Back in Korea with mum and dad

We arrived back at Incheon about 5 minutes before mum and dad, and successfully met up at arrivals. After a bit of lunch, we got on the coach and headed to Gwangju. The usually pleasant bus trip was somewhat ruined by a man in front of us constantly snorting and hocking up phlegm. We arrived in Gwangju and sat outside eating ice cream while Alan picked up our good-as-new laptop and then went back to the apartment and out for the local Galbi. Not quite as fancy as the restaurants we had become accustomed to in Beijing but very delicious!

The next day was my birthday, so I did something really fun and went to work! Mum and dad entertained themselves and met us at 9 when we finished. We got into taxis and went to Sangmu for some Vietnamese food. I'm sorry dad but I have to tell this story...We were walking into the building and I may have distracted dad with something interesting when I suddenly heard a huge bang. I turned around to see that dad had walked straight into the glass wall. For a split second everything seemed OK and then we saw the blood! A bit of panic and a confusing phone call later, we were in an ambulance and hurtling around the corner to Sangmu hospital. Where slightly differently from England, dad was x-rayed, stitched up, bandaged, drugged and jabbed in about an hour. So quickly that we still had time to grab some take-away and have a bit of a birthday meal at home. Mum and I got through the whole ordeal without getting a spot of blood on our fancy clothes (dad thinks this shows how much we cared). Unfortunately dad couldn't wear his glasses over the big bandage which had us all a bit worried that he might walk into something else.

The next couple of days were spent with us at work while mum and dad explored. At the weekend we decided to hire a car which wasn't as scary as we thought it might be (and has now inspired another decision), despite anyone not driving doing a lot of backseat driving. We drove to Wando, an island off the South coast (where Alan and I went when we first arrived in Korea) and stayed again in the big, strange hotel on the hill. The pebble beach was still lovely and almost deserted apart from the park ranger who recognised us from last time and was so excited that we'd visited twice, that he had brought a cameraman along so that he could give us a painful interview in very broken English. Me and mum were desperate for a swim so we drove to the other side of the island to a huge sandy beach which had also been deserted on our previous trip. Unfortunately August is beach month in Korea and this time it was packed with Koreans covered from head to toe and sitting under parasols to protect themselves from the sun. The water was very nice though so we had a swim and made a quick escape. Downtown we managed to find a fish restaurant with outdoor seating and ate a very nice fish soup.

On Sunday we made our way slowly back to Gwangju, stopping at Wolchulsan for a Kimbap picnic and a walk around a lovely lake, and then at a beautiful Buddhist temple where we walked along a little nature trail and I bought some pottery for Katy.

On Monday I had a day off work and so me, mum and dad went to Damyang to see the bamboo forest. The bamboo forest was OK and we also somehow ended up on an old film set which was quite interesting. Next we drove to the nearby national park and stopped for an outdoor lunch of Bibimbap at a lovely little restaurant. Unfortunately we arrived at the national park to discover that it was closed due to a landslide, from what we could understand. However we drove around for a little while and found the entrance to another park and mountain. We walked along the river and saw some really impressive waterfalls. Me and mum also managed to swim in a lovely clear pool, so everything turned out well in the end.

We did a few other things, including a visit to the market where mum and dad got the ultimate Korean experience of seeing dog meat. We also managed to go back to the Vietnamese restaurant and actually have a meal (after studying the glass wall we decided that it really is difficult to see). We've just found out that mum and dad will be back in April to do it all again at a slightly more relaxed pace with hopefully a few less injuries.