Saturday, December 25, 2004
A Close Shave
So Christmas Eve turned out strange. A handful of us decided to have a few celebratory drinks and were joined by a Korean man called, um, let's call him Bert (dammit, why do Koreans have names that won't stick in the mind?). Anyhow I became the focus of his Yuletide attentions to a very uncomfortable degree. Finally he managed to annoy everyone else in the bar as well so he got asked to leave. A few minutes later he marches back in to inform me that I was "narrow-minded", then stumbles out. Sorry, but my ideal Christmas does not entail being hit on by gay Koreans.
Needless to say I needed a couple more drinks after that. Then a couple more. Then bed.
Woke up at 11.30, which was 2 hours after my bus had left. Oh bum oh bum oh bum oh bum! I quickly phoned Hez, who was worried sick and had already arrived in Seoul. We had a quick watch check and realised that I might not make it. I packed in 2 minutes and was on the 11.40 bus to Seoul, praying the bus driver would drive like a lunatic, which he did.
He loved driving, this guy. Don't get me wrong, the bus was flying at quite a rate. It just went everywhere. He was driving for the sheer joy of it. It took 4 hours on an empty road to get there. I think he just wanted us to appreciate the mountains.
So to the bus terminal in Seoul. Quick update: Hez, Graham and Yeon Nam were at the airport and I had an hour and half to get on the plane. Plus the only traffic jam in Korea had decided to take place at the bus terminal. Step forward the greatest taxi driver on Earth. Now he drove fast. And no detours to see the pretty bloody mountains. Got me to the airport in 35 minutes, which could well be a record.
MADE IT!!
So us happy campers piled on to the plane where Hez and I managed to irritate all around us by quoting GI Joe cartoons (if you've seen them, you know they're funny. If you don't think they're funny it means you're adopted). We would have done it all the way to Bangkok but we decided to take some sleeping pills for fun while we were waiting in Taipei. Just wanted to see how long we could stay awake for.
Finally we were in Bangkok. So we found a place for the night and crashed.
A long day, and it really didn't feel like Christmas.
Needless to say I needed a couple more drinks after that. Then a couple more. Then bed.
Woke up at 11.30, which was 2 hours after my bus had left. Oh bum oh bum oh bum oh bum! I quickly phoned Hez, who was worried sick and had already arrived in Seoul. We had a quick watch check and realised that I might not make it. I packed in 2 minutes and was on the 11.40 bus to Seoul, praying the bus driver would drive like a lunatic, which he did.
He loved driving, this guy. Don't get me wrong, the bus was flying at quite a rate. It just went everywhere. He was driving for the sheer joy of it. It took 4 hours on an empty road to get there. I think he just wanted us to appreciate the mountains.
So to the bus terminal in Seoul. Quick update: Hez, Graham and Yeon Nam were at the airport and I had an hour and half to get on the plane. Plus the only traffic jam in Korea had decided to take place at the bus terminal. Step forward the greatest taxi driver on Earth. Now he drove fast. And no detours to see the pretty bloody mountains. Got me to the airport in 35 minutes, which could well be a record.
MADE IT!!
So us happy campers piled on to the plane where Hez and I managed to irritate all around us by quoting GI Joe cartoons (if you've seen them, you know they're funny. If you don't think they're funny it means you're adopted). We would have done it all the way to Bangkok but we decided to take some sleeping pills for fun while we were waiting in Taipei. Just wanted to see how long we could stay awake for.
Finally we were in Bangkok. So we found a place for the night and crashed.
A long day, and it really didn't feel like Christmas.
# posted by Stuart Reid @ 11:52 PM 
