Preparations are already underway; Jacob has already reserved my flight (China Airlines all the way, ugh) and given me my itinerary; I've sent off two mammoth packages' worth of stuff to my folks so I won't have to cart it around manually; and I'm finishing up my travel plans for the two weeks' furlough I'll have after my last day at work. My visa extension paperwork checked out, and I'm now legally allowed to stay in the country two more weeks, until July 8th.
What am I going to do with those extra weeks?
Well, I'm enthralled that you inquired (glad you asked; the Meticulous Grammarshal loves synonyms).
First, I plan to grab a flight from Busan to Jeju-do, the aforementioned holiday island, the largest island in South Korea and a magnet for vacationers and beach-goers all over Asia. It's quite famous, apparently, and attracts more than just Korean visitors. Why, Erica told me a story today in the teacher's room about a Russian immigrant who journeyed to Jeju as a tourist and was so enraptured with the place that he stayed on as a guide. He really threw himself into it. He now speaks better Korean than some Koreans do, and knows more about the island than some people who live there! He's popular with tourists, as I'm given to understand, because he, in Erica's words, "sees it with foreigner's eyes."
Jeju does have many unique sights. There's the largest lava tube in the world, for example. There's also Hallasan, a mountain in the middle of the island, a scenic hike and a great view from the top; there's also miles and miles of beaches, where one can rent truck-tire inner tubes and bounce around in the waves. Scooters are also dirt cheap to rent, Charles tells me. So that's how I'll be getting around, buzzing from one palatinate to another aboard one of the mopeds whose morning ignitions throw me into such fits in the early morning around here.
Beyond that, I haven't done much more planning. I haven't taken the time to consider every nit-noid detail. I'm just going to land in Jeju City, get transportation to Seogwipo (the town on the southern shores of the island, where the cheaper accommodation is to be found according to fellow expatriate Chris Forte), grab a motel room and then play it by ear.
Following my six days in Jeju (less if I see everything or it's too expensive to stay, but no more), I'll advance directly to...I'm not sure. I'm vacillating, you see. My original plan detailed a four-day stay in Daejeon, the city halfway between Busan and Seoul, and of some size. It's known as the "science city," where all the research labs and scientific institutes are, Korea's R&D department if you will. It's unremarkable apart from that: no distinguishing cultural characteristics, but for an art museum, Expo Park (the remains of Korea's great science exposition some years ago, still retaining a few curiosities) and some assorted balloon and airplane rides. That is looking less and less attractive with each passing day.
I think I might really go bold and go to Gwangju instead. That city (not to be confused with Gyeongju, in Gyeongsangbuk-do) is the largest city in the province of Jeollanam-do, directly west of Gyeongsangnam-do, and its mortal enemy, or at least arch-rival. There has been some traditional, deep-seated resentment between the two provinces due to some political strife a few decades ago, and perhaps even longer, when Gyeongsangnam was Silla and Jeollanam was Baekje (see Korean History 101).
I don't know much about Gwangju other than that it's massive, has some interesting temples, an open-air night market, and a thriving downtown area. Gwangju really isn't the point of going to Jeollanam-do, though. It's just got an airport and is conveniently close to several other interesting sights, like Damyang. I was put onto that one by Erica. It's apparently a real Korean traditional village, not a tourist trap like Gyeongju or Andong. Here the customs are preserved for the sake of their preservation, not moon-eyed vacationers'. The whole place, small as it is, is tucked away in some valley somewhere just waiting to be discovered, or so I gathered from Erica. I might check it out. There's also a tea-brewing village somewhere southeast of Gwangju, too.
Mokpo, another city of some size, is one of Jeollanam's western ports (from which there's a ferry service to Jeju and back again...hmmmmm), and might also be worth seeing. I don't know what I'll do and what I won't. I'll have plenty of time to plan in my motel in Jeju. I just want to go to Jeollanam-do, pretty much. I avoided the place like the plague all the time I was here because I'd heard there were malaria mosquitoes all over the place in the hotter months due to the wider profusion of rice paddies. Charles dispelled that notion, saying that Korea didn't have a problem with malaria, period. To you, sitting in front of your computer, that might seem like a prejudiced or even propagandist answer, but I would trust Charles with my life. If this works out and I hit the Jeolla Provinces, then I'll have been to pretty much every Korean province except the far northeastern one, whichever one that is. Then I'll feel a little better about my time spent here.
Following Gwangju (or Daejeon, or whatever) there's a couple days in Seoul. For only having three days, I think I got to "see" Seoul pretty thoroughly last time. (Look up my article in the late summer edition of Real Travel Adventures to learn what I mean by "see.") But still, I wouldn't mind going back again, especially in the summer months, and see what's crackin'. I also plan to light out of the city for maybe half a day or however long it takes and get a good look at the DMZ...that's if they let me. I don't know if you're keeping up with the news but things are hotter than usual between North Korea and South Korea, Japan, the U.S., China, Russia, and, well, hell...the rest of the world. North Korea's been blustering a lot more aggressively lately and firing a lot of test missiles and whatnot in quick succession, so people are all caught up in a flurry of speculation about their intentions. As far as I know there hasn't been any increase in personnel along the demilitarized zone as of yet (not on the American side, anyway), but joint military operations between the R.O.K. and the U.S.A. are still in effect. Coincidentally, though, one of my good buddies from college, who's in the army, is getting posted to the DMZ now that he's finished basic. He should be here in a few months, unfortunately well after I leave, but soon enough that I'll be able to give him some good restaurant recommendations in Seoul.
Right, that's enough long sentences. I'll do some short ones. That ought to break up the flow a little. I read somewhere in some book that you're supposed to variegate your sentence structure by interspersing long sentences with short sentences, and every time I muster the presence of mind to keep track I notice that all the writers whose skills I admire do that very thing. (Whoops, that was a tad long.) So I'm going to try a little harder to do it myself.
That concludes my grand scheme. Serendipitously I will be in Seoul at the termination of my two weeks' furlough, so I can just slide sideways to Incheon right next door and hop my flight to Anchorage, and whatever lies in store for me there, good or ill.
The only flaw in my plan is this: since I will be essentially rootless during this time, my apartment moved out of and my contact expired, I will have to be toting whatever amount of luggage I may have (and my gut tells me it will be considerable) around with me wherever I go. Certainly, I can dump it off in a motel room whenever I arrive at my particular stopping point, but in the meantime, I'll be schlepping it: in taxicabs, buses, up side streets, down back alleys...whatever. That discourages me, and unnerves me more than a little. I'll keep everything I can't afford to lose on my person at all times, of course; but if I "lose" anything else, I'll be in a slight pickle upon arriving in Anchorage.
Oh well, no use in worrying about something that's not even happened yet. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Those are the plans, and them's the breaks. What do you think?
Speaking of breaks, and just so the title of this post winds up being more accurate than it first appears, I'll tell you about my official departure plans for Alaska...and by that I mean the ones on printed paper. Oddly, I'm flying from Incheon to Taipei, Taiwan. After a two-hour layover I'm headed directly to Anchorage, Alaska, U.S.A. Nothing about this flight seems desirable. The Taipei-Anchorage hop is eleven hours, exactly the same as the excruciating Minneapolis-Tokyo leg one year ago. Darn, I was hoping I wouldn't be eating my knees for one calendar day this time around. To add insult to injury, I'm not even flying Korean Air, a definitely more desirable airline than Northwest, by all accounts. No, I'm flying China Airlines, a definitely less desirable airline than Northwest. And I'm flying it both legs of the trip. You should've seen how Byeong-Jun, the rich son of a Samsung bigwig and one of my students, laughed when he heard. Why should he care? His father buys him a business-class ticket wherever he goes, the lucky bugger. Meanwhile I get stuck in sardine-style accommodation on an airline that's got the same safety record as a cross-eyed bumblebee four feet above I-80.
Deep down in my heart of hearts, I truly cannot blame Jacob, my director, for booking me this flight. The man's a small business owner, and he's got to look out for number one; he's just trying to save a little dough, and in the strictest definition of the phrase, that flight will get me where I'm going. But jeez...let's hope the omelettes aren't reheated this time, all right?
NOTE: A few days after this writing, plans changed. I think, to simplify matters (and to save money) I think I'll fly directly to Los Angeles, grab my stuff from my folks' place (and perhaps even a car, and do some more job hunting) and THEN head up to Alaska. I'm going to speak with Jacob and have him change my flight plans.
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