Neal: What a strange place Korea is! The fishy smells, noribangs on each corner and dogs wearing jeans make this an alien world but one in which we had an amazing holiday. We had 10 days of 'full on' sight seeing and overall fun. With the usual touristy trips to palaces, folk museums, Olympic parks and towers out of the way, (Which were all a lot of fun I might add) the last 3 days were set up to be the highlight of the trip.

On Friday we dragged ourselves out of bed with sore heads and gingerly made our way by tube and bus to the Everland theme park. With none of us up for the high speed rollcoasters at such an early hour ( around 2pm ) we headed to the safari zone. There we started off with the relatively tame rapids which were jazzed up by a 3, and then 5 piece dance routine by the stewards who were as camp as a row of tents. They were very funny. Then on to the safari where I couldn't contain my excitement at the chance of meeting some of my favourite animals, giraffes. They could only be seen from a distance but the sight of a 4 meter tall brown bear at full stretch in front of us made up for the lack of giraffe action. After a lunch of pizza & a German beer, in a very weird European zone, it was finally time to hit rollercoasters. Lyndsey was very brave going on the log flume but would probably have abstained if she'd seen the hidden drops that waited. They made Alton towers log flume look like a slide in a park. The Eagles Fortress was next, a hanging cart which contained no loops but was faster than any coaster that I had been on. The other roller coaster, with 4 loops gave amazing views from the highest point of Everland. A long journey home but a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Saturday we had to rise early for a coach trip to the Demilitarized Zone and the Joint Security Area near the North Korean border. The morning was spent going down a 300 metre shaft to a tunnel 73 metres down. This had been dug by the North Koreans as part of a plan to invade the south and had been the 3rd tunnel discovered by the South in the 70's. We walked along it heads bowed, till we were just metres away from the border with the North. Later we were taken to an observatory where the sight of the South's giant flag on a 100 meter high flag pole was only bettered by the North having a larger flag on a 160 meter pole, towering over a propaganda village. The village had never been lived in and looked like a Spanish apartment complex. It certainly didn't make me want to do a runner over the border! In the afternoon the intensity increased as we were escorted from a debriefing room by Korean and American soldiers to the Joint Security Area.

This is a place where the North and South could meet and thrash out their differences. Guards from both sides stared each other out as we led from the bus in 2 military style lines, hands by our sides, to a building which sat directly on the border. Here we could cross to the North, but Rakhi, in her eagerness felt the wrath of the guard as she tried to cross in front of him.

Back on the Bus we went back to Seoul for a night in the University area of Hongdik. Lyndsey met some shaggy looking Korean cats for the first time, who had full run of a bedroom styled bar. Sunday was our last day and started off a with walk round the Blossom festival which we found a little disappointing. The free beer tent could not be found and on the main stage were a trio of Mexican piccolo players, playing over a backing track. I did get to meet one of my heroes though, Mr Sponge Bob Square Pants, see picture.

Later we went to the World Cup Stadium to watch FC Seoul play rivals Suwon. After the week before's 4-1 win and it being a lovely sunny day, there was a K-league record crowd of over 55,000 people. A 1-0 defeat for Seoul could not dampen the party atmosphere inside the Stadium.

So yes, both me and Lyndsey has a great time, and we'd both like to say a big thank you to Joel and Rakhi, for letting us stay at their apartment, and being such good hosts and guides. Finally I have to say that Noribangs are great fun. Even if it had to take Nirvana's Lithium to get me up. I needed a song that would hide my dreadful singing voice and this song was perfect.