So Long, Farewell

"Lucky to have been where I have been, lucky to be coming home again."

Those Jason Mraz lyrics have been in my head this week after I heard the song on my ipod and I really feel that those lines especially pertain to me so much right now.

This is my last and final post, and it happens to be my 100th. Really happy to be ending on an even note.

I feel a mixture of emotions as I am about to leave this place that has been my home for over a year now. Happiness, sadness, nostalgia, excitement, nervousness, anxiety, relief, and many other emotions have been flooding my brain and heart. I am not looking forward to my last goodbye tomorrow, but am so eager for my first hello on the other side.

Sean and I took a trip to Seoul tower last night and locked our hearts on the wall along with thousands of others. Just a little way to always remember this city and the times we spent together here this past year.

the man and the tower

Sean writing his message to me

my message to Sean

putting his heart up

putting my heart up

light show on the tower

A little piece of my heart will always belong here. Goodbye Korea.

Namaste

Party on the Beach

Having a whole week's vacation for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) was fabulous. I spent the beginning of my week relaxing and mostly indoors due to the torrential downpours and flooding outside. By mid week the weather had cleared up and I made plans for the long weekend. Sam, Terry, Sean, and I decided to go away for a little couples trip to Muuido Island. Muuido Island is a tiny island off the larger island of Yeongjong that houses Incheon airport on the west coast. It's really tiny and mostly known as a great vacation spot with nice beaches.

Once we got to the airport we hopped a bus that took us to the ferry. After taking the shortest ferry ride of my life (about 5 minutes) across and catching another bus, we made it to Hanagae Beach.

welcome to Muuido

shortest ferry ever

Sean and I on the ferry

Our first night we spent in these tiny little one room huts on the beach. They were pretty ghetto and in the morning our backs were aching from sleeping on the hard floor and we felt dirty from the gross bedding they had given us. When we found out there were no showers for our use we were a little alarmed. After exploring the area desperately trying to find somewhere else to stay, we came across a wonderful pension with many rooms which all had a kitchen, TV, bathroom, and AC. Needless to say the second night's stay was much more comfortable.

Sam in front of our tiny rooms on the beach

We spent the next two days enjoying the weather, drinking beer, eating seafood, throwing the football on the beach, getting some sun, making a campfire on the beach, reading, playing cards, grilling out, and relaxing.

Sean, Terry, and Sam on the beach

cheers

shells were everywhere

sunset the first night

campfire on the beach

Sean and I hanging around

Sam and Terry on the swings

BBQ our last night

In the early morning the tide on Muuido Island goes out. Way out. Probably hundreds of feet out. And beach dwellers are left with a huge sand bar almost as far as you can see. Sean and I walked out there one morning and were amazed by this natural phenomenon. I had never seen anything like it in my life. Then, just like clock-work, around 2:30P.M. the tide rushed back in within the span of an hour and you could enjoy the water until the sun went down.

the shoreline in the morning

tracks in the sand

I had a fantastic time on Muuido Island and felt blessed to have some really great people to spend an awesome weekend with.

Namaste

Masks, Crabs, and Temples

There is really only one word that comes to mind when I think about the Korean countryside: green. The countryside is just an abundance of green everywhere you look. Green hills, grasses, trees, shrubs, plants, leaves, vines, etc. dot the land. It is absolutely breathtaking and refreshing.

green grass

I was fortunate to visit the Korean countryside again this past weekend. Sean’s brother is visiting in Korea and I tagged along for a short road trip to the eastern province of Gyeongsangbuk-do. We were able to see and do a few great things considering our weekend time constraint and the fact that it is monsoon season.

Our first stop was Andong, a city known exclusively for traditional Korean masks. There is a large folk village there complete with traditional homes, museums, souvenirs, and more. In this folk village people still live like they did hundreds of years ago. The government provides money for preservation and restorations. When we arrived, it began pouring rain, so we visited the mask museum indoors first and saw lots of masks from Korea and all over the world. There were so many and they were all unique with their own colors, shapes, sizes, textures, and uses. The rain let up and we hopped a bus into the village to have a look. The scenery was gorgeous and the homes were interesting. Each home was surrounded by a mud and rock wall and the roofs were tiled in the traditional Korean way. We were only able to see a small part of the village before the rain dumped down again and we made a sprint back to the bus stop.

unfinished mask

Korean masks

ajuma visor mask

outside the folk village

wood carving

wood carvings near the folk village

The next stop we made was in a town on the East Sea called Yeongduk. Yeongduk is famous for their snow crabs. As soon as we got near the water we saw tons of buildings with huge crab structures attached to the walls and roofs. They were all equally humungous and ridiculous, competing with each other for the most flashy in order to draw in customers. We chose a less flashy restaurant. After selecting our crabs we sat down and waited for them to be cooked and prepared for our lunch. After breaking apart the crab, we began to dig in (literally) with our hands and utensils. The snow crab was delicious, but a difficult food to eat. The lady at the restaurant even took the liberty of making fried rice out of the left over parts of the crab, AKA the guts for us.

fresh snow crab

guts inside the body, uh thanks

Our final destination was Gyeongju. Gyeongju is revered in Korea as one of the most culturally rich cities. It used to be the capital of Korea way back in the time of the Shilla Dynasty. There are multitudes of tombs, temples, and world heritage sites. We visited a couple of them. One was the Bulguksa temple, a huge temple and grounds that were built beginning in 528A.D. As we walked up the pathway and stairs to the temple it was apparent that it was not an average temple. It was huge. There were many temples within the walls of the grounds and we could hear the drone of the monks performing prayer services inside. The smell of incense filled the temples and drifted outside into the courtyards. I was surprised at the large amounts of tourists peering inside while the religious people were conducting these prayers, but perhaps they are used to it. This temple sight is a UNESCO world heritage sight. The sky showed signs of another approaching downpour, but we wanted to see one more sight before heading home. We hiked our way up to the Seokguram grotto only to find another steep hike into the mountains. As more storm clouds covered the sky, we decided to head back instead, so we didn't actually get to see the giant famous stone Buddha statue that sits at the top. However, we did get to see a beautiful view of the city, some smaller temples, and a large bell tower.

Bulguksa

inside the temple grounds

brotherly love

ok, so I snuck a photo

the inner courtyards

bell tower at Seokguram

The more I see of Korea outside of Seoul, the more I like. This really is a scenic and beautiful country.

Namaste

Wanderlust

Wanderlust. Some people are infected. Some are not. For those of us that suffer, it is a deep longing and desire to be somewhere other than the current place you are. It is like someone or something is tugging on your heart strings and your mind begins to race. You may begin to feel an overwhelming anxiety or excitement at the mere mention of a passport stamp or the sight of an air plane in the sky. There is absolutely no cure for wanderlust and the only treatment is travel.

I have been spending my extra time lately reading through my Lonely Planet and surfing the Internet researching for my next travels. Sam and I have booked our flights for our upcoming backpacking trip this fall. It will be the second backpacking trip we have taken together and I cannot tell you how excited I am. I feel so blessed to travel with such an amazing travel buddy as her. When we finish up by Christmas, we will have traveled to 15 different countries and lived in 2 together! (outside of the States)

We will be leaving the beginning of November and traveling up until a few days before Christmas. Our trip outline is not set, but we are planning to visit the following countries: Indonesia, (Peninsular) Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. I am anxious beyond words to travel again.

"Tourists don't know where they've been, travelers don't know where they're going."

-Paul Theroux

Happy August!


Namaste

Baywatch Korea

As soon as Sam told me there was a place in Korea with cathedral sized limestone caves, beaches, and giant penis sculptures, I knew we had found our perfect vacation spot. Since we are both saving money for our big back-packing trip in about 3 months here, we opted out of a trip overseas and decided to spend our vacation exploring another part of Korea.

We met in Seoul on Monday morning and bought bus tickets to Samcheok, a city straight east of Seoul, along the coast of the East Sea. A four hour bus ride brought us to this quiet fishing town near the water. We found a motel, a love motel no less, and practiced our bargaining skills and got the room for a fantastic rate for the next three nights. We changed clothes and headed straight for the beach to soak up some late afternoon sun. When our stomaches were making noises and the sun was lowering in the sky we went off in search of dinner. There were tons of seafood restaurants all along the beach with tons of fresh seafood swimming and crawling in the tanks outside waiting to be purchased, killed, and cooked. We chose sea scallops and had them grilled right in front of us. They were delicious. We ended the night with a beer on the beach.

There were a couple of sights that we wanted to see and chose to take a trip to the caves the next day. We took a bus to the sight of the Hwanseon and Donggul caves. There was a straight uphill hike to the cave entrance or there was a long line of families waiting for a snail-slow lift, so we chose the hiking route. It was mid-day and super hot, so by the time we arrived at the entrance I was dripping sweat and thanking God for natural places like caves that are very cool inside. The Hwanseon cave is one of the largest limestone caves in all of Asia. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn't this. The cave was absolutely huge. Huge. Huge. Huge. There were metal walkways through the entire thing and it took Sam and I over an hour and a half to make the walk. I was constantly amazed by the natural wonders we found inside: rock formations, waterfalls, strange nooks and crannies, etc. It was one of the coolest things I have seen in Korea. We ended the day at the beach.

the huge cave

Sam and I inside the cave

The next day's trip took us south of Samcheok to the little fishing village of Sinnam. This place has an interesting history that will help explain the bizarre finding here. There is a penis park with tons of huge penis sculptures and totem poles of all shapes and sizes. A strange thing to find anywhere in the world, but especially here in Korea where sex is pretty taboo and not talked about openly. Sam and I were in awe of this penis park, it was extensive even boarding on over-load, but it was surrounded by a beautiful rocky coastline and the scenery was gorgeous. Ok, so the story behind the penis-infatuation. Apparently there is a legend in the town that a virgin drowned in the water and her boyfriend tried to save her, but was unable to because of the rough water. The fisherman began having a difficult time catching anything and thought that the girl cursed the waters. One fisherman "heeded the call of nature" towards the water and realized that after he did so, the catch of the day was plentiful. The fisherman followed suite and there was a giant penis sculpture created facing the water in hopes of pleasing the frustrated ghost of the drowned virgin. The penis park sprang up, (no pun intended) and there is even a shrine to the virgin ghost to help bless the fisherman and their catch. Really all I can say about the penis park is that it was a lot of laughs and was definitely a memorable part of my travels here in Korea.

penis park in Sinnam

me and a big penis at the park

the rocky coastline

The rest of our vacation was pretty much spent at the beach, enjoying the sun and trying to work on our tans. I realized that once you begin using SPF 50 instead of lathering on oil, you are officially getting old. If there is anything I learned about Koreans at the beach it's this- they love to bury each other in the sand and they swim with their clothes on. No joke. Clothes on. Some people had bathing suites on underneath their clothes and Lord knows why they didn't wear them, but nope. Some people even swam with shoes, baseball and beach hats, long sleeve button up shirts, sweaters on. I am not kidding. It was one of the strangest things I have ever seen at the beach in my life. I don't know if they are paranoid about sunburn, don't wanna show of their skinny bods, or can't afford swim wear... still don't think any of those are the reason. It's a mystery to me. The life guards, however looked like Baywatch Korea with their almost-black skin and tiny little spandex. Sam and I were dying.

Koreans swimming with their clothes on at the beach

My second mini-vacation of my vacation week was awesome and the beach was so relaxing and refreshing. It was great to spend time with Sam and see more of what this country has to offer. Now it's back to the grind for two more weeks until my next (and last) vacation in August.

Namaste

"I Can Smell North Korea From Here"

One whole week away from school seemed like a dream come true. As soon as 12:30PM last Thursday afternoon hit, I grabbed all of my things, hustled out of school, and jumped in the rental car passenger side with Sean in the driver's seat and we were off. We decided to check out the northeastern part of Korea and typed in "Sokcho" on the GPS and drove for miles until we reached the mountains and the beach. Sokcho is located on the East Sea (or Sea of Japan, although Koreans hate to use that name) and almost right next to Seoraksan National Park, the most beautiful national park in Korea with the tallest mountain top. We found a reasonable motel and decided to walk around and explore the area a bit. Besides the beach there wasn't a whole lot going on in Sokcho, but it was a nice relaxing get-away spot.

The food was delicious and Sean and I both got to try some new things. One night we ate grilled clams and oysters for dinner. They were really yummy. We also tried a local delicacy. Sundae is traditional Korean sausage which is a mix of different things cased in pig intestine. This local sundae, called ojingeo sundae, is made from ingredients wrapped in squid and then fried in egg. It sounds strange, but was actually quite tasty.

seafood dinner

the shells were so hot I had to use gloves

ojingeo sundae

Our evenings were spent relaxing and having drinks on the beach as we watched families, couples, and people of all ages enjoy the summer nights. People were going crazy over fireworks and they were being set off all over the beach.

Sean and I did a few day trips and got to see some pretty amazing things during our vacation. We drove north of Sokcho to a town called Hwajinpo and saw the former North Korean leader, Kim Il Sung's villa where the family used to vacation. There was an old photograph of his son, Kim Jung Il on the very steps that we were standing on and it was a little eerie to think the lunatic himself once stood there too.

We also drove to the very tip of South Korea and got as close to North Korea as possible without crossing over the DMZ line at the 38th parallel. The further and further you drive towards the boarder, the more desolate and creepy the feeling gets. We passed miles of beautiful beaches that were deserted and lined with barbed-wire fences and look out towers. There were even giant concrete blocks lining the roads that will be tipped over and used as road blocks for tanks in times of war. As we got closer, Sean joked "I can smell North Korea from here" which of course he couldn't, but still made me laugh. We reached an education center and had to stop and fill out our information and car number before moving forward on our journey. There were lines of cars and we had to wait until a certain time to go ahead and drive the 10 or so more kilometers to the Unification Observatory sight. Once we arrived at the gate dotted with barbed wire and patrol men, a South Korean solider examined our papers, saluted to us, and let us pass. After parking the car, Sean and I hiked up the steep hill to the look out point. From the look-out point, you can view the shore and mountains that run into North Korea, the most isolated country in the whole world. This is about as close as South Koreans can get to their neighbors in the north. North Korea completely caught my attention as I became more and more interested in the separation of this country and what's happening in the north right now. I began scouring the pages of my Korea Lonely Planet for as much information as possible and as soon as I got home I was engrossed in watching some documentaries that people have filmed in North Korea.

our paperwork

the gate

figured a smile had no place in a photo of me and one of the "axis of evil", North Korea

I want to share some things with you that I had absolutely no idea about and maybe you yourself never realized either.

• North Korea and South Korea are still technically at war. A Peace Treaty has not officially been signed, even though the fighting stopped over 50 years ago.
• North and South Korea are separated at the 38th parallel by the area known as the DMZ. (Demilitarized Zone) Funny they call it that because it it one of the most heavily guarded boarders in the whole world, with North Korean soldiers to the north and South Korean and American soldiers to the south and undisturbed land mines throughout.
• President Bush called North Korea part of the "axis of evil" in his first inauguration speech.
• Kim Il Sung was the original leader and president of North Korea until he died in 1994. He is still the president of the country even though he is dead and his son, Kim Jung Il is now in power. Anyone else find this strange?
• North Korea has the largest army in the world. There are over 1 million people that make up their armed forces. Men are required to serve a minimum of 6 years in the military.
• There are no cell phones and very very very limited internet access in North Korea.
• North Koreans need to have a permission slip from the government to travel to another city or area of the country.
• North Koreans are fed anti-American propaganda every day of their lives. They still believe we are Imperialists and are attacking countries all over the world for no reason. The North Korean people are also taught that Americans are the ones who have caused such damage as poverty and starvation in their country. Essentially, they are taught to hate Americans from birth.
• Kim Jung Il has only ever spoken one sentence in public. He has also promoted bizarre self-propaganda facts to the people such as he is the one who created the hamburger, he is the best natural golfer in the world, the world loves him and all over the world people celebrate his birthday.
• If someone is caught doing something the government disapproves of, that person's family can and most likely will be punished or murdered up to three generations. We're talking husbands, wives, children, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins' lives at stake for one person's mistake.
• The population of North Korea is around 23 million, but they don't actually know the real number. It is estimated that about 1/3 to 2/3 of the population is malnourished or starving.
• People are given a ranking according to their servitude to Kim Jung Il and the regime. The lucky people get to live in the capital, Pyongyang, and are said to lead the best lives.
• Only "chosen" people are allowed to speak with foreign visitors to the country.
• If you visit North Korea, you are forced to bow to a giant statue of Kim Il Sung and give flowers.
• Less than 2,000 foreigners visit North Korea a year.

Ok, so I'm done ranting about North Korea, but it just amazes me that we are so close to them here in South Korea and it's like a whole different world. I had no idea that there were so many people only a few hundred miles from me that are literally living in hell on earth. I just really feel sympathy for the people of North Korea and pray that somehow, someday their lives can be changed for good.

After exploring around Sokcho, Sean and I headed west to Seorksan National Park for our last night. We stopped in the park on the way and took the cable car up the mountain. The view of the park was absolutely stunning. The mountain peaks were amazing and the sights were incredible. We also walked through the park a bit and saw a giant Buddha statue which of course amazed me and I had to stop and take tons of pictures of. I read in my Lonely Planet that there were hot springs south of the park, so we hopped in the car and went that way. When we got to the little town we found out that there were no natural hot spring pools sitting up in the mountains as I had imagined, but a hot spring water pool in a hotel. Boo. At least I got to shower with natural spring water from the faucet. Somehow not quite the same.

Sean and I 800 meters up

catching dragon flies

big Buddha

I snuck a picture of the monks praying and chanting

We arrived in Seoul on Sunday a little earlier than expected and since we still had the rental car for a bit, decided to drive south of Seoul to Suwon and see the Hwaseong Fortress, an ancient fortress and fortress wall that dates back to the 18th century. The wall is expansive and surrounds the city. Walking it would take about 2 hours. Since it was about 90 degrees with the sun blasting down on us, Sean and I opted out of the walk, but drive a little around it and climbed a bit for a photo-ops.

Hwaseong Fortress

photo-op, I am becoming quite Korean posing for pictures by myself

I rested up Sunday evening from a fantastic weekend and unpacked and repacked again for my next adventure with Sam.

Namaste