frustrated... again.

The Korean embassy here in Cambodia really sucks. When you phone them, they will answer your questions. But when you actually go there, the answers that they gave you on the phone were not true. They will say it is easy to get the VISA and all you need it the VISA issuance number. But no. They actually want the official blue document from the Immigration Office in Korea. They will then say that it only takes a couple of days to process the VISA. But no. Then they say it will take more than a week. WHAT?
STRESS!!!
My school sent the document with FedEx. It was supposed to arrive at my hotel here in Phnom Penh on the 16th, and I would be here on the 19th to pick it up and go to the embassy. I arrived here and the hotel said the document didn't come. Several people there said it didn't come (it's a very small hotel with not many people... I think almost all from one family). I talked to my school, they contacted FedEx, who said that the document was delivered to my hotel on the 15th! So back to the hotel to ask again. It turns out it was delivered, but the woman that signed for it locked it under the counter and forgot who it was for and then forgot about it. She also didn't tell anyone else that it had arrived. SHE is the first one that told me that it had not arrived! So one more day wasted.
Then, document in hand, I went to the embassy and applied. Fine. No problem. BUT, the date that the woman wrote on the receipt as to when I could pick it up was the 28th! More than a week! I told her I have to fly out on Friday. I have to phone today to see if they can rush it. ARGH!
This weekend is a huge All of the hotels are booked for the weekend, and everyone is busy getting ready for the boat races and other such festivities.
So this week is a write off. I should have just come here for the 15 day flight sale that the airline was offering and then gone to Japan for the over night VISA run. It would have cost the same, I would have been able to see more here, and wouldn't have all of this crap to deal with. Who knew?

Cambodia Day 1 and 2

I arrived here on the 6th very late, so all I did then was find a hotel. I just picked somewhat randomly out of my guide book. Well, not that randomly. I chose one that was near others that were listed, just incase it was full.
I've been staying at the Indochine Hotel. It is okay. The first night, my room was quite small, up a back staircase to the first floor rooms (room 103). It had air-conditioning, a fan, hot water, etc. Okay for $10. But NO window. I ended up sleeping until 9 (which was fine as I didn't get to sleep until around12). I probably would have woken up much earlier if I had a window!
Then next day I changed rooms, to one of the bigger ones upstairs on the 2nd floor. As there was someone still in the room with the window, I still have a no window room. Still $10, but bigger than the last one (there is more furniture and the ceiling is about twice as high). A room with a window costs twice as much, and there are only 2 in the hotel, I think. I will stay there tonight again. I had planned on changing hotels today, but last minute decided to stay where I was. I will go up to Siem Reap (or, at least, that is the plan) tomorrow. When I do return to Phnom Penh, I'll find another hotel.
The VISA problem is getting sorted out, sort of. My school will send the document to me. They already talked to FedEx and figured out how long it would take to get here - about 3 working days. Fine. They also talked to the embassy in Cambodia and were told that it takes only 2 days for the VISA processing here. Good. So I can get it all done in my last week here (they will have to send it next week).
Almost my entire day yesterday was spent trying to figure out the VISA situation. Ugh. What a waste of a day. I did manage to check out Wat Phnom around sunset. It was okay, but not as good as I had expected. The most interesting parts were the cats that were everywhere and the monkeys down the back side of the hill. As it was getting later in the day, there weren't as many people there, and the children that I have heard are usually there following people were not there. Only a few legless/handless/what ever mine victims sitting along the stairs up, asking for handouts.
Every where I go there are guys calling out asking if I need a moto or a tuktuk. A moto is just a motorbike with an extended seat meant for passengers. Generally, men sit normally, women sit sideways. No one wears helmets. They don't go all that fast, as it isn't really possible, with the number of vehicles on the streets and the fact that every intersection is unmarked, cars, tuktuks, motos, bicycles and pedestrians all going at will. Kinda fun, actually. A tuktuk is a little motorized carriage (like a motorbike with a trailer almost). There are also cyclos, which are bicycles with big seats on the front where the passenger(s) sits.
Yesterday I saw a little moto with a family of 5, all of the children looking under 5 years old. Kinda scary.
I had dinner at a fairly large restaurant along the river, about a block down from my hotel. I think it is called the Riverside Bistro. They have seating both inside and out. I sat outside near a little stage where a woman was playing a xylophone type instrument. My mango juice was quite nice, although not as nice as in Eygpt. The Khmer fried rice with chicken was very good. I sat there for a while. I was startled a couple of times, both by a rat. I jumped when it first ran under my table to the next table, and then back again (no one else seemed to notice, especially the girl whose feet it stopped at). Then a while later, I really jumped as it ran in again OVER MY FEET. And then back out again under my chair. I suppose it was nothing unusual there.
There was also a fairly large frog/toad that crawled out from under the wicker chair at the next table. Kinda cute, actually. It crawled out and then back under again. A while later, it crawled out again, across the ground, under my chair and then into the plants that were next to me (between me and the street).
When I got tired of sitting in the restaurant looking at my guide book, after stopping in at a net cafe to check my email and make a couple of phone calls, I decided to check out a little cafe/bar that was on the corner of my block. The Metro looks fairly posh. My Raspberry Mojito was nice, but a bit chunky. It had crushed raspberries, chopped lime, shredded mint leaves, some sort of raspberry liquor (I think), and white rum.
I had never sat in a bar alone before. Can't say I like it.

VISA problems

Vacation should NOT be this stressful!!!!! I am in Cambodia now. I had decided to take a vacation from Korea while waiting for my new job to start. I decided to get my new work VISA here rather than doing a VISA run to Japan. I know people who have done VISA runs in Thailand and other such countries. The process seems to be the same everywhere. BUT, in Cambodia, unlike almost every other Korean Embassy, they require the actual VISA issuance document and not just the number. I found this out TODAY when I went to the embassy to apply for my passport, all set with my application form, photo, money, and VISA issuance NUMBER written on a little piece of paper that my school gave to me on Monday. So now what???

The embassy says I should get the school to send the document to me at my hotel. WHAT hotel? When? I'm here on vacation. I don't want to sit around waiting for a stupid piece of paper. I checked the various couriers on the net. I think the EARLIEST it would come, IF the school sends it tomorrow, is next week Monday. Not that bad, I suppose. I think the easiest/best way is for the school to send it as a pick-up rather than having it delivered to a hotel. That way I can pick it up and take it to the embassy in the same day (when I am in the city). I think that is the only way that I can actually still do some traveling while waiting. Also, I am still waiting to hear back from my school. I sent them an email this afternoon after I found out, and then again after I checked out the couriers on the net and such. Waiting sucks.

No matter what, I have to re-think my planning on when I am doing things here. I want to spend more than a week in the Siem Reap area, but now I'm not sure how, unless I do it in two halves. That kind a sucks. I can't put it off to the end, as I'm not sure how long I'll be waiting here. And I can't just go up there now and stay and then leave the VISA stuff to the end, as I'm not sure how long it will take for them to actually PROCESS the VISA. As they the website for the Korean Embassy here isn't very informative, I have NO information.

What to do.

VISA Run to Fukuoka, Japan... part III: March 12th

I slept in a little and then got ready to go to the Korean Consulate. The Consulate is very near the Fukuoka Dome (for baseball) near Toujinmachi station (6 stops from Hakata Station, where my hotel was). I was getting close and then remembered that my recruiter said in a message that I had to have 60000 Won (Korean money) for the processing fees. I thought that was a bit strange, being that it was in Japan, not Korea. I had that much in my hotel in an envelope but had forgotten to grab it so I went back. It was a waste of money to go back as they don't accept Korean money, of course. The subway trip is 250Yen each way (~US$2.11, CA$2.45).
On the way back there were a couple of guys on the train that were also heading to the consulate. Every day, there are many people going to Japan to get VISAs for Korea. As it was almost 11 by the time we got to Toujinmachi, we shared a cab to the consulate. Not a cheap method of transportation there, but it was fast enough to get us there before they shut the gates for the 1.5/2 hour lunch break. There weren't many people actually at the consulate so it was fairly quick once we were there. The guys had only arrived that morning and had not even stopped to check into the hotel yet, and were a bit tired. I think neither of them had slept the night before.We went for lunch at a little Italian restaurant near the Dome and then they headed back to Hakata Station to check into the hotel and get some rest (it seems that most people that go to Fukuoka for their VISA run end up staying in that hotel). I decided to do some more walking and sightseeing. My first stop was Ohori Park, one station from Toujinmachi. I walked, of course, as to go one stop on the train would have cost me 200Yen!!!Ohori park is quite large and is basically a huge man made lake with a park through the middle and around the edges.At one end, there are HUGE koi and other such fish. There were so many of them it would be nearly impossible to count them all. People were feeding them, so there was also a huge flock of seagulls and pigeons. They kept trying to scare the birds away, though, as the food was meant for the fish.[The birds started flying as just as I took the picture. They had been all on the water.][This might give you an idea of the size of the fish. That wasn't even one of the biggest ones!]I watched them for a while before heading along through the park that split the lake in two (the first part is a huge bridge, though, not actually park). Along the way, I was a bit confused by the signs. Fishing is allowed only in certain areas of the lake.Along the park, there are signs saying fishing/no fishing, no fishing/fishing, fishing/no fishing, etc. What difference does it make, really?
There were huge ravens all over as well as the pigeons and gulls.On a small island in the lake (not accessable), there were also some massive birds. I'm not sure what all of them were, but I know some were herons (on the ground and in the water on the left).
Once across, I tried to go to a Japanese garden that was shown on my map, but the gates were closed. The Fukuoka Art Museum was also closed, due to the fact that it was Monday (I was later told). So I headed on to the Gokoku Shrine.The Gokoku Shrine covers a very large area. Most of it is just open space. The meaning of Gokoku is something along the lines of guardian of the State. Where I was standing to take this picture is on a big tarmac. Beyond the gate is a huge grassy area with a wide gravel path leading all the way to the building. There is also a gravel path intersecting that one.ALL of the gravel is kept raked (there is a lot of it). The lines in the gravel basically followed the edges; running the entire length of the paths, for example. In this pic, I am standing on the steps of the building. There is a set of lines going around the building and then the other ones follow the edge of grassy area.
From there I went to the Fukuoka Castle Ruins and Maizuru Park.At the ruins there isn't much to see other than very high fortress like sides with gardens of different types of flowers and trees on the different levels - plum tree garden, cherry tree garden, azalea garden, iris garden, etc.Some of the trees around the place are MASSIVE!!! There is a woman standing beside the tree in the picture (front right), to give you an idea of its size.
At one of the higher levels of the Castle, (the sign for the area said the Tamon Tower courtyard), there is a very long building along the edge but I'm not sure if it is part of the original Castle or not, as it looks fairly new. Maybe it was re-built?There is only one very old looking building on the other side (the Kinen Tower).When I finally tired of walking around the ruins, I went to Tenjin Station (2 stops away) which is supposed to be a very good shopping area with underground malls and such. I wandered about for a while and then went for a walk. I decided to try to find the Yanagibashi Market. I didn't find it, but did see quite a bit of the city. By the time I got back to the hotel, I had walked for over 9 hours since the guys had left for the hotel. I was exhausted.
I took advantage of the little bathtub. Even though it was small, it was quite deep - about knee deep on me (I have long legs).
For more info on where to stay in Fukuoka, check out

VISA Run to Fukuoka, Japan... part I: March 10th

I went to Japan last week for 3.5 days (I left on the 10th and came back on the 13th). It is the most common place for foreigners in Korea to go for a VISA run.
Leaving on the 10th was quite stressful, as I didn't know that I was leaving then, until the afternoon of the 9th. My VISA expired on the 9th. Everyone (my boss, my friends, my recruiter, etc) had heard/said that I had a 2 weeks grace period after my VISA expiry date in which to leave the country. I had no choice in the matter, as my school didn't get my VISA confirmation letter until, I thiink, the 8th or 9th, and I wasn't the one that was booking tickets and such. The original plan, thinking about the 2 weeks grace, had me leaving on the 23rd to spend an entire weekend in Japan and then doing the run. Then on the 9th, they were informed that my last school handed in my release forms to immigration on February 28th, which would mean that my VISA probably ended on that day (so they were thinking), and so the 2 weeks grace would end on the 14th. The other teacher was going then, so I had to go ASAP.

And, they emailed me my e-ticket and such the evening of the 9th, but I don't have a printer. I was busy from other plans on the 9th so that only left the Saturday morning to get everything done (find somewhere to print out my tickets and such, pack, etc). Luckily Revo was able to come to feed Tokki while I was away. If not, I would have been even busier that morning, as I would have had to take Tokki to the vet for "hotelling", IF they had space, that is. I got to the airport around 2 hours ahead of time. I checked in in an express lane for those that aren't checking bags, and then went and had some lunch (I hadn't even had breakfast that morning from all that I had to do). My flight was to leave at 6:10 PM. At a little before 5, I went through security without any problems... they had to check my bag, though, and put all of my 'liquids' and such into a small ziplock bag (you are allowed what will fit into a sealable 1L bag). Then at Immigration I had a problem. My VISA expired on the 9th and it was the 10th. BIG PROBLEM. There is a bit of a grace period in terms of not having to pay any fines, but it is still a problem, and paperwork and such still had to be done. I had to sit around and wait for them to do who knows what. Then, a girl working at the airport literally ran with me to the little immigration office out in the public area (before security) where I had to draw a number and wait some more. Then, we had to sprint all the way back across the airport, where I had to go through security once again. I had to wait for a couple of people go to through infront of me, before they let me go. It was already take-off time for my flight!!!! And then they stopped me and wanted to check in my bag, to see the liquids. They said one of my containers was too big. It was 115 mL but they only allow a maximum size of 100mL. It was ONE OF THEM that took it from my other bag and PUT IT IN THE PLASTIC BAG BEFORE!!!!! The airport girl that was with me had gone though to take my passport to the immigration past security to get the rest of the stuff done there. She came back and told security that I had already gone through and such, so then they said they would let the extra 115 mL pass that time only. Then I had to go to get my passport stamped and run to the gate, which was, luckily, straight ahead. I was exhausted from running with my pack on my back, and my feet and legs were killing me (I've been having other problems and the doctor has told me several times I shouldn't even be walking much, let alone running with extra weight).

They had held the flight for me, and so they welcomed me by name when I finally got on. I only wanted to sit down in my seat. When I finally got there, I could do nothing to prevent a few tears from going running down my cheeks (if I weren't in such a public place it would have been a lot more). So much stress.

The food on the flight was disappointing. No choice. Just a dish of rice with some sort of seafood and slices of ginger and some sort of strange shredded fluorescent pink stuff all over it.

Once I was actually in Japan, everything was fine. I didn't have a hotel booked for that night, only for my last night (my school was only paying for one night and so would only book one for me). My plan was to go to that hotel and hope they had rooms available when I got there. The hotel was easy to find. The subway system goes right to the airport, and my hotel was right beside the main train station, only 2 stops from the airport. That night all I did was relax and go go sleep early, as I hadn't slept much the night before and had an extremely stressful day.