Moving day

So the title of this blog is a little... inaccurate, ancient, old news.  So we've decided to export all of our previous posts to a shiny new blog whose name represents our current state.  Broke and on the road.  Check us out under our new name at "On the Road, On a shoestring."

Montevideo, Uruguay: Short, Sweet and Spendy

(The blog was written Nov. 1st, we haven't had wifi for a while so were catching up on posting now :)

We arrived in Montevideo after a 24 hour, three bus trip from Puerto Iguazu. We caught a bus from Puerto Iguazu to Concordia, where the bus left us at the side of a dusty highway with two other foreigners and three Argentinians, at 6am. This was a bit of a shock to us, considering we assumed they would take us to a bus terminal, especially because the bus ticket cost $50 each! There was one lone cab waiting there and the cab driver called another cab for us, while she took off with the other travelers who were going camping. Our cab driver was super nice and turned out to also be a policeman. We spent some time in the bus terminal then went across the border to Salto, Uruguay, then onto Montevideo.

Our hotel was easy to find and we were pleasantly surprised with a large room, two single beds and a clean bathroom. The hotel staff at The Splendido Hotel was INSANELY nice. They were so friendly and took care of us very well. The breakfast was great, hot fresh coffee and a full kitchen we could use anytime. There was a pretty big common area and dining room where we met an interesting fellow traveler who had many great stories to tell. Jodi, a Canadian, was a corporate lawyer in NYC until she decided to give it up to travel full time. She had some truly amazing stories, if you want to know more check out her blog at http://www.legalnomads.com/. It is also full of great advice about traveling.

Montevideo isn’t really a tourist mecca so we just walked around the city quite a bit, ate A LOT and drank a fair amount. We mostly relaxed and enjoyed the port city, trying not to spend too much money but still keep ourselves entertained. It is very expensive, and after an incident where we accidently spent $10 on two sodas and two waters, we kept a very close eye on our budget. Our anniversary was the last night we were there (Halloween!) and we celebrated by going to an excellent paradilla restaurant, El Fogon (kind of BBQ meats famous in Argentina) where we had some of the first vegetables we’ve had in South America, and a ton of delicious meat. Dan may or may not have eaten liver. It was an awesome way to celebrate one magical year together!

The next day we checked out of the hotel, walked about 9km along the seafront and people watched a bit before we had to go to the bus terminal for another long journey to Mendoza, Argentina. Overall, we thought Montevideo was lovely and would be a fantastic city to live and work in.

Here's how I roll! And we are off to Mendoza....

Dan's P.S. I wanted to name this blog Montevideo killed the monteradio star, but Amanda wouldn't let me.

Igua- damn that is a big waterfall- Zu!

The Great Wall of Waterfalls

Today we are spending our time waiting… and waiting… and waiting, to get on a bus to Montevideo, Uruguay. Well, technically to Concordia, Argentina, then another bus to Saldo, THEN a bus to Montevideo. But I digress. While we have nothing but time, I’d thought I’d share our impression of Puerto Iguazu and Cataractas de Iguazu (or the waterfalls of Iguazu).

Basically, they are fucking immense and impressive. We spent two days in the park (85 pesos the 1^st day, 45 pesos the 2^nd day). The first day we toured the upper and lower circuits, which have fantastic viewing areas for the Adam and Eve waterfalls and Bossetti waterfall. We also did a 6km “jungle hike.” We saw hundreds of butterflies, large and small lizards, huge ants and even a capybara (the largest rodent in the world). Over all, it was a great experience. The park was very well maintained with tons of shops, restaurants and space.

The second day we woke up late and slightly hungover. We missed breakfast but didn’t think it was a big deal, we’d just get something on the way to the park, right? WRONG. It turns out the ENTIRE country or Argentina was off work. Why? The national census. Yes, that is correct. NOTHING was open. We had two cereal bars and some crackers. We thought there must be something open at the park, I mean the park was still open and all those tourist need to be fed right? WRONG. The park was open, nothing else was. We were sooooo hungry. But we soldiered on.

The only thing we had left to see in the park was Garganta del Diablo (The Devil’s Throat). It was a 1km walk over a catwalk to get to the lookout. OMG, it was one of the coolest/ frightening things I have ever seen in my life. Dan and I say it probably takes our #2 spot on “best places in the world” (#1 is the Great Wall of China). There is just an insane amount of water falling, you can’t even see the bottom.

After that we chatted with an American couple on their honeymoon (on their way to Patagonia, jealous!!) and made it back to the hostel with time to shower up and get to the store. It opened at 4:30pm and the line was out the door with tourists, starving just like us! Dan made ravioli, and it was possibly the best thing I have ever eaten.

If anyone is curious our budget so far looks like this:

Hostel: $15 dollars each per night, TOTAL $30

Spending for food ect. Daily: $30

Bus trips overnight: $75 per person

It’s not incredibly expensive, but we are definitely traveling on a shoestring. We are lucky to have found a bus company that will give us a student rate even though I don’t have a student ID card. :)

Watch your back!

Buenos Aires: urban dichotomy

The play by play by Dan: On the flight from Miami Amanda and I were not seated together. Why? No se. The plane was the most comfortable I had ever been on and although we were unable to convince the people next to us to change seats with us, the plane was apparently not sold out and the flight attendants moved us miraculously to the center bulkhead of the plane Next to Amanda sat a late 30s Porteno named Cristian who was in Miami on vacation and spoke very good English. We talked until we it was time to sleep and he offered to give us a ride from the airport downtown with his wife and three year old son,because all the public transportation in the city was on a one day strike that Thursday. We got into town after a good long time stuck in the traffic that resulted from a city of 10 million people sans public transportation. They were the most adorable family, and so generous and welcoming we were sure that BA was going to be a great time and a great place.

At first it was quite nice. We took a walk from our hostel to the river through the barrio San Telmo which is not dangerous but isn’t all that nice looking. I expected more squares, cobblestones, café’s with 50 tables and a hundred chairs out front. No matter. We were so exhausted we had a coffee and a couple empanadas at a café in a pedestrianized area near the river, walked back and took a nap in the middle of the day. We went out later that night, searching for a restaurant in San Telmo that no longer existed (thanks outdated lonely planet), but ended up grabbing some overpriced but delicious pizza and getting semi-hammered in celebration of our new found independence and adventure, we went absurdly over budget and now we know that alcohol isn’t in the cards for us every day if we want to make it to Colombia. We stumbled back to the hostel and acted slightly obnoxiously by playing pool in the common room at 1:30 in the morning, but we reined ourselves in after 15 minutes and passed the night watching torrented tv on our netbook and drinking beer.

Our hostel was nice, the people that worked there were very friendly and kind. Noise carried in it like a concert hall, though. We woke late on Friday but dehydration gave us a tired edge all day, despite that we walked for miles and miles. We took a walking tour around Argentina’s Upper East Side, the Ricoleta neighborhood, which is home to a famous cemetery composed of mausoleums the size of small homes, including one for everyone’s favorite Argentinita, Eva Peron. We saw some great impressionist and modern art in the free art museum and found out where all those cafes with a hundred seats out on the square are. That night we went to a restaurant on a square in San Telmo where there would be a tango show. We saw a very good pair of tangonistas and decided to call it a night around 11 needing to both conserve money and get some restful sleep. That was futile.

Desperately seeking sleep our hostel was a noise machine early, so we watched tv until 2 while the noise got worse and worse and closer and closer. When I had gone out to the lobby for water around 12am, there was music and about 12 people drinking. Now, when we went out there, there were 50 people drinking, the music was at club volume, everyone was smoking and smashed and screaming and waiting for the bathroom not three feet from the foot of our beds. This went on until 6 in the morning. No one asked us, no one told us there would be a party, when it would end or why we would have never booked a room inside of a discotheque. I’ve never been treated so inconsiderately, when people would scream on the top of their lungs outside of our bedroom we went outside and glared, some of the men seemed to feel really bad when Amanda came out with fire in her eyes but the girls didn’t respond at all and when she said something once to one of them we could hear, “Punta!” after she closed the door.

The next day we got our money for that night back when we complained somewhat vehemently. It was a late start but there was still time to do what we wanted to do that day. We went to the bus station and found out that the extravagant price that is 3 times the quoted price in the lonely planet for our 18 hour bus ride to the falls where I’m writing this, was indeed the only price there was despite all the competition in that marketplace (the free market inevitably leads to price fixing what?). Good news: 20 percent student discount for the buses, and I’ve still got my Temple ID. After that we walked, down to the river and through the very nice riverside and as we do this I’m thinking to myself. I could really see myself here. Café’s, rollerbladers, families walking dogs, skateboarding dads and kids, people playing soccer on a beautifully manicured park with an interesting design. Me gusta.

Then we walked into La Boca. We were warned about La Boca more than anywhere else. Cristian told us we should go but to be careful, the lonely planet echoed him. Sure it wasn’t the brand new riverside but as we walked down there I didn’t feel uneasy. It looked like San Telmo. We ate a couple empanadas at a café near the art street that we walked down there to see, and everyone inside seemed normal, happy, diverse (age wise). It wasn’t frightening at all. The Caminito, the art street was nice if a little gimmicky. There’s plenty of street performers and knick knack shops and dancing gauchos and plaster of paris caricatures hanging from the windows. We were only there for a half an hour or so and we started to walk back, the walk to San Telmo would take about half an hour. It was about six and while it was by no means dark, evening had begun. We were three blocks down the large street that would take us back to San Telmo when we decided to take a bus, we had heard the neighborhood was dangerous and didn’t want to take any chances, so we crossed the street and the bus stop was just one or two blocks too far for us. At the first intersection on that side of the street there was a young man in a black adidas jacket and jeans just standing there. We crossed the street; there were four other people in very close proximity to us, Amanda was on my right and half a step behind me. All of a sudden she screamed, she had been dragged about three or four paces to my right by her purse and the struggle was pulling her further. We were in the middle of the street we were crossing when this happened and as soon as I saw it I yelled, “Hey!” and charged the guy. His eyes turned to me, he let go of the purse and Amanda booked it around the corner the way we had been walking. He took two steps back and, I swear I can see it in my head like it’s in slow motion, as he did he lifted his shirt up to reveal a black handgun. I couldn’t believe it. I thought that he would run after we got the bag and he lost the element of surprise but instead I was five feet from a pistol pointed right at me and a man suddenly yelling in Spanish. For five seconds I thought I was really going to die (in retrospect I actually doubt the pistol’s genuineness), and I cringed and put my hands up. He didn’t shoot, so I stood up straight and he yelled at me in Spanish and motioned with the pistol to my bag. I gave it to him with relief. It contained our water bottles, our lonely planet, a map of the Recoleta cemetery, some pens and my notebook.

He ran. I walked up the street until I realized that Amanda was pretty far ahead of me and was probably freaking out, so I started to run. She was crying, some people tried to help us, some ten year olds thought it was funny, an old couple who witnessed it shook their heads and debated on the futility of calling the police. We spent ten minutes flagging down a cab with everyone on that block. It took us back to the hostel where we stayed for the rest of the night drinking beer, eating take-out pizza.

The next day we walked around the National Congress and the Northern part of the Av 6 de Julio where the famous Obelisk is and were relieved to be leaving Buenos Aires. We didn’t get to see the pink house or the famous Palermo neighborhood or walk on the Avendia Jorje Luis Borges, but we certainly had an interesting time of it. I’m not sure how long we’re going to be paranoid and looking over our shoulders, we’re taking more precautions but I hope the memory of this incident and its effect on our behavior fades quickly so we may take the chances that will allow us to have the fullest and most memorable experiences on our journey.

Amanda’s two cents: Beunos Aires was cool but nothing too special. Definitely not worth getting a gun pulled out on us, and keeping us watching our backs all the time now. Now I certainly don’t want to go off the beaten path (although where we were was NOT off the beaten path) and I don’t think I’ll be able to carry a bag or purse for a while. With traveling there are always these ups and downs, so we’re hoping we’ll be on an upswing for a while.

Coming up next: Puerto Iguazu, the largest waterfall in the world.

Same blog, new continent!

Welcome back! We’ve been gone on a break for a while, but we are hitting the road tomorrow so we thought we’d share our supposed itinerary and what’s been going on. We’ve been hanging out in Reading, PA (Dan’s hometown) for the past six weeks. Dan was the best man in his friend Chris’s wedding, and we had to get extra pages put in out passports (!!!!), so we stayed at his parent’s house and planned our big trip to South America.

I’ve also been kinda sorta planning the move from Portland, Oregon to Philadelphia, PA. I got a driver’s license, looked at neighborhoods, registered to vote and checked out schools. We are both planning on going to grad school when we get back from South America so we have one eye on that.

But first things first: SOUTH AMERICA!! Our itinerary looks something like this:

Buenos Aires, Argentina --> Puerto Iguazu, Argentina --> Montevideo, Uruguay --> Mendoza, Argentina --> Valparaiso, Chile --> Santiago, Chile --> La Serena, Chile --> Antofagasta, Chile --> Uyuni, Bolivia --> Potosi, Bolivia --> Sucre, Bolivia --> Cochabamba, Bolivia --> La Paz, Bolivia --> Copacabana, Bolivia --> Cuzco, Peru --> Nazca, Peru --> Lima, Peru --> Trujillo, Peru --> Cuenca, Ecuador --> Quito, Ecuador --> Pasto, Colombia --> Cali, Colombia --> Medellin, Colombia --> Cartagena, Colombia

So that’s it! We’ll probably change this a bunch as it goes, sleep over night in some small towns, get caught up in border crossings and whatnot, but that’s our tentative plan! We are planning on coming back possibly the last week in February, so that means about four months on the road. We are hoping for safe and healthy travels and we have everything from antibiotics to probiotics. We are generally feeling a little scared but super, super, SUPER excited!

Adios los estados unidos, bienvenidos argentina!!

New Blogs!

I thought it was about time to update my blog list because some people have stopped posting, and I have discovered some new amazingly awesome blogs.

My friend Fallon, who I met in South Korea but went to the same university as me writes a blog called Fallon's Healthy Life. It is about trying to lose weight and stay fit while working, traveling and having fun. She is currently living in Australia with her boyfriend.

Bitch Cakes is a blog I really enjoy. It is written by a woman who has lost almost 60 pounds using weight watchers and she is FABULOUS. Totally glamorous and fun, she is a real inspiration for anyone who has any kind goal, its all about taking it one day at a time. She lives in New York city and rides her bike everywhere so she includes some awesome photos as well.

My favorite blog EVER is Hyperbole and a Half. I laugh out loud nearly every time I read it. I can't even open it at work, it is THAT FUNNY. Written by a twenty-something woman, it is a mix of poorly drawn cartoons and commentary on daily life. You have to read the post about how her dog may or may not be retarded. Even if you never read any other blogs (besides mine of course) you have to check this one out.

Reflections

I’m getting ready to leave Korea so I’ve been thinking a little bit about my time here, how it has changed me and what my goals are for the next part of my life. Before I came here I had three goals for myself:

1.) Pay off some debt. I don’t feel that I have done that well in this area. I’ve paid off about $7,000 in credit card debt, while making my regular payments on my student loans and storage unit. I also paid off a small medical bill that was in collections from when I was 18. I didn’t realize how much I would want to travel and that my actual income would be worth so little in dollars. I know if I just spent one more year here I could make a big dent in my student loans, but I don’t think it would be worth it.

I’m glad to be out from under the credit card debt and I can always get a forbearance on my student loans if I need to.

2.) Teach! My goal was to simply see if I would enjoy teaching, and I do! Now I know I can go back to school to get a Master’s in Education without feeling unsure about spending the money.

3.) Be more creative. I’m not sure if I’ve really accomplished this goal. I guess writing could be considered creative… I don’t know if dancing in the club to bad Korean pop music counts but I’ve done a lot of that. I still want to continue working on this!

Living and working in Korea has taught me so much about myself and, as cliché as it sounds, life really. I’m now so far away from my childhood and adolescent situation, I am really a completely different person. Inside I will always have those memories, but now I know I can change and be different and become whoever I want to be. I’ve achieved so many goals, it seems like yesterday I was making the goal to attended high school at least 70% of the time (I skipped A LOT). Living here was so frustrating at times that it really brought out the silly side of me. In some situations I could scream, cry or laugh and I discovered laughing is by far the best choice!

The friends I’ve made here have had a big impact on me. I’ve never really had friends that were so adventurous, fun and smart before. We all did some stupid things, had embarrassing moments and because we’re all in the same boat we helped each other through it, or just laughed about it. I think I take life a little less seriously now because of them and it feels great. I love them and I will miss them!!

My goals for the future:

1.) Find my passion. I really want to find some way of helping to change the world for the better. There are so many things I care about, but I’ve just never found that one issue that was my cause. I want to find it!

2.) Further my education. Working sucks, I want to stay in school forever.

3.) See more of the world. South America, here I come!

I Quit!

So I’ve had a problem with the supervisor in my area (Damyang) since she arrived about a year ago. She really dislikes foreigners and makes it her personal goal to make our lives as difficult as possible. I’ve always done whatever she asked, I even went to an elementary school in the middle of nowhere for half a day, and basically just sat there because they had no clue why I was there.

Anyway, I worked this camp for her last winter and she promised us 650,000won. Then it went down to 30,000 overtime only (about 240,000) then the day before it was over she said it was 20,000 over time. I was like FFFFFUUUUUUU. She got away with it and I didn’t even say anything. None of the foreigners said anything.

So this summer, another camp is planned of course. This one is located in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE. We’re talking like rice paddies to the base of a mountain, then a 2km hike straight uphill to the site. I’ve never been there before, so last week I e-mailed my fellow English teachers and asked about their plans for getting there. No response. So I asked my co-teacher. She said she had no idea how to get there on the bus, but I could ride out to Damyang and then go there with my students if I wanted. This was really my only option, so I took it. I arrived at my school at 7:45am (where and when she told me to be) to see no one. Not a soul. I’m like WTF. I call my coteacher. Nothing. Finally she calls me and tells me they are in a random parking lot across town. Of course. My students come find me. We load up the busses and we are on our way.

Upon arrival I was busy looking at the schedule (that had completely changed since I saw it last) and getting situated so I didn’t have a chance to say something to the other native speakers, like “hey, how did you get here?” I diligently taught my 5 classes to an unenthusiastic audience of first grade middle schoolers. At the end of the day I asked my co-teacher (who I don’t know at all, she works at a different middle school), “How do I get to the bus home? What time does it come?” She said she didn’t know. I looked around for the other native speakers. They had already left according to the supervisor. Now, I don’t dillydally around after school. I end my classes right on time and I GTF out of there. Apparently they knew something I didn’t. Like what time the bus comes (it runs every 50 minutes), where it comes, and how long it takes to get to the bus stop. The Koreans all stood around looking confused, the supervisor said it wasn’t her job to figure it out and I literally started crying.

Sidenote: On my way to school to meet my students and go to this camp, I saw a high schooler get hit by an SUV. He directly ran into traffic and it was his fault, but he had a head wound and it was bad. I stood over him, protecting him from the oncoming traffic while the driver called the ambulance. No one slowed down, none of the Koreans staring stopped to help. So that was the beginning to my day. Meaning I was a little sensitive.

Anyway, I proceed to walk down the mountain, crying a little, then resolved myself to simply do what I would have done back home. Call a friend, bitch a little, then hitch hike. I got to a bus stop after walking 40 minutes, but it didn’t go to Gwangju. I got 15 mosquito bites because of the rice paddies. So I stuck out my thumb and immediately got picked up by a well- off Korean couple. They took me to the closest town where I got a cab home.

I am just sick and tired of being treated like an indentured servant. Yes, I do get paid. But I did not sign up to be treated like a serf who will just do whatever I am told no matter how I am treated. Honestly, all I really want is to be informed about matters that are pertinent to me. In Korea, that means how and when to be somewhere. All my supervisor cares about is if I am in the classes, occupying the students. She cannot grasp the concept that this camp is COMPLETELY different that my regular job. Different place, no resources (including printers), different students of all levels, different schedule, more classes. I got up at 6am to be at this camp. But no one can tell me when and where to catch the bus? FUCK YOU. I quit.

I will be going to my regular school to desk warm tomorrow. I want to make it clear that I am willing to work. I love teaching and I would have such a good time teaching a camp that is supposed to be about fun and learning, not image and money.

Wall

Writing gives me anxiety. That's why I let Amanda spin her words in my stead. The first thing that happened on the day we went to the Great Wall of China was funny. China is one hour behind Korea, we set all our devices (Amanda's watch) to this time except for Amanda's ipod, which was our wake up call. So when we thought we were waking up at 7 we actually woke up at 6. We asked a few confused middle aged man who spoke minimal English for breakfast before we realized our mistake and went back to sleep. The breakfast at our hostel wasn't bad, but wasn't particularly substantial even by Asian standards. We climbed into the minibus to go to the Great Wall and stopped at another hostel to change buses. We were the only people at our hostel who signed up for the grueling Jinshanling to Simatai hike as opposed to the supposedly flatter Ming Tombs/ Mutianyu walk. The bus ride took 3 hours from Beijing. It was bumpy and the streets were small. I actually slept, which never happens, so it must have been soothingly bumpy.

We picked up a guide not far from the Wall. He didn't speak too much English, I didn't see the point. The landscape was nice as far as we could see it, gradually rising hills, green and rocky, and much more corn than I expected. While the limited visibility from Beijing lifted slightly it didn't dissipate which was surprising as we climbed and the grayness of the cloudless sky continued. Of course the driver almost killed us several times, but we got there finally and got out of the bus. They offered a liter and a half of water and a snickers bar to everyone. We already had 3 liters of water in our bags and several snacks, we were prepared hikers undaunted by the extra weight of water. When we made it through the gates, anxious to get started, we received postcards with a small map detailing the route options. We could either hike up to the first tower and walk to the 22nd where we would descend, take a small shortcut and hike to the 5th tower or take the cable car and ascend quickly and effortlessly. Amanda considered the cable car, but I considered any shortcut a form of cheating and the only people we could cheat would be ourselves. She was concerned about her sensitivity to the sun and the extreme humidity which was already drawing the moisture out of our bodies like a dehumidifier as we were standing still. We compromised as we always do and hiked to the 5th tower.


On the way up we passed this sign. It will become relevant later. Seeing the great wall wasn't nearly as anticlimactic as other places I've seen and dreamed about. The Great Wall is mythologized as much as any structure on Earth, but not by me. It's a wonder that I was pretty surprised to be seeing. China never held much of a pull for me, but it was a great time and a logical choice for a short break from the Korean peninsula. I never really pictured going there as I always had pictured going to places like Italy and the Netherlands and the UK. Some places live up to the hype, most don't. I never thought I would see it so it ended up being pretty damn impressive but I imagine if you've always had your heart set on it then it might let you down. It's a damn impressive structure to be sure. It takes half an hour just to hike straight up the mountains it's built on top of. It's wide enough for 7 or 8 people to stand shoulder to shoulder on it. It has a tower, sometimes a two story tower about every .2 km and some of those are still standing. It's steeper than you want to climb let alone build. It's really something else, but like anything else you get used to being up there after an hour, and it becomes the road, like any other, you're walking on.


This is Amanda. She's wearing more layers than would be optimal in this heat and humidity, but she's afraid, and rightly so, that her fairest of fair skin will lobsterize in the invisible sun's rays. You can barely see to the hill in the background, but rest assured the sweat was pouring off everything with pores. This section of the wall was easy. The wall rose like a ramp. And although it became steep at times it was well cared for and rarely treacherous. The bricks looked nice and the towers were completely intact. The hike looked easy despite the aforementioned heat and the hawkers. Amanda looked like she was about to slap someone after a bottle of water was shoved in her face the tenth time. The pushed water on us after we had refused several times and were in the process of drinking our own water. It's a problem, we ignored them as much as they would allow us to ignore them.


Here's where the don't slip advice becomes relevant. Slipping is death and there are no handrails. We trekked up this section slowly, deliberately, and were mocked in German that I understood by some Germans who strode cavalierly down a slope like this (I don't know if it was this staircase or another one) who commented that Americans avoided difficult physical work and shouldn't undertake such a challenge. My German reaction time was not quick enough for retort. Our slowness was not from a lack of fitness but a will to live. On the first leg of the hike I took time to observe the scenery but here I was enjoying the challenge and the climb and how much I didn't care that I was sweating my entire shirt a different shade of green.

This is where the vending came to a head. If you look very closely at the top of those daunting stairs, which, let me assure you, are far more daunting from the top than the bottom not to mention the lack of a side wall to lean on or shield you from the sheer drop, you will see a man standing like an archer in the doorway. As we are climbing this staircase of doom, slowly, cautiously, he proceeds to yell about water and postcards. As for water, we have it. As for postcards, I'm concerned with not dying, shut the fuck up. He stood in the doorway as we were almost at the top hawking trivialities like a monk on a sacred mountain wearing a Def Leppard t-shirt. We refuse, stop, force him to go inside so we may complete the staircase of doom without having to step around a man standing directly in our way. When we enter the tower he's even more persistent, shoving water in our face and blocking our way as we try to avoid him and pass him saying, "No" in progressively louder, angrier voices. Despite his harassment of us; he is the one to lose his temper. "No, no, no, no" he shouts in an extremely loud and mocking tone. Twice he blocked Amanda as I skirted him so she got the brunt of his harassment and this is her last straw. Almost out the second door she stops turns around and yells at him, "Why are you shouting? Why are you shouting? We don't want any water. Go away." He continues yelling "No, no, no, no" like an asshole and we can hear it almost until we reach the next tower. There were only two left. The last one was full of women and a persistent child who really shouldn't have been forced into labor like that.

This is what it looks like against that charcoal sky. The descent took far longer than we expected, and our bodies were breaking. A 40 minute hike and we made it to the parking lot, nothing but a pebble bed, construction equipment and two hawkers. We saw a few others from our group and sat down by them. I bought a beer from a hawker and celebrated our trek. We were subsequently harassed by a bee that would not leave us alone for anything. When our minibus arrived and the rest of our party, who had chosen the full 1-22 tower trek, arrived more hawkers followed them. As we piled into the vehicle they attempted to follow shoving t shirts and water into our faces while we refused. We forced them out almost physically and escaped. Exhausted, drenched, stinky, we started our 3 hour ride back to Beijing.

The mini-bus and tour cost 320 Yuan which was a pretty fair deal. It was an all day affair, and we saw the part of the wall that we wanted to see. It was unfinished, and though we met plenty of other tourists on the way there were times between towers when we were completely alone. Just us and the Great Wall and the mountains stretching off into the distance that can only be imagined.

A Fling with Beijing

Dan and I finally took our Beijing vacation we had been planning since May. We were in China for just five days. Here’s how it went:

Day 1 Wednesday: Started the day at 2am with a bus ride from Gwangju to Incheon International Airport. After a short 2 hour flight, we arrived in Beijing. We took the airport express train into town and a cab to our hostel, Peking International Youth Hostel. Even though it was 11am they let us into our room, which turned out to be amazing! We paid 400 yuen a night (about $60) and it really was worth the money. After we checked in we took a walking tour, passing The Forbidden City (right next to our hostel), The Gate of Heavenly Peace (where we said hi to Mao) and Tiananmen Square. Then we attempted to find a recommended duck restaurant, but it didn’t happen so we just stopped at a nice restaurant on the street next to the square.

At this point we were both overheating, sweaty and tired. So after lunch, we finished the tour and went back to the hostel to book our trip to the Great Wall for Thursday. Then we relaxed and read up on Beijing and the Great Wall before going to bed early.

Day 2 Thursday: Because we went to bed so early, we were both up at about 6:00am! Well, actually, I forgot to change the time on my IPOD so we actually woke up an hour early and surprised the old Chinese man watching the lobby by asking for breakfast! So we had to go back to bed for an hour before we could have breakfast and join the other people in the lobby for our tour to the Great Wall.

There were quite a few people going (maybe 10) but we were surprised (but later understood their hesitation) to learn that we were the only ones who signed up for the hike! We had to get out at the Downtown Backpackers Hostel and catch another van from there.

Dan is going to write about our Great Wall experience soon… it’s just too much for one post!

Day 3 Friday: We got up early once again and had a mediocre breakfast at the hostel. Then we rented bikes and set out for The Temple of Heaven Park. The ride was a little chaotic, nothing too extreme although we did have a mini crash when a guy pulled out directly in front of Dan and our brakes didn't work too well. The temple was CROWDED. So many people. Too many people. We checked out the “cookie jar” and the Echo Wall but there were just too many people to really enjoy it.

After we returned the bikes, we set out to meet Dan’s friend Jake at a subway stop near the Summer Palace. Jake has been living and teaching English in Beijing for 4 months so it was great to catch up with him and have a little boating adventure. Once we actually found the Summer Palace, we rented a paddle boat. The Palace is actually a big park that is made up mostly of water, so a boat is ideal to see everything. We paddled away, trying to avoid the ferries and small rented motor boats zipping along beside us. The smog made it a little difficult to see, but it was pretty sweet overall. After a couple of hours we returned the boat and took a walk around the lake. Then Jake had to run off to his Chinese lesson and we had to meet Adam and Alison for dinner.

After a shower (which was necessary after every voyage out of the hostel) we met our Gwangjuian friends Adam and Alison who are on their way home (to the USA) from working in Korea. We headed to the Beijing duck restaurant recommended to us by the owner of the Chinese restaurant in Gwangju. We found it after we wondered through the Donghuamen Night Market (delicious fried mice, scorpions, huge beetles and star fish for sale). The restaurant, Quianmen Quanjude, was nestled among the high end shopping found in Chongwen. This place can definitely make you forget China had any communist intentions at all. The duck was delicious, although we weren’t really sure what to order so we ended up getting 1 ½ ducks and made Vietnamese style wraps out of it.

After dinner we met up with Jake, and he took us to the seedy foreigner underbelly of Beijing, Sanlitun Lu. We saw a great Uighur band at Cheers and had a few beers. Alison and Adam were exhausted from a grueling day of traveling, so they took off and left the three of us to wonder around, admiring the pretty Chinese girls (much less done up than the Korean girls) and boys and drinking beer. Then we got to witness a street fight. Pretty awesome. At 3am we called it a night.

Day 4 Saturday: After getting in so late, we took a well deserved break from getting up at the crack of dawn and slept in until 11am! Then we headed to our main destination for the day: the Silk Market. Located in Chaoyang directly off the Yonganli subway stop, this six floors of shopping is a shopaholics dream. It could also be the anti-consumers nightmare. We planned on buying some gifts and cheap clothes. We came out a little over budget, but I think we did alright. Personally I thought the sales people were pushy, but not smothering. They definitely wanted you to come into their shop, but compared to the desperation I’ve seen in places like Mexico and Vietnam, this was a cake walk. The market was basically a mall, with lots of small shops, air conditioning and a food court.

That night we once again met up with Jake, who this time brought a friend, but we somehow missed hooking up with Adam and Alison. The four of us had some dinner (hot pot) that was similar to shabu shabu in Korea. It was okay, but I wasn’t really completely satisfied. Because Jake and Ben have been in Beijing much longer than Dan and I, we kind of let them take over the ordering and I don’t think they have quite the appetites we do!

After dinner we headed to the main backpacker hutong (alleyway), Nanluogu Xiang, for some drinks. Ben turned out to be quite the misogynist, which was interesting for a minute, until he realized that making blatantly sexist statements in the presence of at least one sharp tongued feminist might not be the best idea. Dan, being the mediator that he is, managed to distract him for a while, but we called it an early night anyway.

Day 5 Sunday: We slept in and checked out of the hostel at noon on the dot. Luckily, the weather had cooled considerably so we walked over to the Forbidden City. Unfortunately, probably because of the cooling weather, the lines to get tickets and to enter the palace were INSANE. So we just hung out in the park that skirts the moat.

After one last delicious meal we set off for the airport the same way we came, taxi to the airport express train, train to the airport.

Our flight was delayed for some unknown reason, giving us cause to worry that the bus tickets we had purchased back to Gwangju might not have been a very wise decision. But Dan and I managed to pull off some of the best traveling either of us has seen in a long time. We had exactly 25 minutes to catch our bus from when we departed the plane. We had to catch a shuttle, go through immigration, grab our one bag from the baggage claim, go through customs (where we did not have the proper form ready) and RUN LIKE HELL for the bus. But we made it. With one minute to spare. I think we can now be declared professionals.

Overall, fantastic trip. I’d love to see more of Beijing when it’s not quite so hot, humid or polluted. Here’s to wishing!!

Gwangju Restaurant Guide

As everyone who knows me understands, I love food. I get really excited about good food, and when I find something delicious I usually can’t help but eat it again and again. I also LOVE eating out. It was tough for me when I first moved to Gwangju in August 2008 because there weren’t a whole lot of restaurants that catered to western tastes. I’m not talking fast food here; there are plenty of Lotterias and Mickey Ds. I’m talking about a diversity of foods and flavors, as well as healthy and organic food. In just the couple of years I’ve lived here a ton of great restaurants have opened, plus I’ve discovered some great Korean places as well (of course). I hope this list helps any newbies to the Ju’ and even some old timers that want to spice up a night out.

First Nepal- Delicious Indian goodness. The food is great, the service is great, and I always want to go here. Definitely the best Indian spot in town, the staff is very friendly as well. It is a little on the spendy side, Dan and I usually spend around 25,000 won for a boozeless dinner.

Directions: Downtown, head down the street across from the Migliore, take the second right. Second floor, it’s on your left. Or head down the pedestrian street next to the YMCA, after about 150 yards you'll pass a mini-stop on the intersection on your right, then it's 20 yards ahead to your left.

Outdoor Galbi- I don’t know what the name of this restaurant really is, but it’s quite famous in the foreigner circles as having the best beef galbi in town. You get many delicious sides dishes (note the emphasis on delicious, no live octopus or strange gelatinous milky creature here) and the meat is fairly priced. Dan and I love it because if we’re not that hungry we get two portions and spend about 15,000, if we are really hungry we get three. Service is good, you can drink the night away there, enjoying K-pop tunes on the giant TV outside!

Directions: Down the same street as First Nepal 75 yards, big outdoor seating area, on the right.

Shabu Shabu- Originally Japanese, this is a soup that you cook at your table. After the big pot of spicy broth with mushrooms and greens cooks down, add thinly sliced beef. Dip that in wasabi and red sauce and eat. Fucking delicious. Seriously. You also get side dishes and udon noodles to add. The best part, when you are finished the server takes your pot and fries up some rice in it. So good. 10,000 a person.

Directions: Downtown, walk through the YMCA's corridor, between the tourist info office and the photo shop, and it's across the alley on your left. There's also a good Shabu Shabu place in Sangmu on the same street as City Hall about half a kilometer toward the bus station. It's on the left when coming from City Hall.

Alleyway- Opened recently by a permanent foreigner fixture in Gwangju, Michael Simning. This small restaurant offers some really good western food, including breakfast on the weekend. This is a must have whenever you are feeling a little homesick or just need some good conversation, even if it's someone else's. Reasonably priced, we usually spend about 20,000 with sodas. They do take-out as well.

Directions: Downtown, on the street with the Lotteria, (the first street toward the river from the amphitheater park) across from Zara’s, down a SMALL alley. Right next store you can find the foreigner market.

Lemon Table: This small, kitschy café offers some delicious burgers, onion rings, pasta and salads. Dan and I have only tried the chicken salad and a couple of the burgers, but we were very satisfied with everything we’ve had. Definitely choose this over Burger King if you need a burger! We usually spend about 23,000 here.

Directions: This one is slightly difficult to explain, it's on the corner of the amphitheater park furthest from the intersection. It's to the left of Gloria Jean's Coffee.

The Couple Set Place- I don’t know what the actual name of this downtown Italian restaurant is, but we love the “couple set” here! It includes your choice of salad, pizza, pasta and drinks, You also get soup and cheese bread to start. It is MORE than enough for two people, and the cheapest deal around (22,800). Stick to the regular pizza’s and pasta and you can’t go wrong. We like the chicken salad, I’ve never tried the other one offered. The décor is very unusual and interesting, including very comfortable couches and an indoor balcony.

Directions: Down the street from Zara’s, in the alley right next to UNIGLO clothing store. You will see a fat Italian chef statue outside, it’s on the second floor. There's another good couple set place in Chonnam that is similar. They supply construction paper and crayons on the tables. This one is down the first street parallel to the main Chondae hoomoon street. It also has a fat Italian chef outside showing the way, it's on the second floor as well.

Hoa Binh- This is a fairly new Vietnamese restaurant in Sangmu. Even though it’s a bit of a journey for us, we’ve been here pretty much every other week since we found out about it. The Pho noodle soup is excellent, and comparable to what we ate in Vietnam. We particularly like the chicken and flank steak soups. We usually get one large soup and one rice option, the spicy pork rice is SO good. It’s cheap too, free tea and it comes to about 18,000 for the both of us.

Directions: On the main street, next to E-Mart, look for the Seven Monkey’s Coffee. It is in the same building, second floor, beneath Todai seafood buffet.

中华村 (Joong hua chon)- Chinese food in Yong Bong- This is also a new addition to our eating out routine. Recently opened on the Yong Bong Dong side of Chonam University, the owner spent many years in China and has brought all he learned with him to satisfy our Chinese food cravings (I went through the shakes myself). This isn’t exactly like the all fried Chinese take-out you get back home, but I think it’s better. Definitely ask for the set menu. We LOVE the kungpao chicken and fried noodle set, it comes with some awesome steamed rolls also. This place is cheap (usually around 20,000, but if you want to bare bones it you can get a set to fill two people for 8-13,000), and we always leave absolutely stuffed.

Directions: Next to Hoban Apt, three long blocks from the Seattle Coffee in Yong Bong Dong. It's tricky to get here actually, so here's a map.

Chinese Food in the bus terminal- Again, I don’t know the name of this place, but it is easy to find, right next to the TGI Friday’s in the bus terminal. The menu is all in Korean, and the staff isn’t friendly, but the food is good and reasonably priced. If worst comes to worst, you can point at things in the display window. If you are in the bus terminal, I would recommend this restaurant, or the sushi place next store for cheap, quick delicious food.

Grissini Italian Trattoria- I very recently tried this restaurant and I am so sad I haven’t discovered it before now (we're sad but our budget is happy). The food here is AMAZING. True to Italy, the portions here are small but serious quality. My friends and I shared two homemade pasta dishes, a salmon dish and a steak with veggies. We also had the most delicious bruschetta I’ve ever eaten. Everything was cooked impeccably, the service was perfect and the atmosphere was peaceful and comforting. If you want to really impress your date, or just have a delicious meal with friends for a special occasion, this is the only option! For the four of us, five dishes and a bottle of wine, the total was 157,000. Not cheap, but well worth it.

Directions: In Samgmu, near the LotteMart, across the street from VIPS, on the first floor, next to a coffee shop.

If you haven’t tried some of these places, please do! I’m sure there are many other delicious places as well, I didn’t mention TGI Friday’s, Outback or VIPS because well, they are pretty much the same back home, minus the kimchi. If you know of any more great places let me know, we love trying new restaurants.

Amanda. (Some parenthetical expressions supplied by Dan).

Dmz OMG

Considering our pending departure from Korea, Dan and I decided it might be our last chance to make a trip to the DMZ. We signed up for a USO tour (94,000 won) and traveled to Seoul late Friday night so we could be ready to go EARLY Saturday morning (7:15 am!). The USO was super easy to find and most people had beaten us there, about 45 people were waiting in lobby when we got there. Our clothing and passport were checked, no shorts and no printed tee-shirts or tank tops allowed! Only foreigners are allowed to visit, apparently Koreans could feel such an overwhelming desire to see their families in North Korea that they are a just too tempted to run straight across the border and defect to the wonderful dictatorship to the north. Either that or they might open fire on the North Korean guards. I’m not sure.

Anyway, as always when I am around a group of people that speak English, I cannot help but just sit and listen to everyone’s conversation the whole time. The people next to us were incredibly hung-over, the group behind us was from Australia, and there was an adorable family who had adopted a Korean girl who had come back to show her where she was born. And I didn’t actually speak to any of these people. This eavesdropping problem is annoying as hell, and I sure hope it fades when I get back to the states.

So we went to the border, which is actually just little flags. No fence. No wall. Nothing. Well, except for snipers and land mines. We got to go in one of the buildings that is directly on the border and actually stand on the North Korean side. So yep, we went to North Korea. I thought the DMZ was one of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve seen in Korea. Tons of foliage and wildlife. A sharp contrast to the majority of South Korea.

An army dude conducted the border part of the tour. He wasn’t too informed about the history of the two countries. He was also chock full of propaganda, referring to North Korea as communist every single time he mentioned the country, which I thought was pretty off base. Yeah, I think it’s more of a totalitarian dictatorship/ sovereign death-cult, but you know, same same in the the United States government’s eyes. Axis of evil, hate us for our freedoms and all that.

We had an adorable Korean woman for the rest of tour that included going down the tunnels dug by North Koreans to invade Seoul and discovered in the 1980’s and 90’s. We also went to a train station that will supposedly connect South Korea with the Trans Siberian railway. When the two Koreas are reunited. Yep, not holding my breath for that, but it would be pretty cool to ride a train from Seoul to London. All in all, it was kind of interesting but not too stimulating. Kinda like Korea.