Recently in Vacation Category

DSC_3449, originally uploaded by briancolella.

Pictured above is Agra Fort, where we briefly stopped after the Taj Mahal before driving back to Delhi.

The next morning we woke a little later and headed back over to Connaught Place (the 'nice' British-themed are of Delhi) where our tour guide was located, to see about our train tickets to Varanasi. We had to check out of our hotel since our plan was to take the overnight train and thus we had no lodging, so we had all our bags with us. Since Paula had just finished her year in Korea and had to bring all her stuff with her, this was a little more than could be comfortably hauled around while strolling and sightseeing. So, we arrived at our tour guide's office around noon.

DSC_2987, originally uploaded by briancolella.

Hong Kong! On the way to India, we had a long layover in Hong Kong and we took advantage of it to get out and walk around the city a little bit. It was me, Hilary, and Paula, and we had a great time. The weather was super hot and we were sweating like crazy but we went on the longest outdoor escalator in the world (allegedly) and stopped in a Mexican place for margaritas. We also went to the zoological garden and saw monkeys hanging about (literally). We also stopped into a Hong Kong diner to get some food - real Chinese food! And dropped by the waterfront to see some amazing views.

Read on for the real adventure - India

Drunk Korean salute, originally uploaded by briancolella.

The weekend (Oct. 2-3) after GEPIK training was the weekend of Chuseok, the Korean version of Thanksgiving, and Hilary and I decided to go with Global Campus on a 2-day trip they were hosting. I didn't even know where we were going with them until we were already on the way, but we had no other plans and a 4-day weekend.

The trip was cool, we met mostly interesting people from around Gyeonggi-do (the province we're in) and had a pretty good time. Pictured above is a drunk/crazy Korean guy who joined us at the Gapyeong Bus Station, sang "Amazing Grace" and then followed us all the way to the Nami Island ferry. Our leader "J" tried to get rid of him by threatening to call the cops, and the man responded "I am a cop." Good times.

jinju panorama, originally uploaded by briancolella.

Both Ryley and I were ready to go home after the baseball game in Busan, and if we hadn't had a Korean, one of Ryley's coworkers, meeting us in Jinju, we probably would've done just that. As it was, Ryley had promised we'd meet up and visit them. 

Not knowing how else to get there, we went back to the Nopo-dong bus terminal, even though it was at the northeast side of Busan and we wanted to go northwest, and we got ourselves on a bus headed to Jinju. The teacher from Ryley's school, Mr. Pak (Park, if you wanna take liberties), picked us up with his wife and took us to Jinju castle, a large fortress and palace stretching out along the river in downtown Jinju. Neither of them really spoke English very well, but they were nice and dropped us off at Jinju castle to wander for an hour and a half and then rendezvous with them to go home. At this point, I didn't know where they lived, but I assumed it was in town. 

Lotte fans, originally uploaded by briancolella.

We returned to Busan exhausted from our voyage and unsure of where we were going, all we knew is we wanted to sleep, and we wanted to do it close to the baseball stadium. We headed, with Cyril, to the nearest subway station, and there we parted ways. He had thought maybe he'd want to go with us to the baseball game, but after the boat ride he was ready to just go straight home.

We took the subway to the stop nearest the baseball stadium, and commenced to walk around there looking for a hotel. No luck. With all our bags, we didn't want to spend too much time walking so we hopped in a PC room for a bit and scoped out the situation. The stop we were at was called Sajik, and two stops away there was a stop called Yeonsan-dong, where there were a lot of hotels, according to the internets. We hauled our stuff back to the station and got on the train. 

Hallim Park Waterfall, originally uploaded by briancolella.

Friday on Jeju was a bit less eventful. I bought some cheap swimming trunks and a towel, and took my first ice cold shower in the bathhouse, then headed over to the nearby tourist information center to ask about the ferry and the alleged typhoon. So far, the weather had been fantastic and looked like it would continue that way. It was so hot out and I was mildly sunburned already, so I suggested we go into the nearby park and see the caves that were there. Apparently, Hallim Park, across the street from our campsite, has the largest lava tube network in the world, at a total length of 17km, at least that's what the brochure said.

We headed in and wandered our way through the various gardens and other attractions in the park, trying to take as much advantage of shade as I could. We finally got to the entrance of the caves and realized that we could only walk through two caves.

Hyeopjae beach arrival, originally uploaded by briancolella.

I'm gonna try something new and put more pictures in the actual post here rather than just linking to them. Hopefully you like it.

We stepped off the boat in Jeju City at around 6am, took a quick glance at a map of the island to confirm our destination and then went about getting ourselves there. Not knowing how to get a bus or what bus to get, we chose to take taxi. It was definitely the easiest choice given our state of little rest and our huge backpacks, but not the cheapest. Arriving at the beach just before 7, the taxi ride cost us about 25,000W. Split between the two of us this wasn't so bad, considering we didn't plan to go back until Saturday, and we thought by then we'd figure out how to bus it. 

Bye Busan, See You Again, originally uploaded by briancolella.

We get on the boat and first thing head to our sleeping quarters to deposit our bags before exploring the boat. We've got a small room that's supposed to fit ten men sleeping on the floor, and the ferry provided blankets and little rectangular "pillows." We only saw one of our cabin-mates on the first trip in, an older Korean guy, maybe in his 40's. After setting down our packs and resting for a minute, we left the room once the boat started to move, to watch Busan drift away.

We also took a quick tour of the boat, a three-deck affair with a bar, singing rooms, and a "restaurant." still, there wasn't much to see and the tour only lasted a few minutes. We noticed the 3rd class passengers in their giant open space and were glad we spent the extra few thousand to get a closed room with only a few other people. We spent quite some time out on the side of the boat enjoying the lovely view of the shipping and industrial district all around us, and then bought a couple beers and went to the back of the boat to sit on some metal steps. Truly, we were cruising in luxury. 

Busan panorama, originally uploaded by briancolella.

After maybe an hour and a half on the bus, we pulled into a lot and everyone got off, so we followed. Getting off the bus the driver let us get our bags and charged us 14,000W for the bus ride. Everyone else got on another bus so I tried to continue following them, but the driver stopped me and informed me they were all going to Daegu and Busan bus was elsewhere. At that point he indicated what I realized was a quite large bus terminal that I hadn't noticed before, so pleased with our results we headed in.

We stopped at the bathroom really quick, taking turns at the only western-style toilet they had and then we bought tickets for Busan and headed outside to wait. We had an hour until our bus but we also had all our stuff with us, so we passed the time by using our Korean-English dictionaries to translate as many things as we could. Finally the bus came and we headed to Busan, following the east coast of Korea for a lot of it, so there was nice scenery, but I slept through quite a bit of it.

The bus got us to Busan, but we didn't quite realize it right away. We had passed a tollgate I saw was called Nopo-dong, but Ryley's guidebook didn't say anything about that being the place we'd arrive at. I asked the bus-driver "Busan?" and he nodded so we got our stuff and stood around awkwardly for a bit until the bus drove away, and then we were sure we had to do something else there. We went inside and once inside the station we saw signs for the subway and a sign saying "Welcome to Busan," and we knew we were good. The thing about Nopo-dong is that it's the end of one of the lines, so when the bus was approaching it we couldn't see Busan or really anything that looked like a city, and it seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere. 

soraksan panorama, originally uploaded by briancolella.

After I finished teaching on Friday I left school almost immediately, and I headed home to finish packing for our vacation trip and get a haircut. I had also been tasked by Ryley to get some mosquito repellent. For the trip, Ryley had lent me a big camping-style backpack to use, and I packed that as well as a small backpack to carry around during the day with my camera bag tucked inside and some books and such. Barney picked me up around 2:45 or so and once I loaded up we grabbed Ryley from his apartment and hit the road headed east for Sokcho. Sokcho is on Korea's eastern coast and lies between Soraksan, the biggest mountain on the Korean mainland(?), and the ocean. Our plan was to get to Sokcho as soon as possible, settle in, and then have an early night and hike the mountain in the morning.

We drove straight from Maseok to Sokcho, and once in Sokcho we cruised around a bit until we found a decent area to stay and then we began checking out hotels. We found one with a suitable room and an agreeable price, and not only that but the lady working the desk pointed out a nearby buffet for only 5,500W all-you-can-eat. We dropped our stuff in the room and headed to the buffet for dinner, which actually had some decent food plus ice cream and shikhye, a Korean rice drink that's really sweet and delicious. Back in the hotel room we rested and watched TV for a bit before heading out for a short walk before going to sleep. Our walk led us to an E-Mart, and we decided to stop there and get some snacks and food for breakfast and hiking in the morning, to save time before going to the mountain. Barney decides to get a watermelon and loaded down with groceries we decide it's time to head back to the hotel and sleep.

In the morning we head towards the mountain, parking around 7:45 and then we walk for about 40 minutes until we get to the park area where the trails start. We started discussing where we wanted to go, thinking we could hike to the peak and then take the cable car back down. There were two Korean dudes in front of us who apparently understood us and they turned around and informed us that the hike to the peak was a 7-hour hike one way, and the cable car didn't go there, so we'd have to make the 7-hour hike back down, and it being already almost 9am that would bring us back down around 11pm, so there was no chance of that. They suggested an alternate hike that would be interesting and not too long, and gave us one of their maps of the mountain to use.

Downtown Maseok, originally uploaded by briancolella.

When Nouth and I were first informed that we'd be teaching summer camp, they told us it would be a four week camp. We'd two two weeks with first grade and then two weeks with second grade, and that would take our entire summer vacation. We figured that wouldn't really be fun at all, so we said we could do both first and second grade at the same time and do 2 weeks and then have 2 weeks off. After a little deliberation, they agreed to this, and they also agreed to let us leave as soon as we were done teaching, as long as we made a lesson plan for every day we left before 4:30. Since Nouth lives in Pyeongnae and it takes her about 20 minutes by bus to school, she wanted to start at 9am like regular classes during the semester, instead of the proposed 8:30. They also agreed to this, and told us we'd be teaching from 9 until 12:30, and then we'd be free to go.

After the teacher workshop trip and a lazy weekend, we were back at school on Monday to start summer camp. We started at 9 and I had the first graders for the first two periods, and then we'd switch and I'd teach second for third and fourth period. there were about 12-14 first graders and 7-9 second graders.