Day 68: The day I got offered a fork

Mood: So so, I guess.
Music: Various

Yes. Today was the day I got offered a fork. I'll get back to that shameful episode later though...

I was to meet Trueman at 9:30am again today to start our final trip together south towards the airport. As I had no details on the flight I was to take I had asked him yesterday when it was and he thought it was early afternoon about 2pm maybe. He told me this morning (as I rolled up 10 minutes late as I had every day so far!) that the flight was actually at 12:35pm and it was over an hour's drive away.

We were due to stop off on the way at Tongdosa, one of the largest and most important Buddhist temples in Korea. On the way we decided that we would still do so but would have to severely restrict the time we could spend there. In the end the time criticality was added to the motorway reports of traffic jams up ahead. When we got to the temple we nipped out and virtually legged it up to the far end of the site and back. The site consists of a number of gates and many prayer rooms. It is supposed to have been founded in the mid 7th centrury AD and houses what are said to be relics of Buddha himself, including bones.

I had been assured that arriving 30 minutes before a domestic flight in Korea would be fine, and although I was skeptical at the time, I now think he was spot on. Either way we arrived about 50 minutes before my flight and I quickly checked in. The boarding time was 10 minutes before the flight was due to leave and I'd barely sat down by the time the plane had started to taxi to the runway. I've not mentioned this before, but the national motto or Korea is "Hurry hurry". This seems to pervade everything they do, from driving to eating (you lucky ladies...). This does tend to mean that everything is done on time and everything is very punctual. The journey was only short but on the descent I worked out that they were having a raffle to win a number of prizes depending on the plane seat. I wasn't actually sitting in the seat I'd been assigned as I decided it wasn't worth the effort of turfing the lady in the seat out, so I sat on the isle seat one behind.

Lo and behold my original seat number was called out as the winner of the first prize to be given. The lady in my seat couldn't display the boarding card matching it and so when I showed the correct boarding card I became the proud winner of two boxed airline pens... As it happened, the seat I was actually sat in got drawn for another prize but nobody had that boarding card so they drew again.

On landing, I got onto the first bus leaving the plane and had to wait about a minute at the belt before the baggage started arriving. That is "hurry hurry" in action! I was then to take a bus to the south of the island and then a taxi to my hotel.

After a bit of faffing around trying to get a wifi signal in my hotel (it can only be achieved rammed up against the window) I set off to haev a look around town and to get some food. After a few minutes walking down hill towards the harbour in the small town (pop. 85k) I spotted signs for a waterfall which is one of the local tourist attractions. I umm'd and ahh'd about this for a while, not having a camera with me, but decided to have a look.

I then walked around the harbour and up into town to try to find somewhere to eat. Eventually I plumped with a Chinese place recommended by the Lonely Planet guide. As it was really cold out, by this time my hands were frozen and I'd mostly lost mobility in my fingers. After ordering (spicy crab noodle soup) I sat on my hands to try to warm them up but it didn't do much good. When the soup arrived I found myself faced with shelled arms and chunks of body of crab again but decided I'd give this one a better go that the last and picked bits up to try to rescue the meat from them. It was at this point I discovered that my frozen hands simply weren't able to control chopsticks yet and I must have looks so incompetent and helpless that the waitress brought over a pair of wooden chopsticks (rather than the aluminium ones on the table) and also a fork. I normally pride myself on my chopstick use but being offered a fork. I have to say I cried a little on the inside and blamed the cold. As my hands warmed up I changed back from the wooden chopsticks to the finer point nose metal ones again, just to prove to myself that I could.

After that I went to find a bar that the guide said attracted ex pats on qa weekend, just to find someone to talk to. After the first beer I got fed up of waiting and came back to my hotel.

Tomorrow I look around this place with a new guide for the day.

Until again.