I also thought I'd get you some updates on a couple of things. First off, I have my itinerary for my flight home. Since I'm now going to Los Angeles first (I'm still headed to Anchorage, but as I wrote, Mom and Dad thought it'd be a good idea to come pick up my effects at their house initially and make it a one-way trip), I'm heading back the same way I came: Gimhae Airport (in Busan) to Tokyo (Narita) and thence to L.A. I'm flying Japanese Airlines. I thought that'd be a little better than China Air but Byeong-Jun, my filthy-rich free-talking student (the son of the Samsung bigwig) says it isn't. Rats. At least my reading material (Candide, All Quiet on the Western Front, etc.) has arrived in the mail.
On a related note, Jacob has secured a second extension of my visa, to July 13 (the day my flight leaves). Whew! Now I'm legal once again! Second, with Jacob's help, I managed to get my flight to Jeju booked for the 29th of June. It was a measly 34,000 won...yipee! Plus I'll be flying a Q400, a de Havilland Dash-8! This is the first time I've ever ridden on a propeller-driven aircraft (commercially)! HOORAY! I finally get my chance. Sorry, in case I haven't filled you in, I prefer propellers to jets. More character.
Anyway, the flight's all reserved. As an encore I reserved my hostel, seven nights at the Jeju Hiking Inn (as seen in Lonely Planet guides) in Seogwipo. Byeong-Jun tells me that the establishment isn't in a nice place 'cause it has no ocean view, but then again, he always stays at the Hyatt or the Lotte Hotel, five stars and deluxe accommodation. Lucky bugger. So now my entire on-week vacation in sunny, subtropical Jeju has been legitimized! Sun, sand, and lava tubes galore! Hiking and dirt-cheap scooter rentals! Truck inner tubes in the surf! Palm trees and rolling meadows and wave-washed rocks! YAHOO!
After I finish in Jeju, I'll catch the ferry from Jeju City to Mokpo (on July 6th, a Monday, so it won't be jam-packed), a city on the west coast of Korea in a province I've never before set foot in: Jeollanam-do. I think I'll check out that port town, as well as Gwangju, the major city in the area (despite the fact that a man murdered a 10-year-old boy he hit with his car there to disguise his drunk driving a couple of days ago). I wanna check out the night market, dang it. Plus, not far from Gwangju, there's a little traditional village that Erica clued me in about it, Damyang, and southeast of Gwangju there's a tea-making village, apparently. Both of those might be worth a look...
That'll probably take at least three or four more days. Depending on how much time I have left, I might just make it up to Daejeon, or I might head back to Geoje early. I don't know. I've decided to skip Seoul and the DMZ, due to lack of time and funds. (I don't want to worry my mother, either; she's all in a sweat about me being in Korea since things between Uncle Sam and North Korea have gone south and those two women journalists got captured and sentenced to 12 years hard labor.) I'll spend the night of Sunday the 12th of July at Adam and Elaine's, say goodbye to them, pick up my luggage that they've graciously offered to hold onto for me, and then depart Korea in the early afternoon from Gimhae airport after one year, two weeks, one day and eighteen hours.
So, in the meantime, I just have to get my bank account closed, my pension forms filled out, my stuff all packed up, a last package sent off to Mom and Dad, and the apartment cleaned from top to bottom in preparation for the entrance of my successor, Kevin, from Illinois. I can't wait to meet him. He's probably going through the same things I went through, one year and a lifetime ago...
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