To be honest I was a little bit nervous about the prospect of wakeboarding in Korea. You can see the fear all over my face:

I tried wakeboarding in Australia once before and couldn’t even stand up. What are the chances that I can do it with the instructors shouting at me in Korean? Quite good it turns out. Check out this photo of me kicking ass. The gigantic, billowing waves give you a sense of the tremendous speed I was hurtling along at:

The girls decided that the Flying Fish was more their style. They got some good air but I don’t have any photos of that because they were flying too fast.

We celebrated our collective accomplishments with a go on the Hot Dog:

And finished up with some chicken by the river at sunset:

I tried to catch a fish for us to eat but apparently they could swim around where I was standing:

The Korean Folk Village, not to be confused with the Namsan Folk Village which I blogged about before, has been one of my favourite attractions in Korea. It has alot of nice mud and wooden houses. At times it felt a lot like Bangladesh only without the cricket.

This is Hyekyung’s mum. Her dad waited in the car park. Her dad is a champion who cooks instant noodles in his car with a portable gas stove.

At the Korean Folk Village they realise that playing with torture devices is a lot more fun than reading about them:

Hyekyung launched this poor ajuma (middle-aged Korean woman) into orbit:

We stopped at an awesome restaurant on the way to the village. Korea must be on the forefront of dish washing technology given the amount of crockery they go through every meal:

We also stopped at a factory outlet. I think I would enjoy a career in the fashion industry. It’s fun to ponce about in outrageous attire. This jacket made me feel like I was running a sweatshop:

A group of us went to the beach town Gyeongpodae for the weekend. It is either a 2 hour or a 6 hour drive depending on when you embark. We experienced both.

The hotel we stayed in had a sweet rice cooker but no beds. Sleeping on concrete isn’t as bad as I expected. In case you are wondering, we did not sleep in a car park. Many Koreans choose to sleep on the floor.

Don really likes Australia. I was touched by the sweet outfits he was rocking:

Michaella used to play in a rock band.

Hyekyung is trained in classical piano.

It was an all-star cast:

Although it was night time when we finally got out of the hotel, there was still plenty of fun to be had at the beach:

Trying to tear this piece of seaweed out of the ground turned out to be the highlight of a joyous weekend.

We checked out a nearby North Korean submarine infiltration site. It was fun learning about how the infiltrators were caught, what they were wearing, what guns they were carrying etc.

Michael is strong because he finished his military service recently. All Korean men have to do 2 years of military service. Every one of them will have to fight if North Korea unleashes a shittacane.

Hyejin was one of the few people I could speak English with in Seoul and I was disappointed to see her go. I felt a little protective of her heading to Sydney for the first time. I’ve never thought Sydney was particularly dangerous, but Seoul is a different world. If you pass out drunk on the street here, people are more likely to put your briefcase under your head than steal it. There are no places or times that are unsafe in Seoul.

Farewell dinner at my house:

Farewell dinner at a restaurant:

Hyejin somehow managed to fly an entire carload of luggage to Australia.

Misun would make an excellent flight attendant.

I tried to sneak into the secure area but couldn’t fit much more than my head into Hyejin’s carry-on.

This is Hyekyung playing Raiden at Gangnam Station. Koreans still play Raiden and I think that is awesome.

Seoul has heaps of awesome theme parks. Seoul Land is one of the crapper ones but I will go anywhere I have a free ticket to.

Hyekyung cried on the roller-coaster and concluded that she is too old for scary rides, but this mechanical zonkey put the smile back on her dial:

The theme park had plenty of familiar rides such as the pirate ship:

But there were enough crazy things going on to remind me I was no longer in Australia. Check out this guy cruising around in the trees:

Scenes from the Banpo Han River screening of the World Cup 2010 Korea v Greece game:

Hyekyung and I went on a day trip to Danyang. It is a county 2.5 hours from Seoul that has an array of rugged mountains, rivers, caves and waterfalls.

Our organised tour had 4 people our age and about 50 geriatrics. Almost all the ladies wore pink jackets:

Squid is the most popular the snack in Korea. It is more popular than popcorn at the cinema. Every time the our stopped, everyone stocked up on freshly grilled squid. The bus smelt awful.

It was really great escaping the big smoke and getting back to nature:

All couples in Korea wear couple rings, and so my Korean transmogrification continues:

My neighbourhood has media poles. They are 12 metres tall with giant touch screens which you can use to search maps, read news and even take photos of yourself:

[SOURCE: http://www.koreainsider.com/things-to-do/gangnam-station-media-poles/]