A Change of Plans

There has been a change of plans. We are now in Borneo! Our original plan was to catch a boat from South Korea to China and spend a month travelling there and then head to Vietnam. However, due to North Korea threatening South Korea, parent's worrying we are about to be bombed, and the fact that I get a sore back after one day of carrying my backpack or sitting still in a bus (I have a back injury that is slowly healing) we decided to go to Borneo instead!

Anyone want some eggs? Kota Kinabalu night market, Borneo.

Before we left Korea we spent a week in Seoul catching up with Justin's family and meeting more cousins. We also went to more markets (including some of the biggest ones I have ever seen that go for many city blocks long and are in buildings 7 stories high) and got to go to a baseball game. It was the first professional sports game I have been to and it was heaps of fun. It was between Doosan Bears and Lotte Giants. The Bears are a Seoul team and one of Justin's favourites so of course we supported them. Luckily it was a fast paced game with the Bears stealing some good bases and winning 7-2.

Doosan Bears (in white) winning against the Lotte Giants, Seoul, South Korea.

We then flew to Kota Kinabalu (KK for short), the capital of Sabah province in Borneo. Borneo itself is divided into 4 areas: Kalimantan which is part of Indonesia, Brunei, and the 2 provinces of Malaysia which are Sabah and Sarawak. Unfortunately we had already booked our tickets before realising that most of the east coast of Sabah is off limits due to an invasion and kidnappings of foreigners by the Moro National Liberation Front, a group from the Philippines fighting for independence. Unfortunately when I heard their name I had an image of them invading with moro chocolate bars while wearing their army fatigues and combat boots. Turns out this was not the case.

Fish at a market, Seoul, South Korea.

Also unfortunately this made us change our plans again. We had wanted to find a nice place to settle down for a few weeks and do some diving. Justin wants to do his dive masters and I want to do my open water qualifications. One of the best places to dive in Borneo is on the east coast but due to the travel warnings (and insurance not covering us if we go there) we have decided to travel to Kuching, the capital of Sarawak and visit the national parks in that region.

Fish and giant prawns at the night market, Kota Kinabalu, Borneo.

But before heading that way, over the last few days we have spent some time in KK. Justin did his dive refresher course and I went snorkeling around the islands just off KK. It was beautiful. The water is really clear and there are heaps of fish around. We also went to an area that is called the Coral Garden, and guess what, it was full of amazing coral. We have been eating amazing yummy cheap food and staying in a variety of accommodation. Some with air conditioning and some without. It is really hot and muggy here, averaging 33 degrees C. The heat builds throughout the morning then rains in the afternoon. Sometimes with impressive thunder and lightning.

Manana beach, with no one around, Borneo.

We have spent the last 3 days in a place called Mañana  about am hour north of KK. It is a private beach resort. Although I wouldn't really call it a resort. It has some cabins, a restaurant, a beach and nothing else. We spent the days sleeping, reading, eating, relaxing, and swimming while trying to avoid the jellyfish which sting. We also got badly bitten by mozzies (and possibly bedbugs). We got to see some impressive wildlife including the Atlas moth (also known as the Snake-head moth), the largest moth in the world, lots of insects, geckos and crabs, and a rat with large ears that chewed one of my pack straps to bits.

This Atlas moth has been in the wars, note the tips of the wings look like snakes heads, Borneo.

Anyway we are now back in KK, the land of electricity, internet and hot water, before heading to Kuching in 2 days time. We will probably be spending our time looking through the markets again, doing laundry (everything is damp and stinky thanks to the humidity) and eating more good food.

Here are a last few photos from Korea:

Monk drinking tea in a traditional tea house, Seoul, South Korea.

Blood sausage, food market in Seoul, South Korea

A whole floor of ribbons and buttons, Dongdaemun market, Seoul, South Korea.

Many floors of fabric, Dongdaemun market, Seoul, South Korea.

A delivery man at Dongdaemun market, Seoul, South Korea.

Becoming a Non-Vegetarian

Looking over my last post I realise I have been extremely slack. I had planned to update this blog, hopefully, once a week. However it is already just over 4 weeks since we started travelling and I have only written 2 posts. I apologise greatly. Unfortunately this slackness will probably happen again so I already apologise for future lack of writing.

Dried chilli is in a lot of Korean dishes.

So anyway here is a new post. Since my last post we have travelled a lot throughout the south of Korea. We  have been to Gwangju (a busy big city with not much to do), Mokpo (a bad port town with even less to do),  Heuksan Island (set in a national park, we had the scariest ferry ride in our lives with swells up to 4m!), Yeosu (a great town with the coolest aquarium that has Beluga whales), Busan (we really only saw the airport) and Jeju Island (a place we liked so much we kept extending our stay and we went 40m below sea level in a submarine!). There are many other adventures we had in each of these places but I won't bore you.

Korean BBQ. Cook the meat, wrap it in lettuce and dip in sauce.

One thing people have been asking me about is the food. The first time I had Korean food was when we were still in Auckland and I was meeting Justin's parents for the first time. That was nerve racking enough and what made it worse I had to use chopstick in front of them. Now I'm normally okay with chopsticks, but we went to a restaurant and they only had heavy metal ones. These are a lot harder to use than wooden chopsticks and I struggled for a while before they took pity on me and ordered a fork. Since then I have had many opportunities to use both metal chopsticks and eat Korean food.

Justin eating bung-a-pang. As mentioned in a previous post it is red beans in batter in the shape of carp.

Most food in Korea is yum. However not much of it is vegetarian friendly, and if it is then it is either spicy or monotonous. While in Seoul it was okay. There were enough places with lots of variety, but as we have travelled into smaller and smaller places it has become harder. In Mokpo and Heuksan in was almost impossible. That area's specialty is sea food. Heuksan in particular was hard as every single restaurant only had 4-6 things on their menu and they all consisted of variations on paua (abalone) and rays (stingray). I lived on white rice and bean sprouts for those few days.

Stingrays drying.

After 2 weeks of eating mostly rice, bean sprouts, mushrooms and egg for at least two meals of every day I gave in and had meat. Pork to be exact and it was yum (for those who don't know, I'm vegetarian for ethical reasons, not because I don't like it). Since then I admit I have had about half a dozen meals with meat and most of them have been good.

Traditional Korean meal. Lots of little side dishes that everyone shares and their own bowl of rice.

But I have craved fresh food and the markets have been good for that. Each region in Korea is know for a special food. Jeju Island is famous for it's mandarins so we ate lots of those when we were there. Strawberries are also plentiful here. They are all too perfect looking and tasting to be anything other than grown in a greenhouse and possibly genetically engineered, or at least covered in fertiliser. But they are still really yum.

Daikon radishes at a market, each about as big as a rugby ball. 

Today we returned to Seoul and once again it has become much easier to return to vegetarian food. It feels much better.

Here are some more foodie pictures:

Drying seaweed.

Silkworm pupae, to eat. 

Fish crates.

Squid Boat.

We went on a submarine, but these fish are not for eating. 

The submarine is in a national park with a coral reef.