Hi all

Now in South Korea, second to last country on my trip and exactly 50 days till I come home so time is running out now on the home stretch

After Climbing the mountains at Huangshan I went to a city almost the size of London i've never heard of called Huangzhou which is famous for this beautiful lake simply called West lake which i walked around and up a couple of low hills for some good views across it which was nice. Was a very touristy town which in China inecitably means millions of people but the lake was big enough to get away from the crowds which meant some peace and quiet now and again, a rather rare thing in China. City also had all the mod cons and while i was there i had a sudden urge to go to the cinema and it just so happened to be the opening day of Harry Potter that day so that was a bonus and my my I can't believe what happened at the end of the film. Bouyed on by this I had to buy the final Harry Potter which I read in about a week prob the quickest i have ever read a book before, certainly one of that length anyway and boy was it good, guessed a few of the outcomes but didn't foresee so many deaths in a childrens book!!

Next up was a city called Suzhou, which is the only place I went to in China that I actually didn't like, along with Aliwah North in South Africa and Ahmedabad in India that makes 3 places now so hopefully that is it for the entire trip. A town famed for its many "beautiful" gardens which were full of tourists and ridicoulously overpriced. I went to the biggest and the smallest garden in town and they were just made of concrete with a few flowers and no lawns, my Grandad used to keep his garden much nicer so didn't really impress me much although i suppose there were a few nice pagodas in town which you don't see in Woodham Ferrers.

A city of the future was next in Shanghai, ultra modern with massive skyscrapers (twice as many as New York i read somewhere) which i reckon would be quite a nice place to live as an expat. Went up the tallest building possible which gave great views across the metropolis of 15 or so million inhabitants. Was a shame that i went this year and not next as the world expo is there next year which they hope will attract 70 million visitors over its 6 months of operation, however this meant much of the city, including the premier tourist attraction the Bund, was a virtual building site so ruined some of the sights. I was in Shangahi for the solar eclipse, which was the longest period of totality in the 21st Century so that was a special experience. Despite around a week of glorious sunshine prior to eclipse day i woke up to complete cloud cover and rarely saw the sun and the moon crossing it, although i did get a few good snaps. I think i was the only person in China without them special glasses that allow you to look at the sun so the cloud cover actually helped me look in its direction and when it went pitch black for over 5 minutes at 9.30 in the morning it was incredible and you could feel the buzz!! It started raining about 5 minutes prior to totality but that didn't stop me sitting in the middle of the park drenched looking skywards. I did feel a bit sorry for some of the tourists i had met that had come of thousands of miles just for the eclipse, there was a Canadian who had come on his 8th Eclipse tour, think he has the bug, reckon i may have it, next eclipse is next year on some Pacific Island if anyone fancies it??

My last destination in China was the old German town on the sea of Qindao which was a lovely little city, though it was full up so i couldn't find anywhere to lodge!! I stayed one night in an expensive hotel (11 quid!!) before leaving the next day, without really getting to experience Qindao. I walked across town to the ferry port to buy my boat ticket to South Korea only to be informed that the ship had engine trouble and may or not be running by the following week. Therefore i had to fly. Hoping there were direct flights and i didn't have to loop back to Beijing or Shanghai i went to a flight booking office and ten minutes later i had a flight ticket to Seoul leaving 6 hours later that day!! Never bought a flight so close to take off in my life, always fancied doing that tho just driving to an airport and see where they have flights available to.

So South Korea then. The flight was delayed a few hours so didn't arrive until just after midnight and being 1-2 hours into the city with no accomodation booked and an expensive middle of the night taxi ride i decided to wait in the airport until morning which was fun!! Went real quick tho passing the time with Harry Potter, a phone call to me Dad, some internet time and some kipping on one of them airport benches. Man Utd played FC Seoul that day so i kept looking out for the players who must have flown from that airport to China that evening but alas i didn't see Rooney, Owen and co.

I spent 5 nights in Seoul and out of all the places i have been so far Seoul (along with Hong Kong) is probably the most liveable city i have visited, has everything and good trabsport to elsewhere in country. Is full of expats teaching english where there are plenty of well paid jobs and you only have to be a native english speaker which i can be if i try hard. Bought a "T Money" card the local metro card which was very cheap and meant it was easy to zip around the city by subway and bus. I was quite sporty here visiting the 1988 olympic stadium, the 2002 World cup stadium, the horse racing and 2 baseball games!! Also went to the Korean war museum where i learnt a bit about the history of that war which was really interesting, i always like war museums more than others for some reason. There were also lots of temples and old palaces right in downtown Seoul which made for a cultural visit. Won just over a tenner at the horse races with my trusty tactic of betting on the second favourite to win, aided by a new tactic of betting on the 2nd to biggest outsider to finish top 3 (don't know where that idea came from but it worked!!) which added to my gambling winnings in Hong Kong and Macau meant my winning streak has continued!! Baseball is fricking incredible in Korea as well, so much better than my experiences of the sport in the States. There are 3 teams in Seoul and 2 were at home during my stay and as it was so good the first night i went back to the different stadium the second night. With crowds of only around 10,000 max the noise was unbelievable, louder than any football crowd i have ever experienced even with 8-9 times the numbers. The cheerleaders are positioned on a platform in the crowd and this guy wearing white gloves like a snooker referee or Marceau Marceaux and blowing a whistle conducts the crowds singing, but not only do you sing you dance as well!!! I also think that i saw possibly the greatest finish to a baseball game in history as well, The LG Twins (the mobile phone sponsored seoul team) were 8-6 down at the bottom of the ninth innings with 2 outs and no one on the bases and somehow managed to win 9-8, Women and grown men were crying, everyone was hugging each other and everyone was laughing at those fans that had left 10 minutes previously thinking the game was all but over!! I'm currently deciding on a location for my "LG Twins" tattoo, with both shoulders taken think may have to be one of the legs, although i am a bit worried that LG may go bust with the current doom and gloom everywhere or 02 or someone might come up with a better sponsorhip deal!! Prior to every baseball game they play the national anthem which was a good way to hear that as well, has one bit where it sounds like Bread of heaven which was funny.

Had 2 half day excursions out of Seoul as well, one to a national park where i climbed the highest peak and one on the DMZ tour. The climb was pretty fun, and the Koreans who don't stare at me like the Indians or Chinese did, were so surprised to see a foreigner hiking that many people stopped for a chat in broken English. Koreans love hiking and fitness in general as well and all have huge muscles compared to my little 'uns. Climbed into the clouds and was a bit polluted over Seoul so didn't have great views, but reaching the South Korean flag at the summit was a cool feeling, i do love mountains.

The DMZ tour involved a trip to the North Korean border or the area where there is a strip of land 4km wide (2 either side of the official border) which marks where the South ends and the North starts. First we went to this bridge where some guards look over for North Korean spies trying to cross, guns ready. We then went to this tunnel, only discovered in the 70s built by the North Koreans, 1635 Metres long (435 in South, the rest in the north) which the North secretly built to penetrate the south if ever war broke out again. Got to go in the tunnel and was a mere 200 metres from North Korean soil, albeit 70 metres below the ground!! Then we stopped at an observation point where you could look across to North Korea. Quite funny that the biggest flag in the world sits just on the North Korean side displaying the North korea flag slightly higher than the South Korean one on its respective side!! Put 500 on (about 25 pence) into the binoculars and got to see North Korea up close, looked very pretty. Although the fence is 2km either side of the border and no fence actually lies at the border itself it is easy to see where the South ends and the North starts because the South is heavily forested whilst in the North there are vey few trees. The reason for this is the poverty of the North who either use wood to light fires to keep warm and eat or they eat the very appeitizing "Tree bark soup" yummy!! Annoyingly there was a wall at the observation deck and a yellow line was painted about 5 metres behind it which you couldn't cross with a camera so all my photos have about a hundred people in them!! Final stop was a mock train station which has been built ready for when the border opens (you can't actually cross the Koran border between south and north) which was lush but seeminly a waste of money with no reconciliation or talks imminent it seems. Bought some of the North Korean firewater here called "Soju" 23% volume so reckon it might knock me head off a bit, ain't tried it yet but will on me holiday this week.

After Seoul it was to the town of Suwon, the home town of Ji Sung Park, South Koreas most famous sporting export. Spent a couple of days here walking around the fortress wall that encircles the town and visiting the nearby Korea folk village which had old buildings that had been relocated here from ancient villages around the penisula on modernising. The buildings were good but the shows were amazing. The Korean dance was so so, then the tight rope walking was cool (it involved the guy bouncing along with a leg dangling either side of the rope, looked painful to me!!) and the the most incredible horse show ever. These horses came galloping out of the stables and were legging it around this circle about 5-10 metres in diameter which i thought was amazing in itself but then these group of kids prob in there late teens started jumping on and off them, doing handstands, riding backwards, breakdancing on the horses and firing arrows at targets!!

Had a couple more cultural days after that in the ancient Baekje dynasty capitals of Gongju and Buyeo. They were the capitals over a thousand years ago but are now just relatively small towns in the countryside with lots of ancient ruins and walls. Weather was glorious at both and think i was the only foreigner in town which was nice after the thousands of expats in Seoul and tourists in Suwon. Saw some ancient tombs which looked kinda like the Teletubbies place with mounds of grass covered earth. Had lots of museums as well which displayed all the things they had ug up from in around the tombs. Also got to stay in a "Love" hotel in Gongju which was a bit mucky in the fact it charged for rooms by the hour, the adult channels were number 1 and 2 rather than in the high 90's and the vending machine in the corridor outside my room sold certain battery operated devices that certain ladies may like to use from time to time as well as devices that certain kinds of men might use!!

After that it was on to the beach at Daechon beach on the west coast of South Korea, supposedly the best on that side of Korea and the sand was golden coloured and beautiful though being the height of the Korean holiday season it was rather busy!! Was a good place to relax though for a day. Also got to stay in my new tent which i purchased in Shanghai for the first time. It seems you can came anywhere you like in Korea and there was this patch of grass just back from the beach that a hundred or so campers had set up camp, so i just pitched up beside them. Didn't cost anything, i slept fine and woke up to beach views, so not bad all in all!!

Then i got my first long distance train in Korea and it only took just under 3 hours, is good how small Korea is after Africa, India and China being so damn big meaning travel times were often over 10 hours to the next destination!! Ended up in Mokpo a port city which was a nice little place with a big hill for climbing for cool views across the islands scattered out to sea and across the city.

After 7 months of hard travel i felt like i needed a holiday, hence i caught the ferry, taking 5 hours with no seasickness - a miracle for me, to the traditional Korean holiday Island of Je-Judo where couples come on their honeymoon and families holiday in the summer, a bit like a Korean Isle of Wight i think, but a bit more exotic. The plan was to spend a week or so relaxing on the beaches around the island but i have been here 4 days so far and haven't done any relaxing yet!! i spent the first night in the main city on the north of the island in a woman in her 80s hotel. She was about 4 foot tall, 3.5ft with her hunch and she acted like my Korean grandmother!! She kept talking even tho she knew i didn't have a clue what she was saying, she gave me sweets by unwrapping them and placing them directly in my mouth and she came in and made me bed(or mattress on the floor i should say).

Next day i caught a bus to the Manjangul caves which are the largest lava tube caves in the world and you can walk along em for a kilometre underground. Was pretty dark and like a fridge but was a huge opening space underground with wierd stalagmites and tites and that. Then got the bus onto the beach to the east of the island to a place called Sinyang beach where i set up camp for the night. There is an old volconic crater close to there that Koreans call Sunrise peak and appropriately climb at dawn for sunrise views, I did it in the afternoon and was happy with that, seeing the huge crater in the middle at the top.

Yesterday i caught the bus to the south of the island, and the sun came out which is nice for a beachy place, to a resort called Jungmen beach where i will camp for 3 days above one end of this idyllic beach. I'm not one for laying on the beach tho so haven't actually spent much time on it yet!! Walked for a bit down the coast yesterday and stumbled across these wierd coastal rocks in hexagonal shapes, exactly the same as Giant's causeway in Northern Ireland, just randomly out at see which was cool and a bonus.

Got up at stupid o'clock this morning to get 3 buses to the start of a walk up South Korea's highest mountain, Hallasan. It rises to 1950 metres so not huge but still pretty high. Weather was perfect to, was cloudy and rainy all the way up which kept me coll and stopped me sweating to much (was through forest so no views anyway) and then literally 5-10 metres before the summit the weather cleared and i had amazing views above lower level of clouds and occassional breaks down to the earth, a real top of the earth feeling, and another mountain range to add to me list!!

Anyway i promise to relax a bit tomorrow, gonna spend the morning on the beach and in the sea (I need a wash!!) before going to the horse races again where hopefully my goodluck will continue

See you all soon