I'm leaving Korea on Sunday morning, bound for New Delhi, India to start my three month odyssey. I wish I had time for a long, elaborate post about what I will miss in Korea and what I'm looking forward to back home. I'm incredibly busy running last minute errands and packing, so I simply don't have time for that kind of insight. Thus, I have left you with this video that I made for each of my kids and an extremely abbreviated list of things I've missed from back home and things I will miss about Korea.
What I miss back home: family, friends, foods, football (live and at normal hours).
What I will miss about Korea: foods, friends, very helpful strangers, extremely helpful Korean coworkers, great infrastructure, not tipping at restaurants, and, most importantly, the kids I taught.
This post will be dedicated to an island that I'm willing to bet all of you have never heard of. Until six or seven months ago, I hadn't either. Alexa and I knew that we wanted to go to the Philippines. We'd heard good things from coworkers about Boracay, a big party island with white sand beaches. We also knew people that had been to Bohol, an island known for the Chocolate Hills and its own not-too-shabby beach. We were almost set on Bohol when Alexa suggested looking into other suggestions. We flipped open our Lonely Planet Southeast Asia book to the chapter on the Philippines, where the first page lists some of the highlights of the country. Under the "off the beaten path" section was a place called Coron, known for Japanese shipwrecks and clear blue lakes. A quick Google image search yielded these results, and we immediately switched plans.
We flew there after work on a Friday with Cebu Pacific, a Filipino budget airline, and had a layover in Manila. There really was no convenient way to get there. Either we would spend the night in Manila, wake up at 3:30 AM to catch a 7 AM flight, or lose a precious day of our nine-day vacation. We opted for the night in Manila. Our flight was delayed due to snow in Seoul, so by the time we arrived in Manila, there was no point in leaving the airport to spend 3 hours in a hotel. Instead, we did what everyone else was doing. We found a spot on the floor, hugged our bags, and passed out. That was the extent of my experience in Manila. At 8 AM the next morning, we flew out for Coron.
First Impressions
Before going any further I need to clarify what might be confusing. Most of the points of interest on our trip were on Coron Island, an island inhabited only by natives (more on that later). Coron town, where we stayed, is a 20 minute boat ride away on Busuanga Island. The Busuanga "Airport" is a flat swath of pavement in a middle of a field with grazing cows, surrounded by mountains and jungle. It can't handle more than two planes at a time. The baggage claim consisted of an area walled off with two perpendicular benches to set luggage on.
We collected our baggage and, after a 45 minute ride across rugged roads and log bridges, we were at our hotel. I'm fairly convinced our hotel was the best in town. It was a 5-10 minute walk from the city center, which spared us from the noise of tricycle traffic, but not the ubiquitous 4 AM rooster calls. Our hotel, Princess of Coron, featured very interesting architecture and a small pool. Had Gaudi been charged with designing a bungalow/cottage budget hotel, our place would have been the end result. The rooftop balcony provided a good view of the town and surrounding bay. It was run by a friendly Austrian man and his Filipina wife.
After dropping off our stuff, we headed into town, which I have to admit was pretty disappointing at first. Coron Town has no beach, and the town was dustier and noisier than what I was expecting for a tropical retreat. Tourists have begun to seep into the town, and as a result, the tricycle-taxis that cater to them roar down the streets.
Coron is port town, and many of the homes are actually built on stilts above the water. This was the most interesting aspect of the town the first day. While Coron is in the process of being discovered, it is still new enough to the tourist business to where you aren't hounded by hawkers trying to rip you off or sell you something. There are a dozen or so makeshift travel agencies offering island-hopping tours, but none of them are overly aggressive in competing for your money. After eating dinner at a restaurant that overlooked the harbor, we booked an island hopping tour for the next day.
Underwater Adventures
The downside of our trip was that we couldn't roll out of bed at 11 AM and chill at the beach any of the days we were there. All of the activities for the day start at 8 AM, and if you don't have one planned, then you are stuck in town all day. We did explore the town one day, but most of Coron's beauty is not in the town itself, so one day in town was enough.
In Coron there are two major activities: scuba diving and island hopping (which also includes stops for snorkeling). Therefore, to make things easier for myself, I've split up the post into underwater activities and above water activities.
One of the best investments I made prior to the trip was an sealed waterproof bag for my camera. It allowed me to take photos underwater and take my camera places I wouldn't have felt comfortable otherwise. All of our island hopping trips included at least one snorkeling stop, at which I took most of the photos (I'm not experienced enough to take them while scuba diving). Two of the reefs provided great shots of coral, while a protected site called Siete Pecados was swarming with fish.
One of the island hopping tours employed a young boy who helped out the crew. He was a prankster and was always splashing water at me or trying to sneak up on me underwater. He claimed he was 14 with a smile, though he looked much younger. I'm guessing there may be an unenforced law about having to be 14 to obtain employment. The kid was fascinated with the underwater camera and was ready with several interesting poses.
Scuba diving is one of the major draws in Coron, as 11 or 12 WWII shipwrecks are a short boat ride away. Before diving the wrecks, Alexa and I had to get open-water certified. After doing our research, we decided on a reputable place called Discovery Dive. Getting dive certified is a 3-4 day affair, but we were able to cut that down to two days by completing the theory portion of our course online. At 8 AM on our second day in Coron, we met our instructor, Marcel, near the market place and we boarded a small boat headed for Discovery Island, a private island where the dive shop was located (along with a budget resort).
Alexa was feeling very nervous prior to our course, and Marcel did the best he could to calm her anxieties. He was a bald Swiss man who resembled Yoda, not only in appearance but also in his mannerisms and quirky, eccentric sense of humor. To top it off, he kept referring to our course as "your training." We both felt very comfortable with him. When we arrived at the dive site, he reviewed how to assemble the equipment. This was much easier to understand with equipment in front of us.
After the review, we began to learn the skills required to dive (equalizing the pressure in your ears, inflating your vest, clearing water out of your mask, taking off your equipment underwater, etc.). As an experienced swimmer, most of them were pretty straightforward. The most difficult thing is learning to control your buoyancy through the amount of air you take into your lungs. We practiced our skills for 45 minutes then did a quick dive through an interesting coral reef. As coral reefs go, this one was probably pretty mediocre, but your first dive is always incredible. Seeing coral and fish up close for the first time is breath-taking. After our dive we ate lunch on the boat, and I may or may not of dozed off during the break. Following the break, we spent 30 minutes or so learning more skills, then did another dive. By the end of the day, both of us were really excited about diving, and Alexa's anxieties had dissipated.
The next day was when the real excitement began. Following our final 30 minutes of skills training, we dove our first wreck, the East Tangat Gunboat (Since I couldn't take photos of the wrecks, I've found links for some of them so you can see what it looked like). Lion fish were hiding in every nook and cranny and crabs crawled freely across the deck. Despite the poor visibility (which was the case everywhere in Coron), the ship was wrapped in colorful coral, as nature had slowly overtaken the rusty, man-made behemoth. We circled the boat, diving down to depths of 16 meters before we had finished.
We broke for lunch, then Marcel began to prepare us for our most challenging dive yet, the Olympia Maru. He told us that when we first dove in we wouldn't be able to see anything but blue and to remain calm and follow him down. Marcel was right, as the only thing in sight once you enter the water is a thick rope descending into the deep turquoise. After a minute or so, the rusty outline of a ship begins to appears in the depths below. The deck of the ship is covered in a world of coral, which we explored before diving through hallways, surrounded by the walls and floor of the ship on three sides. It was truly an experience like nothing I had ever done before.
Scuba diving is about my ideal level of excitement. It's exhilarating, but unlike snowboarding or other extreme sports, if something isn't quite right, you have plenty of time to adjust before getting injured. Upon finishing the dive, our course was complete, but Alexa and I liked it so much we decided to do another day of diving after taking a one day break.
The extra day of diving featured two new wrecks, East Tangat and Lusong Gunboat, but the highlight for me was returning to Olympia Maru. This time I (Alexa sat this one out) dove through innards of the ship, from one dark chamber to the next. After zigzagging through halls we reached the boiler room, which was massive. It was probably the scariest thing I have done in my life. Alexa snapped the only pictures of me in scuba gear prior to embarking on the dive.
We spent a couple nights after diving relaxing under the pavilion at the resort. Discovery Island actually blocks the view of the sunset from Coron, so I got me best sunset pictures of the trip there.
Island Hopping
The days we spent underwater in Coron were matched only by the days we spent above water. As Coron town doesn't have a beach to speak of, the only way to see the surrounding area is by joining an organized tour or hiring a boat for a day. Joining the tours was easiest for us because there were only two of us and the tours included lunch. The boat used in the Philippines (and in much of Southeast Asia) is a bangka, a boat with two long wooden supports attached to either side. These supports prevent the long, narrow boat from tipping over when it hits a wave.
Banana and Malcupulya Islands
Our first day of island hopping was spent visiting Banana and Malcupulya islands. The first stop was Banana Island (left), which features a white sandy beach and a rustic "resort" that was almost empty. There was decent snorkeling off the coast, so we busied ourselves alternating between snorkeling and lying on the beach for a couple hours before lunch. The lunches on the tours feature fresh crab and grilled fish (which Alexa loved), veggies, fruit, rice, and, my favorite, either chicken or pork adobo. Adobo is meat marinated in soy sauce, vinegar, and garlic, then grilled.
The next stop on the trip was Malcupulya Island (above right and below), an island of white sand dotted with palm trees. Other than the small band of natives in charge of maintaining the beach and collecting fees, we had the island completely to ourselves. We swam in the ocean, hiked to the top of a small hill overlooking the island, then fell asleep in the hammocks connected to the palms.
Coron Island
Banana and Malcupulya Islands were probably the best beaches I have ever been to. The fact that they were the secondary attractions says a lot about the awe-inspiring beauty of Coron Island. It may be the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Scraggly limestone cliffs jut upwards from the deep blue water to divide the land from the sea. My words can't do it justice, so I've included lots of pictures.
Each tour includes a stop for lunch on a narrow strip of white sand sandwiched between black cliffs and turquoise shallows. For the most part, these stops are very relaxing, though on our last tour a bangka full of partying Filipinos docked at our beach and proceeded to blare abysmal Top 40 music for a couple hours. I felt like an old man who wanted to shout at kids to get off his lawn.
Kayangan Lake
The jewel of Coron is the crystal-clear Kayangan lake (left). After our bangka dropped us off, we had to hike up a small, but rocky hill that overlooked a lagoon (right). This is the iconic picture of Coron that you see everywhere around town and on the internet. It was beautiful, but you have only a minute or so to savor it before the next tourist with his camera wants his turn. After snapping a few photos of the lagoon, you climb down the other side of the hill to reach the lake. By Coron standards, the lake was pretty crowded, but it is big enough to have your own space. It features jagged underwater rock formations, has a small cave that you can swim into, and is surrounded by similar steep cliffs to the ones that cascade into the ocean.
Twin Lagoons
Another interesting stop on Coron Island was the Twin lagoons, which consist of a saltwater lagoon connected to a partially fresh water lake via a tunnel under the karst. The lagoon is surrounded by steep cliffs. At times you can kayak from one lagoon to the other, but the tide was too high when we were there.
Barracuda Lake
Though there are many lakes on Coron Island, only two are open to tourists. Kayangan is one; Barracuda is the other. The natives of the island, the Tagbanua people, care for the lakes and collect the entrance fees from tourists. Development on the islands is prohibited, which is great because it keeps the lakes and lagoons clear and pristine. Barracuda Lake was just as blue as Kayangan, but the five of us on our tour had the lake to ourselves for a half hour. It is a thermal lake, so if you dive down deep enough you can feel the water heat up (In fact, many scuba divers come to the lake for that reason). Without scuba gear, I was able to get deep enough to feel the hot water on my feet.
Other than breath-taking scenery, one of the fun parts about the tours is meeting interesting people from all over the world that share your boat. Throughout the course of the week we met a teacher at an international school from Manila with his Filipina girlfriend, another ESL teacher from Korea with his Korean girlfriend, a Czech couple, and a single old lady from Russia, who was also a teacher. When traveling in Asia, the white guy/Asian girl coupling is at least as common as the white guy/white girl coupling.
The most interesting character we encountered was the eccentric, friendly Russian lady. As a teacher, she uses her vacations to travel the world on her own, and she freely offered her blunt opinions on every destination she has been to. After talking to her for a while, I felt comfortable enough asking her about the political situation in Russia, with Putin poised to run for another term as president. She was somewhat ambivalent about Putin. She liked that her was strong (in her opinion, much stronger than Obama), was cunning (she didn't know the exact word, but said, "like a fox"), and that other nations fear him. The Czech couple sitting next to us didn't seem too happy with that comment. She did acknowledge that the middle class ("the people who made money for themselves") want more "choices."
On the boat coming back from Discovery Island one night, Alexa and I met a group of girls who were working in Hong Kong and were on vacation. They were headed to the hot springs on Busuanga Island and invited us to join them. We managed to cram six people plus a driver into a tricycle. I was sitting on the outside, and it was one of the scarier moments of my life. The vehicle sped down the dirt path in the dark and was constantly veering away from overhanging branches and potholes. It clearly wasn't made for six people (probably 2-3), so it sputtered every time it neared the top of a hill. Our driver told us it was named Libra, but we heard "Deborah," so we would cheer on "Debbie" to prevent her from rolling backwards down the hills. She was like the Little Engine That Could, and we had to get out and walk only once during the rugged trip.
Food
At last, it's time for the requisite section on food, though for the first part of our trip, I wondered if I would even include such a section. In Coron there are two distinct types of restaurants, ones that cater to foreigners and ones that pre-cook all their meat dishes, cover them, and set them on a makeshift counter for all passerbys to see. For the first half of our trip, we stuck mostly to the places that catered to foreigners. The food at the local places looked great, but we were skeptical that it may have been left out to long or might not have been the best for our stomachs. The tourist restaurants were decent, but we found ourselves paying $5-7 a meal, which for a developing country is pretty high. After confirming with one of our dive instructors that the sketchy-looking Filipino places were safe, we made the switch. It may have been the best decision of the trip, as the food was both better and half the cost. There were several curry-like dishes, rice, noodles (pancit canton), and the aforementioned chicken or pork adobo. The drink of choice in the Philippines is Tanduay Spiced Rum. A half of a fifth of it, for $1, will turn two liters of Coke into Dr. Pepper.
Foakleys
I'm never much of a shopper, either at home or when I travel, but the market in Coron was fun just to walk through. Vendors would sell fresh meat, fish, fruit, or vegetables. Alexa and I couldn't resist buying fresh mangoes every time we passed through. These mangoes are in the running for best fruit to ever touch my lips. The market also offers tourist gear/junk at relatively low prices. I was in need of a pair of sunglasses, so I purchased a sleek, yellow pair of Foakleys for a few bucks. The last day of the trip I was walking up from the pier, swelling with pride in my three-day-old purchase and wondering aloud to Alexa why anyone would waste money on actual Oakleys. I reasoned that I could look just as cool as any Oakley-buying chump for 2-4% of the cost. Within 30 seconds of me finishing my rant, the right lens popped out of its frame. Alexa laughed hysterically, but I turned around and bought another pair of Foakleys, this time prioritizing structural integrity over style. Karma may have gotten the better of me, but I still would have to go through 20-40 pairs of Foakleys to make Oakleys an economical purchase.
Coron was a memorable vacation, and my experience there has me ready to return to the Philippines. There is so much to do in the country, and Coron was just a small taste.
I am preparing to finish my contract here in Korea. After I finish I will be traveling with Alexa, Antonio, and our other friend, Rhys, throughout India and Southeast Asia. I will try to get up a "goodbye" post before I go, but I am very busy, so there are no promises. While traveling I may have time to put up a few short posts, but again, don't count on anything.
This began as a post about early an early autumn visit from my mom and dad as well as a trip to South Korea's signature national park, Seoraksan. Then, replays of Michigan football games began to consume my Sundays, and, after loading some photos, I simply put off writing anything during the week. By the time I got ready to write, I decided to turn the post into one long post about everything I did this autumn. Because it is difficult to arrange photos once I upload them, this post is completely out of chronological order. Just go with it.
THE GAME
I watched the game at Antonio's place. We started watching classic games from the rivalry that he had downloaded at 4 PM and continued to do so until College Game Day started at midnight. We watched the game live, through all the ups and downs, our screams and cheers probably annoying Antonio's neighbors. I can't find words to express the joy I felt after Avery picked off Baxton Miller. It may have been the single happiest moment of my life to date. Sure, the mid-late 90s were awesome, but I didn't appreciate it as much back then. I missed home more than ever before that day. I would have given anything to be back in Ann Arbor for just a night. Antonio and I made the best of it with some celebratory shots, and, following a power nap, headed out to watch the game again on replay at a Western-style sports bar.
Halloween
I think I mentioned in last year's autumn post that Koreans celebrate Halloween the way Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo. For most of them it's essentially meaningless, but a select few use it as an excuse to have a good time. A few stores and restaurants use it for promotions, and all of the English kindergartens celebrate it. As was the case last year, most girls had incredibly boring and unoriginal princess costumes. Also like last year, I ended up with two Snow Whites in one class. Most boys chose to dress up as something that could either kill you or severely maim you. Much more interesting!
Ricky (left) was the blue Power Ranger and Jae Yong (right) was Optimus Prime. Both are in Pine Class (my partner class).
Junho's policeman costume was probably the most original in either class. Alexa and I went as bacon and eggs. Once the costume idea was decided upon, it was not necessary to discuss who got to be bacon.
Gwanaksan
As mentioned in many previous posts, great hiking is only a metro ride away any time you are in Seoul. This fall Alexa and I decided to tackle Gwanaksan, a mountain just southwest of our home. We went in late October when the colors are perfect. At the peak of the mountain is a cliff-side Buddhist temple. Before embarking on our hike we stopped at our favorite French bakery in Seoul to grab a baguette to go with the cheese we had for our picnic.
Mom and Dad Visit
Okay, we are back to September, and everything will be in roughly chronological order from here on out. My mom and dad visited for the first half of September, a visit planned to coincide with the Korean holiday of Chuseok. I greeted them at the airport, and we took the metro back to the city. I showed them to their hotel, or at least where the hotel was located on the map I'd printed off. After looking around for what felt like an hour, we called the hotel and found out that they were located two subway stops away. We hopped in a taxi and gave the driver the new address. After a rough start, we unwound with some Korean BBQ for dinner.
Bears vs. Twins
I used my mom and dad's visit as an excuse to do things I'd been wanting to do while in Korea but just hadn't gotten around to. One of the things at the top of the list was attending a baseball game. Baseball is quite popular in Korea, and while it doesn't compete with World Cup Fever, we had been told that games were quite exciting. Seoul has three teams in the league, and two of them share a stadium that's three or four subway stops away.
Antonio and I are both from Southeast Michigan and attended the same university, hence we share all the same favorite sports teams. We decided that rooting for different teams in the Korean Professional Baseball would make things more interesting and allow us to talk some smack to each other. We flipped a coin to decide which teams would become our favorites. I clearly won the toss because I ended up with the Doosan Bears, a team vastly superior to the LG Twins, as evidenced by their three KPB titles compared to the Twin's two.
Each stadium is divided in two, one side for the home team and one for the visitors. For the game we attended, the Bears were visitors in their own stadium. I got our tickets in the Bears section. Each section has its own cheers, chants, traditions, and, most importantly cheerleaders. These highly motivational women do whatever it takes to lift the spirits of the mighty Doosan Bears.
The Doosan Bears controlled the play and clung to a 3-1 lead for the better part of the game. Then, in the bottom of the 8th, with a stroke of sheer luck, a Twins player hit a three run homer, a clear deviation from the mean. Antonio got the last laugh that tragic night, but the Doosan Bears shall rise again (side note: both teams failed to make the playoffs).
Chuseok Party with Mom and Dad
Mom and Dad were lucky enough to be in town for one of Korea's most important holidays, Chuseok. In case you forgot or didn't read my post last year, Chuseok is basically a Thanksgiving-like holiday, where Koreans give thanks to their ancestors for the bountiful harvest. They make rice cakes called songpyeon and dress in traditional hanboks. All of the kids showed up in their ornate hanboks, only to be immediately bribed by my mother: a hug for a lollipop. Mom also enjoyed reading the kids a story each day she visited, which of course was accompanied with more candy.
The kids decided it would be a good idea to make a lollipop for my dad out of blocks, then continued to think it would be a good idea for the rest of the day. Dad must have eaten 15-20 imaginary lollipops. Below on the right is a picture of my whole class in the hanboks.
Dad used his skills as a former soccer coach to try to teach the kids how to play a hacky-sack-like game. It took them a while to realize that they needed to wait until the ball was on its way down to kick upward. Towards the end of the day, my kids decided that Dad's white hair needed a little color. They pretended to use crayons to dye it for him. This was mortifying to one of my supervisors that walked by, but I explained to her that my parents were just having fun with the kids. Later, she quipped that the kids probably thought dad was a grandfather. Though it's not time for that yet, Mom and Dad got to practice what it was like to come to visit kids of mine, rile them up, spoil them, then leave for me to deal with. I think they have it down pretty well...
DMZ
Before coming to Korea, the only tourist destination in the country I was aware of was the DMZ. It was always at the top of my list of things to do, but it requires significant advanced planning, so for the first year it sat on the back burner. By the time my new contract started, I knew my parents were going to visit, so I saved a trip to the DMZ as something we could do together.
A month or two in advance I had to contact the USO (who runs the tours) and to reserve the spots. We had to show up on the military base a few hours before I usually wake up on the weekends. We boarded a bus and headed to the DMZ. The first stop was the Joint Security Area (JSA), which is an area jointly administered by the North and South. Prior to 1976 to be that soldiers of both sides could be on either side of the border within the JSA. Following the murder of two U.S. soldiers with axes in that year, both sides agreed not to cross the demarcation line.
The JSA is the closest that most people can get to North Korea. You can literally look across the border and see the North Korean soldiers watching you. You can also enter one of the blue buildings which straddle the border. When you stand in the north end of the building, you are officially in North Korean territory. Below is a picture of the border (left) and a picture of me in North Korea (right). The South Korean soldier is guarding the door, either to protect me from North Koreans or to prevent me from defecting to the utopia created by the recently passed Dear Leader.
Immediately across the border is a modern-looking city with a massive flagpole flying the North Korean flag. At initial glance you might think that the city looks fairly nice. You might start to think that maybe life in North Korea isn't that bad, and perhaps life is not all that terrible for the 0 inhabitants of that ghost town. That's right, the North Koreans built an entire town on the border to encourage South Koreans to defect to the prosperous North.
At the gift shop they sold a few North Korean products. I purchased some blueberry whiskey, which was utterly disgusting to drink. After visiting the JSA, we toured a tunnel that the North Koreans were planning to burrow under the border with and stage an invasion. It is one of three tunnels that has been discovered so far, and it's reasonable to expect there are a few more out there. Pictures inside the tunnel were prohibited.
Seoraksan National Park
After parting ways with my parents I still had one major thing to do on my Korea checklist: a trip to Seoraksan National Park. The park is located in northeast South Korea where the mountains meet the Pacific Ocean. The park features mountains, canyons, waterfalls, and jagged rock formations. We visited during a three day holiday weekend through a group called Adventure Korea. It was the same group that organized the rafting and bungee jumping trip that I went on in June. The group organizes tours for expats, allowing us to see the country conveniently and cheaply.
The first day we drove from Seoul to the park, hiked for 4-5 hours, then went to our hotel. The mountains that day weren't too high, but they were scraggly and clouds of fog floated right over them. The second day we rose bright and early for a 12 hour hike through the heart of the park. We climbed the highest peak, ate lunch there, then spent the afternoon descending and hiking through canyons back to the park entrance. We were there in early October, which is a little bit too early to see the autumn colors blanketing the landscape. That said, as we hiked up the mountains, they caught fire, and we got to see plenty of beautiful colors. The pictures can tell the story better than I can.
The final day we did one more brief 1-2 hour hike through a canyon to see a waterfall before returning home. I have some more great pictures, and you can check them out in my facebook album by clicking on this link.
So that basically sums up my autumn. On Friday I fly out to a small island in the Philippines called Coron for a well-deserved one week vacation. That will be the topic of my next post, but don't count on it being up too soon, as there will be plenty of college football games to watch on delay when I get home.
