Thailand pics are up

The Thailand pics are up and running on my album. I've got a separate album for both Pattaya and Ko Si Chang pics. I posted up some action pics of myself parasailing and bungee jumping last night but unfortunately it seems there's been some database failure with Blogger and my previous post has been lost. I'll re-post the action pics over the next couple of days.

Back from Thailand

Just writing to say that I'm back from Thailand. Got back to Suncheon at 2:30am Wednesday morning, and started work later that day at 10am so I'm still a little tired after the trip but it's only one day until the weekend so I should be able to get plenty of rest over the weekend. The trip was fairly busy and I haven't been sleeping well for weeks - apart from last night and the rest I got the night before - so I'll be looking forward to some extra sleep time to catch up on some rest.

During our trip to Thailand, we ended up spending four days in Pattaya and two days in Ko Si Chang (a small island just off the coast, two-thirds of the way from Bangkok to Pattaya).

Pattaya's a lively nightlife centre and is popular with Europeans as well as smaller numbers of East Asians, Middle Easterners, North Americans, Australians, and others. It's very sleazy in some - well, many - parts but there's plenty of wholesome attractions there too as many German and Scandanavian families descend there this time of year especially, to avoid the winter gloom in their homelands. We did many things during our stay there including: parasailing (it was only a 2 minute circle picking you up off the beach and landing you back on it, but it was quite a good experience); bungee jumping - still can't believe I did it, the nerves didn't really hit me until I jumped when I let out a blood-curdling primal scream of fear once gravity took over and I started descending (it was really funny in hindsight as people watching on started laughing and mimicking my cry once I returned to land, it really was an intense, painful primal cry of fear - didn't know I had it in me ;)); an elephant ride (something worth during once in your life); and also went shopping, I bought a new suit and 3 shirts for my sister's wedding.

Ko Si Chang's a quiet, peaceful island with few tourists but enough attractions to keep you busy for a few days, while you relax and unwind. There we: hired scooters and rode round the island, visited the King's former retreat and a Buddhist temple; went to the beach and swam, kayaked and snorkelled; as well as having a 90 minute tradtional Thai massage for just $6. It was nice and relaxing there.

All in all, the trip was great. Thai people are so friendly and kind, it was good to go there and I'd like to see more of the place sometime in the future. I'll write up more on the trip as well as adding photos of the trip in the near future.

Hi All ...

Welcome 2006 ...

Hi everyone, a couple of people have commented on how come there's been such a long absence in my blog writing and asked whether everything is going ok. Truth of the matter is that are ok, it's just that I've felt increasingly burnt-out lately due to a number of factors, and just haven't been as keen as usual to enter blog postings. You often go through go patches and not so good patches over here, unfortunately I've kinda been stuck in a not so good patch lately, hence I haven't been quite so keen to write what's going on over here. ;)

Not all that much has happened since my last blog entry. Christmas was a very quiet affair but there was still some remnant snow of the ground from the last snow shower so it was technically my first White Christmas! Yay!

For New Year's, Kasper and I headed up to Jeonju and met our friend and former co-worker, Ted and one of his friends along with one of his co-workers, Yohan. It was a good night all in all, and everyone had a fairly fun time. A whole lot of crazy pics from the evening are located here.

The good news is that it's now less than 10 days until Kasper and I depart for a six day trip to Thailand. It should be a good trip and sure do need a holiday at the moment. Kasper's organized a 3 day stay at a quiet island off the coast not far from Pattaya called Ko Sichang, staying in accommodation such as this, which looks great and should be a great place to relax and unwind for a few days, swimmiing, snorkelling and lying on the beach. For the remaining days of our trip, we'll most likely spend one night in Thailand, as we have an early flight out of Thailand the following day, and two nights in Pattaya. It should be a good trip and I'm looking forward to it.

Merry Christmas from Ben

Seeing as it's 12:30am over here in Suncheon and officially Christmas Day, I thought I'd wish everyone a Merry Christmas. May you have a nice, safe and happy Christmas; and a merry, drunken and joyful New Year. But, remember to keep yourselves nice at all times!

Cheers,
Ben



Uncle Ben wishing y'all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Seasons Greetings from Korea!

Might be a White Christmas after all

It could well be a white Christmas here in Suncheon and my first ever, largely thanks to the big snowstorm which came down on Suncheon Wednesday afternoon causing the remainder of my Wednesday classes to be canceled after just one hour - and better still - all classes on Thursday to be canceled. There's still some lingering patches of snow here and there remaining from Wednesday. So, regardless on whether it snows or not tomorrow, it could still somewhat a white Christmas here in Suncheon.

Throughout Wednesday up until the snowstorm hit, snow had been gently falling but not significantly enough to settle on the ground in any large amount. As the day continued, the snow started to get a little stronger though it wasn't until around 3pm - when my first class for the day started - that the snow really started to come down. The result was that within an hour, the roads were effectively closed as plow and salt trucks are seemingly non existent over here, with thousands of workers, students, citizens and teachers were forced to find their best way home as the roads effectively cut down under the weight of the snow.

Some tried driving but by now the roads were either incredibly congested or downright un-drivable due to the amount of snow. Some tried their luck and waited for a cab or bus to pick them up, both of which were highly desired and as a result, very crowded. But, most - such as myself - just started walking. My school has two campuses - one is an hour and a half away by foot on a good day, the other is half an hour away, luckily for me I work at the latter on Wednesdays. ;) My co-workers weren't so lucky and had to endure a two and a half hour slog through the snowstorm and heavily snowed-up footpaths, back alleys and roadways to make their way home. My trip took just over an hour, which wasn't too bad considering I stopped to take pics along the way ...

Icy, Snowy Suncheon



This pic taken from one of the windows at my school shows the snow settling and mounting outside.




The snow is still falling and it's looking very snowy indeed as classes have now been canceled for the rest of the day.




The snows still falling outside work and it looks like those cars won't be going anywhere for the next 18 hours at least.




The scene directly outside work overlooking the vacant lot looks very bleak albeit white.




Another look at the scene outside my school from a slightly different angle looking pretty cold and bleak.




Looking up a street in the shopping district on the start of the long walk home.




The traffic is already congested just 45 or so minutes after the snowstorm hit. These guys were the lucky ones able to get out soon enough and risk the drive home. Many ended up just trying their luck getting home on foot.




A nice, little alpine scene on the way home.




No, this isn't Yakutsk, Siberia {insert cold place}. The hangeul signage, if you can make it out, on the Samgyeopsal restaurant (from my last post) proves it. Weather-wise it feels bloody like Siberia!




It may not be Siberia, but it's starting to look like it though.




People, such as myself and the lady in this pic, take up walking as the preferred mode of transport as the use of vehicles becomes increasing frivolous in this weather.




Suncheon resembles an arctic wasteland as cars crawl along the highway.




It's been a long walk home but I'm almost there.




Now at my apartment complex, nearing home. It sure looks cold in that pic!




The mountains behind my apartment looking in alpic splendour. Everything else just looks damn cold!




Night time - the snow has ceased falling for the most part and has nicely settled on the ground - around 30cm of it all in all. And they say it rarely snows here!