Mongolia

Arrived at the airport to find that I was an hour early, and its still 530, the flight which i thought was at 730 was actually at 830...and to top it off, theres nothing open and i really wanted a cup of coffee.

Got the boarding pass and made it like a breeze through immigration. Again having to catch the tram to the terminal and walking an additional 15 minutes to get to the gate, why do i always have to fly out of the last possible gate in a terminal...

Once at the gate the flight monitors provided a pleasant suprise, the flight that was scheduled to leave at 830 was now leaving at 1920....11 hours delayed due to weather in Mongolia...At aroudn 9 they finally coralled all of us that were still at the gate and bused to a hotel to that we could not mill around the airport, once at the hoel, we were told that we had to share a room with a random stranger form the light or pay 200 Yuan for a seperate room, I ended up with a German named Jurgen, a nice chap who worked a little on his computer and slept until it was time to go. The bonus was that we got a free lunch at the hotel, this was nice considering i was starving from the long day and early morning start.

The flight delay didn't bother me, it was the fact that we were prisoners in the hotel, they told us we couldn't leave as the flight might be leaving early once the weather cleared, i had it all worked out that i was going to go back to Tianemen square to see what i wasn't able to the night before.

Oh well, a nap instead was my actual events for the day, not that this is a bad thing as i was beat, but it still would have been nice to get out. Back to the airport, wihtout delay, rushed through immigration and security and off to the gate to hurry up and wait. The flight boarded on time, and they even apologized for the delay, nice touch i thought.

Arriving in Mongolia, the airport pick up that I though i arranged was no where to be found, so i ended up with the cab driver that didn't know Ulaanbaatar very well. Arrived a the guest hour around 11PM and straight to bed, only to be woken at 4AM by two things, my alarm that apparently turned on in my bag, and a huge dog trying to knock down the door to get let back inside. Good thing for me, falling back asleep was a non issue!

Woke to a fantastic shower and great breakfast of Eggs, bread, jam, tea, and cheese, was also graced with the great conversation from two swiss travelers who had just traversed Mongolia by Horse. Very adventerous individuals and quite the adventure from the story they told.

Ulaanbaatar is a very nice city, not much for developed sidewalks, but the overal archetecture is nice, as are the people that I come in contact with. thats not to say other people have not had similar pleasantries with the locals. The lovely swiss couple i met were mugged in the black market, as well as the german travelers, whom were followed by a pick pocket for many blocks, and were unaware until they were notified by a shopkeeper.

Beijing - Whirlwind tour

Another early start in Korea, needing to catch the 8 AM bus to busan to get to the airport. The bus ride was uneventful, and apparently i snore on buses too (thats what brenda and andrew said at least). Arriving in Busan led andrew straight to a McDonalds, while that is not my breakfast of choice, he relished in the egg mcmuffins and hash brownsm, it seems he doesn't get that very often and when he does he's quite gluttonous!

The airport was a breeze, and landing in China was an entire non event, i expected questions and some delays clearing through immigration but it was almost as quick as clearing immigration in Korea. Right out of the immigration area it was to the tram to get to the front of the airport, from there i saw Sunny my chinese tour guide (which might have been overkill) with a sign that had my name on it....straight to the car and the great wall.

The car ride was nice, i was very suprised at the lack of traffic. I was expecting the roads to be cram packed with people and cars and it was like any other major city on a sunday, not a lot of traffic and not a lot of people out.

The great was was awesome! i got the cable car ticket to the top to save time from taking the steps, not that i'm fat and out of shape, but that we had only a limited amount of time to see what i wanted to see in the short amount of time i had available. At the top we were able to see 4 towers and the wall just seemed to stretch on forever, i could have spent several days there taking pictures and just following it around. Getting to the top provided a bit of a weather shift, as the wall follows the ridge line of the mountains, in fact so much so for a weather shift that it started to snow.

After the great wall it was back into Beijing to see the Olympic park. This was super cool, having watched the olympics every night when they were on in 08, it was great to see everything up close and personal. The Birds nest is just like it was on TV and the Aquatics center was even cooler with the green lights on and the design making it appear as though water was falling down in giant rain drops...being there around dusk proved nice to get the pictures with the lights on for each of the buildings.

After the Olympic Park it was off to Tianenman Square. Unfortunately it had fallen dark by now and the park was closed. i was able to see the monuments all lit up and got some good pictures. by this time it was around 9PM and it was off to the hotel to check in and get situated to go find something to eat.

the hotel was nice, just what i needed for the overnight, a bed and a place to shower before getting up at 4 to head back to the airport for a 730 flight to mongolia. Once i was checked in and in the room, i sat down, which turned out to be a big mistake cause the next thing i knew it was 4 AM and ready to start the new day without any supper, oh well, at least there will be food on the plane!

Jinju Palace, Birthday Party, and an Evening out in Busan

What an eventful day, I learned that the Koreans invented Paper, the Water wheel and the cotton gin. Man am I writing a nasty letter to Haughton Mifflin letting them know that they have seriously gotten it all wrong.

got up early (again), and took the bus with Andrew and Brenda to visit Jinju castle...we were scheduled to go up to Seoul to visit the DMZ and the olympic park. Unfortunately due to the heightened tension with the north they had cancelled all the tours to the JSA, and Panmunjon. that was a high point for korea, but alas it just wasn't meant to be.

Jinju was pretty cool, a nice fort with lots of history, right or wrong, a lot of history...i was pleasently suprised by the prose in some of the display explanations, definitely not written by a Korean.

that night was quite the get together, andrew grilling out, and all the Hamyang english teachers gathering together for a nice get together, good food, good beer and of course Andrew's birthday, which didn't end for anothe 12 hours, and that was even after midnight.

Henry's arrival...so apparently andrews friend from Taiwan, Henry got married (not really), and headed to Hamyang to hang out with the Dullock Brothers. We all went out for Korean bbq and karaoke, the clean kind.

we had a blast at the resturaunt, with the polish prince, mr. korea himself in his shiny suit, the newlywed, and of course brenda and andrew...then of course the great singing of the biggest abba fan ever!

An afternoon tour of Hamyang with Brenda was nice, we took a walk around the entire city, seeing the big park, big ass tree, huge bell, and the carpeted sidewalks (still don't get those), Although i am confused regarding on of the signs i saw in the park stating that the US was defeated by the Koreans in a conflict in 1871...i'll have to do more research regarding that. After the walk we went for Gimbob, a type of maki roll. these were ok, although i'm not so sure about the canned tuna just dumped on rice, this seems to be the food of choice of most of the school children in the area, as its inexpensive and quick to eat. We also tried the Ramon, this was quite good, spicy, with that chef boyardee kind of sweetness to the sauce. it made me sweat a little from the heat.

Last night in Korea...a peaceful night of bar hopping with the fam...went to the first place and had some of the spiciest food i've ever had in my life. were pretty sure the proprieter of the bar did it on purpose, so based on the principle that koreans don't spea, english (which is true 99% of the time), i thanked him and recomfirmed that it was 32 for beer and shit food...

after that it was off to the Mafia bar, yep, the bar owned by the Yakuza...that was fun, and after that it was off to one of Andrew's favorite bars where we tried the same dish that we ordered at the first, this time it was much better and actually edible. after the third bar we were beat and decided and called it a night.

Korea Day 2

Jet Lag is trying to set in, but i'm fighting it worse than Pac-Man...

Up this morning around 6AM, no idea why, but I am...nothing to do but jump online and and try to find the necessary arrangements for Beijing...

Brenda and andrew got up around 8, so after way too many cups of nescafe i was ready to go. Jokingly, Andrew got Kim-Chi for breakfast, claiming he was only going to feed me rice and Kim-Chi... That plan backfired, I like Kim Chi. Of course andrew doesn't like that this has backfired on him, waking up to the smell of kim chi wafting through the house.

Breakfast was Egss, Kim-chi and rice compliments of brenda, a good start to the day. Just what we needed to make the journey to visit andrew at school and watch him teach.

This mornings adventure was new to both Brenda and I, with her never having made the solo trip to see andrew at work, this was evident by us getting on the wrong bus to start!

Watching andrew was fun, the kids brought him in gifts and even a cake. andrew was using the scategories game, in a modified version with the students, they had lots of fun, and really enjoyed themselves. It was fun to watch the interaction...he might just be as good as he says he is.
English teachers over for a gathering.

Andrew relegated himselft grill master, it being his birthday (as he constantly reminded EVERYONE ALL NIGHT LONG). Grilling up chicken, pork, mushrooms, lots of beer, pasta salad made with the dressing i had brought for him.

It was nice meeting all Andrews friends and being able to participate in all the comraderie!

My night ended around 11, it was all that i could handle, those youngins out partied this old fart!

Korea Day One

Korea Day 1

Landing in Korea and passing through Immigration was quite uneventful. A little rocky on the landing in Busan, Immigration was quick and painless, and baggage claim was super easy. Having paked two suitcases I was a little concerned that I wouldn't be able to identify them as they came down the turnstyle. Loaded on the cart they passed through with ease, one simple question "anything to declare?" with a prompt no I was on my way.

coming out into the arival hall I quickly b-lined to the forex and exchanged some cash, passed through the exit doors to see a giddy andrew and brenda. Heading outside we loaded the bags into the car...this was the first frightening experience in Korea...Andrew was driging the car!

The ride to from Pusan to Hamyang was good, Andrew had not forgotten how to drive. the road system was very developed. Every so often there were these speed camera's, the inboard GPS would flash as you approached the speed cameras notifying you that you were travelling to fast, you could tell that all the GPS's did this as the other cars on the road would slam on there breaks to make sure they did not get photographed speeding. As each car passed through it was like the start of the Indy 500, everyone seemed to slam on the gas until the next speed camera.

After arriving at the house, we caught up for a bit, had a few glasses of Hite and hit the hay.

Plane Ride Over

4.20.10

the trip has begun and slumber is soon upon m e....thanks of course to Japanese beer and lunestra....

I'm going to be taking a different approach to the blog this time, instead of typing posts as i find an internet connection i'm going to be taking my diary digital and transferrin to the blog. Just something new to attempt, we'll see how it goes.

the trip started out uneventful, with the exception of a little rushing to get home and showered and ready to go, but with no problems....made the bus, came close to missing my flght in detroit due to 20 minute early final boarding call, very suprised by that, as I don't believe they made a terminal wide first boarding announcement...

had lunch at the sushi place in the mcnamara terminal, don't think i'll do that again, had mold on Tako salad (calamari/ octopus), so i sent it back only to be presented with 2nd that had mold on it, so i changed to a seaweed salad that was just fine If your actually interested the main course for me was Eel and cucumber roll with a Kirin...

so now i'm on the plane and , and ready for slumber and ready to get woken by the breakfast cart....Next stop Narita, and after that Busan and the week with Andrew and Brenda

Asia 2010....the trip to close it out

All right, back again in the land of rice and heat....heres the itinerary i'm going to be working off of..

land Busan, travel to Hamynang
Seoul, for the DMZ
Beijing, China.... 18 hour free for all, the great wall, olympic stadium, T- Square, and the Temple of Heaven park
Ulaanbaatar Mongolia....sleeping a Ger....
Singapore....gots to have me some chicken and rice
Darwin, Land of OZ....not the most dramatic of places to visit but for the price it was WAY cheaper than Sydney or Melbourne or Perth
Singapore.....yeah...more chicken and rice, maybe i'll splurge and have a singapore sling at the Raffles
Yangon, Myanmar...will the Junta follow me? i can be a shady looking fucker
Manila, Philippines, 22 hours and then back to Detroit

Should be a good trip, who knows what will come about, just home it goes better than last time with no stolen camera's etc...

till later
Peace out and Happy Trails