..Korea cont..

The Trip to Suwon on the bus gave us great confidence in getting around and the next day Bridgie went exploring on her own. I was very tired and had to rest so Bridgie caught a taxi to Suwon station where the big shops were. She was fascinated by these aquariums...

Bridgie spotted Nemo in top left!

I felt a bit guilty leaving her on her own to explore but she was very happy and the rest did me good. When she got back she visited our favourite little eatery...

Bridgie's favourite snack :-)

We met up with Phil in the evenings, about 10pm and would go out for a meal together with his mates, before returning to the hotel any time between 1am and 5! It worked really well as it was sort of in keeping with our body clocks!
Bridgie and I ventured into Seoul on the bus - the buses were brilliant, inexpensive and frequent, though some of the driving was 'interesting'. The bus lane was the fast lane of the motorway so when a bus joined or left the motorway it just headed straight across the 5 or 6 lanes seemingly ignoring everyone else - it took a little getting used to.

Seoul was lovely, we both found it a fascinating place and easy to get round. Phil leant us a lonely planet guide and we did a walking tour which took in some lovely sights. The Hammering Man was fascinating... though I decided it might be a woman...

Here are some pictures from that day...

There was an amazing display at the entrance to one of the palaces..

 More soon :-)

Phil sets off today to Buenos Aires for his 6month adventure travelling S America :-)  He's hoping to write a blog.. if he does I'll send the link

...Suwon fortress

Continuing the story... this was a wonderful day, the fortress wall encircles the old town and we were able to walk the whole distance. You can see we had lovely weather and the chance to strike the huge bell, you could strike it three times, each one a prayer, for family, friends and the world.

The prayer areas were beautiful, though I managed to clobber my head on the low lintel on this one and saw a few stars!

Looking out from the walls, Suwon was spread below us, and high rise as far as the eye could see.

This chilli shop was amazing...

and this hat museum

..Bridgie was a lovely companion on the trip, she put up with my foibles very well, and she was great fun to be around :-) and she loved these signs... the other pics are self explantory...

...more..

...the first full day we spent with Phil we joined him at his football match. He helped manage the team and they are very skillful -

                                      Phil overseeing the match!
 - it was an amazing match but we didn't bring any luck unfortunately - a 3-2 loss! After the match we met up with his mates at the park, and then went for a pork galbi. This is a traditional Korean way of eating and it was so sociable. We were all (about 14 of us) sat around two big tables with a hot cooking plate in the middle

there are many side dishes and an abundance of meat. There was a lovely relaxed atmosphere and despite our jetlag, it was a lovely experience.

Some of Phil's footy mates, Alec on the left is travelling S America with Phil.

 We found that a routine soon emerged. We slept late each morning getting up about 11am, and then staying up till late at night, with me going to bed about 1.30 and Bridgie following about 4am! Once we were up, one of us would go and visit the local bakery "Paris Baguette" and buy a croissant or similar, and then we would set off exploring.

Gun mandu

There were several places we enjoyed eating, and this particular place was a real favourite where we were made very welcome. Gun mandu was delicious and if all else failed we would revert to this tasty bite!

This became one of our favourite watering holes.

One of our earliest days was spent in Suwon walking the fortress walls. Nick, one of Phil's good mates, offered to take us there on the bus which was brilliant and gave us confidence to get about on our own afterwards.

The Hwaseong Fortress Wall

...more soon :-)

Haven't got used to the new Blogger layout and tools so bear with me - I've added a jump break by mistake! Sorry! 

Korea - a taster!

Well... here you are.. first some pictures from the flight which was amazing - flying over the Himalayas. I was fascinated that on the screen in front of me I could see a map of where we were;
views forwards and down... and then I would go wandering from our seat and peek views through the little porthole windows at the back. Bridgie was in the window seat and in fairness, there was limit to the number of times I could lean across to look out!
The flight went via Abu Dhabi, which made it a little long, but it all went smoothly and Phil was there to meet us at the airport. Despite it being very late at night the place was alive and vibrant, with neon light everywhere. After a longish taxi ride we put our stuff down in the hotel and went out to meet Phil's friends in a local bar.
View from hotel window.
It was brilliant to see Phil and meet his friends and feel so welcome.
Here is an assortment of pics including an evening view over Yeongtong where we were staying, a wonderful cake-shop, and Phil and Bridgie chilling with all his mates in the park. It was the place to go after their football matches and many a happy hour was spent sitting chatting here.
More soon I hope ...

Christmas

Hello!

Such a long time since I wrote and I haven't written about Korea or Slovenia... I will but thought you'd like this little update.

Phil arrived safely back in UK on Friday afternoon, he will be home for 3 weeks and is then off travelling in S America, probably about 6 months then home for a bit and a possible return to Korea.

In fact, Friday 17th was such a lovely day - Bridgie and Tim have both had temporary jobs..
... first Tim heard he has got a job with Hy-pro a sports franchising company in Dunsatble. He has a few weeks trial and then if all goes well it will be permanent.

Within 15 minutes Bridgie received a phonecall from the CEO of a company (in Manchester) who she had contacted and had had an interview with the previous week... and they offered her a job too!

So we were almost walking on air!
Bridgie is now flat hunting; Tim will stay here for a bit longer; they both start at the beginning of January - can't think of a better Christmas present for them!

keith and I are fine, Meriel came down on Sunday so we now have a house full!

All for the moment...

home

:-)

Home again...

I've just sorted through the pics of S Korea...

about to go and play golf...

post coming soon!

:-)

Travels

We have had some wild weather recently... one day cool and wet, the next hot and windy.. weird combinations, seems totally unsettled! Golf has been demanding but good fun and quite successful. We have won the league - unofficial at the moment - also, we won a team competition in another tournament... the shield was enormous! This was a county competition which began in 1927 so we are very happy!

Bridgie and I are getting excited, we will be setting off for our visit to see Phil soon :-) Just getting things organised ready for packing. Will be lovely to see him, meet his friends and see where he's been living this past year. Will take pictures and will blog on return...

Bridgie's blog

Thought you might like to welcome Bridgie to the blogosphere :-)

http://bridgets-corner.blogspot.com

:-)

Blackberries

Not quite sure what's happened to the seasons this year... plums dropping off the tree... autumn fruiting raspberries are well and truly fruiting - and I saw folk picking blackberries a week ago!

Meriel's coming to stay this week - I'll try and get some pics taken to share with you :-) Then I must get the camera charged for Korea!

It's good to have Tim and Bridgie working - they both have temporary jobs and are now looking for permanent positions.

Keith has had a couple of adventures on his bike, he cycled up to Lincolnshire - visiting Skegness and Lincoln and villages en route. He described his evenings after a long bike ride as 'lying in his B&B room watching tv...' just like The Cornish Walker after a day's exertions! He also took his bike down to Brighton and then biked along the coast to Hastings and round - had a good time :-)

Tim and I have put the completion of the coast path on the back burner at the moment. Tim has had a couple of lovely trips over the summer and may be going back to Europe for more exploring. My (and Bridgie's) trip to see Phil is followed by a week in Slovenia with a lady from the golf club and that will take us to mid October... so we're both happy to leave the walk for the time being.

Bridgie's Graduation

:-) :-) :-)

Friday 15th July saw us setting off early to Manchester for Bridgie's Graduation... I thought you'd like a few pics :-)

Needless to say she looked gorgeous... our only disappointment was that Meriel wasn't able to join us as she was cruising the Norway coast..

Still... we entered into the spirit of it!

How embarrassing can parents be?!

Tim and Bridgie both have temporary jobs at the moment, Tim with a Highways Agency doing admin work, and Bridgie with Unilever - an office role as well. Both are glad to be in employment!

Bridgie and I are going out to see Phil in mid September for two weeks... we're really looking forward to that - Keith will be back in Addis then...

zzz....!!!

I haven't really been asleep since February ... though it may look like that!




My time seems to have been taken up with other things for a while... a brief resume...

Back at the end of February Tim and I were preparing for the final stage of the coast path, with everything booked in advance (the only time we have done that!) when I developed a problem with my eye.
It turned out to be due to the natural aging process (posterior vitreous detachment but with a bleed) :-( and though a little distracting at the time with enforced total rest which I hated... everything is fine. Vision is slightly cloudly but I don't notice it unless I look for it! The hospital were superb and the consultant I saw - visiting from Cambridge - was excellent, giving great confidence. He gave me a heads up that the same thing will happen to the other other eye over the next few years and then they'll both be the same!! :-)
Anyway, all is well, but it meant that we had to postpone the walk! Hopefully October time now... Tim has taken himself off round Europe on the train and is having a wonderful time of cultural and scenic excess! He's having a great time:-)

Since then, Phil continues his teaching in Korea, Tim has gone to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam for a two month trip with a couple friends - enjoying it greatly I believe. And Bridgie is working hard, has completed her dissertation and is in the midst of revision. Then wondering what to do next?
Meriel came to stay over Easter and Keith was home for that week too, he is back in Ethiopia now till the beginning of June.

Jeannie and Alastair stayed for a few days on their Grand Tour, it was lovely to catch up again.
I've been immersed in golf stuff, playing lots and doing a website for the ladies http://pavenhamparkgolfclubladies.weebly.com/ and I guess keeping that up to date has taken over a bit from the blog... but I will get the rest of the walk done sometime.... honest!

Dartmouth to Brixham (13th Oct)

I've just spent an hour and a half going through the pics of the next stage of the walk - that's the price of not writing it up straight away!!!!!

Anyway, I will include lots of pics and little writing so that you can whizz through them. I love these serviette holders...

We had been told, by several different people that we had met, that this section was absolutely stunning so our expectations were very high. We crossed the River Dart on that amazing ferry,

with the tugboat doing its dance!

Across to the colourful houses of Kinswear...

Kingswear

From here we walked out on to the cliff, which was good, but not quite the stunning scenery we were expecting.

The walking was quite strenuous with several deep valleys to cross...

Looking back at Scabbacombe - you can just see Tim!

Some trees ... :-)

... black sheep ...

Man Sands had a group of schoolchildren exploring the beach...

Man Sands

..we enjoyed this view back to Sharkham Point.

We had to include Trinity House's shortest lighthouse -

out on Berry Head, but still 190' above sea level!

There there was also this useful display explaining the landforms you can see across the bay to Torquay.

From here we headed down into Brixham.