Year in Review 2010

Just decided to write a quick reflection for the past year. Its been a interesting year that came with many new friends, memorable moments, low points, strange places and new experiences. Gonna have to make it quick as I dont have much battery power left on my laptop

Guess I should start off with the lowlights of 2010. There was really only one true lowlight for 2010 and that was getting into some arguments/disagreements with close friends. It didnt really accomplish much except for wasting time and creating bitterness. Its something I really regret and hope to take further steps to resolve in 2011.


There were many highlights to 2010. None of it would have really been possible with getting fired from my job sept 2009, so a big thank you to that dick of a manager, Corey at Bell. I met so many awesome people and thanks to the time off work I was able to enjoy some good times with them. Some of my favourites include the Wine Festival in Niagara with Jisu, Jhanny, Eriko, and Jeff, Ice Fishing, Having Coffee at Starbucks with Chloe, Muse, Thrice, GnR, Jisan Rock Festival, my trip spanning ten countries and finally living in a new country. I wanna thank all the people who made all these highlights possible again and hopefully we can have more good times in the future.

Quick Notes
Fav. Movie of 2010 - Probably would have been Jackass 3D but since its not showing in Korea, Id say its a tie between Machete and Inception.
Fav. Country - Nepal - The People and Culture were amazing
Best Concert - Guns N' Roses in January. Axl sounded really good and GnR were in the best form I have seen since coming back. An added plus is getting paid for my photographs from that concert

A 크리스마스 Story..

Happy Horidays! Its Chrisumasu time in Korea! Christmas in Korea is a bit different, from what Im told its a couples day and from what I see its a day to eat a Paris Baguette or Dunkin Donuts Christmas Cake. Its my first Christmas away from home and since im not in a couple and I didnt wanna eat cake at home by myself I decided to spend Christmas at my favourite hostel, Banana Backpackers.

I got to the hostel around 2pm on Christmas Eve and nobody was around at the time. I decided to go to Myeongdong which is a place to shop, shop, eat and shop some more. Myeongdong is usually pretty crowded and that days crowd consisted of mostly of couples, people offereing free hugs and people in cute fuzzy bear and Santa costumes. I didnt do much other than enjoy a warm on the outside, frozen of the inside street chicken kebab due to the -15 weather.

Skating @ City Hall

Myeongdong

I decided to go back to the hostel to warm up and to my Suprise I saw Mr.Hong Kong! I met Mr. Hong Kong 3 months ago at the same hostel so it was a real Christmas miracle sorta.. He also has the nickname Hong Kong "Rain" LOL cause he got some sick dance moves while singing a tune.. It was a fun night as we had some pizza, cake and soju bombs. I had my first soju bomb expertly made by Banana girl Seung Min which was really good! It was a pretty diverse crowd with an American, Singaporean, Japanese, Thai, Hong Kong, Korean and Canadian.

Christmas @ Banana Backpackers

Panarama

Christmas Day started out similar to Christmas Eve with another trip to Myeongdong with American David from the Hostel. After another uneventful day in Myeongdong we headed  back to the hostel to warm up a bit before going out for some korean bbq. It was followed by some more Cake and a gift exchange where David ended up getting ... some printer paper! courtesy Mr. Hong Kong. That night we decided to head for Hongdae where we aimlessy wondered in the cold looking for places to drink. Mr.Hong Kong really wanted to go to a sexy bar but the rest of us were not into that.We ended up going to Ho-Bar 7 or 10 which dissapointly for Mr. Hong Kong was not a sexy bar. Had some beers and Mr.Hong Kong hilariously tried to pick up some korean girls which didnt go half bad. In the end, Korean Christmas was saved. Now I have to figure out how to save Korean New Years....

LOL, The Dissapointment

War?

Things seem to be escalating pretty rapidly this past week since the shelling of Yeoungdeopo Island by North Korea. Both sides have once again begun the war rhetoric threatening "enormous retaliation" if either side provokes the other. There have been incidents before with North Korea like the sinking of the Cheonan Submarine and the shooting of a S.Korean tourist in N.Korea and nothing really happened. This time though it feels a little different, if the North or South were to commit one more provocative action, it feels like it would be the third strike that would set the stage for an all out war.

The US and South Korea are set to stage some kind of military drills this Sunday near Yeoudeungpo Island, the same site North Korea attacked earlier this week. It seems stupid to me to hold those kind of drills so soon after the latest incident. I know North Korea has to be held in check but the South has everything to lose and there must be a better way to resolve this situation than to hold these drills with what seems to be the North's real enemy, the United States.

I don't know what I would do the in event of war breaking out. Seoul would definitely be the first target and I'm pretty sure that I would be in the line of fire. I would forget about trying to get out of Seoul as Im sure the traffic would be much worse than getting out of Seoul for Chuseok (Chuseok - 1hr drive turns into a 6hr drive). I think I would probably head for the emart (emart=korean walmart) near my apartment. Its in the second basement level of a Technomart. I figure id be safe there and I would have everything I need. I really hope cooler heads prevail and nothing happens.

In lighter news, I joined a gym today near my apartment. Its a pretty small one but its really cheap, no down payment, 20,000 Won (18$ cdn) a month. Its smells like my grandma in there (gym is full of old people) but its cool, it close by and inexpensive. I lost a bit of weight while backpacking this summer (thanks India!). Im 176 lbs down from 192 lbs pretrip but I'm still pretty fat by Korean standards. Hoping to drop down to 165 lbs in the next couple of months but I think the bigger goal is trying to stick to at least 3-4 days a week in the gym!

The only christmas picture I had

oh and I'm really missing Canadian Christmas :(
there are very little Christmas decorations except for at Starbucks.
No Santa, No Egg Nog, No Christmas Trees, No Christmas Music, No Christmas lights...but most depressingly NO family and friends
I really wish Korea was a little bit more christmasy...

The Story So Far.....

Ugh! Another bad license picture, should have got it photoshopped kk

 
So I've had a good amount of time to soak in the Korean life. I'm settling in pretty nicely, I got my F4 Visa (Citizenship), moved in to a convenient new place, opened a bank account and got a cell phone. Now I just need to find a job and a girlfriend and I'm all set! I wanted offer up some of what I thought was the good and bad of Seoul, Korea 6 weeks in...

 The Good;

• Service! Korean service is really top notch! While getting a cell phone they gave me a free drink while I had a seat on their comfy couch. Ex.2 Services like internet setup or delivery of a online purchase usually get done the next day and on time.

• Service!! (alt.) The other "service" meaning complimentary or free shit! When ordering food or drinks they will give you free food or side dishes! Who doesnt like free stuff?

• Cheap High Speed Internet! No more waiting a week for a movie to download and No Throttling! Canadian Internet really blows in comparison

•  K-Pop - Its pretty catchy music! Its like having that first breakfast twinkie of the day. It smells good, it looks good, it tastes good and much like a twinkie it give you that sugar rush but... (see below)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGbwL8kSpEk

  

•  Jollypong and Banana Milk. Jollypong tastes exactly like sugarcrisp cereal and its awesome when having it with some banana flavoured milk.

Not So Good;

• Fruit is expensive! I spent 6000Won or $5.50 cdn for 6 mandarin oranges....

• Mosquitoes! Korean mosquitoes are pure evil. They are definitely more blood thirsty and bitey than the Canadian variety. They will bite any exsposed body part. Ive gotten bites on my face, eyelid, ears and the bottom of my foot. They will also annoy you by buzzing in your ear while you sleep.

• 90% of the shops are for female shoppers. I guess its a good thing if your female

• The Truth - Ive had a few korean people call me fat and squeeze my belly. Koreans can be brutally honest.

• K-Pop is also like having that tenth twinkie, it doesnt really give you the nutrition. Theres no substance, its just sugar and flour, You get sick of it after having so many and you dont wanna touch another one for weeks ......but you eventually go back and eat some more

Usually I had enough of Kpop when 'Shinee' comes on

Welcome to My New Blog - 2nd Attempt

Hi, 안녕 and welcome to the first entry in my New Blog!

This is my second attempt at writing a blog. Some of you might remember I tried to keep a blog of my travels but sadly it was only 2 entries long. There were a many factors as to why I failed at my first blogging attempt; no energy, no time, health problems, technical issues but most of all it was laziness. I tried to document every part of my trip and just started to fall behind. There isn't gonna be any of that pressure with this blog, just whenever I have the time and if Ive got something on my mind then Ill write about it.

This blog will be about my life and experience while "In Exile" from my hometown of Toronto, Ontario Canada. I left Canada on June 21,2010 and have so far travelled through ten countries. To have experienced all the tradition and culture of these places, it has definitely given me a renewed sense of appreciation and awareness of all the good that this world has to offer. I'm most grateful to all the people I have met so far. You have added the "color" to all that I have experienced, without you guys it would just be a grey sky and lifeless buildings. I hope to share more experiences, observations and revelations in this blog and want to thank all those who follow along.

Chillin in Pokhara

I decided to leave Chitwan after only a day there. It was kinda lonely there at the guesthouse and I did what I came to see. I quickly made my way back to the bus area on the owners little motor bike. Its not easy riding on the back of a motorbike with a 20kg bag and 6 kg daypack. I met a couple of fellow travellers Micah and Roland in the bus area who were coincidently from Toronto!! I met them on the way from Kathmandu but didnt get a chance to hang out other than having a few words during the rest stops


After another death defying 5 hour bus ride I arrived in the town of Pokhara, Nepal. The bus ride was no less terrifying to deal with that the last one but it was more fun this time (nervous smile). Pokhara is surrounded by the beautiful Annapurna Mountain Range and Phewa Tal Lake. Its a popular place to go trekking in the Anna Purna Sanctuary. I didnt really have the time to do the trek so I will have to regrettably save it for my return trip. Its also the rainy season at the moment making it overcast and made the hiking conditions much more dangerous.

We added another to the group, an aspiring doctor from Scotland during the bus ride. We decided it would be good to stick together so once we got off the bus, we chose a tout and off to some guesthouse called the Gautama Guesthouse. Micah and Roland roomied together and I buddied up with the Scottish Guy.

Pokhara was a really chilled out Nepali town. Peaceful and quiet and because it was low season not many tourists. We spent the first night just chilling out. We went to the Everest Steakhouse in town for some really good cheap steaks and an Everest Beer. So good and cheap that we ordered seconds!

My second day there, after decking myself out in some comfy hippie pants and bling, I decided to rent a boat and paddle across the lake hike up to the World Peace Pagoda. Around 80 Peace Pagodas have been built around the world in Asia, Europe and North America. The views of the Anna Purna Mountains were stunning!

The next few days were rainy so I spent alot of time just relaxing at the cafe, eating alot Daal Bhat and doing Yoga. Roland and Micah signed up for some yoga classes and I decided to check it out too.
The instructor was a short polite nepali man and I guess he did Yoga out of his home. It was dark, damp and musty and I didnt think I would get much of a workout since it was Yoga. Over the course of the next hour he put through a brutal yoga session. I had to step out as I came close puking up my Daal Bhat. I never sweat so much in my life and was exhausted. Definitely dropped a few lbs during that session. Spent the night having a beer and watching world cup soccer. Nice....

It was still raining after 4 days, but during the times it let up I rented a bike and explored the town of Pokhara. Ate at a local resto with Micah and we decided to try momos (dumplings) and some buff meat (Water Buffalo meat I think) The meat kinda tasted funny but I decided to finish off the plate.
That night I paid for it, got some killer stomach cramps and vomited a few times.

Got better enough to get moving on to the next town of Lumpbini. I intially wanted to stay in Pokhara only a couple days but stayed almost a week. It was that good. Said my Goodbyes and it was off to Lumpbini, The Birthplace of Buddha

Hunting for Rhino in Chitwan

It was time to move on from the chaos and rolling blackouts of Kathmandu to my next destination, Royal Chitwan National Park which is about a 7-8 hour bus ride from Kathmandu.

I got up early the next morning for headed to the parking area for my 6am bus. Now I was somewhat aware of the dangers of riding buses in Nepal but to experience it firsthand was something totally different. I headed to the back of the bus to my assigned seat. As it was the last row it was kind of elevated and I saw that the window was level with the seat. Someone could easily fly out an open window on a sharp turn. Riding the bus in Nepal is not for the faint-hearted. Here are some things to keep in mind before getting on a Nepali Bus

1. Speeding Buses, Trucks, Cars, Motorbikes
2. Oncoming Traffic (usually speeding)
3. Narrow Roads barely wide enough to accommodate 2 cars side by side
4. Drivers who try to pass, (both sides)
5. Driving through mountains in high elevations and a lack of any crash barriers
6. Rock slides
7. Washed Out Roads

The View of the winding road from my bus seat

With all those aforementioned points it can lead to many HOLY SHIT moments on the bus. To reinforce the danger I saw more than a few trucks that have driven off the road. I had fun! nevertheless.. Here is a warning DO NOT ride buses at night in Nepal.

 So I arrived in Royal Chitwan National Park after about 8 hrs on the bus. Immediately as with any bus stop I'm bombarded with touts begging me to go to their guesthouse. I chose one out of the Lonely Planet previously so I headed to that one. When I got to the guesthouse  I found out I was the only one there! On the plus side the owner was really cool and the jungle view was AMAZING. I still had some time and decided to go on a Jungle Trek. Royal Chitwan National Park's most famous resident is the Rhino, so I thought it would be cool to see them in their natural habitat. There were two options, do a trek on an elephant or walk. I chose to walk which was a little bit cheaper.The trek started out with a short canoe ride down a croc infested river. We stopped off on the banks of the river right before the treeline.

Jungle View from my guesthouse

Canoe through croc infested rivers

 

 

 

 

Should have taken the Elephant

Giant Orb Spider

Here Rhino Rhino Rhino...

 After getting off the canoe. I started to get the feeling I should have taken the elephant trek option. My flipflops were useless after getting covered in thick mud. The initial path was through thick jungle bush and I decided to go barefoot. I have a phobia for anything six legged and I noticed the ground was covered with various creepy crawlies so I tried my best to ignore that.

Some insect on taking a rest on my guides foot.

 

After getting off the canoe. I started to get the feeling I should have taken the elephant trek option. My flipflops were useless after getting covered in thick mud. The initial path was through thick jungle bush and I decided to go barefoot. I have a phobia for anything six legged and I noticed the ground was covered with various creepy crawlies so I tried my best to ignore that.

The next 2 hours were spent looking for Rhinos. I didnt really think about what I would do if I came across a Rhino on foot as Im pretty sure they could outrun me. The 2 pieces of advice I received from the guides were to 1. NOT RUN  or 2. Climb a tree. Luckily or not we didnt cross paths with any Rhino although they did show me where rhinos may have passed through like a watering hole they might have been at or signs they rubbed up against a tree. Still I enjoyed the peaceful jungle trek. After I just chilled by the river watching the gharial crocs. Decided to leave for Pokhara the next day..

 

 

Namaste! from Kathmandu

I finally arrived in Kathmandu Nepal smelly, tired and covered in bug bites after three flights, four countries and a combined 35 hours of flight time and layovers.

It’s my third night here in Kathmandu, Nepal and I’m having a blast. Kathmandu is hot, loud, aggressive and everything is covered with a layer of dirt. Traffic is insane as people dodge cars, bikes, motorcycles and buses. There are stray dogs roaming the streets for scraps of food, rooster’s cocka-doodle-dooing and random cows causing further traffic chaos. Although Kathmandu is dirty, loud, and chaotic, it’s also a colourful and beautiful place kind of like how daylight breaks through a grey sky. There is a warmth that can be felt through the smiles of the Nepali people. The culture here is so rich and deep which just further adds to the mystique of Nepal

Kathmandu Durbar Square

Someone needs a tissue

My 3 days here in Kathmandu have been spent just taking in the whole Nepali culture. It has just been a total sensory overload since I got here. It took me about two days just to somewhat settled in and get used to things. Streets here have no names, (only a few have names) so its been difficult to get around but now at least I know how to get back to my guest house as long as I don’t venture off too far. Like I mentioned before, traffic here is more than crazy. People seem to be apart of the traffic flow along with cars, bikes, motorcycles, buses and tuk-tuks. Crossing the street is a death wish ( I attempted it though a few times)

I visited Kathmandu Durbar Square (Durbar is Royal Palace) which is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There was just so much going on here. From people taking part in religious acts, people selling all sorts of food and knick knacks, to the overwhelming amount of people offering to be your guide. The square itself is just mesmerizing as it showcases Newari designs and artwork. Some important festivals still take place here, though none at this time which is sad for me. I visited a the Patan Durbar Square today as well. Some Nepali School kids offered to show me around! All the Nepali school kids were so cute and so curious about foreigners. They would ask questions about where I was from and my job. I also stopped by Swayanbhu

and Boudha Stupas. The latter was full of monkeys who I was warned by the locals would try to steal something from me. ( nothing was stolen from me).

My awesome guides for the day

The food here has been hit and miss. Im kinda wary of trying the street food but Im mustering up the courage to eat some soon. Today I had some really awesome Keema Naan which is Naan is some kinda meat filling and Chicken Chili Momos which are dumpling similar to Korean mandu with a spicy chilli sauce. Sooo delicious! ^^

Chili Chicken Momos and Naan

Bagman

Im off to the Royal Chitwan National park which is a 5-6 Hour bus ride tommarow. Hope to see some snakes, rhinos, tigers and sloth bears in the jungle. Oh and I hope to give an elephant a bath and maybe have the elephant bath me kkk..
Bye for now!

The Birthplace of Pizza

For my side trip from Rome, I decided to go to Naples or Napoli as its called by Italians. Ill admit the main reason why I went to Napoli was because it was the birthplace of Pizza and if you wanted pizza, you had to get it in Napoli. I booked myself a cheap train ticket on Trenitalia and slept the entire 3 hour journey to Napoli.

My trip to Napoli didn’t start off so well…. When I got off the train and attempted to get on the subway I was informed there was a Scobero or Strike by the transit workers until 6:30pm and it was 2:30pm. It was unlucky but I decided to see what I could do around the train station. When I got out of the train station the first thing you notice is that there is garbage everywhere. I heard that the Landfills got full in Napoli and it had nowhere to go, so I guess people will just dump their garbage wherever. Also there were many Nigerians selling counterfeit everything. Counterfeit Gucchi, Louis Vuitton bags, counterfeit sunglasses, watches, hats every ten feet. There was this stretch of garbage strewn sidewalk but it turned out

My First Pizza
^^

to be people selling garbage! I think these people either collect things people leave behind at the train station and sell it or they steal it ( I noticed a few shady people around the train station). After I got sick of smelling garbage I went back to the train station wait out the duration of the strike.
I met some lesbians who were also waiting out the strike but we didn’t feel like waiting any longer so we took the bus. We got to the hostel about 2.5 hours by bus, had we waited and taken the subway we would have been there much sooner. Getting to the hostel , I have to say it was the Nicest Hostel I have been to and ironically right after the worst. Its called La Controrra Flashpackers and recommend it to anybody who visits Napoli. Well the time was finally here, time to try Pizza. I was holding out my first few days and wanted to eat Pizza for the first time in Napoli. I searched around for a Pizza joint and found one pretty close by. After taking my first bite into the pizza I know that I cant enjoy Canadian

Climbing Mt. Vesusvius

pizza the same way ever again. I went on the try many pizza as you will see from the pictures including De Matteo which the locals say is the best pizza in Naples. I have to agree, it was the tastiest and cheapest (only 1 euro!). I made two pretty uneventful side trips to Pompeii and Positano. Positano was really nice, and I just needed to chill for a day at the beach.

I came back to Rome for a day before I leave for Nepal. I met a Aussie girl who had lost her luggage on a Lufthansa flight. Luckily for her it would come a day later! I got to try some spaghetti and meatballs with her and again Canadian spaghetti and meatballs is now ruined for me..
That’s it for now , See ya in Nepal!

Roma!

I got into Rome in the early morning after spending the night at London Stansted Airport. Many people decide to sleep there to catch the early morning flights ( 6am) from one of the many discount airlines. It wasn’t the most comfortable night and it probably was the most uncomfortable flight ever but it was cheap. My plan for Italy was to enjoy the food and see the sights without going too much over my 40 Euro budget a day.

My "room" for the night

Early Morning Ryanair Flight

I got to the Rome Termini train station and immediately I was kind of paranoid since I’ve heard so many stories from other travellers about pickpockets. So I took some precautions and put 2 locks on my daypack and never my bag leave my sight. Seeing Gypsies holding babies begging for money didn’t help. I needed to find a hostel for the night so I wandered around the train station as there seemed to be many hotels and places to sleep. I walked by what seemed like a Laundromat and internet café. The Bangladeshi offered a place to sleep for 45 euro but that was way outta my budget. He said he knew of another place to sleep for only
25 euro and went on to call his brother. There were 4 of them, all brothers or cousins, similar looking and shady but I was tired and needed a place to sleep. When I arrived at the hostel it had to be one the worst I’ve ever seen. The place wasn’t very clean, the washrooms were really small, there wasn’t free wifi as advertised (It came and went and I think that this guy stole his neighbours wifi and advertised it as his own) and probably worst of all … there were bedbugs!!!! Now being that I haven’t sleep in awhile, and my bag was heavier than a sack of bricks, I decided to sleep there for the night (in my sleeping bag).

 

Trevi Fountain

I decided to do all the touristy things but didn’t want to pay for them. I saw the Colliseum, many piazzas, Palantino Hills, Trevi Fountain, and the Vatican but didn’t pay for any of the entrance fees or tours. I only paid the 2 euros ( 1 Euro is good for a 90 minuti bus/train ticket) which by the way is an awesome system for public transportion. Although it kinda works on the honour system as you have to buy tickets from tabacchi (tobacco) shops and you must validate the tickets yourself when you get on the train or bus. Only once did anybody check my ticket and I saw many people who didn’t have or validate their tickets ( if you get caught it’s a 30 euro fine) Anyways I think the Vatican was the most impressive out of all the sights. I was kinda kicking myself as I found out that you can get blessed by the pope on Wednesday mornings and I just missed it..

The Colliseum

Palatino Hills

The Vatica, St Peters Square

The Pantheon

Well the original plan was to do 7 days in Italy but I didn’t wanna spend it just in Rome, So off to the birthplace of Pizza! Naples or Napoli.

Side Notes
- I forgot to mention one of the things I do while travelling is I go out and try the McDonalds in each country I visit.
- McDonalds Meal I had in Rome - The Big Tasty. Similar to the Big Mac. They also charge you for ketchup! 0.25 Euros!!
- Gelatto is soo good.

Gypsies are everywhere

Italian Breakfast, Chocolate Croissant, Fresh Squeezed OJ and Cappucino

Hostel Roomie Cass

Off to Napoli!