And a New Adventure Begins!!

Hey there everyone,

I know this hasn't been updated in a while, but to be honest, my life in Korea is kind of boring, and not worth updating about with very few exceptions.  Unfortunately, none of those exceptions have occurred in the last few months.  Luckily though, that's over, and I'm off again.  I'm taking a nice long vacation to Southeast Asia and won't be back on the grid for 3 months.  I'll try to update this as often as I can.  Just stay patient and you'll hear from me soon enough. 

I'm also including a copy of my (very basic) itinerary.  It isn't set in stone by any degree, but just a basic overview.  Take a look and comment if you like. 

I'm currently in Saigon, Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, but I refuse to call it that unless the locals start doing it as well.).

Anyway, right into it!

I left from Seoul yesterday morning. Mother nature tried to step in to stop me in the form of Typhoon Kompasu. It wasn't anything major, but the wind and rain were enough to threaten a delay, or even cancellation, of my flight. Since I was connecting, that meant even a small delay would have made me miss my flight to Saigon. If mother nature wasn't bad enough, another force of nature tried to stop me too; the Korean Immigration Department. Lets review how it all went down.

First, my bus gets in an hour late because of a combination of rain, traffic, and construction projects. Then I find out that I have to wait, indefinitely, for check in to start since they don't even know if there's going to be a flight. Once I check in they tell me I can't check in yet, i have to go to immigration first. I go to immigration, they tell me to wait even though my flight begins boarding in approximately 20 minutes (don't you just love government bureaucracies!). Here's the conversation.

Them: "You have to pay for a visa to leave the country"

Me: "Why?"

Them: "Because you don't have your Alien Registration Card"

Me: "But I'm coming back in January and I'll need it then"

Them: "Then you'd have to get another one"

Me: "But then I would have to pay for that"

Them: "Yes"

Me: "So no matter what I have to pay?"

Them: "Yes"

Me: "And there's nothing I can do?"

Them: "No"

...

...

...

Me: "How much?"




I believe this is what's called - getting screwed with your pants on

Luckily the drama ended at that point and I ran to my gate. I made it on time, but just barely.

That was my first day's drama, I hope you all have had a good laugh at my expense.

The next update will be coming soon. Talk to you later.