SOUTH KOREA FAREWELL

Stumbling across Buddhist rock carvings in Namsan

Busan fish market

The Genral with fish stew, rice wine and a selection of Kimchi (the ubiquitous pickled veg)

The 'Taekwondo' stance of the South Korean guards in Hut 2

Hut 2 is the blue hut on the right, building behind is North Korea

Haeinsa world heritage site

Evening drum ceremony

Evening prayer

Now then, that's a huge contrast, Outer Mongolia to South Korea. This has to be the most polite and courteous country we have ever visited, and I am including the principality in that. The people are so so so so universally helpful, that I can't really explain how much so. If you ask someone for help, and they can't give it, chances are they will phone a friend, or go completely out of their way to ensure you get to where you want to be. And of course, its impossible not to enjoy a country where you are bowed and occassionally saluted to. It's a feature we have become quite accustomed to, and look forward to our friends continuing on our return in December.

In 1994-95, when we first visited Singapore, we noticed how every schoolkid had a mobile phone (and not one of those Dom Jolly numbers), we just thought 'regional fad'. It never dawned on us that they would be light years ahead. And so it is with South Korea, supremely fast internet connections, taxis with TVs, free internet use as you wait for trains or buses, public transport that ALWAYS leaves and arrives when it says it will, ticketing machines that change all your notes in to smaller denominations, someone always at hand at these stations to help you, I could go on...

Travel here, has been very comfortable - the distances are short - 5 hours will get you anywhere in the country, and you will do it in style. We have used 3 different classes of train, and the cheapest and slowest is still way better than anything we get in the UK. One of the curiosities is that despite its people tending on average to be on the shorter side, the leg room on both train and bus is extravagant....Bobski & Mystic, you would love it here. I am writing this on the bus from Jeonju to Incheon, I have at least 1ft between my knees, and the back of the seat in front, the General is lying down...ouch!

As a young US teacher we met noted, the Koreans love to wear uniform, and nowhere is this more evident than when they go hiking - which seems to be most weekends. The country is full of beautiful trails through alpine forests. Even if they are only out for the day, they will be kitted out as if they were off on an Himalayan extravaganza. And they always build in picnic time on their walks, it's quite common to stumble across a large group just off the trail chowing down on pickled veg and fermented rice wine. Thank goodness for the very drinkeable rice wine, the beer is lousy. You can get imported bottles of Japanese Asahi or Heineken, which can save the day, but often you will be at the mercy of highly gassy and uber weak lager, you know you are in trouble when you have to chose Budweiser for its stronger taste. One of the downsides of the US influence here, if the Brits had had more influence, we could have had a well rounded tasty ale to wash down those pickled vegetables and pork ribs, as well as looking forward to a fight at the end of the evening.

Our accommodation in South Korea was varied. In Seoul, we stayed on campus at the National University and walked around with our hands behind our backs pretending to be post grads, of course as soon as we opened our mouths, they knew we were blaggers. Outside the capital, we tended to stay in Love Motels - frequented by young couples looking for a bit of 'space', businessmen with their mistresses, and working girls. This meant round beds, extensive mirror work and neon lighting - they are far less sleazy than they could be, and the rooms come stocked with toothpaste, body lotions and shampoos, and huge TVs, which show at least one channel of 'pure filth', I couldn't get Ell out of the room.

Perhaps the most interesting accommodation was an overnighter at the Haeinsa Unesco World Heritage Buddhist temple, where we thought we had enrolled in a programme which would include meditation and 3 prayer ceremonies. Unfortunately, this got lost in translation, so none of this happened, but we did get to stay there for the night which in itself was quite magical. The evening drum ceremony and prayer was magnificent, there were half a dozen Korean pilgrims, plus the general & I. We sat in complete silence as we ate our meals of rice/veg and 'soup', contemplating whether our actions during the day had merited this meal. I could see no reason why not, so went back for seconds. I had to convince Ell that it was not a good idea to ask for the wine list.

We visited possibly the worlds most tense land border at Panmunjeom. In '53, the armisitice was signed here, and we got to visit THE hut, yes the hut! We stood and looked at the North Korean guards, 30 metres away, who were also looking back at us through their binoculars, we had military escorts who instructed us to walk in lines of 2, not point at anything and to avoid any contact with North Korean military - thanks for that advice, we were going to offer them some dorritos. It was undoubtedly tense. There have been various incidents here in the Joint Security Area over the years, so we did exactly as we were told, and left unscathed.

So its farewell to an impressive country, and to the most generous of hosts. We fly to Singapore to visit some dear friends, before picking up our cold weather gear and heading back to the Himalaya on thursday.....needless to say this is beyond exciting for us. The posts may become a little sporadic from here. Our return flight is booked to the UK, Dec 2nd and there are hills to be walked.....

HELLO GOBI

One of the best mornings of the whole trip

Portrait of Ell (bottom left)

This van is 5 years old!

Western and the General completely oblivious to imminent sandstorm!

At lunchtime, we hit the Hut

Credit Marcin for this top shot - yes, thats the Milky Way you can see

Wild goat

Western lecturing the others on the subtleties of test match cricket (credit: Marcin)

Kings of the Gobi

The early morning alarm clocks

Ah, the Gobi, one of the most evocative place names on the planet, up there with Kathmandu, Titikaka, Timbuktu and Bognor Regis - or as Ells gran beautifully entitled it 'Borgogna di Regina'. We left UB in a Russian minivan - (the 2 of us, accompanied by a Polish photographer (Good morning Marcin) and a Japanese musician. The van was only 5 years old but the design was classic 60s. The driver bore an uncanny resemblance to Chinggis Khan, and our guide was the delightful 'Baggy' - a 24 year old 'I can do anything' Mongolian girl. We would be covering 2000kms in 8 days - approximately 50 hrs of driving. The driver had no GPS, and there were no roads, just compacted tracks that veered off in all directions, lord knows how he navigated us around. The Gobi is 3% sand, with the rest scrubland. Nomadic families eke out an existence here, where they move camp 4 times a year - their houses or 'gers' are marvelous structures - circular with felt walls, with a central fireplace, they are very toasty. We stayed in 'tourist' gers, ie designated for non mongolians, placed next to the family's. We managed to get 2 showers, an unexpected bonus, and on the other days , a cup of water for washing hands and face. The landscape was 99% flat and featureless - the odd discarded vodka bottle littering the side of the track, skeletons of animals that had not made it through the -30 winters, and hawks that patiently wait by the side of the tracks for passing vehicles which might disturb mice or marmots - an effective double act. Goats, camels and horses sporadically fill the landscape and during the day it was HOT & DUSTY. At night the temperature was perfect, and the stars - oh yes the stars, almost up there with a Himalayan nightscene,and thats saying something.

Western loves the early morning, and between 6-8am, the Gobi was at its most beautiful - sun still warming up, and the goats that had been on the horizon during the night, had all congregated around the gers. We would often be awoken by sneezing and farting goats, and belching camels. Baggy fed us well, and Chinggis we all agreed was a safe and careful driver. He'd wipe down his vehicle most stops, and he rarely hit a divot. The cleaning of the vehicle was impressive but completely futile, as within 10 seconds of driving off, we would all be dusty again!

The highlight of the trip was a climb to the top of the 300m sand dunes - a lung busting 1 hr, but to be standing on the ridge with only your own foot prints to look at was magnificent and just reward for the sand scramble. The descent took 10 mins, sliding down barefoot on cool early morning powder sand, as the sand slid away from under your weight, the dunes groaned (think WW2 bombers)....memorable stuff.

We got caught in a sandstorm, played basketball, ate goat cooked in a large pot with hot stones and we played mongolian cards. An absolutely excellent trip.

ITS AN ADVENTURE AGAIN

A challenging breakfast of cold lamb & yoghurt

There are statues in UB of Chinggis Khan, a murdered student activist and the Fab 5

Attending a traditional concert in UB

Parliament building

Throat singing - extraordinary

Border crossing from China - Kiss in the background

Ah now then, this is more like it. Outer Mongolia, from the rough and tumble border crossing (where trying to get through immigration resembles a game of rugby league - all elbows and bag-snatching) to the magnificent emptiness of the Gobi desert, its an adventure again.

We obtained our Mongolian visa at the Chinese border town of Erleen - despite being first in the queue, we patiently waited whilst all Chinese citizens were given theirs first before obtaining ours - the process took 7 hours and stopped staggeringly for 20 minutes whilst the staff ate steamed buns in front of everyone. We arrived on the Mongolian side of the border (after the game of rugby league), in time to get 2 soft sleeper tickets on the overnighter to the capital Ulaan Bataar. The train was full of cargo, stored in every cavity the train had to offer, on its way straight to the black market on the outskirts of the city.

UB was fascinating, completely different to any city on this trip, East meets West, drab Russian architecture dominating the inner city buildings, with Mongolian 'Ger' tents in the burbs. The people were generally bloody huge, both men and women, ideally suited to the 13 man game. Not surprising that under Chinggis Khan they oversaw the worlds largest empire....I wouldnt and indeed didnt argue with them. The Country is twice the size of France, but the population is 2.5 million, of which 50% live in the capital.

We arrived in the city the same time as many contestants from the Mongol rally. Starting in London, this trip is mostly completed by cars less than 1000cc, and can take from 3-7 weeks. You can get around the cc restriction if you have a novelty vehicle. Most of the contestants arrive from Russia, but many travel through Iran, and they ALL had the same story to tell, that of the incredible hospitality from the people of that country. We met one Londoner who'd used soap to fix his leaking fuel tank, and a bic biro to solve something else.

We ate really well here, there is a large expat community, so that means the options of pasta/pizza/steak along with interesting local fare, notably steamed or fried dumplings or buzzt. We sampled fermented mare's milk (never again), and sweet tea and yoghurts. Western ran into trouble with some dodgy coleslaw from that sod Kenny Rogers, yes, we'd come across his chain 'Roosters' on Langkawi, and didnt expect to see him cropping up in UB, and after little or no chicken for a couple of weeks, we couldn't resist. We should have. Kenny, stick to your music....then again.....

We attended an extraordinary display of Mongolian throat singing, where 2 tones are heard at the same time, a deep bass (similar to the techniques of Buddhist priests in the Hamalaya) and a higher tone that sounds like a Jews harp, it wont win any awards on 'Britains Got Talent', (or as Laura from the Wirral has re-titled it, 'Britain's Got Problems'), but it was a fascinating concert.

We hung out at various cafes, taking the opportunity to access the internet freely, without being monitored, and we drank tasty draught beer. Ell worryingly discovered a liking for 'Chinggis' vodka 'neat'. Our guest house was a happy place, full of travellers, shoehorned into too small a space, all had either just returned or were on their way out to some vast expanse which you get to as soon as you leave the capital, whether it was to the alpine and mountainous landscape of the north and west, or the barren Gobi to the South.

Western had an entertaining conversation with a local woman in a shop who was explaining that because he had spent over a certain amount, he would be eligible for a prize. Unfortunately, the draw was not for a few months, so he said she could have the prize if his card was drawn out. They got chatting, and it turned out she had worked in 'The Mongolian Bar B Q' in Wimbledon', and Covent Garden. She had worked in the UK for 5 years, 3 in London and then 2 in Newport (come on 'The Port'), but had resturned to Outer Mongolia because the conditions in South Wales were too harsh.

CHINA - out with the old, in the with new

A final post on the 'motherland', a country that must be changing more quickly than any other in the world. Though we didn't meet all of its 1 billion plus citizens, we felt like we met most. Here is Western's lightweight and probably ill-informed report on the first country on this trip that we have been happy to leave.

Why is this? Its possibly travel fatigue, but its also possible that actually the country is now not particularly interesting, certainly if you want an adventure you best look elsewhere. We arrived hopeful of encounters with old wisened chinese cadres, and of cities filled with cycles.....nope. We felt like tourists all the way along, obviously our complete lack of mandarin didnt exactly help the situation, but it really felt like the Big Cheeses in the Chinese Tourist Board had pretty much mapped out the whole country....stand here for the best photograph of the rice terraces.....dress up in tradtional garb and look like a Tibetan.....stick your head through a hole in a painting and look like an emperor...blah blah blah. The domestic tourists lap this up, they have money to spend, and are travelling in huge numbers (in July & August). Old towns have miraculously reappeared after being wiped off the map by the Red guard, and some towns have more 'old' buildings now than when I visited in '97.

The Country is actually far more familiar than you would think. From the shops and the cars, to the excellent train system ( did I say familiar?), the vast majority of people are decked out in the same clobber as you would see at the Whitgift centre in Croydon on a weekend....its not India for sure.

We arrived expecting to have difficulties getting around and making ourselves understood, and that was often the case, but there was always someone on hand to help us, whether it was a student wanting to practice their English, or someone quite happy to play charades with us. We were treated well, and every day something very nice happened to us. As Europeans, or Westerners, we are in a favoured position. If we were Tibetan or Uighur, we would not receive the same hspitality....the amount of times we were told of their primitiveness, or dangerousness...I wonder where they get their opinions from.

As previously mentioned, there is an exploding middle class with money to burn, and people are buying cars in large numbers. One Chinese chap told us they drive cars as though they are still on their bikes, I wouldnt argue with this, reckless at best!

As Western has often banged on about this before, he wont go into detail about the feral-like toilet behaviour of some of the citizens, but he will mention some equally attrocious dental hygiene, that prompted Kiss to comment that some people would only seem to clean their teeth on Mao's birthday. This sounds harsh, but we have never noticed this before in any country, and blimey lets be honest we've visited a few.

State TV does its best to promote ethnic harmony by showing and showing and showing footage of happy minority groups enjoying the benefits of China 2009, I'm not so sure, the Mongolians, Uighurs and Tibetans all seem to have a bit of a beef with Beijing....'splitters!' (name the film for more carbonara!) Internet gets closed down as soon as there are signs of unrest, and blamed for spreading misinformation. And people do disappear here. Tibetans do get shot if they try and escape over the Himalaya.

Most workers from what we can find out work 6 days a week for 51 weeks of the year, wow, a proletarian paradise, and needless to say some of the conditions........

So, all in all, we feel we have spent too much time here, but we HAVE seen some great sights. The wall, the panda's, the rice terraces at Yuangyang, the opera in chengdu, the warriors, the forbidden city, t-drinking in the temples, the beautiful landscapes of Yangshuo....