Perth to Incheon (via KL)

Our adventure begins with the collision of worlds- the Carters meet Max! After initial pleasantries and laughter came the vacant stares of people waiting 2 hours between international flight check-in and boarding. Pints helped, even if the concrete beer garden did not.

Flight 1: Perth, Australia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 4.20pm to 10.30pm (Perth time)
Emma's version of events:
1. Very excited about the flight and adventure ahead.
2. Starting to get a headache, and intense pins and needles in legs.
3. Dinner is served- not hungry.
4. Feeling awful- full on altitude sickness. Hurling up peanuts and airport cider into sick bag. Also splashed some on my sleeve and Brad's arm... Yuck.
5. Continue feeling shit. Try to lay back and sleep/relax til it passes. See Bradley with 2 beers and playing Galactica on his back-of-seat TV. He looks happy.
6. Four hours in nausea eases. Ready to eat and play tetris. My TV doesn't work and food service has now ended.
7. Land in KL feeling tired and hungry. Also smell like vomit.

Brad's version of events:
1. Very excited by TV on back of seats and extensive library of new release movies, TV series, and 1980s video games.
2. Discover that alcohol is free on the flight and press-button service.
3. Dinner is served- A lavish arrangement of delicately spiced chicken curry, beer, pesto pasta, beer, chocolate, cheese and crackers, beer, exotic fruits, beer, mango Weis bar, and beer.
4. Occasional sounds of whimpering and oesophageal spasms to my left disrupting Galactica progress. Other than that feeling great!
5. Torn between tending to semi-comotose partner (with possible internal bleeding) and preventing destruction of my spacecraft whilst destroying enemy airships. Clearly, chose the later.
6. Despite ongoing disruptions have completed level 34.
7. The city lights look pretty!

Flight 2: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Incheon, South Korea (11.30pm to 6.20am Perth time)
- We get stopped at the gate and airport security checks Emma's handluggage. (The item in question is Brad's new Midi keyboard!) Brad comments that the security officer looks like the fat Turkish prison guard from Midnight Express.
- In the plane noticed 3 engineers in heated discussion. Feel uneasy, but turns out they were just fixing a lighting issue (or that is what they want us to think anyway).
- Disappointment! No back-of-seat TVs on this plane.
- Midnight sandwiches were a pleasant touch. (The fact that Emma was not sick and they stayed in her stomach was also pleasant.)
- Emma goes to sleep. Brad can't sleep and fidgets for 6 hours. How can one sleep whilst holding your own head up?... It doesn't make sense.
- Breakfast is served at 5am. Omelette thing, grilled tomato, mushrooms, fruit, and a muesli bar. Lots of coffee. Life is looking up again.
- Arrive in Incheon still smelling faintly like vomit.
- We look like hell but visas are stamped without issue and we are free.

Incheon Island, South Korea
- Brad calls the hotel and within minutes a friendly looking Korean man ushers us to the hotel's shuttle van. He drives with conviction. He is a man who does not value his own life or that of his Westerner cargo. 160Kms per hour through 80 zone. No word of a lie- Would have taken photo of speedometer if did not think this would cause death/serious injury.
- Arrive at hotel. Go to sleep!
- Emma awakes with an urge to explore. Brad awakens with an urge to sleep more. Brad sleeps more. Emma goes exploring. As part of adventure buys a pink happy panda alarm clock, a pen, and some lunch. Very pleased with self :o)
- Brad wakes up and we go out for dinner. The menu has some items with English translations. We order 2 of these. What arrives at our table first is a tin pot with off-white and green things floating in water. There was also a bowl of rice cracker 'things'. We do not know whether to wash our hands in the water or if it is soup that we tip the rice things into. We signal for the waiter, Brad points to the items in question and shrugs his shoulders. He says “soup” (“idiot westerners”) and gives us small bowls to put it in. Brad tips crackers into his soup thinking they are like croutons. The waiters laughs at him, shakes his head, and demonstrates how to eat a rice cracker as per the normal style. (The soup tastes like ass by the way and perhaps would have been better with croutons.) Brad orders beer and Emma orders what she thinks is a fruity wine-spritzer, like a West Coast Cooler. Brad's beer is just beer but costs about 2 Aus dollars for king-brown sized bottle. Emma's is actually soju (the Korean equivalent of vodka or sake). It is nice, but strong. It costs about $1.50 Aus. Very impressive.
- The next day we are off to Daegu!