the one before the silly season gets underway…

Its official… I am the worst blogger ever. Actually, Rory is. He started a blog, aptly named “My Weekly Rant” and for 3 weeks he entertained me (I think I was the only one who knew about the site) and then it stopped. That was a year and a half ago. At least I only keep you waiting for 2 months!

So whats been happening with me??? Well my mission since the local closed and the summer season of debauchery drew to a close was to travel around Korea once a month, and do productive things with my time rather than spend nights cavorting and days recovering. So… the beginning of November we went to a beautiful little spot on the west coast of Korea called Anmyeondo where Jason and his fiance SonAh, and our crazy friend Jane and I managed to indulge in fresh prawns, long, windy beach walks, and superbly drunken barbeque. All in the name of beach weekends, I say!

This last weekend I went to Busan, which is the second biggest city in Korea and is on the South East coast. We took the KTX, which is Koreans express train – travelling at 300kms an hour!!! Jane had organised us a super package with one of the hotels near the famous Haeundae beach (it is in the Guinnes book of records for being the most populous beach on a weekend in summer – up to 200 000 peeps squeeze in there!)

so glad we missed the summer crowds by 3 months!!!!

Naturally, all I can really think about at the moment is that I am coming home for 12 days in January!!!! I hope to see lots of people, but 12 days are really short when you want to do lots of things… so here is a loose plan ~~~ if you’re where I am, please come and visit me!!!!

1 Jan: 7.30am… touch down at OR Tambo!!! After a 19 hour journey I will gladly accept eggs and bacie brekkie, champers and OJ, and lots of sunshine.

1-3 Jan: I’ll be at home, swanning around the pool with a cold savana in hand and salt & vinegar chips within reach. Please pop in if you are near 20 Park Ave, Bordeaux.

3 Jan: I am venturing into Blue Bull territory to kuier met daai ouens daar!!! If you are in or near Pretoria, I will be at Adri and Joe’s place for a late arvie “dop en chop”!!!

4 Jan: I will be visiting my bank. This may, or may not, be pretty. Simpler. Better. Faster my bladdie arse! Then I will be taking a leisurely drive down to Cathedral Peak Hotel to see all the maatjies and catch up with news that side.

5 Jan: I’ll be moseying on over to the Central Berg, where I will ensconce myself at Stelli’s house where we have 18 months of “world-saving, global problem-solving, social commentary” to catch-up on. In between this serious work, accompanied by red wine, we will be playing golf courtesy of the lovely Longmores at Monks Cowl CC. So if you are in or near the berg… best you swing by!

7 Jan: its Daddy Cool’s 60th birthday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Whooooo-hooooo…. bells and whistles on for a little shin-dig around the pool at 20 Park again…

8 Jan: Puffin and pooch Attree and I will embark for The Wedding Of The Year in Graaf-Reniet. We are road-tripping it, 2004-style when we did the midlands meander for Andrew’s wedding. There will be laughter, food, photos, laughter, naps (not for the driver, naturally), laughter, and fun. (Note to Melissa… there will be NO tears…). Beezer is getting married on her folks’ farm~~ seriously, what a more South African-style wedding!!! So all the old Rhodes dollies will be there, decked out in our party frocks for a moerse sok-jol!!!

10 Jan: back to 20 Park….

11 Jan: brunch with Harps, Shims, Jilly & Marko, Caroline and ALL THEIR BOYS!!! Yip… between the 4 of them they have 5 sons!!!! Monday night is bookclub~~~ thanks to Krista I will be able to see the girls and have a good old natter over some more wine!

12 Jan: 4.45pm I am leaving on a jet-plane… ^^;;;

12 Jan: 5pm you all miss me so much that you start planning your trip to Seoul….

13 Jan: 6pm I arrive back in Korea~~ another 19 hour trek

So lovely peeps… I hope to see you all somewhere along the way!!!

love and light xoxoxoxoxoxo

the one about Vietnam… finally!

So finally I am writing about my Vietnam trip. Sorry about the delay, but there was an unfortunate series of events involving catching up on sleep, and then having an epic jol which catapulted me back in sleep debt which I spent the remained of the week rectifying. Anyway… enough excuses… here it is!

My decision to go to Vietnam was mostly based on the fact that Cousin Katie lives there, as well as the fact that I was super keen to eat one of my favourite cuisines in its natural state. A quick heads up here~ the first reason proved to be reason enough to go to Vietnam, or anywhere for that matter! The second reason rendered a sad state of affairs when one realizes that, quite often, exotic foods taste better in restaurants in your own country that in the country they actually originate from!

the cousins reunited after 3 years!

I arrived in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) at lunch time and hopped on the back of Katie’s scooter and we were off! In 5 minutes I became painfully aware that I was going to die imminently, and not quietly in my sleep but by being mangled under 500 motorbikes racing around us in various directions and at calamitous speeds! The Vietnamese drive with the kind of happy-go-lucky, laugh-in-the-face-of-danger confidence that only an assurance of an afterlife, according to their national religion, can give you! There was only one thing for it, once Kate discovered which way was home after 3 attempts, and that was to go for a quick pedi and then onto to the opening of her friend’s boutique with oodles of champers to settle the nerves and allow me to acclimatize to the sights and sounds (and smells) of Saigon.

Note to self: don’t worry about the 9 million bladdie bicycles in Beijing! Katie Mehlua would have been far more helpful had she sung about the 4 million motorbikes in HCMC, known as the motorbike capital of the world. Good grief… road signs are mere suggestions, white lines on the roads are mostly non-existent, and following the right direction is optional. If you have to get from A to B, and the quickest way is against oncoming traffic, well then… JUST DO IT!

just a sample of the fellow motorists in HCMC

Sunday we headed off to Hoi An, a delightful little town near Da Nang right in the middle of Vietnam, on the coast. Just a quick backtrack here. When I told Kate I was coming to “Nam, she said I was coming at the end of rainy season…. Foolishly, I swatted her veiled warning off and arrived 3 days before Typhoon Ketsana did. My bad. However, Kate (who henceforth is known as Cousin of the Year, batting Cousin Michael out of first position – which he held for a record 4 years!) booked us into to Hoi An for 3 days. Hoi An is in the direct path of Typhoon Ketsana. Kate’s bad.

this would be HoiAn after Typhoon Kate-Sana was done!

We stayed in a beautiful little hotel, and managed to spend a day mooching about the town, getting measured for some slinky shoes (Hoi AN is known for its incredibly talented and astonishingly cheap tailors and shoemakers), checking out the sights, looking at the river, having lazy meals over wine and beer. Sometime on Monday arvie, while enjoying a scrummy lunch our uber-friendly host asked us if we were staying through the typhoon? WHAT TYPHOON? A quick trip back to our hotel, onto the internet, weather.com specifically, and yes, there it was. Typhoon Ketsana (Kate-Sana as she became fondly known) would be arriving in full force at 3am Monday night, and would be around for about 3 days. True to its word, this is what happened. Trying to sleep through a typhoon is something akin to trying to sleep through a heavy metal rock concert! By brekkie time, after we had learnt that we would not be catching out 8.30am flights – and not because they told us but because there was ho one at the airport to answer the phone call! Yip… we were well and truly stuck. So there was one thing for it, out came the books (which, incidentally I couldn’t read in public because it was so funny but every time I laughed Kate wanted to know what I was laughing at. DO NOT READ BILL BRYON BOOKS IN PUBLIC!!!!), the cards for Shithead, and until 12pm we drank tea and then made the smooth transition to Larue, the local brew! At 4 pm the eye of the storm arrived which meant we could venture out and survey the damaged wreaked by Kate-Sana. Wowzers trousers!!

priorities when your house is flooded!

Listen, I suppose if you are going to do something you should do it properly. Well she did that and then some. Besides the obvious debris of a storm, like trees all over the place, parts of buildings blocking your path, water everywhere, there was also the unnerving fact that our hotel was about 1km from the river but the river was lapping at our heels already!!! We popped into a local place to have a few beers and make new friends and survey our situation. Kate and I, being of similar genes, temperament, and economic status (relatively poor English teachers) were rather unfazed by this turn of events. However, Bettina, Kate’s German construction engineer (naturally. Those 3 words are included in the dictionary exactly like that, next to EFFICIENT) had to be at work the next morning at 8am. Hmmmm…. Tough one. I could sense her stress, because unlike other countries where employees might be forgiven for being late in the instance of a natural disaster, I don’t think the German companies are that lenient. One does not get ahead of the world in technology and mechanics by being late, whatever the reason! Anyway… we got out alive. At 6am the next morning, while standing calf-deep in water in our hotel lobby checking out, 2 chaps paddled past in the bath-tub boat and kindly gave us a lift up the road to higher ground. Until you have travelled up a road that is more than a metre deep in water in 2 bathtubs tied together and steered by 2 of the friendliest, cutest Vietnamese chaps then I can honestly say, you have not lived!

Typhoon Queen being estcourted out of HoiAn in befitting style!

Getting back to HCMC was heavenly though, and after a long brunch Kate and I headed off for an hour-long hair wash. Yip. Heaven. Imagine head, face, neck and shoulder massages, facial scrubs, and conditioning treatments, and you have a small idea of the heaven that is the Vietnamese hair-wash. Of course that evening we fell into bed knowing that for the first time in 3 days we would have no typhoon-soundtrack to fall asleep to! Yay!

The next day Kate and I hit the sights and fitted in the backpacker’s area, Jade Pagoda, the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Post Office. Remember, Vietnam was a French colony so many of the buildings are of French design, and high rises buildings are only now starting to pepper the skyline of this rather flat but widespread city. The buildings are quaint and attractive, and the apartments are tiny and squeezed in everywhere. I went with Kate to her school, and sat in on her lesson for ten minutes. It was probably ten of the most traumatic minutes of my life, as she teaches elementary school kids and I met her 7 years old. Good grief! I would have a serious substance abuse problem if I taught kids! (I do hear some of you raising your eyebrows and making a weird throaty noise at that statement ~ enough!) The amount of noise and shouting and squealing and moving around that 20 7-year olds can make is astonishing. In the afternoon I went across to the American War Museum (naturally, Vietnamese refer to the war as being American because… well, the Americans did a lot of nasty things back then, and made oodles of boodle afterwards by making tons of movies about their apparent heroics!) This was not a good idea on my part, being of the sensitive nature I am, because the museum laid bare the real atrocities of war. Surprisingly, and I aim that sarcasm-dripped “surprisingly” at the people who decide to go to war to get more oil or increase their tungsten stash (one of the “peripheral” reasons of the Vietnam war, incidentally!!), war is not all about wearing cool camo clothes and drinking cold beers in the rice paddies all day! There was a photographic display of the victims of Agent Orange, some of which are 3rd generation babies now! It was devastating. Back to the happy stuff.

Thursday night we went to Ben Thanh market for some street restaurant food, and it was scrummy! This was the very same market where earlier I had seen a tray full of live toads on death row awaiting their last meal which they would be kindly providing to some happy Vietnamese housewife and her family! EUW!!!! But no toads for us… just a delish Hot Pot which we washed down with some beer, chased with some lime and chilli prawns and ended off with some more beer! Life is good!

yum yum??

Friday was another lazy day for us. A lot of chilling all around followed by a trip to the Reunification Palace. Now this was interesting purely because I got to go down to the basement and see what the war preparation rooms looked like. To run a war you need at least 4 phones (including 1 red one, naturally) per desk, as well as a random bed next to the practice shooting range!!!! Naturally this was before internet and CNN and Google earth, but it did look rather efficient. If not a little dingy.

me in Vietnam, at the Reunification Palace!

We ended off the day with sundowners at the Sheraton Hotel… cocktail hour proved to be very happy indeed as we met up with our fellow flood victims, and managed to watch the sun set with a margarita or 2. And then…. It was time to go out, and I pulled out the big guns for my last night in ‘Nam! SOJU!! Yip, I brought Cousin Katie a few bottles of South Korea’s national drink and we put paid to it after dinner with friends! Soju wins every time!

To end off the ‘Nam Trip we went for dinner on the Saigon River. Now this is the life. Really… this is the life…

Kate and Bettina striking the Korean photo pose, with the Saigon River behind us!

What an amazing trip~~ thanks Cousin Katie!!! There are more photos of my crazy time, especially of the cute little kiddies who I was absolutely besotted with (even Kate’s noisy school kids!)

she's a keeper!

 

Ok. Enough. Love and light xoxoxoxoxo

the post about my Jeju Island trip… and some comments about recent events

So in keeping with all the changes that have occurred in my life the last month, I have decided to stop giving my blog posts song titles, and instead… well I will just call them whatever I feel is most appropriate at the time!

So this weekend, I headed off to Jeju-do which is a beautiful little island south of the Korean peninsual, and the southern most part of Korea. I went with Adventure Korea, who are a fantastic company that organise tours for foreigners all over Korea, and this trip they certainly outdid themselves! Firstly, I caught the new subway line 9 to Gimpo Airport which was only a 35min trip, as opposed to the 1 hour bus ride. Score. Then we hopped a flight to the island, and there is something about leaving the frenetic capital city and idling out to an island that makes one melt into the seat, and all previous concerns and irks are washed away with the knowledge that you are approaching a small piece of heaven.

First stop was the Horse park where we watched a re-enactment of Ghengis Khan’s triumphs by about 40 riders who were, understatement of the century, quite the most proficient riders I have ever seen! The acrobatics and theatrics enthralled us all, although I was more intrigued with their various hairstyles as they had really gotten into their roles by styling their hair to that og Kahn’s era…

these hairstyles are quite tame compared to others!

Then we headed off to lunch (a buffet lunch of Korean food, which, to say the least, was SCRUMPTIOUS!) which happened to be next to Miniature Land! So for 7 bucks, we toured around the world in 30 minutes, and even came across some superheroes who somehow fit into the category of global must-see’s!

hey... don't judge me! they were my heroes when I was a kid!

Then we headed off to the Glass Castle, which is a stunning display of glass work and an opportunity to watch the process of blowing glass. Really beautiful stuff! But the real “piece-da-resistance” (sic) was the sign at the entrance to the park…

Konglish has been immortalised in this sign!!!!

After this we headed right down to the very tip of the island, where we climbed to the top of the resident volcano to view the island, as well as the far reaches of the surrounding ocean. It should be noted that the volcano contains red volcanic rock, which according to the not so articulately translated info-board means that the volcano is still alive. Hmmm… I was wondering if volcanic rock that is still red is possibly referred to as LAVA, and perhaps we shouldn’t be frolicking about on top of the resting beast, in case it decides nap time is over???

Lots of walking and sight-seeing means one needs to replenish energy levels and in Korea, the best and most “sure-thing” way of doing this is having another Korean buffet for dinner. Seriously… you cannot go wrong! After dinner we headed off to our hotel, and in a stroke of luck that seemed to accompany me most of the weekend except for when I took a wrong path in the forest (hello Little Red-riding Hood) and landed up 5 kms away from my tour bus, 5kms away from my tour guide, and 5kms away from my phone… I picked a sea-view room to share with my new friends Ali and Jamie.

Hamdeok beach - view from our hotel room

Well there was only one thing left to do, really, and so off to the beach we went with some cold beers and, accompanied by a full, bright moon, we chatted and laughed and quaffed cold Cass like all good islanders are wont to do on a lazy Saturday night.

Sunday dawned early, but not so bright, so I scrapped my sunrise beach walk in favour of a snooze until brekkie time. And then we hit the beach with gusto. Naturally, I went swimming – the temperature was hovering in the late 20’s and the sea was pristine~ what else would one do in this situation? Not the Koreans. Mostly they were stunned that we swam, because it is September. September means Autumn. Therefore, one cannot swim because it is too cold. Whatevs… I splashed about, allowing my inner mermaid to frolic unrestrained for the better part of the morning before we headed off to feed again. In Korea it is taboo to allow more than 4 hours to pass without eating!

The afternoon saw us head off to a green tea farm, which was really just a farm with fields and fields of green tea… With a shop selling green tea… and a restaurant serving food/drink/sweets made from green tea. Hey, I love green tea as much as the next person, but there comes a time, after about 7 minutes, when you’ve had your fill of green tea. Luckily there was a funky bench to change the vibe a bit…

now this is the kind of bench I'm talking about....

From here we went off to the Jeolmul forest…. as I may, or may not, have drawn your attention to… I landed up on a little unintended solo adventure here. The beauty, peace, quiet and just plain gorgeousness of the forest took my attention away from important things like signposts… consequently I walked from one side of the forest to the other, rather than follow the loop-route… so I landed up 5kms away from the parking lot, containing my bus, fellow-travellers, and most importantly my super-stressed out tour-guide! But… if you see the pic below, who can blame me?? And plus, I got a lift from a super friendly local who rattled about Cape Town and the World Cup, after I informed him of my origins…

the goofy look I am sporting is due to the fresh air and slow pace of Jeju, and this forest in particular!

And then it was off to Loveland… I have no words…. Korea is one of the most convervative countries about sex, possibly coming in just behing The Vatican City for prudishness, so you can imagine my surprise when I learnt that there were not one, but three “museums” and/or theme parks dedicated to all things sexual, sensual, erotic and just plain “pomping”! You can check out the photos here… but I think perhaps I should put an R-rating on them…

Here is a tidbit for those of you itching to know what was on display…

these little signposts were dotted all over the place with straightforward images of what constitutes sexual behaviour!

And finally, we headed home. A great weekend…

And now for some more serious stuff, enough lolligagging about… my local closed. A few weeks back, after I had celebrated by birth-week finale in their delightful company, the 2 guys made some vague reference to the following Saturday, which was repeated when I dropped by mid-detox-week with some coffee for them. Lo and behold, come Saturday evening, I get an sms from my local friend Julie, informing me tonight was their last nigth and could I please scoot on over ASAP. There were tears. (not just from my side!!!) There was some celebrating, some more tears, and then we got down to drinking and swore on our lives we’d stay in touch. It ended, quite similarly to how my first encounter with them began, with some Vietnamese noodles for brekkie at 7am after we were all cried/drunk/danced out. Truly, 취운 (Chwi Oon) was one of my top 5 hangouts EVER, and I miss the guys and place a lot already!! I will pop a pic in here when I get home!

the local guys and me~~ the first pic of many

And finally (yes, this extremely long ramble is coming to an end) exciting news on my side is that I leave for Vietnam in 19 sleeps and I leave for South Africa in 115 days! BRING IT ON!!!

love and light xoxoxoxoxo

celebrations…

I think this might have been a record birthday for celebrations~~~ I started the Friday before with dinner at the local that turned into a 5.30am jol with some beer and whiskey mixes (appropriately called a BOMB) and some dancing! Seriously, who knew rock n’ roll would be such a hit with these guys?? Luckily for a public holiday so I didn’t feel too bad sleeping my way to lunch time! Sunday, my golf student SugWoo, took us to the Chinese restaurant at the JW Marriot for dinner!!!! Wowzers trousers… we had the full on Chinese food experience – no sweet and sour pork for me – including some shark-fin soup. Now, before the PETA people start crying out in horror, I didn’t know it was shark-fin soup and was only informed half-way through the bowl. Truthfully, I’m not sure what all the fuss is about (fussing about the eating of, not fussing about the brutal killing of) because actually… I’ve had better soups.

Then my actual day rolled by, and I woke up at 3.33am… a little freaky really considering I had just turned 33. Anyway… my students spoilt me with all sorts of goodies, and then at lunchtime I went off to my volunteer job at a shelter for teenage girls. They had made me an angel’s halo to wear, and we all donned some pretty masks and tucked into a delicious cake they had made for me. Incredibly special. As an aside… in Korea, tomaotes, quite rightly, are treated as the fruits they are. My cream-laden birthday cake was coverd in pieces of peach, pear, pineapple and halved cherry tomaotes. BLEUGHHHHHHH!!!! I’m not a big tomato fan, and I can assure you that dressing them up in whipped cream and plonking them ontop of a 6 layer cake with mulberry jam filling is not going to change my mind!  But I deftly picked them off and happily scoffed away with the girls ~ what cuties!

Birthday night started in my conversatin class where I introduced my students to South African wine, and cheesecake. Surprisingly, this is a delectable combination and solves the problem of having wine and cake together…. Cheesecake makes wine taste even lovelier- if thats possible. Then I headed off to the local (amazingly, I don’t live there) to meet up with some super friends for dinner. And soju. Friends left by 1am, the local guys started having a few drinks with me and a remaining. At 2am we left. We couldn’t just go home after all that fun so we got some jsoju and sat outside my convenience store drinking and chatting. (In Korea, this is legal and common, especially in summer). Then one of the local boys joined us. At 3.30 we went back to the local. At 5am I went to bed… and woke up to teach from 7am – 11am. Naturally, my liver stopped speaking to me as did my brain, eyes and stomach. But it was a jolly good time, I tell you!

Friday night was the finale of the birth-week celebrations. We went off to the trusty Crazy WC for a night of cocktails and friends. Soemthow, I ended up at the local again…. But now that I am a responsibile 33 year old I have launched myself onto the wagon and will be as dry as a desert for the next three weeks to give my aged self time to recover and gear up for my Vietnam trip with cousin Skatie.

birthday girl ~ note straight hair please

A little cultural injection to all this frivolity~~ on the Sunday of the Shark-Fin Soup (henceforth to be known as Shark-Fin Sunday), Jason, Sonha (his GF) and I went off to Icheon Ceramics Village for some pottery making and delicious sushi eating. I made a soju bottle with 4 glasses… I know, I know! Don’t judge me. It was so much fun, and I think pottery might be one of the funnest (sic) things to do on a Sunday arvie, ever!

Here is my stuff…. in a couple of weeks we’ll go back to paint it and they can glaze it and Voila!!

the pretty little soju bottle the pretty little soju glasses

 

Ok… this blog just did something weird and irritating with the photos and now I have to go and do yoga to get rid of all the negative and aggressive energy that just flowed through me like lava! God, computers shoud realise I AM THE BOSS and save us both the trouble of all this screaming and temper-tantrum throwing.

love and light xxx

grumpy techno-ignoramus is leaving the building (without doing a spell-check… sorry)

swing high… swing low….

So this weekend Jason (colleague) and I were treated to The Korean Golf Experience by one of our students – he is a retired judge who is now practising law ($$$) – so here it is. Sadly I forgot my camera, so you will be required to do some stretching of your imagination to believe it!

First, some background. Jason had never played golf before a month ago when I dragged him to screen golf (virtual golf for those who missed my previous post) and then to the driving range around the corner from my office.  I haven’t played golf in over 2 years, and despite a few rounds of screen golf and a couple of days a week at the driving range I was still a bit nervous!!! Sunday morning 6am rolled on and Sugwoo arrived to pick us up, with his driver! My first chauffer experience!!! We were playing at ShinWon country club, about an hour south of Seoul – nestled between mountains and rather exquisite!

We had some brekkie, after changing into our newly acquired (and colour co-ordinated) golf attire, and then headed out to be greeted by our caddie – a delightful young lady who astounded me with her energy, knowledge and friendliness. (Note – all the caddies are ladies. I noticed this immediately. I queried after an appropriate amount of time had passed. The answer was exactly what I had expected. Golf in Korea has traditionally been a male-dominated past-time. Men like to look at and be in the company of pretty girls. Therefore, all caddies are pretty girls. Naturally.)

Due to the space restraints in Korea (all those mountains get in the way of a good golf course), the course was tighter than a Mermaid’s brassiere (Blackadder’s words, not mine) and left no margin for error or wayward drives – no matter how spectacularly far I smashed them!  The 3 of us, and our delightful caddie, loaded onto the electric golf-cart and motored off to the first tee. Nerves aside Jason and I both f**ked up royally. But thats fine, get the bad shots out the way in the first few holes, I say, and that leaves the rest of the round to be enjoyed. And mostly, it was like that!

Two notable things about golf in Korea. One – the Koreans thrive on BALLI BALLI = rush rush. So no leisurely round of golf for us pal, we were marching from shot to shot so as not to be the foreigners who ruined everyone else’s speed-golf. Crikey mo… its bad enough trying to regulate your breathing for your swing so you can hit a good shot, never mind when YOU CAN”T BREATHE because you have galloped from tee box to green in 7 minutes! Anyway, we managed to get into our groove and get some time on our side, which eased things up a bit. What is cool is that the rough and out of bounds area is also narrow, due the space issue, so even if you do go wayward you can still find your ball – or your brilliant caddie can – either way, I only lost 4 balls. Which is a drop in the ocean compared to the losses I incurred on South African courses.

Secondly… the golf carts are operated by remote control. No one tells you this. Picture this. The 2 foreigners are lining up for their shot, and our caddie (golf-cart driver) is standing between us, in the middle of the fairway AND OUR GOLF CART STARTS MOVING FORWARD. Naturally, since we both have the reflexes of a cat we make moves to stop it – Jason even remembering to ask where the brake would be as he had never operated a cart before. Caddie looked at us though we had just stepped off the set of The Land Before Time. She tried to explain that the cart has sensors and is operated remotely so as to keep the game going QUICKLY, and to help her as she runs between all the players handing clubs, giving distances, wiping golf balls (I did originally type “wiping balls” there, but as you can imagine… well actually I didn’t want you to have to imagine THAT), and looking for wayward shots. Needless to say, the novelty of a remote-controlled golf cart did not wear off at all during the entire round, and I could not help but hum the Knightrider tune every time I saw the cart approaching me sans a driver!

A few more delights…. all the par 3’s have a rack of short tee’s for you to use (because it is so inconvenient to have to carry your own???). There are BEAUTIFUL restrooms with small cafe’s in the middle of each nine holes (a half-halfway house???) There are airsprays at the club house to clean your shoes before going inside. (No comment. Just cleverness really!!!) But the real treat came when I went to shower after my round of what turned out to be rather abysmal golf interspersed with some brilliant shots including a drive of over 220m which I was rather chuffed with. My putting was horrific, and my direction was similar to that of a 13 month old baby trying to walk after drinking a bottle of Panado Cough Syrup. Naturally, I can’t remember that. I got 1 par, and my super drive, and for those reasons I will continue with this crazy sport!!!

The locker room was heavenly. I mean hot tub, stunning view over the course (fenced in so no one could be distracted by these birdies , loads of shower goodies and lotions and potions to soothe your weary body. Heavenly. Heavenly. I really want to go back just so I can spend more time in the hot tub!

Lunch was amazing… accompanied by some wine… which meant when we got back into the chauffer driven car and our host showed us how to recline our seats for the next hour all I saw was the back of my eyelids! If that is not the perfect day of golf, then I don’t know what it! I do miss the space of the golf courses at home though…. they are a little kinder to my right-leaning drive!

Hope you are all well  – love and light xoxoxoxo

baby I’m ADDICTED….

So on Wednesday, 24 June, it will be my one year anniversary of being in the ROK~ and I tell you, what a year it has been. My life is so vastly different from a year ago it is hard to actually capture this feeling. Am I happy ~ YES! Am I staying on ~ YES! Will I be coming back to SA for a visit~ YES! Will I be coming back to SA for good~ probably not. Eventually… my passport expires in 2017…. I want to stay in Korea longer. I want to live on a small island for a while. I want to go back to the Middle East for an extended period. And of course… South America is still beckoning!!!! But my family and I have loose plans about buying a small place together in SA… so home is always there and it is where my heart is!

Ok… one year down and what can I say about South Korea? I LOVE IT! Why???? Well obviously, there’s the big stuff -> people and food. But actually, its the smalls stuff that has really got me going here…. but I digress. Big stuff first:

The Koreans, in general, have been very hospitable and lovely. I go to places regularly, like my kimbab or toast place for brekkie and my fried chicken place and hairdresser and yoga place… and all of them are friendly and smiley and marvel at my attempts at Korean conversation like I am a child genius. It is hard not to feel the love! Unfortuantely, it does present an interesting situation because historically Koreans have always viewed white people as superior (I don’t want to get into racial issues or reasons behind it, but thats how is rolls) and nowadays English is the currency of the globe so WHITE ENGLISH-SPEAKERS are A-list here. It is a bit cringey for me to be treated “better” than my Korean friends, just because of the colour of my skin and it has resulted in me avoiding going back to places when the owners start giving me free stuff all the time and chatting to me like I’m a visiting Professor.

Teaching adults means I get to engage with society in a unique and personal manner, learning all about the nuances and idiosynchrosies of these people. Koreans are a constant psycho-social case study for me. Can you imagine, South Africans, what it is like to live in a country where EVERYONE looks the same (varying shades of black/dark brown hair and eyes and skin colour varying from a caramel tan to milky smooth complexion) AND speaks the same language AND shares the exact same history and ancestory. Sometimes it is rather overwhelming, to say the least! At Africa Day last weekend I was struck at the different people all together in one place, and I realised how much I love that about SA~ a bunch of completely different looking and speaking people are all the same nation! 99% of the South Korean population  is  Korean. Of course this makes for an interesting platform for mass movements because mostly everyone shares the same thinking patterns~ so leaders know how to manipulate the population to get the desired response. However, especially amongst the younger generations, Koreans like to distinguish themselves through fashion and image ~ although the styles are all identical. So this summer, all the girls have their nails painted in citrus colours and all wear little layered frocks and 7cm heels. The guys are stuck with their shiny grey suits, or the newer, slicker black or navy suit. But most of them assert their individuality with a outrageously loud tie – no doubt selected by their GF on a traumatic shopping spree.

I love how the Koreans engage with each other in differently in various environments. So at work, colleagues are formal and abrupt – we are not here for a hair cut but rather to reinvent global technology- but after work at  dinner over a few bottles of soju their guard is dropped and people engage on a very personal level. In Korea, it is all about your “circles” – friends from elementary school (gr 1 -6), friends from middle school (gr 7 – 9), friends from highschool, friends from university, friends from military service (guys), and finally friends from work. Seldom would they ever meet with 2 or more of these groups simultaneously, which means the average Korean has to get a little drunk at least twice a week in order to maintain ties with all of his/her social groups. When I explained that often I would entertain friends over dinner or at a party from school, university, sports, work etc. they were quite taken aback with this.

The second big part of my stay in Korea has been the food and drink. In a word, Korean food is ADDICTIVE. Surely to do with the spices, but also to do with the variety and delicious’ness. Not a single day goes by without at least one meal being Korean food, if not 2! I have tried most things – much to the delight and surprise of my Korean friends – and am always game to try new things. Of course, there are some “dodgy” things… like live octopus which I am still working up the courage to try! I have tried most of the Korean liquor, and soju comes out tops – mixed with green tea – and makoli a close second. This is a liquor made from rice… and rather refreshing and delicious! I have mastered chopsticks to such a degree that the only time I use a knife is to peel my kiwi fruit for brekkie smoothies. I use a fork occasionally, to east pasta with, but otherwise its all sticks and spoons – how dexterous!

Korean food is spicy.. there is a lot of red pepper paste/powder involved. At first it brought tears to my eyes and I was sure I would have to live on plain noodles for the rest of my stay. But before you realise it, go chu chang (red pepper paste) becomes a requirement for all meals and if my mouth is not slightly singed by the end of a meal then I feel strangely dissatisfied. I have even eaten the pickled jalapenos that are served as side dishes in some places – something that a year ago I would have cried at just the thought! My little taste buds are all grown up!

These are the big things, but its actually the little things that make me fall in love with Korea a little more every day…

* when it rains, all the buildings immediately bring out macahines to dispense plastic bags to put your wet brolly in, so no dripping all over the place

* when you go into a bank/doctor/immigration office/post office there is a ticket number machine, so everyone waits patiently for their number to appear on the screen before they get served

* the Korean labour law states that employees get 15 days annual vacation, but most companies “encourage” their employees to take only 5 days and get paid out for the rest… SA labour unions would have a field day with that!

* the Korean labour law also allows women to take one day’s menstruation leave per month. I couldn’t believe it when I read that! Sadly it doesn’t extend to the foreigners… clearly we must just suck it up!

* I love my GS25 convenience store. It is open 24/7 and is across the street from my house. Convenience stores are exactly that….

* motorbikes compete with pedestrians on the sidewalk and over the zebra crossings, through red robots and down the wrong way. This is apparently no problem for anyone.

* promotional girls and guys hand out iced coffee to passerby’s while yelling into a mike about whatever it is they are selling. Sometimes they give out weird things like toilet paper????

* I still feel very “Sex and the city” every time I hail a cab.

* in total, I spend about 2 hours a month in a car. Compared to 2 hours a day and 2000kms a month in SA. And I still find riding on the subway or catching the bus a little exciting… is that weird or childish?

* I love playing screen golf, which is virtual golf with everything except the long walk and slow fourball in front. It is awesome!!!!!!!

* I love that I can get food from street vendors at anytime of the day and night, which is delicious and “healthy” (some isn’t obviously) and very Korean.

* I love that when I went for a leg and arm wax, the girl who did it kept apologising for ripping off the wax because my hair is so “fat” (thick) that surely it must be painful

* One of my favourite students, on hearing my height, announced that I am a super model! (How can he not be my fave student???). He also assured me that, should North Korea REALLY become a threat (apparently, they are just big talk at the moment) he will inform me AND help me get home safely.  Seriously. I adore him.

* Secretly, I love my minor-celeb status. I go to a cocktail bar with my Korean colleagues every now and then and being the only foreigner (unless the boys are with us) means that all the waiters/barmen know my name and I get free cocktails and lots of hugging when I arrive. Its hard not to get a little dazzled by the attention! Obviously, we still go to the local 3 or 4 times a week (when do I sleep/work you ask? hmmmm…. I have learned to live on 6 hours sleep a night!) where we have made some cool friends, and get a bit of attention from people when they are sufficiently drunk enough to start speaking English.

There so many more things I love… but I think I have rambled on enough for one blog post, and you people have lives to get back to! I do miss you all, and I will be back for a visit next July or August because I have promised my darling Boezsh Banana (Rylee = god-daughter) that I will be. But until then I will continue to live this stress-free, interesting live in this ever-surprising country!

xoxoxox love and light

peace train

Sso this weekend was my much anticipated templestay, and it exceeded my expectations! I stayed at Bubheungsa Temple (http://www.bubheungsa.or.kr/) which is over 1400 years old, and one of the 5 most important temples in Korea beause it hold the relics and bones of a famous Buddha from over 1000 years ago! This incredible place is tucked away in the mountains, next to a small river and boasts some of the most breath-taking views and tranquility I have ever experienced.

on arrival we were greeted by low slung clouds, heavy mist and complete peace and quiet.

We arrived in the pouring rain (we being 40 foreigners on a tour organised by a brilliant company www.adventurekorea.com ), which seemed to add to the mystical atmosphere of being in such a spiritual place. Over the next 24 hours we would live as monks (although we spoke a lot more than they do normally, and a few people snuck in a smoke or 2 which I don’t think highly spiritual people do) and to start they kitted us out as “monks-in-training”. These are rather comfy, and allow for several layers underneath when the persistant rain chilled the night.

We started with a talk with the temple guide, and had a lovely translator with the funniest giggle which he interspersed all his translations with. His job must have been a momentous task because translating from Korean to English is tough at the best of times, but when you are also trying to convey Buddhist teachings and ideology, as well as communicate the parables it can become a rather tricky (but very funny affair). The ice breaker was when he told us we could sleep with eachother but not with the monks. Ok. That limited our choice, and the monks don’t know what they are missing out on

Throughout the weekend we learnt about, and participated in Buddhist practices, and it really revives the soul. Buddhism is all about living in the now, in the best way you can, in the fullest way you can, all the while being conscious of your life. And as an example, we went on a walking meditation. Sadly, it was this experience that made me realise that I will never be a Buddhist monk… they walk SLOWLY. No, not “Rory Clark dawdling” slowly, but “lift your foot, bring it forward, and place it down in 3 whole seconds” slowly. I am not capable of walking slowly. According to reliable sources (my parents) I went from lying about to walking at around 9 or 10 months, skipping the whole crawling delay. I find it incredibly frustrating to walk slowly ~ what is the purpose then??? (Incidentally, I feel the same way about eating and drinking, which also is not very Buddhist). So we walked about 100m through a beautiful green, wet, living, peaceful, exquisite forest and all I could think for the first 50m was “OMG this is the hardest thing I have ever done!!!!” Needless to say, there are very few type A personality with a slight tinge of ADHD monks about….

this chap has no problem at all with the chilled, peaceful forest life!

Dinner rolled by and we had delicious vegetarian food grown and prepared at the monastery by laymen and women (not monks but people who want to assist the monks and monastery). The big rule when eating as a Buddhist = NO LEFTOVERS!!! You eat everything you dish up, there is no where to dispose of food you can’t finish ~ very bad karma! We then went half way up the mountain to another temple hall where we did our 108 bows. No, not like bowing to Queen Liz and co… bowing like full on military bootcamp training. Here is a quick step by step guide to bowing ~ Get a cushion and put it in front of your feet. Hands together on your breastbone. Now kneel down on the cushion (hands still in front of you). Then bend forwards, hands should width apart on the cushion. Now lean down so your forehead and forearms touch the ground. Turn your palms face and raise them to your ears, and back down again. Straighten your ams so you are now on all fours, lean back on your haunches, and then simultaneously stand and bring your hands together again. That is ONE BOW. We did ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHT of them, in about 25 minutes. Monks do them in sets of 1080 OR 3000 OR 10,000. Yes… 10,000. The head monk (we learned later) was in the special forces before becoming a monk, so while it takes the average person about 8 hours to do the 3000 bows, he does them in about 4 hours. When you do it, you may understand that this man might possibly be in the most perfect athletic shape of any being in the entire universe! You may also be wondering who, besides these monks, would ever want to bow 3000 or 10,000 times… deranged mothers who are praying for their child to pass their university entrance exams so they can go to one of the top 5 universities in Korea. I kid you not!

on your marks...

quick breather down there while flipping the hands over...

After bowing, we hit the sack around 10.30pm, only to be up at 3am for morning mediation and teachings. It wasn’t so hard waking up ~ once in a while it can be done~ but meditating for 45 minutes tests even the most dedicated of humans… I can hardly sit in one position for 10 minutes, let alone 45. We then met for brekkie at 6am… and this was the true Buddhist dining experience. Basically… you eat the food, clean the bowls and then drink the water that you cleaned with ~ the theory being that it will only contain any food residue that we did not eat, and therefore in this manner we eat everything that was prepared. Once you get your mind (and gag reflex) around that, it is not to bad ~ esp. as it is all veggies and rice anyway!

We finished the epxrience off by making lotus lanterns and then making our own Buddhist prayer beads. These have 108 beads and how do you think we had to make them… yes, you bow per bead! Luckily they let us “cheat” by threading 3 beads at a time, but that was still another 36 bows to be done with very shaky and weary thighs! But now I have my own prayer beads and I know how much they mean and what goes into them! We also had to prepare one dream that we want to achieve or obtain, and put it in a dream bag which the monks then pray for. Considering the pouring rain and all the walking around in it, I nearly had to waste my wish on not getting double pneumonia instead of something really significant like world peace or a weekend with Johnny Depp. But luckily, Sunday had dawned with just a light drizzle so we dried out and I could instead think wisely about my dreams for the future and prepared a very detailed wish, with various subclauses and sub-subclauses (so technically, it was still just one wish) which I hope Buddha and the monks might spend some energy on helping me realise!

Anyway… I was exhausted after this, and got home around 4.30pm on Sunday and managed to sleep until 9am Monday morning. Which just happens to be the 5th anniversary of my mom’s passing ~ so it was quite a special to spend the weekend in a spiritual place, in her memory. All in all… this was an experience that I really enjoyed and found incredible. In fact, I don’t think I had even begun to realise the significance of half the things we were taught and shown, so it will be great to ponder over it in the months and years to come.

I kept my special people in mind throughout the weekend, so know that prayers were being said for your happiness and health and blessings! Much love and light to you all xoxoxoxoxo

P.S. more pics have been loaded here… so check them out – http://cid-ce11e9b3d4c0bb19.skydrive.live.com/browse.aspx/temple%20stay%20-%20May%2018%202009

you ain’t seen nothing yet….

so a quick interlude… I am feeling all motivated and smiley after completing my first 10kms with the following accreditations… 1) I lived to tell the tale. 2) I actually enjoyed the last 7 kms – the first 3 are over-rated and without a running partner (thank you Andrew) I would have stopped. Seriously. 3) I want to get under 60mins, so I will be doing it again. I have missed that little self-competitve streak I have, which has been hidden for a decade, so next month I will be trotting along another beautiful part of Seoul to the beat of some hectic tunes which propelled me forwarded one foot after the other. I will do a little Nike promo though…. nearly 6 years ago Rory bought me a pair of Nike’s for my birthday (great little brother he is), and I treated myself to a new pair of takkies (I won’t name them because I don’t see the need to trash their name, it is not their fault that even though they are named after a stealthy feline predator of the jungle, they do not cater for people with high arches). But my new takkies hurt me badly, so I hauled out the trusty old, sole-less (yip the rubber all came off over a period of 6 months) and off I went… and they were magic. So the Nike’s stay and cats are booted. Thats life.

Laaaaast weekend we went off with one of our students to Lotte World which is an amusement park near us… and we acted like a bunch of kids. Obviously. They have a gyro-drop which takes you up, twirling, to about 100m and then drops back to earth at the speed of sound, leaving your hair and eyebrows behind to catch up a few seconds later. It was AWESOME. Bronwyn – you will never do this. Neither will Mary Ham. We did it 6 times. We also smashed the rollercoaster a few times, and then tried out the Gyro-swing: which twirls and rocks and swings all at once, so not only are you completely disorientated but you also feel like you are going to crash. It was fantastic! There is nothing like being in one of the most technologically advanced, engineering superior countries in the world for the perfect amusement park experience.

I have got the 2 guys from the local hooked on rock n roll – Mau you will be so proud. It is hilarious actually… except the next morning. But yip… last Wednesday night I was rocking about the local to Elvis Presley at 3am…. who knew other people were crazy about rock n roll and dancing ~ its fantastic!!!

A few peple have been asking me when I will be getting home… as my year is nearly up…. weeellllllll…. I have signed another year’s contract to start from July till next June. And I have booked my ticket to Vietnam for a week in October, and I am hoping to organise a little Clark Family Christmas here in Seoul… so keep the champers chilled, but only expect to pop it next July at the earliest.

ok love and light xoxooxoxoxox

I’m wicked and I’m lazy……

 I have become a very bad blog-updater, and I have no excuse other than my life is quite normal now (after nearly 10 months in Korea) so it seems weird to write about it. But recently I have been getting back into the cultural exploration of my new country so this is going to be a long and educational post!

Firstly, at the end of March I went to the DMZ (the military buffer zone between North and South Korean), specifically to Imjingak which has the Freedom Bridge and the Bell of Peace. This is a special place as it is where many South Koreans come during special occasions (like Lunar New Year and Thanksgiving) to pray for their families on the other side of the border. It is a very moving experience as there are tributes to peace, unification and lost family members all over.  We then went to the Unification Village for lunch, this is a small village for discharged soldiers and residents living near the border, so you can definitely feel the military presence. Afterwards we went into the 3rd Tunnel, which was dug by North Korea and is able to allow 30,000 armed soldiers to move through the tunnel within an hour. The South Koreans discoverd the tunnel before any harm was done, although it is rather close to Seoul!! Lastly we went to the Dorasan Observatory and using high-powered binocs were able to look into North Korea, which is quite a bizarre experience because it is so close geographically and yet so far ideologically. I have no pics, as I could not bring myself to intrude on such a sensitive experience with photo-taking. However, a few of you were and have been rather concerned about the situation with the North. Here is a brilliant (but long) article explaining why South Koreans are rather apathetic about the whole missile/satellite launch and why there is a Very Small Chance of Dear Leader launching an attack on the South. http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2009/04/ask-korean-news-best-commentary-on.html

On the whole, I would like to go back to the Joint Security Area in Panmunjeon, as I am intrigued by this standoff between the North and the South, which in effect are the same country, the same people, the same culture, the same families. Very sad indeed.

Then… on a happier note…. I went to a Korean wedding on Saturday. The photos will illustrate it better, so…..

the happy couple with their moms, who are wearing Hanboks (pink for bride's mom and green or blue for groom's mom). the traditional Korean Ceremony

 

 

 

After the wedding they donned the traditional wedding Hanboks for the bowing ceremony. Her outfit is extremely elaborate so she required help to get up and down for all the bowing to his family!All in all, it was a lovely experience and totally different to the weddings I am used to! The entire thing, including a delicious buffet lunch was over in about 2 hours! No 4am, table-dancing, bouquet-catching, champagne-quaffing jols like the weddings I’ve been to before – but interesting all the same!

 

On Sunday, I made my way down to the river to experience some really awesome Spring weather accompanied by millions and million of cherry trees in full blossom. It is quite a sight to behold, like it has snowed again except without the cold, crappy weather! Japan brought in truckloads of cherry trees during their colonization of the peninsula in the early 19th century, and so now, much like the Jacarandas all over SA, Korea becomes a vision of white and soft pink for about 2 -3 weeks in early spring.these line all the rivers and a lot of the roads, and when the breeze blows the petals swirls about like snowflakes. It is breath-taking!

 

 

 

So all in all, I am really really really enjoying this weather and am getting out and about! Next month I am going to do a Templestay, which I will tell you all about then. But do not fear, I am still making new friends and drinking and eating and having a good time all round! My local is proving to be a sure thing as I met 2 great girls there the other night and we now have a standing Thursday night “date” for dinner and wine. Quite a few of my students enjoy taking us out to their favourite place as well so good times:)

I am running a 10km race at the end of April with my colleagues, which should be interesting… and I will really try and write here more often!!!! Love and light xoxoxoxo

island in the sun…

sit back, preferably with a cold one, and read the “brief” version of the 2 weeks Rory was with me…

He arrived just as we were experiencing the last snow of winter… very pretty, but it made us both even more excited for our trip to Bali! The first night we went for Sam Gyop Sal (grilled pork rashers that you wrap in a lettuce leaf with sauce, onions, mushrooms, rice and kimchi). The next day he did a whirlwind tour of the palaces and experienced some of Seoul. That night we went for grilled spicy eel… it is surprisingly delicious. The last night we went for mak chang at my local, which is the Korean version of porkies but far tastier (except when it is described in English = large intestine of pig). Of course all this eating was accompanied by drinking and Rory experienced the delicious evil that is soju. He survived. My friends think he is good-looking (including some of the guys – this is not a gay thing, this is a Asian/White thing), and I have promised him to a couple of my girl-friends. He does not know this yet.

We left for Bali after a very late night at the local. We fought alot at this stage, and I was a little nervous about the upcoming 8 days – there was a high possibility we would kill each other. Siblings are siblings after all. But we didn’t, and it all turned out great….

Day 1 = arrived, and were pounced upon by an officious looking chap who escorted us to his office to expedite the “visa on arrival” purchase process. I was sure we were being arrested for drug-trafficking and at this stage I couldn’t talk, only whimper and look at Rory as if it was for the last time. In fact he was only hoping to relieve us of some unwanted $$$ but of course, as a potential drug-mule, this thought only crossed my mind while we were waiting for our bag 10 minutes later. The Balinese Goddess of Plenty (Bee) was waiting for us and had organised for a tropical storm to arrive as we did. I think she did this so we could witness her deft driving skills – the Good Lord knows that the drivers and bikers in Bali are slightly psychotic with the attention spans of a flea, and coupled with a torrential downpour it was quite breath-taking to watch Bee manoeuvre her way all the while chatting and explaing and pointing out things. She’s a keeper. The Canadian Consort (Geoff) prepared a superb braai for us, and we settled in for the night surrounded by heat, mozzies, cold beers that get warm before you’re half way through, and great friends – my life was complete!!!!

Day 2 and 3: we went up to stay at a beautiful place in Medewi – the West Coast. It was stunning…. black beaches (from the volcanoes), delicious food, psychotic barman who made our one litre jug of sangria with half a bottle of vodka, dodgy old surfer dudes, much laughter, much swimming, much drinking of cold beers.  We finished off the weekend by having a seafood dinner on the beach at Sanur (Bee & Geoff’s suburb). Seriously, life was good at that point.

with beers in hand, can life get any better???

Day 4: Bee took us up to Ubud…. this is the arty, yogi, writer retreat of Bali and it is absolutely stunning. The town is rather quaint and quirky, and lots of things to see – I realised I am not a good shopper at all! As soon as they start yelling at me to come into their shop I panic. Of course they can smell my fear so they pounce quickly…. luckily Bee saved me from certain death. We went to an organic restaurant in the middle of the rice paddies… positively delicious!!!!

view from Sari Organice restaurant - all very beautiful and healthy and peaceful!

Day 5: Rory and I braved Sanur on our own. My shopping spree yielded 3 postcards – I definitely needed Bee by my side to brave the shops!!! Both of us realised we would rather go back to the villa and read our books (I did manage to get through 2.5 books while in Bali)… but this is why we went back…

our second home, the pool at Bee's villa!

Day 6: Bee and I, and her lovely French friend Laetitia, took a leisurely drive up the east coast to Candi Dasa where we lounged about on The White Beach (can’t pull that off in SA!) and I succumbed to the pressure of life and enjoyed an hour long full body massage. There is a God(dess) and she lives in Candi Dasa, she is married to Gusti, and they have a groovy little spot on the beach and she has the hands of an angel!!! Go there immediately. Do not pass go, do not collect R200!!!!!

The White Beach... it really is this beautiful, and the sea is that blue, and the massage/food/beer is that good!

 

Day 7: I can’t remember what we did today. I think Bee had to work, and we had to read around the pool. Or have another foot massage. Or maybe this is when Bee and I had luxurious pedicures, and afterwards we went shopping and found salt & vinegar chips. I nearly cried with joy!

another tough day's work accomplished!

 

Day 8: Rory went up to the lakes on the little bike we had hired….

Our mode of transport. Half Rory's size, but loads of fun!!!!

He had loads of fun – taking 4 hours to get there because he had no clue where to go. I, instead, went for a cream bath – basically it is a hair wash and then they massage your scalp with conditioner for 15 minutes and then leave it to heal your sun-damaged hair while they massage your back, neck and sholders for 30 minutes.  It was heavenly. Bee and then zooted off to a villa in Jimbaran (southern most part of Bali) which she had to review for a magazine and we had to endure. By endure I mean that we had to be waited upon by 10 staff (which is actually annoying after the first 3 minutes), swim all arvie in an infinity pool over-looking Bali, eat $17 of seafood which amounts to a kg of prawns and 2 snappers prepared to perfection by our private chef, drink ice cold beer, watch a movie in our own private theatre, and sleep in exquisite beds over-looking the night lights of the island. It was so hard.

the pool... no comment required!

lounging about area....

 

Day 9: after leaving our little piece of heaven we went to Kuta for some last minute shopping (with Bee) which lasted about 20 minutes but resulted in a new toe ring (for me), new plip plops (for Rory) and 5 t-shirts (for others). It was hot and tiring so we decided to go to the beach and have some thing to eat accompanied by a jug of frozen margharitas… OBVIOUSLY!!!!!!!!!

what a way to end the holiday!!!!

 

A few funnies at the end though – Rory and I nearly killed each other because we were tired and annoyed to be going back. At the end of our Last Supper, Bee asks us if we have $30 to leave the country. No, we do not. Ok, we’ll draw it at the airport. We do this. We enter airport early, so we drink coffee and smoke (Rory) and eat chocolate (me) and buy one last Bali present (me). We do not have $30 anymore to leave the country. We draw more. We are now the last people to check in, so we are separated. Now we love each other again, so this is sad news. Check-in guy puts us on aisle seats 1 row apart. Ok. I can still hit him, but we are not in each other’s personal space. Life is perfect. This is how siblings should always be together – 1 row apart! As we are walking to the check-in gate, a lot of pretty Balinese air port girls are yelling FOOT MASSAGE at us! I shake my head, declining politely but deep inside I am yearning for another foot massage. It turns out they were yelling DEPARTURE CARD. Oh. Ok, here it is. Rory and I screamed with laughter until we fell asleep just after take off.

Ok… Rory left a day after we got back… and we had some fun those few days too but I am tired now to tell you what we did. Mostly just eat and drink. However… we have agreed to do a holiday like this every year together because despite murderous thoughts we have a good time together. He also casually mentioned that living in Seoul might be a fun thing to do – which is not saying much actually because he lives in Bromsgrove, south of Birmingham. Living in Jammersville would be a fun thing to do in comparison, so I am not holding my breath.

Smooches to all, and a special shout out to the Balinese Goddess of PLenty and the Canadian…. YOU GUYS ARE THE BOMB. (No, YOU’RE the bomb!!!)