Lost in the Korean Mountains…part 2

On our second to last day in Korea, we took the train to Daegu and then a bus to get to the national park area there.  Mollee had read about it, and it was supposed to be a really great hike to this temple on the top of a mountain.  We all agreed that it would be fun.  Mollee had researched it and said that it was a simple 1.5-2 hour hike.  Yeah….that short hike turned into a seven hour/multiple peak/about 8 kilometers hike.  Before I get ahead of myself, let’s start at the beginning…..

We started off so fresh and genki!  After touring another temple that was at the base of the mountain, (once again with the beautiful paper lanterns) we started our hike.  The lady at the information counter pointed us in the direction of the temple that we wanted to go to.  While the roadway up was paved and easy to walk on, it was STRAIGHT UP.  The grade was so steep that every couple hundred of meters we had to break….or rather Ian and I had to ask the mountain goats Melissa and Mollee to stop so that Ian and I could break before dying. 

 

We made it to another temple, and from there we could see the cliff that we needed to go to….only it seemed a LOOOOOOOOONG way up.  From there we had two options: the steeper, rockier path or the flatter dirt path.  Melissa even asked a guy if the flatter, dirt path led to the same place.  She said that he kind of laughed (Remember this!  You’ll understand later…) and said yes.  So the easier path we took!  After the ridiculously steep road we came up on, the path was nice and much more like a nature walk than a hike. 

…..until we came to the ropes.  The first one wasn’t a big deal.  It was a steeper incline with a rope to grab onto for support.  We didn’t think anything of it because there are places on Ichifusa’s trail that requires you to do the same.  However, the ropes became increasingly challenging until we were at a solid slab of rock, and the only way up was to use the rope.  It was a little too late to back out because that would require us to go DOWN the ropes.  It would be possible but not easy and pretty dangerous.  We knew that the only way was up. 

 

Ian went first, followed by Melissa, myself, and Mollee.  I was terrified the entire time because I don’t have the upper body strength to pull myself up!  Doing stuff like that in the safety of a gym where there are mats and harnesses is no big deal, but doing it on the side of a mountain when one wrong error could send you a long, long, long, long way down is another thing.  One slip and I’d be injured…on the side of a mountain…several hours away from civilization.  I kept telling myself Hugo’s words, “You’re body is capable of almost anything.  It’s your mind that gets in the way.”  When I made it up, I sighed a breath of relief!  I think we were all a little shaken up after literally climbing to the top because we didn’t stay long to enjoy the view.  It was a breathtaking view, but I think Mollee was the only one to capture an image from the very top (below) because we were too focused on finding a different way down the mountain.

Getting out our handy map again, we realized that there was a trail behind us and the “trail” that we came up on wasn’t even marked on the map.  The trail was better and had significantly less ropes.  Although there was one spot in which we had to rappel down a 10 foot drop.  (The only other time I’ve been rappelling was once during our senior year of high school.  Not only was I in a harness and gear, but that was a LONG time ago.)  Ian went down the drop first, followed by me, Mollee, and Melissa.  I knew that it was only a ten foot drop, and if I did fall it wouldn’t kill me, BUT it was terrifying.  I took the first step off the ledge and completely froze.  I couldn’t do it.  I had to get back on the ledge, shake the nerves from my system, and try again.  When my feet hit solid ground, I said “NEXT!” I was done….done, done, done, done, done, done, DONE with it and so grateful to be!  Both Mollee and Melissa had difficult times getting down as well due to nerves, but we all made it!

At this time, we had a decision to make.  We could either head back down to the village where we started or continue hiking along the ridge to the temple.  Since we got lost, it was already pushing mid-afternoon, but we assumed that the hike would only last for another two hours…..in plenty of time before darkness.  My vote was to head back down to the village and catch the bus back to town, but I was outvoted.  The temple was another six kilometers and several peaks away, and I was already worn out, but to the temple we went!

 

I lost track of how many peaks we crossed while walking along the ridge.  I was too concerned with putting one exhausted foot in front of the other.  Both Mollee and Melissa were still hyper and excited, which made me want to push them off the dang mountain.  Since it was cloudy, we were loosing daylight quicker, and there were a couple of times when we wanted to stop and break, but we just didn’t have the time.  We got lost only one more time before arriving at the temple. 

I’m not going to lie….seeing civilization again was a beautiful, beautiful moment of that day.  We turned around and looked across the peaks to see where we had started.  I could hardly believe how far away it was!!  The four of us weary hikers climbed the last few sets of steps to the top of temple where the giant Buddha dating back to HUNDREDS of years ago rested for us.  At the very top of the mountain and temple was an area where people could pray.  The Buddhist mantra (prayers) played on a loop.  Standing there under the colorful paper lanterns, looking at the gorgeous Korean mountains and giant stone Buddha as the mantra was chanted, it was such an enlightening experience.  I’m not Buddhist nor do I ever plan of being, but it felt religious and spiritual.  I think after a looooooong day of hiking, all we needed/wanted was a little love from the great Buddha!

 

I hate how catching up from Korea has taken me almost three weeks, but I promise that I only have one more to go, and then I’ll be ready to move onto more fun things…like my current life back in Japan!!   

Lost in the Korean Mountains…part 1

On Thursday and Friday of our vacation, we hiked.  As we hiked, we had a nasty little habit of getting lost……okay so maybe “lost” is too strong of a term.  We wandered around the mountains without knowing the exact destination. 

On Thursday we stayed in Busan and went to a temple on one of the mountainsides.  (I was actually surprised at how chopped up Busan was.  It’s a huge city, but it’s scattered around the sides of mountains.  On one side of the mountain is a city with skyscrapers, behind that mountain is the beach, and behind the mountain to the right is rural Korea.  It was weird.)  I’m not going to lie….when Mollee suggested going to a temple, I wasn’t that thrilled about it.  I feel like seen one East Asian temple, seen them all.  However, I’m really glad that we went because it was beautiful!  The view down on the city was great.  Busan was so close to us, yet up on the peaceful mountain, there were no loud city sounds or hustle-and-bustle.  I saw a sign that tourists could choose to stay a day or so at the temple and learn what it was like to be a Buddhist monk.  I think that could have been a cool experience, but there’s no way we had time to do that. 

One thing that was super cool about the temple was that we got to walk around and see people doing the Buddhist prayers/chants. (UGH!  There’s a word for it, but for the life of me I can’t remember it right now!)  With the incense burning and the prayers being chanted, it was a rather cool experience to have.  Another thing that I liked about the temple was the paper lanterns.  There were thousands of colorful lanterns hung up over the walkways, and walking under them made me feel like I had been transported back in time to a magical kingdom. 

 

After our time at the temple, we headed to the old fortress wall.  Way back when the fortress wall surrounded the highest peak of Busan and was darn near impossible to penetrate.  Thanks to reconstruction, part of it still remains.  We knew that the trail up to the fortress wall began outside the temple, and after a short break, we hiked up the rocky path toward it.  Since it was steep and rocky, we paced ourselves and took frequent breaks.  We met a couple of other hikers along the way, and all of them wanted pictures with us….mostly we didn’t understand them, but we got the message of “not many foreigners come up this way, so we’re pretty surprised to see you here.”  It was cold and windy on the plateau where the fortress wall was, so we didn’t stay there for very long. 

 

We thought about hiking to the top of the mountain, but without packing a lunch or bringing enough water the decision was no.  Instead we decided hike to the other end of the wall to see that gate.  However, we somehow got turned around and never found it and ended up in a village on the other side of the mountains from Busan.  It was around 4 PM at this time, and without eating lunch, the four of us were starving.  We found a small restaurant.  However, since we were far enough away from the main drag of town, there were no English menus, and none of us had the slightest ability to read Korean.  We literally had to point at an item on the menu and cross our fingers that it wasn’t something crazy.  Thank God that it turned out well!  There were a few items that were just too spicy for me to eat, but Ian, Mollee, and Melissa gladly ate those. 

 

After lunch, we took another bus drove by another crazy swerving bus driver back into the main part of the city.  We were all quite exhausted and agreed to rest a while in a coffee shop before heading back to our hotel.  While there are no shortages of coffee shops in Korea, we found a Starbucks and stopped there.  I’m not sure how long we stayed there, but it was a lovely amount of time to sit, relax, and enjoy one another’s company while it started raining outside.  Plus…bonus!  I’m not sure if the employees had old cheesecake to get rid of or what, but after our first hour there, they came around giving everyone in the store free samples of cheesecake.  YUM! 

I originally was going to blog about this day and the following one since we hiked both days, but I feel like this blog is long enough to stand alone.  So continue reading for the rest of the story!

To Busan We Go!

The day after our DMZ tour was our travel day from Seoul to Busan.  Since it was only a three hour train ride from one city to the other and the trains ran ridiculously frequently, we spent the morning and early afternoon in Seoul.  After three straight days of waking early, walking around and being on our feet all day, and late nights, we decided to sleep in a little on our final Seoul day.  We ate our final breakfast in the basement breakfast room, and once again Lars was there but this time with his family.  We met his wife, daughter, son-in-law, and grandson.  Since it was later in the morning and we had to share tables with other people, we sat at a table with a middle-aged guy.  While I don’t even remember his name, we started talking and found out that he was from Nashville…our neck of the woods!  He was taking a year of his life off to travel around Asia.

After we gathered our things and checked out of our hotel, we headed to the palace that was close by.  While it was a little lame and basically just reconstructed old buildings that showed how people lived way back when, my favorite part was dressing up.  We wandered into one building where a lady was waiting with the traditional Korean clothing, hanbok, and for about $3 we could dress up in those clothes.  I eagerly agreed, followed by Mollee and Melissa.  I was basically a rag doll as the lady lifted my arms, twisted me around, and did whatever she needed to in order to put the hanbok on me.  After we were dressed, she gave us fifteen minutes to wander around the palace area to take pictures.  I felt like a lovely Korean princess (minus the whole me not being Asian thing)!! 

 

Before we left Seoul, we decided to have lunch at the Pizza Hut in the train station.  We were impressed with the amount of chain restaurants in Seoul—Taco Bell, Starbucks, Burger King, Smoothie King—but the place that we absolutely said that we had to go before leaving was PIZZA HUT.  It was like being back in A-murr-ica…..thick bready crust, greasy cheese, and best of all: no mayo, corn, or shrimp on the pizza!

On the train ride to Busan, we slept, chatted, and read until we arrived around 5 PM.  From there, our first goal was to find our hotel.  We asked the information desk, and they told us that it was very close and gave us maps of Busan and several touristy things to do while there.  While the hotel had a phenomenal location so close to the train station, it was also very, very shady.  We thought that we had already paid for the room with our credit card, but once we got there, the lady at the front desk (who spoke no English) wouldn’t let us have the keys until we paid in cash.  She kept holding a pre-printed sign out for us that said “I like cash.”  Great, lady.  I like cash, too!  Ian quickly got online to look at our credit card statement, and for some reason, the payment never actually went through, so she was in the right.  We paid for our rooms and went upstairs to check them out.

I remember thinking as I first walked in the lobby and seeing the fish tank and thinking that it was a classy place.  After the whole “I like cash” situation, we rounded the corner and very, VERY soon realized that it was anything BUT a classy place.  There was a bed sheet covering….something on the staircase, and our rooms were a joke.  While I will admit that they were spacious, that was about all they had going for them.  Our room was in desperate need of remodeling.  The dingy wallpaper and bed sheets screamed pre-war, the dull carnation pink decorated bathroom was….different, the mirror had a giant rust patch in the middle, there was a mysterious water puddle between the toilet and tub (that NEVER went away in our entire time there), the floor was hot to the touch in certain places (probably due to faulty wiring), the headboard was cracked (and suspiciously in the shape of a head), and the “free PC in the room” advertised online was an ancient monitor that probably still ran Windows 95.  Our room also came with complimentary items.  For example, we had half a tube of toothpaste waiting for our use laying by the bathroom sink or lotion and tissues, both conveniently located on the night stand.  Despite how icky our room was, Melissa and Mollee’s was even ickier.  They could overlook the creepy paintings hanging on the wall, but the blood Melissa found on her bed sheet was gross.  Even worse was when she looked under the bed and found a collection….a bra, Vaseline, and a couple of dirty tissues.  UUUGGGGHHHH!!!

That night we went out to explore the city.  Chinatown was only a block or two from our hotel, so we wandered down those streets for a while.  They eventually ran into Little Russia.  There are a TON of Russians in Busan, and the stereotype of “mafia drug lord” kinda still holds true.  In Busan they aren’t thought of too kindly and run a pretty big prostitution ring.  We learned from our friend, Erin, that if someone approaches you in Korea and asks if you are Russian, you need to say “No.”  By asking that seemingly innocent question, the person was actually asking how much….as in prostitution.  *gasp*  The more we walked around, the more Russian we saw on store signs and even saw Russian prostitutes hanging around outside a club.  We decided to walk out of that part of town and find a nice dinner spot.

After another delicious dinner of Korean BBQ, we grabbed a few drinks and desserts to take back to the room and enjoy.  We ended up staying up to midnight laughing and talking in Melissa and Mollee’s room.        

The World’s Most Dangerous Place

It has been said that the DMZ is the world’s most dangerous place.  I don’t really believe this, (I feel like the wrong side of Memphis or areas of the Congo are worse) but it does make a cool story to say that I’ve been to the world’s most dangerous place!

On Tuesday of our vacation we woke up again at 6:45 for our tour.  We ate breakfast again in the breakfast room, talked to Lars (I think that was his name!) again, and waited outside our hotel for the pick up.  At 7:35, a 15-passenger silver van pulled up, and we got in it along with a few other people.  It took us to a drop off point where we joined a bigger crowd on a tour bus.  The DMZ was only a short forty-five minute ride from Seoul, which really intrigued me.  Both capitals of North and South Korea, Pyongyang and Seoul, are less than an hour from the DMZ on either side of the border.  In fact, at the beginning of the Korean War, North Korean troops were able to invade and capture Seoul within three days since it is so close. 

Our tour guide spoke fluent English, and she was absolutely amazing.  On our way to the DMZ, she explained how the day would be organized, what the DMZ was like, (It’s actually a 4 kilometer stretch of land with three different checkpoints.  I was thinking that it was basically one line with a huge concrete wall between the two nations or something.) when it was OK to take pictures and when it wasn’t, and other fun facts about the DMZ and surrounding land.  For example, did you know that people can live within the borders of the DMZ?  It’s not very many people, but if they do, they don’t have to pay Korean taxes.  Another thing that she said was that most South Koreans want to reunify with the North.  I was surprised by this!  I thought that South Koreans wanted nothing to do with the North since the country has no economy and hardly any infrastructure.  She said that many South Koreans, despite the differences, still see themselves as one united nation since the North and South is the same race, speaks the same language, etc.  (Also, here’s a fun fact for you.  South Koreans are the largest Asians.  Compared to Americans, they are normal sized.  However, North Koreans are the smallest of Asians.  Compared to Americans, they are midgets.) 

Our first stop was Imjingak Park, where you can see the ONLY train bridge (Freedom Bridge) still standing over the river that connects North and South Korea.  As soon as we pulled up into the parking lot, I was overwhelmed with how touristy the area was.  Tour buses crowded the parking lot, venders had set up shops selling cheap souvenirs, coffee shops and snack shops lined the perimeter, but the worst thing was the crowd.  I’m not lying when I say that there were HORDES of people.  Everywhere I went I was being pushed or shoved.  Any pictures that I took had at least a few people in them, and I was even grabbed by random Asians to get out of their pictures.  I didn’t like it at all!  Once we regrouped on the bus and were on our way to the next stop, our tour guide said that this was the busiest she had ever seen the DMZ.  She said that on Sunday when she came, there was hardly anyone at all and that for the past couple of weeks business had been very slow because many people were afraid of traveling to Korea due to the North’s errant claims of death and destruction to everyone. 

 

At first I thought, great!  The ONE day that we’re at the DMZ and it’s the busiest dang day ever.  With all of these crowds, how will we ever get to enjoy it?   However, we soon realized why it was such a busy day.  That was the LAST day that North Korea was allowing the South Korean workers to come and work in its factories.  There were only a handful of workers left, but that was the FINAL day for them to be employed.  Tons of news crews were there, set up and ready to capture images, and security was heightened even more than normal at the DMZ since no one knew if North Korea would try to start something that day.  That was basically the last day that North and South Korea had any ties to one another.  After that, all ties were severed.  It was actually a really cool day in history to be there! 

We had to go through the first checkpoint of the DMZ to get to our next stop on the tour.  The checkpoint consisted of our tour guide explaining that we were a tour group, the soldier checking passport numbers, and then him coming onboard with his huge gun clutched tightly in his hands, looking for any suspicious activity.  All of the soldiers were very serious and didn’t smile a lot.  However when we passed through the checkpoint, Ian and I were staring out the window, and one of the soldiers smiled and waved at us!  It was such a random and unforeseen act that we could do nothing but smile and wave back.

 

Our next stop on the tour was the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel.  After a truce had been agreed upon when the war fighting stopped, North Korea secretly dug a tunnel in order to invade South Korean.  Luckily someone leaked the information, and the invasion was thwarted.  Our tour guide told us that since the day was rushed, we only had twenty minutes to see the tunnel.  It’s quite a rush to do it in only twenty minutes!!  It’s a 200 meter walk down a steep incline and then another 200 walk to the end of it.  Add in the crowds, and we had quite a challenge!  It felt like we were rushing through it.  We literally had to run UP the steep incline in order to meet back at the bus in time.  I was sweating by the time we made it to our next stop, the theater across the way for a quick documentary about the Korean War.

In one day at the DMZ I learned more about the Korean War than I did in any of my history classes.  I feel like the Korean War is kind of skipped over in history as “that war after WWII but before Vietnam.”  For example, I had no idea that the Korean War was kind of a surprise.  North Korea, with the help of the Soviet Union, basically blindsided South Korea.  Unprepared and outmanned, the South Korean forces were forced to retreat further and further away.  Residents in the capital of Seoul were given a day’s warning to evacuate.  At it’s worst, the entire Korean peninsula was overtaken except for a small circle in the south around Busan.  That’s when the UN troops, led by the Americans, charged in. 

Enough about history……our next stop was the observatory in which we could look across the border and into North Korea.  Even at the observatory, the DMZ stretches probably another kilometer before the actual North Korean border takes over.  It was a hazy day, but we could still see into North Korea.  There are a couple of villages dotting the border, and one of them has a giant North Korean flagpole.  Our tour guide told us the significance behind it.  South Korea put up a flag pole on the hills beside the border.  Then North Korea put up a slightly taller flag pole in the nearest village.  South Korea put a slightly taller flag pole.  North Korea put up a slightly taller one.  The silly contest continued until South Korea finally said (and I’m paraphrasing here) “Fine!  You win!  You have a bigger flag pole, but we have running water and electricity.  Enjoy that flag pole.”  It was pretty cool to look over and see North Korea, but honestly the country looked like a barren wasteland of nothing.  Our tour guide told us that if we were there at night, you could look out to North Korea and see complete darkness because those villages don’t have electricity. 

 

Our final stop on the DMZ tour was to the Dorasan Station, the cleanest and nicest train station I’ve ever seen.  The reason for this is that it’s the end of the line in South Korea.  When relations with North Korea were a little better, the train station was the last stop in South Korea before crossing the border, and the train station is actually a little bitter pill to swallow because it was this big, beautiful building constructed to bring better relations and more travelers between the two countries.  However, when North Korea closed the border to South Korea in the mid-2000s, that station became a rarely used building.  Plus, it cost a TON of money, and South Korean tax payers are still paying for it today.  (Fun fact: Our tour guide told us that foreigners are still allowed into North Korea today.  Hardly any countries actually fly into the country, so you have to fly through China first.  The visa process isn’t difficult, but it does cost $3,000 because they want your money.  I’m not sure WHY anyone would want to go to North Korea, but it is possible.)

After our tour, we decided to re-try visiting the War Monument/Museum.  I’m really glad that we were finally able to see it because it was phenomenal.  I wished we could have skipped over the first couple of exhibits about ancient Korean history and moved onto the Korean War and more recent history because we ran out of time.  Ian, Mollee, and I actually didn’t even get to the 3rd floor because we ran out of time! 

 

That night we met up with a friend, Erin, who teaches outside of Seoul.  She asked what food we’d like to eat, and knowing that it’s not something we readily get in Japan, we said Mexican.  She said that she knew of a taco place that got good reviews, but she hadn’t been there yet.  To the taco stand we went!  It was a great choice, too.  Everything is fresh and handmade by the owner, a guy from California.  After dinner, we wandered around that area of town, eventually grabbing some street food.  Ian got a 911 spicy chicken stick, and I got a “no spicy” chicken stick.  To explain just how hot Korean food is, Ian’s 911 chicken made him cry, and my not spicy stick was still spicy.        

  

This whole blogging about South Korea thing is quite time consuming, but I swear that I’ll eventually get caught up!!

Seoul’d Out

Okay, okay, okay.  Enough with the Seoul puns….but believe me they were rampant during our three days in Seoul. 

We had our alarms set for 6:45 AM on our first day in Seoul because I thought I had scheduled our DMZ tour for that day.  We woke up to rain pouring down outside.  …..not exactly the type of weather that you want to see when you plan to be outside the whole day.  Although we got a good night’s sleep, it still didn’t seem long enough after the previous day’s abridged sleep and all day travel.  Our hotel offered free breakfast, so we went downstairs to grab it before leaving for the day, and we ended up meeting a very fascinating gentleman, Lars (…I think that was his name….).  He was born in the Philippines, had family in Sweden, and married a woman from New Jersey, where he lives.  Each morning that we went down to breakfast, he was there and pleasant to talk to.  (side note: Every time we encountered someone on the street who wanted to talk with us, I immediately thought that they were trying to scam us and hugged my purse a little closer.  I’m not sure why I felt this way since we were still in the safety net of Asia.  If anyone did that to me in Japan, I know that their intentions are pure, but anywhere else I’m not exactly sure, so I revert back to the pre-Japan Melissa in which I can’t trust anyone.)

I knew that the reservation that I made for the DMZ said to be in front of our hotel at 7:30 AM for pickup.  We gathered our umbrellas and waited outside.  7:30 came and went, but no one came.  We waited until 7:50, and I decided to double check my paper to make sure that I had gotten the times right.  I had.  Only….. I had gotten the days mixed up.  Whoops!  Our DMZ tour was actually scheduled for Tuesday, not Monday.  We all had a good laugh about it and regrouped in our room to figure out what to do the rest of the day.  After a bit of research, we decided to hit up the War Monument/Museum.  Luckily for us the rain stopped.  Yay!  Before we even went in the building, there were lots of old army tanks, machine guns, and aircraft sitting around, so like the big dumb idiots that we are, we played around on those.

 

Another thing that was really cool about the War Monument/Museum were the giant plaques hung up outside with the names of the soldiers who had died.  On one side was Koreans, and on the other side were UN soldiers.  The American names were listed state by state, and I searched the names under “Kentucky,” but none of them seemed familiar. 

 

When we finally decided to actually go in the museum, we realized a bad thing.  The museum was closed on Mondays!  NOOOOOOOOOO!  However, we rearranged plans and decided to wander down the street to Itaewon, the foreign part of town.  It was actually a really cool place to be with trendy little tourist shops and LOTS of foreign food to try.  We ate lunch at a kebab place and then decided to break up into groups of two so that we could better explore the area.  Something that surprised me about South Korean business owners is that they are AGRESSIVE.  They want you to spend money in their shops and won’t stop bothering you until you have.  I’m accustomed to passive Japan and the States where if you want to just enter the shop and look at things, that’s fine.  However, as soon as we entered shops in Korea, a clerk made his/her way to us and showed us this and that, trinkets, post cards, dolls, and other shiny objects.  We tried to lose the clerks a couple of times, but they all were so insistent!  I hated it, and it made our shopping experience really uncomfortable.  I don’t want to feel forced to buy something just by walking in your store!

Ian and I met back up with Mollee and Melissa at a local coffee shop.  One good thing about Korea is that they LOVE coffee shops, and there is absolutely NO shortage of them.  It’s like being in the Pacific Northwest!  I don’t like coffee, but I love the coffee shop atmosphere and will enjoy a tea as I sit and relax with friends. 

 

Our next stop on our Seoul Train (Ha!  Sorry….couldn’t help myself…) was to the nearby park for a relaxing picnic.  However, we ended up playing and goofing around and decided to hike up the mountain to Seoul Tower for a great view of the city.  Ian wanted to go up the actual tower, but it cost about $20/person, and I couldn’t justify spending that money just to see a view that would be only slightly better than the view I already had.  We wandered around the Seoul Tower area for a bit before heading back down the hill and making our way to Gangnam.  No trip to Seoul is complete these days without a trip to Gangnam to get the super touristy picture of yourself dancing in front of the neon “Gangnam Style” light stage.

 

We knew that the light stage was near the subway exit, but we went out the wrong exit and decided to get dinner instead.  Korean BBQ is supposed to be really popular and famous throughout Asia, so we decided to try it that night.  It was indeed a feast!  It was similar to Japanese yakiniku in which we ordered a couple of plates of meat to BBQ (Asian BBQ is nothing like BBQ in the States.  It’s more like grilling.), and they brought us sides of vegetables, kimchi, salads, soups, tofu, and all kinds of things to go along with the meat.  We ate until we were literally stuffed silly before heading out to find the Gangnam Style sign.  Once we did, we took the obligatory tourist pictures and began to stroll the crowded and bright streets of Gangnam, which is a very trendy part of town. 

 

Melissa and I were very tired after a long day walking around town and decided to head back to the hotel.  It was already 9:30, and by the time we got back it would be 10-10:30.  By the time we took showers and got in bed, we’d barely get eight hours before waking up the next morning for our DMZ tour.  Ian and Mollee were fine with that plan because they wanted to stay out and explore a little longer.  However, making our way back wasn’t as easy as we thought.  We got turned around in the Gangnam subway stop, and it didn’t help that our map was printed with a font size of 5.  As we squinted at the tiny print trying to figure out where exactly we were in Seoul’s spaghetti-like subway system, we finally got it and took the right way to our subway stop. 

There were multiple exits out of our subway stop, and in hindsight, we should have been a bit more careful about that.  However, we knew that our hotel was close to the palace, so we followed signs toward the palace exit.  When we surfaced, nothing looked very familiar.  However, we brushed it off saying that in the darkness of night things look different.  We continued following signs to palace, not recognizing anything.  As we twisted and turned onto different streets, both of us were doubting the direction we were going.  When we finally hit the stone wall of the palace, it dawned on us…..there was more than one palace, and we were at the wrong one.  We were lost in the heart of Seoul without a map or functioning phone to call and tell Ian and Mollee.  We walked toward the main road, and thank God that I had the address of our hotel in my bag.  We noticed a couple of cabs on the curb and decided that whatever the price would be, we’d pay it just to get back to our hotel safe and sound.  I showed the cabbie our hotel address (which was written in Korean), and he handed it back to me, basically saying sorry, but he had no idea where that was at.  I think at this point in time Melissa and I both had that sinking feeling in our stomachs of OMG-WHAT-ARE-WE-GOING-TO-DO?????  I said that we should just find our subway stop and figure out what went wrong from there.  Unfortunately this was late at night, and hardly any shops were opened, but finally we found someone to ask.  He pointed us in the right direction of the subway stop, and we made it back.

As soon as we were underground and looking at a map, we realized the error.  There isn’t just one or two palaces in Seoul but FIVE, and we had gone toward the wrong one.  After double checking to make sure that we were going in the right direction, we left the subway station, and immediately things were looking familiar.  By this time it was 11:30.  TWO HOURS after we had left Ian and Mollee.  Since Melissa and I had the only keys to our rooms, we said that Ian and Mollee were probably wondering how they had beat us back and worried about us.  Once we arrived at the hotel neither Mollee nor Ian was waiting in the lobby.  We assumed that they had gotten new keys from the front desk, but neither of them were in the room either.  Melissa asked if they would have gone out looking for us, but I knew Ian would have been smarter than that.  He would know to stay in one place.  I decided to check the hotel for them.  I looked on the rooftop garden, the basement breakfast room, and even asked the front desk staff if a guy with a beard and a blonde girl had come in.  No one had seen them.  Melissa and I frantically tried contacting them in any means possible—Skype, Facebook, LINE, email, etc in case they had wifi were they were. 

It was a little after midnight when they walked in the door.  I immediately questioned Ian.  “Where the heck have you been??  I thought you guys were only going to stay out a little longer!”  He laughed and told me that they had some problems getting home.  They knew it was getting late and weren’t sure what time the subway closed, so they hopped on the train at 10:30.  They got to Seoul Station and had to transfer.  As soon as they got on, a message in Korean played over the intercom.  He said the only other lady in their car got up and left, but they didn’t think anything about it until the train started moving….slowly….much slower than usual and gradually stopped in the middle of a dark tunnel.  Apparently, that train was going through a cleaning cycle because a team of workers came onboard to sweep, mop, and wash while Ian and Mollee awkwardly sat and watched.  Eventually the train started running again, but by the time they got to the next stop, the subway system had closed for the night.  Too far away to walk, they hopped in a taxi, prepared to pay whatever the fee might be.  (However, it turned out to be only $8!  I love cheap South Korea!)

As soon as he told that story, I laughed and told him ours.  As it turns out, the four of us should have stuck together!  By the time Ian and I showered and got in bed, it was after 1 AM, and we had to be up the following morning at 6:45 for our DMZ tour (for real this time!).

South Korea, Day 1

Guilty as charged.  I have been putting off posting about Korea because I honestly have no idea where to start, and I’m afraid that I’m going to leave something out.  These Korean posts are probably going to be rather lengthy, so be warned!  Luckily this week I have very few classes because my school’s sports day is on Sunday, so lots of classes have been canceled so that the kids can practice for that.  For example, there are absolutely no classes today….just practicing…which gives me plenty of time to blog!

We left for South Korea on Sunday April 28th.  We went to bed the previous night around 11:30 and were up bright and early at 3:30 AM to leave Melissa’s house.  We had to leave that early because our ferry departed from Fukuoka (about two hours from Hitoyoshi) at 8:30, we weren’t exactly sure where the port was, and we had to check in and go through immigration/customs before boarding.  While it was difficult to wake up that early, I was actually one of the lively ones.  I sat up front to keep Melissa awake, and we babbled and chatted the whole way up.  Much to Ian and Mollee’s chagrin, I was hyper and bouncing off the sides of Melissa’s tiny car.  We made it to the port a little before 7 only to find out that the building doesn’t open until 7 and the counters don’t open until 7:30.  *sigh*  So much for waking up so early!  We passed the time by sending last minute messages to our families, grabbing breakfast, and chatting with each other. 

Our ferry was really cool.  It was a jet foil ferry, and I’ve never ridden on one of those.  It’s basically like an airplane on water.  Once we were out of the main port area, the jet engines kicked in, the foils made the ferry rise out of the water, and we were cruising at a very good pace.  The ride was so much smoother than a regular ferry since the body of the ferry wasn’t actually in the water.  Something that made me laugh was the guys a few rows ahead of us.  They were older men and celebrating a weekend trip to Korea, I guess, because shortly after the ferry started, they cracked open a couple of beers.  It was 9 AM.  Ha!  All four of us rested a bit on the three hour ferry ride before arriving in Busan port.  As I stared out of the window admiring the view of the second largest city in South Korea, I asked Ian, “Are you nervous about getting around?”  He wasn’t. 

We went through immigration and customs and immediately realized that we weren’t in Kansas anymore, Toto.  None of us knew Korean, so it was like being back in Japan on Day 1.  (However, most Koreans spoke some English, or we were able to get by with gestures.)  We found the bus that would take us to the train station.  It was only a short ten minute ride, but in those ten minutes we found a theme that became common throughout the week:  I never thought it was possible, but there are worse drivers than the Japanese…SOUTH KOREANS.  Whereas the Japanese are passive, (and if you pull out in front of them, they will kindly tap their brakes and allow you to do so) South Koreans are AGGRESSIVE.  Our bus driver was swerving all over the road, honking and shouting at any cars or pedestrians that dared to get in her way.  Let’s not even talk about merging.  It was CLEAR that her bus was king of the road, and if you didn’t give way, she would roll right over you.  Throughout the week, we realized that it wasn’t just her….that’s how Koreans drive.  *shudder*

At the train station we bought tickets to Seoul.  For a three hour bullet train in Japan, it costs about $200-300 ONE WAY.  For the same high speed train in South Korea it cost us $50.  GASP!  Another theme that we found throughout the week was that South Korea was MUCH cheaper than Japan.  Ian and I laughed and said, “Why didn’t we come here to teach instead of Japan??” 

By the time we finally arrived in Seoul, we were all dog tired, hungry, and snapping at one another.  We decided the best thing to do was to check into our hotel and then grab food before crashing for the night.  Finding our hotel was a little difficult since it was tucked away in a back alley of Seoul, but it was worth it.  The hotel was recently remodeled, and everything was new, bright, and clean.  It was perfect!  It even came equipped with power converters (South Korea has the same plug at Europe) which was good because none of us had thought to check out the power situation before leaving Japan! 

Once we set our stuff down, we wandered out into the streets in search of food.  Our last real meal had been a Subway sandwich that we’d bought at the port in Fukuoka and eaten on the ferry.  We chose a place close to our hotel that served bibimbap, a traditional Korean dish.  It’s sautéed vegetables, meat, rice, and a raw egg.  Usually it’s served in a hot stone bowl, and you mix all of the ingredients together to create this fried rice dish.  The hot bowl cooks the dish as you mix it together.  Then you add kimchi (fermented cabbage….don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!) and mysterious spicy red sauce to it.  It’s a really great dish.  All of us ordered that, and after a loooooooooooong and tiring day of travel, it was the PERFECT thing to quench out appetites. 

   And that, my friends, completes day one of our travels in South Korea!  More soon!     

Circus Tricks on Ichifusa

Alright….so I actually did write the following blog on my phone in South Korea, but then I couldn’t post it because the app sucks.  ……so I’m just now getting around to posting it.  Oops…..

Greetings from South Korea, y'all!  I always take my computer with me on trips for blogging purposes, yet I rarely ever use it on trips because we're so busy touring, so I tried something different this time. Instead of blogging from my computer, I'm going to try it from my iPhone....if my thumbs don't kill me!  ;)

Before I begin with South Korea stories, I wanted to write about our couch surfer and hike up Ichifusa. Ian and I joined couch surfing shortly after arriving in Japan, but due to where we live, no one really has ever come all the way out to our house to stay. We had a couple of times when we thought people were coming, but they canceled last minute when they realized just how far out we lived. However, finally we got a couch surfer, Hugo from Quebec. He was honestly one of the most interesting people I've ever met. He is well traveled and can go anywhere on a whim. He said that he doesn't travel to see places but to meet people. I thought that that was such an incredible way of traveling that I've never considered!  What was even more interesting about Hugo was that he worked for Cirque de Soliel as an acrobat and currently owns his own company but still tours as an acrobat. (I know it sounds kind of weird to say that he worked for the circus, but he was legit. More on that later!)

Since he was with us, we decided to scratch an item off of our list of things to do before we leave....hike Ichifusa one more time. Mollee and Margo joined us, and we had an amazing day!  The weather was absolutely perfect for a day of hiking.  As we hiked up, Hugo would do risky things like climb way out on the branch of a tree or leap from rock to rock (with a severe drop below).....stuff none of us would DARE try, but he had to remind us that doing stuff like that was his job. Nearly every time I saw him, he was balancing his walking stick in his hand or juggling something. I had to stop myself one time from saying, "What...do you work for the circus or something?"  .....because he actually does!  

 

The hike up was grueling, but once we made it, it was worth it. The view was beautiful, and since there was no one else at the top, we had it all to ourselves!  We opened our backpacks and dug into our lunches because we were ravenous!!  After devouring everything we had, each of us laid down in the warm sunshine and took a nap. It felt wonderful to do so!  

 

After that little break, the real fun began. Hugo said that he wanted to take a panorama picture of the scenery but didn't want the scrub bush and trees in the way, so he suggested that someone stand on his shoulders. All of us looked at him skeptically, thinking YOU WANT US TO DO WHAT?!?!  In the end, Ian was peer pressured to do it.  Hugo said to trust him, but when you're on the top of the mountain looking down trying to do a cute circus move, you begin to question trust no matter how much you do or do not believe in someone.  That one trick led to a series of tricks in which we all did something with Hugo.  Hugo told us that most people are capable of doing these stunts, but the mind often gets in the way and makes you shut down.  If you can get over the mental aspect of your mind telling you no, then it’s completely possible.  Mollee was brave enough to go first. She had to hang off of his neck with one of her legs. (Remember....this is on the edge of a cliff!!)  Margo's trick was to climb on Hugo's back and lift her legs straight out while he balanced ALL of their combined weight on his arms. After they all did tricks, I knew that I couldn't whimp out. I gave in to peer pressure and performed. He asked me if i was flexible, but i think my idea of flexibility and his idea were polar opposites. My stunt was that I pushed all of my weight back on him while he grabbed my left foot and brought it up to my head while I pointed my right leg outward, forming a right angle. The thrill of performing that on the cliff was incredible!!  I definitely understand what people talk about when they say "the rush" because after that I felt like I could take on anything!!  I felt like I was ready to rush off and join the circus!  

 

The return trip down Ichifusa was MUCH more dangerous. While the way up requires stamina and climbing ability, the way down requires agility. It was funny because on the way up Hugo lost a bottle of water. He was adjusting a strap on his backpack, the bottle slipped out, and we heard it rolling down the mountain forest for several minutes. However, on the way down, I found a giant liter water bottle. I suppose the same thing happened to someone else. The bottle was sealed, so we knew it was OK and drank it.  What the mountain taketh, the mountain giveth!

Everyone went home after that to shower and change before meeting back up for dinner in Hitoyoshi. We finally got to go to the curry place that Mollee always raves about. Since it was an authentic Indian restaurant, the food was pretty darn spicy!  After that Ian, Mollee, and I went to Melissa's to stay the night. It was a very short night since we went to bed at 11:30 and had to be awake at 3:30 in order to catch our ferry in Fukuoka the following morning. 

Woot!  So now that I'm all caught up, the next blog can be about Korea!  Stay tuned for that....