Fast forward from our last June posting for Inspiration Weekend last. The most notable happening brings us to January 2011 which highlights our visit to South Korea to visit our daughter Johanna. She somewhere acquired the travel/vagabond bug, a good bit of it came through her shared DNA of Mom and me.
She spent a good 6-8 months jumping through hoops and completing myriad forms, documents, affidavids in order to qualify for a teaching English As A Second Language in South Korea. Upon her return from a month in Colombia, South America which she loved; she received her orders to be in Seoul by August 18 for a week long orientation. Off she went with one huge suitcase and a backpack made for Paul Bunyan. Within a few days we had our first of many Skype sessions with her. We undoubtedly communicate much more frequently now than when she lived in Denver. On the last day of orientation, they were given their assignment and she shipped out in a bus to the town of Cheorwon about 70km north of Seoul and practically on the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone with the North).
As you might expect the first week or so she began thinking she'd made a big mistake. There are only 4 caucasions in this small town of 8,000 and English speakers are rare. Fortunately her 2 years of teaching in Montessori School in Denver really gave her a leg up. Few of the Western English teachers have any teaching credentials or experience!
As the weeks and months went by we could see very visible and positive changes in our daughter and received glowing reports about loving it there and her extreme happiness, which wasn't always so evident in her life. Talk about new confidence and self-assurance. Even her speech and communication had become fluid and flawless. Within the surrounding region the other ESL teachers meet once a week to share stories, successes, suggestions, study Korea and the culture...........and of course share food and lots of Soju (equivilent of Sake)
Jan and I left Boston 5 Jan and landed in Seoul the next day. Our son DJ who works for Vail Marriott secured a beautiful room in Times Square Seoul for a family discount. We had a rather rocky beginning when we got off the bus about a mile short of the Marriott. Dragging our suitcases over ice and snow covered sidewalks we straggled up to the building to discover it wasn't a hotel but Marriot executive apartments. The concierge was so nice and called us a cab for the 10 minute drive to the right Marriott. Our room was beautiful and we immediately collapsed, got up in a couple hours and found a restaurant in the next door Mall. Next day Jo met us and we spent a couple days touring Seoul and meeting several of her girl friends.
One day as we were visiting an old area of Seoul we were approached by a distinguished Korean gentleman with his granddaughter on his arm. In fair English he asked if he could show us around his neighborhood. We agreed and were delighted for about 3 hours with his charm and knowledge of Seoul. Mr. John Kim was his name and we learned he ran a large architectural firm and was educated at U. of Michigan and had a grown daughter studying at Julliard School of Music in NYC. He showed us placed we would have never have found on our own; antique shops, art galleries, Buddist temple and grand palace. Mr. Kim took us to a wonderful traditional Korean lunch where we shared some wonderful food.
He had a great Nikon camera and shot dozens of pictures which he emailed to us that night. This experience is truly the joy and wonder of travel and why we are so addicted to this special past time.
We headed off on a 2 hour bus to Cheorwon and checked into our interesting hotel. The sign gave prices by the hour which we quickly surmised was to accomodate illicit affairs. The room was actually very nice and had large 42" flat screen TV, computer with surround sound, huge jacuzzi and some other interesting accoutrements (for $45/night). We had 5 days here before heading to Palawan island in the Philippines. The town was clean and had all the shops needed. Walking through town many of the shop keepers would come out to greet her, she has her own personal banker and we were amazed at how modern her school was. Paul her Korean co-teacher spent a day showing the area which is beautiful and surrounded by mountains. The highlight was our tour of the DMZ.
Could actually see the North Korean soldiers performing drills in the distance. During the day you could hear rumblings of munitions exploding in the distance. Oh did I mention it's cold in Korea............I mean not Philadelphia or even Boston cold. How about Siberian cold....maybe -10 degrees or more.
The other two biggest problems I had with Korea was 1. sitting cross-legged on the floor at restaurants and 2. eating Kimchi most meals --fermented cabbage Ug!
Before we knew it the time had arrived to take the bus back to Seoul for the flight to Manila. Jo's good friend and teaching associate Claire (from the UK) joined us and the two of them were going to travel for several weeks after our departure. We spent the night in Incheon for an early flight next morning.
The flight of course was delayed for de-icing the plane and we barely made our connection in Guangzhou for the Southern China Air flight to Manila. Arrived in Manila about 6PM and got a shuttle to our hotel, an hour journey through the most chaotic traffic I ever saw. Luckily we were only staying overnight and flying out to the island of Palawan for a week. More or less serendipitously Johanna had met a Philippine woman in Columbia SA and they traveled together and developed a special bond. It turns out Juliet, or Jhet as she's known, owns a wonderful condo in the well know downtown Rockwell Center. We joined her, husband Ted, daughter and a nephew for a great dinner of American pizza. Turns out Jhet or Juliet Torcelino van Ruyven rose from an empoverished family of 12 in the small Philippino village to a succesful entreprenuer and author, with homes in Vancouver and Manila. Check her website out http://taleofjuliet.com/ and I highly recommend her inspirational book, "The Tale of Juliet".
We arrived in Palawan after a short flight, but had forgot to mention Johanna, Janice, Claire and my bags were waylaid back during our changeover in China. Our resort, Crystal Paradise, had sent a van (2 hour drive south)to the airport in Puerto Princessa, but first took us to a rather large department store as we had no idea when our bags would show up. We got the basics and headed south at a break-neck speed on a pot filled road jammed with walkers, motorized tricycles, oxen, dogs which were just hard to describe. I'd say half the time the driver had his arm on the horn and do you think he'd slow down for anything.....not in a heart beat. Finally arrived at the Crystal Paradise Resort Spa & Winery and greeting with the sweetest people in the world. We were now Mr. Jeff, Miss Janice and Miss Johanna....here we are with our flower necklaces and coconut drinks.
Our Villa was quite nice with a great outside eating terrace, pool with jet spa, waterfalls, master bedroom, small kitchen and great loft where Jo slept. It was directly looking out to the Sulu Sea
Johanna and I took off down the beach and the seashells were great. Not too far down we ran into a band of about 8 boys ranging from maybe 8 to 25 who were fishing and pulling in their nets. Of course the two older ones eyed Johanna and immediately began flirting with her in somewhat broken English.
He asked Johanna if she would like a coconut and lickety split he was up the palm tree with his machete and loped off a bunch of coconuts and took them to their dinner hut and chopped off the ends on several.
Long story short, these young boys were like castaways and had apparently left home and lived in several huts behind us on the beach. They fended for themselves mainly through fishing. You ask yourself "how could they be happy with nothing", well these guys were as content as eight peas in a pod! They loved talking to foreigners and we spent alot of time with them...in fact like a fool I challenged Romeo (that's what I called him) to arm wrestling contest and lost miserably. As I think back it may have been the beginning of my current shoulder problem and torn rotator cuff!
Well our 5 day stay unfortunately turned into the storm before Noah took off in the Ark! Rained ferociously off and on for the whole time. Jan And Jo spent 3-4 hours one day and did everything on the spa card for about $40 each.
The meals were quite good and dinner came with unending local wine from their own winery. I think it was pineapple, mango and guava. We became very close to several of the young workers and Filipino people have got to be some of the most kind and sweet people in the world and live under some very hard conditions due to the monsoon like weather. Our friends from the Vineyard, Janet and Rick Bailey, happened to be on Palawan the exact same time and came down for 2 days to check this part out.
Our luggage finally arrived the 3rd day after very frustrating time dealing with airline. Johanna decided to leave a day earlier and head back to Puerta Princessa to meet Claire and begin their 3 weeks travel together. Jan and I we up early to take the wild ride back to the airport. We had booked a room in the Manila Marriott and it was really upscale. Jo and Claire showed and instead of their leaving that night on an 8 hour bus north; they slept the other bed. We had a great dinner and the saw probably the greatest show I've ever seen "Kaos".
It was a musical but had unbelievable circus style acts throughout; can you believe all for $22 each!!
We flew back through Narita Airport which was so overcrowded and flights overbooked. We ended up flying through Minneapolis to Boston. And finally here's one of the greatest pleasures of the trip. Many of the legs we fly first class thanks to my good high school buddy, retired Delta Captain George Fogwell and his lovely wife Maureen who is a senior flight attendant. We're spoiled forever and in eternal gratitude to the Fogwells.
