Mokpo

I took the opportunity to go down to Mokpo on the South West coast this weekend. I've never been in that part of the country so I was eager to see what was there. Korea happened to be hosting their first-ever F1 grand prix race, so the small town had a really buzzing atmosphere. Unfortunately, because it took so long (5 hours on the train) to get down there, I didn't end up with enough time to take a ferry to the neighbouring islands, which was what I actually wanted to do!

I did get to climb Yudalsan, a little peak near the harbour which has stunning views of the ocean dotted with many smaller islands. The overcast weather unfortunately prevented me from seeing the proclaimed sunset over the ocean.


This area is also famous for being one of the posts of Admiral Yi Sun Shin - my favorite Korean hero. So I was pleased to see his statue there too.






The harbour at sunset


Heading out to the pre-F1 night street festival



On Sunday it poured with rain, so I couldn't do much before catching my 1:30 train...I did go into the Natural History Museum, which although fun, has nothing on the one I went to in Oxford!

Jisan Open Day

Our base resort, Jisan, had an open day for all the snowboarding clubs - there was no snow, but there was lots of delicious food plus fun and games to be had! It was weird to see the slopes with no snow, being occupied by some BMX bikers cutting up the slopes - fun!

Homeward bound...

One of my students drew this to give to me...I'm not sure what he was trying to imply, but I guess maybe he was reading my mind!


Notice the little South African flag, with 'Nam Aperika' (South Africa in Korean) written above.

Suwon Hwaseong Cultural Festival

We were blessed with perfect, summer-like weather today as we ventured out to enjoy the festivities down at Hwaseong Fortress. There were lots of cultural/arty activities to take part in, a food festival, music and dance, and of course the main parade re-enacting King Jeong-jo's funeral (King Jeong-Jo is famous for building the Hwaseong fortress, and is considered to be one of the most successful and visionary rulers of the Joseon dynasty, around the 1700's. He died very suddenly, under mysterious circumstances - some say he was poisoned by a jealous brother!) . This evening we also got to see a play about the the life of King Jeong-jo. Although we couldn't understand much, it was still interesting to watch!

The parade, including fun and formal











Being interviewed for the local news


The food fun




James got stuck into the ceramics





King Jeong-jo's play

Over-due workout

I feel really sad that I don't exercise as much as I used to back in SA....it's so easy to get caught up in everything else here. Most of all, I miss swimming!
Anyway, so last Saturday we made a big effort to go out and walk the fortress wall - it was beautiful, and fresh and relaxing. To be fair, we have spent most weekends travelling or doing something specific, so it's nice to be spending some free time locally for a change.

Yummy lunch

Sunday lunch two weeks in a row now....YUM!


Wish I could say we caught these ourselves ;)


I did catch a little cold this week, so Sangyeon made me some Jujube tea to help - it worked!