south korea and beyond: Summertime

Time to update the blog about my sweet but short summer! After two years of working in a British school and having a huge six week holiday, 9 days seemed a bit puny but we did make the most of the time and all the weekends in between desk warming time. The first weekend after school broke up for summer, pretty much every waygook from Korea went to the Boryeong Mud Festival which turned into a crazy weekend. Soju+Mud+sea = interesting times!

Next was a big rock festival near Seoul called Jisan Valley Rocks. Despite the lack of music I knew and lots of bad weather, it was an incredible weekend. The highlight for me was definitely CSS who I have wanted to see for ages and absolutely loved. Even managed to fight my way to the front and touch Lovefoxx's arm!! Me and Jefa made slightly over the top floral headdresses for the occasion with fake flowers from Daiso which we wore on the Saturday. A very fun weekend all in all which I would definitely repeat next year.

I got back from Jisan in the early hours of Monday morning then went straight to the first day of my four day boys high school camp. I was slightly worried about this camp due to the reputation of technical high school kids but they were actually great and generally quite attentive. It also helped that we finished at 12 everyday so no more deskwarming (although I actually rather enjoyed deskwarming, getting paid to read and watch movies...not too bad).

After work on Friday it was time to get the KTX to Seoul to get my flight to Kuala Lumpur where I would pick up my connecting flight to Bali. Strangely enough, I was randomly assigned a seat next to some fellow EPIK friends on the way to KL. After a night of travel, I arrived in Bali and made my way to Sanur. This was a pretty little place with a few too many resorts but a great place to start so I could make my way to the little island off the coast of Bali called Nusa Lembongan. On the boat to Nusa Lembongan I met a nice but quietish Spanish girl who I shared a room with that night and we hired bikes to explore the island for the rest of the day. Even though the island was lovely, I was beginning to crave some lively company so I headed out that evening and met some girls in a bar who were all doing some yoga classes. I joined the class the next day which was in a beautiful location. Me and a girl from the class called Mel then spent the day at a hotel with an infinity pool over looking the ocean.

I left for Bali the next day and spent two days in Ubud. I loved all the little shops and health food restaurants. Went to an art gallery which was a good change and just chilled out drinking and eating. Particularly enjoyed eating fried banana and ice cream when a monkey appeared at the back of the cafe which overlooked the rice paddies.

I then met Mel again in Padangbai where there was a festival taking place so people were continuously carrying offerings on their heads in front of our accommodation. The next day we got the boat to Gili Trawangan where we met a girl from yoga, Luna (another Spanish girl) who we shared a room with. After two nights of partying we went over to Gili Meno where Luna's friend Kike is building some houses where we could stay. Gili Meno was so beautiful and I spent three days there on the beach and doing yoga. I saw the most amazing sunset I've ever seen. Kike took us to Gili Air on a boat for breakfast and then on the journey back we snorkelled whilst holding onto the boat. I waited a long time and finally saw an amazing sea turtle! It was massive and one of the best things I have seen! I was hugely sad to leave Gili Meno and after an afternoon/ evening in Seminyak I left Bali to return to Korea. I could have happily spent weeks or months in Indonesia and was pretty sad to be coming back. But only 9 days until Katie comes to Korea and we visit Seoul and Jeju so all is good.