Chinese New Year in Shanghai, China!

This is a long entry and I am too tired to check the grammar of it. Please enjoy!

China - you gotta love it! When some people think of China, random images pop up in your mind like panda bears, rice, ginger beef (this does not exist in China!), and other such images. All I can say is that, in order to experience China you just have to go and see it yourself. Literally you need to use all your five senses to truly understand the beauty of the country. Don't get me wrong in that I believe China is the best country possible. There are somethings that I don't like such as men spitting on the sidewalk, the smell of cigarettes and the unhygienic street food. Being this is my second time to China, I just find more and more great things that amuse my curiosity about humanity.

Lyndsey and I caught a flight from Muan airport which is outside of the town of Mokpo. This airport is no joke of a lie, the quietest airport I have ever been too. The Saturday we flew, our flight was scheduled for noon. I thought as I got to the airport that it would be bustling with lots of international flights. I was wrong. There was only one flight, ours to Shanghai. Here is the real kicker, it was delayed because of the weather in China. So Lyndsey and I sat around from 9:30am till 2pm waiting for an announcement. Finally a lady from China Eastern Airline told us the flight was rescheduled to 8:00pm. We were tired and a bit mad because this airport had one restaurant (that served Korean food...eee....) and a convenient store that I ate some ramen at! So we hopped the local bus and went to Mokpo for some food. We ended up walking around for a bit and finally went to a BBQ restaurant. I was told I couldn't order BBQ cause it would just be for me and two people had to order. So Lyndsey had some Bibimbap (famous Korean rice dish were you mix a bunch of fermented vegetables with rice and hot pepper paste - I don't like it!) and then I ate some Japanese food before heading back to catch our flight.

Once we checked in and passed Korean customs we waited for our flight. Little did I know but this sign informed me of Muan's pride and joy of their town - the yellow soil onion. wow....



So Lyndsey and I arrived late in China and we had to take a jammed packed bus from the airport to People's Square (the center of Shanghai). It was interesting because we didn't have a travel guide. We printed off some random things from the internet and hoped for the best! When we arrived to People's Square it was dark and cold and near 11pm. We wandered down the street and say a hotel named '24 K Hotels' and decided to book it there. It was a really shitty hotel. I won't lie. We payed about $35 Canadian for a room with a stained floor, mystery marks on the wall, a head to toe brick covered bathroom. Yeah it sucked and it was super cold and I was shivering in bed and decided to ask the front desk for some blankets. They then said the central heating was broken. Thanks 24 K Hotel! I will recommend you in the future!

Here is a picture of the view from the hotel window! Nice! Some dead chickens and a fish. I am not a fan of the shops that literally sell smoked chicken legs, pig heads and all random pieces of animals. It's weird and to top it off they don't unrefrigerated meat in China for the most part. Only at the fancy supermarkets. People will go up and eat some meat on a stick that has been cooked on a sheet of metal that lies on top of a hollowed out can stove. Oh China!



Shanghai has a wicked subway system. I love subways! It is great just like the Japanese subway system. Clean and efficient. Plus in Shanghai it is really cheap. About $0.50 for a one way ticket to most places. Now that is a savings! The subway as you can see is always busy and booming. It is interesting how people push on to the trains. Even if a train is full, someone will try and cram themselves on to it. There were a few times where Lyndsey and I were very closely pressed up against a variety of strangers!




Shopping is huge in Shanghai. Considering it is spilling over with rich people with lots of disposable income! The Chinese dress super nice and love wearing name brand clothing. It is interesting that in Korea, there are many stores that honestly sell the same nameless brands of clothes. Korean clothes are usually made of this odd felt like material and polyester. They also love tacky sparkles, feathers, and all sorts of loud and gaudy accessories. The Chinese on the other hand, dress pretty Western and well really nice! I admire their sense of fashion!




The Bund - the area of Shanghai that is divided by a river. There is the old part of Shanghai on one side and the new part of Shanghai on the other. Lyndsey and I walked for hours because we didn't have a travel guide to tell us where to go. Eventually, we stumbled upon it in the cold! This place was pretty nice with some tall buildings. Not as many buildings as in Hong Kong upon the water front. You'll have to forgive how bad I look because I didn't get much sleep the first few nights and it was pretty cold walking around all day!




Here I am in front of the Pearl Tower. The fog in the air existed for about 4 days while we were there. It was odd and made the air cold! There is also a tacky tacky tourist tunnel from the old side of Shanghai to the new side of Shanghai. Basically you ride a cart through the tunnel while looking at different themed exhibits for $9 Canadian. We just couldn't do it! Even the pictures of the tunnel were cheesy with the strings of lights and bad elevator music playing the background!




The Bund view as the sun is setting and I am getting pretty cold! Shanghai is fairly clean and well kept. The stores are super impressive in that they have the most Western consumerism I have seen in Asia so far. Everything from 'Zara' to 'H&M' to 'Roxy Quicksilver' stores are everywhere. Shanghai is truly an international city!




McDonalds - it is taking over the world! I swear! Even in Asia, McDonalds is super cheap and the food choice of many young generations. Some of the older Korean teachers tell me that it is 'horrible' because it is making young Koreans fat! I don't think it's really McDonalds but lack of moving around after eating McDonalds!



Once again a super cheesy pose in front of the Pearl Tower statue! I like to pose! Shanghai is really a giant city and Lyndsey and I saw maybe 1/4 of it!



We stumbled across 'Hooters' while shopping at the Brand Name Mall. This mall was pretty fancy and had a great selection of food and stores. I couldn't believe there was Hooters in China. Apparently there is one is Seoul as well...Who would have known?




I don't know what exactly was happening here. This is in front of a TV station. So I imagine some famous stars and possibly young male stars were there. I say this because there were a lot of young ladies with bouquets of flowers and teddy bears. It was just cool to see a bunch of girls waiting for their chance a love!




Fido Dido, is that you?!? I thought this guy disappeared a long time ago from 7 ups marketing campaign in North America. But in China, he is still going strong and I actually saw that he has a luggage line as well. Hmm, well 'ladee da' that is fancy!




Anything beautiful shot of Nanjing road and all the people shopping their little hearts out. If you look at the left side of the picture, you will see Brad Pitt modeling some watches. Yup, Western celebs are everywhere in Asia selling you everything. I think it is interesting that a lot of fashion ads and well news print ads in general have Caucasian people modeling. In China, Lyndsey and I were goddesses, no joke! Men would take photos of us on their cellphones from a distance and even some people asked to take photos with us. It was odd. In Korea, Koreans just stare at you and don't talk to you. At least in China, they talk to you and take a photo of you! Lyndsey and I were mini celebrities for a week. I now know what Britney Spears is going through! haha Not!!!




Here is the video showing Nanjing Road in action!




Mao, you're dead and that is a good thing! Last time I was in China, there were soldiers around the Mao statues especially in Beijing. But in Shanghai, no soldiers anywhere and everyone was taking photos with Mao. What happened? I can honestly say that people in China appear to be pretty happy for the most part. Even in rural China, tourism is picking up and the locals are really nice! They love a good bargain! Speaking of bargaining, I taught Lyndsey how to bargain in China. In markets you can bargain for clothes all the way to some candy. All you need to do is start really low with your price as a foreigner because the Chinese will start with 4 times what the price of the object really is. From there, it is a fun game of a little give and take from both sides. Sometimes the Chinese will use a calculator to show you the price. Then you can also use the calculator too and have a fun time crunching numbers. I love bargaining and I have been told I am pretty good bargainers because I don't get ripped off by the sales people! Lyndsey also feel in the love with bargaining and eventually she even bargained on her own without my help!




Riding the subway. Clean, safe, and reliable. What more you want? Plus, the signs are in English too and the train announcements. It's sweet!



The delicious $10 meal at a restaurant in the market place. It was super delicious and great with a bottle of Chinese beer! I love Chinese food!



The original outdoor market was closed and turned into some apartments. However, it was moved to the Science and Technology Subway stop underground. This was a great place to buy knock off everything. I like how the Chinese people entice the foreigners into their stores by saying, 'hey pretty lady' or 'lookie, lookie, I give you a good price!' I really enjoy how they want your business! Lyndsey and I went to a jeans stall and tried on some jeans behind a curtain that went up to our shoulders only. So people walking outside of the booth could see use standing behind a curtain trying on jeans. I like how the lady running the booth would look over the curtain and see us standing in our underwear. Good times!



A Chinese New Year themed decor that is plastered on a mall. We also walked down the rich part of Shanghai, Nanjing Road East where there were a bunch of high end boutiques. Of course, I could afford none of it and only used the washroom in one of the rich malls. Oh man, hopefully one day I'll be able to go on a shopping spree in a fancy mall! But you see lots of people in Shanghai shopping away. Where is all the money coming from???




Jingan Temple - the oldest temple in Shanghai that is still alive and kicking! It was nice to see people praying, offering, and getting ready for some good vibs for the new year! It is interesting to see the modern buildings in the background of such a pretty temple! With this monument, people were throwing coins at it to make wishes. So Lyndsey and I were partaking in trying to get a coin to land inside one of the holes. Lyndsey got one in after 10 tries. I gave up after 5 tries haha




Here is a shot of the temple from the staircase within the temple! They are constructing and renovating which is so common to see in Shanghai. This city is booming so fast and there are giant construction cranes everywhere in Shanghai!



Behind Nanjing road, Lyndsey and I decided to take a side street. Behind there we found a wicked little market where we did some shopping with the locals. Honestly I love finding the non-tourist markets because even the locals are a bit surprised to see a foreigner there. I like to support them a bit more rather than the bigger stores. So after shopping, we continued walking in the cold and we stumbled across this piece of art. I thought this was just such an awesome picture! I hope you see the beauty in this picture like I do!




Here is a picture of the tiny side street market that we stumbled across. Some good deals and it was sure not the cleanest of places haha but I liked how the people were friendly!




A shot of my pick me up snack on a rainy day in Shanghai. I chose the Milk Tea for a dollar and the 5 piece chicken nuggets for a dollar. $2 goodness. Lyndsey opted for the happy meal. It's odd to say but McDonalds in China tastes the same as in Canada. McDonalds in Korea tastes slightly funky. The fries have a weird coating and after taste in Korea. Man, Koreans can not cook Western food what so ever!




A shot of Pudong - the new and fancy part of Shanghai. Lots of Western style building and stores. Sometimes it felt like I was just walking around Toronto because it didn't feel like China. It's odd in that you can't really smell or feel the pollution either. In Beijing, I could blow my nose and literally it would be black inside of the tissue. I don't know what they are doing in Shanghai, but the air felt alright!

Lyndsey and I also decided to get some Chinese full body massages because last time I came to China, Annee and I had a few of them and we loved it! So we stumbled across a massage parlour on Nanjing road and thought well it must be pretty touristy and popular because of it's location. So we went up stairs and gave it ago! It was one of the most painful experiences of my life! We had two men massage us which I am not use too. Their strength pounded the kinks out of our bodies. I never thought there would be so much pain in a massage! The worst massage move was when I was sit straight up while seated, the grabbed my arms, lifted them, and jammed his knee in my back and lifted me! It was so painful. Lyndsey and I laughed because the next day we both woke up with stiff muscles haha We also ate a DQ Blizzard after the massage, so that helped!




So Chinese New Years eve, a lot of things closed early for the night. Oh no, what to do! Lyndsey and I did know! We went to Pizza Hut by our hotel because really nothing was open haha So we enjoyed a nice dinner of pizza along with other Chinese families who were out celebrating. I thought I was hilarious to see Hungarian Goulash on the menu! Here is the video of me enjoying the Hungarian goulash. I did order it for $3 Canadian, and it was a little soup bowl. I do admit, it wasn't bad and reminded me more of a watery beef stew. However, this was the closet thing to Hungarian food in a long time!





A video of Chinese New Year's eve - fire works outside of Pizza Hut




The day after Chinese new year and literally the sideways were so full of people that a lot of us had to walk on the streets. It was cool to see how there were soooo many people. I can't even explain what a cool sight it was! Plus, everyone seemed to be a good mood too.




The view across the 8 lane road to the Bund. There are all the hundreds of people lining the boardwalk of the Bund. I didn't think so many people would be downtown. Literally it was hard to walk on the wide path way because there were vendors and people everywhere! We had a somewhat crazy woman come up to us. I saw 'crazy' because had crusted foam on the outside corners of her mouth. She was chatting with us and Lyndsey's purse was on the floor by her feet, I told her to pick it up cause petty theft is popular. The lady went away as Lyndsey picked up her bag.



Didn't believe me about all the people on the other side of the 8 lane road? Well here is the shot to prove so! Look at all the people! I am standing on a bench to take this shot! After I took this photo a Chinese guy asked to take a photo with us but I let Lyndsey take the photo with this guy. His mom looked pretty happy that her son was with a nice girl like Lyndsey!




A photo I took by turning my body away from the guy who was taking the photo with Lyndsey haha So many people!




This is me freezing my little butt off on the boat tour. It sucks that we didn't know that you had to pay extra by ordering a drink to sit down. So I stood for an hour on the boat tour at the front. My nose was running by I was loving the view!




Here is the view of what I saw from the front of the boat. It was beautiful! The water was not so beautiful with some bits of garbage and cloudy water haha




Here is a video clip of the Bund walkway during the daytime!




The Oriental Pearl tower in all it's glory!



The copious amounts of people lining the walkway of the Bund as seen from the boat. Shanghai has a variety of buildings that have different architecture. It's interesting because this city doesn't feel like China. Even though I am all the way in China, it felt like I could be back in Canada. haha I can't really explain this thought.




A close up of the people on the walkway. I like how there are numerous vendors in China selling you anything on the streets. You can buy some meat on a stick, a cheesy souvenir, or even a photo of you in front of the Pearl tower. Lyndsey and I bought these candy covered balls on a stick. I thought that they resembled tiny candied apples. So after bargaining for them, Lyndsey and unwrapped our candy coated surprise only to bite into some tiny crab apples. That where ar



The video literally showing all the hundreds of people enjoying Chinese New Year on the water front of the Bund:



Another shot of the Bund, the old side of Shanghai!




This is a shot of the new side of Shanghai called Pudong. As you can tell there are a number of new and fashionable buildings. Very trendy!



Who is that peeking from in between the apartment/office buildings??



Just beautiful!



This is the Shanghai South Railway station. It's huge and new and lots of people were there hopping a ride to various cities. There were many many shops selling a variety of last minute train snacks that are all not refrigerated and shrink wrapped such as: smoked chicken leg in a bag, fish skin soaked in spicy sauce, a hard boiled egg, pig skin, and other such meat products that make you wonder how people can eat these preservative filled meat products. I love meat, but I won't even eat it! I opted for a bag of peanuts and an orange Fanta.




Hangzhou - an awesome lake town outside of Shanghai. Lyndsey and I didn't' really know what to expect coming here. But it was great! This was a rich little resort town with Starbucks, some name brand shopping, and even a Porsche dealership. It was crazy!

We met a variety of Chinese people from all over China. It was great to chat with strangers in English. We even took a bunch of photos with random people. Everyone was super friendly, curious, and just wanting to speak English. In Korea, Lyndsey and I never really experience talking to Koreans outside of work. Usually they will claim they can't speak English.



This is me striking a pose by a little floating pagoda. There was still a bit of snow as you can see and it was kinda colder here than in Shanghai. Too bad you can't really see the hills behind the lake, it was nice! I enjoyed that sometimes Lyndsey and I would be taking a picture or just sitting on a bench and enjoying the view, and random Chinese men would take our photos. It still cracks me up!




The cheesy lake show that is coordinated with music. It reminds of of Las Vegas, I think it was the Belliago hotel that did the water show. haha But people sat around and watched it in the cold!





This town reminded me of Banff in a weird way. There was beautiful scenery, tons of tourists, and lots of nice stores and boutiques! I was a bit sad though because I bought a steamed bun, which are super famous near Shanghai, and I dribbled bun juicy all over my jacket and I smelt like a steamed bun!




This cute little couple was great! The old man kept looking at us and smiling. He then proceeded to speak Chinese non-stop while walking with us. His son then came over and asked where we were from and we said Canada. The old man then went on a rant about how much he loved Canada! Lyndsey then called them 'Mama' and 'Papa' and they loved it! We took a few photos and I gave the man my Calgary Stampede pin. He was super thankful and loved it! It moments like this that I fall in love with the world!




A beautiful temple opening!



A warrior of some sort! The sign was in Chinese and I can't read!



A picture of the beautiful architecture! That is one thing that I love about Asia and I keep getting drawn back too!




Probably one of my favorite pictures of China. I love this country!




Did somebody say "Hooters' again! haha I had no cash left on me at the time and only my VISA card so Lyndsey and I thought well we might as well hit up Hooters again! But his time in Hangzhou. We had a super nice waitress which was ironical also working there to improve her English. Man, these Hooters girls are smart!




The empty Hooters looks so lonely! I do commend these girls in that they are willing to take a job in a foreign shop to improve their speaking. Even going to English restaurants in Korea is painful because the staff do not speak much English. When I went to McDonalds in China, they were totally on the ball!




So we had to hop the train and go back to Shanghai. It was freezing at night and I decided to grab a piece of street corn (not literally but corn cooked by a old lady on the street). I was a bit sad because it was a bit dried out probably from being steamed all day! booo! While we waited for the train, we visited two tiny local supermarkets and picked up a few random things! This man has a common way to transport luggage by using an elongated stick to balance to loads of items on both ends! I can't imagine how heavy it is!




This is Fox Town, the giant shopping complex outside of our hotel. The Regal East Hotel built right into Shanghai indoor Stadium. It was a super nice fancy hotel for a pretty good price! This mall was also a discount mall which was cool. They had a nice little food court in the basement and a Watson's drugstore where we would go to buy random things from chocolates to face wash! Watson's is pretty much equivalent to Shoppers Drug Mart.




There is Shanghai Indoor Stadium. Our hotel is built into the lower portion of the building! It is super cool! There was a nice young fellow named Paul who worked as a doorman at the hotel. He was super nice and Lyndsey was chat with him every night. hehe I think she secretly liked him! But good for her, a lot of Chinese guys were really nice!




The last day trip we took was to Suzhou - the famous garden town and canal town outside of Shanghai. We had to go to the Shanghai North Railway station. This station was even more congested! It was the end of the week and everyone was heading back to their jobs because the holiday was over! Check out the line ups that Lyndsey and I also had to wait in to buy a ticket! The worst thing is that people were smoking and it was gross standing next to them. We watched this man smoke two cigs in a row and loving every moment of it! One that I can't stand in Asia is men hocking phlegm/spit balls on the streets. It is sooo gross! It drives me nuts!




Here I am waiting for our train to be called. All the other hundreds of people are waiting as well to go home!




I chuckle at the fact there is an 'air' sickness bag on a train. Oh China, you're English is getting better!




Suzhou - what a difference! So this town was more like traditional China with street children, motorized rickshaws, old box type buildings, and well everything is covered in a sheet of dirt. It's real and I like it too. I get frustrated when the locals are all shouting at you 'lady, lady, hotel!' and other slogans so they can have your business. What was more frustrating is that Lyndsey and I couldn't find the tourist office and we wandered for 30 minutes at the train station in circles. Finally we just decided to start walking. We didnt' know where and we were both frustrated. While walking we eventually saw a sign that said 'Tiger Hill 3.9KM' and decided to go there. The hard part was that we didn't know if we were walking the right way. I was cold and tired and grumpy. But we walked and got to see everyday life unfold. People selling fruit out of a truck, children playing, and old people watching the day unfold. I like seeing that! We also saw these older house boats that people lived on. They definitely looked a bit scary in that I thought they could sink at any time!



Just a street shot of life happening in Suzhou on a side street.




Finally we reached the canal and enjoyed the view of the houses lined up along the water! It was pretty nice!




Tiger Hill, we made it! We paid a few bucks to get in and started wandering around. The place was booming with tourists. Vendors were everywhere selling anything you could imagine for a few bucks.




I don't know what this is! But is looks pretty cool!




The tourist canal boats, they are a bit different than the boats people live in like in the picture above!




The quiet canals in Suzhou. I enjoyed the silence and scenery!




This would have to be my second favorite shot of China. This is of Tiger Hill's monument where goods and treasures were stored for safe keeping!



A shot of Suzhou from Tiger Hill. There are construction cranes in the background constructing more block type apartments for the growing Chinese population.



A close up of the tower and yes it is leaning and not Lyndsey's bad photo skills! I looks so small next to it!




A nice shot of the grounds of Tiger Hill. I wonder what it is like in the summer!!




I look so cold and tired in this photo and I was haha Just posing in front of a temple!



This sign is great!



Leaving the ground of Tiger Hill and heading back to Shanghai for my last night in China! So sad!



Little did we know that when we went to the train at 6pm, all the trains to Shanghai were sold out! Immediately we panicked because we left our luggage at the hotel. We were planning to spend the night in the airport because our flight left early the next day! I had never been stranded before and I freaked out! But the intelligence of the Chinese shone through again! there were mini van set up outside of the train station with people yelling 'Shanghai!'. We asked a random man and he wanted $50 Canadian. We said no way! We then asked another lady and she offered 10 bucks each. We agree because we didn't want to be stranded. So we took a mini van back for 2 hour driving with some other random people who were stranded in Suzhou. The funny thing is, that if this was Korea, we would totally be stranded because spontaneous thinking is not really used in Korea haha

Here is a video of us in the van!



Our little van to the plane was delayed because 5 Koreans missed the boarding call. The thing that bugged Lyndsey and I was that their friend didn't want to the whole plane to leave because they were late! Come on, grow up and don't miss your boarding call. I was frustrated because I slept at the airport for few horrible hours. Even when we got back to Shanghai from Suzhou, we missed the train to the airport and we were stranded again. So I bargained with a taxi drive and she drove us. A night of bargains. It was hard to leave China but I really enjoyed my trip there. I can't wait to see the rest of China in the future!

2 day field trip - Kolon sauna, 68 Koreans, historical tombs, and a freezing ocean!

This workshop the supervisors decided to take all 64 Korean teachers, 8 Native English Instructors (including myself), and 4 staff members to the ancient city of Gyeongju. Gyeongju can be compared to the Kyoto in Japan full of temples, palaces, and other such historical sites. This trip was pretty interesting for the most part because I'll admit my knowledge about Korean is lacking but I sure did learn a lot. Many of the sites we visited we shocking just barren plots of land with a few stones here and there that kind of resemble walls. I know that Korea was invaded by a bunch of countries including Mongolia and Japan. However, I didn't know that literally most of the famous temples and palaces were burnt to the ground by these countries. So we visited a variety of sites were there were pictures representing what the place formal looked like. One of the temples was rebuilt in the 70s. It was really interesting. We went to a Buddha museum and I learnt about the various kinds of Buddhas. I'll admit, I didn't think there were so many. At one point our tour guide was describing how a woman (I forget her name) was visited by a spirit and told her she would become pregnant. I immediately turned to my coworker Ryan and we both said, 'hey that sounds a lot like the Blessed Virgin Holy Mary." Very interesting how Buddhism and Catholicism are very closely related to each other. Then the Korean teachers and a few of the Native English teachers had a debate about religion. It was interesting to hear there options about religion. Seokguram Grotto has one of the most famous Buddha statues in Korea. It is hidden under a giant hill so this is only a replica in the museum. At all the museum and sites, our tour guide kept saying, 'the original is in Seoul, please visit the National Museum'. Well at the Seoul National Museum is making a pretty penny!





At one of the palaces we went too there was a flock of crows circling above the site. I was bit scarred in that I was instantly reminded of Alfred Hitchcock's movie 'The Birds'. It was honestly a scene out a horror movie in which I waiting for the flock of birds either to attack or be a premonition of something bad to come haha Or maybe my wild imagination has got the best of me again!





Deareungwon Royal Burial Grounds are an area where the sacred tombs of royalty and their families were buried! If you honestly had no idea bout this area you would honestly think, wow there are a lot of hills in this area. Apparently the bigger the hill, the more prestigious the person was. There is an interesting correlation between the Egyptians pyramids and the Korean tombs in that each tomb was filled with treasures and valuable things. Believe it or not, it was incredible freezing on this day that literally I had some wind burn on my face.






In Korea and I have also noticed in Japan, people love photography. Most people have a camera on their phones, so they will just snap a picture on their phones. But for those people who are truly passionate about photography, they possess extremely large cameras and usual a tripod. I love it when these photographers take 5 minutes to set up their cameras just for one picture. I am more of a natural photographer in that I like to capture moments of life as it unfolds.





Cheesy restaurants are everywhere in Korea. In order to know you are eating at a Korean restaurant, you must have the following items: - long rows of tables that make you sit on the floor while eating - each table has 10-15 small dishes with a variety of fermented vegetables, roots, and plants. - A box with flat chopsticks and a tablespoons. Every Korean eats with a pair of chopsticks and a spoon. I have never seen any other country do this. Also if you are eating BBQ, then there is a pair of scissors at your table to cut your meat up. - a roll of toilet paper. Koreans don't really use napkins but instead there is always a roll of toilet paper at the table. - Everyone is drinking either Soju and/or Beer. Koreans don't drink water at a meal because it is bad for your digestion. However, it baffles my mind that liquor is okay to drink in large quantities during a meal. Mind boggling! - A communal eating area. If you are eating BBQ then there is one grill in the middle of the table. If your eating hot pot, there is one large boiling pot of soup in the middle. Koreans will always eat from the same dishes. If your a germaphobe, then I don't recommend you visiting Korea any time soon. So this photos is of the large paper mache display of making Kimchi. Oh Kimchi, it is Korea's number one pride and joy. I will eat some kinds of kimchi but the older the kimchi the more potent and smelly it is. When I first got to Korea, I noticed there was some interesting smells and I know I realize that it is of different types of Kimchi. haha it certainly doesn't smell like roses in Korea.





While I was on my way to the bathroom at the restaurant, I saw this by the bathroom. Some stuffed birds, mannequins wearing a Japanese kimono, and a stuffed sea turtle. I literally felt like I was possibly in a creepy antique shop with a bunch of random items. I didn't expect to see this in a restaurant. The restaurant also had a bunch wild birds in cages at the entrance. This place was bizarre with it's decor. If Gordon Ramsay was here he would flip out! It definitely was a kitchen nightmare!





We spent two nights at the Kolon hotel. Yes you literally say it like the word, 'colon'. So the teachers and I were joking about staying in a colon and other such jokes! haha The hotel had a wicked Western style breakfast buffet which made me go crazy. I forgot what it was like to eat a good variety of Western food! All the English teachers were going crazy!!! A few of the teachers (Lyndsey, Sloane, and Olivia) and I went to the Spa in hotel. It was relaxing to sit around and chat. A woman approached me in the spa and it turns out this little older lady was from Japan. She was on a vacation with a tour group. It was nice to chat about Japan and I gave her a chance to practice speaking English. She was so sweet and it made me miss Japan. After the Spa, the girls and I had hung out in my hotel room. We watch the channel 'onstyle' which is the best English channel on TV. I only get a chance to watch TV at hotels because I don't have cable where I live. My employers are too lazy to hook it up for us. grrr. So we watched some celebrity gossip, Oprah, and America top model. I am not a big fan of these shows, especially Oprah, but it is just nice to hear some English voices. haha It was such a girl night to sit around and gossip. It was great!





This is a famous monument that is placed on the Korean 10 Won coin. There are different layers in the statue that represent the different stages of Buddhism. It is pretty complex but really interesting.





A tradition of placing prayer stones on to each other to form a tower is popular. I made a little prayer and placed my tiny rock on to a pile. However, you are not allowed to knock over the tower or else it is bad luck!





Bulguksa Temple was burnt down when the Japanese invaded. The temple was rebuilt and it looks pretty good. There is such a strong hatred for the Japanese by the Korean still. One of the my Korean teachers made an extremely rude comment about the Japanese. I can understand there is still strong feelings because the Japanese never formally apologized for their invasion. Apparently many Korean women were raped and killed by the Japanese. I honestly didn't know there was such a strong resentment towards the Japanese still to this day!






This is the front of the temple from standing on the side of the temple. This was a popular site for photos and there were many people snapping away pictures. I just thought I would quickly grab a shot because it was very chilly out and I just wanted to go back to the bus!





There were a few guardian statues at the beginning of the temple to ward off bad spirits. I apparently made it through the gates without any problems! Thank heavens! After this, I was off to the bus. Just to let you know, one Korean tour buses they have a microphone and people actually sing on the buses. However, the Korean trainees had to do presentations about Korean culture throughout the whole trip. It was bad because a lot of trainees slept through the presentations. I was pretty bad too cause I would tune out and enjoy the scenery! It is crazy! Also there is a free coffee machine that dispense coffee by the cup at the front of the bus.





Our last stop of the two day trip was to the ocean to visit Underwater Tomb of King Munmu. I just fell in love with the lovely beach and thought to myself, man I wish it was summer. So the trainees and I all enjoyed the rolling in of the tides. It was still pretty cold out but I really enjoyed hearing and seeing the crashing waves. I enjoyed how there were old ladies selling dried squid. Koreans love squid. I will admit, I sure to eat a lot of squid (tiny ones to large ones) especially at my work in the cafeteria. My coworkers and I joke about how our institute must have a contract with a squid company!





Here I am looking cold and ever so Korean with my pose. I personally don't know where this pose came from because in Japan they do the same thing. So I am confused, who invented this pose first? The Japanese or the Koreans? haha This question would make the Koreans so mad!!!





Lastly, here is a video to enjoy of the ocean! The waves were great and there were some big ones too! I enjoyed how high the tide was and how the Korean teachers were afraid of getting wet haha

Western style New Years in Korea

New Years. This year was an interesting one. Phil, Ryan, Victoria, Lyndsey and I hopped the good old 225 bus to Gwangju despite the fact it was snowing very hard. May I add that it has only snowed 2 days the whole time I have lived here. When there is snow on the road or anywhere, Koreans go crazy. They literally do not know what to do what so ever! It is pretty funny! Once we arrived downtown, we walked around trying to find a restaurant that everyone could agree on. I like how Gwangju literally only has 5 options: Korean Food, Japanese/Korean Food, Chinese/Korean Food, Italian/Korean and Western/Korean Food. Notice how Korean is attached to all the different types of food?? No matter what, Korean influence will be in any type of cuisine. At any restaurant ever, you will always get a side of Kimchi (different kinds) and a bowl of sweet pickles. Koreans believe that if you eat pickles with any meal it will cut down on the grease while eat. awwww okay?!?!? Plus, Kimchi is apparently good for treating every aliment known to man. The other day in the cafeteria, I did not take any kimchi and a Korean man said to me, 'Kimchi is good for you. You are a woman and Kimchi is good for your skin. It also prevents cancer'. Are you kidding me? That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard. I then argued that there is more to the world than Kimchi to prevent cancer. ugh! Anyways, we had some Korean/Italian food which wasn't bad. I will admit that is the only thing Koreans can not mess up and make it taste bad. Western food here is pretty gross. For example, if you eat a fruit salad they will cover it in mayo. Yup, mayo. They love mayo while I do not!

After eating a massive 6 person set menu meal between the five of us for a very good price, we then went to Paris Baguette for some coffee. Paris Baguette, just like many Korean coffee shops, are rather inefficient. What I mean by this is that literally there is two people working and they will take one persons order in a line. Then they will leave to go and make it together and leave everyone waiting in line. This also happened at McDonald's when my coworker and I ate breakfast. My order was taken and then the lady went to go make it for 5 minutes and then after took my coworkers order. Would the logical thing not to take both orders at the same time and then go make it???? This is a candid shot of me enjoy my caramel latte. Yum Yum.





Here is the snow falling in the streets of Gwangju after we had a great conversation over some coffee. It was nice to chat and get to know eat other better. The oddest thing is that Koreans use umbrellas when the snow falls. It was super odd. Koreans are obsessed with appearance and will do anything to protect their perfect hair and makeup. It is interesting to see everyone always made up anywhere you go. The other day I got some passport photos done and I was a hat on my head. When I took off my hat, my hair was a bit disheveled. The photographer, pointed at the mirror with a bunch of beauty products surrounding it. I tried to adjust my hair the best I could and he just looked at me and shook his head in disgust.

The other crazy part of this story is they airbrushed my passport photo. They cleared up my skin, made my eyes, glossy and for some reason my nose is smaller. They love airbrushing photos so everyone looks perfect. Goodness gracious!





High heels for every season in Korea. I also noticed this phenomena in pretty much every Asian country I have been too. The really kicker is that high heels are sold in only 4 sizes: small, medium, large, and x-large. I barely fit into an extra large. So many women will buy shoes that are too big or too small for them and it looks silly! I have seen women wear high heels while hiking, walking in the snow, and really everywhere. Clothing is the same in Korea. Considering this country is rather homogeneous, they are able to have most clothing stores really carry one size. So if your larger or tall, well tough luck honey! Being a Western in Korea is difficult when it comes to clothing shopping. I even have a hard time fitting into Korean clothes! Lyndsey doesn't even try.





We ended up going to a German bar run by a Korean man who lived in German for a beer or two and some chatting. It was too cold to wonder the streets of Gwangju. Also prior to coming to this bar, we bought some fireworks in the downtown area. There was a street New Years party set up. Any who, I bought my fireworks and being the occasional stupid girl that I am, I turned to show Ryan and Phil my lit firework and at that instant a firework shot out to them standing about 10 meters away. It missed their heads by 3 feet but man it was pretty shocking. They started to laugh while two Korean men where yelling at me in Korean. I didn't think that would happen and then they grabbed the firework and pointed it into the sky. Ohhhhhh... whoops! After having a round at the German bar, we proceeded to the Speakeasy, the foreigner bar of Gwangju. There we counted down the evening, dance a bit, and had some not so bad times. I will admit the assortment of people in this place wasn't really my cup of tea.


My last point goes back to restaurants. When you go to a restaurant you usually get an extra bonus dish of food known as service. Usually I have noticed that service food is really odd in that it tries to be cutting edge in food technology. For example, this salad on the left in the picture was drizzle in corn, beans, sweet pickles, shrimp wound in fried noodle, and chicken bits sprinkled on top while drizzled with an odd dressing. It's pretty gross. The nachos in the right of this photos were something lyndsey and I were super excited about. These $11 nachos each were covered in a very sweet but spicy salsa, a slab of processed cheese, and I think there was some mayo. I was sooooo disappointed because all I wanted was some good old nachos. Conclusion, when it comes to eating Western food in Korea, don't even waste your breathe. It is totally not even worth it! Just wait till you get back to North America!

Christmas in Busan = fun!

This post is well over due so there might be some spelling errors. Enjoy though!

For Christmas, Lyndsey and I decided to head to a place that we love - the beach! So thinking of sun and fun we decided to head to Busan or Pusan (Koreans confuse B and P's like there is no tomorrow). This bustling city is pretty darn cool in that it has all the cool stuff like Seoul but with beaches! The beaches are the biggest pleasant surprise that I have encountered in Korea, next to Jeju. Man I wish there were nice beaches in Canada haha Wishful thinking! This is Haeundae beach in Busan. It is one of the largest and most popular beaches. Around here is a bunch of great restaurants and coffee shops that allow you to enjoy the view of the ocean. We had some pretty good East Indian food here. Yum curry! The weather was brilliant so we just laid around and occasionally Lyndsey took off her shoes and went for a strut in the water. I thought it was too cold! brrr





We stayed in the love hotel district in the downtown area of Busan. This was unknown to use because we forgot the 'Lonely Planet' travel guide. After spending literally an hour wandering around and not finding a hotel, we then came across the love hotel district. Shockingly, this district is rather safe and contains really cheap hotels that are clean! However, I didn't enjoy the pictures of women sitting outside of some of the hotels. I am not a fan of that and we avoided those places...We eventually settled up on a 'tourist hotel' that was really fancy for a really cheap price! Here is a picture of the nightclubs conveniently located just down the street from our hotel. We didn't partake in any night clubs unfortunately.





One night we decided to go to a giant Korean Sauna that had a variety of pools. There were about 10 different pools from blueberry to 48c water. I personally enjoyed the rose pool on the top floor of the sauna outside on the roof. It was on the roof that we met two identical twins from Canada named Julie and Sarah. They both worked for a conversational English school and we had a good chat about Korea. Here is a shot of the hotel lobby where the giant sauna was located in. I really enjoy the beauty of Christmas in Korea!





We then decided after the sauna closed at 10pm to go hangout and head for a drink. They first took us to Sarah's apartment which was incredible. She had a giant two bedroom apartment all decked out in stainless steel appliances. I was a little jealous because she only works for a conversational school and gets a way better apartment then me haha Anyways, we then went to the university district of town full bars and restaurants. We went to 'the Crossroads' which had some foreigners in it. It was nice to chat and have a pint with these girls. Afterwards, we were pretty hungry and we wandered the streets looking for food because we missed the last subway. Subways in Asia also stop around midnight which sucks. So Sarah recommended this rotisserie chicken place. So we went in and grabbed the menu that looked like this:





However there was a man sitting near by who noticed how confused we were and helped us out. That was sweet and we ended up eat a roasted chicken stuffed with rice, sweet potato, and other such veggies. It was So we were super confused with the menu because as you can see there are pictures of poo piles and toilet paper. I laughed because I wondered what this meal would do to my stomach hahasooo delicious. After dining, Lyndsey and I decided to head back to our super sweet hotel were we watched celebrity gossip! Unfortunately we don't get any English news here so any news will do even if it is about Britney Spears.


We were wandering down the street in the University district and I had to stop and take a photo of this. Kenny Rogers, you have got to be kidding. Why would anyone want to do this! I would never name my business this! I have seen a few of these karaoke bars around Busan. Definitely must be a coastal thing.





Here is another scenic video of Haeundae beach. The beauty of the video literally speaks for itself!





Lyndsey and I found this weird little bumper cart area near the beach. There were these old run down cars that some kids were ridding around in. Being the big kid that I am, I said that we should go for a whirl. So we thought the ride was 50 cents and we put in the coin and we just sat there. I honestly thought we broke it cause well we are not tiny like Koreans. So this man came over and said a bunch of things I didn't understand and then I realized it was a dollar. So we put in another coin and here is how the adventure went:





Here is another beach at night near Haeundae beach. I forget the name. Aww that seems to be a common trend because some of the names are too difficult to remember. So we went here at night and bought and it pretty much had the same set up. However, it did have the famous bridge in Busan. It was beautiful! The video will show you:





So there was a man selling fire works and we decided lets do it. So with my great ability to count in Korean I was able to get us some fire works. The video is really good! I wish we could play with fire works in Canada.





We found this super run down amusement park that reminded me of the Calgary Stampede near the beach. This ride was the oddest ride I have ever scene. It literally was fun to watch for the first 2 minutes but literally this ride went on for 5 minutes and didn't stop. So Lyndsey and I left because I couldn't believe how horrible this ride was. If I was on it, I would be super super angry!

Seoul - everything you need and so much more!

Seoul...hmm...what can I say...how about fun!!!! This city is a mega conglomerate of everything that you need. After waking up at 6:30am to catch the 7:00am bus to Gwangju, Lyndsey and I then hopped on to the express bus to Seoul for a nice 3 and half hour ride. Seoul has many different districts and areas to satisfy any one's taste. After trying to find our hostel up in Insadong and eventually failing, we came across a new guest house and decided to stay there. Insadong is a great place for antiques and artsy crafty type stuff. There were some interesting galleries and I got some free hot chocolate on the streets. Here is a shot of the street taken from Starbucks of Myeong-dong which is a giant shopping area filled with every store you can imagine from 'Gap' to 'Roots' to 'Uniqlo'. Everything you need can be bought here at regular store prices, haha, nothing special in terms of a saving money. There are restaurants like 'Tony Roma's' where Lyndsey and I ate ribs. yum yum!



So my coworkers and I met up for some lunch at Bennigans - a western type restaurant. I was excited because it was not Korean food haha but yeah the service was bad. Koreans have a habit of splitting meals. No joke! Once when I was at Mcdonalds I saw a family split a cheeseburger combo. It was the oddest thing. But at restaurants you'll see a giant group of people order only a few entrees and everyone will split them. No one ever gets there own meal. So at Bennigans there was confusion because everyone wanted there own meal. Even with drinks, my set lunch menu came with a drink. When they brought it out there was three straws in it to share with my coworkers. Good Lord! We all had a great laugh at this!



Korea is full of interesting named stores and restaurants. I enjoy how they have Konglish which is an English/Korean hybrid of various words. It cracks me up. But it's bad too. Koreans have a habit of making an 'e' sound at the end of English words. For example 'lunchie' or 'finishedie' it drives me nuts. If they keep speaking English wrong, things will never change!



Here is a shot of Seoul down by Insadong. I like how there are paths to walk by the water. It's super cool. Apparently there are bands and vendors in the summer along the river too. That would be neat to watch. Seoul is interesting in that it is dirtier than most big Japanese cities but cleaner than most big Chinese cities. haha I saw some men peeing on the street late at night and I realized that doesn't help the smell of Seoul. Once in a while, I would catch a weird drift of stink while wandering in Seoul.



In Seoul there is a foreigners district that has some restaurants and foreigner needs. I went to a wicked East Indian curry buffet and had some great Thai food lunch. I like that in Seoul there is a diversity of people just like Canada. It's nice that way. It can be frustrating where I live because some kids still point, stare, and say 'foreigner' in Korean. It's annoying because the parents don't really do anything. Occasionally some parents will notice what there kids is doing and discipline them. I like the friendly kids that will try and speak English with me. They are pretty sweet.



This is a famous shot taken down in Dongdaemun. This area is full of shopping goodness that is includes knock off items sold from street vendors. Here I bought some bootleg DVDs for next to nothing. This shopping area is especially busy during the evening and all throughout the evening till the next morning. You can get some delicious street food (possible get sick due to unrefrigerated meat) while buying a knock off handbag. It is sweet!



In Seoul there is a lot of delicious food that is hard to get where I live such as Indian, Thai, Vietnamese and so on. However, there are a few really gross things that I have seen in Seoul as well. Take this place for instances. You can get various pasta from fettuccine to shrimp pasta all in a waffle cone. That is disgusting ice cream/hot food.



Here is Van and Mary eating their hearts away at the Pizza Mall. It was so frustrating going to this 3 story restaurant. You order at the cash register and then they give you a number. So you must listen to loud speaker to hear your number. It was so busy in there and I had the number 27, 555 compared to Mary who had 355. There's a smart idea, 'let's give the foreigner a really really hard number'




Street food. What can I say. It's everywhere. These tiny kitchens on wheels are the health departments worst nightmare. Nothing is refrigerated from seafood to pork on a stick. Plus the workers of the shops are handling money and your food all at the same time. Well if your into cleansing your bowels then I totally recommend eating street food. I have eaten my fair share of it in China and have sometimes paid the consequences. haha



This is downtown Seoul by a famous set of statues. Nice eh? There is everything you need down here! I can't even begin to describe the endless amount of fun you can have getting lost in the maze of streets. Streets aren't really named here just main roads. So if you ask some one where something is, there is a good chance they'll have no clue. Everyone goes by landmarks here. It's crazy!



Crazy cartoon hats for winter are the trend with everyone. I am going to buy one I think because it's very Korean. Gotta love the Hello Kitty on my head!



Gotta a sweet tooth? Try buying bulk at the night market. Everything you need in a market can be bargained for. You can find numerous stands selling pretty much the same items! I am not a big fan of candy but Lyndsey could definitely tell you all about it! I prefer hitting up the bakeries which can be found everywhere. Cake!!!



This is a great! I love how designer knock offs are sold right next to some frozen fish. I think it would be horrible to have your scarf smell like fish haha But hey, if its cheap, then I'll take two!




These crazy little carts are pulled by men everywhere in the market. Transporting goods on carts and motorcycles is really scary to be honest. There have been a few times where I have almost been hit because they literally drive through the crowds. The driving here is insane. The worst I have seen next to China. No joke of a lie! Pedestrians have no rights what so ever. You have to wait till the traffic clears to cross. It's scary at times!





Christmas is getting popular here in Korea, I like how some stores are so tacky and loud! This
store in the market screams Christmas. Sometimes I think it's a bit to commercial for myself.




The overhead shot of the market live and in action! This place is full of winding streets that are lined with vendors selling everything. However, I did have a difficult time finding sunglasses. I imagine they are not in season. That makes me a bit annoyed because I have gone to some restaurants, for example, a Vietnamese restaurant wanting to eat 'Bun' (Cold noodles with veggies). However, they said I can't get it because it's winter. That drives me nuts. So if you have a craving, it must be seasonal!!!!!!





The sign says it all. The fashion is something not to be desired by the Western palate. Lyndsey and I laugh at the tacky fashion haha But I really enjoy Japanese Fashion and I am hoping to go back there soon to stock up on some clothes!

Elementary Goodbye Party! What a night!

Well my first workshop has just recently come to an end. It was a good month of teaching elementary school teachers. Despite the language barrier at times, we sure had a blast! Elementary teachers sure are cheery that is for sure! So we had the official going away party the night before the closing ceremony. The party consisted of an awards portion which had a variety of awards such as 'best actor' for the skits and 'most improved trainee'. This shot I took is from the awards podium just like the celebrities do at the Oscars ahaha



Here is me opening my gift from my trainees. Bill and I got matching scarfs in the color of homeroom -green- it was great! This is a picture of my new haircut and color! My nose looks so big in this photo!





Here is me modeling the new scarf with my super Asian pose hehe I like how my supervisor is watching me and clapping. Everyone got super drunk that night. I bought a bottle of Vodka to my table to share with my trainees. A lot of the girls have never had Vodka before which was shocking. So I made them Vodka and berry juice drinks all night long. hehe After this night, I am laying off the alcohol for a while because I was super hungover the next day.




Here is my homeroom class for one last pose! They were a lot of fun at the going away party. We did a lot of dancing and singing. Lyndsey and I sang '2 become 1' by the Spice Girls haha It was so funny! I get nervous because when the foreigners sing, all the Korean trainees are so interested! They dance around us and clap to the beat!



The trainees were playing a drinking game with chopsticks and counting. I have never seen this before. So someone starts at the pointer (the person who is it) and together as a group you chant a Korean saying. Everyone will move their chopsticks to random people while chanting. Then when the chant is over, the person's (who is it) chopstick's where ever they are pointing at selects that person to drink. It is brutal. The person who just drank is the new person who is it! I hope that made sense! I didn't participate in this game because that is too much drinking for me!





Here is a photo of JS, Ryan, and I just being plain silly. Ryan always makes funny faces in all the photos. JS is very drunk here which is very common for Korean men. No jokes! It is pretty interesting because all Korean men I have come across love drinking alcohol. Always. At every meal, minus breakfast occasionally. I couldn't be bothered. I decided to stick with my Starbucks addiction because it is worth my money!





Here is So Young (the girl pointing), Bo Bae, Sarah, and Georgie doing some Korean rap. I just love the enthuasium. Koreans love rap and hip hop music. I think Korean rap is funny even though I have no idea what they are saying. I just dance to the beat.




Here is the final photo the following day after this crazy night of partying. I was in bed by 11pm because well I drank way too much. However, I did hear that many of the teachers partied until 4am. Yikes. I don' know how they do it. I really do not! Overall, it was a good experience teaching Korean elementary teachers. They were fun and eager to learn new methods and activities. That made me happy!