I'm in Korea... AGAIN!

This blog post comes from the future. 14 hours in the future. I haven't been able to blog much yet due to jet lag and having such a busy schedule, but what I do have for you is gold. Let me start from the beginning...

Our flight was long and tiresome, with a layover in Vancouver, then an hour bus ride from Incheon to Seoul. I slept alot so this time I wasn't as jet lagged as before... however I was fighting a sinus cold, so the air pressure in the plane pretty much killed me.

When we first arrived at her parents place, they took us out for our first Korean meal: Budeh Jiggae. It's basically kimchi soup with ham in it...

I absolutely do not look like I just traveled across the Pacific ocean

We then decided to sleep. It was only 6pm, but I needed to adjust to my new hours and such. We awoke at 8am and went grocery shopping so we could eat breakfast. Breakfast is like a supper meal in Korea, so we bought ingredients to make squid stir-fry. It's actually really tasty!

Yum! Spicy Tenticles for breakfast.

It was a good meal, but man, I was still tired, jetlagged and sick; so I went back in bed. While I was sleeping, Sohee decided to do some shopping and bought various clothes for our night out.

I awoke 8-10 hours later and I was pretty much fully recoverd from the lag, but my hours were all screwed up. We then decided to get our haircut at a salon. Normally, a haircut for men is only $5, but because I was in a salon, it cost $15. Still a pretty good deal.

We went out for supper and had samgyopsal (Korean BBQ). Sohee's good friend Sujin then met up with us. Sujin and Sohee then proceeded to consume a vast quantity of alcohol as per korean culture. They hadn't seen each other in a long time, so it was sort of emotional and whatnot:

After that, we met up with Kitaek and his friend. Kitaek lived with us in Regina and he is a really good friend. We went to a "Hof" (pub), and had a few more drinks and of course... more food. You can't just go to a bar and drink, you always have to order some food. I'm not sure if it is a law or something, but that's just the way it is. It was a ton of fun. Like a lot of great and simple moments in life, I did not capture this moment on film. But it's always good to have nice old friends and nice new friends just sitting around chatting and laughing at everything. Even if it is mostly in Korean and I'm lost in translation. We then went to a night club to dance and party more. The club had a short lineup which was very appealing because most of them had a extremely long lineup (Disneyland style). The bouncer ID'd us all, but I was the only one that padded down for weapons... so maybe it was a little racist, but after they found out that I was only carrying a super dangerous wallet and a sharp jagged cell phone, they let me in for free. Haha. All the Koreans I were with had to pay $10. The security also laughed at my hoody "Muhan Dojeon" (a Korean comedy on TV). As we go to the basement of this club playing gansta rap music, I noticed that 1/2 of the people were GI's from the American Military base. I guess that's why I was padded down. We then partied there for a few more hours, but then I got tired quickly, so I only lasted 'till 4am (They usually party until sunrise). For some reason, I woke up 4 hours later, wide awake. Jet lag is a mysterious thing.

Ulsan

Sohee has some friends there who she taught ESL in Regina, so the very next day (from clubbing) we go to the train station. We had some time to kill so we checked out some kiosks at the station. I found these earings with a swastika. Strange to my foreign eye, but the symbol is a buddist religious symbol here in Korea.

We then boarded a train to Ulsan. It's on the other side of the country. Seoul is in the NW part of the country and Ulsan is in the SE corner along the East Sea. The train ride was sort of long (almost 5 hours), but I guess considering that it's on the other side of the country, that's not so bad. The train is very comfy with lots of leg room. You have access to all the cars, so you can walk around for quite a while. It also had a small bar/restaurant, pc rooms, and karaoke. Wicked awesome. While Sohee slept, I studied Korean and found a new hobby... taking pictures of random people at the train stops. I don't know why I found this fascinating, but it was seriously a good time killer.

Random Dude

Random Ladies

I also took some pictures of the country side, but it doesn't look like country side. It seems like you never leave civilization in Korea. As you tour along the tracks, the city just turns into a very small town with a couple of small rice fields, then it turns into a city again.

We finally arrived in Ulsan and the weather was gorgeous there.

At the Ulsan Train Station.

Sohee's friend picked us up and then drove to a restaurant downtown where all of Sohee's ESL students (about 15 of them) were waiting there for us. It was really neat because they took time out of their busy schedule to come and spend the evening with us. The food was really good too. It was this soup with noodles, seaweed and potatoes. It basically tasted like cream of potato soup, but much better.

After the meal, we went down some of the busy streets and looked at the night life. The streets was really small, but it was architecturally so beautiful... with cobblestone, LED lights in the ground and random fountains. There were also a ton of people about because there are lots of hof's, clubs, restaraunts, and karaoke rooms around this area. We then went to a karaoke room to sing, eat, and drink more. We were there for quite a long time and everyone in the group sang at least once. It was super fun.

After a few hours, we then roamed the streets some more and found this game area that was outside... most of them were games of power (kick a soccer ball as hard as you can, punch a bag as hard as you can), and there was also a batting cage. I did all this stuff and it was quite fun.

We then made our way over to another restaurant for more food and drinking. I can't believe none of these people are fat, because we had 3 full meals in the span of 6 hours. More stories and drinking ensued and it seemed like everyone was having a good time.

Some of them were really tired and had a little bit too much to drink.

He also took off his pants.

We then decided to leave as it was almost 3am. We said our last goodbyes and everyone went home. Sohee and I stayed at a "Love Motel"... a cheap but really nice hotel. It had a big LCD TV and a computer which was really cool. All for only $40.

The next day, three of her friends from yesterday picked us up and drove us around the city. We drove by some ship building sites, and it was crazy. This is one of the biggest ship building cities in the world and it shows. The ships were insanely huge, and there were so many of them. The ships are almost little cities themselves. Fogive me for the quality as we snapped this photo from a moving car.

We then went to Daewang-am park. This park was very pretty with huge trees, little shops, and some live music.

The little shops also sell bugs that you can eat!

There were also some pretty cherry blossoms that were actually in bloom, so we decided to take a picture of them. I never saw them 2 years ago when I was here because they bloom only in April and the beginning of May.

We made our way down the path (about a 20 min walk), and we eventually got to the end where there was a light house, and then further down... very beautiful rock formation along the ocean. They had set up a little trail with a few bridges to connect the rock formation. With the waves crashing and the ocean being so blue, I felt like I was in the Gulf of Mexico, not Korea. It was crazy nice.


We then headed to the whale museum. You can learn all about whales and their habitat. We were running tight on time, so we just basically stopped for about 30 min.

There was this fishing boat on display, so Sohee and I decided to set up a "Titanic" pose.

The crazy/weird thing is that across the street there are many whale restaurants where you can eat whale meat. I found it kind of insane that on one side of the street they show the beautiful natural whales and the importance of conservation, then on the other side... they straight up eat them. I don't have a photo... So here is a random one looking out into the port.

We then headed down to the other side of the city (almost took an hour to get there) and took pictures of the most south east part of Korea. This is where the sun first rises in Korea, so it is popular with New Years Day. It also had the biggest functioning mailbox I have ever seen. You can actually go inside it to write your letter/postcard. We didn't stay long though, because it was insanely windy.

That's what she said.

We then headed to the beach so I could touch the pacific ocean. The beach also had this crazy island, that connects to the mainland when the tide is out. The tide was in at the time we were there so we saw people holding their shoes in their hands so they could get to the island (it was shallow water).
We then headed back into the main part of the city. I took a picture of this centre piece in the middle of this round about.

The sun looks ginormous.

One of Sohee's friends' parents in Ulsan also owns a restaurant. It was the most delicious Daejigalbi (Korean marinated pork ribs) I had ever had. I asked him what was different about it and what exactly was in it... and he said it was a secret. Damn. There is no way to replicate this at home. I guess it's a good excuse to return one day, because it is really THAT good. I think maybe brown sugar was in it... or maybe soy sauce... It's really hard to describe the taste because it was unlike anything I had ever tried. There were also a ton of side dishes with kimchi, garlic, and sweet potato.

After we said our goodbyes, we took the bus back to Seoul because the train was all sold out. The bus took about the same amount of time... but it only stops once, and there is no bathroom. So you better hold it, or pee in a bottle.

Anyways, I better rap this up because I'm wasting away the day. Stay tuned for more Korean goodness!

PS. I'll be posting videos on Facebook (for some reason I can't post on youtube as they have a verification ID law in effect). Also more photo's as well. http://www.facebook.com/sohee.y.metzler

PPS. Please leave a comment! I want to know your thoughts, questions, and if there is anything you want to see as I could not post all the pictures. Also, I want to know if anyone reads this blog or if I'm just wasting my time. lol.

RELAUNCH!

Stay Tuned! This blog will relaunch as I am flying to Korea tomorrow for more traveling awesomeness.

I'm curious to see how much has changed, and how much has stayed the same... but most of all, I'm excited to see my in-laws again.

Gyeongbokgung, Namsam, & JSA

Ok. So this is my last blog entry from Korea. Tomorrow, I go back to Canada. I may write a couple more entries as I start to remember more things and sort through my thousands of photo's I have taken.

Gyeongbokgung Palace

As you may know, South Korea does not have an King anymore. When the Japanese invaded in the late 1800's, the royal family was killed. They occupied for many years until the Japanese left after they were defeated WW2. Then that whole Korean War thing happened. When they finally gained independance again, it was modern times and the days of King's and Queens were over. Now, it's a tourist spot. You can read up more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyeongbokgung .

We were lucky to see the changing of Guard (night & Day guards). These dudes all have these rad beards (glued on probably), and various ancient weapons (ninja-like swords, bow and arrows, spears, axes, spears with an axe at the end). According to Sohee's dad, these guards are actually trained in handling these weapons. I didn't believe it until I went to Namsan tower (more on that later). There is also a marching band with traditional drums, trumpets, and other instruments of Korean Heritage. So, after the changing the of the guard, there is a little time for pictures with these peeps. Here is me beside a guard. I'm a little timid.

He then convince me to join the day guard because of my unique Canadian Kungfu style.

Namsan Tower

Next, Sohee, her dad, and I went to the largest structure in Seoul. The Namsan Tower (also called the Seoul Tower), is not a super tall tower like the CN... but they built it on top of a Mountain. The tower is 236.7 m (777 ft) in height (from the base) and counting the moutain, it's 479.7 m (1,574 ft) above sea level. Basically, they built a slightly larger than Calgary tower(190 m) on a mountain... Genius, I say. There are two ways to get to the tower. You can take a cable car, or you can walk up. So, in this trip, I have climbed two mountains. This one doesn't take that long to get up (45min), and it's all concrete steps all the way up.

When you get to the top, you are treated with some amazing views. Unfortunetely, it wasn't a clear day and smog was all over the place. We didn't go up the tower, it didn't seem worth it because it wasn't a clear day and our vantage point of the city was good enough.

Closeup of the tower. Yes, that's a bird flying by... On the 4th observation deck, there is a rotating restaurant. I someday want to be that rich old guy that takes his wife up there for anniversaries n' such. For now, Sohee will have to deal with the ghettoness of us climbing a mountain and viewing a smoggy city.

Oh, and at the top there was some ninja guy slicing up some straw (Random). He's probably training to be a Palace Guard.

Not far from Namsan mountain is this transformer guy. I'd like to say that this is their police force here, but that level of awesomeness is not believable even to a small child.

JSA (Joint Security Area)

You can either call this section JSA or North Korea part 2. If you read the previous North Korean blog, you know that my tour was quite restricted, because it was intended for South Koreans. The JSA tour involves going to the area where your safety is not guaranteed. Basically, you are taken right to the border, and a little bit across into actual North Korean soil.

Once again, the tour stresses on when and when you can't take pictures. You have to remain with the group at all times and basically getting babysat the entire time. Which is ok, because I don't feel like getting shot or stepping on a land mine.

When you get to the DMZ part, a ROK (republic of korea, aka south korea) is assigned to your bus. They check your passport and run it against their list of people on the tour (I had to apply 2 days in advance to take this tour). We then get on board a military bus (looks the same as our other bus, but might be bulletproof or something) and head towards JSA. This area, believe it or not, used to be free roaming to both South and North soldiers, but as you can guess, a defined border was put into place to lower tension (people and soldiers died). The most famous part here are these blue and grey buildings which are used for negotiation talks between the North and South:

The border, as you can see below is heavily protected. The concrete slab is the border. The North Korean soldiers are right beside it.

We actually get to go inside the building. In the building, there are 2 ROK soldiers in their Taekwondo stance. In this photo beside the ROK, I am actually across the border... in North Korea.

If I pass that door, I'd be in the hands of the North Korean army. But I won't be able to pass...the ROK soldier will beat me down... for my own protection. I know the below picture isn't me, but the tour was rushed in here. I didn't have time to get my photo taken with both ROK soldiers.

So yeah... I'm on the other side... in North Korea. Here's the proof:

So as luck would have it, there was a North Korean tour going on at the same time. Yes, you can tour the North Korean JSA from that side as well. It's from a Communist prospective, obviously. Believe it or not, their tour is less restrictive. They are allowed to make faces, point, and make gestures towards the south. We basically have to be invisible on our side. The reason behind the different rules is the UN rules verses the North Korean rules. North Korea's way of taunting or something.

My awesome camera gets a close up of these dudes in action. Notice the one nerdy white dude.

The last part of the tour, we went to a nearby town for a bite to eat. After the meal, we got a performance from a North Korean refugee musician. He was actually really good.

After his performance, I stopped for a photo and he was very nice. I'm glad to have met this very unique and special person.

Well, that's it. That was my Journey to the East. I hope you enjoyed it. I'm going home tomorrow. I'll probably post some trivial stuff when I get home. All the important stuff is here, though. All right... peace out. I'll see you on the other side of the pond!

Ocean World

On Thursday, we decided to go to Ocean World! Ocean World is a water park located about 2 hours outside of Seoul. Ironically, there no ocean is near by; but it's still cool nonetheless. The whole theme is egyptian, and all the architecture around mimics that style. The architecture does an amazing job, and if we were there just to see that, I'd still be amazed. If you look closely at this picture you can see all the hieroglyphics. There were a lot of people here. It was crazy madness... but I think the more people made it more fun. More on that later. The park is so amazing in so many ways. First of all, the park is wicked huge. Here's Sohee in front of the map:Even if you're a kid and can't handle the madness, there's two kids parks here. One indoors and one outdoors. The kids outdoor one was pretty tame with just these spray things everywhere. The indoor one was pretty neat. It's basically a kids playground with all these things that spray everywhere... but the best part is this huge bucket at the top that being poured with water. When it is full, it dump water all over the kids making a huge "WOOOSHH" sound. I watched that for a while because it was funny to see the kids frightened (yet excited) by this. The kids park also had a wave pool, but it was pretty tame and the waves were super tiny.


There was also a few waterslides, but they were not all that great. I went on one tube ride and it was fun, fast, and very short. The line ups were too big to warrant going again. I only went once.


Another thing that was fun was this toboggan race. It's basically tobogganing on wet artificial turf. If you fall off, it actually doesn't burn your skin... well, too bad. You can't really tell from this picture, but the hill is actually a pretty decent size.



Next up, is Sohee's favourite thing at the park. Thank God for waterproof digital cameras... I love these shots:

Basically it's a river that goes around and you just chill in the tube. Halfway, there is a lovely waterfall, and you go into a tunnel:

The waterfall actually kinda hurts... The droplets are huge.

Oh, did I forget to mention that a huge wave comes every 20 seconds and tosses you around like a rag doll?

The huge wave will send you flying into other people and such. Here's one of Sohee getting tossed around:

So, the main feature of this park is the wave pool.

At first, "I was all, psshhh! Why is everyone wearing lifejackets? Can't they swim?" I soon found out why. This is the most amazing wave pool I have ever been to. Sohee said that this waterpark produces the highest man-made waves in the world (citation needed). For now, I will believe that. According to the website, they can get to 2.4 metres. It's actually kind of scary at first.

Now, if a picture is worth a thousand words, a video has to be worth a million:

Yes, it's crazy. 2.4 metres. Everyone gets tossed around like a rag doll. I must say, that all the people make it more fun. Sure, sometimes you get an elbow in the face and get tossed onto an old woman... but the waves are kind of frightening, and when the big sound comes, everyone screams in anticipation. It's kind of like that movie theatre experience when you see a comedy or something. It just makes it more fun knowing you're not alone here. Apparently, I'm somewhere in that video, but with all the people, it's impossible to find me. So, here's a close up... I'm the dude swimming with the wave:

After a while, I figured out that you can almost "surf" the wave if you swim really fast with it. The result is that it feels like you are swimming insanely fast... until the wave topples over and crushes you into the people below. So much fun.

So, I gotta say that this has been one of the coolest things I've done so far... and if any of you every come here, make sure that this place is your list of things to do.