Yesterday was a very exciting day for me because I got my first climbing experience of my life. First of all Anne-Marie my climbing teacher gave me some important information about what to know about climbing. She taught me about the names of all the equipment and in the beginning it was very hard for me to remember them. When I tried to repeat the names I always mixed it up. The croll I named chrumb for example and I could only remember petzl stop because it reminded me of a German cartoon figure. But not only the names were quite difficult to remember also their functions.

At that moment I was sure that I would never be able to climb… After one hour of hard work, I think much harder for Anne-Marie than for me, not able to say the right names I put myself on the rope and was very skeptical if I could do that. But after the theory I definitely wanted to see how it would work in reality. So I made my first steps on the rope and soon I was 2 meters above the ground. I thought that it was not very high and after going down again I went a little bit higher. All the time Anne-Marie stayed next to me and supported me in everything I did. After arriving at the ground again I needed a break and a chair. When I looked at the mast from a little distance I knew that I wanted to climb to the top and so I was very excited when we started to climb again. Without looking under me Anne-Marie and I went higher and higher and I was very surprised when we reached the middle. But that was not enough. We went on and on and soon I was so high in the air that I was afraid to look below me.

Finally I did it and it was such a great feeling. I liked it very much and I hung there for about ten minutes and enjoyed everything. The fantastic view over our embassy and the whole area, the wind that cooled down my hot body and of course the feeling that I made it. It was amazing. But I knew that I could not stay in the air forever and because of that we changed from the ascender to the descender to get down. After a minute I reached the ground and my first trip was over. I am sure that I will climb again and again and I hope that after a while of practicing I will learn everything, even the names.

By Katrin Enders

Yesterday I had an experience that I still cant quite believe.

On the spur of the moment, I was asked to give a talk at the Ulsan public school. Chang Yong (our ‘Mr. Fix It’ here in Korea), Je Jong (our interpreter ) and I arrived amidst giggles and stares. We went into a studio and did a closed circuit presentation to the entire school which consisted of 1,200 Korean school girls.

Despite a few technical glitches it went really well. We took some photos with the AV staff in the studio and when we began to leave it turned into a scene from the Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night
except the girls were Korean rather the British & American with bad hairdos. We literally could not get out of the studio, when we opened the door we were forced back inside by little girls with cell phone cameras. We tried to make our way into the hall but were forced back into the studio.

So the teachers closed the door and cleared the hall. Ten minutes later, we ran to the car grabbing our shoes on the way out the door. We are followed by dozens of girls again snapping photos. As we were leaving, there were little girls in uniforms hanging out of every window waving goodbye.

Unbelievable! The Beatles aint got nothin’ on Greenpeace!

Jim Riccio.

The international team of activists currently here at the Whale Embassy in Jangsaengpo, from left to right: Juan, Anne-Marie, Katrin, Melanie, Ben, Jim, Steph, James, Jutta, and Adrian.

Today we (Juan, Katrin and Melanie) went downtown to hand out flyers and engage with the local students in front of the University of Ulsan. We made 600 copies in a local copyshop and headed directly to the entrance of the campus. In the beginning we felt a little anxious and shy as we started to hand out our self-made handout flyers to the students passing by.

We were very surprised by the kindness of the Korean students and so we soon shedded our insecurity. It was fantastic how Korean people were so interested in our work. We could watch them reading our handout very intensively. The bundle of 600 copies melted very fast to a minimum and after only 45 minutes it totally disappeared.

We hope many of the students will act upon our invitation and visit our exhibition at the Whale Embassy to get to know more about the threats facing whales and why we're here in Jangsaengpo.

My name is Jun, Je Jung. I am 25 years old and I have some experience working in America. That means I can speak English that is good enough to talk with people, share ideas and translate accurately.

I always wanted to work with an NGO and I’d heard about Greenpeace and greatly respect their work. When my professor told me that Greenpeace needed someone who can speak Korean and English who could be in Ulsan (which is 5 hours away from where I live) that sounded like a great job for me.

It is hard to believe that I am a translator working with Greenpeace on this campaign. But it is true! Even though I make a few mistakes (even now) I am here at the Whale Embassy and it is special Karma for me.

Je Jung wearing a climbing harness for the first time in his life.

A nod, a bow and acknowledging the god within you. (Hands in prayer and a slight bow)

These three things seem to go a long way here in Korea. Especially when my Korean vocabulary consists of two phrases and a word.

An Yong Ha Seyo = Hello

Kam sa ham mi da = Thank you

Kore = Whale (and Dolphin)

Steph has figured our how to say "I am a vegetarian" in Korean. And I had better learn it too. Just in case I get offered an entree of Fido.

The days have been filled with camp chores: digging ditches to prevent rain from flooding the embassy, digging holes in rock to put up posts and tarp, gasoline runs to keep the generator going, grocery runs to keep the camp fed. In between chores there is the occasional visitor on the week days and more than a few every evening. When that happens, I and JeJong, our interpreter from KFEM, meet, greet, and throw the whale rap to what has been an amazingly supportive Korean community.

Of course, I have no idea what JeJong is saying.

Last night we were visited by a sailor from the coast guard which is just on the other side of the Whaling museum. He brought his pregnant wife down to visit and this afternoon, we were visited by a Buddhist monk. But even if the vistors are asking hard questions, they almost always without fail say they are with us, and that they want us to succeed.

- Jim R.

Well we're keeping ourselves quite busy here in Ulsan.

Yesterday we produced 34 Whales Tails for a KFEM march in Seoul tomorrow.

We had our first big rain storm last night. Ben, an Aussie that just came off the Tasmanian forest encampment, was hanging from the geodesic dome in his climbing harness water proofing our dome just in time. Our tents & gear faired pretty well but our campsite is now a mosh pit! We're just now drying out.

And get this, we are now gettinig ready for an impending sand storm. There is apparently a storm headed our way out of the Gobi desert. We've been cleaning up the Embassy mud, while Anne Marie from Denmark has been cutting canvas and grommeting together doors for the geodome. As Steph said, we may not get to China this trip but Chinas coming to us!

The Korean people we have met have been very nice. A little stand-offish at first but after we explain why we we are here they are with us. Have had several vists from the local authorities both the Police and the Marine Police but again nothing but positive feed back. Its not like they don't have enought to worry about. As we were driving to pick up hardware for the Whales Tails, Steph & I drove by busloads of riot police. Darth Vader helmets, shields and the longest billyclubs you've ever seen. Some of the petrochemical workers in the factories surrounding us are striking and the cops are prepared.

Wow the winds are really picking up.....gonna go give a hand securing the site.

I'll write more tomorrow.

Jim R.

P.S. New factoid of the day....you can swim thru the veins of a blue whale and its heart is biger than a Cooper automobile!

An update from our new campaigner on the ground, weirdly also called Jim ...

Finally getting situated here in Korea.

Left Friday arrived Sunday morning in Ulsan.
Unfortunately our gear didn't.

Finally got it last night.

Been quickly getting up to speed reading all our materials and following around Jim Wickens watchin him work our whale embassy, the locals & the press.

As you may have gathered from the website this ain't exactly a junket. We are surrounded by incinerators, petrochemicalplants, and of course whale and dolphin restaurants. Sort of like camping out in the wastelands of New Jersey.

The locals come down to walk around the ball field (field implies grass there is none) to get exercise but they are all wearing particulate masks. We could campaign on every one of our issues right from this spot. I'm even told there's a nuke not far away.

Hi Folks,

I write from a quiet embassy evening with Biscuit, the Embassy guard dog, curled up on my lap. Were it not for the empty dish of noodles and chopsticks by my side, and of course the flashing lights of whalemeat restaurants glaring in the darkness outside, I could almost be at home. On reflection the last couple of days have been a great success. We have new arrivals from Spain, Denmark, Germany and Australia, bringing bucket loads of fresh energy and enthusiasm to the camp. Yesterday I had another meeting in Seoul with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to discuss the 17000 emails sent to their department from around the world. The director listened to our comments, and said he would pass on our concerns, particularly the negative economic implications that a possible resumption of whaling in Korea could have. He certainly seemed to listen to this, and after the droll meeting wound to a close, he proceeded to tell us about how great the Sharks Tale movie is, and why Greenpeace should communicate more using cartoons!

Later on I travelled down to the Embassy to welcome the Bureau Chief from the LA Times, doing a story on the Embassy. We have also had Israeli radio, Italian news and Australian TV channels ring in the last 24 hours.

Today we awoke to the sounds of "Bright Eyes" and other best forgotten tunes from the 80s, emanating loudly from the whaling ship next to the museum as they checked out the ships PA system. Can it get more surreal? Anyway we are now getting more and more visitors each day, from dribs and drabs at first to a little trickle today. Given that they are from the local pro-whaling area, each person that we talk to is immensely significant for the opinions of the whole area. At one point a group of 15 local men skulked in, arms folded, looking very hostile. After 20 mintues of explaining why whales should be protected not hunted, they burst out into spontaneous applause and walked out to the words of 'keep fighting!'

As the locals left, the circus act began, this time with the IWC officials arriving to 'humbly' ask us to leave. We proceeded to humbly tell them that we will only leave when plans for the whalemeat factory are abandoned, and when we hear reassurance that the government will not resume lethal, so-called scientific whaling in any form. The officials ducked and dived our repsonses and questions, and after they had drunk the coffee which we had given them out of plastic children's "Tweety" mugs, they said 'couldn't you move just a little bit?' as we were blocking the construction of the cetacean research centre. We replied that we would love to move, and in fact we would love not to not be here at all, but given that our concerns with regards to the fate of whales and dolphins in Korean waters had not been met, that we would remain. It ended with this statement by the official: "Well we will begin building anyway, and I must warn you now, things will be very unpleasant for you - very dusty and noisy' so it looks like the next cxhapter has begun; 8 days in and the ante had been upped, we've had our first warning, and for the first time, the officials know that we mean business. By far the funniest bit of the meeting was when the official warned us that the reputation of our organsiation would be damaged by our camping 'illegally' on this site...!

Anyway, that's all for now, things are looking great here, and the Embasy is beginning to fly. Thanks so much everyone for your support and for all the emails, they have really helped kickstart the Embassy by opening up dialogue with big hitters in government.

More Soon,

Best,

Jim

Today I visited the Environment Ministry in Seoul to ask for their support in treating whales as endangered species, not marine resources "to be utilised" as the Fisheries department currently see them. The meeting was a great success. It was the first time that we have broached this issue with them, but they seemed really keen, and mentioned that they would like to fund a whale survey next year to study whale and dolphin populations more carefully. We also brought up the issue of the whalemeat factory and they were quick to point out that it was another department's responsibility and not their own. I replied that 17,000 cyberactivists disagreed, and had made these thoughts quite clear by sending emails arguing that whales should be protected not persecuted -a statistic that really shocked them.

In fact the sheer number of cyberactivists that have sent emails to the embassies around the world has attracted the attention of the press in Seoul, and tomorrow morning we have a press release to officially announce the number of people around the world that have written cyber protests! (Note from Adele - the numbers have now gone up to 18,120!)

Meanwhile the camp has been the victim of more counter protests by local pro-whaling fishermen. Last night a fisherman burnt fishing nets outside the Embassy in protest at our attempts to ban whaling. The Embassy crew invited him in for a cup of tea and after an hour of talking he was offering to bring us Sushi and soju (nauseatingly sweet, but nonetheless delicious Korean wine). (Note from Adele - I can personally vouch for Soju since I managed to consume quite a lot of it, to the bemusement of some of the locals).

Tomorrow we have more meetings with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, followed by a swift journey back to the camp in time for a visit by interested journalists. The story is rapidly spreading - this morning we had international Australian and Italian news services interviewing us on site. (Note from Adele - Jim tells me the Australian service agreed to feature the story after the sports results on Australian radio. I told him that as an Australian I could affirm that this meant the story was very high priority indeed!)

Will report back after the meeting with the foreign affiars office tomorrow,

Best,

Jim and the Embassy Ambassadors

Do you live in Korea? Do you speak fluent English and Korean? Would you like to help out at the Whale Embassy? Then we want to talk to you!

If you would like to volunteer at the Whale Embassy, please give us a call for all the details.

The Embassy phone number is (+82) 52 260 4291. Ask for Jim or Adam.

The Embassy occupation has taken a new turn. Earlier today we spotted several banners hanging directly opposite the Embassy site. Translated into English, the main banner reads; 'Environmentalists are killing (the livelihoods of) fishermen, they must wake up.' More disturbing however is the means with which they suggest they want to wake us up with - two ticking bombs next to the words 'Jangsaengpo Defenders'. Other banners read 'We strongly support scientific whaling for whale resource research'; 'Lets hunt dolphins which destroy fish stocks'; 'Why can't we catch whales like the damn Japanese do?' and the ominous words, 'We will protect Jangsaengpo like our ancestors did'.

Meanwhile the police have been visiting the ship today asking when the Embassy will be leaving. We all expect that the pressure on the occupation over the next few days from both police and the local pro-whaling community, is likely to escalate. We are working to organize meetings with the local community heads. Meanwhile we have doubled up on night watches and wait apprehensively, working opposite a banner of ticking bombs and pro-whaling slogans.

More Soon,

The Embassy Team

Its four am, and I write from the embassy, transformed at night into an illuminated green dome that shines like a beacon in the inky Ulsan darkness. Right now the hammocks have been set up and I am surrounded by the sounds of snoring and cockerels crowing in the distance. Everyone is taking the opportunity to catch up on hard-earned sleep at the moment. Last night we had a huge storm, parts of the dome were ripped off, and we struggled to keep the water from flooding the inside; freezing cold and absolutely soaked to skin, we took it in turns to dig trenches around the tents all night long.

Yesterday we also had two interesting visits, one by a local policeman, enquiring (ever-so politely) when the ship would be leaving. I think the authorities are waiting for the Rainbow Warrior to leave, in the hope that we will go with them. It will be interesting to see how they react when they see that we aren't going.. Another, far more welcome visitor, was the arrival of Biscuit; well that's what I'm calling him in the absence of another suitably cetacean-orientated name (you just cant call a dog 'dolphin' can you?)

He's a loveable little critter of a dog, who has taken far too kindly to the adulations meted out by the onsite crew. He has swiftly taken up residence in a shoebox in the corner of the dome. Whenever I go out the door he immediately follows me, and excitedly guides me around his local patch. We cant work out if he's a stray or not, I think the words 'happy go lucky' might be more appropriate. Still, everytime someone walks near the tent, his ears go up in a flash; so it looks like we now have an official Whale Embassy guard-dog (albeit a very small one...) He is certainly biscuit-sized, but given the culinary tendencies of the region, perhaps this analogy is not the best one to use. So if anyone feels a flash of inspiration with a bright idea for what to call our four-legged (and ever-so slightly flea-infested) whale ambassador, then please send in suggestions! As soon as we get the digital camera dry and up and running again, we will put up a picture of him for all to see!

Tomorrow we have meetings in Seoul for a couple of days in the hope of scoring some interviews with government officials to get some answers from our political asks on the factory. I honestly cant say what will happen (predicting events in Korea is incredibly hard at the best of times), however one thing is for sure. With over 15,000 protest emails sent into embassies around the world, I am confident that our message is getting across. The newswires have also picked up on the story, so it is going global very quickly. A BIG THANKYOU to you all from everyone on site; battling against icy storms and surrounded by smokestacks and whale meat restaurants, the global support weve had so far has really helped us to remember why we are here, and that we are not alone!

All the Best,

Jim and the Whale Embassy team

(Note from Adele - I'm now back in Amsterdam but will be helping Jim and the team keep this blog going, so stay tuned!)

I am sitting in the big green dome (I am apparently hereforth to be officially known as Risso's Dolphin. Personally I'd like to be the hourglass dolphin but that could be asking for trouble considering how much food I've been eating! You can just call me Risso). We have Buena Vista Social Club on in the background, and the green dome is romantically lit with generator-driven fluorescent lighting. It's a bit chilly, but we've tried to make it cosy with lots of children's drawings, photos of whales, and the warming scent of pot noodles. Most exciting for me is the broadband internet - I think it's amazing! In Amsterdam, where I live, you have to sign your soul over to an internet company to get broadband, but here it seems all you have to do is ring up Korea Telecom and say "Hi, we're in the whale embassy. That's right, the big green dome in the middle of the street. Think we can get broadband?"

It's been a calm but industrious day at the Embassy, with a lot of home decorating going on, and the construction of several more whale tails. We have also hung flags and messages of support from the public around the site, and at night we sling hammocks across the dome for people to sleep. The embassy also posesses a brand new football, we're hoping to organise some matches with the locals.

Unlike most embassies, ours is staffed 24 hours a day. We've already had meetings here with local officials. There was a false alarm this morning when masked men in matching bandanas were spotted in cars outside at 5am. It turned out however that it was an industrial protest being organised down the road, and the participants actually supported our presence, but it gave us an insight into the style of Korean protests!

It was great to read some positive articles in the press about our work here in Korea, one even proclaimed "Let's make Korea's waters a playground for whales." We've pinned the articles up around the embassy. I think we're really making progress. The only overtly negative response we've had has been a few old men on their morning power walk, who decided to take some time out from their exercise to vigorously pretend to stab the large inflatable whales in front of our camp.

The KFEM crew have just arrived to take over watch duty at the site, so this will be a short entry, more tomorrow I promise!

And BIG thanks to everyone who's taken part in our cyberaction. We have over 12,000 responses so far, so keep them coming!! If you haven't taken action yet, please check out:

http://act.greenpeace.org/ams/e?a=1729&s=whl

-Risso

Tell the Korean government that the international community, and many Koreans, oppose the resumption of whaling in any form - whether scientific, commercial or trade from accidental bycatch.

You can send a message here. It will go to your local Korean embassy. If your embassy is not in our database, it will go to the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and if you are Korean it will go to the Minister of Fisheries.

At last I can tell you about what we've been doing the last few days. This morning at 5.30 am, the customs officials at the gate where the Rainbow Warrior is docked must have wondered why the Greenpeace crew were suddenly taken with a prediliction for (very) early morning walks. More and more people headed towards the nearby whale museum on foot or in trucks loaded with decidedly whale-tail-shaped objects. Was this the moment that Ulsan had been waiting for?

If you go to Ulsan's official IWC website you will see the proposal for a "Cetacean Reseach Centre", right next door to the Whale Museum (which sets the tone by featuring a large harpoon boat out the front). Note the following words: "Facilitate scientific research for conservation, management and effective use of whale resources, to ultimately boost the national image." Hmmm....how does "conservation" go with "use of whale resources"? We asked ourselves that very question.

So, recently, KFEM and Greenpeace got their hands on the plans for the redevelopment of this site in Ulsan. And what we found was shocking. There, on the plans (but not on the website) was a proposal for a "whale processing factory" and a "whale burial ground". This didn't sound very promising to us, to say the least. Or very scientific either.

This morning, after months of planning and two days of intense, round-the-clock preparation for the whole crew, we set up a "Whale Embassy" on the proposed whale meat factory site. In the early morning light, as our orange-clad activists set up the huge dome that would form our embassy (as you can see in the photo) we got some very strange looks from the locals.

Most people were just plain curious, some even wandering through the press conference which we held on site. The poor local policeman had a look on his face that said "Why me?". The workers on the museum construction site and in the whale meat restaurants across the road stared at us open-mouthed.

After the initial buzz, all was quiet... until some members of the IWC organising committee showed up. They said that we'd made a huge mistake. For one tiny moment a voice in my head said "Oh no! Could we possibly have mistranslated "amusement park" for "whale meat processing factory"? However, the mistake apparently was, the whale meat processing factory will be part of scientific research. Well, sorry guys, in my books that's still whaling because the end product is a dead whale.

Later today there was another incident - a report of a dead cetacean washed up in Ulsan harbour. In the last few days in Korea, five fishermen have also been arrested for allegedly harpooning a whale and then attempting to illegally sell the meat at market (officially all whale catches need to be reported to the authorities). So this was an interesting development. Shane and Natalie went to check out the carcass ("unfortunately," adds Shane). They said it was hard to tell what the cause of death was, since it was already badly decomposed.
We have asked the local authorities to do an autopsy so we can know the actual cause of death - this could yield some important scientific information in light of the falling whale numbers in Korean waters.

Anyway, we will be staying at the camp site for the forseeable future, some of us sleeping on the ship and some of us in hammocks inside the big green dome. (Although in yet another bizarre news report, a prisoner has apparently escaped from the nearby prison and run towards the harbour, so poor Sam is on watch hoping to avoid a stowaway!) I have to say though, the police and the local population have been extremely helpful - today the lady at the local supermarket (that is, the one squashed between a dolphin restaurant and a whale meat restaurant) offered for us to use her computer, and the taxi driver ferrying me into town this afternoon (so I could write this to you) gave me a discount after learning I was from Greenpeace. I guess this shows that opinions differ in Ulsan - in fact a poll last week apparently said that even in a city which was the heart of Korea's prehistoric whaling, 50-60% of people are opposed to commercial whaling. I find this very reassuring.

After days of anticipation the Rainbow Warrior finally sailed into Ulsan harbour flanked by marine police to confront ... absolutely nothing. There was no barricade, no protest, not a peep, just some familiar happy faces on the quayside. However, there was a whole kindergarten full of very sweet children who presented us with paintings, and some esteemed guests such as the Mayor of Ulsan, and the monk Jim told you about, who walked a very long way to be with us.

Bizarrely, a group of Ulsan council members left the ship after the ceremony and went for a "delicious" whale meat lunch in town, taking some press with them. Catching word of this, Shane, Jim and Matilda went racing off down the street after them, brandishing children's paintings. They stood outside the whale meat restaurants holding up the cute and colourful, if slightly abstract, representations of whales. Completely unfazed, the councillors "stepped into their limos and drove off", in Shane's words.

This afternoon I accompanied the new photographer, Natalie, and videographer Jari, into Ulsan. We started off looking for whale-meat restaurants. We found several in the nearby streets, but nothing worth photographing or videoing. We asked at the local convenience store, using Natalie's only Korean phrase, where we can find whale meat, but the shopkeeper seemed to think we were asking for cookies. So we proceeded into town, Natalie dodging large trucks as we wound our way through petrochemical complexes and Hyundai shipping yards. This entire area is devoted to heavy industry, but reassuring signs picturing happy dolphins splashing about in sunlit seas, and cartoon renditions of whales with the slogan "Ulsan for You" paint a greener, more appealing picture.

Eventually, after refusing the rather enthusiastic assistance of a local taxi driver who kept following us, we found the huge market complex near the inevitable Hyundai department store in the centre of town. The markets feature fruit and vegetables, dried produce, and more importantly for us - fresh seafood. So fresh, in fact, that I saw a large fish being cut up alive right in front of me. I recoiled instantly and nearly knocked over the woman behind me, believe me - the image will stay with me a long time. The floor in some areas was covered in writhing, gaping, suffocating fish and pools of blood. A huge red octopus lay spread out on a table surrounded by his smaller cousins (you can see it in the photo), and the skin of a shark lay across chunks of meat, complete with gills and eye socket. As you can probably tell, I didn't find the place very appealing, and the stench was oppressive - most of this produce wasn't packed in ice.

And of course, we found the whale meat. Chunks of the fatty kind, as well as the choice cuts Jim was telling us about. There were several stalls selling it, so it isn't unobtainable - there must be a fairly regular supply. We also saw dark-skinned fins, which we think may have belonged to dolphins or smaller whales. Nothing very scandalous though, so we left and examined the cumquats for a while before returning to the ship.

But don't worry, tomorrow there will be some more exploring...

Like a lot of westerners (I guess), I have never seen or eaten whale meat. But today our photographer Natalie went to the local fish markets to see what it was like. Whale meat doesn't look like I thought it would, although Jim tells me there are different cuts and these ones are quite fatty. Here's a gallery of the amazing pictures Natalie took. I especially like the one of the old woman napping while waiting for customers :)

Well everyone, sorry about the interruption in transmission there for a while, I'm not sure what happened. But now I have internet access for one day only so I'm madly trying to catch up! First the news you've all been waiting for: happily, our friend the seagull lived. Libby set him free and he circled around for a while, so we can only wish him well - and an oil-free future.

Yesterday (2nd April) we arrived in Busan, and released the preliminary results of our survey and supported KFEM's call on the Korean government to ban the nation's lucrative trade in whale meat. This was a pretty controversial call to make, so I was surprised by the mere murmur of a response, especially in a whale-meat eating town.

The preliminary survey results showed that whales and dolphins in the area are in serious trouble and that they face many threats, the most serious of which are over-fishing and high incidents of 'accidental' by-catch. For the official spiel on the survey, you can read the press release here. There's also more information on the comebackwhales.com site on scientific predictions and whaling in Korea.

Last night we had dinner with the very friendly and welcoming Busan KFEM folk. They took us to an amazing restaurant - it was called "Tofu Village", which I have to admit didn't sound entirely appetising, but turned out to be lovely. They even organised a traditional Korean singer to come and perform for us. She played a stringed instrument which produced sounds remarkably like the blues - you can see her in her traditional costume in the photo. It was a beautiful evening. We were then presented with homemade fermented rice wine, which, after sipping politely, we discovered was meant to be downed in one go with eye-watering effect! This was washed down with rice water, and Soju (my personal favourite), another variation of rice wine. As you can see from the photo, we all had big smiles on our faces by the time we left.

This morning Busan KFEM put on an extraordinary welcome, featuring an 80 piece orchestra (playing such Korean classics as "The Phantom of the Opera" apparently). Unfortunately I was locked away with my laptop at this point so I will have to trust Jim and Dave's enthusiasm.

Tomorrow we set sail for Ulsan. We have some new crew members on board and a new captain, Pete. I'm a bit nervous about Ulsan, because it truly is the "eye of the storm", so to speak.

4th APRIL - ULSAN - Ulsan Port

11:00 - 13:00 welcoming ceremony
13:00 - 17:00 Open Boat

5th APRIL - ULSAN - Ulsan Port

13:00 - 13:30 Musical performances
13:00 - 18:00 Open Boat

Last Sunday was a busy day for me. While the ship crew were out surveying whales and generally enjoying the archetypal oceanic vibe that is life onboard the Rainbow Warrior, I was stuck on land. Busy coordinating secret activities onland, I had to endure a long hot 4 hour car ride searching for suitable places to set up workshops. Unsurprisingly I was in a foul mood, we had driven for hours and seemingly to no avail. By late afternoon KFEM suggested that we take a break. I agreed and soon found myself being driven deep into a forested valley. "we're off to show you an old Buddhist monastery" they said. No problem I thought, lazily dreaming of a brief tour then an early dinner.

The road to the monastery went on and on, getting smaller and smaller, till it eventually came to an abrupt forested end. "From here we walk" it was announced, and before long I found myself hiking up steep strewn boulders, past bamboo sprouts and oak forests. The path wound up the mountain, never far from the sounds of tumbling streams, which were the only noises breaking the silence of the valley. I quickly found the stresses and neon-induced insanity of Seoul, slipping away. It was a lovely hike; and it went on and on.

Eventually we neared our end, high up this lush mountain side, we could see a building through the trees. As we neared closer the wonder of the building came into view, a tiny 1400 year old monastery, set in an incredible position over a tiny babbling brook. Strangely juxtaposed into the experience was the sound of chanting from inside the buildings, and the gentle whirring monotony of a drinks vending machine improbably humming close to the path...

Warmly welcomed by a monk, we were ushered into his room, a wonderfully simple space, where we were promptly ribbed by him for bringing jasmine flowers as a gift, and not rice wine. Then the tea drinking ritual began in earnest. Sat around a kettle and low slung table, we drank green tea so pure that it actually tasted of the finest chocolate you can imagine. This was quickly followed by a Chinese green tea, this time bitter to start with a perfumed aftertaste. I was blown away; brought up in a strict Tetleys, milk and no sugar household, I had never experienced drinking tea with such purposefulness and subtle simplicity. As we drank, the monk listened to our whale tour motivations, and the stories of Greenpeace in the past. I told him that we were here to protect all the oceans not just whales, and he was most pleased to hear this, emphasising that all creatures must be protected. As he orchestrated the tea-drinking ritual, he said that not just oceans but mountains too need looking after, and that the mountains are as high as the oceans are deep. Soon we moved on, barley tea, then finally a sharper green tea to finish.

He is a lovely man this monk, exuding health, serenity and a youthful vitality. Towards the end of our tea drinking session he agreed to come and join us, and to accept our invitation to come to our welcoming ceremony in Ulsan. As we stumbled down the mountain in the dark, I reflected on the day, and thought that although we had still not found a workshop space for the team, we had won a good friend to come and support us in our campaign. So it was that far from the sea and high up a mist-enshrouded Korean mountain, we had found some spiritual support for our oceans campaign activities. I had fallen short of asking the monk to pray for the success of our voyage, but his smile said it all. As we arrive in Ulsan tomorrow for a VIP open boat, it will be his face beyond all those in the crowd, that will mean the most to me.

- Jim

I guess I should end the suspense I've created and firstly update you on how our friend the oil-drenched seagull is doing. I am glad to report that there have been no tears - Libby says that our bird seems to be recovering, and after giving it plenty of water for the last day or so we are going to try to feed it. She hopes we can set it free tomorrow. So stay tuned for the next exciting seagull episode. (The photo is Libby washing the seagull yesterday).

In other avian news, our peregrine falcon tenants have departed, and so have our little lover birds (unfortunately for them, at least one is in the digestive system of the falcons.) We saw some more gorgeous dolphins today, although only a few, who once again came to play in our bow wave. It's getting warmer here, so warm that I worked on deck outside for most of the day, and dragged myself away from the computer to use the archaic pen and paper system. "You've really caught the sun," Jim told me. (I think that's British for "You look sunburnt".) We are working hard, planning, meeting, and writing, to prepare for our next few days in Pusan and Ulsan, where we are going to release the results of our scientific survey. The media attention, so we hear, has been hotting up, and Jim says we were all on Korean TV earlier in the week as part of a TV special on the issue. This is good to hear, although there has been a lot of talk about how we are "against" fisherman. I don't think that's very fair, so I'm going to tell a story I heard at lunch today. (Speaking of lunch, I also found out today why I have been ravenously hungry. Apparently, because the ship is constantly moving, your muscles have to compensate, so you are exercising even in your sleep. Even if it's not true, fantastic excuse for eating more of our cook Amanda's delicious food isn't it?)

Anyway, back to the story. Our captain, Derek, used to be a fisherman. In fact, he was a professional fisherman for 10 years, in New Zealand, catching Red Snapper. I found the description of his job fascinating - he said that it was a very precise art. Japanese fishermen came and taught them how to use a special spike to put through the fish's brain. This meant that the fish would stay bright-eyed and stop the blood from staining the fish's flesh so it was a perfect white for the market. Then the fish would be put in a mixture of salt water and ice to make their skin nice and red. After this they would be laid in batches of 10 on trays, and within the same day were on sale in Japan. He said that over time he and his colleagues worked out exactly which stretches of water, at which time, were the best and some days he could bait 1000 hooks and end up with 1000 fish. When these fish were at premium price they could fetch up to $60 each. But, Derek said, he could see t

he industry decline as the fishing intensified, to the point where the government had to introduce fishing quotas. "I had to keep records of my catches, I could see them going down," he said. "But fishermen have blinkers on - I had blinkers on." I was thinking of this as I sat on deck this afternoon and watched the fishing nets glide past, flag after flag, buoy after buoy. I understand that fishermen just want to make a living, but it defeats the purpose if soon there will be no fish left. There's no such thing as cash and chips is there? So we need to work out ways to make sure fishing is sustainable, so there's enough fish for humans, enough livelihood for fishermen, and a clean and healthy ocean. I guess Derek understands that better than any of us.