Drink the Kool-Aid

Hitting The Bird

2011-09-24T21:21:00.000-07:00

If you remember, “Hitting the bird” is a term or slang that refers to budding in line.
Not much hitting for me these days, I just patently wait my turn.
I am formulating a plan, to go to Korea in February...I’m looking forward to it in so many ways!
I miss it there, but I’m glad to be here. It’s a weird feeling for a one man wolf pack!
Well the one man wolf pack had expanded to two! That in its self is pretty exciting!!

This is the QR code for my site! In my semi-nerdiness I made one! I could get it made into stickers, but I don’t type enough to attract attention here!

I won ten bucks in the lottery today, I said there is not enough zeros in my prize, so the guy laughed and handed me the most wrinkled ten he could find!

New (gently used) car is AOK! Of course someone drove into it in the second day I owned it, but it was a scratch and added character! I like it because I can sleep later, and get home earlier from the rat race.
Days turn into nights--turn into weekends and turn into days---what does that turn into? Who knows!

No Quarter

2011-09-01T17:24:00.000-07:00

Social experiment has been put on hold. (more on that later)

On a new crew at work, which isn’t so bad.
I say it’s not bad because I came to my evening job in an extremely good mood!

In between typing this and working I have begun a little adventure. An adventure of looking for Cajun cooking classes in Edmonton.

would it not be great to set up a tiki hut on a foreign beach somewhere, and cook food I love?

Diving, cooking, eating, and sunshine..what more could you ask for besides another beer?

Ghost

2011-08-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

This is not where I live, its where I used to live.
Life in the rat race is as good as can be expected. I put a lot of hours in this week, so generally I’m pretty tired.
On Thursday night I’m working at the liquor store, and in comes what seems to be a normal fellow. I direct him to the bottle of Absinthe he was after and he proceeds to pay for his purchase.
Payment complete, he stops and looks right at me and says “ I don’t like your shirt” I say why too many colours for you? He says no, I like the shirt but not on you, you need a goth look, ya know black hair, leather jacket and something more that suits you. I’m like OK I’ll get right on that!
Last night two what I think are younger girls come in. They come up with a bottle of wine. I ask for ID and they both have it. I check one girls it’s fine. The other girl was fumbling around in a pink Guess purse tryin to find it.....Finally it comes out, and I look, unbeknownst to me - “she” is a “he". I say do u have another piece of ID this says your a boy. He replies yeah I am a boy, and shows another piece of ID. I said no judgement I’m sorry for the mistake, he’s like I get that all the time.
Lady boys in Edmonton....whew knew!

In other news:
Have you ever worked with someone that drives you absolutely insane?
I have this pleasure 5 days a week- 8 hours a day!
He is a nice guy, but likes to argue about everything! I mean everything...so me being me, I have started a social experiment with him as my lab rat.
I’ll let you know how it turns out, if I don’t strangle him first.

He is the one on the left. I’m sitting on the roller filming this, because I always have to wait for him to make love to the asphalt!
He would be better off holding one of those SLOW signs at our job site to direct traffic.

Verbatem

2011-08-15T10:53:00.000-07:00

Well here it is, my monthly post!
Today, I was thinking about a job as a travel writer. The problem is I have no $$ to travel :(
I suppose I could try to get a job that allows me to travel and secretly type stuff on the side!?!

I like my new job here in the rat race, I know it will get me the means to at least go on a super cool vacation one day! So, I will slug it out for the next long time

PS- I’m gonna start playing the lottery in hopes of winning a trip around the world with 태리

Rat Race

2011-07-17T15:37:00.000-07:00

New job is going well, although I am liking it, there is a constant reminder of the daily rat race people (including me now) fall into.
people are sad on Mondays...people are happy on Fridays, weekends fly by; same shit week in week out

I thought all was going how its supposed to, I have a job I am proud of and make Ok money doing it... then BOOM the "rat race" term falls into my lap!
Call it the rat race, call it the ants marching, call it whatever you want it just makes me sad people have to live like this.
I know we have to go to work, make money and pay the bills... etc, but DAM how did I get involved?

Don’t get me wrong I am happy where I am, but if I ever find a money tree the bills are paid and I’m out on a little dive vacation with the greatest girl I know!

If I don’t find a money tree:

Dive vacation is how we(she doesn’t know it yet) plan on spending my time away from the rat race (whenever that may be) I will use my 2-3 whole weeks to get away from this planet and spend some time chasing turtles, finding nemo, and dodging sharks.

I have a friend who only gets 8 days of holidays per year; Due to his job, he really can’t take too much time away. 8 days a year! Are you F’n kidding me?!?!?! He recently took his 8 days to attend a family function, it was a great time, however thats it thats all till 2012!
If I was him, I would polish up the resume!

Anyhow, thats all thats going through my mind these days...keeping ahead of the rats and getting wet!

Clear As Mud

2011-06-12T21:40:00.000-07:00

Like the job, and the city.
Not much new to report, but if your gonna have one of these beers make sure you have had plenty of other different ones first. Beer Beer takes some getting used to :)

Almonds

2011-05-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

Life is good!
Skype dates are good!
Job is good!
Beer is good!
Korean market is good!
New bike I bought is good!
New city I call home is good!
Pepper plants are growing good!
NHL playoffs are good!

All in all, things are good!
Except me blogging everyday, thats below-average!
Back soon :)

Banged Up Abroad

2011-05-14T18:07:00.000-07:00

Settling in to the new house and neighbourhood nicely!
Found a comfortable local watering hole where they make all their own beer!
Found my way to work with little difficulty on the bus.
Been enjoying the little break before I start work Monday, cooking and unpacking!
I am also looking forward to starting work.
The weather has been great, and I have an outside job, bring it on!
:)

We’ll Always Have Departures

2011-04-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

Saw a book the other day entitled
“The Wimpy Kid... Do it yourself book”
I thought the kid has enough problems, if he/she busts out that book holy shit are they in trouble!

8 days till the move, and I am happy/sad about this:
Happy because of the new start or new chapter in my life.
Sad because I’ll miss my friends and family and because it closes the old chapter.

Being left to my own devices is not such a bad thing or is it?

Meatloafers VS Wondergirls

2011-04-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

Days are busy, nights are busy too, (making days even more busy if I sleep in).
Lots to do before the move, 10 days to go.
Working until 2 days before I go, not that I want to, but I need the cash...
Should be able to pack the day before I go and not inconvenience myself while I’m still here
step by step is all I can do until then.

People are funny, I have been here 4 months and didn’t really see anyone
Now I’m leaving and people want to hang out...bittersweet I guess, but funny too!
Had a girl I know ask me to go out for a beer to play catch up
Have not seen her in like 12years (maybe 15)? She’s nice but I politely brushed her off, and told her I work nights (which is true)
So, she catches me online this past weekend and was annoyed that I made plans to go out with my buddy. See people are funny! I have not seen u in years...really what’s another day??
I’m not interested in a date, or a catch up, or hanging out. I’m just interested in Sean Time
Sounds selfish I know and don’t get me wrong, I appreciate the offers.
Maybe I’m going crazy or finally realized something about me.
The old Sean is nowhere to be found, just like the girl I want to play catch up with!
If you know the wondergirls; as much as Im not a fan, you know the song I’m singing.

I know They’re Watchin...They’re Watchin

2011-04-22T18:42:00.000-07:00

When I think of travelling it makes me miss all the great things out there in the world.
I just finished watching departures season 3 and it made me sad to know that I’m stuck here for the next while. When you watch it (you know who you are) you’ll see what I mean!
What a fantastic show!
I am moving to a new city for seasonal employment. This might allow me to go travel once again.
Of course, it won’t be for awhile but something to look forward to for sure!
A new chapter in life that is exciting and is gonna be a challenge (even for me).

Pass the Kimchi :)

4:03am

2011-04-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

Sean Gold

Invisible

You are invisible.
Go visible

Sometimes I wish !

Toss And Turn Like The Sea

2011-04-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

Seems like every time I make a decision, something happens and a wrench gets thrown into the plan. Doing schoolwork today and saw this pic. For me its my life in a nutshell.....

This one is here just for fun!

All Systems Ready For Takeoff

2011-04-02T16:40:00.000-07:00

Another interesting turn in life has got me scratching my head
while scratching my head I realized people like to give advice
the bad part about that is they’re not in my situation
while I appreciate the advice, and explain what I want,
they somehow miss the point.
I guess its easy to give advice, when your all set up with the things in life you want.

On a side note, I have boiled the next chapter of life down to 2 choices
door #1 or door #2..... or if I get really lucky I could just knock down the whole f’n wall.

Maybe, starting all over again is not too bad.

U may have seen this, but it made me smile!

2011-03-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

Pinwheels

2011-03-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

I often find myself spaced out and thinking of the life I used to live.
It’s hard to “exist" in this part of the country. I wonder how I did it before?
Ohh that’s right I worked two jobs, had a rental income, and ended up owing the government money at the end of the year.
So, now I work one and am poor.
It’s no win-win situation I tell ya!

In parts of Asia, there is no welfare system..basically you get off your ass and find some kinda income or you starve and nobody cares. I am 100% in agreement with this
If your handy capped and can’t work I don’t have a problem paying for you.
If your lazy than starve!
Even if I wanted to work two jobs again there is nothing but shit jobs out there for a guy like me
and I end up paying for lazy asses through our wonderful tax system!

On a side note:
I can’t even get Thai curry on a Sunday WTF? Ok that’s a lie, but the place(the only place) that serves REAL curry is closed on Sundays.
Maybe, I’ll just sell it all...everything I own and move to Thailand.

bought a new Chevy Avalanche And returned to the dealer yesterday Because I couldn't get the radio to work. The salesman explained that the radio was voice activated. 'Nelson,' the salesman said to the radio. The radio replied, 'Ricky or Willie?' 'Willie!' he continued and 'On The Road Again' Came from the speakers. Then he said, 'Ray Charles!', and in an instant ' Georgia On My Mind' replaced Willie Nelson. I drove away happy, and for the next few days, Every time I'd say, 'Beethoven,' I'd get beautiful classical music, and if I said, 'Beatles,' I'd get one of their awesome songs. Yesterday, some guy ran a red light And nearly creamed my new truck, But I swerved in time to avoid him. I yelled, 'Ass Hole!' Immediately the radio responded with, "Ladies and gentlemen, the Premier of Ontario , Mr. Dalton McGinty " Damn, I love this truck...

2011-02-28T11:59:00.000-08:00

What Have I Become? My Sweetest Friend

2011-02-21T17:07:00.000-08:00

I realized today I am famous for starting stuff and leaving it half done
Gonna work on that little problem of mine
Starting with:

-the floor at the top of the stairs
-the winerack
-the guitar i’m supposed to be learning
-Securing my newly set up time capsule
-doing more school work in a day
-The great book I started to read

After that, i’m sure there will be more “projects” to tend to, like this blog for example, haven’t quite figured out what i’m gonna do with it yet. Blogger seems to be acting a little strange these days, I may switch to something like word press, or an alternative host.
The little map gadget is pretty cool, it tracks the site visitors and who knew so many people actually stop by...Thanks! Although sometimes I feel like I haven’t got much for ya!

Cheers!
Sean
PS- Send money :)

Livin The Dream

2011-02-08T16:42:00.000-08:00

Dear world,

Please let me win the 100 grand
I bought one ticket and it feels lucky
That would be great!
Thanks !
Sean
PS-I would spend it wisely :)

She Talks To Angels

2011-02-02T19:40:00.000-08:00

So, someone comes up to me and says"Thunder Bay has the worst drivers"
Without hesitation, I agree
One day I will own a car again, and who knows I might not be in TBay
Then I started to think why all the “weirdo’s” always talk to me
ahh well regardless he is right and if I do own a car, not driving here would be not so bad.

I Quit, my job today with 2 weeks notice, as not to burn my bridges..
going to work at a different place with more school friendly hours and better pay.
Needless to say, they were not happy when I told em, it was a quiet day at work for me
Got too much on the go to worry about them, I’m just looking out for me and TRM
That rhymes LOL
Been trying to learn the said title on the guitar and it’s tough. I hope the callesus come before I learn the song otherwise it’s gonna take awhile.

TRM

2011-01-26T20:41:00.000-08:00

I went to Safeway tonight to buy mustard
They have those little sandwiches that are pre-made, and it reminded me of a time I had lunch in a sandwich form by the river...tell ya the truth the pre-made sandwich was not that great, but the company was!
Then, this of all things popped into my head

It's Kinda Like Those Sunsets, That Leave You Feeling So Stoned

2010-12-21T10:54:00.000-08:00

Back in town,Starting to fall in the same rut I told myself to stay out of Why? I don't know! I guess cause it's easy and familiar. I guess cause there really isn't that much to do here? now don't get me wrong,It's nice to see the people I left behind, but when you come back there is really not that much to talk about
well at least not for long..
People ask, I start to tell and they lose intrest
could it be my geographical location or my story telling ability?
who knows?!?!?!?!?
Something happens and it remeinds me of a time when I was travelling
I start to tell the story and somehow it all ends with the other person telling me about mexico...
Mexico WTF??
Which reminds me, I watched our old favorite travel show and they were in Vietnam was really cool to see stuff on TV that I have been to!
Well, at least I know there is a whole other world out there :)

If A Women doesn't Find You Handsome, She'll At Least Find You Handy!

2010-11-30T17:07:00.000-08:00

Not having a job has it's perks
like the bathroom reno is almost complete
My Dad has been a huge help since I move pretty slow these days.
Pulled my lower back a week ago, Dr here I come if it is still like this in a few days.
That should eat up a good part of my day
Gotta get ready for skiing, and other nature activities before I probably move to Edmonton
I want to stay here, but financially it doesn't work
best case would be to have a responsible tenant and my mom live here for a few years I can focus on my goals, work on my degree and thats all I have for now :)
Not much changes here anyhow, so why not go on another adventure
this time making money and not spending it all...

A little bird told me that I don't post any pics anymore, I'll get around to that since I took about 1300 on my travels.
The one of me and Sadie up above turned out cool though eh!

I Put The "B" In Subtle

2010-11-23T14:49:00.000-08:00

Well, not much has changed here in TBay
fixing up the house is always fun :)
especially when you need a rental income
or an income in general
Pulled my back out, so things are going slow
not like I have a timeline, but I do!

Pretty lost these days
do this
do that
go here
go there
take this
take that
wait for this
don't wait for that
order these
order those
talk to her
talk to him
buy this
buy that
move here
move there
stay here
live there
Ahhhh, to tell ya the truth there's a link missing and
too many people read this for me to be blunt about things
so
I'm doing SFA till January and we'll see what happens then
I'm hoping for this
but, I'll probably get that
confused yet?
so am I...

Matthew Good - It's Been A While Since I Was Your Man

2010-11-22T18:46:00.000-08:00

Not much to say these days, so this is what I woke up singing today

I Ran, I Ran So Far Away

2010-11-14T08:56:00.000-08:00

So, I'm back in the hometown and it's nice to see everyone!
Feel like a stranger here, I recognize people and really not much has changed
Same faces at the same places I was at a year ago
At least I know where to find em if I'm lookin LOL
Getting ready for "reno's" which I love, by the way!
Gotta get the apartment ready for rent, so when I skip town theres no worries
Found our old work gloves and it made me sad
"GOLD" "T-MAC" missing my little helper on this job...who's gonna yell at me now?
It decided to snow on my birthday...nice I think??
Had beers with the boys out front in the yard, it was snowing beautiful
I'm not gonna lie though, I thought about buying a plane ticket
to somewhere warm and waiting out the winter there....

Kill The Headlights And Put It In Neutral

2010-11-09T14:33:00.000-08:00

Well, I hate to be one of those people who talks about the weather
but, I'm freezing my ass off here in Canada!
OK I'm done^*^
Booked a flight home on Friday have not been there in almost a year...
looking forward to that!
Signed up for 2 more Uni courses starting in January gonna be busy :)
Trying to formulate a future plan to pay off my debt, and get travelling again!
So far I have a few options, but gotta get the house rented first...
Life's complicated ya know
step by step is my new approach, the problem is you can only walk in so many directions.
When I get home, the life we used to live will be right in my face
reality will have finally caught up to me
Now Teri is in Korea, I'm back in Canada
She's like a rocket there
I'm walkin here...
At least it's good motivation to walk faster :)

Hey Did You See A Birdhouse?

2010-11-06T16:54:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not know I'm back on home soil
It's frickin freezin here!
Hard to believe a week ago I was somewhere warm
and 4 days ago I was having lunch with the one I miss the most!
What am I doing here? Good question!
I have some work to do on the house
I have some re-grouping to do
I have some friends and family to see
I think I'm gonna be bored in about 2 months
weather will play a huge part in this
She will be in Canada in or about that time
hmmmm time to check the air miles.....

Call On Me, Call On Me,"______" I'm The Same Boy I Used To Be

2010-11-01T04:58:00.000-07:00

Well reality is looming, and I'm back in Phuket
I'm getting ready to make the journey to the motherland
Cold ass weather, time to put away the shorts :(
Gonna pay huge for my xtra baggage and newly acquired stuff
Fuckers!
On the upside I'm leaving Thailand with an Open water diver license
Yup PADI certified!
Swam this morning with the coolest fish and some black tip reef sharks
there was rumour of a whale shark, but we didn't see it
14m deep and about 5m visibility
The vis was the shits today compared to Saturday at 20m

Looking forward to my lunch date in Seoul during my 10hr layover
Not looking forward to the 30+ hr travel day though :(
I got a plan I think for my return, but it depends on a few things
I guess we'll see what happens??
I'm quite confident it will go my way though!!
I'll write ya from Bangkok!

Nemo And The Jets

2010-10-31T01:04:00.000-07:00

Last day in paradise and it's raining
my luck, so much for the tan.
one dive to do tomorrow, and a boat ride to Phuket in the afternoon.
I'm staying the night there, and flying to Bangkok the next day.
One night in Bangkok, and off to Canada I go.
I don't really want to go back and face "reality",but I guess all good things come to an end.
Things aren't gonna be the same as when I was there, and I guess that might be the reason why I don't want to go back.
Well and the fact it's winter LOL
I'm sitting here in shorts and a Tee typing this less than a week I'll be in a sweater, pants and a jacket :(
I took alot of pics in my travels, but hardly any of this place. The plan today was to do that but the weather is the shitz....maybe later??

Trigger Fish

2010-10-29T03:59:00.000-07:00

When bouncing around from the beach to Internet cafes
ya never know what your gonna get, for example:
a sunburn, or a computer that doesn't have chat
When ya want to chat with someone, and there's slim chance you might catch em online
your happy until, the computer you rent for 2baht a minute does not have the smarts to do so :(
Speaking of smarts, she was right again
I signed up for a 3 day open water dive course here on Koh Phi Phi
very scary and weird at first, but now I think it's pretty frickin cool!
I'm halfway to certification with 2 dives left to do..
Today we did a 10m dive in the bay where "the beach" was filmed
Saw to many fish to list, and a giant sleeping turtle
no nemo's yet though
I wonder who will show up first the chat or the Nemo?

Runaway Train

2010-10-27T01:17:00.000-07:00

A rainy day in paradise
A island where the music scene is behind,
lots of tunes I have not heard in like 12 yrs
kinda cool and it brought back memories!
Staying at the rock backpacker hostel
got a room the size of a twin mattress in the room there are 3 things:
mattress
light
fan
Not pretty, but very cheap and after a few days I'm gonna relocate to a real hotel room just for the hot non seawater showers!

I'm Ascending To Outer Space, To Find Another Race

2010-10-25T01:51:00.000-07:00

Full moon party was fun, but really not my scene
I'm gonna guess maybe 20,000 ppl in attendance!
Was fun to watch the drunk as shit ppl passed out and stumbling around :)
Left the day after the party and took a flight to Phuket
a couple islands to visit then the party is OVER
back to Canada I go :(
I am sad, but it will be a refreshing change of pace.
Peoples relationship with animals and the amount of stray dogs and cats
you see in SE Asia is starting to get to me,I mean they are everywhere, picking through garbage and sleeping on the street.
Granted there is nothing I can do, but I feel bad for the dogs and cats.

Be Yourself, Take Only What Ya Need From It

2010-10-23T00:59:00.000-07:00

What have I been up to?
Well I'm on an island in the south of Thailand and besides working on my tan;
-I have met some great people. One guy from England who is an expert at the contact ball and juggling. The contact ball is the coolest thing I have seen. It's basically a round ball the size of a cantaloupe and he balances it up and down his arms, neck, and body ( anyway look it up F'n cool! His german friend is quite the character aswell!
-Saw Muay Thai boxing from the third row. 6 KO's outta 8 fights...got pics
-Learned to Juggle(sort of)
-Smoked a little and watched the sun go down
-Lost money at the worst poker game I ever been to. All the players were drunk and it took like ten minutes a hand, so I threw all my chips in and gladly lost and left the table.
- Huge full moon party tonight on the beach, not my scene but gonna check it out anyhow
-been wondering where my suit is I sent from Vietnam to Canada.
-been waiting for an email, that doesnt seem to be coming
-been drinkin alot of Singha and Leo beer
Thats all folks
Off to Koh Samui tomorrow to check it out, before I leave the sun and return to the snow :(

Beach Bums

2010-10-20T01:07:00.000-07:00

Well Koh Phangnan is nice
I decided to get away from the party scene
and went to the north coast of the island.
Well, let me tell ya I was away from the party scene and
everything else in the world
saw like 5 people in 30+ hours!
Beach was nice,saw some crabs eating a dead fish!
The bungalow was not so nice, but what can u expect for 5 bux a night?
Met some hippe dude, who happened to be my bungalow neighbour
He was OK, but a little to far out of his brain to be the only person to talk to, so that got old fast. LOL
Today I relocated back to party central.
Rooms are up in price because the full moon party is around the corner.....
now I'm paying 20 bux a night, but hey I have warm water, power and a sink!
Got a sunburn on my back today I guess travelling alone does have some disadvantages,
like you cant reach your whole back with the suncream
Ahhh well, hopefully the burn will fade into a tan :)

Foolish Games

2010-10-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

Ahhh step by step I guess
The great debate now is, send a box home and MAYBE get it in 2 months
OR
take all my newly acquired stuff on the flight home,
and pay the overweight charge/extra baggage fee
either way I'm payin...
However, if I take it with me I know i'll have it:)
looking at all this stuff here I think i'm just gonna pay at the airport.
I sent some stuff from Vietnam which has not arrived yet to my knowledge
gonna check on that today...
Been checking other stuff out too, but that seems to be running it's own course.

Running Blind

2010-10-15T00:09:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back in Thailand
This is a good thing, but also a bad thing
Less than a month from now, I will be back in the motherland
of cold Canadian winter.
No money, this is OK life's short so who cares
No job, this is a bad thing
No car, this is a livable and cheaper alternative
No women, this is a no comment
Isn't there a song like that?
Looking forward to going home, however reality is gonna smack me in the face when I get there on so many levels
Till then, I'm going Island hopping and hopefully get home nice and tanned

Giving Back

2010-10-12T03:21:00.000-07:00

Last night was crazy fun!!!!:)
It's pouring rain, so I duck into this little Khmer food place,
order a beer and some kinda spice beef/veggie/rice/peanut combo.
Next door to my restaurant is a fish massage tank, you know the kind u
stick your feet in and the little fish eat all the dead skin.
Weirdest feeling ever! After about 5 minutes of squirming around it actually felt great.
Now, the fish massage was not why I went over there, There were 4 Cambodians sitting on the ground playing traditional instruments,clapping and generally carrying on.
I grab a beer, put my feet in the fish tank and listened to these guys rock out.
Before ya knew it I'm now in the band playing these hand bells!
Couple of other dudes came and sat down and they got one guy to be the drummer(bongo)
Cool and fun got some pics and clean feet to prove it!
Today was OK, went with my tuk tuk driver to the furthest temple out of town 36km
nice place, but crawling with busloads of people so every pic I got has a tourist in it :(
On the way back, we stopped at the landmine museum.
What an interesting and eye opening place
They say there is about 5,000,000 mines left unexploded on Cambodian soil,
killing and injuring people and animals every year.
The guy that runs the museum has been looking for and clearing mines for years.
(can't remember how many but judging by the collection he has...)
He runs the museum with about 12 staff and there is an orphanage/boarding house and school for child mine victims. If they do well in their studies, the centre gives them a scholarship to a university or trade school
The guy who started the mine clearing was declared a hero in 2010 and is getting interviewed with CNN on Thursday(show to air in November)
Pretty cool eh!

Tomb Raider

2010-10-11T00:37:00.000-07:00

Angkor wat
Angkor thom
Bayon
Ta prohm
Bakheng
Banteay Srei
Banteay Samre
Pre Rup
Neak paon
Preah khan
All of the above are something to see,I think my fav was Angkor Thom???
I'll get back to ya on that.
I have many pics and no way to post em :(
I'll also get back to ya on that,if your still here....
Where ya been?

Khmer Dance

2010-10-09T02:54:00.001-07:00

Cambodia is probably the poorest country I have been to.
You kinda have to have thick skin to look past the poverty and not feel bad.
On the same note, if you give $$ to everyone you would be broke the first day!
The amputee rate here is very high aswell, due to the Vietnam war and the many many mines that are left unexploded in the rural areas.
The people here though are amazingly friendly! Granted there are alot of beggers and hawkers on the street, but If you say no thank you and smile they leave u alone.
Vietnam and Thailand were different because when you say no thank you... they keep on ya till you basically ignore them and then they go away.
Phenom Pehn was OK like any other big city it has its faults
The killing fields and S21 prison were very very disturbing and sad
I got an erie feeling there, but it was something to see.
Took the bus today to Siem Reap, gonna see Angkor Wat and the many other temples tomorrow. After that Im not sure, but I think I won't be spending too much time in Cambodia and move on to Laos or Thailand!?!?!?!?

So I Drew A New Face, And I laughed.

2010-10-05T01:49:00.000-07:00

well this is fun, I'm in a little town
a little poor town, the roads should be dirt but they are not
if they were, it would match the infastructure of the place.
I arrived to this little place called Chau Doc last night at 3am
me being me and not having a plan isn't a smart thing when you arrive at 3am.
I pick a hotel recommended by the lying planet
knock knock...wait
knock knock....wait
no one around
hmmmm well time to go for a walk 330am
I find the second place and try again
knock knock
A dude answers and I'm in luck...so I think
he opens the door and with a friendly 345 am voice he says
"no room" and closes the door
hmmmm, now I am contemplating life on the street in this strange poor place
I look down the road and see a dude or a group standing around a fire in the middle of the road...well not walking that way I think to myself
By this time I have attracted the attention of the local motorclyle taxi's and the cyclo drivers. I politely tell them to buzz off and carry on wandering.
I found a hotel and managed to wake someone up at about 415am to check me in
The place isn't pretty but it works, I guess.
Today, is a new day and I awake at 1030am, walk down to the river which I know where it is because of the walking I did last night.
I hire a boat guy to take me for a tour
A rusty old boat with a very loud motor
We tour around and see floating markets and some shitty temple.
He takes me back and I go for lunch.
What's for lunch you ask?
I'm not exactly sure but it was something that resembled a street meat sandwich.
Was OK a baguette sort a thing
Im happy, me belly is full and I'm going for a walk
I booked a boat to Phenom Penn tomorrow am
Cambodian holiday!
I think things are going ok, walking I notice the different types of sports in this town:
People here sleep in hammocks or on benches
People here play cards or checkers
People here fix they're scooters or bicycles
People here like to watch the only foreigner in town walk by
People here like to say hi and then giggle when I say hi back
????????
People here like to drink the local beer and talk really loud
I also noticed alot of random chickens on the street
chickens in the tv shop
chickens in the garages
chickens in the parking lots
there is also alot of cats and dogs running around
as I sit here in this internet cafe there are 4 cats and 2 dogs within spitting distance of me.
Off to people watch the people watching me
sounds creepy eh....well it is!

Ba Ba Ba 3 3 3

2010-10-03T02:25:00.000-07:00

3 days of madness is enough time in Saigon.
I like it better than most big cities I been to, but madness I tell ya!
Wanna take a video of me crossing the street
nerve racking to say the least!
I wanted to leave today, but the post office is closed and I need to mail stuff home.
Gonna take a local bus to the Meekong delta tomorrow and a slow boat to Cambodia
That should be good for a few pics!
Cheers

Poor People, Rice Paddies, Water Buffalo's and Snakes

2010-09-30T07:04:00.000-07:00

Well where should I start?
I'm gonna say be thankful for what you have!
Visiting a poor country like Vietnam is a real eye opener, and wallet opener for that matter!
These people on average make 3-5 US dollars a day, and ya know what I have never met such a happy group of people. By a day I mean like 15hrs of work.
As far as Im concerned it's unbelievable,unimaginable and sad but true!

Ignore the grammar errors, I'm just gonna type here:

I arrived in Hanoi Sept 12 and am working my way south to Saigon (Ho Chi Min city) till I skip over to Cambodia(yet another poor country)
Hanoi was great, met some great people, and saw Halong bay for 3 days 2 nights. Saw some monkeys on an island...for the record monkey's look better in trees than on the beach, but cool nonetheless!
I booked a open end bus ticket with Trekking Travel from Hanoi to Saigon where I could stop along the way and stay whereever I wanted, for as long as I wanted, good for a month....good deal right $42 USD
WRONG!
I get on the "sleeping bus" in Hanoi and I am going 600km to Hue a 13hr ride because the roads are the shitz!
Well I climb into the seat and #1 I don't fit #2 my feet have nowhere to go and #3 evertime the bus hit a bump my head would hit the roof. I ended up standing for about 300km out of 600. After quite possibly the worst ride ever I get to Hue and cancel my ticket. I one way ticket from Hanoi to Hue costs $10 USD so I figured I would get some money back minus the penalty and such...Well THANK YOU Trekking Travel for the 12 USD refund. In reality I paid for 3 flippin tickets!
Hue was nice, people there are great and I ended up hiring an "easy rider" which translates to a dude who drives you around on his motorcyle to show you stuff. Anyway, I saw some temples, a old US army bunker and a remote fishing village where I was like a celeberty in the middle of a very poor village on a lake. I was taking pics and when I turned around there were about 40 kids there all yelling "Hello" in english...I took some pics of them too. Following the Hellos they would say something in Vietnamese, I asked my driver when we got back on the bike what they were saying and it basically translated to "hello, give me a dollar" LOL
He was a great guide, and I hired him to take me 150km south to a town, to a beach town called Hoi ann. I spent one more night in Hue and met some ppl from Australia and England. The English dude worked for a travel company where he is a tour guide. I sent the company an email in hopes of a job here in SE Asia but no response so far :(
Anyhooo Fast forward, my guide picks me up his name is "Bi" we get on the bike and start heading south to Hoi Ann. We stopped a few places along the way, but by far the coolest was a mountain waterfall with a huge rock shaped like an elephant.. trunk, tusks and all! Crystal clear water and in +30 weather I had to go for a swim. We were hungry by this point and Bi says "hey do ya like chicken and rice?" I say sure sounds good, thinking to myself we are in the middle of the bush where the fuck we gonna get chicken and rice? So...I ask him that, and he says pointing at some chickens running around "pick your chicken" Ummm Ok that one I guess?? The lady who was lounging around got to work and made us a fantastic meal complete with chili peppers and veggies!
Back on the bike, we head out and continue south. In Vietnam there are basically two landscapes; jungle filled mountains and beach. There is a pass over one mountain called "Hi van" pass and the view for this road and peak was amazing! At the top, yet another US army bunker sits and rots while ladies try to sell you everything under the sun...remember I told you it's a poor country, so no work= No eat.
We start heading down the pass toward the city of Danang, this is where the US army first set foot in Vietnam during the war. We pass through Danang, not much there but a bunch of beach front hotels/resorts and an airport. Only 48km to Hoi ann where I planned to spend my next three days. We get there I pay Bi $ 75 USD for the two days. I check in to my hotel, and go for a walk around, what a nice place I think to myself, walking along the river with old french buildings in the background. I go to bed. The next day because Hoi ann is so small I rented a scooter to go to the beach(it's 5km outta town)The beach is beautiful, clean and there is nobody there maybe 100 ppl on like 6km of whitsand!
Hoi ann is famous for the many many tailor shops that make any kind of custom clothing you can wish for! Long story short I ended up staying a week, buying a suit and 4 casual shirts, partying with great people and getting a sunburn! Now it's time to go I catch a flight(not getting on a bus) 600km south to Na Trang for $40 USD and decided to check out the beach and town for a few days. I get there and the beach is the shitz, things are overpriced, and the people are not that friendly like in small town Hoi ann. I decide to stay 2 days. Now because of my great experience with "easyrider Bi" I decide to hire another easyrider to take me to Munaei (another beach town about 450km away) Well I meet this guy named "dong" he seemed like a good guy and we worked out a price. Next day we leave Na trang and start heading south. He was a good guide showed me lots of interesting things like waterfalls, silk work farms and factories, minority villages, coffee plantations, pepper farms, currie trees, and tapiocca trees. Who knew Tapiocca grew on trees??
We stayed at Lak lake the first night, a nice resort and the next day we drive to Delat. On the way there I saw farms and farmers on mountain sides.I also saw animals that shouldn't be on the road like:
cows, chickens, pigs, water buffalos, snakes, dogs, cats and ducks. Im sure there were more but I cant remember LOL
Anyhoo,He tells me there is lots to see in Delat, and it's very easy to get a flight or bus or train to Saigon(HCMC) from there, where Munaei is very difficult to gain onward travel by bus and train because they are 20km outta town and the airport is 60km out. I think well OK I'll check out Delat, a mountain town with cool temples and farms. I paid him for 3 days and 2 nights and thinking to myself we only went half the distance and stopped we're even right....Wrong!
Halfway through day 3 (later than the check out time at the hotel) he says I owe him for one more day. I told him I paid you for 3 days, I bought all your food and you want more...kiss my ass! Trip finished!
He was a great guide, and I was actually going to tip him until he pulled that shiznit! He is a very poor man the bike we were riding is like a 1975 model and like I said he was good so I felt bad threw him 200,000 dong (10USD) and told him he should learn how to do business and don't ask ppl for money after the fact! he was very greatful, I never saw him agian!
All that being said, I still HIGHLY recommend hiring a motorcycle guide as the only real way to see the place your in is with the help of a local!!
Delat was not that great, it is a cold mountain town that is spread out, I really didn't care for it much. I took a flight to Saigon(HCMC) this morning and the place is flippin crazy. I thought Hanoi was nuts, but this takes the cake! Went to the war museum this afternoon WOW what a depressing way to spend the day!
I can't post any of my 1000 pics yeat because my computer is in Bangkok but thats all I got so far...time to get lost in the madness of HCMC on this Friday night!
Be back soon :)

Good Morning Vietnam!

2010-09-21T04:00:00.001-07:00

Been awhile eh! yeah I keep meaning to write on here, but somedays I just keep my thoughts to my self. The brain has been busy, let me tell you beer Larue!
Compared to Korea, the internet in this part of the world is sketch at best!
Where do I start? How about with the saying that never gets old here:

U buy something from me?
very cheap, ahhh common u buy from me!

I hear this 90000000 times a day in my Vietnam travels, but Im having alot of fun!
Spending too much $$, but ya only live once!
People in poor countries want one thing and one thing only
The cash in your wallet!
I have become quite good at the "haggle" or so I think :)

Let me tell you a story about a little company called Trekking travel
You can purchase an open ended bus ticket, which means I can go from Hanoi to Ho Chi min city and get off at any town in between for a few days, then get on the next bus heading south till I want to stop again and so on until I get to the last stop Ho Chi Min city. The bus is called a sleeping bus, in the picture it looks fantastic so I think to my self I'll bite. I buy a ticket $42 US for the open ended deal. I get on the luxury liner in Hanoi and my planned stop is Hue about 600km away. This is where it gets good. First I don't fit in the seats, the road is like a wagon trail and the bus moves at about 50km/hr. I tried to sleep NOPE not happening I tried to get comfortabel NOPE not happening so I stood up most of the ride.. 13 fuckin hours later I get to Hue! If I was to buy a one way ticket on the bus from Hanoi to Hue it would cost $10. I go to the travel place to get a refund they gave me $12 so in reality I paid $30 for the ride or the equivilant of three tickets! Fuckers!
It worked out well though, I hired a motorcyle guide to take me around Hue and 150km to Hoi ann where I am now. He showed me lots of tourist stuff and even more non tourist off the beaten path things like US military bunkers, a remote fishing village, one of the coolest views I have ever seen from way up in the mountains of Hivan pass and a crystal clear waterfall and pool that has a huge rock elephant above it, I went swimming there and wow was it nice! He made some money off me I treated him well because I was happy so I made sure he was too I think with dinner and lunch (plus the driving) he made $75 off me...I don't mind because I saw stuff I never would have seen from the shitbus! When we went to the fishing village, I was taking pics of the water and the boats, when I turned around there were about 40 kids surrounding me like I was George clooney or something LOL They all said Hello in English and then some vietnamese words which I found out after translated to" give me a dollar please" LOL Anyway I tlked with them and took some pics!
I am going to a lantern festival tonight here and I booked a flight to my next beach town on Thursday for $50 Not going by bus thats for sure 615 km.
I do miss Korea believe it or not I find myself thinking or speaking of it often. I miss the people I met there, the food I ate there and of course Teri and the cats. I am coming home in November to TBay but I may head out again in January unless some job god throws me something that would be to hard to let go. I guess time will tell! Well I am signing off here and will try to be back when I can Hope all is well with you and come back soon...u buy something from me?

Just some pics of Tokyo Japan and My trip to the Korean countryside

2010-08-06T21:18:00.000-07:00

Counter Productive

2010-07-10T02:28:00.000-07:00

Well, It's time to give up the beer for awhile
Time to "hop on the wagon" so to speak
Problem is I like beer, and it's so cheap here..water seems expensive!
However, as of the past days events it's time to gear down.
I type this post from a stand up computer terminal in Gimpo airport S.Korea
Why am I here and not in Japan???
a few beers + lack of sleep= miss my morning flight
So,I'm on my way shortly but I lost out on a day.
Been doing well in my Geography,only one assignment to go!
So far so good!
The plan is look for a new course to take and keep goin with it
maybe get into Oceans and fisheries type job eventually if I pick the right courses.
There's a marine college in Nova scotia that trains people to be coastgaurds
probably really expensive to attend, but Im lookin into it.
That would be cool!
Before I step back on my home turf, I'm planning a month vacation/treat for myself
Southeast asia seems to stick out but im looking around.
Vietnam,Thailand,Cambodia,Laos and any other god dam hot country I can squeeze in!
After all end of October in Canada is dam close to winter.
Gonna miss the moose hunting but Im sure PBear(and group) will shoot one anyway if Im there or not
Well gotta run here I have a Korean man standing beside me wondering why this white guy is typing up a storm when he needs the computer.
Check in later skaters!

Small Town Hometown Bringdown

2010-07-02T03:59:00.000-07:00

Had a great Canada day, in the wrong country!
it was nice to have all the canadians here in the same bar
Tragically Hip cover band and Moosehead beer = A good night.
Going to Tokyo in 8 days and man I'm looking forward to that
Going solo, never have I done that
it should be a learning curve.
Hopefully the weather is good... as of late, every weekend it's freakin raining.
trying to email people at home...man I really wish I had a phone
If ya wanna call me (country code that I cant remember)8210-7217-6942
Sad that Korea lost in the world cup race, they deseved that game three times over but couldn't put it in the net.
Been super lazy the last two weeks no gym and lots of beer ohhh ya and I can't forget the new show(to me) I been watching called "the wire" hooked like crack I am on that show, I mean it's no Deadliest catch but it's great!
Everything seems normal here in regards to the yo yo's that live in N Korea
hope so anyhow, there's been a lack of fighter planes and choppers flying over my neighbourhood lately so, thats my guess.
Why is it because Im leaving here soon
I start to make all these great connections?
Maybe I'll have to come back one day..
you know there's no jobs in TBay!

Hello Walls

2010-06-23T08:34:00.000-07:00

Yep home sweet home, I prefer to call it cozy rather than small
booked a trip to japan today that is all!

You Can Have This Car In Any Colour Ya Like, As Long As It's Black

2010-06-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

Well where do I start?
Teri and I are split, I got my own apartment about the size of a king size bed.
Hey it's somewhere to store my shit and beets the couch I slept on for two days. I don't have a plan but, im here till September maybe October?
Things are lonely in a strange country now that im flying solo
I do know people here and we hang out once in awhile. I go to the gym and entertain myself for an hour or two a day(not this week though I been lazy)
Doing Ok in my online course and it keeps me busy.
Talking to a beer can on a regular basis is driving me nuts so I thought I would write something on here afterall it's been a long time.
People make mistakes in life, and believe it or not I do too. I don't think it was a mistake to quit my job and come to Asia, I been to Shanghai,Taiwan,and all over Korea.I do have a few more places to see before I go home. What am I gonna do when i get there? Who the fuck knows, to be honest I haven't a clue. I don't think it was a mistake to meet new people and try new foods. I don't think it was a mistake to learn a different culture and language(which im not very good at) I do think it was a mistake to throw the relationship I had, more importantly the friendship I had out the window because of a dumb move.
Anybody got a time machine?
Anybody??

X saves The World

2010-04-17T00:37:00.000-07:00

Been a long time since I have posted.....
You probably know that!
Well not much to say these days
Taking a geography course through the university of Manitoba to keep my brain occupied it is 100% online and something to do
I learned two little interesting things the last few weeks:
90,000 people a day go through Seoul Station
That's the population of Thunder bay LOL That's also pretty freakin busy
Dog Soup costs $13 a bowl not that I ate it or want to eat it but I popped into one of very many "dog" restaurants to see how much the shit sells for...
You get some funny looks from the locals when you go into or around these "potion-tung" restaurants
Going to Taipei in two weeks, looking forward to that! A whilwind adventure of a weekend it will be....might I also say cheap at $350 round trip tickets!
That's about all I have at this point but hopefully we'll talk to ya soon!

2010-03-28T05:55:00.000-07:00

Some video I took of the massive tank felt like a kid again for a bit LOL

2010-03-28T05:34:00.000-07:00

Went to the Korean war museum for the afternoon. It had exibits from the Chosun dynasty all the way up to the Korean war. The third pic from the bottom is a scale model of the DMZ. I would like to put all my pics on but that would take a long time! The museum was free to visit,it's huge, in Canada it would have cost at least $20. I'm gonna go back again for a second walk through. There is a bunch of short movies you can watch while touring the museum, didn't get to see all of them so like I said I'll go back!

Everyday Normal Guy

2010-03-21T07:47:00.001-07:00

Life Has It's Up's And Downs

2010-03-08T23:45:00.000-08:00

Well well well look who's back, been awhile since I have came here but you heard that before.
The new place is all set up and back to "normal"
The thing I can say about the new place is that we live on the 11th floor, the view is great! There is vendors that sell fantastic food off of carts, right outside my front door Pogo's for a buck! A store and a bar in the basement..It's well set-up!
My one and only problem with the new place is the elevator...We used to live on the second floor so I never "had" to use the elevator. Some might say hey than why don't you take the stairs? Well because there is 2 flights of 10 stairs each per floor and that's alot of frickin stairs...so I wait for the elevator.
There is 11 floors above ground and 5 below, if your timing is not good, let's just say your waiting for it to go down, skip the main floor, come back up, you get in then it stops on every floor because A: it's full of people or B: people on lower floors pushed the call button and decided to take the stairs...ugg
I do enough stairs at the subway station and average of about 150 a day so I'm waiting for the elevator!
The second pic is the "Holy Mary GS25", a church and a convenience store all in one, so if your sweating in Church you can buy a beer or some soju to calm ya down!
The mountain views are the view from our apartment, I told ya it was nice!
The dude passed out on the garbage bags, I guess is a regular occurrence of a Saturday night!
The first pic is myeondong market(sp?)and as you can tell by the sea of black hair the place is a flippin zoo to walk through. The last pic is sweet potatoes and squid for sale out in the said market..
All in all things are OK missing out on a weekend trip to Taipei because the airfare is alot of money right now, guess I'll keep lookin
that's all for now, I'm going to get a pogo!

APT 1111

2010-02-24T21:34:00.000-08:00

I am pretty busy these days as you can tell from lack of posting...So finally we got our old apartment packed up, moved to our new place and unpacked. The Internet dude fixed us up this morning, so everything is almost back to "normal" In the meantime here's a few pics!

The two cats!

Little bones likes to hang out under the top blanket :)

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11th floor view

Looking down outta the window

more of the view from our window

Moving day shambles

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Shabu Shabu My second or maybe third favorite food here!

When the soups done you get fried rice for your hotpot!

Then you roll outta the restaurant because your full of delicious food!

Sometimes It's Pointless

2010-02-13T01:18:00.000-08:00

Well again I have been dropping the ball and not coming here as often as I should
What's been getting in the way?
Well.... beer mainly, there's always people who want to go out and play!
For $2.50 a pint I can't say no
It's the last week of that nonsense though, as were moving to a different all Korean and no foreigner neighbourhood! not that they don't have beer there but they're wont be as many people to be social with....
It's lunar new years here in Asia, it's a long weekend and we almost went to Fukuoka Japan
the cheap airline tickets were gone when we decided to buy em :(
Maybe in a couple o weeks we'll try again ! :)

Went to the California Pizza Kitchen for some good eats tonight.
Koreans put Cilantro on everything, and in my opinion, you either love it or ya don't!
I don't ! It tastes like soap, or what I imagine soap would taste like if I ate it....
Anyhoo that's about all the exciting news I have to tell for now!

Ouch

2010-02-03T08:50:00.000-08:00

So surfing the net tonight I ran into this blog
Something to read anyway and make you shake your head!
Bedtime for me it's been a long day!
PS-red rock beer is the shitz

Public Relations Imnida

2010-02-01T03:43:00.000-08:00

Well not much to report, cats are fine, Teri is fine, and I'm fine. We are about to be whirl winded by the upcoming move but, hey that's OK too!

I'm thinking I need a vacation away from my vacation....somewhere cheap and warm like the Phillipines or somewhere really expensive but super cool like Japan??

Maybe a random comment would help me decide?

There's Always Drinks And Dancing

2010-01-28T02:05:00.000-08:00

Some days I'm out and about and I see stuff where I wish I had my camera...
Some examples are the "Human School" on the 4th floor and some crazy 2 person statue I saw today on my way to Costco.
Koreans go to the restaurant in Costco and get plates of white onions all cut up, eat them with ketchup and mustard.....Is that weird? I had a hot dog and a pop. When I was dressing my hot dog with mustard and a few onions I got bowled over my a crazy old lady who just had to get her plate 'o' onions! Dam I wish I had my camera :(

Currently we live in Sunae it's on the yellow line Were moving north to Ssangmun on the light blue line near the top of the map...or really fuckin far to make it simple!

This Is Our Story, Stick To It!

2010-01-23T20:46:00.000-08:00

So as you may or may not know it's near the end of January. January 24th to be exact! We got on the bus yesterday to come home from looking at our new place this is what we saw! One would figure they would have taken the decorations down, although the bus was decked out and looked nice I think someone should have put a calender up.

This is funny because the on the left is a fire "chicken feet" restaraunt remember the fire chicken from long ago well I guess they make the feet into spicy food too.

The one on the right, is a foot massage place....can ya see where i'm goin with this?

Some views from our new neighbourhood. This is the mountain I climbed, which happens to be at my doorstep when we move, Round 2??? not sure about that LOL

North Korea is that way, I don't know how far that way but it's that way!

So incase of fire I'm supposed to grab the rope supplied in box below and tie it to this

and spiderman out the window... I wonder who bolted the hanger to the wall?

For day's when Korea gets to me I can just go to the second floor for a visit!

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This sign is on the way to our new place....Do ya think it's far? LOL

Puppets

2010-01-21T00:06:00.000-08:00

Can't really say I have been good at coming here. I don't know why it just slips my mind more often then not.

Korea is OK same old shiznit, pizza and beer.

I have been spending lots of time on ITunes lately getting free shit for the new touch! Lots of cool podcasts

including one called Risk, witch has made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion! People at the gym must think we white folks are nuts!

Speaking of crazies the other day on the subway I had the joy of sharing my 2.1 square feet with a dude who looked normal (by Korean standards)he was dressed fine, hair combed and had a man purse. Out of the blue he started making cartoon voices at everyone in the car except for me not sure why he avoided me but, the girl in front of me, to the left of him did not find this as amusing as I did. She moved as much as she could away from boy wonder!

It was disturbing and funny at the same time! We rolled into the next station (my stop) he was now making voices to the people waiting for the train on the other side of the door window LOL the train rolled in to a stop, I got off and so did he I followed him up many many stairs and he was still blurtin stuff out in a high pitch voice! Freakin Hilarious....... I wonder if he thought he was a cartoon toaster?

Forty Creek

2010-01-14T02:01:00.000-08:00

Holy shit it has been awhile since I been here....Whirlwind of a trip home to Canada. I must admit it was a productive trip home that I'm glad I took. I am jetlaged still 3 days after getting back but I'm catching up!

I spent a total of 54 hours travelling to and from home, that's more time in two trips than some people work in two weeks!

Got rid of my fantastic tenant and spruced the place up via a paintbrush for someone who is not an idiot to rent real soon. I must admit I'm not in a rush to rent it out till I find someone "suitable" for the place. Being a landlord can be great, also it can be the biggest god dam nightmare of your home ownership! Can't wait for that hydro bill!

Korea is just how I left it although it is a little colder these days the foods still great and I still can't understand much of the talk around me. I bought another ipid when I was home thought it would help me with many things including making myself deaf.

I'm back at the gym, in effort to lose the Christmas weight, but what do you expect from prime rib dinners, turkey dinners, lobster dinners, chicken wings and lots of beverages for 22 days?? well 4kg to the plus side be exact.....

Don't get me wrong I had a great time spending my days working on the house and my nights visiting friends and family I'm just sweating it out now that's all. LOL

Great White North

2009-12-30T16:31:00.000-08:00

Dark Clouds May Hang On Me Sometimes, But I'll Work It Out

2009-12-25T09:01:00.000-08:00

I went from this

To this.....

That will freak ya out!

Merry Christmas all!

It Gets So Sticky Round Here

2009-12-20T08:26:00.000-08:00

Everybody this is Little Bones!
Little Bones this is everybody!

I threw this pic in because I am 15 hours into a 30 hour travel day back and needed some amusement! I am in Seattle right now I for some odd reason it feels weird to be here and actually understand what people are saying.... I kinda miss Korea believe it or not.....maybe it's because the people I have encountered thus far have been sorta rude to a Canadian traveller!

Made To Take And Take And Take

2009-12-12T17:47:00.000-08:00

Some people want to rob banks or steal armoured cars in an effort to get rich.
Not me, I wanna steal this mobile butcher shop!

Christmas at AK Plaza

Some pics of the view from my watering hole. The manager likes us there! Super nice guy and he is always trying to talk to me but he speaks very very little English and my Korean is the shits, but at least there is never a dull moment!

The menu at the said watering hole

The middle floor here is the all you can eat Korean BBQ for $12

Good stuff !

Best Guitar Riff Of The 2000'ds

2009-12-12T03:07:00.000-08:00

WOW time flies

It's almost Christmas good thing I sent out the gifts

2 months ago and I'll bet they'll still be late.

Internet guitar 101 is coming along OK

I only play when T is not home, for many reasons

I broke the 100kg mark at the gym today and I'm pretty dam happy about that!

(not lifting but the weigh in was less than 100kg)

So now I'm a semi fat white guy ! LoL

Today for fun I got on a bus just to see where it went

Well it went on a "milk run" through all the Korean apartment towns

let me tell ya when your a semi fat white guy in an apartment town in

the hood of Migeum you get some funny looks!

Went out last night with a friend to Seoul, Gangnam to be exact and

it took me one hour and twenty minutes to hail a cab ride home

maybe it was racism, but no one would stop for me or take me to Bundang

$22 dollar cab fare to be exact!

I have been trying to learn how to write in Korean

Peoples names, things, and places

I can officially read it, understanding it is a whole other story?

It's tough but hey why not try I'm here after all

Then I started thinking, after all those years of partying

the only thing I ever got an A+ on was my blood type...

Wish me luck !

Shooting Star

2009-12-06T06:02:00.000-08:00

Ms D had a birthday, now she is old like me! Was a two day fun filled weekend including a great dinner both nights! This lamp was my gift to her along with a baby g shock watch and a 10 yr old cat who understands Russian as that's where she came from.

Today we went here to pick up our second cat from a lady who was fostering the kitten!

Friday night birthday dinner at our friends! Don't light sparklers over the cake they get sulphur on the icing!

Been a busy boy and I have been meaning to get here all week, now it's Sunday night and I finally made it!

More to come.......

Where's My Head Gone?

2009-11-28T20:50:00.000-08:00

Ahhh Sunday, the day I look forward to going exploring in the massive city I decided to call home for the time being. Truth be told I spend alot of time here alone. Ms D is out doing her thing and I could sit at home doing nothing or go exploring. Today I really wanted to go and it's raining :(
ohh by the way I wore shorts out and about yesterday...pretty good for November 28th

Anyhow in other news I joined the gym in the basement of our building, the first time in my life I actually owned a gym membership. It's been good so far, it has all the work out stuff you can imagine, a sauna with a 짐실봉 (a bunch of whirl pools with different stuff in em) The best part is nobody is ever in the gym and all I have to do is hop in the elevator and I'm there!
Fell off the no-beer wagon this weekend but at least I rained it in a little It's a bumpy road in a country that loves to over indulge in alcoholic beverages!
Been trying to learn some stuff on the guitar it's not going that well Internet guitar lessons can only take you so far I guess.... I'm plunkin away at er and I might try to find a place in our area to take some lessons offered in English of course>> this should be interesting.

I also learned and I'm not sure how true it is but Korean kids have a slang term for budding into a line they call it "hit the bird" I kind of like it and have now adopted the saying as my own after all it was a guy named Sean that told me about it!

Styrofoam Coffee Cups

2009-11-24T07:40:00.000-08:00

This is the path that goes all the way to Seoul. I'm guessing just under 40km from end to end. Went for a few good hikes down here but not all the way but I bet you coulda guessed that!

Alleyways always look better to the naked eye than on film??

Taken in Dongdaemun

I asked him for a ride but my Korean is the shits Guess who's still walking

North Korea demonstration in Insadong. Koreans love to protest. This one is about the fact that people are starving and people are being executed publicly just 40 km north of Seoul.

A good protest I say!

I know what the pho!
If you really wanna know

You have to go.....

Sean - 션

2009-11-17T02:25:00.000-08:00

Random sightings in my daily travels;

I particularly like the Flu gun, a booth you walk through
and get sprayed with chemicals to prevent the flu!

Lets just say, I walked around it and am prepared to take my chances!

Giraffes in the river

Back ally in Seoul

Chemicals anyone??

After a long day of exploring I like to go to the Kinema! Close to here is the fire chicken restaurant I once told you about.....

I think I'm ready for another round of SUPER spicy tasty chicken!

I don't even know what these pizza girls are about but the picture looked good at the time!

Big Old Jet Airliner

2009-11-16T05:10:00.000-08:00

Well I had another birthday this past Friday
Was a good time had by all

Teri Stewart bought me a guitar, so it's official I

own two guitars and can't play a single chord

I'm learning slowly thank god for Internet guitar lessons...

Speaking of lessons, I am having alot of trouble finding Korean lessons

that are close to home and also free, I found some but there far away

79 minutes one way to be exact, still lookin but so far no luck!

I'm getting older, and not wiser despite many attempts.

Feels Like Time Ain't Time At All

2009-11-11T03:53:00.000-08:00

I have a new phobia
Bridges...yup with cars on em
Not crossing them, but going underneath on the walking path
6 lanes of traffic are above maybe a subway car?
Out for a walk today and this new phobia hit, had visions of the bridge crumbling
or collapsing as I walked under
I started thinkin, as I walked a little faster
Korea is a country with not alot of space and a shit load of people
so they build things up as there is not enough room to build flat
30 story apartment buildings are common and to give a better example
We live in a building that has 12 floors of apartments above ground
It also has 7 floors below street level
A parking garage, Sauna, and who knows what else is down there.
Some subway stations are about 8 stories underground
you know when your there because to catch your train or transfer to a different train
requires alot of stairs to go down
Complete shopping malls that go for blocks and blocks all underground
My point is sometimes you don't know if your actually on "ground level"
Take an escalator up and walk out there's cars ya look down off a bridge that you just came up to and there's cars
Maybe I should stop walking and thinkin but this is my alternative
Subway ride anyone?

Florida Without The Ocean

2009-11-10T01:05:00.000-08:00

Had a little time on my hands and decided to venture up to a "tourist attraction" in Northwest Seoul called Seodaemun Prison A place where the Japanese tortured and killed many Korean people in the early 1900's.
The pictures I took don't really justify the erie feeling you get when on the tour. I must admit in a weird way it was a little funny because they're wax mannequins screaming from the cells. One kinda not so funny moment I had and saw in there, was the scratch marks on the floors and concrete walls of the cells counting days, (I'm guessing) something that resembled a checker board, and people's names. There was one area on the tour where you can't take pictures, it was a old wooden building surrounded by 15ft concrete walls. A trap door on the floor inside the building, where people were hung and then carted out a secret tunnel to be disposed of.......Two trees grow outside of the building, one on each side of the concrete wall....the one on the outside is a fully grown tree,the one on the inside has barely grown at all, a sign says it's because of the martyrs and what happened in those four walls. More info on the link above but for now here's some pictures....

Memorial plaque

Japanese courtroom in the prison

Water torture

A cell inside and an inmate getting brought to the torture area

On a lighter note, I bought this mask in China and hung it by our bed;

Teri does not like that idea very much!

Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

2009-11-08T03:00:00.000-08:00

Decided to go for a hike up Bukhansan Mountain it seemed like a fun afternoon, however
it was one tough go! For an outta shape guy like me, it was slow goin but I made it to the top!
I brought a 2 litre bottle of water with me because from previous hikes
(up much smaller mountains) I always ran outta water.
The Koreans (and many of them) thought it was the funniest thing in the world...not sure why but I guess it was a combo of a fat white guy hiking up a mountain and 2 litres of water??
My legs are stiff today, here's some random pics of my adventure....It was overcast but the view was still awesome!

Wild dogs we saw along the way, maybe they escaped from the market and headed for the hills?

Getting tough so they put a wire to grab onto

The Top was very windy

I look like a dork but I just climbed a mountain what do you want?

My Feet Hit The Floor In Exactly The Same Place

2009-11-01T03:04:00.000-08:00

Free prize to whomever can figure out what this picture is about.......I have no idea ???
Went on a little road trip to Daejeon this weekend, outside the KTX terminal there were pieces of art on the walls. I took pictures of some, this one included however I "get" what the others are about no freakin clue about this!
Still wearing shorts and it's November 1st, although today was a little chilly around supper time Took a trip into Seoul and walked around for the day lots to see there but it's nice to come back to the "new" suburb of Bundang. The bonus about it being chilly out is the air doesn't smell as bad in Seoul, like in the summer.......

We Go Dancing At The Legion Every Friday Night

2009-10-28T06:02:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gents may I proudly present men with purses!

Seriously I could have posted a million pics of the men with purses they're all over, but instead here's one of the public toilets with no doors I wonder where they keep the soap?

100 Cars On Pullin Out Slow

2009-10-27T02:29:00.000-07:00

As mentioned before, I see signs around Korea where the English is just terrible
This one is at an English School, Would you send your kid here?

Cases and cases of ramien or "Mr Noodles" at the airshow!! Wow, they love the stuff

One of the sights that made me happy at the market on the way to the airshow! That's alot of freakin peppers!
Alot of things around the city have been cancelled due to swine flu, I guess with the colder weather its spreading like wildfire and there shutting things down all over :(
Don't cough on the subway you get lots of weird looks !

Bigger Boats Done By Less Water

2009-10-26T03:19:00.001-07:00

Attended an airshow this weekend, pretty cool I must say
was an all day event with two shows that had pilots from the US
and Pilots from Korea's acrobatic air team also many exhibits including this one
showing off all the bombs that can be attaches to various fighter jets
the crowd was overwhelming at times good thing I'm tall......
Despite the crowd I would go to another airshow in a heartbeat !!

I'm not sure if you remember but in a previous fish market post I told you Koreans eat anything, well I found out now they also eat it anywhere.

The USA's Thunderbirds

My Friend Jenny and a massive plane

Stealth planes were there too

The noise from these jets is crazy!

Sonic boom and a half!

If you were not expecting a jet to come from a different direction than the one you were lookin It scares the shit out of you!

I been having a little dilemma the airshow was great but to get to it from the subway you have to walk through the Moran Market, sounds harmless right well that's the market where they sell everything including livestock and dogs to eat. I took some pictures in between gaging from the smell of the dog market. I got yelled at from a vendor for taking the pictures of his shitty business operation, he kept yelling, I kept taking pictures. I mean seriously what do you expect your running a dog market and expect no one to care....The Koreans say they only eat one breed of dog and they are bred for eating kinda like cows or pigs. I saw several different breeds in the cages so I call bullshit to that! I also call bullshit to the way their treated and "processed" It's pretty inhumane and all around disgusting! I can't do much about it as this is not my country except tell people about this inconvenient truth and raise some awareness?? Korea is not the only Asian country that has these markets......So the dilemma is to post or not to post the pictures I took........post a comment and lemme know what ya think!

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere

2009-10-20T03:17:00.000-07:00

So this is how far I am from Toronto I'm not sure if I add or subtract 16 hrs to get home! LOL

Yet another backwards Korean trend

Random van... actually I'm not sure what this picture is but I'm gonna go with random van.

I walked by and wondered what the staff was like......

A busy street in Gangam pronounced "Kongnam" a ritzy subway stop, a busy place and home of good taco's!

Today, I was out for a walk and saw a guy dressed in a Superman costume riding a scooter cape and all! His helmet had big horns sticking out of it like he was a cross between Superman and a viking....I wish I had my camera, it would have made a great picture as he was riding on the sidewalk! Turns out it's a new delivery service here in Bundang called Superman Delivery!

I see this on TV every 3 minutes

2009-10-15T07:59:00.001-07:00

Apparently it's a bank commercial?

Runnin Red Lights In Our HumVees

2009-10-14T21:55:00.000-07:00

Went to Daegu, Korea's 3rd largest city and home of many temples and Buddhas.
I got myself a case of pharyngitis, or extreme soar throat, so we only got to see one area and I(we) had to go. There is a few more way up the mountain, which were way cooler but I had no energy to do that hike :(

Monks had air conditioning
who knew?

Carvings

people praying to the BIG Buddha

rock miniature

Lion 1 of 4

Inside a temple

The BIG Buddha

Some cool looking dudes inside one of the buildings.

Snakes on the stairs

All the Buddha/temple stuff is really amazing to see, and very interesting to learn about. Lots of attention to details and very Asian, but

truth be told this is more my style!

Birds Eye View Of A Birds Eye View

2009-10-08T03:08:00.000-07:00

Took an ear popping elevator ride up 88 floors of the Jin Mao tower and this is what we saw!

Inside the tower looking down 88 floors to the lobby of the Grand Hyatt hotel Shanghai witch occupies floors 53-87 of the tower

The building in front here is where we were
Jin Mao tower

A look at an even taller building

Red roofs and smog

A look from the ground

Oriental Pearl tower, the line up to go up there was longer than you can imagine so we skipped it.

River out to the ocean....cant remember the name but it starts with an "H"

All Eyes On The Outside

2009-10-06T02:06:00.000-07:00

Some random pictures in no particular order.....
Despite being a very smoggy city Shanghai was awesome and I would go back in a heartbeat. The people were nice, but it was hard to communicate as very little English is spoken there. I think we met three people that spoke a little English, but no big deal we did just fine....
Food was greasy but very tasty and the beer was not too bad!
Tsingtao is the china brew.

Saw the military parade on the tv live on Sunday morning...let me tell you the Chinese take their communist party seriously, in fact China had the week off to celebrate the 60yr anniversary of the party.
Regardless the place is amazing and I recommend a trip there anytime!

Ps Shopping is Cheap Cheap Cheap

and fun cause you can haggle! More on China later :)

Says Hey There Man With The Stare, Could I Help You To Get Yourself Somewhere?

2009-10-01T02:05:00.000-07:00

Took a little bike ride down the river

12k round trip to be exact.

T got a bike, i took it for a test ride

It works good!

Our new apartment is on the Tancheon river witch goes through Bundang all the way to Seoul I'm guessing about a 50-60km path !

The Korean lessons I wanted to attend, have been cancelled due to swine flu. There is still classes available, but they cost alot as compared to the original plan.

They have been cancelling big public gatherings like the flea market because of the swine flu, I'm not sure why they consider Korean classes a big public gathering....but there cancelled. I sent some Soju in the mail to "the Man" as part of our wedding gift....Now we wait to see if it makes it to Canada......any bets?

Speaking of Soju...this weekend here in Korea is "Chuseok" or Korean thanksgiving the whole city is closed, people spend time with there family's cooking and eating.

Today I was on the bus going for lunch near Ms'D's school, there was a older man arguing with the bus driver to let him off , not at the bus stop like everyone else, but HERE, halfway between stops.. the bus driver did, but I'm guessing some words were said because people were laughing and the driver was yelling!

Moving now on to the subway there was a fella who clearly had to much Soju, He was yelling and carrying on in Korean, I didn't understand him but people were laughing so I guess he was funny! I guess the party has started for some this holiday weekend...ours starts tomorrow! Shanghai here we come!

Boats And Hoes

2009-09-29T03:11:00.000-07:00

Turns out Seoul has a "Little Russia" We decided to go and check it out
with Borsht in mind....really good Borsht might I add. It was nice to go somewhere
and not hear Korean all the time, not that I understand Russian, Mongolian or Uzbekistanian
but it was nice! The food was great, then we ended up at this "disco" owned by the lady who
also owned the restaurant I don't think we can go back there unfortunately as a few members of our party kinda pissed the locals off, blame the perogies, 5 bottles of vodka, the lost camera or the way the night went I'm just sad we can't go eat there any more :(
this is the restaurant:
The menu is in Russian but we got lucky, one of the girls with us spoke Russian!
Who Knew??

A church I think

LOL these posters were everywhere!

The disco was owned by people from Uzbekistan this was on the wall. I'm guessing someone important to them! Amir Temur

Restaurant and Russian Beer

One of 5 bottles that night.... Good Stuff!

What happens after the 5 bottles to most of us, the pic says it all!

I took this just to Say a mini Hello!

The disco, as you can see we were not affected by the shooters or the perogies!

Korean Lesson # 2

This is the sign outside our apartment it says in red letters "Sauna"

first character makes a "Sh" sound

second is a "AH" sound

the circle means nothing when placed there but the "T" or the third is a "U" sound

Fourth is the L shape or "N" sound and the last one as you already know is an "AH" sound

or SH-AH-U-N-AH

Perfect Fifths, Low Skids And Arctic Howls

2009-09-24T02:48:00.000-07:00

Some day's I actually forget I'm in Korea, although I'm reminded very fast the second I walk outside.

10 steps outside my door and BOOM instant reminder.

I read the news back home, nothing really new there unless you count that guy getting the shit kicked out of him with a brick....like I said nothing new there.

So I'm glad I am where I am for the time being, but from time to time I think about shit I'm missing at home...for example:

Right now it's fall time and I'm missing the Salmon fishing and moose hunting strategy's out at Mono. I'm missing the cows grow some delicious beef out at the farm, not to mention the cold very tasty beer that you just can't get here! This list could go on for a while but you get my point. I think today was one of those days I forgot where I was and the mind was wondering......Something I never had back home was these GIANT size peaches they sell here I ate on for the first time yesterday and man was it Juicy! Best dam peach I have tasted from a tree! Also Dok noodles and Kimchi are two things that are really frickin good, don't think you can get those back home either.....

This weekend there is a birthday party to attend in Little Russia?? Huh? Yeah I guess were going for Borscht and Vodka in Dongdaemun, should be interesting! I have seen some Russians around Itaewon but I didn't know they had there own "Russia town" I'm bringing my camera LOL

I am/we are looking forward to going to China next week should be a 3 day whirlwind!

Can't wait shopping is cheap so place your requests now! Christmas is coming!

Courage, My Word

2009-09-20T03:42:00.000-07:00

Harley Davidson of Korea, was gonna buy a T-shirt till I went in and looked at the prices $120

Spelling here in Korea when it comes to English is rather poor, I see at least 10 signs a day that make me laugh the one above was today's.

Monster pig outside the Thai embassy of labour.

I spent a couple hours walking around Itaewon or "little America" on Saturday, while Teri got her hair done. It's called little America because there is a military base in Iteawon, and it's full of American soldiers and their family's. Also it is home to many migrate workers from just about any country you can think of. On the upside you can get pretty much any food, any size clothing and all other comforts of home but it's not cheap! On the downside it's dirty, stinky and full of annoying vendors who harass you as you walk by! Speaking of vendors check this one out!

Very importand lesson #1

How to read the word Pizza in Korean. The red lettering actually says "P-I-CH-A or pizza!

Had a good weekend, played alot of pool and badminton! Lookng forward to a sauna in my near future! In the not so near future, the first thing I'm gonna do when I get back to Canada is go see The Hip!

When You Can Squak And Wait For Word From Above, And Change Yourself Into something You Love!

2009-09-17T00:50:00.000-07:00

For some odd reason, these little cars have caught my eye, besides the fact there everywhere here with cool paint jobs.....they look like alot of fun to drive!

Ohhh ya and there not cheap! Look it up!

We got our visa's to go to china today! well actually 2 days ago

I'm not sure whats up with the passport people, when they stamp or place a visa in your passport one would think they would start on page 1 and go from there

Nope,

When I arrived here in Korea my immigration stamp is on page 17

My Chinese visa is on pg 22

Maybe they don't know about page 1???

we'll see what Japan does when I go there LOL

Really looking forward to that trip anyhow it's coming fast! 2 weeks away.

Also it's September seventeen....not sure what thats about click here

The Last Canada Goose

2009-09-15T01:39:00.000-07:00

I was daydreaming of my old life and things I missed about it, Northern Ontario and the clean air, then this picture came to mind...I didn't take it but I was there. Taken at Patience lake on our fly in fishing trip.

When trees are sick what do you do?

Give them IV of course!

The top of the mountain we have now hiked a total of 2 times....our time going up the mountain has improved by about 15 minutes! Not a very big mountain but it's a fun thing to do on a Sunday!

Any takers?

See this truck well there everywhere here in Korea. For some reason they come in two colours, Blue and White

I must admit they kinda have grown on me, would be a good buggy for back home, good on gas and a nice box for my toys! More on these beauties later! I'm gonna get a whole bunch of pics of different ones and do a poll.....

In other random events, we have a spa in the basement of our building, so I went to check it out! The sauna was like nothing I have seen before, if you can picture an Igloo, and a sauna mixed together, that's how the sauna was....like an igloo, you crawl in and then your in a huge circle room with mats on the floor. You sit for about ten minutes and crawl out.....pretty neat and about 65 degrees in there! They have another sauna room with rocks that look like salt on the floor, you basically sit on top of mats sitting on the salt/rock, oh ya in that one, there is a TV! Nothing like sweating and watching CSI......there is a few saunas like we know back home with wooden walls and benches, one is a "cool sauna" with an air conditioner! WTF??? One is set up to about 75 degrees or freakin hot! In separate areas they have the "bath houses" for men and women, the saunas are coed but the baths are not. They're big "hot tubs" basically with different stuff in the water like green tea and jets to make bubbles for massage. Kinda weird but it was relaxing. Nobody that i have seen goes to this place, I think there was 10 people there besides us. There is a gym down there too, I'm thinkin of joining, i mean its so close and the sauna is included in the very expensive $91 dollar a month charge. $120 if you don't live in the building.

Winter time is almost here, yup I said it LOL time to do some indoor stuff and I think I'm gonna start with going to the free Korean lessons on Saturdays, well there like free you have to make a donation and you can go when you can, there is no obligation to go every week. That's just some stuff I been thinking about.........

Ps- Ms D has cancelled her blog, I think she is starting a twitter account???

Bread Crumbs

2009-09-10T01:06:00.000-07:00

We went to an arts center to see our friend sing, gotta say this was the first time for me at a flute orchestra/ singing event, but I had fun it was about an hour and a half long. I didn't post any photos of our friend just in case she doesn't want them out there.

The more Gochu's the merrier I say!

Not sure what this rock is about but let's put it at the side of the road!

Artsy stuff at the arts center!

A Silent Army In The Trees

2009-09-08T00:32:00.000-07:00

Through the graveyard and up for a hike in the mountains

Gochu peppers growing and happy!

This was at the end of the hike. On the way down the mountain someone got creative!

Cool tree and the suburb of Jeonja in the backdrop.

I like hot peppers, so this made me happy!

I think this would be cool for the garden, if I had one! I picked it up, it's heavy like a bowling ball!

Lonely End Of The Rink

2009-09-03T02:37:00.000-07:00

Today, I tried to get cable, phone and Internet hooked up, there is no barrier like the language barrier that much I can tell you! Out of the three only one got hooked up....the cable tv. The Internet woulda been hooked up except, if you want wireless you have to provide the wireless modem. Try to figure that out from a fella who speaks no English and want to hook my laptop to a cable! He plugged it in, I unplugged it and we had a pissing match like that till we did enough pointy talky to figure out what we were after here.... So all said and done he is coming back next Thursday to hook the rest up. We also have to buy a phone and he will connect it at the same time.
Going to a Jimmy Buffet rooftop party on Friday night, not sure what that's about but hey why not!
Also getting our stuff ...AKA visa's ready to go to Shanghai in October, gotta get that done this weekend too, it cost's $55 for Canadians and $150 for Americans to get a visa into China (as there still communist ruled) Going through a travel agent that Ms D knows, I(we) are super looking forward to that and it's less than a month away!

From The Outhouse To The Penthouse

2009-09-01T07:13:00.000-07:00

We moved this weekend this is the difference in apartments! The top vid is the new place and it is much better, cooler and roomy ! The old place was a shoebox and at the best of times was like a sauna!

Come Monday It'll Be Alright!

2009-08-24T06:41:00.000-07:00

I have not been here in awhile, but I had my camera ready for some good, and not so good shots of what I been up to! We went to an artsy fartsy area of Seoul called Hyehwa it is a really neat neighbourhood full of restaurants and theatre related buildings including a Jazz school and some university's.

The fancy, way too expensive but really frickin good Italian restaurant we ate at! This is the top floor and it's an all around cool building, trees inside like this one and the whole outside walls are covered in Ivy! We had a "special pizza" and homemade pasta $40 bucks later and we were full....A place to go back to when were rich!

A Street in Hyehwa

My camera's firework option LOL

The Hangang river is the major river that divides up Seoul. We were having some frosty beverages and enjoying the fireworks in the +36 degree heat. People buy fireworks in the 7-11 store along the river and fire em off toward the river.

A view of one of hundreds of bridges crossing the river....This one is pre fireworks and the view from the 7-11

Ms D spots an pomegranate tree

First time I saw one of these!

Random statue of that dude from that movie, you know the one!

I like statues, but they're pretty quiet.

The night market

The two sides of the street and the surrounding area come alive at night with vendors selling everything under the sun! We took a stroll through last night and I bought flip flops for $10 bucks!

In between races before Ms D won the cash!

Outside the expensive but good Italian restaurant...again with the statues LOL

Me gettin artsy at the Wa Bar

And they're off

Of course I found a beer castle!

Outside the lounge at the horse track see the haze from the smokers there is 5 floors like this in total I'm guessing 30,000 people go to the races on any givin day

Itaewon "little America" I have a love hate relationship with this place. You can get everything you need there from America, like food or bigger size clothes, however it smells dirty and is pretty gross. It is over run by American military and migrate workers from every country you can think of. I had the pleasure of walking up "hooker hill" the other night, basically these trashy women have garage doors on 10x10 rooms and they stand out in front of em and try to reel in clients!

Funny food sign at the bullet train terminal which by the way I have not got to ride one yet but there supposed to go 300km/hour!

Women here have there own parking spots as indicated by pink lines. Why you ask??? well than they don't have to walk as far in they're high heels .....yes I'm serious!

This is Me and MsD happy on a super packed bus on our way to the river

I'm right at the front door where you get on. This is why I wish I drove again !

I was gonna pee on the floor to make my mark, but instead I wrote my name on the wall! Pub 210

Need I say more!

Here's a fun game, spot the spelling mistakes!

WTF is a young walleye pollac??

If your in the subway station and see Teri run by chances are there cooking these little beauty's close by!

Silk Work Larvae

Odds and Ends
Were going white water rafting this Saturday! I'm pretty excited about that, gonna try to get some pics but water and camera's don't go well together!

I'm gonna try to send some Soju back to a few select people at home, not sure if it will make it and I'm not sure if said people will like me the next day!

Met a guy last night who told me lots of neat stuff about Shanghai, can't wait to go there in October!

Korean tv is very fun to watch, you thought our commercials were bad! ohhh ya and they play dirty movies at night!

Truckin

2009-08-17T02:11:00.000-07:00

Riding the bus into Seoul can be a frightening experience! It's about a 40km ride from our suburb Bundang. This video is a pretty mellow ride, however there is some days you just get on the bus, shut up and HANG ON! Our bus driver talked to himself for a good part of the ride, I wish my camera had sound......

Paranoia Will Destroy Ya

2009-08-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

Today on the subway was crowded
of course I get stuck in the car with
the coughers and the sneezers
I wanted nothing more than to get off the train
had to be there for 3 more stops
hopefully I avoided the
whatever flu they were coughing
Koreans don't cover their mouths when they sneeze
or cough, they just let er fly

I think we have a ghost in our apartment
here's why
Ms D and I had a nice chicken curry meal
I cleaned up and did the dishes(my turn)
was about 9:30pm when it was all said and done
ya I know we eat late, but she works till 8
anyhow the dishes were drying on the rack
fast forward till about 5:30am
CRASH, BANG , we wake up
WTF
dishes fell out of the rack that have been sitting there
for about 8 hours
We live in a haunted shoebox, with jumping dishes???? LOL

Supposed to enter a poker tourney this weekend
some fancy casino downtown Seoul
free food and drinks
well at least I'll get something for my money!
wish me luck......

Lazy + Sunday + Taco's = Happy Sean!

2009-08-09T01:57:00.000-07:00

Today for some odd reason, I miss driving not sure why the public transportation here is phenomenal and cheap, but today I'm not in the mood for subway riding or packed buses that you have to stand up on, I just wanna get in my old jeep and drive! Notice I said my old jeep.... the one I had before I left, was newer but I did not care for it all that much! I spoke with 2 good friends on the phone last night, one quick call to congratulate the newly married couple..just married on the 8th ! Congrats once again to "The man and Sandra dee"

I was happy it's good to hear a good friends voice and to know everything is going AOK back home! It's alot better sometimes to talk than to email, the conversation could have gone on for a long time I'm sure, but I had to get off the phone as we were getting kicked off our rooftop patio!

Back to the driving, I would prefer the jeep but right about now even this looks appealing

This was the HOTTEST freakin chicken I have ever eaten in my life! it's called "fire chicken" and lemme tell ya they aint kidding! The little noodles beside it are called Dok

Dok is the Korean work for rice noodle and them little beauty's were even hotter than the chicken!! I think it's the starch that let's the heat stay in your mouth!

The Seventeen Hour Turn Around

2009-07-30T22:40:00.000-07:00

Pretty cool eh! Well we were all at the rock show, the past weekend and saw these little orange balls of light way way up in the sky......besides my first thought of North Korea attacking and my second thought of UFO's I realized what they were we had to get one!

Ms D and I went for a walk to find the mini hot air balloon vendor....he was not hard to find and after spending ten bucks (thanks T) we came back with a hot pink mini balloon. It is basically a cross between very light cloth and a paper material, shaped into a balloon with a metal coat hanger like ring around the bottom. Two wires form a cross in the ring, it comes with a 2 inch by 2 inch chunk of parafin wax witch you fasten to the wires...hold the balloon up, light the wax on fire, watch for drips and as it burns you can feel the air inside the balloon warm up till it floats away! They actually go pretty high in the sky! A very nice Korean lady took these photo's and asked if she could email them to me...She did obviously and it was very nice of her! Ms D took a video of the same event maybe she'll post it!

After all that excitement and a very long day at the concert, we (8 of us) were on our way to find a hotel, as the pentaport rock festival is about an hour outside of Bundang. The only way back at that time of night is by taxi. The cost is about $100 and they won't crowd all of us in one car, so hotel it was followed by a $3 bus ride in the morning......Surprise there was a cabbie standing by the main road, said he would do it for $60, we were like well there is eight of us can you get another cab in on it for the same deal? Sure as shit we rounded up two cabs and made it back home. Oh ya by the way we were home in 23minutes as the cabbie did between 140kmh and 175 kmh the whole way back! Ms D asked me at one point, Sean how fast are we going? I was like 155 LOL The other cabbie with the rest of our group was actually a little bit ahead of us.

True story! Speaking of true stories, you can read this guys blog !!

Must Be The Kimchi

2009-07-27T23:17:00.000-07:00

We went to a rock'n'roll show this past weekend out near the airport(more pics of that later)
Two things I encountered surprised me, and maybe even irritated me. First I know the picture quality is not that good but what the sign basically says is they are concerned about the spread of the swine flu here in Korea. I was thinking well that's good they are trying to prevent it from spreading......so I get in line, ticket in hand and the little Korean comes up takes my ticket and my temperature.....cool I passed I think to myself....then I notice they are only checkin the white folks as they come in, not ONE Korean got his/her temp taken. As the sign clearly says "health workers will be checking all visitors" So this other guy in our group and myself go ask why they are not checkin Koreans too.......He looked at us and pointed away from there and said "entrance" In other words he did NOT want to talk about it and was pissed we even questioned him about it. There are several schools here in Korea closed down because of swine flu cases and I heard one schools cause was because some Korean kids brought it back from the US on their recent vacation. Also if they are so concerned how come NONE of the bathrooms provide soap for handwashing? not just at the concert I mean almost every public washroom everywhere here!
For a country where the statistic in 89% of Korean males smoke as of 23 years old. I was very surprised to see an anti smoking campaign set up in the subway! I think I'm the only male who doesn't smoke here!