Last Week...

With another week off before the new semester begins, I started looking for ways to fill up the time (that didn't involve watching TV). Having heard about a "Fire Festival" on Jeju Island, Stu and I rallied the troops and decided to head over for a weekend.

Since Ty had to work on Saturday morning (boooo!), I went over with Garrett and a girl, Victoria, who I'd met once over a year and a half ago, while I was living in Suncheon. She's back in Korea and I ended up discovering a new friend - sometimes, you just click, you know?

We arrived at the Gwangju airport with about 15 minutes to spare before our plane would leave.... only to discover that our tickets had been given to someone else. Frustrated (we'd ended up being led astray on the wrong bus, then taken a slow-ish taxi to the airport), we put our names on all the waiting lists for the next flights out. In an "Amazing Race"-type moment, we got on the next flight with, literally, 10 minutes to run through security and on to the plane. But, we made it:

Finally on the plane! Look how happy we are!

Stu and Ha-young were waiting for us at the Jeju airport with a rental car, and they brought us to our beach-side cottage. What a nice place to stay (okay, the three of us were sleeping on blankets on the floor, but still...), and a view of the ocean to greet us on Saturday morning.

View from the cottage...

Jeju is an island of fun fun fun.... so without much ado, we piled into the car and headed off to a big hedge maze. Hitting it at a run, we all scattered to get lost and found throughout, but eventually all made it to the end....

Garrett, Stu and Ha-young in the maze

and then we were off to the next event: ATV-ing!

Very high (and very chilly) winds made for an interesting wardrobe and a constant spray of dust and sand in our faces, but we still had a very good time. The ATVs were automatic, which made them so much easier to ride (no thinking of gears and such) and, unlike motorbikes, no balance required.

ATV-ing - lovely outfits, the whole gang parked on a hill, and my "after" pic, caked in dust.

We continued around the island to Seogwipo, and a brief walk on the rocks...

Stu in Seogwipo

...then a stand-up snack/lunch before going on to one of the most incredible places I've ever seen. The funny thing is that I'd been here last summer when I came with my motorbike, but had decided not to walk as far as we did this time. Had I stepped forward another few metres, I would have found these amazing sandstone cliffs....

In and on the cliffs...

It was absolutely magical - the cliffs have been carved out by wind and time, the water reaches right up to where you are walking, and every new turn reveals new formations and shapes to be wondered at. It was too cold to spent much time sitting around - but this is definitely a place I want to see again.

Stopping for coffee, we wondered if the fire festival would even happen. The winds were strong enough to knock us off our feet. We decided to go to the festival grounds to see if anything was happening, then decide from there. What is supposed to happen is this: A big huge hill is set on fire to prepare it for the new growing season - would it happen in strong winds?

We parked the car at the festival grounds and started walking - it was agonizingly cold and windy. Wrapped like mummies, we trucked down to the hill then, as our faces froze, decided that we were not going to wait around and headed back to Jeju City for supper (pizza - yay!) and a movie (Atonement - woooo). During supper, we found out that the burning had been canceled at the last minute, which made us feel a bit better for wimping out.

The next day, Stu, Ha-young and Victoria left to head back to the mainland, leaving me and Garrett with another (much less windy) day to kill until our ferry back to Mokpo. We'd decided to try to find the "Sex and Health Museum" -- as a popular Honeymoon destination, Jeju is full of rather sexy things, like erotic sculptures and the like. You know, there's nothing awkward at all about visiting a sex museum with a male friend... hahaha. I don't think that there are any pictures that I can actually show of my visit around the sex museum because, you know, my mom reads my blog.

Looking for the sex museum... Garrett poses with snow-capped Hallasan (Jeju's volcano) in the background.

After some shopping in and around Jeju City, we headed back to the ferry terminal and were pretty much first in line for the FIVE HOURS OF BONECRUSHING BOREDOM that is the Jeju-Mokpo ferry. It's always such a let-down after a fun weekend on Jeju. All the Koreans on board drink enough soju to sink a ship, then sing until they are hoarse. There are literally people crashing into you in the hallway as they stagger about. Sleep is next to impossible. But, you eventually get home...

And I did get home, but only for a grand total of 12 hours before I was running out the door to go to Busan to fill out an extra form for my new passport. Monday was mostly spent on the bus from Mokpo to Busan (imagine crossing an entire country from west to east for about $25 - still love the ease of transportation here). I was quite happy to be staying with my friend Kristin (Steve's girlfriend) and was over the moon to discover that she had another visitor, Kirsten, one of my friends from Suncheon who I hadn't seen in ages. We drank wine, ate chocolate and cheese and girl-talked until after midnight - what an awesome evening.

Tuesday was one of those cold, miserable, rainy days... and I was stuck with the daunting task of locating the Canadian Consulate. First, I had to take the subway for over an hour to the ass-end of nowhere, then wander around a desolate industrial area until I found a certain chemical factory, where the Canadian Consulate in Busan has office space. I was a bit like "What the--? How can *this* be the location of the Canadian Consulate???" (actually, the Americans don't even have another Consulate or Embassy outside of Seoul so, um, yay for Canada for taking care of its expats) Everyone was super friendly and helpful and as I left, the rain stopped and the sun came out...

by the way, Meron, I'm getting a 45-page passport because I filled my 24-page passport in only 2 years!!

That evening, Kirsten and I met up with my friend Jack for Indian food (ohhh yum) and hilarious conversation before heading off to the Paradise Hotel Casino to meet Kristin and some of her friends.

Right... a bit of background: There are casinos in Korea, but they cater only to foreigners. Korean citizens are not allowed to play there. It is pretty unfair. I'd say that they are mostly set up for Japanese and Chinese gamblers, but end up attracting a fair number of ESL teachers too. We had free drinks all night, and even free food and cigarettes too!

It had been a long time since I'd been in a casino (probably the old one in Niagara Falls, probably with Al, and probably playing roulette), and I was psyched! I started my evening by playing the slots, where I lost miserably. What a disappointment! So, Kirsten and I headed over to the $5 blackjack table, where Kristin was and just started watching....

... and left 4 hours later, having won back all the money we played and then some.

It was a fun evening - I'd never played blackjack in a casino before (too intimidating, especially when you are like, "Oh, I'm showing 15... umm... hit... no...stay... nooo... hit. Um, what do *you* think I should do?" to the dealer. We were helped along by Kristin (until she headed out, having to work the next day) and her other friends who told us when to hit, stay, double etc.

As I've been writing this out, it's occurred to me that I just had a wickedly awesome week of grown-up play. ATV-ing and blackjack and good food and good friends. I've gone from one end of Korea to the other (literally), I've enjoyed magical natural beauty and crazy sexy exhibits, I've met up with old friends and made new ones, I've been lost in a maze of hedges and a maze of paperwork, I've been hit by wind, rain, snow and sun, I've traveled by bus, car, subway, plane and ferry...

Yup. Two years here and I still feel blessed.