2 more days and i'll be on my way home...



i left Beijing and went to another small Chinese city, Weihai that turned out looking pretty decent until some incidents happened. At the international passenger terminal, i was approached by a man asking if i'm carrying any liquor or ciggarettes to Korea when I stared at him blankly as I couldnt understand what he said at first. i then explained i was frm Malaysia and he still persisted on asking the questions which I declined in helping him to carry any of the mentioned items. he did, went off, telling his friends outside the terminal, about where am i from, and asked if i need a tour in Weihai. there's just no way i would go anywhere alone with these people.



i sat there and took out my book, reading it for the 3rd time this trip. he came around again to ask about Malaysia and somewhat to understand my command of Chinese. he concluded that i have a good understanding of the language and welcomes me to China and walked off... I guess that's good. I decided to change my seat so that I would not be so easily harassed by strangers, but before i did that, i headed to the ladies whereby I found two other ladies were following me to the washroom trying to initiate a conversation.



i ignored them and went about my business and return to a new feng shui seat. one of the lady that followed me to the washroom sat next to me, reading what i was reading. so, i just shared the book with her without showing any interest in chatting with her. after she gave up, i went to the counter to get a cup of coffee, which i was approached by that counter lady to carry items across the border. i declined but she tried convincing me the 'security' of the items. they would pay rm200 to help carry the things into S. Korea.



i, of course, declined, and the counter lady, brought her ally, which was the other lady tat followed me to the washroom earlier. both of them tried to convince me that the liquor, chillies and herbs that they want me to carry is legal. no thanks. right even before i boarded the ferry, another lady came over and asked if she could borrow my boarding pass to buy some restricted items, but i just pretended i dont understand what she was saying.

alas, i was so relieved to be in the ferry, in my own bunk, although shared with another 3 other chinese girls, but there were pretty harmless. a man came over and talked to the guy sleeping on the upper bunk and suddenly sat on MY bunk and said he has something to negotiate with me. i said no, i'm not carrying anything for anyone for whatever the price. that's final.

finally, i reached Incheon, and then Seoul and stayed in the Guesthouse before heading to Suwon to meet my students. It's a relief seeing familiar faces. They planned a trip heading towards Gyeongju and Busan to visit Korea's historical site, and it was 4 hours away. Busan, the southernmost part of Korea has a very famous beach, Haeundae which I find it rather scenic but, although seaside is my favorite place, being there during winter is something really foreign to me.

We came back to Suwon on Sunday, and went to Seoul to visit Changgyeonggung and Namdaemun. Also went to Changgyecheon and there were Christmas decorations all over the city. That reminded me of Christmas in Singapore last year.

It's my last night for this trip and tomorrow morning, i will be returning to Malaysia. I have a list of things to buy and pack home. ughh...

i'll be home soon!