24 March 2009
20 March 2009
Taking a Break from All My Travels - Wanneroo, Western Australia
G'Day Mates
I have at last caught up with myself. I am in Wanneroo, near Perth, Western Australia and my first planned break in my travels. I have been travelling for over 5 months. I have been here for a week and I am staying for up to month with John (Dilks) and his family. At this moment just his mum Pat (and Patch the dog). John should be here in a few days. Then back on the road to explore Australia
To those who may not know, I grew up with John in Oadby, Leicester. We are talking the 80s. The time of Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Eurythmics, Banarama, Howard Jones, Nik Kershaw, Culture Club, The Thatcher years - I spit -, the Ford Cortina, bad haircuts, and a lot more...
This is a way to say that the Blog will also be taking a break. Not such a bad thing. A mid life up grade. I think the quality of the writing was suffering during the past few weeks. I am thinking of restarting mid April. Maybe earlier? Maybe an occasional post when the mood takes me? I like to thank everybody who have made comments until now. Keep commenting; I will check regularly. If anybody has any suggestions, feel free to send them to me.
Until then enjoy a couple photos of Perth and of me with my old/new hair cut - radical as usual.
Better go and throw that shrimp on the barbi. See all you in a few weeks......
I have at last caught up with myself. I am in Wanneroo, near Perth, Western Australia and my first planned break in my travels. I have been travelling for over 5 months. I have been here for a week and I am staying for up to month with John (Dilks) and his family. At this moment just his mum Pat (and Patch the dog). John should be here in a few days. Then back on the road to explore Australia
To those who may not know, I grew up with John in Oadby, Leicester. We are talking the 80s. The time of Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Eurythmics, Banarama, Howard Jones, Nik Kershaw, Culture Club, The Thatcher years - I spit -, the Ford Cortina, bad haircuts, and a lot more...
This is a way to say that the Blog will also be taking a break. Not such a bad thing. A mid life up grade. I think the quality of the writing was suffering during the past few weeks. I am thinking of restarting mid April. Maybe earlier? Maybe an occasional post when the mood takes me? I like to thank everybody who have made comments until now. Keep commenting; I will check regularly. If anybody has any suggestions, feel free to send them to me.
Until then enjoy a couple photos of Perth and of me with my old/new hair cut - radical as usual.
Better go and throw that shrimp on the barbi. See all you in a few weeks......
Narita Airport, Tokyo, Japan. 12am-8pm, 11th March
I made it to Japan. Ok it was only 8 hours hanging around one of the worse airport for passengers. There was absolutely nothing to do. It seems that the Japanese have decided that they only need to cater for the well off travel. So I just drank coffee all day. As I would have had to pay to change my itinerary I still had to fly to Perth via Tokyo. So I flew into Narita in the morning and flew out in the evening. As my luggage transferred automatically I did not need to clear immigration. Officially then I have not visited the country.
I did have a farewell doughnut or 4 at Incheon Airport in Seoul. How could I not. There was a Dunkin Donut at my departure gate. There is a conspiracy...
Requiem for a Seoul. 3rd-11th March
As you probably have noticed; I seem to spent along time in South Korea, and Seoul to be precise. I seem to have settled here. I think at this stage I ran out of travel momentum. A few weeks earlier than planned. I decided not to visit Japan. At first I kept reducing the time I was planning to stay in Japan. However in the end I decided that I was not in the right frame of mind to give justice to the country. I added 1 week to my stay in South Korea and planned to arrive to Perth, Western Australia a week early.
What did do in this time. Well not a lot. I did one last day trip out of the city with Ben - an Australian from the GH - to Incheon. Incheon is famous for the amphibious landing led by the American General MacArthur during the Korean War. To be honest, not much in Incheon. Ben and myself had a good lunch, lost our way a bit, then headed back to the GH.
Continuing to explore Seoul and its Markets, shopping centres, Starbucks, DD.. with Julie.
A bit of Sushi...
Visited Julie's University Campus. Sureal archictecture. A mixture of Gothic, Middle Ages and Greco-Roman. Totally out of place in this country. I start to to believe that the Korean are currently in search of an identity. What is being Korean?
My Korean experience was different to other countries I have so far visited. I have been here nearly A1 month. Feels more like I lived here rather than travelled here. I had a great time with Julie and the people at the Golden Pond Guest House, other guest and the staff. The more you stay, the easy it is to get to know the people of Korea
Now on to Australia.
What did do in this time. Well not a lot. I did one last day trip out of the city with Ben - an Australian from the GH - to Incheon. Incheon is famous for the amphibious landing led by the American General MacArthur during the Korean War. To be honest, not much in Incheon. Ben and myself had a good lunch, lost our way a bit, then headed back to the GH.
Continuing to explore Seoul and its Markets, shopping centres, Starbucks, DD.. with Julie.
A bit of Sushi...
Visited Julie's University Campus. Sureal archictecture. A mixture of Gothic, Middle Ages and Greco-Roman. Totally out of place in this country. I start to to believe that the Korean are currently in search of an identity. What is being Korean?
My Korean experience was different to other countries I have so far visited. I have been here nearly A1 month. Feels more like I lived here rather than travelled here. I had a great time with Julie and the people at the Golden Pond Guest House, other guest and the staff. The more you stay, the easy it is to get to know the people of Korea
Now on to Australia.
The Hwasong Fortress, Suwon - A day trip out of Seoul. 2nd March
After 4 days back in Seaoul, I managed to drag my self out of the Golden Pond Guest House and headed out of Seoul to Suwon - Suwon is part of the Seoul Conurbation - to visit The Hwasong Fortress and Palace, a Unesco World Heritage site. A near 2 hour journey by metro. The Hwasong Palace is a perfect example of the Korean Old but New architecture. I spent 2 hours walking along the fortress wall.
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