Author: sikander

Lunato’s brother’s family invited me to accompany them on a short trip to Pyeongchang and Farm Herbnara. They have a 2005 Hyundai Santa-Fe and it can easily seat 6 people. Hello first excursion outside of Seoul.

It took almost three hours to reach PyeongChang and we were pretty tired by that time. We stopped for some food at a traditional Korean restaurant (yumm!) and then spent about an hour in the city. PyeongChange is located at exactly 700 meters above sea level, an ideal altitude for winter sports. The city’s nick name is “Happy 700” and because of its ideal location, the city is bidding for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games. Go Happy 700!!

Farm Herbnara is a famous herb farm located close to PyeongChang. A river runs through the farm area as well and lots of people were out and about; swimming, relaxing, hiking, cooking, etc. We spent a few hours at the farm relaxing in the excellent weather. It was quite peaceful. Sunyul and Kihun swam a lot and tried to get me to join them but I don’t know how to swim so I had to decline. I must learn!

PyeongChang is also the hometown of the famous Korean novelist Lee Hyo-Seok who used the city as a background for his masterpiece “When the Buckwheat flower blossom”. The Lee Hyo-Seok Memorial was on the way back to Anyang so we stopped there as well and took some pictures of the water mill house.

We had dinner at another restaurant and then took a smaller highway, instead of the main highway which was jam packed, all the way back to Anyang. It took almost 4 hours and it was pretty late at night by the time lunato’s brother dropped us at lunato’s parent’s house.

THe northern part of South Korea is quite beautiful. I would love to visit again. Oh and here is Sunyul playing with his baseball bat: MOV01904.MPG.

Having landed safely in Seoul on the 2nd of August I spent the next day attempting to stay awake as long as possible so as to shift my internal cycle to 13 hours ahead in time. It’s not easy and the summer heat wasn’t helping either. But after a day I was ok and back on track.

I spent a lot of time with Kihun and Sunyul, lunato’s nephews, during the mornings while lunato was at work. I took a picture of her running off to catch her bus to go to work in the morning. Talking to a foreigner continuously in English is a daunting challenge to anyone who is not fluent in the language. However, Kihun and Sunyul faced this challenge quite enthusiastically and I could tell their english was somewhat improving.. or maybe it was just the shyness and fear of speaking awkwardly that was dissipating day by day. In any case, I was really glad to have them around.

Here are some pictures of Anyang, Seoul’s suburb, and of Kihun and Sunyul as well.

“You’re in the wrong line Sir! You have to go to the Air Canada booth to check-in.”

“But my ticket is from United Airlines. Its a roundtrip to Seoul”

“Yes, I am aware of that but your flight to San Francisco is actually operated by Air Canada. Just go down that hall and turn left at the corner and you’ll find the Air Canada booths.”

Alarm bells rang in my head. I had wasted 10 minutes standing in line for the United Airlines booth. It is now 8:25 AM and my flight is supposed to depart at 8:50 AM. I hate being late to airports. Oh no.. what if I miss my flight ? What will happen ? Do I loose the ticket ? Should I call lunato ? Do I get a refund ? What about our plan ? No no no…

All sorts of disaster scenarios went through my mind as I hurried towards the Air Canada booths only to find the line at least 20 people long. Great! Oh hold on, I only have a hand carry and my laptop bag. Maybe I can use the Automated Check-in machines.

8:30 and I’m standing in front of the AC and furiously punching in every reference number I could find on my Itinerary. None of them work. I tried searching by last name, first name, credit card used during purchase, date of purchase… nothing works. I asked a fellow traveller which reference number I am supposed to punch in. He replied that he would love to help but he is also running late so good luck! Thanks! I stop an Air Canada official but she tells me to get in line.

8:35 and I am in line with 14 people in front of me. 8:40 and amazingly enough I am now at the front of the line. The first booth opens up and the lady asks me to step forward. I sprint forward and tell her that my flight is supposed to leave in a few minutes and I misunderstood my itinerary and was sent here from the United Airlines booth.. what should I do? She asks for my boarding pass and I tell her that the Automated Check-in refused all my attempts. She sighs loudly and then asks for my passport and itinerary.

“Oh! This flight is closed Sir. You’ll have to go the Customer Service Centre to get re-ticketed.”

Oh, My, God! “What does that mean ?”

“Just step over to Customer Service and they will issue you a new ticket. Don’t worry, a few other people had the same problem,”

“Oh, so I’m not the only one ? Ok, that’s sort of comforting to hear. But about this ticket.. will it be for today ?”

“Sir, please just go there and they will take care of you and answer all your questions.”

8:50 and I’m now walking towards the Customer Service Centre, somewhat relieved that I am not the only one who couldn’t make it to United 8151.

The staff at Air Canada’s CS Centre were very nice and they issued me a new ticket without any hassle. They also gave me a complimentary $200 discount coupon for any Air Canada flight for all the “trouble” I had to go through because of the overbooking of their flight to San Francicso. Furthermore, this ticket will take me from Toronto to Vancouver and then from Vancouver to Seoul and arrive 40 minutes earlier than the SF to Seoul one. Not bad at all.

I had my boarding pass in my hand and all that remained now was to go through security and board the plane. I called skid before leaving Toronto and left a message saying that I will be transiting through Vancouver for the 2nd time but like before, I, unfortunately, wouldn’t have enough time to go out and meet him. Someday, hopefully soon, I will visit Vancouver and stay there for a few days.

The flight from Toronto to Vancouver was quite impressive. I was flying Executive Class, which is another name for First Class, and had a lot of leg room. I stretched my legs completely and still didn’t touch the seat in front of me. During the meal the plates were actual plates, not plastic plates. The glass was a glass, not a plastic replica. The fork and spoon were stainless steel. I didn’t notice any of these differences until I had almost finished the meal. Flying Executive Class is pretty nice. There was no movie though so I spent the time reading the 2nd Takeshi Kovacs novel by Richard Morgan: Broken Angels.

I only had 30 minutes in Vancouver so I spent that time buying Estée Lauder cosmetics from the Duty Free Shops for lunato, her sisters, and her sister-in-law. The plane took off again, I took a lot of pictures of Vancouver and I think I saw my brother’s apartment as well. This leg of the journey will be 13 hours long.