Hangovers, not fond of them

Let me start with a photo, just to keep your interest

Here I am in Korea. The flight out of Saigon was at 1am and the airport was pretty crowded with people who seemed to just be hanging around there waiting for nothing in particular. Non-passengers can't even enter the airport so there was blissful calm once inside. The flight was uneventful, usual screaming child, the same movie that has been on my last three flights, crap food (ah, Singapore Air has spoiled me forever), no socks, good blankets though. I would recommend Vietnam Air for their fleecy blankets.

Got into Seoul on time, straight through immigration and onto the baggage reclaim. Didn't even fight my way through the crowds to get to the conveyer belt, having finally learnt that backpacks usually come out last. Spotted mine on its slow journey towards me and took a step forward, only to see some guy take it off the belt and put it with his luggage. Can't believe that it was being nicked again! Went over and picked it up and the guy thought that I was holding it up for him to put on and thanked me, sliding his arms between the straps. But I won in the end and off I went.

Spent some time trying to get some money out of various ATMs when I heard a voice behind me- James! Went off to his office so that he could have a proper laugh at my sunburn. Wow, the home of lost seouls- not that I am implying that James would ever work on the blog at work or anything, of course. After a while the suited fellas in the office seem to have had enough of this dirty stinky backpacker sitting in the room and started making 'time to go now' noises. And they were right. Off to the bus terminal and onto Gangneung.

I fell into the deepest sleep on the bus and woke up very confused indeed. I was in Korea, why wasn't I at work? Why wasn't I in Vietnam? Whose bag is this? What's going on? General confusion. Pulled myself together and started texting folk- couldn't believe that my phone hadn't been cut off in the two months I had been away. Arrived in Gangneung and came straight to Rory's. So weird to be seeing James and Rory after all this time and being in Gangneung and knowing that that night there was only one place I was going to be- BUMPIN!

When Rory came back from work we went to dinner with other friends and then onto the bar. Well, we actually started at the bar, made it as far as the restaurant around the corner and then came back and stayed until we could stand no longer.

Man, I was mullahed. Having been away for a couple of months, it seemed like everyone wanted to drink a shot with and many shots were drunk. I was supposed to be spending the night at Tania's but correctly sussed that there was no way I was going to be able to move my bag from Rory's. Fell asleep on his floor and so my first night back in Korea ended.

So sick the next day, so very very sick. Spent a good couple of hours whining about how sick I was and trying to get Rory to order me pizza. He managed some cheese on toast. I am pretty scared of anything that comes out of the What Not to Cook Fridge but it seemed safe enough. He went off to work and I went to my old school to surprise the kids.

And surprised they were! Bless them. I care for my students very much and have missed them and it seemed that they felt the same way. One kid tried to barricade me in the corner of the room with chairs so that I couldn't leave and they all nearly started crying. It was so good to see them. I have promised to go back on Monday to say goodbye again. Then I went onto another one of my old schools and it was the same again, only with actual tears this time. Another promise to go back on Monday.

Finally made it to the dak galbi restaurant last night. Heaven. I sat there peeling the quail eggs with a big grin on my face. Spilt the food down my front, of course, but it was great. Just as great as I remember it being. Back to Bumpin and James arrived.

General drinking shennigans ensued, guitar playing on the balcony at the bar, explaining to people a hundred times that I wasn't back to work, and, no, I hadn't gone all the way round the world yet.

Off to my old director's bar for some more beer, stopping at Absolut on the way for some table football action, and some advice about how to get the money that my other boss owes me.

Rory and James spent some time trying to get each other drunk so that they could get the perfect photo. I'd say that they were pretty even but then Rory had to go home as he has to work today.

The bar closed and we went out to find a restaurant.

A lot of them were open late because of the Dano festival, which is on this weekend and which I haven't made it to yet.

I woke up this morning at Steve and Stacy's house and had to rush back to Rory's to catch him before he went to work, locking all my stuff in his house. Now I am here, blogging away and doing some washing, waiting for a phone call from James to say that he is alive.

I did learn a lesson from my first night and didn't drink as much so don't feel quite so crappy today. Also learnt that it isn't worth trying to get Rory to order pizza for me. Now I am just tired, having fallen asleep at 7.30 and pegging it back here before noon. I am hungry but I am so scared of the fridge and the evil that it contains that I might just stay that way until I can get myself together and out of the house. Mr Lee, the Bumpin owner, just turned up and tried to take me to the festival but I think that I am going to put my head down for a while. After all, we have to do it all again tonight.

God help us!