Vietnam 2 - Phu Quoc

Monday - Slept quite well on the night bus.  At first we thought that the tiny little minibus we were dropped off at was it, luckily it wasn't and the coach was comfortable.  Woke up when the bus took a short ferry across the Mekong river and again as we got into Rach Gia.  Befriended Ryan on the bus so we ignored the taxi people and walked the short distance between the bus station and ferry terminal. The ferry took almost 3 hours due to rough seas (they really should have designed the bathroom to withstand the constant rocking.  Gross).

Most of the resorts are located on the far western side of the island just south of Duong Dong (the biggest town).  Matt bartered down the price of our hotel and got us a room upgrade to one with a balcony and sea view!  After unpacking we grabbed a few beers and took a walk along the beach.  Napped on a lounger with a beer and book.   Talked to a few places on the way back to town and managed to book a Christmas snorkelling trip for about 5USD.  Explored a temple in a lighthouse and the night market where we ate an amazing fish supper.

Vietnam 1 - Ho Chi Minh City

Saturday - Flew in via Beijing, Guangzhou and then into HCMC.  We flew China Southern Airlines (5 flights, all at least 30min late).  The introduction video on the plane for Ho Chi Minh city had a vietnamese instrumental version of the X-Files theme tune.  Got an expensive ride to the hotel (cab drivers will screw you over, insist on a meter) in the backpackers district in Phurong Pham Ngu Lao.  There are a bunch of hotels around there - a mix up with our booking meant we had to look around for another place.  There are loads of hotels there so easily done.

Typical City Centre Night Time Traffic Jam

Cho Ben Thanh Market

Sunday - booked our tickets to Phu Quoc- if you wander around and barter you can sometimes get about half off.  We then went to the Chợ Bến Thành market.  It was big and crowded - "Whatchu looking for?" or "You wan tshirt man?". They sold a bunch of t-shirts, tourist junk, chopsticks, weaselpoopcoffee, fruits, food and decorated plates.  Liked the plates so much I went back later for this one =>
Came across a parade ground where there were a few performers.  We tried walking along the riverside but it was nasty and industrial (not a recommended evening activity when it's 30C outside).  

Traditional Vietnamese Band
(Playing La Cucaracha)

First stop in the afternoon was the War Remnants Museum - previously known by the catchier name of "Exhibition House for US and Puppet Crimes" and located in the old United States Information Agency (read:propaganda) building.  There is the usual tanks and other vehicles outside.  The ground floor had a bunch of articles about support that Vietnam had during the war as well as the protests at the time.  There was also an outdoor recreation of the prisons with the "Tiger Cages".  The museum was full of propaganda but powerful and emotional nonetheless.  Exhibits ranged from collections by photojournalists, guillotine, unexploded bombs and ammunition, rebuilding photos and information about the massacres (there were almost a dozen) and Agent Orange.

The My Lai massacre was perhaps the worst - a platoon of American soldiers went into a village and murdered about 504 vietnamese villagers.  As this was during the war it was mostly the elderly, children and women (who were gang-raped and mutilated).  As for the Agent Orange, which was used to destroy the forest where the Viet Congs where based, the effects of it are still being felt.  As well as causing terrible skins diseases and often death to those actually exposed, it also mutates DNA and so the second and third generations were developmentally abnormal.  A bit like punching someone so hard their kids are born bruised.  I'd feel better if these sorts of things no longer happened but enough of the depressing museum so off on a walking tour of the town and temples.































Next we passed by the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica.  Around 10% of Vietnamese people are christian (and interestingly over 80% are atheists).  As this was the last Sunday before Christmas the evening service was packed with people standing outside all the doors trying to see in.  We even saw what could be the local Santacon team (although they had fliers so I think were trying to sell something).


Last up for the evening was the Zoo and Botanical Gardens.  It had a bunch of kids stuff set up for Christmas and was open extra late.  There was a small theme park, small cages and we honestly didn't have time to see the botanics bit.  It was strange seeing a stage and fairground rides in a zoo (and also to be going around in the pitch black at night surrounded by animals).  After the zoo we got dinner at a night market, were recommended a suit store by a lesbian couple and then got onto the night bus to Rach Gia.

Election Dancing / Politics / 21st Century Nuns

I'm a sucker for kpop.  I know its terrible, but the weird English bits never fail to amuse me (see Fantastic Baby here).  I'm also a sucker for dancing in the rain and strange old guys who no longer give a damn.  So when I was heading out to the Dongdaegu KTX station to catch my train up to Seoul I was pretty pleased to see this.  So I'm not really sure about the old guy at the front of the video, he seemed to have had imbibed a little of the old soju but those lovely ladies in front of the giant sign were dancing to raise awareness of "Candidate No. 1" also known as Park Geun-Hye (박근혜) 
She has quite the family back story - her dad was a military dictator during the 70s and while he was partly responsible for kickstarting Korea's economic success, he was also responsible for numerous human rights abuses which his daughter has since had to apologize for during her election campaign. Her mom was assassinated in the Theater by North Korea after that her dad was killed by his military general.  I bet the worst thing that ever happened to David Cameron was that time the Eton Starbucks messed up his low-fat frappamochachino. This isn't the first time I've seen dancing (although it was perhaps the best choreographed  and it is far flung from the usual images of Korean parliament - the politicians themselves occasionally resort to fighting and blockades if they think that an  important vote will not go their way.  

This seems to go hand in hand with the fact that Korea has about 12 000 protests a year (1999 figures), including pro-prostitution, ripping apart piglets, bees, throwing shit, dogs heads..  There were even protests here after a Korean woman lost in fencing at the London 2012 Olympics (and there is now a saying that "a lot can happen in a London minute") I honestly feel worse about the animal cruelty shown by the protesters and really have no problem with politicians beating each other up - if I vote someone into government I want them to live up to their campaign promises, or if not, at least get a black eye and bruised testicle trying.  I'm also a sucker for any politician who will explain their policies to me through the medium of interpretive dance (try that one next year Labour!)

Lastly on my trip, I saw a nun on the subway.  It really drove home to me that this is the 21st century when I saw she was on fb on her smartphone!  Presumably she follows the pope on twitter too! (WARNING: Pope talks BS)

Tim Burton Exhibition

It was Deva's birthday weekend so we headed to Seoul to check out the Tim Burton Exhibition.  It's the same one that started at New York City's Museum of Modern Art back in 2009.  It's been added to over the years and now covered two floors at the Seoul Museum of Art.  There were scenes and posters from all his film as well as various props like Johnny Depp's suit from Edward Scissorhands.  It was definitely worth the entrance fee! worth As we went on the opening weekend it was super busy - to save yourself queueing I'd suggest heading across during the week if possible - see info below:

DATE: Wednesday 12 December 2012 to Sunday 14 April 2013               
TIME: 10:00-20:00 (Tue-Fri) / 10:00–18:00 (Weekends, Public Holidays) 
             Closed Mondays/10:00 – 22:00 (1st-3rd Tuesdays)                          
COST: W12,000 Adults / W10,000 Teens / W8,000 Children under 12      
VENUE: Seoul Museum of Art, near City Hall Subway Station.                    

Snow / Staff Meeting / Shilom Jjimjilbang / Santacon

So the temperature in Daegu dropped the last couple weeks.  According to the long term forecast it should get back to normal winter temperatures in a week or so.  Hopefully.  The ski season has already gotten off to a good start here this year (as of Monday the 10th 13 of the 23 slopes at the YongPyeong ski resort).  We had our first snow here in Daegu on Friday, see the photos of my students going mad.  It was cold enough that it froze and settled really quickly, after about an hour and I got a message saying other schools had cancelled classes (sadly not mine though).  Even the snow did not stop the korean election demonstrations in the street (I imagine they're saying something like "dancing for democracy" or "Candidate 3 Style Freestyle").

WE LOVE ( CANDIDATE ) 69!

Later on was the staff Christmas party at the Daegu Grand - so ancient and historic it can trace its history all the way back to 1989.  The company had hired out a room with a buffet for the 50 or so staff, the teachers were split into 6 teams (5 korean, 1 with all the foreigners).  There was also a table for school principles and local 'celebrities' - the big name this year was the Mayor of Suseong-gu.  Me and the other waygooks practiced quickly outside then settled in to an alcoholic beverage (or dozen).  One of the coteachers had made a delicious plum/soju mix, and we when we ran out of booze we ordered some more.  As you can see we certainly managed to make a dent.   



There was a korean MC (who spoke no English).  Each team performed and I got a few videos - they ranged from 'sexy' singing/dancing, a Pink Ladies comedy sketch, a blacklight glove show and our 아줌마 파워 dance to "Sexy and I Know It".  There was Gangnam Style, and 'sexy' kpop, then white people dressed as old korean ladies.  My Thursday coteacher definitely took a video, so I will try and hunt one down.  In the mean time enjoy the videos I got of the other groups (and the awful pictures of our performance).  After that there were a bunch of weird korean games (lots of rock, paper, scissors, back massages, shouting 야! and the occasional bum pinching from my boss..) and a few other things lie a triathlon (with skipping, kicking up a ball, blowing up a balloon and popping it between two people) and an word guessing game where Chris acted out stuff for us to guess.  We won that one easily (but probably only because we luckily picked the group of cards without anything that was just Korean written out in english).  Finally we ended with a raffle.  I won a shampoo set!  By this time me and Paul were shouting Fisting instead of Fighting so it was probably time to leave!  Grabbed an unopened bottle of soju and butter from New Zealand and headed downtown to spend our 50k for winning Charades.

Had a few hours in bed then caught the train up to Seoul (had to get up just after 6am to make the 7am KTX).  First stop was the American Diner at the east end of 이태원.  If you're ever there I wholeheartedly recommend the spicy bacon omelette.  Had a nap/made up for lost time with Matt and let the omelette digest - (Richard Copycat's American Diner is along near the junction near Noksapyeong station and the Welcome to Itaewon arch).


After a little hunting online I came across this wonderful blog and a second here about Siloam Spa (실러암 찜질방).  It's halfway between 서울역 and 충정로 (map) - if you're at the AREX entrance, go out the nearest entrance and immediately turn right.  It's less than 5 minutes walking north, at a big junction you can see it across the road.  The mixed part was really good - hot jade, hot and warm salt, ice room and a superhotigloo style.  


The men's part had : 

• soil/mud bath (will look closer to find out what that was)
• massage pools (a bank of 4)
• hot salt sauna (there was a big wooden bowl with salt in it for you to cover yourself in.  It's meant to be good for respiratory illnesses and the skin due to the 82 trace elements found in your average spoon of sodium chloride.  I was a little bit too close to it when an old man decided to salt his front with his crotch right near my face.  sexy).
• jade hot tub (apart from the famous use in China, it was also used in burials and weddings in Korea.  During the 신라 period it was also used for crowns)
• mugwort tub (Chinese Mugwort or 쑥 (ssuk) as it's called in Korean has long been used in traditional medicine.  It is burnt during acupuncture to warm up the surrounding region to stimulate Qi flow in a process called Moxibustion)
• waterfall bath (really good, you could just move around while the hot water pounds down)
• backbone massage jet (you lie on a massage table with your head through the hole to breath and hit the button on your right.  heaven).

Lastly there was Santacon, ended up at the sauna too late to make it for the actual walk - had dinner at a galbi restaurant that Matt introduced me to in Hongdae (it was written up in the New York Times) which is right next to the square where we took the photo last year.  Sadly we didn't see them (they must've decided on another place for the photo).  We still saw smaller groups later on.  

수성 Christmas Tree

Kinda gutted I'm going to be missing the Daegu Santa walk this weekend but I'm looking forward to Jonas' Birthday Bash as well as the Tim Burton Exhibition in Seoul.  Honestly the bit with the group is really the only fun bit - once it gets messy (and everyone is in Hobar) it's not really my thing.  After stumbling home at 2am and getting up at 6 to leave for Seoul Matt and I were pretty much both done by 1am which is kinda a poor showing.  It got me into the Chritmas spirit, and I got to hang out with a bunch of friends, Matt and I even got chatted up by 2 girls from Canada and Middlesborough which was certainly amusing.  Matt asked me which one I'd "go home with if [I] didn't have a choice).  Turned out he would've picked the Brit and I would've chosen the Canadian.  Guess that's how it worked out anyway.  :-P

Next weekend is the lovely Deva's and Jona's birthdays, and the Tim Burton Exhibit.  Can't wait!

A tale of 3 Thanksgivings

Elaine giving a speech at Una's potluck Thanksgiving

  
So it's been a busy month Thanksgiving-wise.  First off Erica and I had our gaydate for Canadian thanksgiving - the Tofurkey at Buy The Book in downtown Daegu (check the map in the Daegu Compass).  Sandy really cooked up a feast with a pile of veg and gravy.  Got kinda dressed up for it, it was a Thursday so I feel it was justified, especially when I found I could make it into a weird animation.  Enjoy.  

Second was American thanksgiving, went out on the Thursday with the Hagwon people from down the road.  Just went to 서래 on Thursday Party street for galbi.  I know it's a chain but they're average price and good meat.  Despite being another Thursday we ended up going through some soju and beer with dinner - somehow found myself sat with a guy who's managed to be fired from his last few jobs but is the best employee eva..  Ditched him and went to a beer bar on restaurant alley (not far from Jeep) - late night.

Lastly, on Sunday Una decided to host a potluck party, there were a bunch of fun people, bumped into a few people I already knew but didn't know would be there.  Una (and Elaine) really went all out and everyone bought a dish or two.  A few of the highlights included my potato salad, the bobotie, milk tart and my staple Mulled Wine (recipe at the end).  There was so much food that a few dishes were forgotten in the fridge!  The mulled wine went down a treat and everyone ate until they felt sick (which I believe is the point of Thanksgiving, right?).  It inspired me now I've got a flatmate (and hungry friend down the road too) who I can feed anything I cook before it goes bad.  Anyway, my bf Matt taught about what happened with the Native Americans and early settlers, I'll leave you with a page from the book:

Mulled wine recipe:

If your mulled wine is not delicious, try adding more alcohol directly to your mouth



















• A lot of wine (Homeplus/Emart do 1.5l sangria bottles, the 1750W bottles of Jinro wine from your local corner shop will do).

• Chopped fruit (apples, bananas, oranges)

• Orange Juice

• Spices (I've got some packs from home, throw in anything you have like vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, etc)

Directions: toss it all in together, heat but don't boil, enjoy!


PS. Gonna be trying out some new recipes.  Foreign ingredients can be really expensive if not impossible to buy (not to mention I've only got a small oven).  Any ideas, give me a shout