Skype me!

The other weekend I bought a new USB memory key because my 1G was too small and it seems to be lost (not even buying a new one has made it turn up!). I got a nice little freebie in with the new USB memory key which was 1 months free voicemail on skype!

So if you have skype and you'd like to leave me a message then click away on the skype icon on my blog.

I really don't know how useful this will be but I'd like to give it a chance.

Well I'm off to see if my students like Happy Feet, I can but hope :)

sucky weekend

It's been a sucky weekend. It started badly with me developing rashes, blister & worse. It was depressing to be all patchy and red. And itchy!! Turns out most of it was "Sun rash" which I took to be heat rash. It only got up to the low thirties this week. It's an uncomfortable way to find out that I really have acclimatized to Taebaek.

Next there was a fight with Mike. All over a stupid email address.

Then we went to watch Spider-man 3 at our outdoor cinema festival. The festival was great, the chairs were comfy enough, I got to make sunscreen and we had some nice food. We'd been warned to arrive early and we managed to get a few seats together in the fourth row. The view was great! The weather was perfect, cool but not cold, for an outdoor movie. Sadly Spider-man 3 was a terrible movie... not worth the $2 festival entrance fee. Too many bad guys, awful dialogue and some super gross dancing (why oh why???). Why was MJ made to be whiny and needy? Her part made me wonder what happened to the girl in Spidey 2? The sandman could have had this movie to himself (as bad guy)! The cg work was gorgeous and that's the best praise I have for this movie. Thoroughly disappointing.

At least the remaining movies that will be shown can not be worse than Spidey 3 - they really can't!

6am is not a nice time to be woken by strange noises. Neither is before 6am. Tell that to my wardrobe! For some unknown reason, the main wardrobe hanging pole fell down this morning at ten to six. It's strange because that was where all our winter coats and dry cleaning was hanging and it hadn't been touched for four days (or so). So why did it fall down? Staples. Instead of using metal fittings for the hanging pole in the wardrobe plastic fittings had been stapled in. No surprise that it fell down. I just wonder why it had to be when I was trying to sleep??

So Sunday morning, later Sunday morning, - time to finish the worksheets that Mike & I agreed to do together. However, as usual, this means I'm doing all the work and he's ignoring it all until he says I'm snapping at him. I get it all done and sent in by 12. Mike did assist on the worksheets, it's just frustrating when he's playing xbox and I'm desperately trying to make a good worksheet for students that I haven't taught for a semester! ARG!!

We decide to get out of the house and head to Samcheok. At least we might be able to go swimming and buy a new fitting for the wardrobe. The skies are clear so off we drive and in less than 20 minutes it's pouring with rain! The rain is the heaving kind that has us watching the river level - trying to see if it will get higher, it doesn't that we can tell. But the beach is out. Oh so out. The rain does lighten up so that we are only mildly wet in our search for lunch. At least lunch was nice, omu rice (fried rice wrapped in an omelet) for me and kim chi jiggye (kim chi soup) for Mike. So we search through home plus and can't find anything that will help the wardrobe situation out - short of buying a new one. I do manage to find a super cute Barbie hot metallic pink & silver bag, Mike poo-hoos it and so I don't buy it. There's not much else to do so we head to Donghae and there in Emart we strike gold! New fittings for the wardrobe. At least that got sorted.

Right, well I think that's what you call a vent. I'm vented so I'm going to get this week over with (it doesn't help that I'm over it before it's even started). And continue the countdown until I get home and see everyone. It's strange that the closer I get to the trip home, the more homesick I am.

I'm going to be more positive tomorrow. As in Monday the 30th of July. I really truely am.

i heart icanhascheezburger

This is THE cutest photo from icanhascheezburger - if you don't believe me then click on the image and see for yourself! Be warned sometimes there are bunnies there too..

Vietnam Travel Tips

Here are a few of my tips on travel in Vietnam.

Hanoi

Need cash? Head to the ANZ bank & ATM on the edge of the lake in the centre of Hanoi.

For tours in and around Hanoi go to Handspan Travel. To find Handspan go to 80 Ma May Street or email them at info@handspan.com Why do I recommend them? Well, Mike and I bought 2 tours with Handspan, the first a sea kayaking trip to Halong Bay and the second an overnight trip to the mountain tribes in Sapa. The first trip was great! We swam in the buoyant waters, kayaked together and ate some great Vietnamese food (the variety was tastily impressive!). Unfortunately Mike developed a migraine on the way back to Hanoi and he was not in shape to go anywhere. So even though it was less than an hour until the tour left (by the time we made the decision), we were given a 75% refund and they assisted us with making our plans for the next day - by which time Mike managed to recover :) So we were thrilled that they helped us out when we would expect to receive no refund in Australia.
Also of note is the Handspan cafe - very tasty, if memory serves!
If I were to go back to Halong Bay, I'd recommend a 1 or 2 day trip because while it's lovely, you see all there is to see in 1 day. Though there is something to be said for knocking back a few beers on a junk at sunset.

Hanoi is a lovely city, the cafés are delicious and so cheap, you can't go wrong just walking around.

There are many interesting and worthwhile museums to visit but don't miss out on seeing Ho Chi Minh's preserved corpse in the Mausoleum. It's a strange experience - you have to surrender your camera seperately to your bag, then it's into the super cold air to gaze upon the old man himself. I really thought it looked like he was about to wake up and say "Chau!". I'm not sure how you can check ahead of time but I do know that Uncle Ho makes a regular trip to Russia for re-preserving.



Between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City

There are many beautiful cities to explore and while the train is an option -it's very slow. The buses are very regular and cheap. If you've got less time than money then a couple of flights are a good way to cover a bit of ground.

Another option is hiring an Easy Rider - they are easiest to find in cool Dalat. They aren't the cheapest way to get around but these guys speak good english and will take you wherever you want to go for as long as you want to go. Mike and I did a 3 day easy rider trip and it was a real highlight of our trip to Vietnam. They took us to fantastic places for food and rarely did we pay anything over $US10 for the four of us - including the beers! These guys pack ponchos so no need to worry about the weather! Worried about the size of your backpack? Don't be - the normal thing is to strap in on the bike and make a back rest for you.

Ho Chi Minh City

Whereas Hanoi is beautiful, boulvardy, leafy and tranquil (so long as you foget the traffic), Ho Chi Minh City is not! This is the big city - here you get the polution, worse traffic than Hanoi, beggars and a faster pace of life. The markets in HCMC are impressive and well worth the wander and think twice about that "reproduction" watch!

Vietnam

Most importantly when catching a taxi in from the airport to anywhere centre always say that you have a reservation at a hotel (even if you don't) and have an address you want to be taken to. We have been caught out even though we know better and there are some strange parts of Hanoi, that are very inconvenient to be dumped in. Previously we'd stayed in the French quarter and it's a really good choice.

Don't forget your bug spray - the mozzies or sandflies are particularly nasty and hungry! Don't forget your sunscreen!! There is little choice in the supermarkets as to what you can buy if you forget it.

The chemist's are pretty helpful and will sell drugs to you over the counter - it's best if you know what you need.

Other than that relax and enjoy yourself - I promise it won't be hard to do!

Hello Kitty Air

It wouldn't be fair to say I'm anti Hello Kitty more that I'm amused by it. For instance if I had to choose between a black umbrella and a Hello Kitty umbrella well I'd choose Hello Kitty every time.

But would the same hold true for an airplane?

YES!!!

I've just read a post about the plane I saw when I spent far too much time at the Taipei airport. So now I'm decided, I have to fly on the EVA Hello Kitty plane to somewhere sometime soon, be served by Hello Kitty attired stewardesses, be entertained by the Hello Kitty show and eat Hello Kitty food too! Mike might hate it but that's too bad!!!

(Cool) Shite on the Tube makes TV!

www.coolshite.net

I've put this video here because I really like it and it's got Transformers - what's not to love?

Congratulations to the Shiters for a fine first episode!

Fun & Catastrophe

Last week was a terrible week. It was so bad that by Tuesday I was desperately wishing it over and done with! The only thing that kept me going was the eagerly anticipated Ladies Weekend.

So what happened on the Ladies Weekend? Girls stuff!! haha

As I'd decided to be a bit cheap, I had to get up at 5.30 to catch my train to Seoul. The trip went by sadly without my gameboy... *sob* but thankfully with both my ipods. (Ok, yes I'm a geek) Then I made my way to Noksapyeong, a subway station that was hiding very conveniently next to Itaewon (the haven in Seoul for foreigners), caught a taxi to the Hyatt Hotel and waited for my friends to meet me. It was really very hot and muggy in Seoul, so I was grateful that the Hyatt had some lovely shadey trees in their entrance.

Kat & Meaghan met me and we strolled back to Cris' palace. That's right palace, it was so big that her couch would not even fit in my apartment, it was so big her fridge had two doors!!, it was so big that she had a Jacuzzi in her ensuite!!! I was extremely jealous but I hate to think how much it cost. We kicked back and chatted for a while until I realised just how much quality shopping time we were wasting kicking back in the apartment. So Kat, Meaghan, Suzy & I made our way to Myeongdong shopping centre of Seoul, where we spent a few hours pushing through the crowds and buying silly and sensible things.

When we'd had enough shopping and realised that there was not enough time for the jimjilbang (hot spa), we headed back for a Kat nap (she did) and to prepare for the nights' entertainment. Suzy insisted on taking photos of all of us, so here is how we looked.

Kat, Meaghan, Squeezy & Suzy (left to right)

We had a fun night out. We ate at the Aussie Shop - which was delicious!! Meaghan took photos of the US soldiers, much to their amusement. Kat forgot about the "I can't believe it's not Coach" shop in Itaewon due to the rain, the time and the rum & cokes she'd been knocking back! We partied at the Wolfhound then changed to the cool Bungalow. Bungalow had an outdoor Jacuzzi (which Kat, Meags & Suzy still wanted to hop in despite the rain - but I wasn't prepared to strip to my knickers just to so I could drink cocktails in a jacuzzi in the rain!) and rooms with sand floors. I'm definitely going back to the Bungalow! Then it was time to shake our groove thang so we changed bars until we found a song we liked. We danced for a while, having lost our other/new friends but we still had Wade's Canuck hat!

That was pretty well it. The next day we put Suzy on the bus to Incheon Airport and it was a sad moment, particularly for Kat (as they are cousins).

So we split up and started heading home, each of us going in such different directions.

I neglected to mention that I had had a phone call from Mike during a waffle stop (you need serious sustenance for girls only shopping!). Sadly it was bad news. While I was shopping and indulging in some girls time, Mike was on Samcheok beach swimming and doing beachy things. Here comes the sad bit, Mike lost his wedding ring on that beach and even with a bunch of friends helping him to look for the ring it just wasn't to be found. Then the beach was bulldozed - sealing this rings fate. Mike called me to tell me about the loss and I felt my stomach drop to my knees. Then I thought it's just a piece of jewellery, it's not the basis of our relationship and it's completely replaceable. Mike sounded so distressed that I just wanted to comfort him, a bit tricky to do when we were so far apart.

So I hatched a cunning plan! After splitting up from the girls, I raced over to Nam San Tower, round and round, a 350m steep climb and up an elevator, down some stairs and I was at the gift shop. The very gift shop from which Mike had bought a couple ring for me. I picked out a ring for Mike - hoping that I was making a good guess at his finger size, and had it stamped with the very appropriate " Susie heart Mike". I had a nice chat to the lady at the gift shop, I think it helped that I was wearing my couple ring and had obviously been there before. She was a bit stunned that I'd come all the way to Nam San Tower just for the couple ring. But the thing was, I didn't know where else I could go and I couldn't afford to take much time on this because I had my train to catch. By noon on Sunday all I could think of was getting home to Mike.

Our couple rings

With my mission accomplished all that remained was to obtain some reading material (damn my forgetting my gameboy!!), some lunch for on the train and to get myself to Cheongyangni station. I picked up Matilda by Roald Dahl and a magazine at Bandi & Luni which had the benefit of being 1 minutes walk from the subway station that I needed. So with a super speedy subway ride to Cheongyangni subway station, I had some time to kill. I checked my ticket and I had the 2.25 to catch. This gave me about 45 minutes to while away, so I wandered around Lotte, testing lipglosses and buying some munchies, before walking up to the train station (above ground).

If only I hadn't missed my train!! Yep, that's not a typo. I had confused my seat number 2 25 with the departure time of 2pm!!! So instead of waiting 2 hours for the next train, I waited less than an hour for a train to get me 2 hours closer to Taebaek and then changed for a bus. This with no credit on my phone too :( The train man in the terminal helped me to change my ticket and I was given a refund of the difference in price! Seeing as it was my mistake I would normally expect to buy a new ticket at full price, so it was nice to have some help sorting it out. I needed to take a moment because I knew I was about to start crying, unfortunately I couldn't use the ladies toilets to have a private sob because they were packed with people and were squatties. So I grabbed a random chair and tried to compose myself. The curious looks from the Ajumas weren't helping. I had to let Mike know, so I emailed him and after a while I located the pay phones and told him what had happened. Yesterday I had wanted to comfort him and here the tables were turned and I needed a little comfort. So he told me not to stress out, my reply was to sob back at him, he said give me a call and I said I had no credit. Disaster!

I hate buses. And bus drivers!!!!

It was supposed to be an express bus but the driver kept detouring into these teeny tiny villages to drop people off. Then when I was finally in the town just before Taebaek - he changes buses and has a 10 minute break!!!! ARG!!!
So I got home at 9pm - 7 bloody hours of waiting and travelling and all my fault.

It all felt like such a catastrophe! Mike losing his wedding ring and me missing my train.
But I must've had some luck because when Mike tried on his new couple ring it fit even better than his wedding ring had! But it was a lot of fun, hanging out with the girls - I'm glad I went. Next time I'm not going to miss my stupid train!!