Week 5 - South Korea

Aneyonhaseo,

Tonight is our last night in the fun and wild city of Seoul and our last night in Korea! This country has been a very cool and interesting place. Korea would be a great place to visit! Besides English teachers and the US military, not too many people come to Korea which means all the more reason to visit! Just a few tid bits about what we think of this place.

The Koreans have had a very rough past and its incredable to see them with great national pride. Many think it was bad for the French, Dutch, Poles, etc with German occupation, but Korea was occupied by the Japanese for about 35 years in the 1900's - until the end of world war 2 - and this was just the more recent time. Learing about the struggles and how they are now Asia's 3rd biggest economy is just remarkable and one could say is a good represtation of capitalism and democracy when compared to the poor north. - Marina wrote this part ;)

There is a lot to see in Korea, and anyone who loves the outdoors should come on their next trip!

Our favourite things about Korea - The progress and national price, Bulgogi BBQ, the National Parks, and the DMZ! Plus Kimchee, how could I not mention this. Its served at every meal - even breakfast so you grow to love this spicy fermented cabbage dish!

Cheongju > Daechean Beach > Suwan > Seoul

Sunday - The Presidential Palace; A great thing about Korea is the people are free to visit the presidential palace which is no longer used by the president. For whatever reason, maybe because he didn't like it (its a bit small by American standards). On Sunday morning we toured the palace which hosted many of the worlds leaders. On the way we met a guy who works there who got us in for free and another person who allowed us to take pictures in the restricted areas - a good example of the hospitality of the Koreans!

Monday - BEACH TIME - we arrived in Daechean Beach late Sunday afternoon and really enjoyed the chilling out time! Daechean is known for its annual mud festival which we missed by a month - however Marina enjoyed the mud spa treatments, not exactly roughing it :D

Tuesday - Flaming Dr Peppers - Tuesday morning we went to Suwan (just south of Seoul) to see the famous castle and Korean folk village. As I needed my hair cut, I figured I would try my luck in Korea rather than Mongolia... very funny, No matter how I explained it the guy wanted to shave my head, finally I finally showed him the 5th time which clip to use and he managed to surprisingly give a good hair cut! Later that night we had a great beef BBQ - as mentioned before Koreans love to BBQ on the table in the restaurant. We then found a wicked bar called the Bull Dog which specialised in shots! And I showed him how to properly make a flaming Dr Pepper - he then pulled out his tricks making shots looking like the Mexican flag, Russian Flag and then the grand finale a Japanese flag!

Wednesday - BASEBALL - The folk villiage was interesting, but the most cool was the tight rope walker - this guy was jumping and probably couldn't be pushed off. We then made our way to the big city of Seoul for our final destination in Seoul. When we arrived I was very happy to know that we were in the party area - Sinchon! We quickly headed to the baseball match between the Seoul Heros and the Seoul Bears. We chose the Bears to support as it was their home match. Korean baseball is fun to watch, but its worst than triple A. The Heros made about 7 errors, they dropped infield pop ups! The best thing was the beer is cheap! $2.50 for a nice cold Hite beer! However these are not presented by cute girls in cheerleading outfits... Old ladies or guys selling the beer.. :( The main snack at Korean baseball games is dried squid!

Baseball cheerleaders - awesome!!

Thursday - DMZ - This day was dedicated to war history. The DMZ is the demarcation line between South and North Korea, also called the 38th parallel. It is absolutely the most heavily guarded boarder of any place in the world! The really scary thing is how the North is repeatedly digging huge tunnels (one of which we got to go in) into the South to invade! The last one was 1990 and there are possibly some that are unknown! So the threat of invasion is every present and with the US military spread in Iraq and Afganistan - its probably a good time if any for Kim Jung Ill - hopefully he will be preoccupied with all his porn collection. Later that day we went to the War Memorial Museum which is probably the coolest anywhere - most wouldn't say cool when describing war, but to be able to climb in planes - I mean it seemed like every war plane the US has ever had, all the helicopoters, and go in the tanks! Very cool and a must see for anyone seeing Seoul!

Friday - Being our last day we ensured it was full to see everything we could. However having woke up with a serious hangover from partying hard with our new friend Tom from Belgium who was studying here. Far too many soju! The coolest thing today was the Olympic village, must have been amazing to see the olympics here! They seemed to go all out! The best thing about Seoul getting the olympics was this was a time when it was moving out a tough past to the modern world!

Tomorrow morning we will be flying to Ulan Bator, Mongolia. We will be taking an 18 day excursion to the Gobi desert so may not be able to get to a computer until we get back to UB. Dont worry and expect a VERY cool update next time. I have high expectations for Mongolia and think it could be the highlight of our Asian trip!

take care,

Dan and Marina