On an island in the sun....

In case you didn't know I am completely infatuated with Thailand. I spent two weeks there last January and couldn't get enough! I knew I had to go back. So this summer vacation I decided to spend 3 days on Koh Phi Phi, Thailand. From Seoul I flew into Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, then to Phuket, Thailand where I caught a ferry to Phi Phi Island. I found a room for 1000 Thai Baht (about $30 USD) per night at a place recommended to me by a friend, PP Insula. It was nice and clean. I know I could have found cheaper but I opted fot TV, air-conditioning and hot water!

Ferry ride from Phuket to Koh Phi Phi

The first day was spent relaxing, swimming, and sunbathing on Ton Sai Beach.

At night I hung out at Slinky bar... fun! The following day I decided to hike up to "The Viewpoint" on the island. After about two hours of walking I reached the peak and saw the most gorgeous scene. Words and pictures don't really do it justice, but take a look anyway:

After enjoying the scenery for a while I hiked down a different way I came from and found "Long Beach." This is an area of the island that felt much more like a resort. There weren't many people around and the crystal clear water coupled with perfect weather made me never want to leave!
But eventually I dragged myself away to meet with some friends for dinner at "Papaya." This restaurant is in many guidebooks and is known for delicious, authentic Thai in an area where eateries mostly have a banal hodgepodge of western, European and indeterminate Asian cuisine meant to accommodate the tourist palate. After some ridiculously incredible Pad Thai we happened to find a great deal for a half day tour of the island for the following day. While every quote we had heard so far was 800-1000 Thai Baht, the travel agent right next to Papaya offered the tour for only 250 Baht per person! We scheduled the tour for the next day and enjoyed the rest of our night in town.

In the morning we excitedly got in our taxi boat to tour the island. The tour included snorkeling, some time at Maya Bay (where the movie The Beach was filmed), time to feed some monkeys, and more. It was an amazing time.

After the tour I bought some souvenirs, drank one more fresh coconut juice, and caught the ferry back to Phuket. In Phuket I had a layover with just enough time for dinner, a Thai massage, and watching the sunset before catching my flight to Kuala Lumpur where I spent the night at the airport.

Finishing off the three day weekend....

After the sauna we went to Craftworks for trivia and our group won 1st place (a 50,000 won bar tab)! Awesome!

Then I went to the Korean War Memorial in Seoul for some deep reflection. I would highly recommend anyone visiting Seoul to go there. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves!

Jjimjilbang!!!

After the rock festival I headed to Seoul where I went to a Jjimjilbang (찜질방), to have a nap, shower, and get a body scrub. If you don't know about Korean saunas, it's definitely an experience!
What it is: Public bathhouse
How much: 8,000-12,000 won
How it works: You walk in to the building and pay. The attendant will give you a small towel, pajamas, and a locker key. The first locker will be small, only for your shoes. Then you will enter the gender segregated area where you will find big lockers for all of your belongings. By this point you will notice many naked Korean women (or men if that's what you are) and children walking around. You should put all of your clothes and belongings into your locker and take a shower. You can buy everything you need (shampoo, soap, etc.) from the attendant. You can get a massage, body scrub, or just relax in a steam room, dry sauna, or different temperature spa. It can be really fun and relaxing! When you are done showering, you can put on pajamas and find a mat to sleep on. It's definitely one of the cheapest ways to get some sleep after a night out in Seoul. But beware, the temperatures in these places can be pretty hot, and with a pretty thin mat to sleep on can be rough if you are a light sleeper.

It's heating up...

Wow, lots has happened since I last wrote. The season has gone from spring to summer and every second spent inside my classroom on a nice day feels like torture. Except for the little cuties that make my day of course. And, the last few weekends have been absolutely gorgeous. So what's been happening? I know my time in Korea is coming to a close so I've been thinking about what to do before I leave. I have quite a lot on my list, I hope to get at least some of them done! One thing I was always curious about was going to a military base, since I live so close to the Osan Air Base here. So a few weeks ago we decided to go bowling. I definitely felt like I was back in the states! I ate horrible food (pizza, jalapeno poppers, mozzarella sticks, and a Caesar salad), drank Miller light for $1.50 and bowled for about the same.
The next night was my friend's birthday and we all went to a park and had a great night! (Sorry, no pics...)

Then, that weekend there was an event called RocKorea, an 18 hour concert that featured many Korean and expat musicians, mostly classic rock cover bands. I found out about a volunteer opportunity to help raise money for my friend's rugby team. By helping to serve beer at the festival we would be able to get in free, get a t-shirt, and drink all of the delicious beers provided by Craftworks we wanted! We had an amazing time serving and enjoying beer, meeting new people, listening to music, and staying up (almost) all night. I finally used that tent I bought at Home Plus for 15,000 won ($15 USD) last year and set the entire thing up on my own!

That's it for now! More soon.....

Magic Hair

I have never been a high-maintenance kind of person. I love make up but hate doing my hair. My hair is naturally very thick and pretty frizzy so I usually just put it in a bun or pony tail. Back home I got in the habit of leaving it in a bun overnight and taking it down the next day (less frizz, more curl). But I never felt like it looked that good.

After a few weeks in Korea I got my first hair cut here. It was the best haircut I've ever gotten. She layered it just right, thinned it out so it was easier to manage, not to mention how ridiculously cheap it was! Shampoo, conditioner, cut, blow-dry, and style was only 10,000 won (that's less than $10 USD!).

About 10 months later I started researching the "Magic straight" which is very popular in Korea. It is a way to permanently straighten your hair. All you have to do is walk in to a salon and say, "Magic Pahm-uh" (Magic Perm). It takes a while, so make sure you have a few hours on your hands. So about four months ago, I decided to get it done. I really like it! If I had to do it over I would get the "Volume Magic Perm" because I feel like my hair lacks some body it used to have.

Pros:

• Saves time! I can just shower and leave the house, no need to blow dry or straighten every morning).
• No more frizz! Besides for a few fly-aways, my hair is straight as can be.
  
• Consistency. It's more rare these days to have a "bad hair day."

Cons:

• Sometimes I miss my thick, wavy hair.
• Damages your hair. My hair doesn't feel as healthy as it used to (but actually not that bad).
• Can be expensive. I paid 120,000 won for my Magic Perm (about $100 USD). But I thought about how much a permanent would be in the States and it was a no-brainer.

Here are some pictures of my old hair:

I was looking for a good picture of my new hair but couldn't find much... Incidentally, my camera was stolen recently after I got the Magic Straight. Here's one:

MMMmmm... food....

It's economical, it's fast, it's delicious... it's Korean delivery! There are several reasons why delivery in Korea is pretty much incredible:

• There is no delivery charge
• The food arrives quickly
• No dishes or trash to deal with
• No need to tip (It's not customary in Korea)
  

The most popular kinds of food delivery in Korea are Pizza, Chicken, Chinese, and other Korean (Pig's feet, and stir-fried chicken). My first time ordering was from a Korean restaurant recommended to me by my school. My experience: The delivery man knocked on our door and gave us a huge plastic container with all our food in it. All the food was on real dishes that were tightly wrapped with plastic wrap. It even came with an array of side dishes for free! When we were finished eating, we put all the dishes and trash back into the container. We put the container outside our door, and the delivery guy picked it up later. That's it!

So, in this post I will explain how to order food and get it delivered to your home in Korea. First things first, you need to either know how to read Hangul or have someone write everything down phonetically for you.

You need to know:
1) Your address
2) The name of the food you want to order
3) How many you want
4) The phone number of the restaurant (and your area code)

Ok, let's say you have one of these:
You're going to need to know your area code if you want to call this number. I googled Korean area codes and found "31" for Pyeongtaek and it worked. So I would dial 31-667-4510. Someone will answer and I would say, "배달주세요" (pay-dal-joo-say-yo) which basically means, "Delivery, please." Now, I'm not sure if this is what a Korean person would say (actually, I'm sure it's not) but it always gets my point across. Then I usually hear a "네" (yes). Then I say my address.

Without getting overly technical about addresses in Korea, I will just show an example:
459-813
경기도 평택시 송탄동
200-3 시뉴빌라 108동 403호

Ok, I just made up this address based off the format of my own.
Here it is in English:
459-813
Gyeonggi-do Pyeongtaek-si Songtan-dong
200-3 Shinyoo Villa 108dong 403ho

So you really only need the last line of that. 200-3 is your 반지 (sounds like Pun-jee, it's like your street number). So you would say, "ee-baek dashee sam pun-jee, Shinyoo Billa, Baek-pal-dong, sa-baek-sam-ho" Ok, that might not make any sense to anyone...

Then you can ask for what you want to order! With the menu above I could say, "생선까스 하나, 하고 새우까스 하나 주세요" (Sang-sun ka-suh hana, hago say-oo kah-suh hana joo-say-yo). Which means, "One fried fish order, and one fried shrimp order, please." Then you can just say Thank you! You should see your food within the next 3o minutes!

Another cool thing is that they save your phone number and address. So if you ever call again you shouldn't have to say your address all over again.

Good luck!

Plain Yogurt in Korea

Sometimes it seems sugar is in EVERYTHING in Korea. Things you would never imagine putting sugar in. The spaghetti sauce here is sweet, even garlic bread from Paris Baguette. The first time I saw black beans as a side dish for my school lunch I almost literally jumped for joy expecting the savory Mexican spiced beans I'm used to from California. I took a bite and --what the?? Sugary, sweet black beans. Sigh. It happened the first time I bought yogurt here, too. I bought some yogurt labeled "plain" only to bring it home and find something that tasted like the yogurt from the Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait at McDonald's. So, I had to take my chances until I finally found a couple brands that are actually plain. So plain in fact I could use them as a sour cream substitute in burritos (because we all know how hard it is to find sour cream in Korea). So, without further ado, here they are:

Be careful with the Activia one... They have a "plain" and a "Non sweet Plain." Look on the side to make sure which one it is!