Korea

Well, I have been back for a couple of weeks now. The trip was amazing! I was lucky enough to arrive there and home in the early evening so I ended up with very little jet leg and Tanja and I were able to do tons of things and get in our usual walk 10 miles a day on vacation. Yes, we are a tad bit nuts. We spent the majority of our time on the island of Cheju in Seowipgo. It was beautiful, lush, and wonderful sunny weather.

The first thing we did was take the high speed train to Busan. On the train they rain a cartoon that is meant to teach kids train manners, like talking quiet and not eating stinky foods. It was cute, but really funny.

This is the train station. It was very large and had a courtyard right in front of it.

This is the beach, that in the summer is covered with umberellas and people. Not so bad when we were there. Busan is a fishing community and there were plenty of markets selling fish and "fish-like" creatures. Not the place to be if you cannot stand the smell of raw fish.

Also while walking around we came across bumper cars. It seems you just do it self service style. We opted not to, but I am sure kids would love it.

From Busan we went to the airport and brought tickets to Cheju (cheap, cheap, like $50). Flying in Asia is great, you get on at your boarding time and then plane leaves, no waiting around. Plus it was drizzling a little bit so they bused us the 50 feet to the plane so no one would get wet. It was kind of funny.

We stayed at the Hyatt, here are the views from our room. We paid for a mountain view but got both mountian and ocean.

One of the sites we saw was a large Buddist temple. It is the only one where you can take photos on the inside. It was very neat, with TONS of golden Buddhas all around and really large ones inside. It also had ornate carve dragons inside. The painting all over is seen alot around, we had wondered if it gets painted before or after the wood is up. Later in the trip we saw part of a palace that was replaced, and it was unpainted so I guess the answer is after. It has to be back breaking, labor intesive work. The also had a natural spring in the area so they had fountian set up where you could get a drink or refill water bottles. Buddha's birthday was coming up so every where there were lanterns.

Just up the road from our hotel was a plaza where we had breakfast at the Ropleys Believe it Or Not cafe. Here is a sign for the plaza, by the way, its namesake was no longer in business.

Just up the road from Hooters Plaza was a botanical gardens. It was one of the best I've been too. Clean, non-plant smelly, and not sweltering hot. There were a bunch of high schoolers there. But unlike here they were quiet and not running around. The most important thing for them, the boys at least, was finding a gift for their girl friends. I was told if they did not buy something the girl woudl kill them. Seems like a constant in Korea that the girls have this power over the guys. They will go out of their way to take them home (even if they are not out together), buy them stuff, and carry their purses. It was more common to see guys with the purse then the girls.

The building the gardens were in was amazing. It had a triangle structure that really worked well. And when you went into the tower you could actually open the windows and linger.

While we were walking through the tropical plant section we came across this guy. He had some buddies with him too. There were a few other places that had creature as well. These at least fit in with the plant types I suppose. Some of the others, not so much if you ask me.

Just down the road from the gardens was a park with a waterfall. We actually visited 2 waterfall parks. One closer and one further. Here are photos from both.

What was nice is that admission into everything was cheap. Most cost aroun 2000 won or less then $2. The food price pre meal was about the same here, except that a meal would feed 2-3 people with the amount of things that come with it! Here is some of the food we ate.

This was my first meal in Korea, Dunkas. Pork pounded out and breaded and fried. Good. But as you can see it comes with alll this other stuff. Some good some not, some I did not try. Like the dried little fish. I already knew I did not like those.

This was Korean BBQ. We ate BBQ twice, this was the first time and we had beef. It was very tasty. You cook it at the table, then wrap the meat and whatever else you want in leaf lettuce and eat. Extermely yummy!

I have now had pizza in 3 countries. USA Ireland, and Korea! It was good, a multi-meat pizza. Not exactly what Tanja thought she was ordering but things are not the same place to place it turns out. But good none the less. This was the one meal with out excess side dishes.

But we both still left full.

After Cheju was had a couple of days in Seoul area where we shopped and played. We went to see the palace which is right in downtown amidst all the modern buildings. But what was more surprising was to learn that Koreans like to protest so the main roads were lined with police buses that had police in them waiting if needed to do roit patrols! No rioting while we were there. Did see the US embassy, a non-impressive old building.

We did several other things as well. But it would just take too long to go through the greater then 300 photos I took. It was a really great trip. I would reccommend any one to go. Most menus are in English as well, and the people are friendly. It is easy to get around, I think even without a guide like I had. And there is plenty to do. It was nice having a slower less busy place like Cheju island and then the busier city life of Seoul and Insadong. Now, if I had only had an extra week.