Yuyuan Gardens No open fields and neatly cropped stately avenues here... Yuyuan gardens is wedged into the city and contains many traditional buildings wedged between water features, walls and dragons. Each rooftop had its own set of statue sculptures - you needed to look up as well as down! The gardens are a mix of greenery and wood. Despite being in the middle of Shanghai, the area is mostly quiet - the modest entry fee again seems to disuade many from entering. Each building,whether hall, tower or temple, was set out differently - I loved the wooden furniture and dragon... We were not allowed in any apart from the Tea House, where tea was offered and served in traditional style - and very similar to that of Korea. ... and I learned why Black tea should be served with boiling water whereas Green tea should not. Its all a question of fermentation. Although the tea was free - and welcome - I ended up buying some tea cups. Finally I can drink my O'sulloc green tea (poor excuse I know) | I wanted to try and link the photos to the buildings and area of the park, but frankly its impossible with this map! I had the pleasure of discovering Shanghai with Claudia. I thought that I'd group the photos of us here :-) |
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The BundThe Bars Proudly powered by Weebly This is the test centre on Jeju island. Click on the image. Look closer. Can you see the bike test road? Here's the clue. Its not the bits that look like a kiddies playmat with road symbols on it... In fact, the practical test isn't inherently complicated. Certainly not for someone who has been riding bikes for over 25 years. So why make a great deal of it?
Or how to make life really complicated.
I haven't yet been on the Jeju rock for 3 months. Nearly, but not quite. But I had hoped that my relocation would have been refunded by now. After all its a lot of money that would certainly pay for a flight back to Europe for Christmas. For two months the company have waited with the official line "we are waiting for all claims to come in before processing them". So the prime time to book cheap tickets vanished. At the beginning of this week a 1-stop flight to Paris cost a touch over $1000. 5 days later, tickets costs from $1250 (with some sites quoting double that). An 18 hour flight also became a 40 hour one with 20 hour stopovers in airports. I really really had to do something. Urgently. Back track 3 days. I found a site (cheapflightnow) that had a ticket for the lower end of the scale. I duly paid off my Korean credit card (leaving me a whopping $30 to finish the month) so as to book the flight. And to give me a month extra before actually having to pay the bill (hoping that relocation fees are finally paid). Bingo. I got an email confirming my reservation . 3 days later, no confirmation of actual flight details. I phoned them up. 25 minutes of on-hold music later, it turns out that, to confirm these tickets I have to a) take a photocopy of my passport, b) taking a photocopy of my credit card front and back, and c) sending the lot off to them with another form (erm... so why go through an online booking form then?). Felt extremely dodgy to me, so I refused. And ask them to cancel my booking. That'll be $125 cancellation fee then sir (said the non-American Indian voice on the other end of the line). So after a few choice phrases along the lines of they either decide to issue me with a ticket or cancel without charge, I was left without a ticket. Nor reservation. Hopefully I still have $125 in my account (I'll check with the bank on Monday). A nice cup of tea. Breathe. Slowly. Calm. Yet another hour searching various websites to find a ticket at a fairly reasonable price ensued. Expedia promised me a $1000 tickets until I came to pay - then asked for $2900! Lastminute seemed hopeful though... until it came to actually paying. Normally that should be the simple bit, but as the price had gone up I could no longer put it on my Korean card (and get airmiles). Nor could I use my normal Korean card as I only have $30 sitting in there. So it would have to be european. The only logical card would be my french card which, being security conscious, sends an SMS to my french mobile number to confirm payment. The phone doesn't work abroad (for 2 quid a month, what do you expect). 10 Euros could fix that if I paid by card which, being security conscious, sends an SMS to my french mobile number which doesn't work abroad... I couldn't pay by Korean card as a dialogue box in Korean pops up that probably tells me I have to install something on the computer. Or it may tell me to Get Lost, White Devil. But (and fortunately) when I hit upon this self same problem in Thailand, I also tried my UK card. One of the security questions /that/ throws up is a postcode. In Thailand it expected a UK postcode and not a french one so /that/ didn't work either. I solved that problem by physically going to the airport and handing the card over. Back from my holidays, I have since changed my address to a UK one: so I paid my 10 Euros by UK credit card which unlocked my french sim in my Korean phone. Which meant that I could use my French Card that had a suitable limit and (from today) a repayment date in mid december So now, after all of that, I have a flight back home to see family and friends. That deserves a big smiley :-D "Increases in the number of older and female drivers" And so it begins. I spent most of today at the driving test centre. What I wanted to do was register. In fact I managed more than that.
It was a hard call actually moving today, but bump start the bike I did (it has an electrical problem which means the electric boot doesn't work). I whizzed in (as much as a 125 4-stroke single can whizz) to the test centre, jumped all the queues (I've lived in France for too long) and went to the desk marked "Foreigners Only". Filled out two forms (asking the lady to write in my address for me as its all in Hangeul and written too small for me to attempt to copy first thing (11am) in the morning Job done, took a ticket this time asked about the next step. Health check This involves paying 4000 Won ($4) and standing at one end of the room trying to focus on small lines that made up letters or, as the lady said, "thats a number!". Oh, that'll be an 8 then. And thats a symbol I don't recognise. My eyes have been out of focus all day, but she stamped the form anyways and back to the main desk with another ticket... Next step : The theory lesson. But that was at 2pm. As it was barely midday, I bumpstarted the bike and rode the final 20km into Jeju city to do a bit of Essential Shopping. (cereals for the morning, wine for the evening). An excellent coffee that failed to wake me up and a toastie that held Mr Hunger at bay and back I was at the test centre again. The video is a joke: The first 10 minutes was how they deduct points if you don't know how to indicate or switch on the lights. The next 15 minutes or so was about someone who recently passed the test with 100% but kept on panicing on the roads, followed by a tv show. There were 2 or 3 points that I picked up about driving in Korea but the final 20 minutes was really how much more zen and polite it is to drive in Japan Still, an hour later, I got my form stamped as having done the theory, got another ticket to go to the main desk, paid another 4000 won for the theory test to be held in... 10 minutes. Not much time to revise or read the (admittedly pretty useless) Driver Handbook then 40 questions all in pigeon english. Much of it is common sense really but some stuff is specifically korea related. 40 questions done in half the time. I started to go back over them and then thought, sod that, I'll hit END anyway.... and my score was 86/100, which meant I had passed. Woohoo. Down I traipsed to get yet another ticket to go to the main desk. And another 6000 Won later, I have booked my actual riding test. That is not until 2 weeks and I don't know if I can actually do that. I'll need to negotiate with school. Otherwise I will have to wait until another holiday (there is only one time slot for bike practical test : Tuesday 14h30... and thats it). So if I pass the practical test, I will have a Korean motorcycle licence for $14 - or the price of a cheap (but drinkable) bottle of wine here... So back I rode, still blurry eyed but a happy bunny with most of his driving test done and his bike working AND ... it gets better... ... 4 episodes of Breaking Bad magically appeared on my computer to finish off the evening. Note Getting a Licence in Korea is pretty straight forward. This theory part is the same for bikes as it is for cars. For the practical part of the car license though, you are expected to have practical lessons before taking the test. Not so for the bike... It was always going to happen, the question was "When?".
OK, so I have a fleet of motorcycles, some of which even work. Looking at regulations I quickly decided that importing one of them, no matter how small, would just cost too much. Korean customs will impose tax, based on the purchase price of the vehicle. The fact that it (or they) are decidedly second hand doesn't matter. (A colleague of mine bought a Kayak, paying Korean tax, took it out of the country and then had to pay /more/ tax importing it back in...). The fact that non of my bikes are of Korean origin would have meant that the tax would be Lots. I am also living in an area that, if you did a googlemaps search, would show forest everywhere. To say that its isolated would be an understatement. It was therefore essential to have some means of getting from the middle of nowhere to the middle of somewhere. Or even the outskirts of nowhere. 2 minutes of Extensive Research Into Korean Bikes limited the choice to Daelim or Hyosung, the two Korean manufacturers of scooters. Thats not strictly true. Hyosung do do trailies and road sports bike up to 650cc. For the island a 250 would be ideal seeing as the speed limit is a whopping 80km/h. Even my MZ could manage that! A 250 however is not possible until I pass my motorcycle test (Koreans will not exchange motorcycle licences). So for my first saturday off, I hopped onto the bus, complete with bus driver falling asleep at the wheel, to go to the local bike stores. Unlike european setups, shops on Jeju tend to be more of a back street affair, but scattered on the main streets. Bike shops were no exception. I had planned on visiting two, to discuss prices and see what was there. Joining me was San Jung, my lab technician. He offered to come along and having someone who could speak Korean might be of help. First stop was Mr Lee's who appears in all of the press for renting bikes to foreigners and has good reviews. In the back of his shop was a Hyosung GT 250 R and he was happy for me to take it for a spin. No paper signing, no driving license or ID showing... just gave me a lid and let me go! How stress free is that? I took it up the road, handled nicely enough but stopped short of actually stopping. I rode back to the shop and found that oil/grease was all over one of the front disks. Erm... OK, but I wont be paying 3 million for that just yet. And no, I am not going to take it out on a further (extended) ride. Also in the shop were two Hyosung 125 trailies. One blue and one orange. The orange one was in better nick overall (plus it was orange) so Mr Lee gave me the keys and I had a go on that. It stopped, it started. It worked. and I could have it for 1.1 million, which was quite pricey (they are 2.5 million new, and this was 4 years old). To avoid doing anything rash, we went to another store which was closed (the owner inconveniently going to the airport and not answering his phone). San Jung did the yellow pages thing and off we trundled to the third shop. Nothing but scooters and a horrible Hyosung custom for 2 million. I so tried not to buy a bike today. Somehow I ended back at Mr Lee's. We negotiated an oil change (done on the spot) a new crash hat and a bike lock. Pillion pegs are on order (for no extra charge). And the deed was done. To celebrate, and to thank San Jung, we ate at a vietnamese/korean meal (delicious) just round the corner. Jeju city is 35 km from digs. I was in jeans and T-shirt - and apart from the lid, had no protective clothing. The bike didn't even have a number plate as to get one you have to have insurance. Which I didn't. So my first ride on Orange was done in complete illegality. Next on the agenda ... sort out paperwork, including a bike licence (but at least I can get to the test centre now!) JdR (Back on Two Wheels) Welcome to Jeju... and surrounding countries!
After 14 years in France, I quit my job and my life and moved to South Korea. I've never been to Asia before. This is obviously a huge move, and in some kind of effort to show what I'm getting up to, I've set up these pages. Or a blog. Or something. Or the pages just might remain static like my other site(s) as life gets in the way! Hopefully after three years, these pages will be filled with crap photos and loads of text with spelling mistakes, I'm doing well. I have now been here for a month and I have finally found a Round Tuit to do something here. Anyway, lets find out how I get on, shall we. .. |
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