Hello everyone!
Can you believe it’s the middle of October already? We
can’t! It seems just yesterday we were in the middle of summer preparing for
our wedding! Time has flown by, and we are already 2 months into our 1-year
contract! You can definitely tell
how time has passed here in Korea. When we arrived it was hot humid, and didn’t
get dark till later in the evening. We went everywhere in shorts and slept with
the AC and fan! We are really excited for Fall now! The weather
is much cooler, we wear jackets or sweaters to schools all day, and we don’t
need the AC anymore! Back home in Gladstone, the main street called Portland Avenue, had rows of beautiful trees that always changed colors during the fall. It was
always gorgeous and our favorite time of the year.
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| Beautiful Gladstone trees! |
Here in Korea we haven’t noticed as many trees changing
colors (yet) but we hear it happens. We are just enjoying the cool crisp
mornings and sunshine afternoons! We even have some rain every now and then which reminds us of home. :)
We have had 2 weeks of weird schedules (schedule changes,
days off, traveling) and have really enjoyed the time off and the opportunity
to explore the country! But now we are ready to get back into our normal
routine and have a weekend off to just rest!
We made our very first trip to Seoul, Korea last week! We were really
excited to finally visit the largest city in Korea! We’d heard many great
things and couldn’t wait to get there! We decided it would be great to go
during our 4 day weekend because after that, we weren’t sure when the next
opportunity would be to get there! So the plans were made and we set off on
that Thursday! I’ll let Tyler explain! :)
Day 1
Seoul!
We departed for Seoul by bus Thursday afternoon after
enjoying lunch at Burger King. (We weren’t big on fast food back in the U.S.,
but it’s the only place to get a decent burger for a reasonable price around
here.) Anyways, the buses to Seoul are very nice. They are similar to what you
might think of flying first class on a normal flight (not international). Val
and I both enjoyed kicking back and taking a relaxing nap. About halfway
through the three and a half hour ride, buses pull over at a rest stop. The
rest stops in Korea are awesome! They have a bunch of stores and shops where
you can buy all sorts of food and snacks. They also have huge bathrooms to
accommodate all the tour buses, which are usually pretty nice looking.
After arriving in Seoul, we headed out to the subway, which
is located just a couple floors below the bus terminal. The subway system in
Seoul is amazing! The subway trains come by very frequently so we never had to
wait too long, they have English postings and translations of all the stops
everywhere, they make very quick stops, and the cost is very cheap! Also,
usually one floor above the subway platform, they have more shops, which
sometimes include places to buy clothes, shoes, phones, and most importantly,
FOOD!
We took the subway to Itaewon, a popular foreigner
destination. After finding the hostel we stayed at over the weekend, we set out
for dinner. We had a craving for some Mexican food, so we ate at this nice
little restaurant near our hostel. Then we set out to explore Itaewon!
So to
give you a little bit of a mental picture, Itaewon has a main strip with big
stores with brand names, and big restaurants. On one side of the strip is all
the bars and clubs (some of them look like really cool places), which is where
the all night partying happens. Then on the other side is a bunch of narrow
streets with restaurants selling just about any food you could want, and all
kinds of clothes including tailor made suits. Our hostel was located on a
street famous for it’s antiques (which may or may not really be antiques). So
it was close to the fun, but nice and quite at night. After we finished
exploring the area, we stopped for some dessert before turning in for the
night. We ate at a place that serves real waffle and ice-cream sandwiches. So
basically, they make a waffle, put a flavoring spread of your choice (i.e.,
chocolate, strawberry, cream cheese, peanut butter, ect…), then they give you
three scoops of ice-cream, which you can choose chocolate, vanilla, or both,
and finally they top it off with chocolate syrup, chocolate chips, or
sprinkles. It was awesome!
Day 2
Seoul Tower
After sleeping in and grabbing lunch at taco bell, we were
headed to the N Seoul Tower! This famous landmark is similar to the Space
Needle in Seattle and sits atop a hill in the middle of Seoul. After asking
someone at our hostel, we decided to set out by foot and walk to the tower,
(which we were told was about a 45 minute walk). Our walk took us up a series
of hills, which ended up being the neighborhood where all the foreign
ambassadors live. We had fun looking at all the homes and seeing which
countries they belonged too. Most of those homes must be million dollar homes
at least. After about 45 minutes of walking and still nowhere close to the
tower, which was taunting us in the distance, we made the most miraculous
discovery. Within a small foreign food store, we found root beer and ranch
dressing! If you didn’t know, it is no easy task getting your hands on either
of those goods here in Korea. To celebrate our victory and save us from walking
for the next hour and a half, we caught a taxi to take us the rest of the way.
The taxi dropped us off right in front of the gondola, which
takes people up to the tower. We bought our tickets and waited in line. We have
heard horror stories about how busy it can be, but we didn’t have to wait too
long. Once we got up to the tower, you almost forget you’re in the middle of a
giant city. At one of the lookout points, they have metal fencing, which people
attach locks to. Val and I purchased a little blue lock, which we wrote on and
attached it to a spot on the fence. We have keys and maybe someday in the
future we can try to go back and find our lock. In another area right next to
the tower, there was some sort of cultural performance going on displaying
different old weapons. While walking toward the tower, we got asked 5 times to
be in pictures with complete strangers. Not all of the people were Korean
either. The last time was a group of several students, so after they got their
picture, we asked for one of our own with them! Now it’s time to go see the
tower, which I will let Val tell you more about!
Once we got to the top, we stepped off the gondola and immediately saw the fences filled with little locks! We had to put a lock on ourselves, so we bought a little blue lock and drew on it with a permanent pen. Then we found the perfect spot and locked it on forever! We headed up a little further, closer to the entrance of the tower and saw there was a cultural show going on. As we were watching the performance a lady came up to us with her camera, gestured to take a photo, and handed the camera to Tyler. Tyler had to take a photo of me and this lady on her camera. The lady pulled me close and was super happy to be taking this photo. It was hilarious. But that only started a chain of multiple other people who wanted photos with us. I think once they saw 1 person do it and that it was ok, they all wanted too! After taking at least different photos we asked the last group of high school kids to take a photo with us! Haha!
We finally got to the entrance of the tower and bought our tickets to go to the top. We got a great deal! It was $20 for both of us to go to the top and it included a large popcorn and 2 drinks! We were happy with that! We proceeded inside, got our food, and took the really cool elevator (that has a TV on the ceiling) to the top. Once we got up there we were pleasantly surprised with the fact that it wasn't super crowded. We had space to move around and take as many photos as we pleased. Around the windows were labels with the different cities or countries in the world and how far away they were. There was a great little booth set up where you could purchase post cards, write on them, and mail them from the top of the tower. Obviously, it was just another way to get people to buy their postcards, but it worked! We totally bought postcards and sent them to our parents! And we had fun doing it, so that's what counts, right?
After hanging out at the top for a bit and soaking in the view, we went down one floor to use the restroom. The restrooms were amazing! The sinks were situated in the middle of the room and the windows were floor length so you had a great view! It was a very fancy bathroom!
We got back into the elevator and went down again. As we left we took some more photos and went to find the bus stops. We successfully found the bus that would take us back to Itaewon near our hostel, but we decided to get off at the stop before that at a open air market instead! This was a great choice!
Namdaemun Market
On our way back from the Seoul Tower we stopped at the
Namdaemun Market. This market is like a huge labyrinth of shops. You can
literally find anything in this market IF you know where to look. It was times
like these that we really feel like we are in another country! You can buy
anything from clothes, toys, and souvenirs, to things like live octopus,
gardening supplies, and custom bedding. Val and I got some fun things for
ourselves and we were given a discount a couple of times because the person
liked us.
After spending a couple hours in the Market, it was time to
head back to Itaewon for dinner! We decided to go to a Greek restaurant because
we were craving gyros. Dinner was great and then we decided to drop our bags
off at the hostel before going for a stroll. We went of a walk up and down the
main strip in Itaewon and had fun just hanging out. Of course we stopped for
some more dessert along the way, Val tried a doughnut, and I got an ice-cream
cone! Korea has SO many different sweets everywhere and we decided it is our
responsibility to try them all! Just kidding, but we have done quite well so
far! Val can explain day 3!
Day 3
Hanok Village-
The 3rd day (Saturday)
was a very busy day! We first decided to go visit Bukchon Hanok Village, a
historic village that has over 900 traditional houses that are occupied with
residents. It was a quick subway ride to the neighborhood. Once we got off, we
found a nice little information booth. Right as we walked up to it the ladies
inside quickly grabbed us a English map and we were on our way again. We could
tell when we arrived because all of the houses started turning into the very
traditional type of housing and there were funny signs on fences reminding
people to be respectful of the people who actually live there.
Though this place is a popular “tourist attraction” it isn’t
officially one, so there are no real signs or postings about it. Apparently you
can get some sort of tour guide to walk around with you, but we decided just to
take a quick walk through by our selves. It was cool to see so many traditional
houses still there and being lived in. Many of them have been restored in some
way (a new door with a automatic lock, or new windows) but overall they were
just as they were built. The houses are interesting is because not only are
they the traditional architecture, but they were so close to each other. There
is very little space between one house and the next, but that is a very Korean
thing, as Koreans are happy with being near one another. We took some photos and decided we were
satisfied with what we saw, so we walked back to the subway and headed back to
Itaewon.
Itaewon International
Food Festival- Before we left for Hanok Village, we noticed that there were
lots of booths and a giant stage being set up on the main street. We found out
a International Food Festival was occurring that day! Once we arrived back in Itaewon, we met
up with our friends, Brad and Maranda, and set off to find some international
food to try! It was very crazy on the main street. There were tons of people,
loud music, and lots of booths! We ate “bangers and mash” (a great UK dish) and
a lamb kabob (not so good ). Then we found an English bookstore called “What
the Book” with lots of new and used English books! We bought the book “The Maze
Runner” since we saw the movie and want to read the rest of the series (ya,
it’s a series, who knew?!). After that we walked around and found this amazing
cookie place! They sell fresh, warm, SOFT homemade cookies! That’s the first
real cookie we’ve had since coming here and they were amazing! We tried white
chocolate macadamia nut and milk chocolate chunk. Both were delicious!
Gangnam- After
dessert, we headed out across town to find the one and only Gangnam
neighborhood! As many of you know, the song Gangnam Style, made famous by Psy,
was based off of the Gangnam neighborhood in Seoul. Gangnam is known to be more
of the “modern/hip/high class” area, and apparently the song is making fun of
that. We ended up dancing to Gangnam Style with out bridal party at our wedding
and think it’s a funny song, so we had to go to Gangnam just to say we’ve been
there! It happened to be on the way to our final stop of the day so we made the
effort to go. Turns out it’s not very exciting. The subway station is actually
very different there. Instead of having just a few various shopping shops down
in the subway this particular subway was packed full of different shops selling
expensive cloths, jewelry, watches, cell phones, shoes, and all sorts of
things. It was also the most confusing of the subway stations because we could
not figure out how to get out! ;)
Overall, it was not a super fun trip but worth going to at least once!
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| Picture in Gangnam...not so exciting.... |
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| One of the only things that said "Gangnam" |
Lotte World-Our
final stop of the day was Lotte World If you haven’t heard, Lotte World is the
worlds largest indoor theme park. But that’s not all! Lotte World has a inside
theme park which includes a giant ice skating rink as well as an outdoor park
called “Magic Island.” This is all attached to the giant super store Lotte
Mart, which is one of those giant department/grocery stores we’ve talked about
before. I think there is a hotel attached as well. It’s honestly big and
overwhelming and it’s impossible to see everything. We got there pretty late,
about 6pm by the time we entered. We were lucky because after 4pm you get a
discount, but we got and even better discount because Tyler used his Korean
Visa card. We have no idea why that gave us a “Special Discount” but it did and
we were thrilled! It only cost $13 each which is awesome compared to the normal
~$40 range. We began by just walking around on the inside and observing
everything. There were lots of little food restaurants/carts as well as gift
shops selling all sorts of souvenirs, but mostly stuffed animals! Spread around
were certain rides, but there weren’t too many of those. Most were children’s
rides. We saw a roller coaster (but we couldn’t figure out where to get on) and
we saw “hot air balloons” that circle around the ceiling above. Mostly it was
just a lot families running around. It was loud, colorful, and crowded, so we
decided to go check out the Magic Island. Walking out to Magic Island is sort
of like walking into Main Street in Disneyland. As you walk, you go towards a
giant castle in the middle. Lots of people broke out their selfie sticks and
took many photos with the castle in the background. It was a pretty view, so of
course, we did too!
We proceeded to go find some rides, and we saw a few
familiar ones. The ride that lifts you high in the air and then drops you, the
ship ride that sways back and forth, and one of those high spinning rides that looks terrible!
We found this one roller coaster ride called “Atlantis” that actually looked
really fun! It was fast, had some turns, and went in and out of a
mountain/castle structure. This looked great to us, but to our dismay it was an
80 minute wait with no “Magic pass” (fast pass) available. So we looked around
at other rides and found out they all had about the same wait time. This was
disappointing as it was almost 7pm and we were already tired from the day,
waiting that long would take up most of the night! So we decided to go search
inside again and along the way played a few arcade games. After a while of
trying to decide what to do next, we decided to choose one ride and stick it
out during the long wait. Of course the ride we chose was the “Atlantis” roller
coaster. We found the back of the line, like halfway to the other side of the
island, and waited a whole 80 minutes to get on. The wait wasn’t terrible, and
we were completely entertained by this high school couple who were hilariously
stereotypical. They both were wearing the Lotte World cat ears and showing a
lot of PDA and flirting. It was great. What was even better was having them sit
in front of us during the ride. Too bad we don’t have video of that! ;) When we
finally got on, the ride was totally worth it (for what it was)! It was fast,
had some surprises, and went in and out of the dark. It was kind of a mix of
Indiana Jones and space mountain. Very interesting, but really fun! We were
satisfied with our one ride of the day and decided to take our last look around
before heading out.
When we went back inside a parade was going on around the
ice rink. It was a light parade so it was dark inside with many parade floats
of all different colors. We watched for a bit, but got bored and decided to try
to exit while the crowds were entertained. That proved to be harder than we
thought! As it was mostly dark inside, we got disoriented and forgot where we
even came in. We were pretty convinced this place was built that way, so they
could keep you in! Once we finally did find the exit, we headed back through
the Lotte Mart where all the restaurants were. We found this AMAZING crepe
shop! We had a giant crepe filled with strawberries, ice cream, and whipped
cream. I’m pretty sure that was my favorite dessert thus far. :) We headed back to the subway station
(which happens to be attached to Lotte World, of course, and went on our way
back to Itaewon. When we arrived, the festival was still in full force. People
were everywhere, and the streets were a mess, filled with garbage! We made our
way back to the hostel, packed, and went to bed! Overall, Lotte World was an
interesting experience. The best way to sum it up is to say they really tried
hard, but it will never live up to Disneyland. We couldn’t quite figure out a
theme, even our ride Atlantis made no sense as far as a theme goes. It was also
one of the most over stimulating places we’ve ever been! If the ride lines were
shorter we would have liked to try more of them out, but it was just too
crowded. I think we are a little too faithful to our favorite place ever,
Disneyland. We were happy to have visited, but will probably never go back. ;)
Going Home: The
next day (Sunday) we had bus tickets that departed Seoul at 10am, so we needed
to get to the bus station kind of early. Once we got to the bus station we had
breakfast (at Dunkin Donut’s of course!) and had amazing English muffin
breakfast sandwiches! They really were just regular old breakfast sandwiches,
but I love ridiculously un-healthy breakfast foods like such. J On our bus ride home
we slept mostly the entire way. Once we got back to Gwangju we were hungry, but
not starving. So we opted to try the TGIF restaurant, which was located in the
bus terminal. We decided to share a grilled chicken Caesar salad. This turned
out to be a very interesting salad! When they brought it out the plate had
large pieces of lettuce laid on top of each other. Each leaf had the Caesar
dressing spread on it, so it technically was a Caesar salad. The croutons were
huge, basically like balls of baked break. It took a while to cut up the
lettuce because it was so thick and there was no easy way to eat it. We found
this to be a hilarious lunch and laughed the whole way through. It actually
tasted great though, so it was a good choice nonetheless! J
After that really fun long weekend we were a little sad to
get back to the real world. But of course, that is life! ;) We had a wonderful
time and can’t wait to go back again to see what else we can explore! :)
We have so many more photos of our trip on our Shutterfly Share site! You can view them at this link: https://marriedmansours.shutterfly.com/
~Tyler and Valerie
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