Heart and Seoul

Annyeong Haseyo!

For a couple of photos and blogs from one of the crew I hang out with
here in Seoul:

http://www.getjealous.com/getjealous.php?action=gallery&go=trentham


WHY TEACHING CAN BE FUN...

Female Student: "I got my boss satisfied.."

Me: "YOU MEAN MY BOSS WAS SATISFIED....WITH MY WORK?"

Female Student: "Yes, I satisfied him.."


THE BEAR AND GARLIC MYTH

According to another student of mine, Korean people originated from an
ancient myth that goes like this: One day a bear ate some garlic, and
low and behold became the ancestor of the Korean people today.

I can't say the Koreans resemble or have the strength of a bear, but
the garlic breath - definitely!*

*Koreans love garlic, roasted on a Korean barbecue in vast quantities,
downed with much meat, kimchi** and soju/beer. It's an awesome meal to
share with other people.

**I never thought i'd say this, but I'm now addicted to Kim chi. Where
before I wasn't sure I could eat every meal with the everpresent
collection of small pickled spicy garlicky vegetables and seafood, but
now I'm not sure if I can have a meal without them! I'm not even
longer adverse to the idea of Kimchi burgers (since they put kimchi in
almost everything!) However this is still no love with the coffee,
nope, nada, low caffeine hazelnut flavored brown water just doesn't do
it for me. At all.


"WHATS YOUR BLOODTYPE"

Just as we foreigners ask things like "Whats your star sign?" or
"What's your Zodiac sign" etc, Koreans (or maybe Asians in general)
tend to ask the bloodtype question. Why? Because they believe that
people with certain bloodtypes exhibit certain characteristics.

Below is a summary of the characteristics gleaned from a student of
mine. Whats your bloodtype?

A = Most common bloodtype in Korea. They tend to be shy, introverted,
honest, emotional, sensistive, diligent, worry about what other people
say or think about them.

B = Less common bloodtype. Act unusual, unpredictable, erratic. Not
shy, don't care about people or anything really. Not the best
characteristic for men. Apparently theres a famous Korean movie called
"B-Type Boyfriend" which is all about a guy with these
characteristics. I'll have to watch it one day...

0 = Extroverted, social, talkative. Envied by A type people. Always
happy. Don't care what other people say or think about them, happy to
do as they please. Sensual.

AB = Least common. Similar to B. Make great leaders. Have great
managing skills. Also don't care about what people think.

I don't really know my bloodtype. My parents are A and O respectively
so I could be either A, O, or AO.

I've been told if you don't know, just say O, because thats the best
one to have.

Sammy, the girl i'm seeing, is O but tends to exhibit A
characteristics alot.


MY APARTMENT

Is coming along nicely, i've cleaned it up quite alot, and i've killed
many resident flies and cockcroaches (the last Korean tenant was quite
messy, she never cleaned up much). Thankfully they're dwindling in
number. Thanks to Sammy's assistance I now have food and cleaning
equipment bought cheaply at Emart, and a huge 26"? screen TV that she
gave me since her family no longer needs it. The only problem is
Korean TV is in Korean, so I'm looking at cable and DVD options.

Sleeping on the floor on a futon is good for the back, but still takes
some getting used to. Koreans like being close to the floor, they eat
off low coffee tables with cushions as seats, something i'm looking
into for my place also.

I should really invest in a washing machine. Handwashing just does not work.

The apartment is situated slightly up a hill, where one would sit
inside facing the open front door to admire the "beautiful" views of
concrete and brick apartments, stairways all over the place in
escheresque fashion, and the pouring pouring rain.

Anyway, I'll write more on things like the monsoons, floods and the
mud festival etc in another long winded email soon.

Ciao!

James' Life in Seoul so far

Annyeong Haseyo!

I love Seoul! Probably the only place where you can go to an old
dingy dirty place called (roughly) "Old Beef House", and after being
seated in a dilapidated graffited low ceiling room with walls on
verge of collapse, order the only dish they serve: - "Beef". Except
it's not beef, it's actually fried fish, accompanied by a huge
washbasin filled with white rice wine, which you ladle into your
drinking bowls. The "beef" is fantastic however and i'm definitely
going back...if only I could remember how to through the dark
labyrinth of narrow lanes and ancient alleyways within the bustling
neonlighted modern streets of downtown.

Which does sum up Seoul in a sense - where Ancient East meets Modern
West; where clean sleek shopping malls with the latest fashions meet
old dirty market places filled with exotic and unusual foods and
wares; where high rise buildings and skyscrapers of glass and steel
meet mysterious tranquil temples, palaces and houses of tiled roofs
and colourfully painted wooden beams, often within parks or hidden
around the corner of the main roads or passageways.


THE WORK

I'm working for a company called Berlitz International, one of the
oldest language centres in the world. Mostly we are teaching adults
from big corporations - Berlitz is the most expensive language centre
in Korea, charging between $150-300AUD an hour! (to which we
insignificant teachers get a tiny fraction of that).

I've certainly learnt alot about what to do and what not to do when
looking for teaching work overseas. The main lesson to learn is that
there is no such thing as too much research!

So here are the pros and cons about working for Berlitz;

The Pros: The great thing about working here is that you teach the
same material in the same style anywhere in the world, meaning if I
were to go teach in say, Uruguay, if there is a Berlitz centre there,
I'd already have the experience and skills to work straight away.

Because it's a big company, they are pretty reliable and safe to work
for. There are many stories of would be teachers that apply for a job
sounding too good to be true without adequate research, and find their
friendly little school in picturesque surroundings turns out to be a
school with no learning materials, no assistance and located in the
industrial area of the picturesque city. The apartment they provide
you turns out to be grotty and dirty with holes in the walls and no
heating. And they might not pay you, or it may not come in time (one
person I heard didn't get paid till 6 months of working later). At
least with Berlitz, they always pay on time, and there is a minimum
pay should you not get enough work during the quieter months.

The Cons: The downside of working for a big company is that you're
working for a big company, meaning you can feel like an ant churning
out lessons to whoever walks into the classroom. This means it's hard
to build closer friendships with the students, by the time you
remember their names they either move to another teacher or they
finish their course.

It's also very hard to get definite or honest clarification on small
things; things are made overly complicated and the contract could be
open to interpretation. Korea it turns out is not the most efficient
or effective country when it comes to red tape. So it was only through
lots of research, internet forums and emailing actual teachers who
work here that I choose this job. (And i've heard it's much better
here than working for the dodgy yet popular Nova in Japan as many
teachers have told me from their own personal experience - teachers
usually do 1 year in Japan then 1 year in Korea for variety).

Initial training here is 5 days unpaid. At least you get to bond
with other new teachers going through training there, as I did.


THE HOME

I'm about to move into my very own unfurnished two bedroom apartment
in the foreign area of Seoul. It costs me 370,000 won a month, but the
company pays for 300,000 won of that, so i'm living mostly rent free
(1AUD = 1500won). However, because it's unfurnished, I am sleeping on
the floor until I can afford the time and money to get proper
furnishings... The only thing they will supply me with is a
fridge, stove and wardrobe.

Top of my list is blankets and pillows (many Koreans sleep on the
floor so it's not a problem, especially since Koreans don't wear shoes
in the house and the floor is always clean. Plus the added bonus of
underfloor heating that most houses have).
Then probably table, chairs, sofa, and TV/DVD/Stereo etc... but i'm in no rush.


THE FRIENDS

I've made several friends, mostly foreigners though. The group of
people I did training with are pretty close, especially after many
drunken nights, we even have nicknames for each other.

I've also got some Korean friends, a girl from Busan (a port city to
the south of Korea) called Yoon Ji (who I met in Galway Ireland last
year) and her sister Eun Ji who lives in Seoul. Yoon speaks very good
English having just come back from a year studying in America. Her
sister Eun is learning English, so I could help her with her English
while she could help me with my apartment.

Anyway, stay tuned for more exciting developments!

James sells his soul to Seoul, SOUTH KOREA

Annyeong Haseyo!

Well, here I am, finally in Seoul, in what is looking to be a really
exciting and interesting year for me teaching English to adults,
predominently business people and even CEOs of big companies. Anyway,
just thought i'd write my initial thoughts on Seoul...

SEOUL FOOD

The food in Korea is an acquired taste - everything is so spicy!
Almost every meal comes with a collection of Kimchi - which are
several small servings of pickled and spiced seafood and vegetables.
This may also come with cold soup and rice. Anything else complements
this basic arrangement of dining. So you can see why after a few days
I was starting to crave burgers and fries...

Other more notable food is a dish called Bimbimbap, which is a
collection of sliced vegetables and other unidentifiable substances on
rice, with a fried egg on top. Usually served in a sizzling hotpot,
you pour a generous amount of red pepper paste on top and mix it all
around.

But nothing is better than the Korean BBQ. In these places, at the
centre of a table is embedded a gasfire stove, where you would put in
assorted types of meat, marianated or freeze dried at times, along
with a generous helping of garlic. And of course the everpresent
kimchi.

The coffee is absolutely awful here! It's a very weak, hazelnut
flavored tasteless brown water - but apparently people acquire a taste
for that too. I personally doubt it.

Then there's the alcohol Where else can you buy a 375ml bottle of
soju (similar to vodka) for 1US dollar? That and the really nice beer
they have called Cass has resulted in many nights where "just going
for one beer" ends up at a 4 o'clock in the morning having incoherent
conversations smelling of garlic from the Korean BBQ you decided to
have with all your mates and ever more resolving in your mind that
"once i'm more settled working i'll stop spending so much going out
and having fun".

Korea as an interesting form of entertainment - bangs (meaning rooms).
Everywhere there are DVD bangs, PC Bangs, Karaoke Bangs, Boardgame
Bangs, etc. What they are are little rooms that people hang out in
with privacy any thing they want to do. DVD bangs are notorious for
being used for shagging since most Koreans live at home and they can't
do their naughty business anywhere.

One annoying aspect of the bars in Korea is that most of them require
you to order side dishes, as this is how most of them make their
money. This doesn't sound too bad, but when you take into account that
a side dish would cost on average $15AUD, when all you want is a beer,
it's pretty frustrating. After a while though you start to learn where
there are other bars that allow you to order beers only, usually the
ones highly frequented by foreigners.


FOREIGNERS

Seoul has a substantial number of foreigners, either working as
military, or as teachers. There are alot of American GIs around, who
have a curfew of midnight to return to their army base, because they
used to cause alot of trouble getting drunk and getting into fights.
I'm not surprised, not wanting to critise Americas military, but most
of them are really a group of meatheads that follow orders. Most
people (other foreigners and Koreans) generally avoid them.

The foreigners live in Haebonchon (where I currently reside), the
cheapest area of Seoul, which is interesting because this area is
quite close to the city centre. It's a very hilly concrete jungle with
the US military base right in the middle, but having the Seoul Tower
above on the very top of the hill does add a good point of reference
and illuminates nicely at night.


DO I GET MISTAKEN FOR KOREAN? YES

I've lost count of the times that I would be ordering a meal with
other foreigners, and when the waiter/tress comes, ignoring the orders
from my friends, would look directly at me, as if I'm supposed to
order for them or something. After spouting some words to me in
Korean, I would try to explain to them that I don't know Korean, do
you speak English? The waiter/tress would stare blankly at me for a
moment, then repeat what they said originally but louder. It would be
quite amusing if it didn't happen so often.

My favorite was when I went into a restaurant and asked the waitress
if I could have an English menu. Her response was to look at me
quizzically and ask "why?"


THE WORLD CUP

Is a very big event here, so it's a shame Korea failed to make it to
the next round. Whenever Korea were playing (the matches usually
showing at 4am), the city center would be filled with thousands of
Koreans wearing red shirts, glowing devil horns and red plastic blow
up sticks (Korean team being the Reds), chanting "Dae-A-Ming-Go (sic)"
which means "Korea". Of course me buying a red shirt myself didn't
help seperate me from the locals - my friends kept losing me; all i
needed to do is turn around and i'd vanish into the crowd!

Koreans are very well behaved. When the lost the game to Switzerland
and failed to quality, there was no anger or rioting, just a massive
silence throughout the several thousand strong crowd. It was sad to
watch, as they all went home very quiet and withdrawn.

The Korean people have truely won my heart, they are endearing, social
and hospitable people. Crime is at an all low here. For a city of 10
million the overall effect makes you feel like you're in a gigantic
community - you feel so welcome and comfortable even though its
crowded and you're anonymous. The city is also very spread out, so
there are not many skyscrapers that make it look like a compact city.
The big hill in the centre, the huge palaces dotted around the place
(which I have yet to see) and the river prevents any compact
construction of skyscapers, which makes it feel even less of a big
city and more a (very very) big town.

Korean girls are very fashionable and beautiful, slim and wear makeup
with style.

Anyway, next email i'll write more about my work, housing, friends and
a Korean girl named Sammy. Stay tuned.

James' first taste of the Orient - Malaysia

Hello everybody!

I'm in Korea at the moment and also I'm a little hungover writing this
so forgive me if this email sounds disjointed and long winded...

Well, after an anticlimatic farewell to friends and family and
finalising arrangments, I had to wait a long 3 weeks twiddling my
thumbs and waiting impatiently for the visa process to be complete.
Finally after much delay I got the E-2 visa (to work in Korea) and
booked the first ticket I could out of Australia!

I ended up getting a flight that stopped over in Kuala Lumpur. So I
thought i'd spend a couple of days there first so I get a good idea of
what an Asian country is like (since i've never been to one before),
and then start work in Korea.

So Kuala Lumpur....

KL, despite the fact that the weather just can't make up it's mind
between sun or rain (every 30 minutes it alternates!), the temperature
and humidity is as thick as a sauna (I was shocked to arrive at 9pm -
in 27 degree heat!), is quite a wonderful exotic place. It is the
perfect place for shoppers and eaters - in fact what drew me to KL was
the food. Malaysia is a meeting point for all types of cultures;
Malay, Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern, etc.

The restaurants would look run down with plastic tables and chairs,
dirty floors etc, but at least you can see the chefs cooking (usually
motherly types) right in front of you. The service is usually not very
good, but the food comes out freshly cooked and delicious. Nasi Goreng
(fried rice) was a favorite as was Nasi Lemak (coconut rice), served
with meat and vegetables from a wok, or overly deep fried! Mee
(noodles) was also common, served in different ways, dry or in soup,
usually spicy.

KL is also a shoppers paradise, as the whole city is pretty much a
gathering of markets and gigantic shopping plazas. One shopping plaza
(called Times Square) is one of the biggest in the world, 10 floors of
shopping pleasure. What made this plaza interesting was that it even
contained a Theme park! The rollercoaster (that's right,
rollercoaster!) went up 5 floors and was fully functional and fully
sized.

The market places always overcharge up to 5 times the real amount, so
you have to haggle. Which is kinda fun, since you and the vendor have
fun doing it like a game, acting nonchalant, or threatening to walk
off etc.

I remember hanging out with this sweet funny Austrian girl called Lisa
(who I found myself fancying and I think vice versa since we had a
certain chemistry together, and alas if she didn't have to fly out
later that day maybe something of a romantic nature would have
happened. Sigh. So in a sense it's probably a good thing too. But I
digress) where we tried to buy an umbrella (because of the sporadic
rain).

After much effort, comparing prices with Australian prices and stating
that we would rather walk in the rain!, we brought the price down to
10MYR ($3.50) from 50MYR. Rather proud of our efforts we continued on
our way, pretending not to notice the umbrellas for sale for 6-9MYR
nearby. I guess the moral of the story is to check prices of things
before entering the country so you have an idea of how much things
cost!

Another interesting thing about KL was the kooky buildings they have
there. Most of the skyscrapers and tall buildings are original,
unconventional and have no desire to fit in it's surroundings - they
don't seem designed to be discreet thats for sure. The end result
gives the city a chaotic yet modern look. A building with elements
resembling a temple will stand next to one covered with vegetation,
next to one with Islamic design..

Which brings me to the world famous Petronas Towers, the tallest twin
towers in the world (owned by an Oil company). This building was
inspired by Islamic art, the tesellations of squares and circles
tapering at the top gives the building its distinctive attractive
appearance. You can't go to the top though, only halfway to the bridge
connecting the two, and you have to turn up early and book a time to
come back later, because tickets are limited each day. At least it was
free. The views were pretty impressive though they only give you 10
minutes to go up, look around on the bridge, then come down. Which
makes sense I guess seeing it's just a building and not much else to
it.

I spent most of my time hanging out with this cool
Welsh/Indian/Portugese girl named Donna, who not only thought and did
things and held beliefs so close to my own (that it was almost like
she was my alterego, although female, left handed and vegetarian), but
she reaffirmed my reason for doing what i'm doing now, and the
lifestyle of travel that I have chosen. It's nice to know there are
people that think along the same lines as yourself, especially when
trying to live a life so unconventional to normal people. I am a
different person when I'm home in Melbourne - travelling again I feel
much more happy and alive and full of purpose. But again I'm getting
sidetracked, I did warn you this email will be disjointed... and my
hangover hasn't improved either (and I'm starting work in a few hours
time!)

Anyway, did a day trip with Donna to the Batu caves, 15km out of KL.
The Batu caves is on a side of a mountain, covered with rainforest,
and is 273 steps up through beautiful gates of carved brightly painted
Hindu sculptures of gods and goddesses. In fact the whole cave is a
Hindu temple, filled with stalagtites (turned into stone), little
temples of painted wood dedicated to various deities, and a lot of
crazy monkeys sitting around eating coconuts, bananas and flowers, and
sometimes grabbing food out of tourists hands when least expected.
Cheeky! The caves also has the largest golden hindu statue in the
world standing right at the entrance to the caves.

Anyway, after 3 days in KL it was time to fly out to Seoul.

And so I arrived in Korea... and what a fantastic place!!!!!

Which I will write about in my next big blog!

Ciao!

James heads for Asia...Finally!

Hi all,

It's been a while since I last wrote, mainly because i've been stuck
in Melbourne not having done much travelling (does Tasmania count?) in
the last 7 months. However, these last months back at home has been a
nice reprieve from living out of a backpack, sleeping on dirty
squashed mattresses and cramped bus seats. And home cooked meals! The
best invention since sliced bread - or as was in my case, the
ubiquitous kebab; cheap, filling, and seen running rampant all over
Europe and the Middle East (from the tiny pickled ones of Jordan to
the monster kebabs of Poland - the size of ones head - which you have
to eat with a fork!).

Despite the creature comforts of home, the travel bug won't leave me
alone. And so, I pick up my dusty backpack, and yet again abandon
reality and the voice in my head urging me to settle down in order to
see most of the world before my 30th birthday (give or take).

So..

The plan is to work for a whole year teaching English in Seoul (South
Korea). This will follow a year of travel through the whole of Asia
itself, followed perhaps by another year teaching in Japan, or even
Eastern Europe. I'll then live a nomadic life; making my way to South
America, teaching, travelling and volunteering, head my way up through
the US and Canada, and then Africa (where I'll do more work and
volunteering). By this time I should be 30 or so and be ready (in
theory) to deal with "real life"!

Of course Australia is still part of the travel plan, though I plan to
do that with my parents when they retire. My dad has dreams of
travelling around Australia in a 4WD, and I can never turn down a good
road trip!

Of course these are just plans, in truth it's hard to say what or
where i'll end up. Last time I planned a 6 month venture to Western
Europe, it ended in my 2.5year joint around Europe/Middle East. So who
knows...

MY LIFE THESE LAST COUPLE OF MONTHS

Basically I got too comfortable living the routine of normal life! I
was planning to leave by February!

Because I knew I was going to leave again soon, I've been staying with
my parents, found temporary work selling internet and mobiles for
Telstra (Australia's largest Telecommunications provider), and
generally relaxing and catching up with friends and family. And
enjoying home cooked meals.

I've also enjoyed the company of some of you fellow overseas
travellers coming over to stay with me or show you around my hometown
of Melbourne.

I've had my mate John from England experience a "east meets west"
Christmas with my family (eg turkey stuffed with fried rice) and also
birdwatching in the Yoo yang mountains. John also took me to one of
the Boxing Day test matches (instead of the other way around, since I
don't know much about cricket - and to think I call myself
Australian!)

Monica from Romania (who runs a hostel in Suceava
http://www.classhostel.ro - have a guess who made the website? )
also came Downunder. I took her to places such as the fairy penguins
and seals on Phillip Island, the Great Ocean Road, and at the last
minute she talked me into going on a quick 3 day trip around Tasmania
with her.

A BIT ABOUT TASMANIA

I'm glad I did, since Tasmania is quite beautiful in its wilderness, a
"mini version of New Zealand" one tourist noted. With a hired car we
drove on crazy winding mountain roads, took many unhappy insects with
us on an unexpected journey through the countryside (i.e splattered on
the car front), explored the huge rainforests with moss covered
1000-year-old huon pines, sassaffras, redwoods, blackwoods, all kinds
of woods; we cruised the UNESCO Heritage listed Gordon river (only
place which meets 7/10 requirements of the UNESCO criteria - an UNESCO
site only needs 1 to make it on the list!), visited the magestic
Cradle mountain and Cataract gorge, and dined on the best fresh fish
I've ever eaten in Hobart, Strahan and Launceston, which are more big
towns than cities. Friendly locals, though some of them are clearly
inbred... Joking!

FINDING WORK IN KOREA

To start, I thought it would be best to complete a TESOL Certification
(http://www.teachinternational.com), making me now a "qualified
English teacher to speakers of other languages". I now know what
"passive voice" means in my Word documents, and what foreigners mean
when they ask me for the past perfect continous tense of a word,
something that some of you fellow travellers have probably encountered
as well!

After some Internet searching through job agencies abroad, and a 1
hour overseas phone interview, I accepted a job offer to go teach
English in Seoul for a year, for a company called Berlitz
International, a world renowned Language Centre.

Basically I will be teaching conversational English to mainly adults
working for companies like Samsung, LG and so on (hopefully I can
score free phones and stuff off them). Airfare and accomodation
(right in the centre of Seoul) is mostly paid for, tax is pretty low
(approx 4-9%), and is a great way of learning about another culture,
by living amongst them. As well as doing all the touristy stuff like
venturing into the Demilitarized Zone (where North and South Korean
soldiers stand literally centimetres apart facing each other), I've
already got a couple of local friends in Korea i'm planning to meet
with to help me see and learn about the real Seoul. It's gonna be fun!


AND SO

After several long delays with getting the work visa (was trying to
leave 3 weeks ago!), I should now be leaving Melbourne next Monday. I
will first spend a few days in Malaysia seeing the sights before
heading up to Seoul in mid June, where the next chapter of my life
will begin. It will be sad to leave everything and everyone behind
once again. But it will also be quite interesting living and working
in a country where English isn't the first language and the culture is
different from my Australian upbringing. I wonder how many people I'll
offend in my first week?

Wish me luck!

The end of the road... for now

Bristol - Slough - Windsor - Oxford - London

Hey everybody,

So, after over 2 years of travelling through Europe and the Middle East, I’m finally on my way home. What an amazing eye opening time I’ve had, with many places visited, friends made, memories cherished, lessons learnt, dreams fulfilled, and beers drunk. Although doing all this meant a departure from what most people consider real life, never on my travels have I ever regretted what I’ve done. Sure, now I’ll come home broke, with suspended career and old friends moving on and settling down, but it is all worth it. The way I see it is that I am in almost the same situation as I was two years ago, except that I’ve seen a great part of the world and experienced things that not many people ever will, and can never be taken away from me. Anyway, enough of this reflective tone, must be the music on the radio...

Anyway...

CATCHING UP WITH OLD FRIENDS IN BRISTOL
Flew from Dublin to Bristol to spend one whole day in Longwell Green, in order to catch up with old friends that I have made during my time working there as Barman and Internet Education Consultant for the schools in the area. First was Sue, girlfriend of John Barnett who I lodged with, then Helen, ex-Librarian for SBL (the school down the
road I based myself at), who I enjoyed gossiping with when working there. Then it was to SBL to quickly see my old bosses Jez and Tony, a few teachers (Terry, John, Jane) and students (Sadie, Amy, Stacy, Toni). Then to a pub to see Donna, ex waitress from the bar I worked at, cool chick who steals my heart whenever I see her , followed by
going to another bar to see my old drinking mates Tina, Nick, Tom and Luke. The next morning I visited Juliet and her kids Zoe and Robert, responsible for introducing me to Jana, their old Slovakian au pair and my secret girlfriend during my time in Bristol. Phew! I did say this was a whirlwind tour didn't I?

And then I caught a train to Slough.

SLOUGH - OF ALL PLACES
Well almost, since the train decided to not stop at Slough and take me to London instead, despite assurances from station manager and ticket inspector that it was going to stop at Slough. Anyway, another train later and met up with Tim and Karin, an old co-worker back at etechgroup where I used to work before I went travelling. Here I was to also base myself for the next couple of nights as Slough is close to the airport.

Ironic how after two years of travel, the last place I go to before heading home is the backwater that is Slough.


WINDSOR
We did a pub crawl in Windsor, home of the Queen. The palace is pretty impressive, but ill lit at night which was a little disappointing. Could not tell if the queen was actually in or not.


OXFORD - WHERE PEOPLE ARE SMART BUT NOT PRACTICAL
Slightly hungover, the next day we did a day trip to Oxford. Oxford is quite a pretty place with cool stone architecture full of detailed sculptures and gargoyles of peoples heads and animals.

There is usually much debate over which is better - Oxford or Cambridge. I must say that Cambridge gets my vote as the better city. Oxford is larger, with more tourists, and seemingly impractical people. In oxford you would see bridges designed for water being built over roads, crooked misshapen doorways on houses, and crowds that like
to congregate at places in the narrowest part of a street for no apparent reason except to slow down people trying to walk down the street, which proved quite infuriating.

There is also nothing less welcoming than paying 3 pounds to visit a university (Christchurch), then upon walking past the ticket booth find a sign saying "Cathedral and Way Out". What, they want us out already? Plus the main hall was closed, leaving only the Cathedral to visit, which wasn't really that exceptional. The grounds were pretty
uninspiring also. The city's amazing architecture saved it from me declaring Oxford a complete letdown otherwise.

Anyway, got back to Slough, where I then went into London on my own (Tim and Karin had to work) to try and meet up with people I knew in London, and spend my last night in Europe partying in the town!


MY LAST NIGHT IN PARTY LONDON
Went completely awry when I discovered that the only person capable of joining me on my planned night of boozed fuelled revelry was none other than Jennie, who came all the way down from Birmingham to join me! Everyone else was either busy, sick, or just didn't bother. Oh well. Anyway, the immediate problem that dawned on us was that none of us actually had a place to stay. Although I had many offers to crash at people's homes, we decided that we would try to find a hostel or hotel instead as it meant we could stay out longer instead of going home on the last tube train at midnight.

2 pints later and a mad trawl through Coventry, Piccadilly and Earls Court amongst fully booked hostels and hotels, we finally stumbled across a hostel with available beds - at 11:10pm! By this time, despite the countries move to 24hr liquor licensing taking effect that night, most of the bars in Earls Court had closed at than their usual 11pm time! However, we were not perturbed, as we managed to find a club that was open till 2am, playing karaoke and disco music. So we happily consumed much pints while amusing ourselves with the awful singing of drunken British louts and dancing to cheesy disco tunes. All this goes to show that things always work out in the end. It also shows that you should try to book a hostel in London in advance if you want to stay on Saturday night, and not when you how up in the city at 8pm that night! Still, alls well that ends well


SO NOW WHAT?
So now here I am in Slough, where, after miraculously getting out of being mugged on the street (long story), am about to head to the airport in a few hours time for my flight back home to Melbourne!

Plans for the future involve 1 year teaching English in Asia, followed by 1 year travel in Asia via Transmongolian and Silk Roads. Then 1 year working holiday in Canada followed by 1 year travelling the US and South America. Finally 1 year volunteer working and travelling in Africa. I also think 1 year working holiday in Ireland is also on the
drawing board.

Who knows what the next year will bring me. But whatever I do, I will try to keep you all posted

Till my next big adventure,
Adios!
James Lee
Sunday 27th November 2005, 5:45pm

James' Whirlwind Tour of UK - Part 3: Ireland

Belfast - Giants Causeway - Galway - Dublin

Aye there, now where's my Guinness! (ok, so maybe that's not how they say hi in Irish...)


TOUR OF UK MORE LIKE A UK PUB CRAWL

Well, it's been quite an exhausting but fun month around the UK and Ireland, considering that I’ve been going out almost every night partying it up in the clubs - since most cities in the UK and Ireland have really good nightlife. (Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Belfast, Galway, Dublin).

Maybe I can stop partying in my next destinations; Bristol - nup, party town... then London, nup again, more partying there!

Looks like no break from this partyboy lifestyle till I get home, where I really do need to detox and abstain from drinking for a while (yeah right!)


SEEKING THE HOLY GRAIL AT ROSSLYN CHAPEL

Forgot to mention doing a day trip out to Rosslyn from Edinburgh, to seek out the famous Rosslyn chapel mentioned in "The Da Vinci Code" book and touted by many historians to be the residing place of the Holy Grail. It's quite an amazing place alone, although small it's interior and exterior sculptures and carvings are quite odd and eccentric, no wonder one would think there is something suspicious going on there. Take for instance, the carving of native American plants inside, made before America was even discovered! Or the strange pagan symbols and astronomical stars carved on the ceiling! Freaky!

No grail found though. Just a guy asking for 6 pounds for entry!


IRELAND - AN EXPENSIVE VERSION OF WALES

I like Ireland. It reminds me alot like Wales with the wild hills and sheep and rugged coastline of steep cliffs, the houses especially near the coast, and the friendliness of the inhabitants. The girls are quite stunning too, and just like in the UK, they sure love braving the elements in their short skirts and big boats and big fur hooded jackets which makes you wonder if they've forgotten to put on a pair of winter trousers to complete the ensemble. Not that I’m complaining mind you. Anyway, as with most nations with stunning girls, I can't understand a word they are saying, even though it's English! Their accent is truly unintelligible, all I can do when they talk to me is smile, say "uh huh" and nod at the end of each sentence, and when they ask me an incomprehensible question, quickly down my pint of Guinness and say I need to get another drink. Then run away.

Guinness is great here, I actually didn't like it when I first tried it in England (mainly because it is brewed in England there). But the Guinness here is quite smooth, and you can taste the burnt malt in the brew. You beauty!


BELFAST
Belfast is much like every other city in Ireland (and the UK), same old modern cobbled shopping pedestrian malls as city center configuration, with waterfront and a few grand buildings like the town hall. Shopping center by day, party town at night, one could easily forget what the place is like. Belfast however does have a bloody history that makes it stand out and worth visiting, being one of the battlegrounds of the Troubles that plagued Ireland for the last 50 or
so years.

Belfast also has the prettiest girls in all of Ireland.

Visited the Europa hotel, which is the most blown up hotel in the world by IRA terrorist bombings. Makes you wonder why people would want to keep checking into the place with that call to fame. Adrenalin junkies perhaps. Thrill seeking businessmen adrenalin junkies more like it - the place is big and expensive.

Also noted the Northern bank of Ireland that recently was infamously robbed in broad daylight by some guys who made two trips to take 20million from the vaults straight to their van parked outside – and no one knew it was happening till after they left!


THE TROUBLE THAT WAS THE TROUBLES
From what I’ve gathered, basically the situation of Northern Ireland (AKA Ulster), is this - a civil war against the Protestant British loving Royalist Loyalists, (their militants are the UVF – Ulster Volunteer Force) and the Catholic Independence from British Separatist Republicans (their parliament being Sein Finn, their army the IRA - Irish Republican Army) who want Northern Ireland as part of Ireland.
See, travelling truly is an educational experience!

I've been told the situation is similar to the Israeli-Palestine issue, except instead of Jews occupying Palestinian land, it is Protestants occupying Catholic land (which occurred after Britain occupied Ireland a long while ago). In fact, you would see the star of David painted on the UVF flag, and apparently there is support from the Jewish settlers for UVF and Palestinians for IRA (also evident in the wall murals painted - more on that later). And even though it's peace time etc, there are some places I've been told to avoid at night.

Did a tour of the Trouble related sights, which took us to the Falls and Shambles areas, the front battleline of the two sides. Between the two areas is a huge wall, similar to the walls used in the Berlin wall and Israel/Palestine. On the main roads of each area near the wall you would pass famous colourful artistic murals, each depicting a political point of view supporting their cause.

Popped into the Sein Finn office where they kindly allowed me to pick up a copy of their last year's manifesto from their dumpster out the back. Hmmm...


GIANTS CAUSEWAY - THE EIGHT NATURAL WONDER OF THE WORLD OR SOME
IMPRACTICAL GIRL WOOING DEVICE?
Went up to see Giants Causeway, which is an amazing coastline of black basalt hexagonical cylindrical pillars of various heights, which stretches for miles. Apparently caused by some freak volcanic activity and slow lava cooling. The mythical reason being that it was created by a giant called Finn McCool who built it so he could cross to Scotland to see his lover. Couldn't he just build himself a boat?


JAMES LEE, CERTIFIED IRISH WHISKY TESTER
Anyway, this was followed by a visit to the Bushwells Whisky distillery, currently the oldest original Whisky distillery in the world. The tour was a standard tour showing how whisky is made etc. But when they asked for four volunteers I was the fastest person with my hand up. Because it involved me and three other people testing 3
shots of whisky and comparing it with a shot of bourbon and a shot of scotch. All in the space of less than 5 minutes. Hic!

Differences? Scotch Whisky is smokier flavoured (and my preferred spirit), Bourbon is floral/perfumed flavoured, and Irish Whisky generally as a bit of bite followed by smooth aftertaste (favourite being 10yo single malt, ends with a chocolately aftertaste.)

Afterwards I was given a certificate calling me a certified Irish Whisky Tester! Woo Hoo!


VIBRANT GALWAY
Finally made it to Galway in the Irish Republic after a 6hr bus ride and three bus changes. Hardcore traveller me! Anyway, Galway is a very small but lovely cultural university town, full of vibrancy and life, crowds constantly on the streets shopping, having a pint or eating, while buskers play loudly within earshot of one another so it sounds like a badly conducted orchestra. Was disappointed with the famous nightlife though, which is one of the reasons I went there, mainly because everyone else was there also looking to have a good time. The pubs were so crowded I had no desire standing squashed on all sides in the smoky haze, but eventually found a quieter place to chill and chat.

Ireland in this part of the country is quite homogenous, so I do get alot of stares and attention, some of it bordering on racism if I didn't know better. But the people are still good humoured and lively.


THE WEST COAST CLIFFS OF MOHER
Day tripped to the Cliffs of Moher, stopping via the famed Dolmen which is an ancient tomb of one slab on top of two vertical slabs much like a doorway or what you see in Stonehenge. The cliffs were quite dramatic but hazy. Nearly fell off it actually when this Mexican girl wanted to take my photo and told me to move to my right closer to the cliff edge, to which I tripped myself doing but luckily steadied myself in time! Phew!

PARTYTOWN DUBLIN - HOME OF THE GUINNESS
5 bars visited, 7 pints of Guinness drunk, many random friendly locals met, 1 cute German girl kissed, partying it up till 4am - all on a Monday night. What does this mean? Dublin has awesome nightlife!

Dublin is very cosmopolitan, where a huge number of Asians (as well as other ethnic minorities) coexist happily with the Irish. To see Asians working in an Irish pub behind the bar shows how well integrated they are with society. The French can learn from this.

Did a tour of the Guinness brewery, where I got to do a taste test, and got a free pint in their skytop bar overlooking the city below. Then went shopping and wandering the many pedestrian malls full of life, crossing the numerous bridges over the river, and failing to find anywhere cheap to eat (as Dublin is expensive).

Anyway, tomorrow I fly to Bristol, then a trip to Oxford followed by London, before my voyage back home to Melbourne! *sob, sniff sniff* my two year roaming Europe and Middle East is almost over! Any regrets?
None whatsoever!!