Nagin Dance, Crabs & Autumn

0835hrs
19^th  October 2012, Friday
HHI Office, Ulsan.

Right, so it’s been more than a week since I stated that I would post something in the next 2 days. I apologize. There are a lot of things I can blame for this tardiness – too much work, too much partying, too much alcohol, cold weather, too much cricket and most importantly Umang’s Nagin Dance (put me in shock for 3 days).

As promised the next few posts will be more visual than verbose. I haven’t had the time to process all the 1900 photos that I have taken so far in Korea. But I will share some of the best ones taken over the last one month.

There have been 4 weekends since my last detailed post. I will list down the highlights from those weekends here. Over the next few days I will most detailed posts/photos for each of those weekends too. Here is a small teaser of what you can expect:

Weekend # 1 (22-23^rd Sept):
–          Hair Cut debacle at Toni and Guy
–          Visit to a local fish market
–          Amethyst caves & lunch in a temple mess
–          Finding the mysterious Paraeso waterfalls
–          Hike Hike Hike in beach slippers

Weekend # 2 (28^th – 2 October):
–          Chuseok Long weekend trip to Seoul
–          We almost miss our KTX train
–          Overnight stay at a Jiljimbang (Korean Spa)
–          Partying at night clubs near Hongik University
–          Check in at Grand Hyatt
–          Night City Bus Tour & Party at JJ’s@Hyatt
–          Sightseeing Seoul’s palaces & hanok villages
–          Amusement park – Lotte World
–          Sightseeing Hooker and Homo Hill in Itaewon
–          Myeongdong and Namdaemun Markets

Weekend #3 (6^th– 7^th October):

–          Rented a car from Avis for road trip to Jinju Lantern Festival
–          Stuck in Traffic Jam on highway
–          Checked-in to a shady motel near Nam River (4 of us in one small room)
–          Battled the crowd at the lantern festival
–          Dinner: waffles, 2 crabs, one whole chicken, 15 bbq fish and soju
–          Next morning drove to Haedong Yonggung temple (gorgeous place by the sea)
–          Had lunch at Korean restaurant
–          Drove back to Ulsan and dinner at Namaskar restaurant

Weekend #4 (12^th – 13^th October):
–          Farewell party for some HHI friends on Friday night
–          Tried all sorts of alcohol – beer,soju,whiskey, tequila, rum & more!
–          Next morning – Slept well, but tummy wasn’t too happy about all that drinking
–          Hangover- headed for HHI Autumn Festival for expats (yes! autumn has arrived)
–          Hiking at Mt.Namsan – Gyeongju
–          Visit to Gyeongju National Museum
–          Dinner and entertainment at Hyundai Hotel Garden
–          Extremely cold conditions – worsened by equally bad rock band performance
–          Decent fireworks to close the night

1851 hrs
22^nd  October 2012, Monday
HHI Office, Ulsan

Sanba and Chuseok

1630hrs
19^th September 2012, Wednesday
HHI Office, Ulsan.

Quick update on whats been going on:
– It rained throughout the weekend, so we were pretty much at home all the time.
– On Monday, Typhoon Sanba paid us a visit. Really strong winds and rain. Office was open during the typhoon (Koreans don’t have a HSE policy I guess), so we had to go out.
– On Tuesday, tried the Indian/Pakistani restaurant -Shalimar- 10 min walk from the apartment. Terrible food.

What is going to happen?
– We finally booked our train tickets to Seoul for the long Chuseok weekend. Taking the KTX – economy outgoing, first class on our way back.
– Still need to book the hotel! Hopefully we get a decent hotel for that busy weekend, or we might have to end up staying in some shady love motel.

1640 hrs
19^th September 2012, Wednesday
HHI Office, Ulsan