d-Wizz Hankuk Travel Diary [2005]
Introduction / Day 1 (2005-07-27) / Day 2 (2005-07-28) 
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Day 1: 2005-07-27 (Wednesday)
No sleep for me as I packed my bag with only a few things overnight. While organising the items on the checklist for packing, I kept my computer busy burning a non-stop production line of CDs and DVDs full of data, software and music which I planned to use on the trip.
In the wee hours of the morning, I encountered and solved a few small issues:
Concerned about weight, I made executive decisions about purchasing new items in Korea for probably less money than the luggage surcharge. So, I deliberately omitted a few audio leads, only packed five items of clothing other than that I was wearing, and did not pack any blank CDs/DVDs. This policy kept my luggage compact, even with all the gifts for my friends, which included Tim Tams, XXXX beer, honey and Blu-Tak, all of which are either rare or unavailable in Korea.
I could not find my snare drum case. This caused a minor panic for about ½ hour as I contemplated alternative packaging solutions to protect my snare drum. I searched for a box, but boxes with sides longer than 14” are usually oversized. I had many boxes with 18” sides, but they were only 12” wide, so I could not put the snare drum inside completely and close the box. Just as I was thinking that I would have to put the drum inside the suitcase, I noticed a box on the roof that looked like it would be big enough, but not too big. I got it down and put my snare drum inside it – it was a perfect 14” fit! There was just enough room in the four corners to put 10 packets of Tim-Tams standing up. And five more Tim-Tams on top of the drum.
After that little drama, I kept burning discs and probably burnt too many of some, so that I ran out of time to burn a second/third MP3 DVD, so I ended up with just one.
I left my home at 0855 with my bicycle and took a train to Park Road. Then I rode to Koorong, where I bought 9 copies of “The Purpose Driven Life”. The 15% discount thanks to Koorong’s promotional sale meant that I only spent $8.47 on each copy – which is a lot cheaper than in Korea. Back to Park Road on the bike – box of books on the back. As the train pulled in to Roma Street, I remembered about my Blastix (plastic brushes I use to play the drums). I had been on my way to church music practise on 2005-06-30, and I accidentally left them on the train. I realised almost immediately what I had done, but it was too late. The lost property office is only open between 1000 – 1400 Monday to Friday, and I had been unable to get there between those times because I had been too busy. But now, here I was at Roma Street at 1015 on Wednesday – lost property should be open! So I got off the train and asked about my Blastix. They were there, but it turned out that they had been at Ipswich for three weeks, and had only arrived at Roma Street five days earlier. So, I would not have picked them up even if I had had the time to do so before.
With my Blastix now safely back in my bag, I continued back home. With time starting to get tight, I only had about 15 minutes before I needed to head over to Toowong. So I got set into action and prepared what I needed to take.
I had to go to the post office to send away a few things, and also check my post office box. This took a lot longer than I expected. Then I went to the bank to get some money out, and then to two other banks to put some of it in there. Then I was nearly done, and with time at 1210, I met Terry and Anne in the Toowong food court. They had the foresight to order lunch for me already, and I apologised for being late. I would have to eat quickly, and they understood. We had a conversation while I ate and talked about my travel plans; what I would do, where I would stay. After finishing lunch, I told them I would meet at their car in a few minutes after I went to Coles to buy the last items on my list: honey, batteries and Blu-Tak. This took me about five minutes, and then we all went to Terry and Anne’s car.
We drove to Rob & Leith Harding’s place, arriving there at 1250 – 130 minutes to departure. What happened at the Hardings’ in the next 20 minutes will remain confidential to those who were there, but I shall divulge the information that I was “Koreanised” at this time. Rob & I got in his Tarago and we headed back to my place to collect my luggage. Arrived 1330 and we loaded:
- box with snare drum and Tim-Tams;
- large suitcase with recording equipment, music and electronic stuff;
- smaller suitcase with all the CDs/DVDs I needed (and probably lots that I didn’t need); and
- my backpack.
I almost forgot the “Purpose Driven Life” books still on the back of the bike from the morning. A quick “snatch-and-grab” and they were in the Tarago. I rode in the back and organised the luggage as Rob drove to the airport. First, I had to tape up the box with the snare drum in it, so I used a lot of packing tape. Then the two suitcases. I got it all done just as we arrived at the terminal – 70 minutes to departure time. I went inside and checked in. The large suitcase weighed 20.9kg; the box with the snare drum 6.7kg. I was told I could bring two bags on board, so I did not check in the smaller suitcase. I completed my “green card” and proceeded through customs almost smoothly. They found and removed the small nail scissors from a nail care kit I had packed.
Once I was through customs, I changed 80 Australian dollars into 84 Singaporean dollars, so that I would be able to buy some things in Singapore. Then I went to find some XXXX beer (for Jamie, Dae-Young and Spike).
Advice about how much beer I could bring into Korea was not easy to find, and varied from one person to the next. I looked at a Korean customs site on the Internet and learned that imported beer is subject to a 72% import tax. That put me off buying 2 6-packs, which was my original plan, so I had decided to buy only one. Unfortunately, I did not have time to buy it at Toowong, where it would have cost me about $9. At the airport, 6 cans cost me $19.95 – more than double. But it was my last chance to buy it, so I did and put them in my backpack. I boarded the plane at 1440hrs.
Liftoff at 1507 hrs and a rather uneventful flight ensued. Cruising speed was approximately 820 – 850 km/h for the first two hours, but then increased gradually to 920 – 940 km/h, with a peak of 964 km/hr recorded 5 hours and 34 minutes into the flight. We began our descent into Singapore almost immediately upon crossing the Equator. Touchdown at Singapore Airport at 2014hrs local (daylight saving) time, 7 hours and 7 minutes after leaving Brisbane. A very soft landing too, the best I’ve ever experienced.
Into the great wide open of Singapore Airport – and it IS big indeed! My first priority was to find a toilet, and even that took five minutes. And when I did find one, I had to wait in line for it. I wonder if that’s a sign of things to come on this trip. Automatic flushing too – I must say I don’t like that at all.
Next on the agenda was to make some important phone calls. First plan here is to find out where to get a calling card. Before I did that, I found a free internet kiosk, so I decided to wait for a terminal to become available. I checked and sent a few e-mails and a few other things online, and then I went to find a phonecard. I bought a $10 one at the post office, but was shocked to discover that the cost to call overseas was very high - $1.20 per minute to call Korea and Australia! So, my first call was not going to be to Mum, but Keith (my brother) – to engineer some kind of solution to reduce the costs of the calls. I had a lot of trouble getting through because I was using the incorrect international access code 011 instead of Singapore’s 001. Once I had figured that out, I was able to get through to Keith. During a quick sub-60 second call that wiped $2 off my phonecard, Keith suggested that he would get me a Telstra PhoneAway™ card online right then with his credit card and give the details when I called him back 10 minutes later. So I hung up and waited 10 minutes. When I called back, he had not been able to do it yet, so he asked me about the free Internet terminals and suggested I organise the PhoneAway™ card myself. He gave me the necessary details and I got online and organised it in about 30 minutes. Keith also suggested that the cheapest way to call Korea would be to use the PhoneAway™ card to connect to the international discount phonecard access number in Australia. I noticed that even the PhoneAway™ card cost 60c/min from Singapore. By the time I started dialling with the PhoneAway™ card, I had been in Singapore 2½ hours. I called my GoTalk phonecard number with the PhoneAway™ card. The system told me I had 17 minutes with my $11 of initial credit. I called a few people, but because it was past midnight in Australia, most people (including Mum) did not answer. When the credit ran out, I bought some postcards for souvenirs and went to board my flight to Incheon, which was due to leave in just 40 minutes.
Introduction / Day 1 (2005-07-27) / Day 2 (2005-07-28)
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