Jeju... see? Part 1

After travelling to a new place, there is much to say, and not so much time to write it. 
I have managed to get down the first part of the our trip (which is a billion pages already) to Jeju for the Christmas break, and will keep you on the edge of your seats for the conclusion :)

Most importantly: Merry Christmas!!

on the road again...

Secondly: WARNING!! This post has some ‘adult content’, so close your eyes and plug your ears when LOVELAND comes up....

Tim and I are now back ‘home’ in Busan after a mini vacation to the island of Jeju in Southwest Korea.

We departed from the Gimpo airport in Busan on Thursday, early in the afternoon, where we met our friend Christine, who joined us for the holidays.  Antlers on head, and presents checked, we took off on Korean Air towards the land of Korean honeymooners via a 40 minute, barely there flight. 

2 of the 40 passengers on the 300 passenger plane...bad sign?

Our base for the trip was in a small area known as Shin Jeju ( ie. ‘new’ Jeju), which was only about a 5 minute cab from the airport, and 10 minutes from the larger city called Jeju si. We checked into the ‘New Crown Hotel’, which turned out to be very similar to our The Shining-like hotel in Gyeongu this October:  very outdated decor, not trying to impress anyone.  This hotel was slightly better with restaurants (and a karaoke room, and sauna and beauty salon) that were actually opened and frequented. 

We set out to find some food, soon after arriving, and stumbled upon a modern, bright, young restaurant where their main focus was their ‘ hand made man doo’ ( also spelt mandu).  Mandu is a dumpling, a bit like an egg roll, with different fillings, sometimes steamed sometimes fried.  

We were so excited to find such a nice place with Korean food, pictures, and food descriptions in ENGLISH that we ordered 5 items from the menu.  Our waitress thought we were pretty big heffers - probably because Koreans seem to be able to satisfy their hunger by sharing 7 bites of food among 6 people... not sure what their secret is. 

We ordered:

-kimchi fried rice

-bibimbap

-kimchi/pork soup

-mandu

-veg soup

 And ate it all... even if the last bites were spitefully gulped down.

a bite to eat. 

Feeling pretty festively plump, our next item on the agenda was a magical place we had all heard rumours about: LOVELAND ( the squeamish and easily offended can start stopping to listen *now*).

What is ‘Loveland’ you ask? Well, Loveland fills the void we have all felt for an amusement park/museum/sculpture collection that is of an adult theme.  Perhaps because of the popularity of Jeju island as a honeymoon destination for young lovers, this sexy park is filled with mostly comical, partly awkwardly uncomfortable portrayals of sex in art forms such as sculpture, photographs, dioramas, paintings and educational displays.  

one ticket to Loveland.

Not really knowing what to expect, we hopped in a cab, spent the 7000 won admission fee and ventured into the outdoor walk around... with directional help from male genitals pointing the way on the walkway. 

After spotting another male genital - this time in the shape of a door handle on the women’s bathroom door, I posed for a picture.  As Tim was focusing the camera, an ajumma (older Korean woman) barged in front of me in true ajumma fashion and grabbed the bathroom door handle.  Having just entered the park herself, she wasn’t accustomed to seeing genitals all over the place and in her haste to get me out of the way, seemed pretty surprised to look down and see the shape of the door handle she was grabbing.  Luckily this moment was caught on film:

censored. use your imagination. you have a dirty mind.

We took about an hour to peruse the rest of the grounds and displays and saw many hilarious things too off-side to mention before heading back to the hotel. 

(this is where the erotic pictures would be posted if I had the nerve to do it. But, you know what they say : once on the internet, ALWAYS on the internet).

Third on our list of priorities was a visit to an Indian restaurant called ‘ Bagdad Cafe’ which Christine had suggested, located in Jeju Si.  I tried, unsuccessfully to replicate the  address for the restaurant in Korean, but when I gave the piece of paper to the cabbie, he looked at like it was written backwards (and it probably was).  As a side-note, this was an unforeseen challenge of living and travelling in Korea.  If you don’t know the exact Korean pronunciation of your destination, you better have a phone number for the cab driver to call, or the location written in Korean ( by a real Korean, not by me).   There is apparently a huge difference to  Korean ear  between saying ‘ Jay song dong’ and ‘Ja sung dung’.

After the cab driver called the Bagdad Cafe for us, we managed to arrive at its doors and were actually greeted by the owner in the street - what service!  She ushered us into a restaurant that had ‘ more character than all of the other restaurants in Jeju combined’.  We ordered a combination meal which included a fruit plate, samosas, naan bread, curry, chicken, soup, and laskies (? milkshakes). A-maze-ing.

The restaurant employed at least 3 native Indian chefs, who actually served us our food, and was so warm and cozy, it was difficult to leave when our meal was finally done.

The weather was literally freezing in Jeju, and we were so lucky for it to snow almost the entire time we were there.  We strolled around the City Hall area of Jeju Si and finally found ‘The Factory’, a bar that we had heard was a foreigner gathering place.  When we   opened the door and walked in, we were surprised to be greeted by a sea of Asian faces, all seeming to be waiting for a show by the white guy and his guitar-playing buddy on stage.  

crashing 'teacher's' fan club party.

Immediately, something struck me as ‘off’ ( kind of like plastic bag-head from that night a few months ago), given the age and weirdness of the group we were amongst but I ignored it... until I heard the singer on stage thank everyone for coming and comment that everyone was sitting in their ‘ class groups ‘.  Ah Ha! We had stumbled upon a show being given by an ESL university teacher and were part of an audience filled entirely with his students (who probably hoped to get good grades by attending).  Though this was pretty hilarious, it was not fun, so we cheers-ed, downed our beer and jumped in yet another cab back to Shin Jeju and closed down the night at the ‘Jeju Modern Times Brewery’, across the street from our hotel.  

On Christmas Eve, I woke up fairly early to a clear sky which allowed me to see the ocean from our hotel window.  I got really excited and figured I could make an easy run straight to the beach and just run along the ocean.

There is a much smaller foreigner population (from what I saw) in Jeju, so me being white, wearing tights, running down the street was quite a sight for many of the residents.

As it turned out, the ‘beach’ I had seen from the window, was in fact the airport and its runway ( yes, Tim I know you told me ), so instead of a beautiful beachside run, I actually ran along the streets of Jeju Si and then beside a barbed wire concrete wall for about 5 km. 

 But! My efforts were worthwhile when I turned a corner and caught a glimpse of the beautiful blue East China Sea.  The run there was less than scenic, but I have always found that the best way to get a feel for a place is to run it.  Stopping at intersections and seeing street signs, shops and residents from the sidewalk, but going faster than a stroll gives a certain kind of perspective in a new city that always makes me feel a little more a part of it. 

splish.....

SPLASH!

The part of the ocean I stopped at was not quite a tourist destination, but the overcast skies, flurries and giant waves on the volcanic rocks made it a pretty inspiring sight.  When I stepped down to get some closer shots, I looked down and found a 10 won Korean coin and that warmed my heart because of the following little anecdote:

After my Mom’s father ( Papa! ) passed away a few years ago, every penny we found on the ground became a ‘Papa penny’, kind of a little gift from heaven to show he was thinking of us.  Clearly, being in Korea, there are not many Canadian pennies lying around, but the 10 won coin is the Korean counterpart to the penny and finding one in such a beautiful place on Christmas Eve was one of those happenings that I just can’t write off as coincidence.  

Korean Papa Penny!!

I made my way back to the hotel, amid even stronger flurries, and that afternoon we departed from the Jeju Si bus terminal to visit Seogwipo, a small city on the southern part of the island.  The bus ride cost a pretty 3000 won ( about 3 dollars) for an hour of travel over Halla Mountain (South Korea’s highest).  As we climbed the mountain, my appreciation for the snow slowly turned to outright panic as the bus driver careened around cars up and down the windy road and out the window I saw at least 2 cars that had gone off the road.  Then, as if by magic, everything white disappeared and we found ourselves in the slightly warmer region of Seogwipo.  

And that's all for now - the rest is yet to come.....soon!

To be continued.....

mini jr post

Just a little note to say 'Hello, North Korea has not gotten us... yet'.


Tim and I are just on our way to the staff Christmas party.  We have a 'Christmas Day' at school tomorrow for the kindergartens and will be heading to Jeju on Thursday for a few days!


This past weekend, Tim was sick with a flu-ish type illness and had to miss out on the run in Nak Dong with the Waeguks Got Runs group.  


I went... ALONE.... and got to see the old gang again for what turned out to be a 9km course run mostly on dirt paths, led by a man on a scooter.  So, it was a genuine 'fun' run, in every sense of the word. 

Because I can't help it:
It was a great run/race. I decided to treat it as a 10km tempo for my upcoming half marathon ( in Feb), and although it did come up short by a km, I did manage to stay on pace for my goal of 4:15 kilometres. Yes-ah!


Afterwards, a group of us went out for barbeque - a meal I don't think that I have even talked about yet, but is super common in Korea. 


Korean barbecue involves sitting at a small table with a hole in the middle for coals. A grill is put on top and you are brought a plate of raw meat ( usually beef or pork).  After the meat is cooked ( by you ), you place it on a lettuce leaf, with a bit of sauce and maybe some pickled radishes, garlic, or jalapenos. 


Very simple, very delicious, and speaking of which, it is time to head out to our supper/party!


More soon:)

starting out at Centum City

'tis a year of ' firsts' and yesterday was no exception. 
Along with 8 other foreigners we have met through running races, Tim and I set off yesterday on a PUB RUN!


We met at Centum City Subway station with the plan of heading west and doing a large loop of Busan, stopping every 2-3km for a drink, either at a pub, bar, or a convenience store - if needed.   The route was planned by non-other than our running parents:  Ian and Kylene. 


We left the subway station on foot, some dressed as Santa, some dressed as ajummas and ajashis ( older Korean men and women) and some just dressed as foreigners ( me ). 


We hit our first stop after about 2km, which turned out to be a department store.  Luckily, drinking in public is 'ok' to do, so we settled down on some benches and had our first 'cheers' to kick off the run in Suyeoung. 

The following stops were in Kyungsung at a beer bar, at a Mega Mart in I don't know where, and then we finished things off at Thursday party in Gwangali before taking the Subway to a new 'Irish Pub' in Haeundae. 

Interspersed between these stops were a few physical challenges, using the many outdoor gyms along the running paths.  Included in the challenges were:  sit up competition, piggy back sprint, wheelbarrow sprint, and straight up sprint. 

wheelbarrowing

Kylene the machine has proven herself as the team's resident sprinter. We will be sending her to the IAAF championships in Daegu this August. 


After we were fed (burgers for some, all day breakfast for others), we made our way down to the norebang (Karaoke room) in the basement and had our own private dance and sing party. 


This was my first norebang experience, and I must say that I'm impressed that with such a wide range of ages, personalities and musical tastes, no fights broke out over song choices. 

yes, tamborines are provided.

The tally for the day was: approximately 5 hours of running, covering approximately 10 km.... no break-neck pace, but definitely one of the most fun runs I've ever done.


A big thank you once again to Kylene and Ian for making it happen!


The day made me love Busan, a city where we can run safely and count on food and drink no matter where we end up - what more can you ask for? 


It has been brought to my attention that my blog has turned into a 'running blog' more than a Korean blog... which I can't really deny. 

I guess that one thing about moving to a new place is that you learn quickly which things are a part of you and which things are just a result of your environment.  I have learned that the things I have gone out of my way to seek out are the things that are really important to me, no matter where I am, and running has definitely turned out to be one of those things.  


Truthfully, we have not done much 'cultural exploring' lately, and things just seem to get more normal every day. 


In the work realm:


The kindergarten kids are practicing for a recital that we will have in February.  It is a pretty big deal for the parents, so the kids actually already have most of their lines memorized (remember, they are 5 or 6 years old).  


In January, our school's schedule will be changing so we will have slightly shorter days and 40 minute classes instead of 50 minutes - a VERY welcome change.  


I have been trying to figure out the Christmas deal here.  It seems that though a lot of the kids have Christmas decorations in their houses, and get Christmas presents from 'Santa', none of them really know what Christmas is about or why we celebrate it.  I find it really strange, but in reality there are probably a lot of western kids who don't know anything about it either. 

taking myself way too seriously in my new winter coat.

The weather has been getting colder this week, usually about 0-3 degrees in the morning and 10 or 12 max in the afternoon. Our apartment is freezing, and the only built-in heat source is 'ondol' heating which comes up through the floor.  We have a small space heater but I'm skeptical about its efficiency....
I am really hoping, wishing and praying for snow, but the kids tell me it's useless: 
" teacha!! Busan, no snow! Seoul yes snow.''


Guess it's time to plan a trip to Seoul.

I'm half-Korean.

It's kind of beginning to look a little like Christmas. maybe.

Centum City lights up.

Somehow it is already December, and my 4th month in Korea.  
The weeks go by incredibly fast, but at the same time, 9 months left still feels like forever to go.  


Tim celebrated his birthday this past week (December 2nd) with a new coffee maker ( no more instant! ) and a lovely birthday parcel from his family.  We were treated with yet another cake at work, but didn't do much partying because next week is pay day - meaning we are surviving on water and scraps - and by 'scraps' I mean Ramyeon.
We did get to celebrate Hailey's birthday the weekend before, when we went out in Haeundae for the first time.  

There have not been any races recently, but we will be doing a fun holiday race on December 19th with our usual group, which should be fun.  Tim will run the 5k and I will do the 10k.  I am praying for a good finish, because I have actually been dependent on my race money for living this month.  Looks like I have finally crossed the amateur/pro line... no going back now!


I am also training for a 1/2 marathon in late February in a city called Miryang.  Ottawa was my last 1/2 marathon and I just missed my goal of 1h30minutes so I am hoping to be able to PB at Miryang.  I've been getting in some awesome long runs along the ocean on the weekends and doing most of my running outside lately as well ( an 87$/month gym membership does not fit into a budget of 50$/week!)


After reading the book 'Born to Run' ( McDougall, 2009), I have been thinking more and more about longer distances and have a glimmer of a desire to run a full marathon.  I have a vague idea of training through winter/spring and running late spring while it's still cool out, but nothing is set in stone, or even written in pencil just yet. 

tarahumara running in copper canyon, Mexico (the storyline for Born to Run)

Christmas is also quickly creeping up and it's been a roller coaster going through the motions of spending a holiday away from home.  We decided a few weeks ago to take a little holiday over our time off ( Dec 23-26th) and fly to Jeju, a small 'tropical' island in southwest Korea which won't be overly tropical in December, but will at least be a little escape. Our dear little friend Christine will join us as well - couldn't spend the holiday without her!

Jeju -ooooooo!!!

I've gotten a couple of packages from home which make a big difference because it lets me know everyone hasn't forgotten me:)
We've also taken advantage of the decorations that our previous apartment dwellers left, and have a very cute and efficient tree in our little room.  Even Rilakkuma and Turkey Lurkey are in on the action. 

Paws wears his sweater for X Ring Day

Yet another Frederictonian, Matt has joined the ranks in Busan and is settling in nicely. It's great to have another familiar face in the city and hopefully the rest of us can help him feel at home.  


As for the ongoing strife between North Korea and South Korea, things are at a standstill as far as I know.  For those who did not hear, last week there was an exchange of fire between the two countries in northwest South Korea.  4 people were killed, and it started up a fight that has been going on for 50 years. 
I think the general opinion here is ' oh North Korea, not again', and I don't feel worried, but there is always a chance of something 'blowing up' , pardon the pun. 


If nothing else, like many other things, it makes me appreciate my little Canada and its little bubble of peace. 


And, FINALLY, I need to send out a big congratulations to my baby sister, Karen who received her X Ring yesterday in Antigonish, NS.   I couldn't be prouder and more sad that I am not there to share the day ( night ) with her.  I can't wait for the inevitable Seymour/XRing photo shoot....

miss you baby kae

mountain morning

After doing four races in the last 6 weeks, I told myself that I would switch things up this week and get off the treadmill and into the mountain for some fresh air running. 


It had always been a plan of mine to get into more trail-y running once I got to Korea, and there is really no excuse not to, when I have a perfectly mountainous mountain beneath my feet. 

Jangsan in the am

This morning, I bundled up in my tights and my giant garmin and trekked up the hill. 
The first part of the hike is through city streets which are about 75 degree hills (I have no idea if that makes sense but on the protractor in my mind it does).   


When I finally reached the trail I had to stop to walk a couple of times and tried really hard not to worry about my pace being infinity minutes/km.  


It's hard to trail run and NOT get philosophical. I've read several descriptions of it and though I'm trying to not be cliche, there really is something magical about it.  Flying over rocks and through trees when you might twist your ankle/knee/crack your head open any second is a pretty fantastic feeling.  It scares me like nothing else, but at the same time I can't get enough of it.


As someone who finds it nearly impossible to live 'in the moment', trail running may be my cure... when you are focusing on every single step, branch, twig and surface your toes touch, you really have no choice but to live in the moment you are in.  

I made it a ways up the mountain, then decided to turn back for the downhill ride.
Just when I was half-wishing that I had a flat road to lay it all out and sprint down, I realised that I didn't recognize anything around me and I was actually very lost.  Given my sense of direction, I was not surprised and had suspected I wouldn't have an easy way home. 


But!  After finding 2 mountain-side graves, a few dead ends, circling around in 3 parking garages, and ending up in a school in a neighbourhood I didn't even know existed, I made it back to my front door with Mountain Run #1 under my belt.
Thank you Jangsan.

Waeguks Got Runs

Today marks the end of a mini-era: 
the last race of 2010.... unless we magically discover another one, which is not unlikely.

waiting for the marathoners to roll in at Dadaepo...

After cruising through yet another week at Haeundae Corem, Tim and I did a quick workout at the gym on Saturday am and then ventured out to Nampodong, west of our part of the city, but the 'centre' of Busan.  Because the race this morning would have taken over 90 minutes on the subway to get to, we decided to go part way, stay in a Love Motel, then leave from there in the morning.


Nampodong is on the way to Dadaepo ( our race destination) and it is a busy place with lots to do, eat, and buy, so it was the logical choice.  


After about 45 minutes on the subway, we got off in Nampo, and found a Love Motel within 12 minutes.  This was our first time staying at one (besides when we first arrived, which was arranged by the school), and I could not believe how easy it was.  


Refresher: Love Motels are abundant in Korea.  They are cheap motels which charge about 30$ a night and provide a really decent room, with a giant tv and often a computer as well.  Their main purpose is for love-making amongst young couples, and probably business men ( and women?) who are spending the night with people they shouldn't be.  


Just in case we had forgotten what a Love Motel was for, when we checked in, we were given a small ziploc bag with 2 toothbrushes, a razor, body wash, and 2 condoms. 
'Checking in' involves giving the front desk guy 30 $ and taking a key, no questions asked - except ' one night, or two?'.

what else does one really need?

Despite being right across the street from a busy pub, the room was great and was much better than waking up at 5 to take a 90 minute commute to the race. 


We spent the evening shopping around and eating Kong Bul and McDonalds.... can't complain.


On Sunday morning, we woke up and made our way to the subway, where we happened to get on the exact same car as Kylene and Ian, the lovely people who have organized all of the foreigners at the road races in Busan.  After meeting up with some more foreignys, we took the shuttle bus to the race site in Dadaepo and made ourselves at home... IN OUR VERY OWN TENT!! (Thanks Kylene!) 

yeah, we do.

There were people racing in all distances, 10km, 1/2 and full marathon and everyone did great.  The weather was perfect, and the course was flat and all road, out and back.


At the beginning of the race, as I was standing at the very front ( of course), a Korean man beside me started yelling at the race announcer, who then called me out and pulled me out in front of the race and started talking to me in Korean in front of the entire crowd. He managed to ask me my name, say ' Hello baby', then spoke a paragraph of Korean before saying " Merry Christmas" and sending me back to the race start.  


The race itself went fairly well.  I found it a bit challenging and didn't run the pace I had hoped for.  I have been scaling back on the outdoor and longer than 5km runs this past couple of weeks and I felt like I had lost some of my endurance today.  I was in 4th or 5th for most of the race, and ran the last 3 km with a Korean man who told me he recognized me from the Yangsan race last weekend. 


I ended up coming in in 5th with a time around 42:30 or so. Not my best time, and not an amazing time, by any means, but it was not overly difficult and therefore I am not overly upset with it.  


Ian came in 3rd! Yay Ian!  And we both got to be on the ( 5 person ) podium for guys and girls respectively.  This means I now have in my possession, another giant glass trophy, and I also managed to pocket 50$ cash!

After all the runners came in, we actually ended up BACK at Kong Bul ( after a meander through the streets of Nampodong ) and had another meal of beansprouts, pork, and spice. Trust me - it's much better than it sounds. 

Kong Bul with some new running buddies

It is now 7pm, and another awesome race day is complete. 


A big thanks goes out to Kylene and Ian the leaders of 'Waeguks Got Runs' ( Waeguks are foreigners) and without whom we would not have had nearly as positive of an experience as we have with all the races this season:)

Pay Pay RO Day

Just because no blog about Korea would be complete without it, here is an entry about PEPERO DAY!

Coincidentally, this is a day off work for us at Corem School, but it is also PEPERO DAY!
An indepth explanation can be found on this handy wikipedia link:


Pepero wikipedia article

Basically, because the date is 11-11 ( November 11) and the number "1" looks like a pepero stick, this 'holiday' has been created as an opportunity for people to give each other pepero sticks.  


Peperos come in a few different varieties but are all chocolate covered (or filled) wafer sticks, some covered in peanuts or almonds. 

A Pepero Display at the grocery store.

The day is compared to Valentines Day in that it is largely a commercial opportunity for the makers of Pepero. 


Just thought I'd fill you in, as some lucky people may be receiving a sample of these delicious sticks for Christmas :)

third race is the charm.

New money, new clothes, new race place and new age.... all things that have happened this week!




My birthday was on Friday, November 5th.  Along with all of the lovely birthday wishes from friends and family all over ( including a card with a DONUT in it! Thanks Little C :)),  I was treated with a surprise birthday display in the kitchen when I woke up... complete with Rilakkuma propoganda - much needed.  I also got some awesome compression socks, which  - though I'm not sure how they work - are sure to take hours off my race times. 

At work I was treated with a decorated desk, awesome cards, and a cake!! This was the second cake for the staff at Haeundae as Brett teacher's birthday was November 4th.  We are a little spoiled sometimes.

On Friday night, we met up with Christine and Brent for our first sushi meal in the Kay oh Ray at a place called Niki Niki Sushi in PNU.  It was AWESOME, and I could have eaten the entire meal a second time and not felt sick. 

Following this, I used my new pay cheque to get myself some hot new kicks at the Mizuno store, also in PNU.  All in all a wicked birthday.

don't touch my shoes rilakkuma. you're too lazy.

On Saturday we had to go into the school for an open house that was held for parents of incoming Kindergarten students. We spent an hour reading stories to the kids and making origami tomato purses...not a horrible way to spend the morning, and Tim has a new 6 year old fan who I will name Andrea Read if I get the pleasure of naming her when she comes. 


We then went for what turned out to be a giant shopping spree.  I have been SO sick of all of my clothes since about my second week here, and have been dying to buy new things (couldn't bring much in 100lbs of luggage).  I did pretty well and managed to spend at a rate of about 100$/5 minutes.  Very efficient.  I am glad that it isn't as hard to find clothes that fit as some people told me, and I got some really great buys  including a winter coat and my favorite new hoodie... 

Today was our third race day in Korea.  We travelled by subway to Yangsan, which took almost 90 minutes.  Quite a hike.  It was an absolutely beautiful day, about 18-20 degrees and sunny for the run, and the leaves are changing so the mountain views are really spectacular.

We met up with Kylene, Ian, Bren and Adam ( who we met in the first race) and also met a few new friends, Christina, another CDN, and Simon, Adam's friend who lives in Hong Kong. 


Tim ran the 5k and WON (!!!!!!) but he didn't register so he just veered off the course before the finish line. Makes up for the disappointing non-finish in Gyeong Ju a few weeks ago!


I ran the 10k and had  a pretty great race.  I was relaxed the whole time, and didn't see any women around me for the entire race.  The course was really flat, so I found it pretty boring and started out a bit too fast, so my pace slowed down a bit too much for a big pb. As I was coming in, I saw the finishing ribbon still up and thought that I'd WON, but then they handed me a card that said 2nd, and Tim told me that an old tank of a woman had come in around 39:00.  


After passing in my chip, I got a back with the best post-race kit yet.... eggs and Ramyeon noodles. 


So, although I was slightly disappointed to not win, my time wasn't great ( not sure of it, but I think it was low 42:00/high 41:00) so it would not really have felt like a legit win if I had come first. 


Adam ended up coming in 3rd, so us foreignys really represented!

I FINALLY got to go up on the podium, and it was hilarious.  They had about 15 paparazzi cameras on us, and played a song similar to the star wars theme at full blast.  I truly didn't know if I should laugh or cry.  I was given a 10 lbs glass trophy as well.

10 lbs of second place bling.

We were given little slips, which when we took to the race organizers, they gave us  cash prizes! Adam got 100,000 won ( 100$ ) for coming 3rd, and I got 200$! Yessa!!! 
That definitely helps to offset my heavy spending spree yesterday.

sorry we took all your money, Korea.

So, after a lovely fine dining experience at Breeze Burns burger place in Somyeon with the crew, we made it back to the dong for a soak at the jimjillbang. Now we are back to our humble abode, which although the toilet and tap now only work about 30% of the time, it's still our home.

Good day in the Kay oh Ray.