Sunny morning, slightly cooler than yesterday, but still pretty damn hot...

Changed money. Breakfast in Subway. Wanted to go to Starbucks, just for the coffee (which costs 3,000 won) but they didn't have any rolls.

After a lot of walking around in circles and asking directions I finally found the Singapore Airlines office. There was no problem changing the ticket, and I didn't have to pay anything. I would now have an extra three weeks, during which I intended going overland from Singapore to Bangkok, stopping off at Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Kota Bahru (and anywhere else that takes my fancy).

On my way I passed a number of women making kimchee. This is the staple of the Korean diet. It has become, through tradition and enduring style, almost a religious activity to prepare. The women spend hours cutting, washing and salting the cabbage and white radishes. Then they are dosed with red pepper, then garlicked and pickled, after which it is left to ferment. Although cabbage (or pe-tsai) kimchees appear to be the most common, there are also radish, turnip and cucumber kimchees. See the bottom of this page for a recipe for cucumber kimchee.

After searching around for a suitable restaurant to watch the Brazil-England quarter-final game, I found a little fish restaurant just a stone's throw from Millenium Plaza, run by a cheerful group of rotund middle-aged women. I could see why they were rotund—as they prepared the food they constantly nibbled at it. The fish was grilled outside. Along with soup and noodles in broth there were several side dishes, each one extremely hot and spicy.

The Beautiful Game

England scored first. Michael Owen took advantage of an error by Brazilian defender Lucio to give his side the lead. Then England allowed Ronaldinho to run through the heart of its defence to set up Rivaldo's equaliser deep into first-half injury time. After the break Ronaldinho floated a long-range free kick over Seaman. The goalie stood rooted to the spot as the ball went over his head. Ironically Ronaldinho was sent off seven minutes later, but England were not able to equalize.

After the game I headed to the bus-stop for the Seoul city tour. This went around the city centre, then crossed the river to the modern developments on the other side, and returned via the communications tower. The trip extended into the USA-Germany game, but since the driver was returning via Jongno, I managed to alight quite close to the hotel and dashed back to watch the second half in my room. German midfielder Michael Ballack scored on a header, and despite fierce attacking by the USA, the Germans were able to hold on to their lead.

In the third game today Turkey beat Senegal 1-0, when substitute Ilhan Mansiz swept home a golden goal four minutes into extra time.

Talk about sore losers! Perugia's chief executive has said that Ahn Jung-hwan would be let go for scoring against Italy. Ahn has been on loan to Perugia for two years.

"Ahn will never play for Perugia again," said Luciano Gaucci, Perugia's chairman. "What do you think I would do? That I would keep a player who ruined Italian footbal? He should have shown his talent while he was with us. He'll just have to go back to Korea and earn 100,000 lire (about 48 dollars) a month."

Irish Fans Applauded

Irish fans have been the best supporters of all the teams playing in Japan at the World Cup, Japan's tournament director Junji Ogura has said. Ogura told a news conference: "I've been very impressed by the Irish supporters. They gave amazing support to the Irish team and they were loved by the Japanese people.

"They taught Japan the joy of watching football. They were definitely the best supporters of the tournament so far." Ogura said the Irish fans were enthusiastic but well behaved.

During the tournament, 20 of the 32 teams taking part have played matches in Japan.

Ireland-Korea Site

There's an Ireland-Korea site here:
Seoul Shamrock.

Recipe for Cucumber Kimchee

(From Pearl S. Buck's Oriental Cookbook)
5 medium-sized cucumbers
1 tablespoon salt
2 scallions (ie, green onions), finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 teaspoon chopped red chile peppers
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water

Wash the cucumbers, cut unpeeled into quarters lengthwise and remove the seeds. Cut each piece into 2-inch strips and place in a bowl. Add the salt, mix thoroughly and allow to stand for 20 minutes. In another bowl mix the scallions, garlic and red chile peppers. Wash the salt from the cucumbers and drain. Combine with the onion mixture and salt and water. Mix well, put in a jar, cover and set aside for 2 days to a week.