Seoul

This weekend was great! Britt and I ventured to Seoul early Saturday morning. We caught the train at 6:15am from Gumi and arrived in Seoul around 10am. Since we were up early enough to catch McDonald's breakfast when we got to Seoul we had a treat before checking into our room. We dropped our bags and headed out for a jam packed day of sight seeing and shopping. Saturday we spend wandering around a few markets and shops in the area. We found some western stores, and probably spent a good hour in Forever 21. Later in the day we took a bus tour to the N. Seoul Tower. It was nice to see a high top view of the city. Saturday evening Britt and I ventured to the Cheonggyecheon stream for a few pictures and supper. After supper we ventured to Itaewon to meet up with some friends from Gumi. Itaewon is the area near the USA army base in Seoul. Walking down the streets in Itaewon you see more westerners than Koreans and hear more English than any other language. I really didn't feel as if I were a minority or living in a foreign country in Itaewon. We enjoyed the night with friends, a few drinks and a couple of clubs.

Sunday was another busy day of sight seeing. We spent the first part of the morning wandering the streets of Seoul. We had turned the wrong way when we got off the subway, and ended up walking for a good hour before finally asking the police to point us in the right direction. When we finally ended up in the place we wanted to be, we hopped on the bus tour and headed to the National Museum of Korea. I have to say it was nice to see, but not the most exciting place to visit. If I only had one day in Seoul I would not waste my time there. My favorite part was the Buddha section, which I took many pictures I was not suppose to be taking. After we headed to the Korean War Memorial, which was one of the highlights of the trip for me. It is very well put together and educational. Some of the history dates way back, but there is huge section on the Korean War between the South and the North which is still ongoing, and very interesting to learn about. We decided to make the most of our sight seeing day, so we hit up the traditional Korean village for a quick trip before calling it quits. The village is similar to Kings Landing, an old village you can walk around and look in old Korean style houses. There is also a time capsule, that was buried in 1994, and will be opened in 400 years time. Sunday was the official Lunar New Year so many kids were dressed in traditional Korean Hanbok's, playing traditional games and out with their families. Sunday night Britt and I decided we would celebrate the Lunar New Year and Valentines Day. I have to say it was the best Valentines to date. We went for a nice candle lit supper along the Han River, enjoyed a glass of wine, live music, fireworks, roses, and to end the night chocolates in bed.

Monday was our last day in Seoul so we planned to wake up early to get all of our palace sight seeing in. We got up, checked out and headed to find a bank machine to get some money for the day. After trying 30 different banks and ATMs, turns out that our bank decided it would switch systems during the holiday weekend. We had no luck with getting cash, so we decided we would head to the second stop on our list the COEX mall. People told us that we might be able to use our debits in stores, but when we got there we also had no luck with that. We found a bank machine that had a sign saying the system would be back up and running at 6pm. For 6 hours we lounged around the mall trying to waste time. We had read about "resting" spots all over the mall so we decided we would find somewhere to rest for a while. We found a room that looked like it was for resting, so Britt and I slept for a good hour. The room turned out to be part of a wedding chapel, but no one kicked us out and it was a good "rest" are for us to waste time. When 6 o'clock finally arrived we made our mall purchases, and headed to the mall aquarium. The aquarium was a success. It has lots of cool things to see, and I even got to try my Dr. Fish. This is where you have small fish eat the hard/ dry skin off you. Normally Dr. Fish would be for your feet, but at the aquarium I did my hands. At first I was a little freaked out, having fish eat your skin is a very weird feeling, but once I adjusted I was fine. The aquarium was the end to the trip, we didn't get to see any of the palaces we had planned, but I'm sure we will make another trip back. All in all a great weekend, and very nice to see another part of South Korea (one which is very westernized).