Stuck in Korea

Korea once more. I have returned. It's cold.

Anyhow, New Year's Eve. I got up nice and early with every intention of going diving. But they weren't going to dive till the afternoon, so I had a morning to kill. Off to Happy Daze. Silly, because there wasn't a chance of me diving after that. I met some Americans who'd just popped in for a quick smoke and stupidly recommended the 'shrooms to them. They all seemed in a party mood and duly ordered a plate each. Having consumed them I told them they were about to have the time of their lives and that they shouldn't plan on doing anything constructive for a while. At this point, the worry began. One of them was getting married at 3pm and he now had 4 hours to ride out the biggest shroom trip in history. He didn't have time. I realised while they panicked and started to make contingency plans ("What if the best man starts jumping up and down telling everyone he's a cat?") that it was time to make an exit before I was held responsible for ruining a romantic wedding on a Thai beach.

Off to see the sickly one, who was in a foul mood because she couldn't complete her diving course. So I went down to the beach with her, had a few coconut and rum shakes and had a dip in the sea. Then back to the dive shop to meet Ben, Jo, Graham and Yeon Nam for a New Year's Eve dinner and drinks. Alas Graham and Yeon Nam had two more questions from their diving exam to answer. It would only take 5 minutes. So Ben, Jo, Hez and I waited til they were finished.

We had dinner while we waited.

And a drink.

Then we had another dinner.

Then another drink.

At this point Hez had had enough (as had I) and said she wanted to go see a movie back in our village, which was more fun than seeing Yeon Nam and Graham doing whatever it was they were doing over in the corner. So we all parted ways and arranged to meet up on the beach. Unfortunately there were no films showing, so we went back to the chalet, ate some mushies, had a beer, then set off for the beach, slightly put out that New Year was looming and we weren't yet in a party mood.

The fireworks were mesmerising, but once they were over all you could see was very drunk people being carried around by their friends. Not a pleasant atmosphere. So off to the chalet I moseyed, to find a fiercely packing Hez who abruptly decided to go on a mission.

"Stuart, go to the shop, get a bottle of whisky, some mixer and then come back here and roll a joint." With that statement, Hez confirmed her status as the greatest woman who ever lived.

And we consumed everything. It was messy, and the facts are still not fully forthcoming. I know I was talking to myself at 4am, and that Hez had fallen out of the hammock. Twice.

Next thing I knew it was 9am and we had to get to the ferry port asap. Unfortunately we were both still trashed and doing anything was proving to be difficult. Yet we made it in time to be told that there was no time for us to have the delicious breakfast that everyone else had just polished off. We only had time to wait for Graham to go to the travel agents for a few minutes, then wait for a boat for half an hour.

And what a boat journey. Choppy waters indeed. Apparently on the lower deck the windows caved in and everyone's sick bags got sent flying. I was on top, so I only heard this. Although the seasick spectacular show upstairs was pretty dramatic.

From this point on, it was a pretty uneventful trip. Mind you, that's because a quick luggage check on the boat revealed that I still had an awful lot of stuff that I couldn't leave Thailand with. So I ate it. So while I was drifting groggily and grumpily through what ought to have been a hangover, Graham and Yeon Nam quietly looked out the window, while Hez's drunkenness gave way to a foul mood. Although she cheered up a bit when we found prawn crackers and curry paste at Surat Thani airport.


Prawn crackers bring joy

Considering the state of us, I think that managing to smile at all was an impressive achievement.

Then fly back to Incheon, bus to Sokcho et voila. Stuck in Korea again.

All I want to do is say a big thanks to Graham and Yeon Nam, especially for helping sort out the boat tickets on New Year's Day. Also a massive thanks to Ben and Jo for finding us a place to stay and showing us the island, in spite of the fact that Ben was dying of dengue. They're legends and I love them to bits. And also to Queen Hez, my number one party angel and general all round uber-babe. She made me laugh all week and helped to make this one of the best holidays of my life. We had a good conversation.

BODY MASSAGE!