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Saturday, July 12, 2014

The Women Of Cho (Desperation) Another Rough Chapter.





The wind howled through the streets picking up debris and randomly whisking it into the night sky. The shops had closed and the people had packed up their carts and vanished into the camouflage of the surrounding concrete jungle. Seoul was an empty shell of human existence except for Rayman who stood in the shadows near a corner with his hands stuffed deep into his pockets watching the night deepen. Up the road a concentration of bright lights near the hospital entrance illuminated the adjacent ten-foot stonewall of the Changgyeong Palace and faded into the over hanging trees. Rayman watched a singular silhouetted figure wrapped in a heavy coat stagger against gusts under wind shaken street lamps. He watched as she drew closer and knew she was elderly due to her stride and stammer. She walked to the transverse corner and stopped. She stood looking into the shadows at a western man in the dark in the middle of Seoul in the middle of the night. She glanced back the way she came and finally spoke, ‘Rayman Stell?”

Rayman stepped part way out of the shadows, “Yes.”

“Stay here. I’ll be right back.” Young-ja turned and crossed the road and disappeared down a narrow alley towards her house.

Rayman backed into the shadows and watched as leaves blew over the brick wall and down the street. It was below freezing and the ground below Rayman’s feet was firm and crunched with ice as he moved his feet. A siren sounded in the distance and drew closer. Rayman took another step back into the shadows as an ambulance raced up the road and turned into the emergency hospital side entrance up the street. Across the street the lit up trees moved in waves as the wind pushed along the wall and through the branches and leaves.
  
A few minutes past before Youn-ja returned, “I am Lyin’s wife, Young-ja. Monica called me and told me you might need help with a place to stay. I can help you stay safe and silent but we must get rid of all of your belongings and your backpack, everything. The Won already have pictures of you and your clothes so we will change them. I’ll get you clothes tomorrow. Please follow me. My relatives have just arrived from Mongolia and I will be your interpreter. They speak no English and little Korean. I am their voice and I am yours. Do you understand you must remain humble and it’s best not to show any emotion? For them it’s a sign of weakness.”

“Yes.” Rayman followed her down a narrow red brick alley to a small neighborhood of quaint brick houses with a traditional curved tile roof with the corners turning back towards the sky. On the eves stood seven different animal figurines to the edge. A dim light shown through an old four pain window with bubbles in the glass. Young-ja opened her heavy door and inside the dimly lit room stood four men in quilted Mongolian coats near a fireplace that had just been lit. A low center table separated them and two couches and a recliner chair cozily surrounded them. Rayman followed Young-ja silently into the living area and bowed to each of the men before him.

The four men bow simultaneously. Their strong facial features and clothes flickered with golden firelight.

Young-ja came to Rayman’s side and did a loose introduction pointing at Rayman with two open hands and looking at her relatives, “Rayman.” Young-ja then looked at Rayman and explained, “Rayman,” again pointing with open hands, “This is Lyin’s father and uncle, (2) Mongolian names, and this is my father and my oldest brother, (2) Mongolian names. Please, sit with them. I’ll be right back.”

The Mongolians sat down on the couches and Rayman sat in the chair. A moment of awkward silence followed as Young-ja went into the kitchen to bring out Ghinggas Khan Vodka and glasses. As she returned she said, “This could be a long night for you because these men want to hear the whole story of Lyin’s death and the Won involvement and everything up to now. I will help you explain.” Young-ja brought out a tray with a bottle of vodka, a bottle of water, and 5 glasses and put it on the table. She quickly grabbed a chair from the wall and sat down next to Rayman and asked, “Is there anything you have that would show good faith and a mutually honorable ending for all seated here?”

Rayman nodded, “I do, but I also have a request of a similar nature. Is it possible to hear your historical story on how it came to this?”

Young-ja looked at Lyin’s father and translated into Mongolian.

He looked at Rayman and nodded in agreement.


Rayman reached into his pocket and pulled out the small collection of photographs from Cale’s dining room table. As he stood up, he took off a rubber band and displayed the pictures of the Won’s map of vaults and placed them on the small table for them to see.

The picture at the top is photoed by a friend, I can't spell her name. :) Met her on Bunekan Island Sulawesi.

www.davidcdagley.com/

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Bali and Sanur




Bali




Well after incredible diving tour of Borneo and Sulawesi I thought I’d get to dive off Bali but plane air conditioning got the better of me and I ended up with some crazy sinus infection. I really have become susceptible to air con issues. This has been on going since I left South Korea for Mongolia so many months ago.



I asked my taxi driver to take me to cheap hotel, guest house, or home stay he took me to a place for 500,000 Rupiah. Once again I laughed and got back in the taxi and headed down the main road for a proper guest house or homestay. I don’t need a pool, there’s an ocean, I don’t need much; a clean bed and a bathroom would be nice even if it’s down the hall. The taxi driver dropped me off across the street from a Starbucks and pointed down an alley and said, KeKe’s. I didn’t even get that far. There was a place called Kirana home stay and laundry. I thought about it, when was the last time I did laundry. I’m embarrassed to say but I’ve soaked most everything in salt water or brackish fresh water, I thought that would do but not really, my clothes dance by themselves at night. I pulled in and asked how much for no air-con room and she said 200,000 with breakfast included. Sold. Jl. Danau Tamblingan No. 100 Gg. Keke No. 2 Sanur. Ph. # 0361 286261. Email: kirana096@yahoo.com. What more could I ask for, great room, great breakfast, and around the corner from the beach.




I have been lying low and enjoying Sanur area south of Denpasar on the beach. The Hyatt is closed for a year or two due to renovations, upgrades, new management and new owners. I had dinner at the Hyatt in 1989 while traveling with a girl friend. I was biking the islands with a dear friend and she was either ahead or behind us by van. My dad showed up and of course fell in love with the girl and I got the cold shoulder for the evening, I understood why. We had biked Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Komodo, and Flores. We were on our return and heading to Java when we ran into my father. That was pretty neat being on the opposite side of the world and rather randomly crossing paths.




Wind surfers love this time of year because the trade winds have arrived and blow pretty steady giving the boys and girls some time to play and get air born. I’ve been able to keep up on the World Cup Football and I found an Australian Sports Bar, Barb’s Sports Bar Live, boasting the ‘Coldest Beer’. I checked Barb’s right and she’s a sweet lady with good friends.




Aussie football is on and when I lived in Australia I watched a lot of it, even went to a few matches. The company is good and met up with some fishermen and woman from Australia that were good fun. They’re getting ready to go back soon and gear up for the coming season.



I jumped in the water at the beach the first day to see what was what and I dove straight into a sea snake. Lucky for me their mouths are small and can only really kill you if you get bit on the ear lobe or maybe between the fingers. That was a short swim.




I’m on my way back to Thailand for a little R & R and more diving. I’m looking forward to it.





www.davidcdagley.com

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Dive Sulawesi




Dive Sulawesi



It was my second day of diving on the island of Bunaken off the coast of Manado, Sulawesi. Seriously, the diving has been just getting better and better and I haven’t been disappointed. When I was warned that prices could get a little high around these dive areas I thought it was still going to be worth diving there even if only once. It turns out that the bigger resort sites on the islands have a tendency to block many of the cheaper homestay websites. Just get close to the islands and suddenly the cheaper ones appear mostly by word of mouth, the best travel guide on the planet. And I’m talking ALL islands over here.



Our first dive was around 0830. The boys loaded up the boat with tanks, tea, coffee, water and bananas and we headed for a cliff where the current was cruising and we jumped in and drifted at 30 meters at approximately 1- 2 knots watching fish above, turtles besides us, and the flash of shark and fish below. I didn’t take an underwater camera this day because I just wanted to see and stay under water as long as I could with no distractions. For some reasons namely buoyancy and current, I made the right choice. My Slovenian acquaintance, UrÅ¡ka Kljun, took her camera and I barrowed a few under water photos from her so you could see what we drifted past. Most of my photos are above the water line this day.




Turtles were everywhere sleeping on the rock cliff that ran down into the dark blue. At 30 meters we basically crossed our legs and went for an hour drift in one direction. At the end of the wall the current changed and appeared to be coming from the other direction and we had to lay low to a sandy bottom area for about 5 minutes and then that current took us back the way we came but we ascended 10 meters and saw an assortment of other fish and coral, the most I’ve ever seen in my short diving hobby. Tap on the picture cause there's a critter in there.



I have to give a shout out to Daniel’s and Immanuel Divers. (Tel. 0431- 813143.) 3 nights accommodation and 4 dives cost 2,360,000. (Divide by 12,000 to equal USD, approximately $200.00 USD). One of the divers has dove something like 17,000 dives in the area, that’s like 20 years of diving with lots of dives per week. The bungalows are great with big bathrooms and balconies for chilling. Prices were totally reasonable at 200,000 Rupiah/ 18 USD night including 3 meals and tea, coffee and water 24/7. Dives including all gear cost 480,000 Rupiah/50 USD. And there is a public ferry that goes both ways for 50,000 Rupiah, so don’t get suckered into the 200,000 Rupiah boat taxi service one-way.



The second dive of the day was even better than the first and was basically right in front of Daniel’s Homestay. There were a lot of excited snorkelers in the area when we jumped in and they watched us as we descended off the wall.




Everybody has different breathing habits under water and so our group of four had a tendency to change and those with more air would continue on with a guide while those that chewed through their air would go up and take their safety stop and surface a little earlier than the rest. The boat would come over and get them out of the water and then begin their drift after us still under water. Some incredible diving had by all.



The night divers came back jazzed at the recognition of what was active during the day and what was active at night were totally different, another universe. More fish, more fans, more colors, etc.




Off to Bali before the European/ Aussie rush and find a friend who just got married, Mr. Anderson. I don’t know what pill he took, so this could be a reality sequel to Matrix and the diving and surfing should be awesome.





www.davidcdagley.com