The end

The GSE program has come to an end. This morning we put Lone on a plane home and the rest of us are now travelling around for a week before flying out from Pusan next Friday. Lotte and Kim are now in Jeju, Mette is in Japan and I am in Pohang. It has been a fantastic four weeks and I will miss the fun we have had in our group and the wonderful, caring, funloving Koreans we have met on our way, many of which I wish we could have spend more time with. / Elisabeth

Rotary District Conference 2011

The last two days we have been attending the Gyeongsangnamdo district conference. Saturday we were invited to a big western style dinner - we had 5 courses in 45 minutes at Samsung Hotel in Geoje. Today - Sunday - the big conference started at 9.00 o'clock. 2000 Rotarians were assembled in a sportsarena. Lots of pomp and circumstance inside with speeches and awards.

We, the GSE team, had 20 minutes to present some sort of entertainment so we showed our hosts a slideshow with our experiences and impressions these three weeks we have visited Korea - we think they were intertained.

The conference ended with almost two hours of entertainment - a Korean stand up'er and some of the most famous Korean popsingers. A very good show and it is always a lot of fun to see our very formal hosts sing and dance.

Tomorrow we are going to the famous Jigalchi fish market in Busan - we'll probably have lots of live octopus, sea-squirts and sea-sausage.

Photo compilation from the last few days...



Cherryblossoms in Tongyoung.



Cruising in the bay, Tongyoung.



View from the top of Mt. Namang.



Kimbab lunch with squid and kimchi.



Rotary club meeting on Monday.



Chungreol temple.



Kim having a fancy cuppa.



Midterm break in Seoul

About to board the KTX bound for Seoul. We travelled with as much as 302 km per hour!



Elisabeth with South Korean soldier in Panmunjeon.



Bridge of no return.

Half of our GSE program has now gone, and it has gone quickly. Time flies when you're having fun, eh.
Last night we returned to Jinju after a great weekend in Seoul, which we all thoroughly enjoyed. For Saturday we had previously booked a tour with the American army to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Bill Clinton was not far off when he claimed it was the scarriest place of Earth! It was extremely interesting to see, and we were taken to a number of places in the area, ie the Joint Security Area (JSA), the place where talks between the parties are sometimes held, in buildings split between the North and the South and soldiers from both sides eyeing each other, more than ready for combat in their Martial Art positions. We also saw the Bridge of no Return and one of the four (discovered so far) tunnels dug by the North - a slightly claustrofobic experience to walk in! At one of the observatories we had a peek into North Korea and as our last stop we visited the shiny new and very flash Dorasan trainstation meant to connect the two sides but due to circumstances were not in use, apart from very few passengers with special permit.
Sunday was spend individually visiting the War Memorial, Folk Museum, market, Seoul Tower and other things before we boarded the express bus back to Jinju. / Elisabeth

Seoul by night.