As I wrote back exactly four weeks ago when I first arrived in Thailand, that was the stretch of the journey that I had the most apprehension about - mainly because it was a journey into the unknown.
Although I'd visited Thailand before, I didn't have any idea what a visit to the country would be without the islands and the beaches, and from there it was an intriguing journey through Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos in which I really had no idea what to expect.
The destinations I have coming up are definitely the ones I go into with the most anticipating lingering. I was looking forward to the quartet of countries I just mentioned, but I wasn't quite sure what I'd encounter when I got there. From here on in through the final six weeks of my journey I have what I think will be the most exciting section to come.
Last night at about 11:50pm the latter stages of my journey began with a return to shores I last frequented over five years ago.
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Anyone who has read even a couple of pages of my blog is probably well aware of the significance the peninsular of Korea holds for me - I'm pretty sure I mention it a couple of times each post, but in case you somehow missed it....
In 2009 having graduated from university (twice) and being stuck in a job that I didn't really enjoy, I decided to take the bold move (or risky step, depending on your opinion) of heading to Asia for a year to work as an English teacher. The opportunity presented itself after a little bit of research into how I could travel and work at the same time, something I'd wanted to do for a number of years.
I did a little bit of research on countries where English teachers usually reside and discovered that South Korea is usually a popular nation for 'first-timers' to choose because of the number of benefits you receive. Getting in touch with an agency I didn't hear anything from them for a while but then got three offers from schools in and around the Seoul area, one of which I selected at a private school in the city of Suwon which is about an hour or so away from the capital.
I'd like to say, "and the rest is history", but considering the amount of time I spend discussing or reflecting on my experiences, it's more like the 'distant present', and I don't think the memories from my year spent there will ever fade. I made two excellent friends, the oft referenced Kevin and Charlie, who helped me settle in to life there, and together the three of us, far away from home, attempted to see each other through the good and the bad as we tried to survive what was quite a challenging experience:
There were some times when I felt like boarding a plane and going back to England, and for a long time it was a very surreal experience, but with every meal I ate, friend I made or trip out we took I began to feel more comfortable, and when it came time to come back home, it was quite strange to be feeling sad because I'd settled in and without even noticing that I had become very comfortable with what at first seemed like daunting surroundings.
I thought about returning to Korea, both for employment and leisure, but this never transpired for various reasons, although when I planned my trip around Asia I have to admit that Korea was the first country which I wrote down. I definitely wanted to come back, and nothing was going to stop me.
I realised, however, that things would be different, because I would't have the support of anyone else there with me, and also because I was a tourist rather than a temporary resident. It's still something I wanted to do though, and I felt like it would be a big moment for me.
Even though I had to wait ages in the airport last night and knew I'd be going without proper sleep, I was still looking forward to touching down at Incheon Airport. As a strange coincidence it is exactly six years and three days since I first arrived there on April 12, 2009. On that day I had so many emotions running through my head that I can't remember how I felt or what my surroundings were, but this morning it all felt strangely familiar.
The plane ride from Vientiane to Incheon itself wasn't too bad. It took about four hours and forty-five minutes, and we touched down just after 6.30am. I managed to get some very broken sleep on the plane but there was a horrifying moment when having been pretty much in the dark for the whole journey the cabin lights came on so the crew could serve us breakfast and I actually felt like my eyeballs were melting.
We had a couple of bits of turbulence on the flight, but nothing too bad, and although there was a long queue at immigration at least there was no visa to pay for.
I got an immediate reminder of what life can be like in this part of the world as the whole time in the immigration queue there was a man who was either determined to try and push his way in front of me or stand as close to me as physically possible so that I could feel him breathing on the back of my neck. Every time I shuffled forward, he followed, and when it eventually came time for my turn to go through immigration he gave me a little push as if to say "hurry up". I just turned around and glared at him when I was supposed to be looking at the camera and I think the lady behind the desk realised why as when I was finished she said something to him in Chinese and gesticulated towards me as I went downstairs to go and get my bag.
Once again it had taken me so long to collect my luggage that the conveyor belt had stopped rotating and I was left to collect my bag off the floor. I didn't care though. I had a strange feeling of satisfaction that I was finally back in the country which helped me spend an enjoyable year of my life away from home whilst learning lots about myself and the world around me.
As mentioned in a previous blog, my destination was slightly different on this visit, and although I'd thought about going back to Suwon - even just for a night - I decided to concentrate on going to a part of the country I'd thought about visiting, but hadn't had the opportunity to.
It was quite funny walking through the airport because even though it has been a while since I was there, shops I recognised began to spring up all over the place, and I did my best to translate some of the signs using my memory of Hangul (the Korean script) to see if things translated the same as they were in English.
From Incheon Airport I was planning on heading south to Busan where I am spending five days to start my stay in Korea. The airport is known as Seoul airport, but its about an hour or so drive from the capital, and although there's an airport in Busan, it actually worked out better for me to come to Incheon from Vientiane as it's one of the few places which flights actually leave the country from.
To get to Busan I'd read about two different methods; one involved first going to Seoul by bus and then catching the train from there, or, catching the KTX Express Train straight from the airport to Busan.
Option number two is the one which was offered to me by the lady behind the information desk who I spoke to about getting down south. She informed me that I needed to go and find a different counter in order to actually buy a ticket, and once I got there I was told that the next train would be leaving at 9.07am - about an hour and a halves time.
I headed town towards the train station in the airport. I'd ridden the KTX before, but only between Suwon and Seoul so it was going to be a slightly familiar experience to me, although instead of twenty minutes, the ride was going to be four hours and cover a distance of over 300kms.
Things in Korea, unlike other parts of Asia, tend to be pretty particular about their time-keeping so I headed down with about twenty minutes to spare, just so I could get to my seat and sort out my bags if nothing else and I was pleased to discover that I was given a window seat on what looked to be a fairly modern and new looking train:
I really shouldn't expect anything else from a country which is pretty far ahead when it comes to technology, but it is quite hard to remember after all the painful sweaty non-air conditioned bus rides I've taken in the last couple of months.
To start off with the train was pretty empty and the carriage I was in which was at the front of the train only had about ten passengers. We picked up some more once we got to Gimpo Airport (this one is slightly closer to Seoul and used more for domestic air traffic) and then once we got to Seoul Station it completely filled up.
We made several stops along the way but to nobody's surprise I fell asleep and woke up just as we got to Daegu which is about an hour and a half away from Busan.
I wasn't the only one asleep however as when I woke up I saw that pretty much everyone who'd got on with me at Incheon was snoozing including one guy who was very lovingly sleeping on his friend's shoulder, and as a repayment his friend was snoring extremely loudly so the rest of the carriage could hear.
From the point I woke up it took about an hour for us to reach Busan Station where my next challenge began. Even though I lived pretty close to the capital when I was in Korea, I always felt like my experiences within Seoul and Suwon were slightly different. Around Seoul you'd see a lot more 'foreigners' and also more things would be written in English. Having said that pretty much all the signs in Suwon were written below in English and the metro stops were also announced in both languages. I have a feeling that it is fallout from when Korea co-hosted the World Cup in 2002 and Suwon was a host city for a couple of games.
Thankfully Busan is a little bit like Seoul, and there were a couple of information desks, one of which I went to after being unable to find any signs for the metro. The lady behind the counter gave me a map and pointed me in the direction of the exit which would lead to signs for the metro.
Walking outside there was something familiar, but different about being in Korea's second largest city and it didn't take long for me to realise that I am now on an entirely different path to the one which I was in going through having begun the middle portion of my journey in Thailand.
The metro is widespread in Busan, and I'd read instructions online how to reach my hotel so I figured that I'd save myself a bit of money, and not have to worry about a taxi driver fighting his way through the traffic.
The station I was getting off at was only about five away from Busan Station heading north and was called 'Seomyeon'. It seemed to be fairly central when I was looking online, and when I eventually arrived at the subway stop, it was clear that it was a good place to stay.
I thought I followed the instructions that were given to me online pretty carefully, but apparently not because after about fifteen minutes of walking in one direction, and then turning round to head back in the other, I was thoroughly lost. I'd seen on the internet that there was a sign for the 'Angel Hotel' (where I'm staying) on the street, but no matter where I looked I couldn't see one.
The streets here in Korea are actually crazy with the amount of signs which are everywhere, and it's sometimes a bit of a minefield to direct your eyes to the right place, but I had taken my time and hadn't seen anything that convinced me I was going the right way.
Thankfully there was a lady parked up at the side of the road who ushered me over and offered to help me find the hotel. It's strange how because I have the familiarity of being in Korea (or perhaps because I was extremely tired and sleep deprived and not thinking) that I had the confidence to wander over and accept her offer without really considering it. In places like Laos - perfect example yesterday with the hotel manager - where I was reluctant to speak to anybody because I always felt there was a sales pitch with it, and it had got to the point after being too willing to speak to people that I just decided to mercilessly ignore everybody - even if they seemed western.
Luckily for me, this lady was genuinely helpful and used Google Maps on her phone to point me in the right direction.
Coming at it from the opposite side it was much easier to spot the landmark I'd been told to aim for and once I walked up the correct road, I saw the sign and then managed to make it to my hotel. The usual spring in my step had returned as I'd made it safely.
Unfortunately my room wasn't quite ready when I got to the hotel, so I said I would wait and headed off to a bakery to get myself some lunch before returning a little later to find that my room had eventually being sorted.
As usual, my aim was to explore the area a little bit, and then tonight I'd seen online that the local football team - Busan I'Park - were playing so decided that it would be a good way to settle in by going to the game.
I took a shower and changed my clothes for the first time in over 24 hours and then headed out of the door, camera in hand to photograph my surroundings:
Having spent a year here as a teacher I feel like my selection of Korean photos will be significantly smaller than in other destinations as there might not be so many photos of things I've seen along the way. Except when I see something like this which reminds me that things are still very different here:
I took a walk in both directions from my hotel, including walking back to where I had gone wrong earlier and also finding the next subway station. I thought at this point that considering I didn't know how long it was going to take on the metro, or how busy it was going to be, that I should probably make a move back to the hotel in order to get ready for the game tonight.
Obviously I am a huge sports fan in general, and I really enjoy football. Until I got to Vientiane I had barely watched any highlights or anything since coming to Asia in February although I am able to keep up with the scores - internet connection permitting.
When I was in Korea the last time I went maybe four or five K-League games, and although they weren't of the highest standard, it was still interesting to watch matches being played out in stadiums which were used thirteen years ago to host the World Cup.
The 2002 tournament which Korea co-hosted with Japan was really a step in the right direction for the national team - I still have vivid memories of them beating Italy and then knocking out Spain on penalties before Germany dispatched them in the semi-finals.
The national league got a huge boost from the Finals being held on the peninsular and at least six teams had new stadiums built for them.
I wouldn't say I keep up with the K-League so to speak, but I occasionally follow the progress of the team I used to go and watch, the mighty Suwon Bluewings. For tonight however, I was going to be a neutral and watch a game between Jeonbuk and Busan I'Park.
The league only started a few weeks ago, but already Jeonbuk are on top of the table with Busan in the lower reaches - I think they were eleventh with only one win when I last looked. I wasn't therefore expecting a close game, or very much quality from the home side.
The K-League has produced its fair share of stars - particularly in comparison with its near-neighbours in the Far-East. Players like Park Ji-Sung (PSV and Man United), Lee Chong-Yong (Bolton and Crystal Palace) and Ki Seong-Yong (Swansea and Celtic) all came through the K-League (recently renamed K-League Classic for reasons unbeknown to me) and there are lots of links with Brazilian and European players as each team is allowed to have four foreign players with one of them being from another Asian country.
The stadium itself was quite easy to reach. I had to travel on Line One towards Yeonsan, and then change to Line Three to reach a stop called Sport Complex. When I got there, I must have been one of only three people to depart the train so I figured that getting a ticket probably wasn't going to be a massive issue.
I walked outside and as you go up a huge ramp you can see the stadium in front of you:
I think it was called the Busan World Cup Stadium, but now it is known as the Busan Asiad Stadium, and just to the right of it is the Sajik Baseball Stadium where the Lotte Giants play their games:
It was only when I got there that I realised that both teams were playing on the same night, but funnily enough to demonstrate how long baseball is when I got home from the game and turned on the TV, their game was still going on. No extra innings or anything - just baseball being baseball!
The stadium looked pretty space age from the outside and once I found the place where I could buy tickets I was quite impressed by the fact it only cost 10,000 won (around £5) to get in.
Stadiums of any kind are one of my favourite kinds of buildings and maybe it's because I don't go to games that often, but I always get a sense of excitement when I enter them. This was no different and walking down the concourse to the stadium it was apparent that something a little different was going on here:
The ground which once played host to over 50,000 people when the co-hosts beat Poland 2-0 had been turned into a miniature stadium with temporary bleachers on one side and a whole host of empty seats. It was a very strange scene, but I'd seen that attendances were pretty low, and I didn't expect the whole thing to be open.
I won't give you too much of a Soccer Saturday update, but it was quite an interesting game. Busan I'Park looked quite nervous to be playing the league leaders and I thought Jeonbuk would run away with the game after watching them keep possession and create spaces in the opening couple of minutes.
Surprisingly it was 0-0 at half time and with about ten minutes gone after the break Busan scored with their second real chance of the game as a low free kick was tapped in by their striker.
They should have made it two on a number of occasions, most notably when one of their forwards went through only to side-foot tamely at the goalkeeper.
Having watched plenty of games I knew what was coming next and about five minute later Jeonbuk went down the other end and scored the scrapiest of scrappy goals to level things up.
At this point they had the momentum and there was only going to be one outcome as players from the home team looked out on their feet.
Jeonbuk got a free kick on the edge of the box with three minutes remaining and one of their Brazilian imports curled it past the keeper who got a massive hand on it, but couldn't stop it going in.
At full time the Busan players looked genuinely gutted with some of them sinking to their knees probably realising that they could, and should have won the game against their more illustrious opponents.
The second half of the game was really exciting with the ball going from end to end, and it helped take away the feeling of coldness which had set in at some point during the half time interval.
I guess the good thing about the match not being too well attended is that I wasn't going to have any issues getting the train away from the game as you usually would in this situation.
I got back to Seomyeon at about 9:30pm and then grabbed some dinner from Lotteria before coming back to my room.
It might seem strange with all that was going on around, but one of the most peaceful feelings I've had on this trip was this familiar sight down the road which runs close to my hotel:
A sight for sore eyes.
Eat My Goal
Collapsed Lung (1995)
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