This is the more or less complete script

left UK with snow coming down as we climbed up into the sky. It was dour and drizzly in Beijing on transfer. But arriving in Seoul - I think I must have died & gone to heaven _ NO litter.no gum trodden into the pavement, friendly people who ask if they can helhelp, lots of hot sun..... what's not to like?

week 4 of korea

Take two trains to Gyeongju, northeast of Busan in a generally agricultural area., I had seen pictures of huge rounded artificial hills, which looked interesting,lots of them. Way back, this was they way to give the local big cheese his final send off. A pretty enormous project with today's earthmovers, so with only spades and baskets to move the earth it must have been a monumental effort. Also it is the town with the 1st ever astronomical tower.

On arrival, the lovely lady in the rail information office had directed me to the Gyeongju guest house 3 mins walk away.So checked in there, it was "get bearings" time. Most amazing markets - the only oter place i've seen a row of chicken heads for sale was Moscow. So glad I didn't have the language skill to ask how, let alone why they were cooked. Bet Taal is too! Regretably also discovered that the sleeping mat stuff is sold by the meter, fortunately in rather horrid colours. Took mind of the matter by finding a city tour for the next day which would reveal all about te royal tumulli. What had not been admitted about the tour was that it 'd be entirely in Korean. Luckily for me a Japanese passenger had lived 10years in the US & happily was ready to practise his language ftom time to time, am I fortuate or what. Whatever, it was a great way to get a handle on the place, with a lot of groud covered in a day. The 'guesthouse' had great serve-yourself breakfasts. This made for sociable occasions. I thougt I was beig a bit hurried havig only 3 nights there, but most were only there for 1 night. Also, oh joy, they had 2mini washig machines on the covered bit of roof. Day 3, I went free range to the museum for a free guided walk around. This was pretty good & I ended up getting adopted by a korean lady who wanted to practice her english. So after, she drove me to a charming tea house where I had the full works of a tea ceromany (wow, that has just spellchecked as Viena or Germany). I was just checking the Insight Guidebook re the tumulli we'd been talking about, and she'd looked at it & asked where it was from & how interesrig as there was nothing like it she'd seen. We ended the day with me offering her the book, and her giving me a lift back. Saved carrying it around for a few more days!

Last of my whirlwind visits was to Deajon, mpstly because it was fway back to Soeul and an airplane.

Deajon was my last 4 nights of wandering. It looked like thr pits on the map, a big industrialised city, but of course, appearances on a map are different from bricks & morter on the ground, well in S Korea that should be buchet loads of concrete. Not to waste a good experience, I made a beeline for the information desk.The lady had a badge sayig sbe spoke english, she was a gem. Not ony did she speak english, but she found me somewhere to stay, and when I protested the price got it reduced to what I was willing to pay. And again 2 minutes from the station, so off I went. Turns out be a 'motel', on the 3rd,4th & 5th floors. So I have a room ensuite, with a TV, no-working etectric blanket & a window overlooking the local cop shop - which was to provide me with much entertainment over the nrxt few days. Daffodills in pot to the lady, who became my source of information about so much, although hadn't known about the cops.

All Korean towns seem to have extensive underground shopig centres (I think theywere built as fall out shelters in case of attach from the north, without any evidence of course). Anyway, all human life scurries around there. The array of shops is amazing. Absolutely everything that you never even thought of, let alone wanted, is available. The smell of hot sweetcorn does not live u to it's promise, sadly. Plus lots of .market hallls.

Each mornig tere was singing fro next door at 6,30 . Thee followed physical jerks

week 3 of korea

Book myself a train to Busan in the southeast, the slow one takes 5 hours at 60mph, which means i can at least see what is happening outside; the fast one goes at 120 mph. The Seoul yha has booked me a place5 mins from station which isreally convenient.

Busan is a busy seaport & the bit of Korea nearest to Japan, so a) has had military invasions from there in the past & b) is a popular ferry point for todays visitors, of which there are many.

First day is general explore for the lie of the land, big surprise is to find the sea just behind the station -& it's being pushed back by landfill it seems. The metro is about half the size of Seoul's, but this is later discovered to be just less lines, when l try them out, they go forever. Again there are endless 1984 clusters of 20/40 storey blocks of flatsflats.

I've already some stuff on Busan (also Bussan) which seems to have gone awol & will have to be stiched in on return home. Briefly day 2) two city tours of culture and environmental interest - this last was st as dealing with e of the delta which is an important bird stop off point on long flights. Day 3) a hunt the post office & try not to give way to the wish to buy a sleeping quilt. These are so comfortable, make perfect sense with underfloor heating & I WANT one!

week 2 & 1/2 of korea

my progress is slow as i get to terms with this new toy, plus the iteresting lumpy electricity being experienced. Much seems to have disappeared into the ether. However,hope springs, or rather limps along. The weather gets a bit warmer, the wind reduces and I'm te.pted to venture afield.

The subway is brilliant, I suppose developed for visiting Tourists to the '88 Olymplcs so more or less idiot proof. A really helpfull outcome of the US presence during the Korean war (for me) is the use of english here, although there are interesting pitfalls. For example, in bookshops titles are in english _ but inside it's all korean script. Down another rabbit hole, as Jen would say, they have a brilliant alphabet, based on phonetics. This was developed under the direction of a far sighted ruler some hundreds of years ago - in great secrecy. The literate classes being in favour of maintaining their speciality were against a language that even the downtrodden farmers could understand. Consequently not only was it possible to inform of better ways of agriculture, but it has been simple to use on computers as unlike chinese & japanese pictograms there are only 2 dozen characters to combine rather than a separate character for each word. Out of the rabbit hole, it makes for a very easy lace to get around. Railway stations have the lcd screens in both languages for example. To get a railcard, the ticket machine can cope with half a dozen languages, plus how lovely, when I was contemplating the machine, a friendly voice murmed in ear 'do you require any help?' He took me to a kiosk to get a plastic card, inserted into the machine with money told me which buttons to press & the activated spat out - we high 5s to our mutual surprise.

week 1 of 4 in korea

• The hostel is easy to find right near the center of town, lovely & warm with underfloor heating.. At first I have a 10 bed en suite to myself for four days. The breakfasts are enough to sustain me all day with staples of rice, kimchi (pickled vegetable mix), roll & jam sachet. This last is a cunning eastern version, bent in half, it squirts out the jam directly onto the bread - and since a cutlery set is a soup spoon & needle thin metal chopsticks, this is pretty handy. Daily variations of a meat dish, savoury type custard or tofu (hazelnut flavour I' m told), salads & some vegetables make for an interesting start to the day.

Only booked 4 nights, so start ticking off the explore list. Discover that the DMZ (demilitarized zone) has to be by special tour which has to be booked 3 days in advance. Plan change - stop over the w.end, plus Monday is a public holiday, and Tuesday they are ´busy'. The predictive text is getting me down - it has twice turned D M Z into FOX, now 3 Times & suddenly put T not t. W here are you Bob?????!

Anyway, extend Seoul stay by 6 more nights, as army on manoeuvres on the Tuesday, pleased really ( It just suggested orally for really!!!!!). Chase up palaces,genes, no you sky ma gone I was Ted genes - it is going bonkers - that should have read - palaces, temples, no you silly machine I intended temples.

It takes a while to correct, which gets me down as I loose the thread. Just thought I' d explain why it seems to be getting turgid.

My big excitement has been discovering the Cheonggyeneon stream. This small river had gradually become clogged & contaminated due to lack of maintainance so in the 60' s it was built over to get shot of the problem. With an enormous shopping centre. 60' s conCrete not so great, rotting like no tomorrow. Big city rumpus when then mayor suggested demolition & stream revitalizing, but he won the day - hurrah as it is a fabulous environment - birds, fish, planting and interesting landscaping, all leading to a vast improvement in air quality. But it' s not just a stream - lots of bridges, all different as the stream proceeds down, steps, "hopping stones" at regular intervals, wheelchair access ramps each side, fountains, water walls, huge covered & open spaces for concerts/parties etc www.cheonggyecheon.or.kr Various points along the way have brass signs nothing historical remains found in the process. There' s also a museum devoted to it all, with a great model 3x4 meters of it in the city context.

NOW saving - holding it will behave better tomorrow, am knackered.uh