Amster-damn!

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Badly Photoshopped Pictures

I've got only 9 working days until I head back to the UK!  EPIK job has pretty much fallen through - trying to either get another job or possibly work a few different jobs on the side (I know of a couple kindergartens and a hagwon in Ulsan I could work).  So.. to show my friends how they've been missed I've decided to add them to a few good memories from my time in Korea (so far).  Maybe when I'm back in the UK I'll do the same with some of my Korean friends.  Here are a few of them so far. Enjoy!

Boryeong Mudfest

Muddy, Muddy Men (and Diana)

Headed to Tombo in Dongdaegu with a few of the Daegu gays.  Early start Saturday so got the last subway home.  Got on bus no 2 "Flying Housewife" at Novotel in downtown.  For once a foreigner trip left on time (9:05) and we were on our way.  Boryeong only took about 4 hours but that was with stopping twice.  Coming back we only stopped once so it was quicker.


Checked into Walker Hill pension (a little bit of a free-for-all but generally well organised).  It was 4 of us on mats on the floor but it was pretty comfortable.  Wandered along the beach, saw some weird seaside statues before hitting the main area.  The mud is used in cosmetics and supposedly good for your skin.  There were big mud slides, a jail, wrestling pit, bungee races and a few other things in the main bit.  It was only 5k but there was a big line (we'll know for next year to reserve).  It's something that'd be best with a group too.  There was a free bit with big troughs of mud, so we got ourselves covered (see video).  It was pretty much an excuse for guys and girls to grab each others bits!


Headed down to the beach, had some soju and beer before heading into the sea to wash ourselves off.  A few boys had taken another's swim shorts and were playing piggy in the middle.  Bumped into people we knew but seemed to lose more people than we met!  Played some drinking games with a NZ girl called Rose.  There was a "flash mob" at 4 so we went along to that.  It was pretty terrible and soon was just a big dance pit.  The weather Saturday night was terrible so didn't stay out long.  Sunday we saw a little of the belly dancing shows, hung out on the roof of the SS Club and then got Mexican from Caliente with Julian, Shelley and Sophie in Daegu.

Everland Theme Park and Wicked!

Headed up to Seoul right after work Friday - caught the 22:06 train which was a mistake as the subway had closed by the time we got up. At Choi's Guesthouse we met a lovely girl from Lebanon who spoke English, French, Arabic and was learning Korean - puts most people to shame!  Got up very early and headed out to Everland!

No Frothy Beer or
Aliens Allowed

Is this Lacist?

Transport info: Got to Everland by catching the express 5002 bus from the middle of the street near exit 4 of Gangnam station. Got back by getting a different bus 1500-2 to Sadang station - it was 10 or 15 min longer but we weren't standing all the way. This year the Everline from Giheung Station should open (it's ready, trial runs went fine last year but the owners were concerned it would make a loss until the Shinbundang line opened). There was a short shuttle from the bus station (also where the Everline ends) to the entrance. The shuttle bus also goes to the water park Caribbean Bay (I'll have to go when I get back to Korea, especially if everyone there is fit and oiled up like the advert).

T Express - 77 degree drop, 104 km/h,
Get your QPass tickets as soon as you get there!

Plastic Sheets
- Amazon
Experience

Ghost Bedside Reading

The ticket office opened at 9:30, gates at 10 so there was quite the crowd outside (top photo). A band of foreigners played while they opened up and everyone rushed in. We immediately went to the back of the park where the wooden T Express rollercoaster is in the "European Adventure" region (see this video). We picked up a Qpass then went on and it was my favourite ride there. 77 degree angle drop, 104 km/h and most of it being thrown out of our seats. Tried taking a photo of us pulling cute faces but were told off :-( Picked up a Qpass for Amazon Experience and then went back on the T Express. It was just as great as before but the very back was the best, possibly due to the momentum of the train.

Mirror, Mirror....

Next on the Amazon Experience which was a white water rapids style ride but each "boat" was made up of 6 wedges which could move semi-independently and were covered so you didn't get too wet (although this is really the point of these rides!). See this video. The rest of the rides were pretty fun, nothing particularly special. The haunted house had amusing books in the fake library - The New Jewish Encyclopedia, The Black Military Experience in the American West, Poems from the Middle East.

We saw the splash water show which was very, very.. wet. Honestly I've seen less water spray in the Victoria Falls rainforest. We caught animal shows - including one with a monkey named after a Kpop group JYP. The seals, penguins, tiger and two polar bears all looked well looked after and happy. Not at all shell shocked like the polar bear at Edinburgh Zoo. The African area was a little racist but had some fun animals. Thankfully I did not give any monkeys boners this time, maybe I wasn't looking my best!

            Splash Fun Parade - I could only do their job high.....

Almost front row and Center

On Sunday we went to see Wicked (on until August 31st) at the BlueSquare Music Hall which is connected to Hangangjin station near Itaewon. Our seats were good, but a little high and far from the stage. Still the show was excellent. No photography allowed, but I was sneaky.  Also I admit I was not close enough to take the photo on the right :-)

Suncheon Drama Set

Old Houses on the Hill / Plastic Pig Head

Shelley Being Cute / Traditional Dancing

On Sunday we couldn't be bothered heading back to the EXPO - it would've been much more expensive and was a bit far to go to queue up for hours.
We headed to the Drama Set to wander around an old Korean village that was most recently used as a film set.  I hit my head a couple times on low hanging bits, spent a while running around playing hide and seek (Mark didn't realize we were following him which was kinda unfair I guess).
Last we headed to the nearest 찜질방 for some rest and scrubbing.  My stupid drunken mouth got me into trouble the night before so I had some apologizing to do.

Yeosu Expo

Anyone want a Robot wife?

Slightly Weird Mascots

As this was the only weekend left in Korea we didn't have anything planned we therefore decided to make ourselves busy by heading across the country to Yeosu.  The Expo in Yeosu finishes at mid August so it was our last chance to see it.  The theme was The Living Ocean and Coast.

Samsung

Hyundai

The easiest way to get to Yeosu was to book an express bus from Dongdaegu and then a free shuttle train to  the Yeosu exhibition site.  We decided to head to the company Pavilions.  The 대우 robotic pavilion had maybe the biggest queue, but inside there were plenty of things to see once we got inside - there were giant undersea machines, football playing mini robots and a couple creepy androids.

Robot Devil: Coming Soon?

How to make a boring sport worse
- Robot football players!

Videos: along with the robot devil (not at all like in Futurama!) there were also dancing robots and creepy heads that showed off their weird expressions while singing kpop songs.  The Lotte and GS25 pavilions were good too, Hyundai had 3 big white walls made up of moving white boxes onto which a movie was projected.  The pavilions themselves were housed in ridiculously good looking buildings and often the exhibitions themselves had little to do with the company but were simply cool.  Unless Hyundai is trying to market moving cinema screens.

Fun Korean Fact -
'Whaling' is slang for circumcision 

Halo anyone?

Back to the International pavilion to wonder around different countries.  The huge ceiling of the International area was made up of a huge curved screen.  While we were there they played ocean themed films but I imagine it could be put to good use at the end of EXPO as a giant outdoor (but covered) movie screen.


Many of the big, developed nations had their own pavilions.  Canada had pulled out as it would have to been bigger and more expensive than the USA.  America was one of the few to have famous people speaking during it.  There was a projection onto falling water as well as a speeches from Obama and Hilary Clinton.  The video was the usual propaganda - not a sign of the endemic obesity, everyone was well spoken and educated.  I'd bet everyone had health insurance (unlike the 50 million completely uncovered 31% who are covered by public insurance, or 40% of those who are 'inadequately' covered)...  South Korea could teach the States a thing or two about how the healthcare system should be run!

Yes, we're mature adults

Enough of my 미국-bashing, many of the African countries were huddled together in two big halls.  Lots were interesting, but a few were just shops selling tourist junk.  Nigeria was particularly bad.  Nigeria was one of the few from Africa with their own pavilion but it was essentially a giant shop.  Grabbed a delicious (although expensive) lunch at the Germany restaurant.  The beer, sausages and sauerkraut were excellent.  The Germans were not having a particularly good time with the locals, we saw more than a few arguments but there were Koreans there to explain and translate (not that it did much good).

Kazakhstan, greatest pavilion at the expo,
All other pavilions were run by little girls.. 

Kazakhstan was probably my favorite - a guy played a traditional guitar-like instrument, singers and dancers.  Some quick facts - the largest land locked country in the world (9th biggest overall), population 14 million, after the collapse of the USSR it was the last soviet republic to declare independence and since then (1989) they've had the same 'president' Nursultan Nazarbayev.  The ladies at the exhibition seemed hesitant about answering anything about him or the politics of Kazakhstan.  Perhaps nobody minds a dictator when he does a good job?  Or holds elections twice a decade (Putin)?  There was Kinect controlled fly-over of the new capital city Astana (youngest in the world, founded in 1998). I've decided I'll learn a the Cyrillic script and maybe visit 카자흐스탄.

The UN was very interactive and actually informative, no queue either.  Caught a few different shows - Thailand and Vietnam in particular - before heading out to see the Big O Show - a giant ring with a projected water show.  It was out in the sea, and at one point the ring shot out giant bursts of flame all around hot enough for us to feel the heat on the shore- not the most environmentally friendly but anyway.
Afterwards we headed out in Suncheon, started playing Strip Noraebang which lead to a very surprised Korean when he popped his head in to ask if we wanted beer or food to find most of us topless..


Spoiler - the show didn't really look like this.  Possibly due to the winds messing up the water spray.  Impressive anyway.