Jeju 4/25-27

Flight
Far Eastern Air Transport, or FAT for short. Apparently going through bankruptcy now, but the only airline with a direct Taipei-Jeju flight (popularly used as a jumping point into China).

(5/20/08 Addendum: Apparently FAT stopped flying in May. see the Taipei Times article)

Accommodation
We took the bus to our hotel for 5000 won, which took about 70 minutes. This was also easy to find, and the stops were announced in Korean, Chinese and English. Sun Beach hotel was organized through the tourney - everyone else supposedly only had mats and blankets, but our room had 2 full on beds - one queen and one full, which were quite comfortable (especially after the hard bed in the Xian hostel).

Tournament
Gnarly Nines
Unlike the US version of 9 games to 9 in one day, this one is split over two days, making it a lot less hard on the body. My team of 9 consisted of a Hong Kong base, with a few pickups from elsewhere. Unfortunately, day 1, point 2, we lost one of our nine. Nicki got punched in the face during an intense collision and her nose was broken in 2 or 3 spots! She flew back home early to consider surgery options with her own doctor. This one's a 5:2 tourney (unlike the US 4:3 standard), so Lily and I played savage the rest of the tourney, which wasn't so bad with the 25 mph winds on Saturday that pretty much dictated the down wind points and easy going zone play.

Sunday was a lot better weather wise, and so of course a lot tougher. We were seeded 4th going in, ended 5th Saturday, and then tied for 3rd on Sunday. In the semi-finals against Shanghai we were down 2-7, but played a better second half bringing it up to 9-13.


Wilkie, Tim, Lin, Geoff, Derek, Stu, Lily, Jon

Food
I love Korean food. The first thing I ordered was chop che...a dish I haven't been able to find in Taipei. I also had some bi bim bop and mandoo (Korean jiao-zi). The field food was delicious - especially the Korean bento boxes of marinated beef with rice and veggies. They also provided plenty of bananas, tangerines and water. Plus breakfast at the hotel and Saturday night all you can eat buffet (western food).

Misc
Other than that, I didn't really see much of Korea. I'll have to go back another time to experience more of the culture. Hopefully before FAT goes out of business.

Another highlight was seeing some familiar faces. James and Chris were there - I hadn't seen James in ages, but remember him always being friendly in Seattle. Apparently since I last saw him, he's gotten married, had ACL surgery and moved to Japan! However, he's going back in July, so I'm not sure I'll see him anymore in the Asian ultimate scene. Our loss for sure!

On the way home we were bumped to first class! My first time ever. The flight was overbooked and the only seats left were up front. Yes! It really wasn't that much difference. Sure, the increased leg room (straightening my legs, I couldn't even reach the seat in front of me). Of course, with my short asian legs, the extra space was really wasted on me - I'm always comfortable in economy. The food was upgraded by having tablecloths set on our trays and delivered with salt and pepper shakers. Otherwise it felt the same as regular. Oh wait, we did get several extra glasses of orange juice and water. That does make a difference.

The taxi back to the airport cost us 30000 krw, which included an 800 krw stop at a convenience store.