New Year Korea update

So I realize that I have not had too many posts on Korea recently. Well here is a recap of the last 2 months.


I now work at the research institute and its great! I work 1-9pm which is great because I hate waking up early. I teach classes online of 1-4 students at a time. I teach all ages which is interesting but I love it. It is overall a very easy job. I have tons of breaks and my Korean co-workers and bosses are great and all like me. They tell me I am doing a great job and have not had any negative feedback so that is always good as well.

I've made tons of friends and traveled to a few other cities in Korea. Life in Korea is good, food is cheap which is good because I love to eat! The only negative is that I haven't learned as much of Korean language as I would have liked. After three months in Thailand I was really good at speaking Thai but My Korean kinda sucks. I just never spend much time on it.

I will be going to Japan for five days in February. I am actually going to the city that my mom used to live in years ago so that adds yet another element of excitement to the whole thing.

All in all my life is going great! I miss all of you folks from back home and in CNX as well.

Thailand Flashback #2: Railay to Krabi

After leaving Bangkok I headed to the beaches!!! I met up with some friends from my TESOL course (Logan, Charlie, Crystal, Justin, and Crystal’s friend Megan). We got on a bus on Khao San Road to head to Krabi the were getting on a boat to Railay. The bus ride was about 10 hours of pain, the seats were tiny and my legs were asleep the hole time! I never slept. About half way were were dumped off in the middle of nowhere and waited to switch to another bus...this was 4 or 5am. The 2nd bus wasn't much better. This was also pretty much the last time I rode the tourist bus...I stuck with the Thai bus system, they were always much better and fed you.

So we finally got to Krabi and waited on a small boat to come and get us, finally we got on the boat. It was great but I was so tired! We rode through a bunch of tiny islands and I was absolutely amazed at the shapes of all of the rocks popping out of the water, it was all pretty surreal. Finally we jumped off at Railay and were greeted by Charlie and Megan. We checked into a bungalow that cost 200 Baht per room, roughly $6.70 and split each room 3 ways. Yes, it was cheap but! We had to shower in cold salt water and the room was so damp! I honestly felt like we would fall through the floor at any moment! Not to mention having to douse each other in mosquito spray before going to bed. Back to the story...we took naps and then walked down to the beach, the girls layed around in the sand and the guys went exploring since it was low tide we were able to walk out and into caves, pretty neat.

The beaches were beautiful but the place was quite touristy and expensive for Thailand luckily for us we were there for the low season. On the second day we decided to find another place to stay with real toilets and walls. We ended up nearby at Diamond Resort, well it was at least a step up from the bungalow. The restaurant/bar there was actually really good, They had big tasty baguette sandwiches and good Thai food plus many nights they had big BBQs with fish, chicken and baked potatoes plus tons of other good stuff. Not to mention cocktails were 2 for 1 every evening and we got close with some of the staff there and ended up with a few freebies.

And then there was Last Bar. After one night on the island we were already well known, none so much as Justin aka. “JJ.” Last Bar was literally that, the last bar on the island and actually hung over into the water. They had a good DJ and fire dancer and his girlfriend was a bartender there. We drank, danced, and played games every night and also celebrated Justin's birthday there. I'll leave many of these stories to memory but we will surely never forget those nights! :)
So everyday on Railay we would ask locals where they would go to hang out, everytime the answer was “Krabi Town” so the last day before the rest of the guys had to go back to Bangkok we went to Krabi Town. We all loved it, so much more real the Railay. We got in another small boat and rode for 30-40 minutes then got in a van that was jamming out to old US pop songs and an hour later were finally in Krabi Town. Next we jumped in the back of a pickup truck and checked into a guesthouse and began to explore. We ended up checking out a place called Fubar, I walked in and was instantly sold on it. It was a Reggae bar full of random nick-nacks, reggae posters, and driftwood...most importantly there was a Liverpool FC scarf hanging above the bar. So we ordered some buckets of whiskey and Coke and started play Jenga. Side note: this was like 4-6pm. Before sunset we wanted to check out a place called Rooftop Bar, so we walked down to it and grabbed a beer and watched the sunset over the city. It was absolutely beautiful. The bartender there was a British guy who recommended a nightclub that we could go and dance. It was called Route 69. He called taxi's for us...and we saw a first: motorbike taxi's! It was fun enough just getting there. We found out that there was a popular Thai rock band playing at the club that night. Being foreigners they let us in with no cover and then gave us a table near the stage. The band was pretty good and it was a fun time. The next day I looked for a new guest house and everyone else booked a bus back to BKK. Good times with amazing people!

The rest will follow soon!

 

Thailand Flashback #1: First time in BKK

Leaving Chiang Mai we jumped on a bus for about 11 hours to Bangkok (BKK). Not too bad considering they fed us and there was tons of leg room also a really loud Thai movie. This was the first of my many bus journeys in Thailand.

I was actually a bit freaked out when we arrived in Bangkok, it was so large and I didn’t really know what to expect. Also, I did not really have a plan of what I would be doing after my first night. After getting off of the bus Lucas and I jumped in a taxi and went to his friend Joe’s house. Luckily it was large and comfortable because we arrived early in the morning and just wanted to crash! The next day I heading into to city and found a place to stay on Khao San Road, the backpackers district. It was pretty different from Chiang Mai, tons of tourist traps and shady, overpriced bars. I stayed for a few days and hung out with my friend Rachel for a bit before she headed to Korea and did the tourist thing. We cruised up and down the river, saw some temples, ate amazing food, shopped, and went for some walks that were way too eventful.

Weird things about BKK: taxi drivers never know where you want to go…One guy didn’t know where a massive soccer stadium was and another didn’t know where the Korean embassy was. Grabby hookers…really, quite different. It was a really sad sight mainly knowing that they were all forced to do it to pay off “debts” many of these women were kidnapped or bought from poor neighboring countries and forced to sell their bodies for these men. The ease at which you could find anything was unsettling (odd animal parts, drugs, stolen goods).

Overall it was a pretty good experience but I was glad to leave Bangkok. Best moment: playing reggae with my new Thai friends until the sun came up the next morning.