Chuseok

This week Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday was Chuseok, which is the Korean Thanksgiving, and we got Friday off so that we can have a mini vacation.

On Monday after we got home from work we went to Three Pigs for dinner and ate too much as usual. The food is great and really cheap. After dinner we decided to go to a Noreabang and sing our hearts out for an hour or two. The time went by so fast and we were having so much fun that we decided to go to another Noreabang for round 2. On our way home from the Noreabang we ran into some friends and decided to join them for a while. Before we knew it it was 5 a.m! Time for bed!

On Tuesday we slept until after noon. That is what you do if you turn the night into day. Across from the apartment is Munsu lake where you can rent paddle boats that look like ducks and whales. Relaxing on a huge duck on the lake was the perfect way to spend what was left of the afternoon.

Ready for action, as usual.

Luckily the Korean guy renting out the boats understood a little English,
which made things a little easier.

Quack!!

Duck VS Whale: To race, or not to race? That is the question.

We decided to leave the little family in peace. We almost bumped into
them a few times though.



From where we were on the lake the stadium looked ginormous, like Lindie
would say.



The Koreans did a great job of making the park as beautiful as possible.

These people were feeding the ducks.

The white duck isn't as innocent as he looks. After seeing a little brown duck steal some food, he chased after him like crazy, biting and slapping him all the way. Luckily the little guy made it to safety. Shame, we think he is an orphan duck. We named him Oliver.

The hour on the lake felt like an entire afternoon. Just relaxing without any worries.

On Wednesday it rained the whole day, and as like Tuesday we slept until noon again. We were on our way down the street to go get some breakfast/lunch when we ran into Tom, who decided to join us. There was one problem that we didn't think of: it was a public holiday and most of the places were closed. We weren't in the mood for McDonald's and decided to go to Benningan's, a restaurant in Samsan that served western food. The food at Benningang's is really good, but also quite pricey, but we were hungry and it was Chuseok after all.

I had the Monte Cristo, which is a huge bread, filled with ham, cheese and turkey and then deep fried and sprinkled with some icing sugar. After one of the for pieces and all the fries I was stuffed like a thanksgiving turkey. I took the rest home in a doggy bag. The cool thing about taking a doggy bag is that they give you bread, butter and jam with your left over food for free.

After taking a taxi back home again we spent the rest of the day relaxing at home.

Hangawi - Festival for foreigners in Ulsan

Sunday 19/9/2010

Korean people in Ulsan are known to be very blunt, but they still do a lot for foreigners here. Like today, they organised a whole festival for the foreigners living in Ulsan. There was a few stalls with different things do to from trying on traditional Korean wedding clothes, Korean games, to hitting the living daylight out of a piece of dough.

The festival started at 14:00 and was just a 5 minute busride away from home.

The three explorers - Me, Jean and Lindie.

The festival was held at Ulsan Grand Park, one of many beautiful parks in Ulsan.

A map of the park. The festival was held at the bottom at the main entrance.
The park is enormous.

One of two statues greeting you at the entrance.

Stalls on the left side.

Centre of the action. The stage where they had some traditional folk dances and
a mini fashion show of traditional Korean wedding couture.

Stalls on the ride side.

These guys were trying out the see-saw thing. Trust me, it looks easier than it is.

There was a stall where you could try on some traditional wedding clothes, and Lindie and I decided to try it out.

It is extremely hot in those outfits, and unfortunately photo
wasn't all we were going to do...

After the photo's the Koreans wanted Lindie and I to try out the see-saw, dressed like a married couple. I really hope that the see-saw isn't part of the wedding ceremony.


Doing the see-saw in these clothes, not fun.

  

We attracted quite a croud and will probably end up on some brochure for foreigners.

  

Lindie was absolutely terrified.

After a while we decided to give up before we break something.

 Then, after trying out the clothes, I decided to try something else. There was a piece of tree stump at one stall where they would hit a piece of dough with a wooden hammer. The guy before me was so gentle to with the hammer, but I decided to give the dough a good beating, much to the appreciation of the stall owner.

Some good stress relief, taking everything out on the dough.

"If you know what's coming, you'd grow legs very quickly and get out of the way."

The festival started with some speeches from important people in Ulsan. After the speeches there were some folk dances and the wedding couture fashion show.

They were quite good. The two on the sides couldn't see each other,
yet they were hiting the drums like one person.



These poore foreigners had to dress up and do the fashion show on the stage.
Those outfits don't have much ventilation and the sun was shining as if it was
summer.

 

Radha and Dawn, posing for one last photo before rushing to get out of
the dresses before they melt.

We decided to try a Korean game. The goal is to throw the arrows into the rings and I think I got 3 out of 15 arrows in the rings. Not good, but hey, I'm not Korean and it is a Korean game...

The little one got away just in time, before Lindie's arrow zapped past her.

Trying our best, but with little success.

After giving up we moved on to the other stalls, and found one where you can have your name written in Korean calligraphy. Of course we all did it.

This little boy was waiting anctiously to get his paper with his name on.

All done!

After a few hours we decided to go and get some pizza, and as we exited the park, we saw a line of people. The ones in front were walking away with big, red packages, and we decided to join them. The Koreans were giving gifts to the foreigners, because next week is the Korean Thanksgiving holiday.

So happy with our gifts! In the bag is a box with a hamper of toothpaste,
soap and shampoo. Very handy, but seriously, isn't giving someone
soap and toothpaste an insult? Anyway, we were happy.

Singapore International Airport

On my way to Korea I had about an hour and a half to explore one of the terminals of Singapore International Airport. Now this is one huge airport. One terminal is bigger than the entire Cape Town International terminal building. It is like a city on it's own! The first five photos I snapped from the skytrain between two terminals.

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Look at the size of the man in front of the statue compared to the rest of the terminal.



This was taken in a butterfly garden inside the terminal building.



The roof of the garden.



The butterflies are all around you in the garden. Some of them even come
and sit on you if you are lucky.



Next to the butterfly garden is a fish pond with some Khoi fish.
It was so hot and humid in Singapore that the thought of
joining the fish for swim crossed my mind once or twice.

 From Singapore it was still a 6.5 hour flight to Seoul in Korea. From there I had to take a train from Incheon International Airport to Gimpo Airport where I boarded a plain to Ulsan.