July 31, 2005 - Hey guys - we've just walked in the door, home from Japan. We had an awesome time there but today was so long. I'm to tired to write a long message as I didn't get any sleep last night but I will post a whole heap of info on our trip and the Fuji Rock Festival. We have lots of photos to post once we get them developed (we used one of those old fashioned cameras). Stay tuned.

- T

Ding Dong to everyone out there in cyberspace. Alwyn's already mentioned the Mud fest. It was quite amusing... It basically is what you would imagine, people getting muddy at the beach . It had it all - cheesy music, drunk crazy muddy wayguks (whitey), drunk crazy muddy Koreans, cheap beer, bikini girls and lots of mud. I managed to slippery myself up nicely. On the downside there was no nudity involved - and everyone knows slippery and naked go hand in hand. But you can't win 'em all. On the plus side we were given two roman candles by a random kiwi dude. When I was in the water washing the mud this Korean kid comes up to me and says Hello! (not that strange - those of you who have been or are currently in Korea would not be surprised by this at all) and the usual questions followed How are you? where are you from? etc. followed by "Do you like Gimch?" I said what - "Do you like Gimch". I said "do you mean do you mean Kimchi?" he smiled inanely "I like Gimch - Goodbye" I said "see ya" He swam off - about 10 minutes later he comes back "Can I help you?" - "No thank you" - "Okay goodbye". Welcome to Korea.

Well that was my Sunday in a nutshell. Saturday was cool too - went shopping for crazy Korean items in the day (I got sprayed with deodourant by a promo girl in the mall - freaked me out) and went out at night and enjoyed some of the local swill - jolly good show. Oh and one more thing - on the bus ride home on sunday night we went past a shop called "Queer" and on the next block there was a bar called "Bong". I love this place.

Not much else to report except that we are going to Japan in a week. Where, as well as travelling around the country, we will be going to the Fuji rock festival where we will see such artists as Beck and Fatboy Slim with a whole bunch of Japanese people. It's gonna be f**kin awesome. We will try and get some photos and stuff to post on here.

If you want more info and pics on the boryeong mud festival you can Click Here

Until next time


- T

Boryeong Mud Festival 17/7/05

After a night of farewelling some good friends who are going home soon, Troy and I decided to take a 2hr bus ride to the Boryeong Mud Festival.
The Boryeong Mud Festival is an annual event held in late July at Daecheon Beach in Boryeong.

This is pretty much what the mud festival looks like. Basically you and thousands of others, coat yourself in as much mud as possible, then you sit around and enjoy the festival. When you feel that you have baked as much as you can inside your armor of mud, then you take a dip in the Yellow Sea and wash it all off.
We had a great time! Stay tuned for Troy's account of the day...
-A

July 10th, 2005 - Day 54
It has been a while since I posted, so I thought it was time I regaled you with more fantastic tales from the land of crazy sunvisors and kimchi. Okay, well yesterday was Alwyn's Birthday she turned a quarter of a century. The day consisted of starbucks coffee, italian food, cheap korean beer and Karaoke. We spent the day shopping and looking at the "Jung-Ang" market - which is Daejeon's traditional Korean market, mostly food and clothing. It was really cool, but unfortunately it was pissing down rain and it is an outdoor market. Next time we go I will try and get some photos for the blog.

The highlight of the day was our late night Karaoke session at our local Norebang (Korean for karaoke room). Featuring renditions of familiar hit songs that we all know and love, including but not limited to Lionel Richie's Three times a lady, The theme to Footloose and Flashdance, Fly me to the moon, Sex bomb, Nirvana's Lithium, Marilyn Manson's Disposable Teens, 50 cent's In Da Club and Outkast's Miss Jackson (slowed down to 3/4 speed). Definate highlights of the set would be a rockin' performance of Robert Palmer's bad case of loving you, and a moving interpretation of Paranoid Android by myself. What adds to the whole experience is the fact that you get a score at the end of the performance - I earned myself a 100% thanks to my roof-raising performance of Helter Skelter.

I could go on forever about the good times to be had at your local Norebang, but I will leave it at that. Not much else to report really apart from working I have been spending my time downloading and watching cartoons and various sitcoms from the 1980's and 90's. I watched the movie The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou today, another quirky offbeat comedy from Wes Anderson.

Surprise, Surprise the cast includes Owen Wilson and Bill Murray. It was pretty cool, Bill Murray was awesome, but I think I have to watch it again to fully appreciate it. I also watched the Get Shorty sequel - Be Cool - which was terrible. It had its moments (Andre 3000 was awesome, and the Rock as a gay bodyguard) but it wasn't half the movie shorty was. Well thats my two sense anyway.

Before I go has anyone noticed that Alf sounds exactly like Keanu Reeves. Check it out - its true.

Until next time- Ding Dong

-T

P.S. I saw an ad on the side of a bus yesterday, I think it was for an insurance company, that said "Ding Dong my happy life" on it. If you don't get that - nevermind.