A Wild Sheep Chase - Review

  That's right, readers... I go on an amazing holiday with amazing people, and all I want to do is talk about the latest book I have read. What can I say? I have strange priorities...

Book Review

A Wild Sheep Chase - Haruki Murakami

  I was stuck at the airport for hours in Tokyo, because I am a fantastic friend and opted to join the girls on their early morning airport pilgrimage rather than sleep a few hours extra and meet them in Korea. This meant I had time to kill in Narita Airport, so I alternated between snacking and eating for the most part. I was woken up by a crying child and figured there must be a better way to spend my time and I went wandering around and found some super well-stocked book shops. They had a great mix of Japanese and English books, so I stood in the English section for a good 30 minutes deciding what book I wanted to read. I was really happy to see plenty of Japanese books with English translations, so I picked up some that had the 'ol tag line of "best seller" on them. Many of them were by some guy named Murakami, so I grabbed one of his and flipped to the back to see what the deal was. To be honest, they all seemed a little, well, weird. Some borderline supernatural, some murder mysteries, some action, and some romance (are sex and romance the same thing?? I seriously doubt it, but I think you get my point). I ended up settling on a book called "A Wild Sheep Chase", which was apparently about a guy who goes looking for a lost magic sheep with his girlfriend who has ears that give her ESP. Ok, like I said, it was strange pickings. 

  Can I just say, it was the best thing I have read since "American Gods".

  The narrator is a recently divorced guy who, through strange circumstances, ends up being blackmailed into hunting for a lost sheep that was photographed by a friend. This sheep is kinda magic - it possesses people and they end up doing great things. I see now that the sheep must be a metaphor for something, but I am still thinking about this book and puzzling over what it could be. 

  Anyway the guy goes off with his new girlfriend on the hunt for the sheep, and ends up meeting people from his past on the way. I think the Narrator himself is a pretty messed up dude, and in a way going on this little sheep hunt is a way of him sorting through his own life. I wont give away the ending, but it certainly didn't end the way I thought it would, which I quite like in a book. I used to read a whole lot, so endings to stories tend to become rather predictable... This one ended badly but well fitting for the story. Some might actually say it was a happy ending of sorts. Have a read and tell me what you think I spose. 

  The book is writing in the first person, a style I am not accustomed to but fitted this story well. He ducks into the past at times, but tells these things as if he is talking to you real time. The author is descriptive without going into retarded detail, and keeps things on point. Certain parts of the story seemed a little irrelevant to me, but it all went towards character development so I guess it all worked out. So if you are reading, stick with the seemingly off bits. 

  Having just been in Japan and seeing certain sites mentioned, it was nice to put a real image to the places. The story is mainly set in areas in Northern Japan, and even if you have never been there (which I haven't) you can certainly get a feel about what its like. 

  I liked the main character. I felt like he was totally relatable, because everyone at some point knows what it feels like to simply feel, well, there. Just being present without actually being present. Utterly mediocre and static. He needed something to put him back into motion and remind him to live. I don't know what happens to him after the book, but in my head I have made up a great scenario for him, where things turn out well. Unfortunately I don't think that they would have... I think he may have gone the way of "Rat".

  An interesting side the the actual writing is that no one is named. Some people have nicknames, but not one person is actually named. I thought this was quite clever... 

  So anyway I really think you should read it. It was a good book, but kinda makes you think. Like I said earlier, I am still undecided about what the sheep actually represents. I googled it, and some people have said personal ambition, some religion/faith, some depression, some drugs. I honestly don't know. 

Side note on my holiday/vacation

  Yes, I went to Japan for 8 days and then back to Korea where I spent a drunken week in Busan with 2 of my Aussie friends. Nay is still here in Korea, so after she leaves and I have a bit more time, I will let everyone know what we got up to (G-rated version) and how the whole thing was. I also took some adorable videos of my kids for Summer Camp so I will get them up too. 

  I can already tell this next 6 months is gonna fly by... I signed my new contract yesterday with Songshin, so I am locked for another year in this mad place. I mean mad in the literal sense, not this whole "mad"/"cool"/"awesome" sense. Its crazy here, I am going to come home and need to be locked away in an asylum for another 12 months. I'll be mid-30's before I am fit for Australian society again. 

  So yeah I will update next week or something. No promises, because I break them all the time. 

xoxoxo

Mum in Korea - Day 2

To Busan

We left Seoul this morning to head to Busan, which is in the south of the country in the Gyeongsangnam Province. 

We took the KTX fast train into Busan, and the trip took about 2 and a half hours. The time went really quickly, the train was very comfortable and smooth. I would totally recommend anyone travelling across Korea to use the KTX for long trips. Totes worth it. 

Mum was funny this morning when we were leaving the hotel in Seoul... There were 3 stations between Seoul Station and Chungmoro (where the hotel was near) but she wanted to take a taxi as we had heavy bags. There were NO taxis around at all because of Chuseok, so eventually I talked her into the subway. It was super easy, although we did get a little lost on the platform. Lets just say that Seoul Station is freaking huge and we had no idea where we were going... And the signage is not awesome so we were really confused. But we made it in the end. There were plenty of super helpful people around, from the bag porter to the police officer, to the local citizen who had decent English. 

We got of the KTX at Busan Station and asked around for the subway, as the next hotel was apparently very close to Bujeom Station. But no, mum STILL wanted a taxi, so we went and found a taxi. We jumped in, and to mum utter shock and horror the driver spoke no English. By then the bags were already in and he was driving away so we were kinda stuck in the car. My teachers at school would be so impressed - with my VERY limited Hanguel knowledge I managed to write a garbled Korean version of the station we were after and we got there ok. Mum was panicking, neither of us knew for sure where the driver was taking us so we were not relieved when we saw the station we were looking for. We thanked him and off he went. So here is a tip for anyone travelling to Korea - the taxi drivers do not really speak English. So get your hotel to write down where you are staying so that you can pass it to cab drivers. Or better yet, have it prepared before you head off...
We then dragged our bags a few hundred meters down the road to the hotel - there was no way I was going to try and write the name of the hotel down. When we got there, I looked across the street and gestured to mum... We were literally across the road from the subway enterance. It would have taken us 5 minutes or so on the subway and brought us to right in front of the hotel. 

Let this be a lesson to you - if anything is near the subway station, IT IS EASIER TO CATCH THE SUBWAY. I know at home taxi is easier, but honestly, unless you have some degree of Korean then its just not fun trying to get a taxi.

We stayed at the Ibis Ambassador Hotel Busan. I would totally recommend this hotel to anyone wanting to visit Busan. Apart from the fact that is was so close to a good subway line, the staff also speak pretty good English and are super helpful. The food wasn't amazing for dinner but the breakfast was good.

ANOTHER TIP - Don't bother to pay for the breakfasts at the hotel... Seriously just find a Paris Baguette, they are the biggest bakery chain in Korea and the stuff is tasty. And will cost you under 5000won for breakfast rather than the 15-30,000won it will cost at the hotel. Its totally not real bacon.

Haeundae and the aquarium

We were both kinda grumpy by then, and I needed a nap so mum went for a walk and I had a short kip. Then we rallied ourselves for the afternoon. It was probably about wish when we went to the subway (win for me) and ran into some people from the hotel that mum had met earlier. They were an American couple, but the wife was actually born in Korea so she spoke the language but hadn't been back in years. We ended up joining forces and went together to Haeundae Beach for a look, and then to the Busan Aquarium. I LOVE aquariums, and I thought this one was pretty good. They had decent sized sharks, no seals but they did have otters and some finless porpoises which were kinda like dolphins but smaller and without fins (hence the name I guess). Entry was something like 18,000won and they were open from 10am till 10pm or something. Basically you go to Haeundae Station and walk towards the beach and go right. The aquarium is right there... If you ever go to Busan check it out.

www.busanaquarium.com

After that we wandered around and got some dinner, we had chicken and salad and both mum and I thought it was pretty delicious. It cost about 17,000won for the 2 of us, and we got some beers as well so all up dinner was 23,000won for 3 massive plates of chicken and 2 beers. So I thought that was pretty good. 

We then got back on the subway and came back to the hotel, skipped Georgia and here we are. I am hella tired, I feel like I have been non stop since last weekend so tomorrow is going to be a sleep in day.

View from the room

Haeundae Beach

Haeundae Beach

Because keeping off this bit of grass will totally help the porpoise :s

Giant crab!!!

Some of the cool sharks - mainly grey nurse sharks

Tourist shot!

Something different? Or not?

While we were at the aquarium we were acting the tourist and taking a heap of cheesy photos, as was everyone else. There were 2 young guys that were there having a day out and were taking pics of each other, so mum offered to take their pic together with some sharks in the background. They were super pleased and thanked her a heap. One of the guys then asked if he could have photo with me... I said yes but felt like a big dickhead, like some sort of try hard celebrity. The friend was super jealous so he had to have a photo with me too... I really hope they turned out ok, I would hate for them to be showing ugly pics of me to their pals.

Then when we were on the subway an older Korean guy started talking to me, I said the usual 'hello' and he asked where we were from. I now know enough Korean to understand what he was asking and I was even able to answer him, but the rest of the conversation went straight over my head. Lucky our new American friends were still with us and the wife had a chat to he old bloke and just continued the conversation for us. He ended up not he same train and we chatted on and off through out the trip home. Before we got off the train, the old guy said something else to me in Korea - I have no idea what - and gave me an apple. It was a perfectly good apple, so I will probably eat it tomorrow :)

Anyway, thats about it for tonight. Again, this post will go up after the fact, as I want to add the pics so all this has happened today (being Sunday).

Oh, and Happy Chuseok!!!

xoxoxox