You would not believe if I told you. So should I tell you? Got into Kimpo airport yesterday about 1:00 wiht Abdel from Egypt whom I'd met in Qingdao airport. Took the subway to Youido and met up with Mr. Jang Chang Hyun at his office. Chatted and caught up for a while, called Lee Moon Suk to tell him I'd arrived, and then went to the Dae Han Tu Ja Shin Tak Trustee bank in Youido. While living here I left some money still deposited in a higher interest rate account. Hoped to come back finding I'd have a nice sum to come back to but unfortunately one of their investments went 'anus over apex' (arse over tit) and all it'd accrued in two years was about US$200. Sob. Was hoping I'd have a little extra for a special reason seeing as I've not earned as much as I'd hoped to yet in Taiwan. Oh well, life has it's ups (and it's downs.) Anyway, you can't miss what you never had.

From Mr. Jang's office went to the 'Travellers A' hotel in Ulchiro sa (4) ga. For anyone who needs to know the tel. no. is 02 2285 5511. While looking for the place met Takayuki, a Japanese backpacker making his way back from Turkey. We checked in, settled a little and Taka and I went to eat Pi bim Pab. After eating, I decided to take off to Itaewon, hoping to bump into Tom Brannan. Unfortunately not to be found last night. I did however meet a young french guy, Alexi Massot, who works at the French embassy. We did the 'won tour last night and I ended up crashing at his place at 6:00 this morning. 

Got up about 10:30 and took a bus to Seoul station to get back to the hostel. On the bus met a lady who I used to know when going to the English services at Itaewon Church. Told me that my ex,Park Kyung Hee, got married recently. Best wishes to her and I hope she'll be very happy. Got back to the hostel and then? You would not believe if I told you. So should I tell you? While walking into the lounge area, turned a corner and saw, just getting up from the computer, Mike Harb who I forgot would be in Korea around this time. Totally astounded, we just looked at each other and cried out in disbelief. Mike's here with his friend and training partner, Pete Townsend, training for Tae Kwon Do for 3 1/2 weeks in different parts of Korea. Totally unbelievable. After signing off we'll go back to Itaewon as I've arranged to meet Alexi at the Dunkin Donuts at 2:00 today - and tonight .... well I think since meeting the guys I'd better prepare myself for another night of partying.
 

Happy 4th July to all ex-colonials out there. Here I am in such a quandry. Best just to say it's been sorted but it wasn't easy. Got up a bit late and phoned the travel agency to confirm my ticket to my next confirmation only to find out that the ticket I'd thought I'd bought for tomorrow was actually for today. Aaaaaahhhhhh! Thus I had to run like the proverbial clappers to get my stuff from Mike's room at his hotel - only to run into the ajuma (lady) who wouldn't believe it was my stuff and wasn't ready to let me get my stuff (understandably enough but I'd been around the hostel enough in the last week for her to know that I'm Mike's friend. Finally after showing her my photos to convince her I do in fact own the bag I was allowed to leave with it. A mad rush later to another part of the city to the travel agency to pick up my ticket turned into a big waste of time seeing as the girl hadn't understood my request for a one year open ticket and was about to sell me a six month ticket instead. The one year ticket is almost double so I told her to forget it. Seeing as the next cheapest tickets are all fully booked until the 14th July I decided to make other arrangements. I fly tomorrow - will write more once arrived. Coming soon to a country near you! (maybe.)

Time for a recap, methinks. Saturday July 1st -After meeting Mike and Pete in that now almost commonplace freak coincidental way we have, we took to Itaewon and the guys did some souvenir shopping while I took some stuff ove to Alexis' place as he'd said it was cool for me to crash - saving me quite some expense (Thanks again Alexis.) Then I caught a film and a coffee in the Nashville before catching up again with the guys somewhere around Itaewon. Took us a fair while to walk down to the area of the Hamilton Hotel because of chekcing prices on all the stuff there is to buy down there now and also running into other people, travellers and long termers who inhabit and pass through Itaewon. By the time we got to the corner before Burger King (easy landmarks you'll note) it was already a little late and I'd arranged to meet Alexis in 'Geckos', a bar, about 7:30. The guys and I wanted to shower and change back at the hotel before starting our night out (plus the guys needed to drop off their new purchases) but we agreed to meet up with Alexis at Geckos and take time out to freshen up later. Big mistake. At Geckos we were invited to join up with a big group of Canadians who were out to celebrate Canada day (1st July) and as we aquired a few more party goers Amanda, Cathy and Andrea, the whole evening just to so much longer to get going and get organised. After the previous night I really didn't want to drink anything before eating and it took about 3-4 hours to get out of Gecko's with our newly populated group. Nethertheless we did have a dang good time. Eventually we made our way back to Mike and Pete's hostel and showered and changed before going back to 'the 'won' and eating. While waiting for our order I went over to Hollywoods where I'd arranged to meet Moon, who I took back to the 'shik dang'(restaurant.) After eating Pi Bim Pab we took to the hill and I introduded the group to the 'King's club' which unfortunately was way too busy for our large group so we didn't stay. Next we tried Moon Night, a latin dance club, which unfortunately has a cover charge on a saturday now (as before it didn't.) I volunteered Mike to go in and check it out but unfortunately he felt there wasn't enough variety. Finally we did make it into the 'Grand ole oprey' for a beer and square dancing. The square dancing got mixed reactions from our very international group and after one beer we headed for Hollywoods which finally appeased the masses. The music was well mixed and the drinks, while more expensive than usual, were still affordable. Mike showed how much stamina he has by spending ages on the dance floor - according to Pete, about seven hours (though I'm not sure we spent that long in the club.) Anyway it was a long time, that I do know for we left and parted with the birds tweeting and the sun somewhere in the overcast sky.

 Sunday July 2nd -Funnily ehough I never seem to want to sleep when having a good time. I wandered around for a while and made my way to Alexis' place and slept for a few hours before getting up and then went to lunch (and a movie) with Alexis at Nashville's once more. I'd arranged to visit Mr. Jang at his house at around 4:00 so I took off from Itaewon with plenty of time only to find out that I'd missed my stop. I think I must have caught the local people on a bad day seeing as no-one wanted to be particularly helpful in my getting to the area where Mr. Jang lives. Eventually got there really late and was met at the Niagra Hotel by Mr. Jang and taken to his house where Mr Jang's wife (oops can't remember her family name - Korean wives don't take on the husbands name at marriage.) had prepared a nice barbecued dinner for us all. We talked more and caught up on old times for about four hours when it was time for me to move on. I'd been trying to call Mike's hotel for a while but had been unable to get an answer so I had to go there myself to pick up a couple of things (I'd left some stuff there so didn't have to carry the whole lot around with me. Finally back to Alexi's and catching up on the day that's been. 

Monday July 3rd -An early start. Alexi only has one set of keys for the flat, and seeing as we'd only met a few days ago I didn't expect him to make another set just for me. I was really content with his helping me out. So when Alexi leaves for work at 7:30 in the morning it means that I also have to ship out for the day - which is fine by me as it means I'm forced not to spend the whole day in bed.

 Left Itaewon and walked to Samgakchi station to take the subway to my old place of employment Kwan-Ak high school. Once there met up with Kim Jun-Shik, with whom I've taught previously and who walked me around meeting old colleagues and Mr. Kim the Principal who when I was there was vice-principal. Ah, happy memories. I wanted to get in touch with my old colleague (and, against Korean values, my friend - in Korea someone older than me cannot be referred to as 'a friend' only as my 'senior'), Han Sang-Nam. Kim Jun-Shik called Mr. Han's new school and put me in touch with him. One taxi ride later I'm at Mr. Han's new school, catching up with old times and asking about the health of his family. More happy times. For a while I did lose contact with Mr. Han because he'd told me that a couple of years ago when I was out with the teachers from my school I was given some "mountainous rabbit" meat only to be told by Mr. Han well after the event that it was in fact 'dog'. I felt that my trust was very betrayed by the teachers and it's been a long time that I've not contacted them. Only recently have I really realised how the help and support the teachers at Kwan-Ak, from Mr. Han in particular, outweigh that one poorly judged incident. It was great getting back in touch with him and seeing who things are in his life. The day I arrived at his school was the day of the student's final exam so the teachers only work half the day. Also, because of the final exam, the first grade home room teachers had planned to go out together for lunch. It was just my good fortune to turn up on that day and as enthusiastic as Mr. Han was that I go along, the teachers seemed not to mind too much. Lunch was great. No dog, just duck prepared and baked in mud to a special recipe. It tastes much better than my description but that's how it's prepared. After lunch we went to a neat coffee shop that's like a huge teepee made out of wood with a huge trunk being the central supporting beam and the whole place is circular and made out of wooden logs. Live music was played there as well and I was very impressed by the singers rendition of my requested song, Yong won-hi (forever) by An Jae Uk. Anyone who knows Korean socialising knows that group outings go in winds. First wind - dinner, second wind alcohol or something. Our third wind was Norae bang (karaoke) which most people know I really enjoy and as most of the group split around 7:00 the remaining four of us went for Kalbi and ... you guessed it more alcohol. I tried to limit myself this time because with all the catching up I've been doing lately I'm realy getting quite pickled.

 As the night moved on the teachers where speaking less and less English and although I'm really surprised how much Korean I've retained I know my limitations and there was no way I could keep up a conversation with them. I made my excuses and bade them farewell, to Mr. Han's dissapointment. I had to make my way back anyway because Alexis doesn't have a telephone and there was no way to let him know if I wasn't coming back. Tuesday July 4th -As previously reported, got up quite late and called the travel agency to check on my ticket, which I thought was for Wednesday. Not to be unfortunately. There must have been one almighty mix up in communications because I was duely informed that my ticket was for today!The next available flight with Cathay Pacific wasn't until the 14th and I really didn't have enough time to wait that long. I have to get back to Taipei and to work. The flight was due to leave at about 8:00pm and by the time I'd called it was already 2:00pm. I had enough time but a lot to do - and fast. First I called Alexis at his office as I had some things at his place. He told me I could pick up the key from the office and then leave it witht the guard which shows a lot of trust on his part. Next I phoned Mike's hotel and explained the situation to the hotel manageress who was understandably dubious to my sincerety. After all Mike and Pete were at training and I had no idea what time they'd be back. Before I could buy my ticket I just had to ensure that I had all my luggage. After a lot of harranguing on the phone I had no choice but to go there and prove to her my ownership. I showed her my e-mail account wiht messages from Mike dating back to 1998, I showed her this website with my photo with Mike in Australia, this convinced her enough to let me into Mike's room. There was obviously more luggage than just for two people in the room and still she doubted it. I dug out my Chinese books and still she doubted me. Of course I had my passport and other important things on my so there was no identifying documents in my rucksack. Eventually when I started showing her my photo albums she relented. The ajuma who keeps front desk really was little help even though she'd seen Mike and myself numerous times at the hostel in the few days I'd been there.

 So after retrieving my possessions I made my way quickly to the travel agency to buy my ticket. It was when I got there I was yet again to be dissapointed. I'd specifically asked for a one year open ticket. Seoul - Hong Kong - London - returning to Hong Kong and an 11 month stopover and then back to Korea where I still had my one way ticket back to the UK (my emergency ticket which doesn't expire until July 1st 2001. On the phone this girl (at Top Travel) spoke English well. Now face to face she just seemed to turn quite dumb. The ticket she'd quoted and I was about to pick up was a six-month ticket - no good to me at all. The one year ticket was almost double in price. It couldn't get much worse. I just looked at her in disbelief and said, "when I phoned, I asked you for a one year ticket." It was at this time that her English 'turned' stupid. I was livid and could not believe that my time had been wasted like this. I asked her to book me on the next available flight with KAL. It was time to use my emergency ticket, because time was getting short. I'd have to sort out my return journey from the UK.

Oh, didn't I mention? That's where I wanted to go. My sister, Kim, had her first birthday about five weeks ago - and with all the things happening in my life in Taipei recently I felt I needed to get out and 'touch home base' for a while.

 Rather cheesed off, I made some phone calls to friends and told them of my intentions, then arranged to meet Alexis in the Nashville at 9:00. Then I returned to Itaewon with all my luggage and found a Yoguan (small hotel) for W25,000. I called and met up with Pete (Mike was still training) and Ki Hyun another friend and we went to Nashville together for dinner. Alexis came along and we ate and all made our farewells. At about 11:00 I called Moon and he told me that he was at that time in Itaewon.
I met up with him and we went to a chicken hof and ate fried chicken and drank beer and talked a long time. Next we had a walk up the hill and i took him to one of the Soju kettle bars and we supped cherry soju (next time for you and I, Mike!) Got to bed at around four but had to be up in time for my flight. Moon and Ki-hyun came to the airport with me and helped organise the changing of money from my Korean bank account that I thought I'd have time to do later in the week. Unfortunately not so. There was so much I wanted to do while in Seoul that didn't get done, at least I spent time with my friends (even though Tom doesn't check his bloody e-mail often enough and I'll let him know that.) 

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