Korea 2004 tour diary - By Master Michael Tan

The following is a brief description of what we did whilst in Korea.  Some of the stories I can't mention in public.  We all had a fun time, and I am sure each of us have our own memories and stories of Korea to tell.  Well done guys in what was a trip of a life time.  We hope to go back in 2006 for the 7th Korea Open.

Day 1 - Seoul.  First day all together.  After the guys from Caboolture arrived at 8pm, we went for dinner up at Namsang Tower.  The place is similar to Telstra Tower in Canberra.  After our first Korean meal of noodles and kim chi, we went down town for a soft serve at 11pm.  In Korea they really give you value for money.  The ice creams cost $1.20 aus and were 32 cm high.  Puts Wendy's to shame.

Day 2.  After a full day of shopping, we went to dinner and caught a live show - "Jump".  The show was a mixture of Martial Arts and Acrobatics.  Carlos our of an audience of 98% Koreans was selected on stage to show some of his acrobatic skills.

Team photo of the Australian team. Over 150 competitors from Australia, 7 from Qld.

Day 3 & 4.  Were the 2 days of sparring at the Korea Open in Cheong Ju.  Australia finished 3rd behind Korea and Jordan.  Instructor Shane Hartmann and myself both refereed at the competition.

The meals and service was excellent.  The University provided interpreters and tour guides for all the foreign visitors.  All competitors were provide with free meals and accommodation at the University during the competition.  

Day 5 & 6 - Two days were set aside for the Muye (Technical) competition.  None of us decided to go in the individual sectionon day 5.  We adopted to go into the local town and check out the markets.  Above are the Queensland entrants in the Muye competition.

Instructors Claudia and Michael preparing to go on stage for the Teams poomse.

Michael & Claudia performing Koryo 1 for the judges.  Unfortunately this form is not practised in Korea, which may have lead to a lower than normal score.

Instructors Wayne, Carlos and Shane performing Taebaek together.

Some of the Juniors Teams at the Korea Open.

Day 7 - The group got split up.  Michael and Claudia went to visit a friend in Sacheon while the rest went with the Australian team back to Seoul.  They trained at the Kukkiwon with Master Hae Man Park for 3 hours.  Above a picture of  Tans not Charlies Angels The guys then got on a bus for the 4 hour trip down to Daegu.

Day 7 - At 11pm we all met up at Master Chos dojang where we were greeted by one of the major organisations in Daegu.  

Here I was introducing the guys before we exchanged gifts and went out for a drink till 2am.  Our Korean friends stayed out till about 4am in the morning.

Day 8 - Master Moon and Master Lee, personally drove us down to Gyeong Ju the old capital of Korea in the Silla dynasty.  Gyeong Ju was the prettiest city with lost of history.  Its about 1.5 hours from daegu.

Whilst in Gyeong Ju, we met up with one of our old friends Un Hee Joo (2nd on left).  Un Hee studied English in Brisbane in 1996 for 18 months.  We stayed over night at a resort just outside on Ulsan.

Day 9 - Back to Daegu for the afternoon.  Michael and Claudia stayed with Master Sueng Ha Lee.  While the guys stayed with Mr Moon.  Above is a picture of Master Lees junior class.  Some of the students above visited our Buranda centre back in October 2003.

Day 9 - Back in Daegu we visited another Dojang which was running their Mums class during the day.

Day 10 - Was an early morning bus trip back to Seoul.  The trip took nearly 5 hours and gave us time to catch up on much needed sleep.  The plan for our last few hours in Korea was shopping.  Of course everyone wanted to go back to Kukkiwon to visit the Museum and the Martial Arts stores.  We ended up spending the rest of the afternoon there before getting a taxi to the Airport.