Ko Phangan...Ko Phanwrong...

Ok, so I made a hasty decision and arrived on Ko Phangan with zero idea of where to go, I know, my own fault.  I ended up following three Israeli guys to the area where the full moon parties are, second bad choice of the day.  Anyways, the place was kind of dead as it was not full moon time and it was covered with Germans and Israelis.  The beach was kind of dirty and overall it gave me a bad vibe.  I had some drinks and food with the three guys after I found a small room then hit the hay early.

Upon awakening I went and bought a ticket on the first boat and bus to Krabi town.  I left Ko Phangan and headed west.  It was a 3 hour boat ride and a 3 hour van ride.  Disembarking from the van I met a Scottish gay couple and attached myself to them.  We were headed for the same guest house so it was perfect.  We arrived showered and headed for some beers and some of the cheapest and best Thai food....street food!  We left for the night market which is all food and I order amazing noodle soup and they each ordered a curry dish and noodles.  All the dishes were amazing and cheap.  After we left for a bar where we chatted and drank cocktails for the rest of the night.  Good night.

Night Market, Krabi

Things began to look up for me and I started feeling more comfortable with my decision to move on.  I woke up in the morning and headed for the pier to catch a longtail boat to Railay beach, which is the only way it can be reached.  I was the only traveler about and was told we needed more people before we could leave so I ventured to grab some street food at a little local stall with locals eating.  I asked for a menu but was told the menu was the food, they brought me behind the counter and pointed to all the items trying to explain.  Eventually I was just given one noodle dish.  It was cheap and delicious and I enjoyed it with a couple locals.

After my delicious meal I met a vacationing older Malaysian couple.  Together we waited until we had enough people to leave for Railay beach and off we went to arrive at a small half resort half backpacker hangout.  They headed for the resort and I headed on a hike up and over a hill to the tiny village of Ton Sai, where all the rock climbers hangout.  Perfect start!

Krabi pictures!: http://picasaweb.google.com/linseypaddock/Krabi?authkey=Gv1sRgCM29nsXw36_HJg&feat=directlink

Ko Tao Open Water Dive

Upon arrival this small island reminds me of the beaches in Mexico or Colombia.  All the long boats are anchored along the shore with palm trees everywhere and the small village atmosphere.  I already knew it was going to be a nice relaxing environment and the perfect place to get dive certified......

Sunset on Ko Tao

I am now a certified open water diver.  The course was three and a half days of movies, basic theory and practical diving.  The course was both fun and interesting.  I shacked up at the dive school Big Blue and was put in a class of four with an English guy, Ian (also my dive partner) and a couple living in Dublin from Poland and France.  Our instructor Nick was patient and friendly.  At the hostel they have an outdoor bar and restaurant right on the beach with a beautiful view. 

The first time in the water was good fun and we learned all of our skills on a sandy island beach off the coast.  Here we learned to empty our masks, what to do if you run out of air and how to control our buoyancy.  Most of this I found simple and basic and found myself growing impatient with the other partner group.  Things took a long time in the water and by the end I had blue lips and was freezing.  The cold made the end not enjoyable and all I could think about was getting out.

The next day we had basic theory in the morning and our first two proper dives.  Again I found that some of the other students struggled at times which could have been very funny if I was not freezing again.  As I complained to my boyfriend he quoted it perfectly, "idiots are annoying, but at least they remind you that life is tough, but it's a whole lot tougher if you're stupid."  Although I am sure they are not completely daft it took them a bit longer to catch on, and I am not sure they mastered any of it.  On this dive we swam in close to shore and did a gradual swim deeper and deeper.  I found it pretty basic and we didn't see a whole lot. 

By the second dive of the afternoon I was given two wetsuits and a pep talk to get me back in the water...I really was cold!  The two suits helped and the second dive was really enjoyable. We started at the surface and lowed ourselves along the anchor line.  This was a far more interesting decent and the overall dive went much smoother.  My partner and I were the first group (right behind the instructor) and the other two became the second group, behind us!  YES!  Following them was like following a 6 year old trying to drive a car, fast, stall, stop, go, up, down, stop, slow, foot in face, kick Sucks!!  Now we had a much smoother swim with a steady pace which allowed us to play with our buoyancy more.

Today was our final day and we had our final two dives.  We woke up and left before 7am and were the first boat on the water.  It was, by far, the best day diving as every ones skills slowly improved, though some faster than others.  For both dives I had on two wetsuits and we descended down the anchor line.  The first dive was at an underwater pinnacle and the second was on a coral reef.  Both were great fun and relaxing when I wasn't cold.  I found the buoyancy and breathing techniques fun to play with and relaxing.  Overall I am really excited to do some more diving and am ready to get my advance. 

With open water you can only dive down to 18 meters with the advanced course it allows you to go down to 30 meters.  Not this trip but next time I will move on to get my advanced certification.  What next????  We get to watch a film of our final dive day tonight, have some drinks to celebrate, a couple more days here then headed south.

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/linseypaddock/KoTao?authkey=Gv1sRgCN6Z_JSq-cnCgAE&feat=directlink

Moving On

My last day in Bangkok left me feeling confident in my decision to move on.  I went and saw China town and ran into a lovely Australian girl who I spent the day with, had a couple glasses of wine and some lunch with, she was headed to Chang Mai at 4 and I was headed to Ko Tao at 6.  Overall a great time in Bangkok which left me fulfilled. 

Next stop, Ko Tao....I waited for my guide at 6 and was picked up along with other travelers.  We went to the bus office and waited for an hour to depart.  I met a Northern Irish girl and English guy and we sat down and I had some wonderful glass noodles and vegetables from a lovely family restaurant.  At 7:30 we finally boarded the bus.  The bus was basic, but at least had a bathroom.  Our adventure began.  We drove until 3:30am where we were told it was our stop and to disembark.  We were left with a bunch of other travelers outside a closed shop in a random town.  We were told we needed to wait here until 6am when another van would pick us up to drive us to the boat. 

Everyone was exhausted, including a cranky 5 year-old German boy that continually threw tantrums, no fun.  I actually  got some sleep on a little bench under a covering despite the fact the air was damp, rainy and cold. Our van finally came and took us to a bus which took us to our boat.  We departed the pier at 7:30 and finally arrived in Ko Tao at 10am.  It has been a long exhausting night and it is starting to catch up with me.  I have hunkered down at a dive school and start my open water certification tomorrow.  I can't wait. 

Overall my first impressions of Thailand are all good.  The food is amazing and the people are nice but the traveler trail is a well beaten path.  There seems to be little room for adventure and or error because they make it very simple for the tourist.  Although this is nice because it is less stressful it is also slightly less exciting and I am looking forward to something a little more off the normal travel route. 

Ko Tao seems to be more low key and relaxing.  Today is a bit overcast but slowly the sun is emerging and the temperature is increasing, time to hit the beach. 

Bangkok

On first arrival in Bangkok I found it hot and humid and I was surprisingly relaxed and ready for the adventure to begin.  A quick bus to the backpacker area and a quick search for a hotel left me with nothing to be desired but a bite to eat.  I ordered spicy thai soup with vermicelli noodles and loads of vegetables which tasted amazing then hit the hay as I was exhausted.  

Grand Palace, Bangkok

I woke up early Friday got some amazing fruit, yogurt and museli on the street with a great coffee and left to see the Grand palace, some temples, the amulet market and the water taxis. The sites were really quite amazing, the palace was covered in gold and the largest laying down buddha in the world was here.  Although I enjoy the temples and the palace I am much more of a culture girl and my favorite part of the day was the amulet market where Thai people go to buy little trinkets and good luck charms.  I saw only one other westerner walking around which made me happy.

Throughout the day I used the Thai public transportation which included water taxi boats up and down the river.  It was refreshing and showed a great perspective of the city from the water.  It was on one of these trips I met Bernd a German guy.  We chatted and took the boat up and down the river and stopped at a little local side stall on one of the piers for spicy squid and grilled fish.  Overall a cheap delicious meal.

From here we went to the center of town.  We tested out the up ground skytrain and visited the giant mall.  With everything from Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Coach and all the other expensive unaffordable designer brands people go gaga for being in a very high end classy mall.  As we walked around we realized that all the crowds in the mall were young and hip.  They must come from the upper upper middle class and be very good at spending their parents money.  Many were high school students in uniforms or what looked like university students, definitely not young people making their own money.

After a day of wondering I was very tired and we headed to the bus stop and met another traveler, Berg, from China.  The three of us headed to dinner at an amazing, slightly higher class Thai restaurant.  We had a nice bottle of wine and we had an amazing meal.  We ordered for different dishes and split them all including grilled fish, spicy mango salad, tom yum soup, and pad thai, all of which was mouth watering delicious.  After we headed to a Jazz club where local music students were performing and who were amazing.  After the actual band finished all the students in the club continued to play piano and sing passing around the microphone and and having an amazing live karaoke session.  What a night!

The next couple days I went to the weekend market and almost lost my mind.  More jewelery, household goods, and amazing clothes in a crowded market.  If I was rich I would have bought loads and sent it all home. As for today, I am checking out and moving on to greener pastures.  I am headed south to Ko Tao which is a small island where I will get dive certified.  I can't wait!

Bangkok Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/linseypaddock/Bangkok?authkey=Gv1sRgCP__142JkcbOeQ&feat=directlink

Final Day Korea

So on my final day in Korea I finally was successful in seeing the DMZ, I got to North Korea for a quick pic with a guard and came back.  After I enjoyed Korea from a boat on the Han River.  Overall a great day with one of my favorite people Claire. 

With the threat of a typhoon hitting the next morning being at it's fullest at 9am, my flight being at 9:40 I was a bit nervous and tried to forget by heading out for my final farewell dinner with Tram, Rebekah and Claire  We had some Mexican, sangria and wine, what a night. I finally crawled into bed at 2am only to not sleep and listen to the pounding rain and howling wind, and then to wake up and head for the airport at 5am.  Surprisingly,  I got to the airport on time and my flight left without any issues....I finally arrived in Bangkok!

Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/linseypaddock/DMZ02?authkey=Gv1sRgCP2v2umC2ODydA&feat=directlink

Health Check and Swine Flu

All English teachers when they arrive in Korea are forced to partake in a completely superficial health check. Originally we thought it would include chest x-rays for TB or cancer to make sure you weren’t there for health treatment but when I discovered what was being tested I was annoyed. The check included a drug test, HIV test, weight check, height check, eye test and colorblindness test just to make sure you are fit to teach, because you don’t want your kids learning the color orange if it is green. They also usually do a dental check but we got out of that. All of this cost over 30won (30$) and would have been more if the dental check was included. Although this is not a big amount it was out of pocket and I was unaware I would have to pay for these costs or even that I would have to undergo the check, so on Monday I was a bit taken aback when they told me to be ready for my check on Thursday morning.

Immediately I became slightly nervous and annoyed that it was so early in the morning and it was on the morning after a preplanned night out I was invited to. In addition I was told that normally health checks don’t occur until you have been in the country for more than a month, so ours was early. I was told that the health check was pretty much a joke and when the Korean government first instated these health checks on foreigners they had so many people failing the drug test that they were forced to change when they had to be completed by, go figure.

There were five of us who entered the downtown hospital at 9am Thursday morning. I already don’t like needles so as I arrived after a night of socializing and drinking I was a bit worried about the needles and what my tests might reveal. I was still slightly intoxicated from the night before and was worried about alcohol or sugar levels in my blood, after all they did tell us to not consume anything after 11pm and I got home at 3am, woops. When I woke up that morning I began to drink liters and liters of water to try and “fix” my BAL (blood alcohol level), and by the time I reached the hospital I started to feel slightly ill. I drank so much that I thought I would start peeing every two minutes but as it turned out I must have been seriously dehydrated and I am just happy I had drank enough to give them the small sample they required.

The Korean hospital is slightly bizarre and was a bit of a culture shock. There is no privacy and most things are done right in the open. There were different buildings and we had to go from building to building to get all the different checks done. There was an outside waiting area which was covered for rain. People were waiting in this area and patients were also sitting and enjoying the sun IV’s and all. This area is in the middle of the city and patients could come and go as they please. First we went inside, filled out the necessary paper work and went and got our numbers. It was like a meet department. You got a number and bar code assigned to you then when your number is called you go up to the counter. Here sat four women behind a long desk like counter similar to a bank. They had a number sign on each desk and when your number came up you went forward and sat down. The woman pulled out new gloves and needles and began to take your blood. The process was like a Ford assembly line. It was in front of everyone and after they draw your blood they place your barcode on the vial then put it on the conveyer belt to head to the lab. When it was my turn I was a bit squeamish and the girls thought it was kind of funny and kept talking to me in Korean. Overall it was pretty quick and painless, and after I was handed a cup with my barcode on it. I got up and could fill it whenever I was ready in the public toilets, completely unsupervised, I guess that is so some foreigners can pass the drug test.

This was my first experience with a squat toilet which was interesting. I halfway filled my cup very proud of my accomplishment. After I dropped my cup off on the designated stand in the middle of the waiting room where anyone could taint it or take it, I was a bit concerned and it makes you wonder. After this process we left the building to go to another area where they weighed us, measure us, and tested our eyes. I discovered I was slightly taller than I thought and my eyesight is better than perfect, not so bad. I even passed my colorblind test! What a good little patient I was. After the whole ordeal they told us we needed another blood test because they already threw out our samples and didn’t get a cholesterol test, as if! We all refused to do more testing and were allowed to leave. Everyone survived the experience, and successfully passed the tests though some were looking more green than others. I just hope that I never get sick in Korea because I never want to go back to the hospital!

As an aside, I have noticed since I have been here that Korea is the type of country that is all or nothing. The people are workaholics always pushing their kids to do more, master more and study more. They expect very little of their kids in the way of household chores but want them to study till midnight and get up at 6am, master the piano, be a star baseball player and math genius. On the other extreme they are a society that does not wash their hands all that much, never has paper towels and sometimes no soap in the bathroom but as soon as someone gets sick they freak out, put antibacterial spray everywhere, wear face masks, demand a health check on foreigners and at the slightest chance of someone being sick with swine flu, they close the schools. Swine flu here is associated closely with foreigners and they already quarantined over 50 newly arrived teachers one week after I arrived because they assume we are bringing the virus with us. In addition the school next door to me has had 5 suspected cases of swine flu and has had a mandatory closing for a week. Because of this scare our school closed Friday as well. It seems that Korea is afraid of what foreigners will bring back but they are not as worried about the daily preventative practices of their own population.

My First Morning

As I awoke to the morning sun streaming through my bedroom window at 5:30am I noticed my sparsely furnished apartment and unfamiliar surroundings. Already I could hear feet beating away on the gravel playground outside my window and the sound of a man counting at a roar in Korean. As I laid awake I wondered if this was going to be a daily thing or if I would eventually get a peaceful night’s sleep. I tossed and turned a couple more times hoping that I would doze off again, but my frustration grew as my confused body fought against sleep and I finally made myself get up at six and give up all hope of rekindling my previous state of euphoric dreaming.

As reality set in I rose from my previous joyful slumber and started to unpack. Those five and a half hours of sleep after a never ending day just didn’t cut it but somehow I was wide awake. I began to slowly arrange and rearrange my living room and bedroom and despite my small bright orange couch in my large living room, my lack of TV on my TV stand and my small table and chairs set it somehow started to feel a bit more mine. The big windows and bright sunlight gave my apartment a sense of calm and cheerfulness and my girly pink, purple and blue comforter put a smile on my face. I was finally home for the next year and feeling content, in all ways but one. Where was my morning coffee?

As my craving set in I quickly dressed and ran out of the house to find the nearest coffee shop. I walked towards town and had a permagrin on my face. I was feeling happy to be finally here. I wondered towards the main street and took in all the surrounding area. I noticed the school playground my apartment overlooks on one side and how there were small plots of land dedicated farming all around. Here they let no space go unused. I could see corn, peppers, squash, tomatoes and all sorts of vegetables and on one of the plots was an old man tilling the ground.

As I neared the main street I saw the banners that advertised for the school I was to work at and was pleasantly surprised by the status it seemed to give off. Tomorrow would be my first day of training at the new school and I was already excited. As I neared the corner I stumbled upon Kenya coffee. Perfect, it was exactly what I was looking for, and a couple minutes later I was taking a sip of my first Korean Kenyan coffee. I was surprised and impressed that it was so delicious and I felt filled with a sense of accomplishment as I only half made a fool of myself trying to order. I relaxed and enjoyed my cup of coffee at the shop before I had to head back to shower and meet my bosses and two other new English teachers for lunch.

After nearly 48 hours without a shower I was desperate for a nice refreshing shower, I just didn’t realize how refreshing. During my tutorial the night before of how to turn on the hot water I was half asleep and couldn’t remember so I proceeded to take a cold shower. I peeked into my bathroom and remembered the explanation the night before of Korean bathrooms. They are fully tiled with a drain and a high lip for a threshold. There is no shower or tub or even shower curtain, only a shower head, which hangs awkwardly on the wall over the sink and is attached to the sink faucet with a hose. I was warned to be careful because it sprays everywhere and turned on the tap. The cold shower invigorated my body and helped me feel less jet lagged. I finished and dressed and was ready for my first proper Korean meal.

We arrived at a Korean BBQ, removed our shoes and followed the women into our own private BBQ room. We sat at a proper table which had a grill that sat flush with the table top and a bell on the wall which called the waitress. Korean dinning is very different and very intriguing. All restaurants give you scissors, metal chopsticks which are very challenging and a long metal spoon. They place little bowls of kimchi, and other pickled vegetables, sea urchins and different sauces around the table. All of the items on the table are communal except for your soup and you are expected to eat from any dish you like which is not rude and is expected. For the BBQ we had thinly sliced beef and a tinfoil of garlic that was placed directly on the grill. One person cooked the beef flipping it with tongs then cutting it with scissors into bite sizes. As the beef is finished you take a leaf wrap, place your beef inside, add sauce or veggies and eat in one bit. Everything was delicious and the chili paste went fast.

In Korea you never finish your meal unless you would like more, so they refilled our sides and sauces until we were all perfectly stuffed and then cleared the leftovers. We sat and talked as we all digested and agreed that we would all go into town to walk around to see my first time, downtown Gwangju….