Beautiful beaches, turquoise ocean, nightlife, cheap shopping and pure relaxation. 10 days in Indonesia with some of my best friends from university sounded like the perfect way to spend my summer holiday, and it was
It only took one night sleeping on the floor of the Incheon airport and one night in Kuala Lumpur and we were finally in paradise, or in Bali at least. After a long semester teaching English in South Korea myself and three friends were more than excited to head off on an island holiday and meet up with three university friends who are living in Hong Kong - and Indonesia did not disappoint. Indonesia is a really interesting, beautiful and exotic country, the archipelago is made up of 17,508 islands and we only managed to see three of them but the beauty that we saw definitely left me wanting to see more.
Bali is probably one of the most touristy islands in Indonesia because it has established itself as a cheap holiday destination for Australasian and Asian travelers. We definitely had an enjoyable time there as did many of the other travelers we encountered but it sure is a busy place with thousands of scooters zooting through the narrow one-way streets and stalls selling anything and everything packed along every street.
You usually will fly into the Airport at Denpasar and head off to some other part of the island from there. The cheapest place to stay is in the Kuta area which is definitely the most bustling section of Bali. You can stay right on the famous Poppies Lane (although there is a Poppies Lane 1 and Poppies Lane 2 so don’t get confused when trying to find your way back to your hotel) or in one of the small allies off the sides of Poppies for remarkably cheap. We were lucky enough to find a cheap hotel online that was a little ways away from the hustle and bustle of Poppies lane but still a close walk into the excitement and if you are travelling to Bali I would certainly recommend the Bakung Sari Hotel in Kuta as a great budget place to stay for travelers looking to save some money, they have a pool and they throw in breakfast which includes strong Balinese coffee which is a great bonus.
There are many great things about Bali. The shopping is ridiculously cheap, but you need to be able to barter well and not give in to the temptation to feel sorry for the shop owners and just pay them the exorbitant amounts they request. The best thing to do is to start really low, to counter the ridiculous price they offer you at first, and then when you have decided your ‘best price’ walk away from the stall and 9 times out of 10 the owner will give in and give you the price you want to stop you from leaving. Shopping is great for a while and you can buy really cheap clothes and trinkets as well as A LOT of knock-off stuff but after a while you realize every stall is the same and sells the same stuff so shopping can become rather tiresome. The Balinese people are really friendly and kind, although the men can border on creepy especially if you are travelling in a group of 6 blonde girls. The beaches are beautiful, the food is great and at almost every street café you can get a fruit juice of real fruit blended up for somewhere between R5 and R10 which was amazing coming from Korea where fruit is very expensive. If you want to eat cheaply you are better to eat at roadside stalls or get street food because the nicer restaurants up their prices a lot for foreigners so you need to be careful of that and if you want to travel cheaply a daily intake of fried rice or fried noodles covered in the delicious sweet soy sauce, Kekap manis, will keep you full and within you budget.
We knew we didn’t want to stay in the Kuta area the whole time in Bali and so everyday we would find a taxi driver we could barter with to take us to one of the beautiful beaches or head off for a bit of adventure. Dreamland Beach was really lovely although swimming was treacherous in the rather rough sea the day we were there. We loved the tiny beach at Padang Padang, where a surf competition was supposedly going on but we never saw any surfable waves to be honest, but the tiny bay-like beach was a lovely relaxing place to suntan and wallow in the calm water. Ulewatu is not a swimming beach but a great surfing beach and the view at sunset was spectacular.
It definitely was a holiday full of fun and the four of us teaching in Korea had not seen the three Hong Kong girls in about 8 months so the 7 of us all back together was bound to be a fun and crazy holiday. There is a lot of nightlife in Kuta and it is definitely the party section of Bali. There were bars offering free drinks or great drink specials all over the place and as long as you were prepared to party with some unsavory characters (there are many) it was a fun night out. Bintang Beer which is the local Balinese beer is really good and can be bought everywhere for varying prices and you can buy all sorts of Bintang memorabilia to remember your holiday by, but remember if you buy a Bintang wifebeater (vest) and wear it your first night out you will be wearing the same outfit as about 500 other people so if you want to stay original, steer clear.
At the hotel we got talking to a friendly Australian couple who had been to Bali many times and they got us in contact with a tour guide called Grumpy who could hook us up with great group deals for our time in Bali. 7 of us fit perfectly into one of the combi taxi's which saved us money and we got hold of the Grumpy fellow and he organised two day trips for us.
The one day Grumpy’s driver took us inland, first to a beautiful Hindu Temple, their temples are all outdoor temples which was really interesting and their elaborate statues and Balinese stone architecture on the temples and buildings in general is really beautiful and was one of my favourite parts of Indonesia. We then headed to the little inland town of Ubud to the monkey forest which was great and there was a temple in the middle where they were having a special ceremony and they had this big precession where they were carrying all these live animals for sacrifice, like ducks and chickens and a live pig and even a turtle, it was bizarre!! In retrospect we wish we had stayed a night in Ubud because it was a really great little town but we were really enjoying our hotel in Kuta so just did a day trip instead. Then we headed off to see a volcano, Mt Batur, luckily it’s dormant so we didn’t have to run from fiery lava but it was so beautiful and we had lunch at a restaurant with a great view, we also saw amazing views of rice paddies on these steep steep hills with palm trees all around. Inland Bali is very picturesque and well worth getting out of Kuta to see. Lastly we went to the Elephant Cave or "Goa Gajah" which had a beautiful garden all around it and was really stunning and interesting.
We had one day that was just packed with adventure. We started off snorkeling and then took a boat to turtle island which is a kind of turtle sanctuary, that part of the day wasn’t exactly what we had seen advertised but we just accepted it as part of the motto we had developed for Indonesia: “expect the unexpected”. The best part of the day was definitely parasailing which I have always wanted to do and which was amazing, very dreamlike floating up in the air. We also did this water sport called ‘the flying fish’, which is a big blow-up contraption that gets dragged behind a boat. Two people go at a time and you lie down on your back and hold on, first you are dragged behind a boat on the water and then the ‘flying fish’ lifts into the air, it was a lot of fun. The instructor even let me stand up the wrong way around which is a bit scarier and he called me: ‘crazy girl’ afterwards which I take as a complement. We finished off the day of adventure with a dinner at the famous Jimbaran bay where you sit at a restaurant right on the sand and watch the sun go down as you enjoy their amazing seafood. Grumpy took us himself to this spot and on the drive home shared some of his wisdom with us. He told us about the Balinese war and how he lost many family members in the bloodshed, his story was heartbreaking and beautiful but what struck me the most was the amazing way he explained Balinese outlook on life and how they manage to live such a relaxed happy life. He spoke of their belief in Karma and that “without bad and pain there is no good or joy”, he really touched me with the way he has been through so much and can still look at the world as a beautiful and spiritual place, it was humbling.
We spent a great few days in Bali, shopping, beaching, eating and drinking and enjoying the sunshine with our friends but we were then ready to head off somewhere a bit quieter for our last few days. The plan was to head to The Gili Islands for three days, by this stage we were more then ready to get out of the hustle and bustle of Kuta. Unfortunately we had been slack about booking our boat across and couldn’t get a fast boat in time so ended up having to take a slow boat to get there, but you know what they say about travel being the journey not the destination so it worked out in the end.
The Gili Islands are three little islands just off the coast of Lombok (the island right next to Bali), the biggest island is Gili Trawangan (where we were heading), and then Gili Meno and Gili Air is the smallest. We left Kuta at 10 am and had a two and a half hour ride in a bus to Padangbai on the east coast of Bali, the drive was very pretty through nice rural countryside on rather potholed roads. From there we would catch our boat across to the island, it was supposed to take about 4 hours but took more like 6 and combined with time spent waiting at the port before boarding it ended up being a whole day travel expedition. The time on the boat was actually really pleasant and I didn’t mind the extra two hours. I just sat on the deck under shade and read my book with a nice sea breeze on me. As sun set my friends and I sat on the bow of the boat, in the breeze and watched a spectacular sunset. We arrived at Gili Trawangan in the dark and then had to find our hotel. The island has only dirt roads and the only transport they have are horses or bicycles which were a nice change from the crazy streets of Bali. So we hailed a horse and cart and were off to our hotel.
Gili Trawangan is really one of the most spectacular places I have ever been, with white sand, turquoise clear water and a relaxed feel in the air it was the perfect place for our last few precious days of holiday. Our hotel was a bit away from the main town centre which was really nice and who doesn’t want a place where there is a big pirate ship right in the middle of the swimming pool? You could snorkel right off the beach in front of the hotel and see turtles and tons of beautiful fish and coral. We watched the sun set right from our own private beach and could eat dinner right on the beach and then listen while the hotel staff played the guitar and sang round a camp fire. Although we had no hot water we had fresh water to shower in rather then salt water which the majority of hotels have.
The Island was just what we needed, and we spent the next few days exploring on bicycles or on foot, swimming and snorkeling, eating at the various restaurants in town and relaxing with our books and a drink in hand. It was paradise. Unfortunately you cant live in paradise forever and we decided a whole day on a boat was not the way to get back to mainland Bali and so the owner of the hotel organised for us to fly back to Bali for less then what a fast boat would cost, plus we could leave the island a bit later on our last day and would get straight back to Kuta. We had to fly out of Mainland Lombok so we took a boat across, past Gili Meno and Gili Air which was beautiful, and then had a magnificent drive through the forests of Lombok to the Airport.
We flew on some tiny Indonesian airline and they honestly had the worst security I have ever seen. The tickets had been booked through the hotel under random names with no surnames and they didn’t ask for ID or anything, my ticket literally just said 'Anna' (not my name if you hadn’t noticed) and they let me on the plane, it was hilarious and a little scary. It was really great to see a little bit of Lombok though and Lombok is really mountainous and was very beautiful and we were a little sad we didn’t spend any real time there but unfortunately our holiday was coming to an end. We had one last night in Kuta, did some shopping for last minute presents and then flew out of Bali back via Malaysia, with only a 7 hour layover this time, to Korea the following day.
All I know is that Indonesia is a fascinating, beautiful, mysterious place that I didn’t even see 1% of and I am definitely hoping to go back one day and see more of what this beautiful archipelago has to offer.
Back in Typhooning Korea
Until next time 또 만나요 (tto mannayo: see you again)
Rinjani, Lombok, Indonesia
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
I think you are semi-Korean
A while back I sat next to the vice principle at lunch and when he saw I was enjoying the spicy food he said to me: "I think you are semi-Korean!" Yesssa! Ten points to me. In the moment I suddenly felt like I was being accepted at school and into Korean society and then in the very next breath he said: "I think you need a Korean boyfriend!" Hmm, didn’t see that one coming. Just another day in Dynamic Korea, with that comes the interesting and contrasting experiences of living and integrating into Korean society. It is an interesting contradiction at times. Sometimes I walk down the street and feel like I might be growing a second head because of the way that people stare, like I’m not even the same species as them and then I am frequently asked if I have found a “handsome Korean boy” yet or why I don’t have a Korean boyfriend. So at once I am treated as so foreign and unique and at the same time there is a need for me to mould into this society, learn their language and become more like them even if I do look considerably different to them.
After living in Korea for four months I have made a number of observations about Korean people and their customs. Something that is really important to Koreans seems to be sharing in their traditional food and drink. Korea really has some amazing food, it is very foreign and different to what I am used to in South Africa and I wont pretend to love everything (I mean why would a person ever want to eat dried squid?) but I really do enjoy their food and I think that sharing traditional food with people of any culture in the world is definitely a way into their hearts.
Maybe the sudden praise of my eating habits and the desire for me to have a Korean boyfriend is because at a teachers' dinner I few weeks ago I had two shots of Soju with the vice principal (accepting alcohol when offered is considered very polite behaviour) and when he saw I drank and could take a shot without falling over he said "Ah Paula I like you! Have another one" and so began the spiral of craziness of an evening out with the teachers. Something every teacher in Korea knows about it the notion of “school teachers’ dinners,” these happen sporadically during the calendar year and usually spring up with very little notice. There is always a teachers’ dinner or lunch on the first day of school and then you also have them when there has been a demonstration class at the school or often during the students’ exam time. Now I managed to escape that particular teachers’ dinner without throwing my name too far but the knowledge that I drank alcohol would prove dangerous in the future. You see the vice-principal informed me that social drinking is 'part of their culture'. Now that does not mean that all Korean’s drink, there are many Christians who do not, the principal at my school is like this but he does not mind the other teachers drinking. Now this social drinking is a very strange concept to me because back home I would try to avoid instances where I might get drunk and make a fool of myself in front of my coworkers. However in Korea it seems that it is ok to go out and get plastered with the other teachers because drinking together shows a camaraderie and mutual respect for one another (and how drunk you were the night before is never mentioned the next day). Now I don’t really understand the respect part when a teacher needs to be pretty much carried out of the restaurant after dinner but some parts of it do make sense to me. It is good for the teachers to have time to be together in a social setting drinking and eating and not worrying about kids and grades and classes. They are always cracking jokes, although I don’t get them, and laughing a lot as they share food. Koreans’ also have a very distinct way to offer drinks to one another in this kind of setting. Now it is not really about the drinking, the alcohol is just a vessel, but it is more about the act of being offered a drink and then offering in return that plays into all of the ideas of hierarchy, respect and Confucianism in general. If you don’t want to drink alcohol you can just get them to give you a shot of ‘cider’, which is sprite, instead because it is the act of offering a drink that is important. That said it is sometimes impossible to avoid the shot of soju that somehow makes it into your hand without you even realizing or your bowl of makoli (rice wine) that keeps being refilled when it looks vaguely empty. However if you do drink that is seen as a very good thing to many teachers, especially the male teachers and it seems in particular to my vice-principal.
School dinners can get out of hand but the kinship you feel with your fellow teachers and the kindness they show when sharing their precious traditional food, drink, and customs with you is the real reason why I travel the world; to get a glimpse into the lives of others, to learn how they live and to live beside them and share in the tiny things that make their country great.
So I offer you a figurative shot of soju and say Gambae (Cheers).
Until next time 또 만나요 (tto mannayo: see you again)
After living in Korea for four months I have made a number of observations about Korean people and their customs. Something that is really important to Koreans seems to be sharing in their traditional food and drink. Korea really has some amazing food, it is very foreign and different to what I am used to in South Africa and I wont pretend to love everything (I mean why would a person ever want to eat dried squid?) but I really do enjoy their food and I think that sharing traditional food with people of any culture in the world is definitely a way into their hearts.
Maybe the sudden praise of my eating habits and the desire for me to have a Korean boyfriend is because at a teachers' dinner I few weeks ago I had two shots of Soju with the vice principal (accepting alcohol when offered is considered very polite behaviour) and when he saw I drank and could take a shot without falling over he said "Ah Paula I like you! Have another one" and so began the spiral of craziness of an evening out with the teachers. Something every teacher in Korea knows about it the notion of “school teachers’ dinners,” these happen sporadically during the calendar year and usually spring up with very little notice. There is always a teachers’ dinner or lunch on the first day of school and then you also have them when there has been a demonstration class at the school or often during the students’ exam time. Now I managed to escape that particular teachers’ dinner without throwing my name too far but the knowledge that I drank alcohol would prove dangerous in the future. You see the vice-principal informed me that social drinking is 'part of their culture'. Now that does not mean that all Korean’s drink, there are many Christians who do not, the principal at my school is like this but he does not mind the other teachers drinking. Now this social drinking is a very strange concept to me because back home I would try to avoid instances where I might get drunk and make a fool of myself in front of my coworkers. However in Korea it seems that it is ok to go out and get plastered with the other teachers because drinking together shows a camaraderie and mutual respect for one another (and how drunk you were the night before is never mentioned the next day). Now I don’t really understand the respect part when a teacher needs to be pretty much carried out of the restaurant after dinner but some parts of it do make sense to me. It is good for the teachers to have time to be together in a social setting drinking and eating and not worrying about kids and grades and classes. They are always cracking jokes, although I don’t get them, and laughing a lot as they share food. Koreans’ also have a very distinct way to offer drinks to one another in this kind of setting. Now it is not really about the drinking, the alcohol is just a vessel, but it is more about the act of being offered a drink and then offering in return that plays into all of the ideas of hierarchy, respect and Confucianism in general. If you don’t want to drink alcohol you can just get them to give you a shot of ‘cider’, which is sprite, instead because it is the act of offering a drink that is important. That said it is sometimes impossible to avoid the shot of soju that somehow makes it into your hand without you even realizing or your bowl of makoli (rice wine) that keeps being refilled when it looks vaguely empty. However if you do drink that is seen as a very good thing to many teachers, especially the male teachers and it seems in particular to my vice-principal.
School dinners can get out of hand but the kinship you feel with your fellow teachers and the kindness they show when sharing their precious traditional food, drink, and customs with you is the real reason why I travel the world; to get a glimpse into the lives of others, to learn how they live and to live beside them and share in the tiny things that make their country great.
So I offer you a figurative shot of soju and say Gambae (Cheers).
Until next time 또 만나요 (tto mannayo: see you again)
Monday, June 21, 2010
Football Madness 회이팅 코리아! (Fighting Korea!)
Being a proud South African but not the biggest soccer fan I was extremely excited when we were given the Soccer World Cup bid for 2010 but I was not really prepared to put my travel plans on hold in order to wait around for the anticipated event, so I headed off to Korea in February of 2010 as planned not thinking that I would really mind missing out on the soccer. But as the event drew closer and closer I began to have pangs of regret. All of my friends at home were telling me how great the vibe was, South Africa was coming together as a nation and the whole world was preparing to flock to my beautiful country and I was stuck in the Korean countryside.
What I did not anticipate was the amazing response, excitement and anticipation to the soccer world cup that would be felt in Korea. When I arrived and people inquired where I was from I was met with rather blank looks when I said South Africa or ‘Nama gong’, but the closer it got to the world cup the responses began to change. As soon as I told people I was from South Africa they would inevitably respond: “ah world cup… I love you”. They were getting geared up for the world cup just like the other 31 competing nations were. Korea is a pretty soccer crazy nation itself. They have a competitive football league in Korea and 2010 is their eighth world cup appearance (more then any other Asian country). After they co-hosted the World Cup in 2002 with Japan and managed to gain themselves the fourth place title, their best result in the world cup to date, they have been hungry to prove that they are capable of such greatness again. After a disappointing world cup in 2006 where they didn’t make it past the group stages they are really hoping to make it through to the top 16 and beyond, as the slogans all over Korea proclaim: “Korea Dream Again!”
So in great anticipation of the world cup opening my fellow South African friends and I made our way to Seoul to watch the opening ceremony and opening match between South Africa and Mexico with some friends. We watched the game with delight as Bafana Bafana played their hearts out. I was very pleasantly surprised by our boys’ performance as well as the support for South Africa from the Korean spectators around us.
The following day was Korea’s turn when they took on the much higher ranked Greece in what proved to be a very exciting and riveting game. We were planning to watch the game at the COEX in the Samseong area of Seoul, they had closed off a big street and had big screen TV’s set up for fans. Unfortunately it had been pouring with rain all day and not being as brave as all of the Korean fans in their red ponchos we opted to watch the match in a nearby pub, and what a game it was, with defender Lee Jung Soo scoring his first world cup goal in the seventh minute. At half time we went up to the street party because the rain had eased and were lucky to see the second goal of the game off the boot of captain Park Ji Sung up with the crowds, as you can imagine the crowd went wild!! Park Ji Sung is Korea's most famous and best soccer player, and the highest paid football player in Asia, he usually plays for Manchester United so everyone knows him and he is literally Korean hero no.1 at the moment, even more then the incredibly popular figure skating gold medalist Kim Yu Na.
After the game, which was a 2 – 0 victory for Korea the streets were lined with ecstatic Korean fans, commonly known as the ‘red devils’ all dressed in red with variously supporters shirts, all with pretty terrible English slogans on them. The most common war cry that is repeated over and over and that all Korean’s know is the cry of 대한민국! This in Romanized letters is: Daehanmin-guk, which is the formal name for Korea in the Korean native language Hangeul (Korean). This along with the term “Fighting” Which is used for: ‘Go Korea’, as a way to pump up Korean fans or to show your support for Korea, i.e. “Fighting Korea.” In Korean it is written as: ‘회이팅’, which actually should be pronounced to ‘Hwaiting’ (because there is no Korean character for F) and should really be written as 파이팅 which would be pronounced “Paiting”. So ‘Fighting’ along with slogans like “Shout the Reds”, “Shouting Korea” and the slogan on my own supporters jersey: “Korea Legend: begin to 2010” which does not make sense in English at all but which I continue to wear, are all evidence of the strong influence of Konglish on Korea. (Konglish is the use of English words in Korean with slight variation i.e. the Korean word for Coffee is ‘Kopi’).
We walked along the crowded streets to delighted chants of ‘Daehanmin-guk’ and fireworks being set off on all sides and because we were all wearing red all of the Koreans we encountered were very excited that even us foreigners were supporting them and people kept asking for photos with us. We literally took about 20 photos with random groups of Koreans and felt like celebrities. Then we actually became celebrities. A television camera crew approached and asked to interview us. A microphone was promptly placed in my friend Jax’s face and we were suddenly surrounded by about a hundred chanting, cheering Koreans. Somehow they were quiet enough to allow Jax to have her short interview which we later found out was for MBC News, one of the biggest Korean national news channels and so on the 9’oclock news the following night in a package about the festivities in Seoul there is a clip of Jax saying "we are very proud of Korea" and she really is famous in Korea. Check out the clip at http://imnews.imbc.com/replay/nwdesk/article/2640540_5780.html
Then after the interview we were pulled into a Korean marsh pit of screaming jumping happy fans and I was terrified, I thought I was going to get squished and I couldn’t get out. It was all rather a strange but hilarious and exciting evening. I stopped for a moment and looked around at the mayhem and pure joy around me. People were setting off fireworks in the middle of the street, people who didn’t know each other were arm in arm jumping and cheering, on my left a guy was holding up a cut out life sized cardboard Park Ji Sung and cheering his name and on my right another guy had a fake world cup trophy and the crowd was lifting him up like he had just won the whole thing, it was truly a night of happiness in Korea and I was very lucky to be a part of it.
Until next time
From football crazy Korea 또 만나요 (tto mannayo: see you again)
p.s. Go Bafana Bafana!!!
What I did not anticipate was the amazing response, excitement and anticipation to the soccer world cup that would be felt in Korea. When I arrived and people inquired where I was from I was met with rather blank looks when I said South Africa or ‘Nama gong’, but the closer it got to the world cup the responses began to change. As soon as I told people I was from South Africa they would inevitably respond: “ah world cup… I love you”. They were getting geared up for the world cup just like the other 31 competing nations were. Korea is a pretty soccer crazy nation itself. They have a competitive football league in Korea and 2010 is their eighth world cup appearance (more then any other Asian country). After they co-hosted the World Cup in 2002 with Japan and managed to gain themselves the fourth place title, their best result in the world cup to date, they have been hungry to prove that they are capable of such greatness again. After a disappointing world cup in 2006 where they didn’t make it past the group stages they are really hoping to make it through to the top 16 and beyond, as the slogans all over Korea proclaim: “Korea Dream Again!”
So in great anticipation of the world cup opening my fellow South African friends and I made our way to Seoul to watch the opening ceremony and opening match between South Africa and Mexico with some friends. We watched the game with delight as Bafana Bafana played their hearts out. I was very pleasantly surprised by our boys’ performance as well as the support for South Africa from the Korean spectators around us.
The following day was Korea’s turn when they took on the much higher ranked Greece in what proved to be a very exciting and riveting game. We were planning to watch the game at the COEX in the Samseong area of Seoul, they had closed off a big street and had big screen TV’s set up for fans. Unfortunately it had been pouring with rain all day and not being as brave as all of the Korean fans in their red ponchos we opted to watch the match in a nearby pub, and what a game it was, with defender Lee Jung Soo scoring his first world cup goal in the seventh minute. At half time we went up to the street party because the rain had eased and were lucky to see the second goal of the game off the boot of captain Park Ji Sung up with the crowds, as you can imagine the crowd went wild!! Park Ji Sung is Korea's most famous and best soccer player, and the highest paid football player in Asia, he usually plays for Manchester United so everyone knows him and he is literally Korean hero no.1 at the moment, even more then the incredibly popular figure skating gold medalist Kim Yu Na.
After the game, which was a 2 – 0 victory for Korea the streets were lined with ecstatic Korean fans, commonly known as the ‘red devils’ all dressed in red with variously supporters shirts, all with pretty terrible English slogans on them. The most common war cry that is repeated over and over and that all Korean’s know is the cry of 대한민국! This in Romanized letters is: Daehanmin-guk, which is the formal name for Korea in the Korean native language Hangeul (Korean). This along with the term “Fighting” Which is used for: ‘Go Korea’, as a way to pump up Korean fans or to show your support for Korea, i.e. “Fighting Korea.” In Korean it is written as: ‘회이팅’, which actually should be pronounced to ‘Hwaiting’ (because there is no Korean character for F) and should really be written as 파이팅 which would be pronounced “Paiting”. So ‘Fighting’ along with slogans like “Shout the Reds”, “Shouting Korea” and the slogan on my own supporters jersey: “Korea Legend: begin to 2010” which does not make sense in English at all but which I continue to wear, are all evidence of the strong influence of Konglish on Korea. (Konglish is the use of English words in Korean with slight variation i.e. the Korean word for Coffee is ‘Kopi’).
We walked along the crowded streets to delighted chants of ‘Daehanmin-guk’ and fireworks being set off on all sides and because we were all wearing red all of the Koreans we encountered were very excited that even us foreigners were supporting them and people kept asking for photos with us. We literally took about 20 photos with random groups of Koreans and felt like celebrities. Then we actually became celebrities. A television camera crew approached and asked to interview us. A microphone was promptly placed in my friend Jax’s face and we were suddenly surrounded by about a hundred chanting, cheering Koreans. Somehow they were quiet enough to allow Jax to have her short interview which we later found out was for MBC News, one of the biggest Korean national news channels and so on the 9’oclock news the following night in a package about the festivities in Seoul there is a clip of Jax saying "we are very proud of Korea" and she really is famous in Korea. Check out the clip at http://imnews.imbc.com/replay/nwdesk/article/2640540_5780.html
Then after the interview we were pulled into a Korean marsh pit of screaming jumping happy fans and I was terrified, I thought I was going to get squished and I couldn’t get out. It was all rather a strange but hilarious and exciting evening. I stopped for a moment and looked around at the mayhem and pure joy around me. People were setting off fireworks in the middle of the street, people who didn’t know each other were arm in arm jumping and cheering, on my left a guy was holding up a cut out life sized cardboard Park Ji Sung and cheering his name and on my right another guy had a fake world cup trophy and the crowd was lifting him up like he had just won the whole thing, it was truly a night of happiness in Korea and I was very lucky to be a part of it.
Until next time
From football crazy Korea 또 만나요 (tto mannayo: see you again)
p.s. Go Bafana Bafana!!!
Bloggers Block
It has been a long time since my last blog so I just wanted to appologise for my silence, somehow the past few months have just gotten away from me very quickly but I will be making a concerted effort to blog more frequently, so my appologies for the Bloggers Block.
A new blog will follow shortly...
A new blog will follow shortly...
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Jimjil bang...
I am sitting in a warm pool relaxing. My four friends are lounging in the water nearby. Out the corner of my eye I can see naked women walking all around, getting in and out of warm pools and swimming around.
No I am not in some strange cinema-novo homo-erotic dream, rather I am having my first experience of a Korean Bath House or Jimjil bang.
A few weekends ago we headed off on an adventure a little south of Gangwon-do. We were heading for a hike in the Daedansun National Park which has a beautiful mountain trail and is located about an hour from the central Korean City, Daejoen. We headed off to Daejoen on Saturday afternoon but didn’t have anywhere to stay for the night. Instead of staying in a ‘love motel’ (given this dodgy name for the reasons you are thinking) as usual, we decided to try the Jimjil bang experience instead. Jimjil bangs or Korean Bath Houses and Saunas are a common thing to find in all Korean Cities. Many people come to the sauna once or twice a week for relaxation and travelers can also stay at Jimjil bangs overnight for a very reasonable price, and since as they are open 24 hours a day you can arrive at any time of the night and find a place to sleep with no pre-booking needed, that is if you are prepared to sleep in a communal area on a floor mat.
The way it works is that when you arrive you pay the fee, in our case 8000 won (about $8 or R70), you are given a pair of pajamas, mandatory pink for women and blue for men, two small towels and a locker to put your shoes in. You then walk into the change room areas, which are separate for men and woman, where you have your own locker to put your stuff in and to change, or in most cases to strip down. From this point on everyone is pretty much naked. Now at first I was a bit concerned, I’m not really the kind of person who just gets naked in front of other people, getting naked alone in my own home is one thing but in front of 30 or 40 strangers is not usually my cup of tea. At first I felt quite uncomfortable about the whole thing. I also thought that there might be some staring seen as we were five foreign women in a predominantly Asian bath house and the towels were so small you couldn’t even put them around your waist. At first I kept thinking: ‘they are looking at me, this is so awkward!’ But after a little while you get used to it. You realize that no one is really looking at you, they are just relaxing, taking a shower or lying in a warm pools and really couldn’t care less that you are naked. There are people of all ages there from 5 year old girls to 80 year old women and no one can really judge you when everyone in the place is naked.
First you have to take a shower because we are informed by our friend who has been here before that if you don’t wash before you get into the warm pools they will clear pretty quickly because people will regard you as dirty. There is communal soap and then some kind woman walks up to us and offers us some shampoo sachets that she brought along with her. Once we have proved we are sufficiently socially appropriately clean we can get into the pools, there are all different temperatures and sizes. Some are pleasantly warm, some scorching hot and even a freezing cold pool. We get into one of the warm ones. Now I’m starting to feel relaxed and submerged in water I feel less self conscious. It really is quite an experience to be in one of these places. Now I’m not saying that it is that pleasant to watch an 80 year old woman scrubbing someone else’s back for them completely starkers but when you think about the fact that this is just a communal bathing area you realize that this is exactly the kind of place that most ancient societies had for bathing and that many societies around the world still have as communal places for men and women to come together, in their separated genders of course, and bath and relax together. There are also sauna’s of three different temperatures that we try out and we spend about an hour moving from pool to pool and just relaxing.
When we have had enough, have sweated all of our impurities out in the sauna and cleaned ourselves properly and when our hands and toes are looking wrinkly we decide its time for bed, after all we are hiking up a mountain tomorrow. So we dry ourselves off, put on our pink pajamas and head to the sleeping area. The sleeping area is unisex and so the male friends we came on the hike with are already there. There are a number of different rooms of varying temperatures that you can choose to sleep in. Some feel like sauna’s themselves and I can’t imagine how people can possibly sleep in them, there is one huge central room that is normal temperature but is quite light and noisy because people are still walking around. We find ourselves a nice quiet, darker room off to the side that has space in it. You get a sleeping mat, and a pillow that resembles a brick, and feels like one too, and that’s you for the night. Not a bad place to sleep considering the cost if you compare it to even the cheapest love motels which are about 40 000 won. So for the average backpacker the Jimjil bang is a pretty good deal, you can lock your stuff up so it is safe, take a shower, have a swim or sauna and have somewhere to sleep all for between 8 000 and 10 000 won.
I can’t say it’s the best night’s sleep I have ever had. Even with my ipod in my ears I could still hear the loud snoring of some middle aged Korean man and at some point a Korean guy put his mat down next to mine and when I woke in the morning not only had someone stolen my brick pillow from under my head (why I will never know) but the guy next to me had his foot dangerously close to my face. But I woke up fairly well rested and ready for a day’s hike; having had a truly unique and interesting experience and one that I might just try again.
Until next time
From slightly warmer Korea tto mannayo (see you again)
No I am not in some strange cinema-novo homo-erotic dream, rather I am having my first experience of a Korean Bath House or Jimjil bang.
A few weekends ago we headed off on an adventure a little south of Gangwon-do. We were heading for a hike in the Daedansun National Park which has a beautiful mountain trail and is located about an hour from the central Korean City, Daejoen. We headed off to Daejoen on Saturday afternoon but didn’t have anywhere to stay for the night. Instead of staying in a ‘love motel’ (given this dodgy name for the reasons you are thinking) as usual, we decided to try the Jimjil bang experience instead. Jimjil bangs or Korean Bath Houses and Saunas are a common thing to find in all Korean Cities. Many people come to the sauna once or twice a week for relaxation and travelers can also stay at Jimjil bangs overnight for a very reasonable price, and since as they are open 24 hours a day you can arrive at any time of the night and find a place to sleep with no pre-booking needed, that is if you are prepared to sleep in a communal area on a floor mat.
The way it works is that when you arrive you pay the fee, in our case 8000 won (about $8 or R70), you are given a pair of pajamas, mandatory pink for women and blue for men, two small towels and a locker to put your shoes in. You then walk into the change room areas, which are separate for men and woman, where you have your own locker to put your stuff in and to change, or in most cases to strip down. From this point on everyone is pretty much naked. Now at first I was a bit concerned, I’m not really the kind of person who just gets naked in front of other people, getting naked alone in my own home is one thing but in front of 30 or 40 strangers is not usually my cup of tea. At first I felt quite uncomfortable about the whole thing. I also thought that there might be some staring seen as we were five foreign women in a predominantly Asian bath house and the towels were so small you couldn’t even put them around your waist. At first I kept thinking: ‘they are looking at me, this is so awkward!’ But after a little while you get used to it. You realize that no one is really looking at you, they are just relaxing, taking a shower or lying in a warm pools and really couldn’t care less that you are naked. There are people of all ages there from 5 year old girls to 80 year old women and no one can really judge you when everyone in the place is naked.
First you have to take a shower because we are informed by our friend who has been here before that if you don’t wash before you get into the warm pools they will clear pretty quickly because people will regard you as dirty. There is communal soap and then some kind woman walks up to us and offers us some shampoo sachets that she brought along with her. Once we have proved we are sufficiently socially appropriately clean we can get into the pools, there are all different temperatures and sizes. Some are pleasantly warm, some scorching hot and even a freezing cold pool. We get into one of the warm ones. Now I’m starting to feel relaxed and submerged in water I feel less self conscious. It really is quite an experience to be in one of these places. Now I’m not saying that it is that pleasant to watch an 80 year old woman scrubbing someone else’s back for them completely starkers but when you think about the fact that this is just a communal bathing area you realize that this is exactly the kind of place that most ancient societies had for bathing and that many societies around the world still have as communal places for men and women to come together, in their separated genders of course, and bath and relax together. There are also sauna’s of three different temperatures that we try out and we spend about an hour moving from pool to pool and just relaxing.
When we have had enough, have sweated all of our impurities out in the sauna and cleaned ourselves properly and when our hands and toes are looking wrinkly we decide its time for bed, after all we are hiking up a mountain tomorrow. So we dry ourselves off, put on our pink pajamas and head to the sleeping area. The sleeping area is unisex and so the male friends we came on the hike with are already there. There are a number of different rooms of varying temperatures that you can choose to sleep in. Some feel like sauna’s themselves and I can’t imagine how people can possibly sleep in them, there is one huge central room that is normal temperature but is quite light and noisy because people are still walking around. We find ourselves a nice quiet, darker room off to the side that has space in it. You get a sleeping mat, and a pillow that resembles a brick, and feels like one too, and that’s you for the night. Not a bad place to sleep considering the cost if you compare it to even the cheapest love motels which are about 40 000 won. So for the average backpacker the Jimjil bang is a pretty good deal, you can lock your stuff up so it is safe, take a shower, have a swim or sauna and have somewhere to sleep all for between 8 000 and 10 000 won.
I can’t say it’s the best night’s sleep I have ever had. Even with my ipod in my ears I could still hear the loud snoring of some middle aged Korean man and at some point a Korean guy put his mat down next to mine and when I woke in the morning not only had someone stolen my brick pillow from under my head (why I will never know) but the guy next to me had his foot dangerously close to my face. But I woke up fairly well rested and ready for a day’s hike; having had a truly unique and interesting experience and one that I might just try again.
Until next time
From slightly warmer Korea tto mannayo (see you again)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
DMZ Bound...
Picture three blonde girls sprinting through a crowded bus station. It looks like they are part of the Amazing Race, backpacks in tow and running like another team or the cops are on their heels. They round the corner to find a line stretching all the way out the door. Oh no, this cant be the ticket line. They think their bus leaves in 8 minutes but they can’t read the boards. One girl asks the other: "so what is the place called again?"… "Um, I think its Dongsong and we get the bus to a bigger town Chelon or Cherwon or Chirron or something like that" she replies. Uh oh, there are a couple of towns that closely resemble that name on the boards and they are not sure which one is correct. "We'll just say near the DMZ and they will know" she assures her friends. With limited Korean, wild hand gestures and facial expressions they manage to buy tickets and run to the bus, which they hope is heading in the right direction but in the misty night they could be going anywhere really.
This was the beginning of our adventure up north to visit a friend living in the town of Dongsong, in the Cheorwon district of Gangwon-do, South Korea. It is one of the closest towns to the North Korean border and the infamous Demilitarized Zone (or DMZ). The town is crawling with Korean soldiers who walk around kitted out in full military dress, but who are rather friendly to foreign girls like us despite their intimidating uniforms. The mountain on the edge of town has a military lookout on top and I was told that you can climb the mountain, which takes between 3 and 4 hours, and from the top you can literally see into the DMZ. What you can see I am not entirely sure. The 248km long, 4km wide stretch of land between the two Korean Powers is still under United Nations command, mostly through American soldiers, as well as North and South Korean soldiers (separately of course), and is still considered the most heavily militarized border in the world. Now I don’t claim to be a history buff, quite the opposite, but the history of this area has inspired me to do a little research into the topic.
South Korea has seen its share of hardships, from 35 years of Japanese imperialism (ending in 1945) to the devastating Korean War in the 1950’s. Although an armistice was signed in 1953 between the two countries the Korean War never officially ended and the military presence along the border is a clear indication of the general mistrust and dislike both sides feel towards what used to be their own countrymen and women. Korea as a whole was a casualty in the war by proxy between the USSR and USA, during the cold war and as colonial powers tend to do, as they did all over Africa, a line was drawn and a nation divided into two - simply as a power play between two superpowers playing chess with people’s lives. The history is fairly well known and there is an abundance of sites on the net if you want to learn about the war but what has affected me most are the stories of Korean people living with memories of these terrible times. When you look at Korean’s my age you find that most of their grandparents were born during Japanese rule which meant that they were born without country, not being Korean or Japanese; and that many of their parents were born in and around the devastation of the Korean War. Two consecutive generations were born into a Korea that meant war, control by other nations and for most - continuous hardship and loss of loved ones. And yet in a little over 50 years Korea has built itself up to be one of the most competitive economies in the world. That kind of resilience inspires me.
There is a lot more history in this nation I am currently living and I am sure many blogs to come will talk in more detail of the history and politics between the Koreas and so I will end this post now but take a moment to remember all of the atrocities that have happened in our world and most importantly remember the people who lived through them, and survived! So make sure that tomorrow when you wake up you appreciate the fact that your life is great, whether you miss that bus or not.
Until next time
From rainy Korea tto mannayo (see you again)
This was the beginning of our adventure up north to visit a friend living in the town of Dongsong, in the Cheorwon district of Gangwon-do, South Korea. It is one of the closest towns to the North Korean border and the infamous Demilitarized Zone (or DMZ). The town is crawling with Korean soldiers who walk around kitted out in full military dress, but who are rather friendly to foreign girls like us despite their intimidating uniforms. The mountain on the edge of town has a military lookout on top and I was told that you can climb the mountain, which takes between 3 and 4 hours, and from the top you can literally see into the DMZ. What you can see I am not entirely sure. The 248km long, 4km wide stretch of land between the two Korean Powers is still under United Nations command, mostly through American soldiers, as well as North and South Korean soldiers (separately of course), and is still considered the most heavily militarized border in the world. Now I don’t claim to be a history buff, quite the opposite, but the history of this area has inspired me to do a little research into the topic.
South Korea has seen its share of hardships, from 35 years of Japanese imperialism (ending in 1945) to the devastating Korean War in the 1950’s. Although an armistice was signed in 1953 between the two countries the Korean War never officially ended and the military presence along the border is a clear indication of the general mistrust and dislike both sides feel towards what used to be their own countrymen and women. Korea as a whole was a casualty in the war by proxy between the USSR and USA, during the cold war and as colonial powers tend to do, as they did all over Africa, a line was drawn and a nation divided into two - simply as a power play between two superpowers playing chess with people’s lives. The history is fairly well known and there is an abundance of sites on the net if you want to learn about the war but what has affected me most are the stories of Korean people living with memories of these terrible times. When you look at Korean’s my age you find that most of their grandparents were born during Japanese rule which meant that they were born without country, not being Korean or Japanese; and that many of their parents were born in and around the devastation of the Korean War. Two consecutive generations were born into a Korea that meant war, control by other nations and for most - continuous hardship and loss of loved ones. And yet in a little over 50 years Korea has built itself up to be one of the most competitive economies in the world. That kind of resilience inspires me.
There is a lot more history in this nation I am currently living and I am sure many blogs to come will talk in more detail of the history and politics between the Koreas and so I will end this post now but take a moment to remember all of the atrocities that have happened in our world and most importantly remember the people who lived through them, and survived! So make sure that tomorrow when you wake up you appreciate the fact that your life is great, whether you miss that bus or not.
Until next time
From rainy Korea tto mannayo (see you again)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Once apon a time in Korea
Today I am living in a winter wonderland. Tiny snow flakes fall outside my window drifting towards the already blinding white ground. Korea in March is a mysterious and magical place. Well today it is at least. The usually grimy, dirty streets and muddy rice paddy's are covered in a clean white blanket of snow which makes it feel clean and crisp. Everyone is complaining about the weather but I’m in a kind of trance admiring what is more snow then I have seen in years.
I have been in Korea for nearly three weeks now and it has not all been magical snowiness and pretty scenery I assure you. The culture shock has been substantial but my plan this year is to see a part of the world that is so different to the world I am used to back on the farm in South Africa, and to embrace the differences and really experience the culture. I won’t make this post a long one because it is my first and there will be many verbose posts to come, but a few observations come to mind. Korean culture is very different to what I am used to back home, everyone is terribly respectful and many people are incredibly shy and often awkward. Most of my friends would call me outgoing, sometimes even loud but in Korean culture I find myself slipping more and more into the shy quite child I used to be. Here everyone bows to one another when they meet, the deeper the bow the more respect you are showing. And this is a culture based entirely on hierarchy, where your age demands respect as does your position in terms of your profession. Everyone here is Painfully polite. Now I’m not saying my mamma raised me as a feral child because respect for elders and politeness are attributes that are also very important in South African culture; but somehow here it seems like any small thing might offend someone. If I show the bottom of my glass to an elder while I drink I am being disrespectful, if I refuse a drink I may offend someone and if I say gamsamnida (Thank you) to a child I am giving too much respect and should rather use the casual version kumawaoyo. I seem to be negotiating a mine field of possible offensive actions I had no intention of detonating. But that is what a new cultural experience brings, you may be the ‘offensive foreigner’ for a while but soon your attempts to do things the correct way are noticed and taken as compliments. Sometimes just bowing to someone correctly makes them smile or your use of chopsticks impresses a fellow teacher, and if you have a social drink with a Korean or show that you enjoy their food you will be their friend for life.
For now I stay inside my tiny snow-globe of painful politeness until the local people are more willing to show me the respect I need to earn.
From snowy Korea tto mannayo (see you again)
I have been in Korea for nearly three weeks now and it has not all been magical snowiness and pretty scenery I assure you. The culture shock has been substantial but my plan this year is to see a part of the world that is so different to the world I am used to back on the farm in South Africa, and to embrace the differences and really experience the culture. I won’t make this post a long one because it is my first and there will be many verbose posts to come, but a few observations come to mind. Korean culture is very different to what I am used to back home, everyone is terribly respectful and many people are incredibly shy and often awkward. Most of my friends would call me outgoing, sometimes even loud but in Korean culture I find myself slipping more and more into the shy quite child I used to be. Here everyone bows to one another when they meet, the deeper the bow the more respect you are showing. And this is a culture based entirely on hierarchy, where your age demands respect as does your position in terms of your profession. Everyone here is Painfully polite. Now I’m not saying my mamma raised me as a feral child because respect for elders and politeness are attributes that are also very important in South African culture; but somehow here it seems like any small thing might offend someone. If I show the bottom of my glass to an elder while I drink I am being disrespectful, if I refuse a drink I may offend someone and if I say gamsamnida (Thank you) to a child I am giving too much respect and should rather use the casual version kumawaoyo. I seem to be negotiating a mine field of possible offensive actions I had no intention of detonating. But that is what a new cultural experience brings, you may be the ‘offensive foreigner’ for a while but soon your attempts to do things the correct way are noticed and taken as compliments. Sometimes just bowing to someone correctly makes them smile or your use of chopsticks impresses a fellow teacher, and if you have a social drink with a Korean or show that you enjoy their food you will be their friend for life.
For now I stay inside my tiny snow-globe of painful politeness until the local people are more willing to show me the respect I need to earn.
From snowy Korea tto mannayo (see you again)
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