Korea

by far the worst consulate to deal with the korean consulate in Shanghai. Let's just say they don't know what the hell is going on in terms of their own rules and regulations. There was an ultimate tourney in Jeju Island, which is a special autonomous region of Korea. More info here. So first question I ask, do I need a visa to Korea? answer yes, do I need a visa to go to Jeju, the special autonomous region? yes. I apply for the visa, how many days? 5, great I will submit and give you 7 days. What you need additional documents than the list you provided, you need a copy of an email of invitation, the official letter of invitation isn't good enough? fine. What's this email, I don't need a visa to Jeju? Okay, hello? yes, huh? you need a copy of my chinese visa? but I have an email that says I don't need a visa. What I still need a visa? fine I will fax you a copy of my chinese visa. So is my visa ready? no? but i have to travel tomorrow. you said it would take 5 days, what do you mean it could take 5 days? Fine.

I have my tickets so I check some webisites and I get all types of hits suggesting that I do not need a visa. Excellent. So screw it, I'm getting on the plane and what are they going to do, send me back? fine, that's no worse than sitting in Shanghai and missing the Jeju Ultimate tourney. I get there, and of course I don't need a visa. 400 RMB down the drain and the SOBs still have my passport. Worst incompetant, don't know what the fuck they are doing idiots of a consulate. It's been a week since i got back from Jeju and I'm still angry at the incompetency and utter lack of professionalism displayed by these morons. the thing is i can't do anything about it, because in case I need their services in the future for business, they can tell me to go fuck off. So these bastards get to continue their idiotic ways and hear no complaints. FUck IT, i'm giving them a piece of my mind when I pick up my passport. easy there tommy tuffnuts, easy there.

okay so Jeju tourney, shangahi wins for the third year in a row. I was not on the winning team, since i have regressed since i started in shanghai, i was on the B team. Decent saturday, although the wind was the worst I've played in, and sunday was perfect weather, but our play was terrible. anyways, Jeju was a lot of fun, really well organized tourney, logistics was pretty damn perfect, buses were avaialble to and from the fields, to the party, everything. Good times. Jeju Island looks awesome, and I wish I had time to see some of the sites. It's the number one honeymoon spot for koreans and pretty up there for a lot of japanese.

Korean food is pretty good, I enjoyed. The language barrier is pretty brutal. The street side shops, no english, lots of pointing at pictures. Funnyincident. So friday afternoon we get to our hotels, settle down and go get some food. we get to place and we cannot find out what they have available versus what's on the menu. No english is spoken, but there are pictures of 4 of the dishes they serve on the outside wall. We take the cook/waitress outside and start pointing. She says no to our choice, and we can't figure out why. Later a guy who speaks english comes by and explains the cook thinks it's too spicey for us. We all say "ah hell no bring on the spicey"well somehting like that... and still there is slight apprehension but the chef concedes and decides to serve us the dish. the dish was cold noodles in a spicey sauce (not that spicey actually). The noodles had ice in it to keep it cold. It had this really nice mustard and oyster sauce on the side, very nice. yes I had kimchi, and it was good. I have no pictures cause my camera be dead....



So that's korea kids.