Seollal in Korea (February 1st 2017)

We arrived at Inchon International Airport early on the morning of January 10th. After about an hour and a half in the immigration line we headed outside. We were away from the wind and rain but the cold Korean air certainly had a bite. We took the airport express bus back to Dongbaek where we layered on whatever we had and made the brisk 15 minute walk back to Ohma's place.

This year Lunar New Year fell on January 28th.
It had been 10 years since we had been in Korea for this day so it was important to be around this year with the family and take part in some of the old family traditions.

 

In Korea, Seollal is one of the most important holidays of the year and most people try to return home to spend this time with relatives and to honour their ancestors.

Families typically celebrate the holiday by gathering together and preparing large amounts of food. The most ceremonial ritual on this day is seh bae (a deep bow to the floor). Traditionally, families begin by doing seh bae to deceased ancestors and making food and drink offerings to their spirits.

In some families seh bae may just involve grown-ups and children bowing and paying respect to their elders, beginning with deep bows to the oldest living generation.

Children receive gifts of money and words of wisdom and everyone wishes each other blessings for the New Year. As for us,  this year of the Rooster was brought in by spending most of our time simply eating. I guess the same could be said about some holidays in Canada for many.

Altogether we spent three and a half weeks back in Korea. It was great to spend some more time with family and friends which included a visit to Iteawon where we were able to catch up with some old friends from the  Suwon University days.

During the last week we took a short jaunt to Jeju Island where we got a kick out of seeing snow on the palm trees. It was funny to see; however, not having proper winter clothes made for some chilly amusement. At this point we realized after having had about four months of near perfect travel weather we were in a slight weather slump.

After Jeju we travelled around Challanamdo, the most South Western part of the peninsula. Here we moved by bus and boat to places like Haenam and Mokpo. Our Korean Island hopping tour was highlighted with a nice stop down on the small island of Bigeumdo. 

Here we were able to get totally off the beaten path and visit a rural area of Korea where few foreigners ever go. 

It gave us a chance to see some extended family and help out a little on the spinach farm. 

Although, it may have been still cold,  the few days here left me feeling like I had experienced Korea in a special way I never had during my many years of living there.

Anyway that was enough winter for us for this year. We left Korea again early on the morning of February 4th.

Flooding in Samui (January 21st 2017)

We enjoyed two very relaxing weeks of comfortable weather before things suddenly turned very windy and wet in Koh Samui.

After reconnecting with some old friends, spending Christmas day on Lamai Beach, scuba diving at Angthong Marine Park and bringing in the New Year with our long time favorite Filipino rock band Ovada we were hit with a major tropical storm.

Although, the first few days of rain didn't bother us too much. We weathered the storm in our little bungalow somewhat oblivious to the severity of what was happening around us. 

It wasn't until we tried to arrange for a taxi two days before our flight out of Koh Samui that we started to really pay attention to what was happening. At that point we were told the road to Chewang Beach  (the next town)  was washed away.  With little sign of this storm letting up we realized there would be no way to get to the airport. With sporatic power,  phone and internet service we were lucky to manage to change our flights and extend our stay by almost a week.

As it turned out, many flights were cancelled and roads were washed out for days. We really didn't mind staying longer in Koh Samui because it is somewhere we both love; however, it was distressing to see all the destruction around us. Even on the day we left we were shocked to see the flood damage that was still around.

These January floods were felt all over Southern Thailand and the Thai Government estimated that 43,000 businesses were affected while 19 highways were damaged and sections of the main north-south rail line buckled under the pressure of floodwater.

While foreign tourists like us may have been slightly inconvenienced, the real damage was felt by the locals, some of the kindest people in the world, by the effect it had on their homes, roads and businesses.

While much of the world's news media was obsessed with the upcoming inauguration of Donald Trump, I wonder how many people were aware the death toll from floods in Southern Thailand hit 36. Personally, I think that is "real" news...