Tubby-tustard

Silla burial mounds and no sign of Lala. 

Cotton wool

The beauty of Gyongju -land of the telly tubbies 

An intimidating figure

Some Korean men are extremely tall. 

My wifey now Dave

On the left you can see a picture from a traditional Korean Nobleman's house. The unusual item in the centre is a bamboo wife. Yep 'wife'... Men would sleep holding them fondly. They keep the sleeper cool allowing air to circulate. They really were thought of as part of the family and could not be shared with other people. When the owner died the inanimate wife would be buried with them. 

Woohoooo!

We are settled back in Japan!!!!!!
It has been stupidly long but the whole visa saga is now over. We have official permission from Japanese Immigration to work in Japan for up to three years.
Now, here as promised are some photo's.

The end may be in sight...

We have finally received our certificates!!!!!!! We are heading to the Embassy in Seoul tomorrow morning.......
If everything goes well then we will be back in Japan on Wednesday.
Fingers crossed!

Things could be worse....

Sitting in the hostel on the PC next to me was an Irish girl who had been quite excited about a job she had found in Korea. She was crying because she had just visited Korean immigration to get her Visa extended. They told her that she had overstayed by six weeks already (she had read the wrong line on her visa). There is a fine of up to 50 quid a day, deportation and a ban on re-entry. I suddenly felt like our problems were nothing in comparison.
Anyway to lighten the mood.... on the right you can see a Korean delicacy- silkworm pupae. I can't describe the taste but it is almost as bad as it smells. It is famed for its nutritional values... definitely not for taste reasons.

Still in the land of Kimchi - Thanks for all your support!

Thanks to everyone who has been in touch.
Wow... what a time to be in South Korea... Nuclear tests, North Korean incursions, shots fired... As you can tell we are still here. Japanese immigration are still looking into our documentation supposedly. As neither of us has done anything remotely dodgy (apart from growing my beard) we know they are just being complete a**e-ho*es.
We cannot deny that we have had some great times in Korea but the lack of control and the open-ended situation has left us feeling exhausted and looking forward to a bit of normality.
In the meantime we have plenty of time on our hands so I will be doing some monster posts...