White Tourist Suwon

... gets me through at least 8 miles. But, I made it through!!!! My favorite part was somewhere between mile 8 and mile 11 because I kinda lost track of things and just realized that I was almost finished. The mental preparation is by far the bigger challenge. My feet are holding up pretty well, even though my second toe on my left side is about to fall off and the other side is a little yellow too. I even took pictures to post!

... farmer's music and dance and acrobatics on a tightrope. I'm sure none of these took place back in the day when these types of villages were common place, but they were fun to watch. We also saw a folk museum which recreated and displayed a variety of cultural materials from the Joseon period. Here we saw displays of clothing, food and dwellings, annual customs, rites of passage and folk festivities. We only spent about ...

... the countries to the north. We returned here on the weekend to see the Jang Yong Yeong Security Guards Ceremony, where we could see a military ceremony and training performed by guards in their traditional dress. It was more interesting than I thought it would be, although a touch too long at half an hour. Once it was done, we explored another part of the fortress, Baksumun Hwahongmun, which was a floodgate at the north of the fortress.

Whilst having to ...

... land on the optical lenses. The smaller lens was crammed backwards into the larger one, but at an angle. In my drunken stupor, I was pretty confident I could fix it......with a pair of scissors! Ahh! All that did was help me hack huge gashes in the camera. Then I thought I could just manually shove the lenses back into place (let me remind you I was a bit inebriated, which always makes the worst ideas seem pretty logical!) and that obviously just ensured that ...

... to Koreans so I thought it would help break the ice. But when the conceited fellow, who could qualify as a poster boy for xenophobia, began firing questions at me in a gruff manner, I realized that the fear and loathing for strangers is very much alive in that part of the world, at least at the immigration counter.

Perhaps my Japanese features had something to do with the desk jockey's icy demeanor, I facetiously thought later ...

... the store and their time. We also tracked down an E-Mart!!!! Not as close to us as I thought, but it is totally worth it! An E-Mart is like a Walmart. HUGE variety of Western foods and products. I found Skippy peanut butter and Smuckers jelly! I also found Snickers and Twix! And peppermint tea! I hate the green tea here! It taste like it has been fermented! Gross! And I found lotion! A decent size bottle of Vaseline Intensive Care for ...

... who can't make a choice and constantly changes their mind-(**** I learn most of these English words the day im teachin these ***** thanks to the folks at dictionary.com). Then this lil poindexter pipes up "oh I know what that means like a playboy right teacher?". I then proceeded to explain a playboy as a gentleman who frequents the nightclub and tells many different women he likes them but isn't telling the truth. It was as PG as I could get without talkin ...

So, there are a hundred things I can think of to tell you about South Korea but I am not sure how interested you would be and whenever I sit down at my laptop my mind goes blank. So instead I will teach you the counting rythme I am teaching 'Tulip' class tomorrow ...

... had at least been enjoyable, but this was sheer hell. On the plus side, I never got bitten by any mosquitios. The experience brought a disgusting curtain down on what had otherwise been a highly enjoyable day. Firstly we had located a laundry for the first time since landing in Korea and this was a mighty relief. All my clothes had long since passed a habitable phase and my rucksack had acquired the musk of a 13-year-old's bedroom after discovering his weiner could be ...

... a good English speaker and we talked about karate as well as taekwondo. Anyway, I found myself too old to practice martial arts, especially because I was lack of flexibility. I wrote my personal motto on a fancy paper so as to hang it on the wall oPublishf the training hall and, instead, I got a certificate of the course and a souvenir pin badge.

Suwon has a World Heritage fortress. Just outside of the Suwon Station, there was a tourist ...