Dear friend,
Don't bother to reply this message if you have no time.
It is quite difficult to get on line here (Busan Gimhae Airport) despite the free service. There is a coding problem so I can't really read anything containing any Chinese. And I can't log on to the office webmail either.
Gyeongju (Hing Chow in Cantonese) was quite good, but not as good as I had expected. Gyeongju is one hour from Busan so I use the Busan airport. Gyeongju is in fact one big cemetary with earth-moulded graves everywhere. People live around those graves, and walk upon them. The moon was very bright and the sky very clear the last two nights. It was kind of odd to appreciate the moon in the open with all those graves around. And there were few people on the streets after 7pm, and the streets were not as brightly lit as in HK.
Yesterday I got chat up with a man in Busan who offered to take me to a remote park close to his home on his scoopter. Such things do happen when they see you are alone. He did warn me that the place that I'm going to now had been damaged by the typhoon a couple of weeks ago (the guy on the lonely planet site also said this) and the recovery was still underway. I will not change my itinerary as everything has been booked. But I will see just what there are to see.
I've made a smart choice to skip Busan. The place seems to be very busy preparing for the Asian Games but is not very interesting to me.
Bye now.
21.9.02
19.9.02
Jeju
Dear friends,
Hello, I am now using the free internet service at Jeju airport. Seems that every airport in Korea offers such service, which is great. CLK should follow suit.
I joined a full-day tour yesterday to tour around the east side of Jeju island. It was quite a great outing, with fine weather and nice companions. Most of the other people in the group were American-Koreans. Since there was a US-born kid (28-year), they tend to translate everything for him, so I also benefitted.
We visited the place where old sea-women still dive to pick up shellfish, and these people, out of sympathy for their poor business, ordered to eat the very fresh seafruits raw, and invited me to join them. I didn't eat any but was quite happy.
Korea food was great. Each time I got into a restaurant randomly, and ordered quite randomly (what else could I do), I was served great food. And they are cheap.
Got to catch my flight to Busan now. I wonder if you all would get my message.
Hello, I am now using the free internet service at Jeju airport. Seems that every airport in Korea offers such service, which is great. CLK should follow suit.
I joined a full-day tour yesterday to tour around the east side of Jeju island. It was quite a great outing, with fine weather and nice companions. Most of the other people in the group were American-Koreans. Since there was a US-born kid (28-year), they tend to translate everything for him, so I also benefitted.
We visited the place where old sea-women still dive to pick up shellfish, and these people, out of sympathy for their poor business, ordered to eat the very fresh seafruits raw, and invited me to join them. I didn't eat any but was quite happy.
Korea food was great. Each time I got into a restaurant randomly, and ordered quite randomly (what else could I do), I was served great food. And they are cheap.
Got to catch my flight to Busan now. I wonder if you all would get my message.
17.9.02
Seoul
Dear friend,
A quick hello from Seoul. I'm now at Gimpo Airport waiting for my flight to Jeju, which will depart very soon.
The trip so far has been uneventful. The biggest problem remains the language. And because I didn't know how to order my food, I was starved to half-dead on my first day here (the other reason was that there were simply no places to eat around the place I visited). Everything is very cheap here. Plus there is nothing to buy anyways.
Bye now.
A quick hello from Seoul. I'm now at Gimpo Airport waiting for my flight to Jeju, which will depart very soon.
The trip so far has been uneventful. The biggest problem remains the language. And because I didn't know how to order my food, I was starved to half-dead on my first day here (the other reason was that there were simply no places to eat around the place I visited). Everything is very cheap here. Plus there is nothing to buy anyways.
Bye now.
26.1.01
Australia – The Heat
It was impossibly hot in Sydney yesterday. And I expect no better today. The sun burnt on my skin and it was simply impossible to stop sweating. One of the shocks was that there was no air-conditioning in the many beautiful cafes and restaurants in the old buildings at the Rocks. Nor was there in the buses and trains. And this is the largest city in Australia. Another was how damaging the sun could be to the skin. I had been mistaken as a Japanese just before I left Melbourne. But at the end of my first day in Sydney, someone asked me if I was Indonesian.
24.1.01
Williamstown
There was a sudden thunderstorm when I was in Williamstown. One moment it was blazing sunshine, the next it was storm. I was so frightened when the wind started and the sky began to darken, as I didn't have my umbrella with me. I rushed back to the train station and then the thunder broke. The train was a little late. Soon the station staff told us that the power was out, probably the lightning had struck some power lines. So I eventually took a ferry back to Melbourne. The next day, the TV news said that two people had been killed by the lightning that day.
13.10.00
13.10.2000
Dear friend,
Thank you for sending me an e-card. I haven't seen it yet but I guess it must be good.
I spent the whole of my birthday on a bus, travelling alone for seven hours from a place called Selcuk to a place called Bursa. I guess that was a special way to celebrate one's birthday.
Most Turkish men stare at me when I walk on streets. I am yet to work out the reason. There are three possibilities - lone woman, Asian woman, woman with loose long hair. Or lone Asian woman with loose long hair. Some of them just stare, some giggle and say 'Japanese' behind me. Some teenagers (boys and girls), when they see me, whisper among themselves 'Japanese!!!' This is ridiculous.
Many men have tried to talk to me. Most I think wanted to sell me something or practise their English. They would say, 'Hello (or Konnichiwa). Where are you from? Do you speak English? May I ask you a question?' And when ignored they would yell, 'I said hello!', making me feel very uneasy. Sometimes they would say 'You are very beautiful'. And once I heard, 'Vous etes tres belle', which really made me laugh (I had known the words but had never heard them spoken. I thought nobody could say those words.) Once, at 5am on an overnight bus journey when I was barely awake with a greasy face and smelly mouth, a young man said the above things to me and ask my permission to sit beside me. I really wanted to slap him on the face and kick him out of the window.
But despite the above, Turkish people are very friendly and quite helpful (may be a little too much for me). And the country is a much more westernised, modern and convenient place than I imagined. In Istanbul, for example, it's just like in Hong Kong. But of course Istanbul has a history of thousands of years.
I will fly to Paris tomorrow (14.10.2000) and be back to Hong Kong on 17.10.2000 pm. See you later.
Thank you for sending me an e-card. I haven't seen it yet but I guess it must be good.
I spent the whole of my birthday on a bus, travelling alone for seven hours from a place called Selcuk to a place called Bursa. I guess that was a special way to celebrate one's birthday.
Most Turkish men stare at me when I walk on streets. I am yet to work out the reason. There are three possibilities - lone woman, Asian woman, woman with loose long hair. Or lone Asian woman with loose long hair. Some of them just stare, some giggle and say 'Japanese' behind me. Some teenagers (boys and girls), when they see me, whisper among themselves 'Japanese!!!' This is ridiculous.
Many men have tried to talk to me. Most I think wanted to sell me something or practise their English. They would say, 'Hello (or Konnichiwa). Where are you from? Do you speak English? May I ask you a question?' And when ignored they would yell, 'I said hello!', making me feel very uneasy. Sometimes they would say 'You are very beautiful'. And once I heard, 'Vous etes tres belle', which really made me laugh (I had known the words but had never heard them spoken. I thought nobody could say those words.) Once, at 5am on an overnight bus journey when I was barely awake with a greasy face and smelly mouth, a young man said the above things to me and ask my permission to sit beside me. I really wanted to slap him on the face and kick him out of the window.
But despite the above, Turkish people are very friendly and quite helpful (may be a little too much for me). And the country is a much more westernised, modern and convenient place than I imagined. In Istanbul, for example, it's just like in Hong Kong. But of course Istanbul has a history of thousands of years.
I will fly to Paris tomorrow (14.10.2000) and be back to Hong Kong on 17.10.2000 pm. See you later.
7.10.00
7.10.2000
Dear friends,
Hello. I've just spent an almost completely meaningless day in Konya, Central Anatonlia. Konya is supposed to be one of the important places for the Muslims but I'm getting tired of the muslim monuments. And the men here are like pests. I was forced to spend USD9 on a taxi ride (instead of USD0.3 for a mini-bus) so as to get rid of one who followed me. Here it is hot, dry and dusty and there is no shopping opportunities. The day at last brightened up, though. A girl asked how old I was (they do this here) and she guessed 25! Ha Ha Ha!!! LOL!
I must now wait for my bus to Pamukkale which will depart at 24:00. And it is now only 18:35.
I've just called a hotel in Pamukkale. When I asked if there would be a room for me, the answer was an immediate "of course". I wonder how that hotel looks like.
Hello. I've just spent an almost completely meaningless day in Konya, Central Anatonlia. Konya is supposed to be one of the important places for the Muslims but I'm getting tired of the muslim monuments. And the men here are like pests. I was forced to spend USD9 on a taxi ride (instead of USD0.3 for a mini-bus) so as to get rid of one who followed me. Here it is hot, dry and dusty and there is no shopping opportunities. The day at last brightened up, though. A girl asked how old I was (they do this here) and she guessed 25! Ha Ha Ha!!! LOL!
I must now wait for my bus to Pamukkale which will depart at 24:00. And it is now only 18:35.
I've just called a hotel in Pamukkale. When I asked if there would be a room for me, the answer was an immediate "of course". I wonder how that hotel looks like.
5.10.00
5.10.2000
Dear friends,
I'm now in a town called Urgup in the central part of Turkey (Cappadocia). This is a quiet, sleepy and dusty little town. Not much to see. I arrived here today but am too tired to go anywhere else. I plan to take a local tour tomorrow but am not really interested. Seems that I have already seen plenty on the ride from the airport to this town. The hotel I'm staying in is a very beautiful cave hotel (very very beautiful and a lot of running hot water). And I can do my laundry using the washing machine here. Don't even want to leave for the tour.
PS - Unfortunately the hotel is some distance from the centre. And the sun is fierce.
PPS - Dared not go out after dark. No dinner. Very miserable. And there's no TV. So I've started to read Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth". Very enjoyable.
I'm now in a town called Urgup in the central part of Turkey (Cappadocia). This is a quiet, sleepy and dusty little town. Not much to see. I arrived here today but am too tired to go anywhere else. I plan to take a local tour tomorrow but am not really interested. Seems that I have already seen plenty on the ride from the airport to this town. The hotel I'm staying in is a very beautiful cave hotel (very very beautiful and a lot of running hot water). And I can do my laundry using the washing machine here. Don't even want to leave for the tour.
PS - Unfortunately the hotel is some distance from the centre. And the sun is fierce.
PPS - Dared not go out after dark. No dinner. Very miserable. And there's no TV. So I've started to read Edith Wharton's "The House of Mirth". Very enjoyable.
6.10.99
Zurich
Dear friend,
I'm in the airport in Zurich and is about to board my plane. There are free internet counters provided by Compaq in the airport, so I am sending you this message. I have just discovered that the Swissair flight I'm about to take is again operated by CX. Lucky me.
I'm wearing my glasses. Just then the glass on the right side came loose because the screw was loosened. I panicked a little as I could not see without my glasses. Lucky that I am in a Swiss airport and it is full of shops selling Swiss Army Knives. I went to buy a little screwdriver tool and the shopkeepers, noting that I was almost blind, kindly helped me fix the glasses. What if I were in Paris.
I am going to check the HKO website. Bye now. Should be back on 7.10.99 pm.
I'm in the airport in Zurich and is about to board my plane. There are free internet counters provided by Compaq in the airport, so I am sending you this message. I have just discovered that the Swissair flight I'm about to take is again operated by CX. Lucky me.
I'm wearing my glasses. Just then the glass on the right side came loose because the screw was loosened. I panicked a little as I could not see without my glasses. Lucky that I am in a Swiss airport and it is full of shops selling Swiss Army Knives. I went to buy a little screwdriver tool and the shopkeepers, noting that I was almost blind, kindly helped me fix the glasses. What if I were in Paris.
I am going to check the HKO website. Bye now. Should be back on 7.10.99 pm.
4.10.99
Paris
Dear friend,
No, I'm still in Paris. Will be back on 7.10.99 p.m.
I've caught a cold, which I think I got on the night train from Roma to Paris (14 hours of violent train-riding. The train had been delayed and the driver, I guess, pressed hard to meet the timetable. The train shook so much that I couldn't eat (felt sick) or sleep well.). I have all the symptoms of a cold - sneezes, runny nose, headache, etc., which have considerably limited my strength and interest to get around Paris.
It rained yesterday here in Paris. And it's got much cooler (9 to 16 degrees according to the weather forecast) today. People are wearing all the coats/jackets we wear in winter in Hong Kong.
I spent about six hours in the Museum of Louvre today (it's free of charge on the first Sunday every month). And about 80% of shops are closed on Sunday. So there's really no way to spend my money except for buying food.
I'll call you when I get home. Bye now.
No, I'm still in Paris. Will be back on 7.10.99 p.m.
I've caught a cold, which I think I got on the night train from Roma to Paris (14 hours of violent train-riding. The train had been delayed and the driver, I guess, pressed hard to meet the timetable. The train shook so much that I couldn't eat (felt sick) or sleep well.). I have all the symptoms of a cold - sneezes, runny nose, headache, etc., which have considerably limited my strength and interest to get around Paris.
It rained yesterday here in Paris. And it's got much cooler (9 to 16 degrees according to the weather forecast) today. People are wearing all the coats/jackets we wear in winter in Hong Kong.
I spent about six hours in the Museum of Louvre today (it's free of charge on the first Sunday every month). And about 80% of shops are closed on Sunday. So there's really no way to spend my money except for buying food.
I'll call you when I get home. Bye now.
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