South Korea

I went to Jeju and Seoul, Korea with 3 wonderful people: Anj, Catherine and Edgar. Jeju is known as the honey moon spot. Seoul is the soul of Asia. We had a week off and we wanted to go somewhere relaxing but a spot we haven't been to yet. We looked up a few places but we all decided we wanted to go to Korea. We went to Jeju for a few days before we flew to Seoul. Jeju was beautiful! It was so quiet and clean. All the washrooms had toilet paper and soap. When we found a taxi driver he was very helpful because he called our guest house for us to find out where it is and he drove us there. Great hospitality! Everyone is very friendly and helpful. All the taxi drivers had a GPS in their car. It showed the landscape and made a sound when there was a camera ahead. We didn't think Jeju was that big but it does take a few hours to drive around it. I thought I could ride a bike around it in a couple of hours with ease. Our guest house was very nice. The four of us stayed in one room and it was very clean. They people were very helpful.

The next morning, we all slept in. Breakfast was included; I had coffee, toast and eggs for breakfast. Then we were off on our adventure, we took the taxi into the small city and walked around. We didn't know what we were expecting but we just wanted to explore. We stopped by a bakery call “Paris Baguette”. I visited that bakery so many times and I even bought some things to take back to Dalian. The cinnamon buns are to die for! We saw a signed directing us to a waterfall. We followed the signs and we went through a market with a lot of cabbage for kimchi. When we were close to the waterfall we saw a sign for submarine. We got side tracked and followed the signs to a submarine. We went into a submarine and submerged about 40 meters. It was so COOL! I have always wanted to go in a submarine =) There were lots of fish and coral. The scuba diver, pretty cute, fed the fish near the submarine and the fish swam close to all the windows. The MC only spoke Korean but the tone and expressions he used were very funny. Everyone was laughing and having a good time =) After the excitement of submerging under water in a submarine we were hungry to we found a restaurant in the Lonely Planet and went to a Korean restaurant. It was a set meal with many dishes to share. It was yummy! I had a chance to try many different kinds of dishes. After lunch, we went back to our hunt to find a waterfall. We found the waterfall!!! It was in a park area with a lot of greenery. Then we crossed a bridge we saw earlier which went to a very small island. We walked around the island and took everything in. Then we went to find a coffee shop. We just sat at a coffee shop for a little bit and played on Edgar's iPad 2 and just caught up. When we were coming in from the airport to our guesthouse, we saw a big stadium. I wanted to go find it again! We found a taxi and we were on another adventure. The area did not have a lot of people, the stadium was deserted. We were going to climb over the fence to see the Fifa stadium but we were afraid that there were cameras everywhere. Therefore, I suggested we walked around and see if there was an entrance on the other side, and there was! The gate was opened for the public. It is HUGE! The field was very well maintained in close up. Get this, there is a movie theatre under the Fifa stadium Edgar really wanted to watch “Thor” and we did. I haven't even watched a movie yet in China. It was very sporadic. We had to make sure the movie wasn't going to be played all in Korean because none of us could help each other. “Thor” was a good movie. It was late and we hadn't had dinner yet, so we walked around and found E-mart which is a department store associated with Walmart. I had a slice of pizza. That was only the first full day in Jeju!

The next day, Edgar and Catherine went on a hike. Anj and I went to find an island to the “Anne of Green Gables” house. We took the bus and a ferry to the island. When we got off the ferry we saw people renting golf carts. Thank goodness I brought my BC driver's license. I have always wanted to drive a golf cart around a golf course but never thought about driving a golf cart around an island. I was not a very steady golf cart driver at first but then I started to get a hang of it. We covered a lot of different kinds of transportations on this trip. We stopped at different points of the island and took some pictures. It was a gorgeous day! I really wanted to go to a lava tube so we took the ferry back and a taxi. We did not have lunch yet. I don't think we actually had lunch that day. However, we did meet someone very friendly from U.S., Mike. Mike, thanks for getting us an English interpreter. It was so neat to be underground and feel and see the different lava formations. Some were rougher and some were smoother. It was dark and clammy underground. We still had quite a ways back to our guesthouse and we took the bus again. Mike, Anj and I went to a Korea restaurant for dinner. We were supposed to meet Edgar and Catherine earlier for dinner but we did not time it right. Sorry Edgar and Catherine =( The food was delicious! It was another eventful day =) 

The next morning we slept in a little because we had to fly to our next destination, Seoul. On our way to the airport, we stopped by a museum. Not just any museum, we went to the “Love Land” museum. Some parts were corny and some were artistic. Sorry no pictures included. The plane was not full at all and very comfortable. We flew on a Korean airline. When we got Seoul we went straight to our hostel. We stayed at “BeBop.” It is in the Hongik University area. It is in a good location because many clubs, restaurants, and coffee shops were around. It was harder to find but we asked locals and they helped us call the hostel. We did not end our day there because the day was still early. We explored the area and found a place for lunch. We had Italian food. There were many boutiques and small art studios. It is a very culturally vibrant place. We then took a taxi downtown, not knowing what to expect. The traffic was so bad that I got car sick... I eventually got better when we started walking around and I got distracted by the life size lanterns in the canal. The canal goes through the heart of the city. There was a very cool laser show too. I will try and upload it on Facebook.

The next day, we went shopping at Coex. The mall is huge and we didn't even make a dent. We did buy some stuff at the Body Shop and a book store with English books. It is hard to find English books in China. Only in the major cities. Catherine found an amazing book for her Physics students! We went to the Namsan Tower to take a look. It was so busy but so much greenery. I located Yoon by calling her. People are very genuine in Korea. I had no problems with finding a phone to use. People gave me either their personal or business phones to use. We had a delicious dinner and great company too =) Thank you for spending time with us Yoon in your busy schedule! I've never had it before, it kind of reminds me of teppanyaki but Korean style.

The next morning we had to wake up much earlier because we had a tour booked to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) between North and South Korea. There were many rules and restrictions, such as, where we can take pictures and where we should not go. We watched a 7 min. propaganda video which was quite positive. We then saw and took picture of the freedom bridge. I felt like I was being watched all the time, every step I took. There were four tunnels discovered that connected N. and S. Korea together. We went down to the third tunnel. Thank goodness I am shorter because I did not have to worry about hitting my head in the tunnel but I did wear a helmet just in case. I definitely cannot be a coal miner because I went a little crazy down in the tunnel. When we went deeper, the air was a lot thicker. There were rocks painted black to disguise they were trying to find coal but they were trying to enter the other side of Korea. There are probably many other tunnels we are unaware of. I was so close to N. Korea. I used the binoculars to see N. Korea, it looked like there were two main cities but there is a lot of natural land and mountains. One day I will enter N. Korea. 

Going down the third tunnel.

After the DMZ, we explored the city some more. The Insadong area is more artsy. There were many different paintings and vases. We went for Turkish food for dinner. DELICIOUS! It's in the Expat area where there are many import stores. We then went back to the Hongik University area because we didn't get a good vibe where we were before. We went to a bar and we walked around to find a good club. There are so many different clubs in the area but many of them were not busy at all. We eventually went to “S Club.” Foreigners get in free!!! We were there for a bit. We lost track of time too. When we left the club, it was almost 3am. It was so busy outside. There were hundreds of people outside even though it was pouring rain. We waited it out by going to a cafe. It was a place where the three ladies had many good chats. The area was still booming when we eventually got into a cab to headed back to our hostel.

We definitely slept in the next day, we had to pack too because we were leaving in the evening back to Dalian. We tried to find a shopping place but we didn't buy anything. I had street food for lunch =) Next time I have to go back for the dumplings, I never had a chance to try them. The Hongik area was booming again with an art market in a park. I bought a very nice sterling silver necklace and the man made it in front of me. In addition, we heard very talented musicians. People were sitting and walking around and taking everything in. We were sad to leave Korea =( It was very easy to get to the airport on the subway system. The worst part was the delay at the airport. I could have been at the lantern festival and the parade in Korea but I was stuck at the airport. We did not know when the plane was going to leave. It was supposed to be only about an hour flight home but I think it was delayed for about 5 hours. It was so late and we were all falling asleep or running on adrenaline. I fell asleep on the plane right away. I felt bad for the flight attendants because they were starting to fall asleep too as they were working. We did find a taxi driver to drive us to Jinshitan which is about an hour from the airport. We met Truong at the airport in Seoul so Anj, Catherine, Truong and I stayed awake on the ride home because the taxi driver was tired too and we had to make sure he wasn't going to fall asleep at the wheel. Thank you Truong for helping me lift my luggage up to my apartment. I think by the time I went to bed, it was around 3:30am. I noticed the sky was getting brighter.

I would definitely be back to Korea. There are many parts that I still want to go see. I was surprised that not many Koreans know how to speak English; however, everyone was very helpful. I even used Mandarin instead of English to speak to a bus driver for directions. He only spoke Mandarin and Korean. I've noticed that Mandarin is more common than before. Korea is a very clean city and many things to do and see.