Reflections on a trip to Kansai

I recently arrived back in Korea from a trip to Kansai in Japan. It wasn't my first trip to Japan, but it was certainly better than my previous trip to the Tokyo area last summer. I would like to do a quick review of each place we visited on the trip.

1) Kyoto: Simply marvelous. I'm not a fan of Japanese cities, I often find them to be messy and confusing, but Kyoto was different in almost every way. Kyoto felt like a true gem. The city itself was quite beautiful, combining the old and new. It was very easy to get around by bus, subway, tram and rail. We were only there for 3 days, but we loved this place. The food, the sights, the abundant green tea. It was amazing.

Welcome to Kyoto!

Review of Sights in Kyoto:

A) Nishiki Market: This is a famous Market in Kyoto, found to the west of the Gion district. It's a traditional style market with lots of traditional shops, some of which have apparently been there for centuries. Its a fun little stroll, and you will likely buy something from the many vendors there.

The famous market!

various foodstuffs at the market

Chopstick holders, I think!

B) Kiyomizudera : Kiyomizudera is an ancient temple that was first established in eastern Kyoto in the 8th Century. This temple is huge and absolutely magnificent. One of my favourite sites in Kyoto. As you leave the temple there is a long street filled with gift shops and green tea shops, selling a huge collection of wares. I highly recommend buying the rice cakes and bottled green tea. They are delicious!

Various pictures from the temple. It was amazing!

C)Kinkakuji : The famous and much talked about Golden temple of Kyoto. This is probably one of the most hyped up locations in Kyoto. Almost everyone recommends a visit to here. I on the other hand advise against it. It looks nice, sure, but I felt it was particularly poor value for money on account of how small the grounds actually are. I don't believe you can go inside either, when I was there they seemed to be going to great efforts to keep all the tourists visiting on a set path, very far away from the golden pavilion. It was busy, noisy and far too crowded to be enjoyable. My advice? Find a hill, zoom in on it with your camera and take a picture :)

The Golden Temple of Kinkakuji.

There is actually a sister site in Kyoto, The Silver temple Ginkakuji, which is nowhere near as famous. I have never been there, but I have heard that its actually a much better site to visit because you don't have to deal with the insane crowds.


D) Ryoanji: The famous Zen Buddhist rock garden. Supposedly the finest example in all of Japan, and I have to say it was quite impressive for a rock garden.However, this was another site that I felt suffered because it had become too popular. The purpose of the rock garden was that it was supposed to be a place of peace and tranquility. A place where you could stop and contemplate things while looking upon the simple design of the garden. We most certainly were unable to do that. If you go, you can expect kids running around and shouting, tourists talking loudly to each other and well...just people in general making a mockery of the very ideals behind the temple itself. The grounds of the temple were quite big and spacious though. It was a nice stroll, unlike at Kinkakuji.

The Rock garden of Ryoanji

E) Arashiyama Bamboo Forest: After you arrive in Arashiyama you have to do a bit of walking to find this place. Its close to Tenruji temple  I recommend visiting here if you have enough time. Its quite beautiful and the shade the Bamboo provides is also really handy during the summer as Kyoto is HOT.

This forest was really breathtaking!

F) Iwatayama Monkey Park : Now this place is just damn fun. Who doesn't like monkeys? The Monkey park is in Arashiyama, across the Togetsukyo bridge. After you buy your tickets you take a hike up the mountain and when you reach the top you will find the monkey park. There are dozens of Macaque monkeys running around quite freely, eating, playing, fighting, or just grooming each other. You can take pictures of them, or with them. If you go inside the cabin at the top of the mountain you can also feed the monkeys some small pieces of apple or nuts through the cabin windows.

outside the cabin

Feeeeeeed meeeee!

Honourable Mention: Oi River: After you visit the Monkey park, I recommend that you take a stroll down the riverside. Its quiet and romantic, so its quite nice if you are on vacation with a special someone.


2) Uji: Uji is very famous for its green tea. It is said that Uji produces the highest quality green tea in all of Japan and I have to say, it does not disappoint in that regard. Uji green tea is an absolute pleasure to drink.  It's also a very beautiful place, the beauty of it is just striking. We spent an afternoon here looking around this area and visited the following places

Review of Sights in Uji:

A) Byodoin Temple: This temple was founded around 900 years ago and the fact that it is etched on the bag of every single 10yen coin signifies its importance in Japanese history. I was quite looking forward to seeing this magnificent temple, but alas, it was not to be. The temple building is undergoing some maintenance work and won't be open until mid 2014 at the earliest. On the upside, the entry fee was massively reduced and you can still wander around the grounds of the temple and visit the museum that houses some important artifacts from the temple. A bit of a disappointment, but not much that could be done. For the same reason, we were unable to visit the Ujigami shrine.

Well THAT sucked.

B) Koshoji Temple: This temple was a short walk east along the northern bank of the Uji river. It was a rather beautiful temple off the beaten path. It was free to visit too. It's not particularly big, but set against the mountainside it does have a certain kind of beauty to it. I would definitely recommend visiting if you have the time

C) Cormorant fishing: If you want to watch a traditional way of fishing, this is the place to go. In this style of fishing, the fisherman train the birds to catch the fish for them, instead of using a fishing rod or net to do the work. from 6.30pm onwards you can watch this event from a boat or a bridge on the Uji river. Its quite interesting to say the least.

3) Nara: Nara reminds me of Kamakura, near Yokohama. It has a quintessentially laid back and peaceful feel to it. Like Kamakura, it is steeped in history and filled with various beautiful shrines and parks. I think this place is definitely a must see for any visitor to the Kansai area. The city is also filled with deer. DEER! Sadly, we were only here for half a day. You could easily spend a full day here, there is so much to see.



Review of Sights in Nara:

A) Kofukuji Temple: This temple has its origins in the 7th and 8th centuries and is a UNESCO world heritage site. It's a grand old temple located right in Central Nara. Unfortunately, one of the buildings at the temple is currently undergoing a renovation and won't be open for another year. On the flip side, there were quite a few deer roaming around harassing anyone with food, it was quite a funny sight to watch.

Quite a pretty little temple

This is what happens when you tease a deer with food! This was just too funny for us to NOT take a picture of.

B)Todaiji Temple: This is a huge temple located in central Nara park. It dominates the park in every way, and like the above Kofukuji temple, it is also a UNESCO site. The main hall itself is a 1709 reconstruction of a reconstruction of the original temple and up until 15 years ago it was the largest wooden building in the world. It is pretty magnificent to look upon. It's even more amazing when you realise that the current reconstruction is actually a smaller version of the original building. Inside the temple you will find one of the largest and oldest bronze Buddhas in the world, constructed by the Emperor Shomu in the 8th century. This thing apparently almost bankrupted ancient Japan!

This Buddha statue was huge, though maybe a little smaller than the Kamakura Buddha

Honourable Mention: East side of Nara Park: If you go east from Todaiji temple you will find a multitude of shrines and temples along the hillside. All of these are worth a visit as they offer both beautiful architecture and an amazing view of Nara city.


4) Kobe: Kobe, the famous port city of Japan. We didn't actually spend very long here, so I can't really say much about it. It seemed like a very cosmopolitan place though, a bit like Yokohama. While here, we went up the Kobe ropeway to the herb gardens to see the night view of Kobe city. Word of warning though, be damn careful up there. While there I was stung or bitten by some kind of flying insect. I suspect it was the Japanese Hornet, but I can't be sure. Whatever it was, it hurt like hell for a few hours

Kobe at night.

5) Osaka: What can I say... Osaka looks like Tokyo, it feels like Tokyo, only its a dozen times more humid :P. I'm not a fan of these kind of cities, so I can't really give an unbiased opinion of it. If you like Tokyo, you will like Osaka. If, like me,  you hate Tokyo, then you probably won't like it much.

Review of Sights in Osaka:

A) Osaka Castle: Sure, this castle might be a concrete reconstruction of a previous castle that was destroyed, but its still worth seeing. The view from the top is pretty sweet and the museum inside is filled with historical artifacts from Osaka's past. The grounds of the castle are quite nice too. Its a pity that Osaka is so hot though, otherwise it would certainly have been a nice picnic location.

Osaka's famous replica castle

B) Dotunbori : Quite possibly the most famous place in Osaka. Its always filled with tourists and is generally a must see for any visitor to Osaka. Its lined with shops from one end to the other, catering to just about every part of society.Its also famous for its food, namely Takoyaki and Okonomiyaki. If you like food and cakes, go here.

6) Himeji: Himeji...Himeji...Himeji.... This was one place above all else that I wanted to visit in Kansai. There is really only one thing people go to Himeji to see and that is its castle. That was precisely why I wanted to make the journey to this place.

Review of Sights in Himeji: 

A) Himeji Castle: If there is one place in Japan that so thoroughly disappointed me then it was Himeji. The town itself is quite nice and has a small market similar to that of Nishiki in Kyoto. However despite all the advertisement this place gets the moment you enter Kansai airport and see posters of it lining the walls on the way to the airport railroad, what they forget to tell you is that it is also currently undergoing maintenance, and has been for a while now. It won't be ready for the public to see until mid 2014 at the earliest.

Now you can imagine out disappointment when we arrived at Himeji only to see a huge scaffold looming over the city where the castle should have been. You can still visit the castle grounds (at a cost!) and you can pay money to go up and have the 'privilege' of seeing the construction work in progress, but honestly that is just a waste of money. Himeji was a total let down in every possible way.

Advertisement vs Reality

All in all, It was a great trip. I would definitely visit Kyoto again in a heartbeat. There were just so many things that we didn't have time to look at. Likewise for Nara. I'd probably give Himeji a wide bearth though!

B

'Staycation' - Are you eff'in Serious BBC?

Have you ever had strong feelings of dislike towards a 'word'? By 'word' I mean one of those awful awkward portmanteaus created by some bumbling idiot somewhere on this planet and then subsequently picked up by the media, who treat it as if it is a rock-star of a buzzword. Now I don't particularly mind them when they are used on internet forums. Forums are not supposed to be taken seriously, nor are they supposed to be a beacon of journalistic competence. The BBC on the other-hand....

I came across this little gem from the BBC this morning:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-23397289

Headline: 

France ministers told by Hollande to 'choose staycation'

What the hell did I just read?

For some reason, unbeknownst to humanity, The BBC has utterly fallen head over heels in love with 'staycation' - quite possibly the dumbest portmanteau ever created. Maybe they are trying to show that they are hip and cool by using a word that sounds "new" and "edgy," but I see this as a shining example of the way the BBC's journalistic standards(and credibility!) have gone down the toilet these days.

I mean seriously, they did a report on the French president, using this abomination of a 'word'. We know for a fact that that's not what Hollande actually said anyway, because 'staycation' is not a French word and French politicians tend to strongly resist using English buzzwords. Its mind boggling to think that the BBC tried to pass that article off as serious reporting. Where do they get their journalists from these days? I would expect this kind of crap from dirty rags like the Sun or Daily Mail, but not the bloody BBC. Standards, please!

Lets break it down for a minute and go back to the original word, vacation.
To go on vacation just means to have a break from work or duties, regardless of where you actually go. You could go to China, go to space, or just stay home, kick back and sleep all week. That is all vacation means. To have an extended break. If we take 'staycation' to mean to have a vacation in your home country, Its completely and utterly redundant because vacation already covers that. Its still a vacation (If not, then we suddenly have to retcon most of those travellers before the era of flight as 'staycationers' as we must be consistent here!).

All aboard the staycation express! Circa 1880  -_-

Another interpretation I have heard is that during a 'staycation' you stay at home and do work or duties during your vacation period. Sorry to say though, if that is the case you are just sugarcoating the fact that you are working(and perhaps being exploited!) during your vacation time. Work is work. Are we really that infantile as a species that we need to sugarcoat everything bad with a word that makes it sound 'nicer'?

Hint: If you do any sort of work, its not a vacation, or any kind of -cation

In closing, can we kill this 'word' with fire? Lots and lots of fire.

Now, a question for my readers. Is there any particular word(that has recently become mainstream) that you have a strong dislike for? Reply below!

B

The Shocking Video - The plot thickens!

In my last post I discussed a short but shocking video of 2 men abusing a woman at a Korean club, and how it reflects on society in general. The video, fake or real, highlighted something that generally happens in one way or another across the world, and the responses from commentators on that Facebook page highlighted the age old problem of victim blaming that is still alive and well today.

 As of today, there are now allegations floating around that the video was staged in 2011 and all 3 of the individuals involved in it were paid actors. More information can be found in the comments section of the following article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/07/15/koreas-web-community-roiled-by-shocking-video-of-western-men-tormenting-a-local-woman/

"This is a video made in Bedlam bar in Itaewon in January 2011. All the people were paid actors / actresses. The director is Korean and wanted to get famous for doing some edgy viral videos. This is one of them. He tried to release this over 2 years ago and nothing happened all the websites took it down for its graphic content. I know all this because I am one of the men in this video. I do not condone the actions that I did. But this was a paid acting job no one was hurt. The actress was wearing fake gums to make her teeth look bad and everyone left the shoot smiling and shaking hands. I have passed on this webpage to the director asking him to come forward. It is up to him if he wants to reveal himself. 2 and a half years ago he wanted this kind of fame I do not know if it will do his current career any good."

 This does seem to fill in many of the blanks in the video, though it does raise questions over just what exactly possessed the Irish man, American man and Korean woman to take part in this video in the first place. Surely the must have realized that this video plays right into the hands of the people who dislike foreigners and want to restrict the rights of women, no? I guess money trumps reason every time.

One for each of the trio of actors, if true.

 As I said before in my previous blog post, the video may very well have been staged (and sounds like it with this new claim), but it does unintentionally serve another purpose as it, and the controversy surrounding it are more or less a reflection on the way many men behave around women, as well as the victim blaming that those women face when incidents like the said video go viral on the internet.

That's just my thoughts on this issue.


 B


Edit: And it has now been confirmed, the video was indeed staged.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130716001008

A Plague on All Our Houses - The Mistreatment of Women in Society

"Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law without contradiction." - Immanuel Kant, Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals

The above is one of the strongest beliefs I hold. It is the first formulation of the categorical imperative by Kant and basically states that you should never do something that you wouldn't want other people to do to you, if the shoes were on the other foot. I shouldn't kill others because I wouldn't want it done to me. I shouldn't steal because I wouldn't want it done to me.

This forms a bedrock for my actions. Something that I reference my behavior from. I'm human, and I want to be respected as a human by others, so its only right that I show everyone else on this planet the same courtesies that I would like shown to me. Not everyone holds this belief and I can accept that. But when I see videos like the one that has been doing the rounds on the Korean corner of Facebook lately, and I see the sheer level of disrespect shown by some men towards women in this day and age, it truly makes my blood boil.

Now, here is the video. Be warned though, this video is deeply disturbing. I would strongly recommend that you do not watch it, especially if you have ever suffered mistreatment at the hands of a sleazy prat like the fellows in the video. If you would rather skip the video, read below for a quick overview of what happens.

BE WARNED. DISTURBING SCENES:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=159783374204781

A drunken Korean girl is sitting down looking rather dazed. An American films her and makes lewd comments about her body. Sitting beside her is an Irishman who begins to touch her inappropriately. From the video, I can't make out if she even knows them or not, but I assume not as she doesn't seem to understand their English. The man beside her decides that its an awesome idea to put his finger up her nose(disgusting freak of a man!) and then proceeded to make her eat the contents while he and his mate laughed. What kind of sick fetishist does that? The man touching her then notices her teeth and says shouts many explicates about them (Oh the irony! People on the eastern side of the Atlantic are not known for their good teeth!) The American proceeds to join in with the abuse hurling and both men say many derogatory things about Korean women.

That old stereotype about Irish and British teeth. Oddly relevant here

Now, where to begin... There is a lot of heat going around the Korean sphere of the internet right now. That heat is directed at both the guys in the video, and the poor girl who was abused by the guys (Can you say victim blaming?). I want to talk about the fires raging in both directions.
First, with regards to the men in the video, many of the angry commentators are brushing them off as just Yankee scum(not quite true, unless Ireland is the 51st State). I feel that is quite a dangerous line of thinking though, as it will merely promote more baseless hatred and distrust towards all western foreigners, regardless of disposition. This is after all the kind of think that groups like the Anti-English Spectrum thrive on. No, I do not think this is just a "western men" thing. You would have to be born yesterday to think such foolish things. This is a "Men in general" thing. This is not because of race, or any specific culture. This is a systematic failure of men across the board. No matter what culture we come from, many of us fail to show women the respect that they deserve by virtue of being human. Many of us treat women like objects, or animals and that, quite frankly, is appalling.


There are many examples of this, but let me focus on the whole club culture thing for a bit. As we saw in the video, this took place at a club (probably in itaewon)

Itaewon, a hive of villainy at night.

Now, as you all know, clubs can often feel like an ocean of people and for some reason, that ocean of people always seems to bring out the predatory shark in a number of guys. This happens in Seoul. This happens in Glasgow, This happens in Boston. This happens all over the world. Its not a "Foreigner thing" or a "Korean thing". Go into a club, and you are bound to find a school of sharkmen circling around any girl who has been cut off from her friends(usually by the said sharkmen). They won't strike up eye contact and try to talk to the girl, rather, they will sneak up behind her like a ninja and begin thrusting away/grinding. In their defense, they will claim that she was asking for it just by virtue of being there, or wearing a short dress, ignoring the fact that she may have just came to party WITH HER FRIENDS. These sharks go around looking for the most vulnerable girl in the club, and then jump on her. I've seen foreign guys do it. I've seen Korean guys do it. Usually the girl is so drunk that she can't fight him off, not while he holds her tight anyway. Sometimes it gets really bad...and well you can guess what happens. Its disgusting. 

Wanna dance?

Now on the other side, some naysayers might say that it's the girls fault for getting drunk, or the girls fault for putting herself in that position, or the girls fault for wearing a dress so skimpy that guys get the wrong impression about her.  To this, I say BULLSHIT. That is blatant victim blaming. This is not only offensive to women, because you are basically demeaning them to mere sex objects that should have less freedoms than we do(and ergo, inferior by that line of thought), but it's also offensive to men because you are demeaning us by casting us all as hungry lust filled beasts that can't control ourselves when we see a little skin. I'm not like that, and I'm sure that if you are reading this, you are not either. Part of being human is being able to control your base impulses, it's what separates us from lower living organisms like mice and cockroaches. It's called self control. It's called willpower.  Why should women bear the blame when a man is deficient in willpower? 

We need to stop casting blame on women in these situations. The girl may have made a mistake by drinking too much, but its just that. A mistake.  If a guy drank too much and got into this state, no one would bat an eyelid. No one would call him nasty names such as 'gigalo' or 'rent boy'. No one would make derogatory comments about him other than "haha lightweight!" Why must it be seen as such an evil sin if a girl does the same? The Korean commentators on the original video referred to her at various times as 'a prostitute', 'whore' and 'pathetic woman'. These are baseless judgments from idiots.  What basis are they making these claims on? Because she was drunk? Because there were 2 guys filming her? That's a mighty double standard there.
What right do we men have to talk down to women about the dangers of drinking in public, and then publicly disparage them as careless *insert explicative here*, when we refuse to do the same to men, or worse, pat ourselves on the back for drinking each other under the table.  What right do we have to be condescending bastards about something women have known for a very long time, when we in fact should be teaching our sons and grandsons that it's NOT okay to act like wild animals, that it's NOT okay to show women less respect than you would show a man, regardless of the situation.

Now, getting back onto the video, she may have made a mistake, but she is blameless from the moment the men started to abuse her.

The men in the video, quite rightly, deserve the full blame for this incident. They filmed her. They touched her, they hurled abuse at her. They acted like wild animals. That is not how we men are supposed to act. This video should be a lesson and a reminder, not for foreigners in Korea or Korean women, as the media here will try to no doubt paint it as, but for men in general. We need to teach our sons to be gentlemen, not rampant, uncontrollable wildebeest that cause trouble and respect no one.

Gimme your man-card punk!

Now, I am fully aware that this video may not be all that it seems. All mentions of it lead back to one source, which is a shock jockey Facebook page. All videos on the page are only there for the purpose of shocking the viewer. I have tried to find this video on Youtube and Naver to no avail. It does raise some suspicions, but I digress, there is currently no evidence out there that it is anything other than real.
Even if its not all that it seems, it still raises a number of questions about the way women are treated by men in society.. It might not be real, but we all know fine well that scenes like the above are constantly happening across the world.

Anyway, Peace out.

B

So you wanna teach in Asia?

I left Scotland in 2010 to teach English in South Korea. My original plan was to stay only for a year, but 3 years later, I'm still going strong. I'm not a veteran by any means. I know westerners who have been here for 5 years, 10 years, 20 years, etc. I also know a few who just drift between countries in Asia on a yearly basis, living the life, so to speak. My experience pales in comparison to theirs, but still I wish to add my views regardless, in the hope that it might help someone out.

Now, there are a huuuuuge number of options out here for budding English teachers. I'm not going to go into a great deal of detail, but I will reveal the fruits of my investigations from the past.

The first option is of course my choice: The Republic of Korea.
It's not that difficult to land a teaching job out here in Korea. Most people can get away with just a  BA in Harry Potter studies. The BA part is important, the rest...less so. Still the degree doesn't reflect the qualities of the potential teacher. I know many people with just a BA in something who are wonderful people and really devoted teachers. It IS possible in theory to land a gig here with an Associates degree, provided you go through the government  sponsored TaLK programme, but you are more likely to loose out to people who are still in their studies(as the programme is all about catering to that specific demographic!)

Provided you do actually want to teach in Korea, there are two avenues you can go down. Public and Private. Public is the safe option, you work at government funded schools along side Korean teachers. A word of warning though. Many of these positions are being slowly phased out. Getting jobs in the cities these days is becoming more and more difficult. Still, it should be easy enough if you don't mind living out in the middle of nowhere.

The other option is that you go Private. Private jobs at Hagwons (private academies) are numerous but quality can be extremely variable. Some are amazing, some are terrible. Its a crapshoot, but as long as you do your research and ask questions you should* be OK.

*Disclaimer: I bear no responsibility for any shitstorm that occurs should you happen to sign a contract with a nasty evil hagwon (they do exist sadly)

For teaching in Korea I suggest that you look at the following websites:
http://www.eslcafe.com/
http://www.waygook.org/

Esl cafe does have a very lively job board that is packed with positions. Both websites have forums that have many helpful topics. ESL cafe was a huge help for me when I took my first steps on the path to working here. I actually found my very first job in Uiryeong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do though that website.

If you do decide to teach in Korea, there are many hoops that you have to jump through, but they will become apparent as soon as you begin to look into it


The second option is The Republic of China (Taiwan)
Before I came to Korea, my original plan actually was to work in Taiwan. As a result, I did quite a bit of research on this topic. I learned that Jobs in Taiwan come in 3 tiers depending on your qualification

Associates Degree + TESOL certificate
Bachelors Degree
Bachelors Degree + Teaching Certificate from your home country

If you have an Associates degree, you can get a job at a private academy (much like the Korean Hagwon), but you will get paid much less than you would if you had a BA. No biggie though right? Work is work.
If you have a Bachelors degree, then you can work the same jobs, but you should get paid more.
Now, if you happen to have the lucky holy grail that is a Teaching Certificate, then you can teach at public schools in Taiwan. Congratulations, you lucky boy/girl!

I'm not an expert on this by any means, I haven't worked in Taiwan, only researched it so I'm not sure what hoops one has to jump though these days to teach there. You can find out more information at the ESL cafe international job forums.
http://www.eslcafe.com/

A better resource though would be to look at Forumosa, the website for the western expat community in Taiwan
http://www.forumosa.com/taiwan/
Compared to ESL cafe, that place is an absolute treasure trove of information.

Website I remember from the past: A standard English private school chain
http://www.hess.com.tw/en/ (They also have opportunities for Native French Speakers

A recruiter for public schools in Taiwan
http://www.esldewey.com.tw/joblisting.php (They have privates on their website too, but you will find public jobs here)

From what I heard, pay is similar to that of Korea, but unlike in Korea, you will have to pay for your own flights and accommodation.

Another popular option these days is the Peoples Republic of China
Admittedly I haven't done a great deal of research on this topic, only a brief few days of investigating. I do remember quite clearly though there are two big kinds of jobs in China. Universities and Private schools.
At Universities, your pay will be low, but you will get lots of vacation, short work hours and the cool title of professor. All this can be yours with just a BA degree.
Privates from what I understand are fairly similar to what you can expect in the rest of Asia. Again I am no expert on this, and would love for someone to correct me if I am wrong.

Again, ESL cafe might be your friend if you want to work in China. Use the International job forum for advice, and the China job board to find jobs.
http://www.eslcafe.com/

Another website I remember that had many University positions back in 2010
http://www.anesl.com/schools/index.asp

There are a huge amount of recruiters these days for jobs in China, so finding one shouldn't be too hard, Just remember the golden rule for working abroad. ASK QUESTIONS and READ THE CONTRACT before you sign anything :P

Of course, there is the granddaddy of all the ESL gigs, teaching in Japan
The only research I have done on this topic that is still relevant is with regards to the JET programme. A bunch of private schools I researched back in 2010 have all collapsed now. For the JET programme, I believe they have a once yearly intake. Its a long process from what I gather, and has many steps, but if you pass each stage,  you will get assigned a public school in Japan. There is also another programme called INTERAC which I don't know a great deal about, but apparently it places you at public schools too (though I have heard terrible reviews about it, but it depends on the person I guess)

http://www.jetprogramme.org/
http://www.interacnetwork.com/recruit/

Now, if you happen to be British, you can get a working holiday Visa and work a few short term, part time jobs in Japan(if I recall correctly), which means you can bypass the larger programmes. You might want to look at the following website for jobs and advice:
http://www.gaijinpot.com/

Finally, there are options available in Thailand and Vietnam too, but I haven't done any research on those options at all, so would feel deeply uncomfortable giving any suggestions. If you want to work there, I suggest you ask about those countries on the ESL cafe.

Anyway, I hope this post is of use to anyone who is thinking about teaching abroad, but doesn't really have the faintest clue about where to look. Enjoy!


B

Attempt number 2 at a blog. Can I maintain it this time? hoho

Welcome to my new corner of the interwebs.

Well, this is my second attempt at making a blog. My last attempt in 2011 was pretty much a failure as I lost interest a month later. Lets hope this one lasts longer!

In my last attempt I was going to just talk about my experiences in Korea, but then I realised.....I'm only doing what every other expat here is doing. That's not creative at all. That is precisely why I quickly got bored.

A few months ago, I was asked to start up a blog again, after giving a roundhouse defense of some issues on a friends facebook profile. I thought long and hard about it. Could I keep myself interested in writing? Or would it just have a few weeks of life, before going off to die in a small corner of the interwebs like my last blog. Ultimately, I decided that I might as well give it a try(as you can see by this blog existing). This time though, I'll greatly expand the topics I will talk about. Experiences in Korea, will occasionally be mentioned, but I actually want to talk more about the world in general. Everything is fair game in my view really... Human rights, the perilous state of the UK,  the Scottish independence debate and many more topics.

In time I also hope to maybe even have a restaurant review, given I run a dining meetup group over here in Korea.

Anyway, that's enough for now. Signing out!

B