other bug...nasty...but cool.

In other news...I passed the 18 month mark in Korea last week and I have to say, it filled me with happiness. It's been a great year and a half in Korea, I've accomplished a lot (debt free, work experience), travelled a ton, met a huge number of amazing people, etc. I'm hoping to be here for another year and a half, then likely off to Europe for a year or back to Canada for a bit.

Anyways...I should go...my school managed to escape major damage, but upon entering my classroom this morning (it's on the top floor), I noticed a sizable lake in the middle of the floor...this should be fun!

Cheers,
T