Today on The Nomad Files I am joined by Chris Walker-Bush of Aussie on the Road. Chris packed up his life to move halfway around the world not knowing what awaited on the other side 7 years ago and in this time has built up the longest, most varied and achievable bucket list I’ve ever seen. Impressively, he both continues to check things off and add to it at a steady pace. Well let’s get into it.
Tell us a bit about your story and what types of adventures you go after.
I was in a bit of a shitty place after graduating from university. I was back in my hometown working a retail job and basically apologising to everybody who expected me to be doing something more exciting with my life.
A friend of mine suggested I try my hand at teaching in Korea and, drunk, I applied for a job. A month later I was standing in an empty Korean apartment halfway around the world with a carton of milk in one hand and abject terror gripping my heart.
I’ve been hooked ever since.
In the last seven years I’ve only travelled to 14 countries but spent over two years each living in both South Korea and China. I’ve taught English, written and starred in a pilot for a Chinese sitcom, run a pub crawl, volunteered in disadvantaged provincial schools, romanced a United Nations of women, seem some amazing things, dressed in drag a few too many times, and basically tried to live each day as if it were my last.
Life is too short to be wasted on being ordinary. I try to squeeze as much enjoyment from each day as I can.
What an incredible opening – I’d love to see that sitcom! Do you have a particular song/video/poem/other that particularly inspires you to travel?
You know, I’ve never really thought about it. Into the Wild and The Darjeeling Limited are both travel movies I enjoy a great deal, and Entourage certainly encouraged me to want a lot more from life when I was working retail and generally hating life.
If I had to choose, I’d say that the writing of Bill Bryson and the immortal words of Dr. Seuss in Oh the Places You’ll Go motivate me the most. That, and the countless other travel bloggers who inspire admiration and envy in equal measure with their adventures.
Can you let us in on a secret? What is one place or town in the world that you’ve been to that was truly ‘the road less travelled’?
South Korea is hardly a secret, but I feel like the country is often overlooked on Asian itineraries in favour of neighbouring Japan and China.
South Korea markets itself as the Land of the Morning Calm, and there’s certainly a lot of beauty to be found in its mountain parks and temples. I like to say it’s a wonderfully happy medium between China and Japan. Not quite so modernised and westernized as Japan, but not as stuck in its ways (or over-crowded) as China.
There’s a wonderful quirkiness to the Korean people that I find really endearing, and in my mind, their food is fantastic as well.
How true, and the three are probably overlooked by many in favour of the backpacking mecca that is SE Asia. Tell us what you did in Korea and why it should move higher up my bucket list?
I called South Korea home for over two years, so I got to see and do a lot. I spent most of my time down south in the city of Gwangju, which is a fantastic staging point as it’s linked by train and bus to pretty much every city and village you’d want to visit.
It’s a great launching off spot to explore the islands and coastline of the south – places like Mokpo, Wando, and even tropical Jejudo are all pretty easily reachable from this southern city.
The country is littered with mountain parks with hiking trails for the outdoor nut, and the peninsula lends itself to lots of breathtaking views from cliffs overlooking the ocean or windswept beaches.
Koreans love a good festival as well, and every month of the year you’re going to find some cultural event or quirky festival to immerse yourself in. Of particular note are Jinhae’s Cherry Blossom Festival in April/May, the Jinju Lantern Festival in October, the Gwangju Kimchi Festival in October, and the debauched Mud Festival in July.
Related: if you’re heading to the capital, this suggested itinerary to Seoul may help.
And what was it that actually inspired you to go there in the first place?
I’d had no interest in visiting Korea right up until the moment I boarded a plane and went halfway around the world to live there. Aside from the country’s role in hosting the 2002 World Cup and childhood reruns of M*A*S*H, I knew nothing about it.
Seeing my plight at hating my life, a friend of a friend forwarded me details on a job and I went from there.
That’s about the extent of my knowledge as well, beyond of course, being a brief stopover on my flight to Europe. What was the food like? Was it different to anything you’d experienced before?
Oh my gosh, I adore Korean food. I think I ate more Korean food while living in China than I did Chinese food.
Dining in Korea is very much a social activity. Whether you’re sharing a big bowl of soup or hovering over the communal hotplate at a galbi or seomgyeopsal restaurant, you’re doing it as a group rather than as individuals sharing a table. With a bit of beer or soju, you’re in for a big night of eating and drinking.
The Korean diet is equal parts meat/fish and various forms of pickled vegetables (kimchi). It’s a bit of an acquired taste, but I don’t know many people who left Korea without a profound love of both kimchi and the cuisine as a whole.
Could you explain a bit about the culture of the places you spent time in Korea? Sounds like you were actually quite immersed in the culture from the start.
I was lucky enough to make some Korean friends, but I also had the pleasure of teaching bright-eyed kids aged 4-16 across two different schools in South Korea. Koreans share a lot of personality traits with the Chinese and Japanese (although they’d hate it if you told them that, haha), but they’ve got a unique optimism and national pride that’s hard not to love.
Much like Aussies, Koreans love to hear about their country. If I meet a Korean abroad and say I’ve been to Korea, they’re so excited to talk about my experience with me. They’re a really warm and welcoming people; genuinely pleased that you’re enjoying their country and its culture. They’ve got an inordinate amount of pride in kimchi, and a stubborn belief that they invented many things that China/Japan often get credit for such as noraebang (karaoke).
Korean pop music (K-Pop) is syrupy sweet madness, the younger locals have a zany sense of fashion (and all year is short skirt season), and fan death is very real and very terrifying.
Was there anything you actually missed out on doing in Korea that you wish you had?
I really didn’t explore the width and breadth of Korea as I should have. Big tracts of the eastern and western coast went unexplored, and I never made it to some of the country’s more iconic national parks.
If I had it all over again, I’d have loved to visit Ulleongdo – an isolated and stunning island in the Sea of Japan.
Or the East Sea, as the Koreans prefer to call it.
Got any tips for those of us wishing to visit Korea soon?
Eat Korean food as often as possible! There’s great Western food available in most cities, but Korean BBQ is to die for.
Go out and experience the night life. Korea really comes to life after dark, and even on weeknights the bars and restaurants are filled until the wee hours.
Talk to Koreans about their country. They’re very proud of their country, and they’ll be eager to share they favourite places with you.
Don’t overlook Korea’s tragic past. Visit places like the DMZ, the UN Memorial in Busan, and the Gwangju Massacre Memorial. Be stunned by the serenity of the country’s temples.
Get to any festival you can! Even the weirder ones (like Wando’s Slow Walking Festival) are a fun cultural experience.
Ha! Slow walking festival, I’m certainly intrigued. Changing lanes a little now, can you share with us one hidden secret of a favourite city of yours that people would likely skip past unless they knew about it?
I’ll go with the swerve and talk a little bit about designing your own brewery tour in Portland, Oregon. There’s an abundance of great craft beer places and restaurant scattered around my favourite US city, so it’s quite easy to sit down with Google Maps and plot out a course all of your own.
Walking between bars helps you stay sober between sample floats of beer, and most of them also have pretty damned good on site restaurants so you can line your stomach. It makes for a decadent but very fun day’s exploration.
Craft beer walking tour, a man after my own heart! Can you recommend 3 of your favourite travel blogs?
I’m a big fan of Leave Your Daily Hell and LL World Tour. I had the pleasure of traveling with Robert and Lisa while on safari in Tanzania last year, and their personalities shine through in their sites. Robert’s site, in particular, is a major source of inspiration/envy for me.
yTravelBlog is an Aussie travel blog that I really enjoy reading. Caz & Craig are such down to earth and lovely people, and their site is full of interesting content and advice.
And if I may include a fourth blogger whose work I really enjoy, Rae from The World in Your Palm does some great stuff. She’s a real pleasure to read.
Where do you hang out on the internet and social media for us to come visit?
My site is www.aussieontheroad.com, and I’m excited to say it will have a sexy new look within the next month or two.
You can also find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Thanks for joining us today on the Nomad Files, Chris. Everyone, make sure to go stalk Chris on the socials. And if you would like to be a part of the Nomad Files, send me an email on my contact page, and we’ll get started.
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