Nic & Brad Take Korea: Days 4-5

Nic & Brad have safely finished their trip to Korea and moved on to China, but not without one last update for their days in Seoul! We packed as much in as possible and ate ALL THE FOOD and watched a very beautiful, moving, somber Lantern Parade to top off their trip. It was *so* great to have them here for the past week and I'm going to miss them a lot! Brad is so kind to again let me post his update as a guest post, so without further ado, here you are!

Seoul, South Korea - Days 4 and 5

If you ever seek to be humbled, start talking trash and it will find you.  We got this, yeah, who says that half way through an international vacation?  More on that later.

We arrive at the train station in Jeonju to catch the fast train to Seoul with not a moment to spare.  The train arrives and Nic and I look for the car with our seats by turning right.  The train attendant stops us, looks at our tickets and redirects us to go left.  We start to sprint to the other side of the train and when we arrive, the other train attendant sends us back the other way.  Now we’re ping pong balls and everyone on the entire train is waiting for Baldilocks to figure out how to count to four…..in English.  Only a slight hiccup, we find the car with our seats, hop on and excitedly settle in for the bullet train to Seoul.  Earlier, I had made the joke of being on the Seoul Train and after mine and Nic’s deep guffaws had subsided, we could see by Zara’s reaction that this joke might have been fresh and funny to us, but it was definitely not “new material”.  Nonetheless, we arrive in the world’s fifth largest city and hail a cab to take us to our motel located in the heart of tomorrow’s event, The Lotus Lantern Festival which celebrates the birth of Buddha.  Feeling confident, we disembark from the taxi and begin our search.  Now I’d like to take this opportunity to describe Nicole.  This remarkable woman is a fawn in a meadow and lives in a world where bluebirds perpetually chirp about one’s head.  Her kindness is abundant and her inability to dismiss others is a gift…..and a curse.  We’re on the grounds of the Jogyseo Temple and she asks the English speaking tourist information attendant if he could help her locate our motel.  He immediately explains that it closed down not long ago and then proceeds to inquire of her knowledge of Buddhism and demonstrating what different things symbolize in the temple.  Meanwhile, back at the ranch where I’m guarding the sheep,  I am pleased to see that Nicole is receiving 10 minutes of  what appears to be invaluable information.  Finally, her inquisition complete, she heads over to me and slightly dejectedly tells me that our motel is out of business.  Ya’ll, I don’t take anxiety medication for nothing so my world starts spinning as I realize that we have all of our belongings on this side of the planet in tow in the middle of a huge city with nowhere to go.  The great location of this so called motel for the huge Lotus Lantern Festival is now the equivalent of thinking you’ve got a balcony room on Bourbon Street the day before Fat Tuesday but that hotel just burned down.  Good luck finding lodging now chumps.  Slightly trembling, I tell her that I saw a motel sign a couple of blocks away and we head in that direction knowing that it’s a futile effort.  Nic is, of course, taking in the sights on the way and abruptly stops.  I see her fumbling with her bags and realize that her attention has been diverted by a group of  kindergarten boys dressed like Korean monks and Momma needs a picture.  And this is where she and I are different:  When I panic, I go into focus/freak out mode and she continues to see the world through rose lenses.  When the danger has subsided we laugh about how quickly our electrons can shift to opposite sides of an atom in certain situations and that is what makes our friendship so special.  We always laugh in the end.  Fast forward to the motel that I had seen; we stood outside of it for at least 15 minutes trying to figure out what to do before we decide to go in.  Not only did it seem quaint but they had rooms available and for a very good price of $60,000 won per night!  (equivalent of $60 a night)  We’ll take two rooms for two nights please!  We’re both visibly relieved as we reach for a card to remember the motel by when we suddenly realize….this is the motel we traveled halfway across the country to find!  We had the name of this motel in Korean and the sign outside was in English so we didn’t put 2 and 2 together.  In a city of nearly 23 million people, we stumble onto the very small motel that we had been told wasn’t even in business.  What, I ask you, are the odds of that?

After settling in, we are off to see a couple of local tourist attractions and decide that lunch should be first on that list.  With the planets already in alignment for this day, we choose to throw caution to the wind and walk in to the first restaurant with a red pepper on it and inform the waiter that we’d like for him to bring us whatever he recommends.  Now, we may be world travelers, but Anthony Bourdain, we are not.  In fact, our palate is so tacky that we proudly boast that we’ve eaten at Pizza Hut or Domino’s Pizza on four continents.  Don’t judge.  Clearly, we are pushing our luck now.  They bring out some appetizers and both of us look at each other and nearly lose our breakfast.  This looks disgusting.  We are now discussing by telepathy how we can bolt while keeping our dignity in tact when we realize we are just going to have to dig in and hope we can keep it all down.  To our surprise, we actually liked a few of the dishes so we feel we’ve escaped embarrassment and then the main course arrives.  It’s a 20 gallon communal bowl that we are pretty sure they cleaned the fridge out of their leftovers in and melted some cheese on top.  We do recognize the cut up pieces of weenies and some pasta gummy worms.  Our stomachs are turning again.  So we eat the cheese and dip some of the rice balls in the spicy sauce it all sits in but the other 8 unidentifiable ingredients is back in their leftover shelf for someone else who are either more adventurous eaters or just as big of fools.

Dodging the food bullet, we are touring the town and have one more stop on our list:  The Seoul Tower.  We take the subway to what we think will get us close to it but when we come above ground the tower is nowhere in sight.  We see a bench to rest and regroup our strategy and a kind old lady pats the bench motioning for us to sit with her.  We exchange pleasantries.  I have an enormous soft spot for the older generations (which I like to believe evens out my disdain for children….just throwing that out there) so I am eager for some conversation with her.  It was then that we made a futile mistake:  We told her that we needed help finding the Seoul Tower.  As her eyes roll back in her head, she is now obviously receiving a message from Buddha that her life’s mission is to ensure that Brad and Nicole get on Bus Number 2 to Namsan Tower.  And off she goes, dragging us along with her.  She leads us into several lanes of traffic and proceeds to bang on the door of a random bus shouting at the driver to let us on.  He shouts and waves her off like the crazy that she is but she is not discouraged.  The next bus comes along and she wades back out into traffic insisting that he let these two mortified Americans on and he too shoos her away with all his might.  She figures out that there is a new rule about not being allowed on a bus in the middle of 8 lanes of traffic and leads us over to the actual bus stop on the side of the road.  All the while she keeps looking at us and shouting “Bus Numba 2” and nodding.  She occasionally enlists the encouragement of all the locals around her and they giggle but nod in agreement.  For the second time that day, we’re contemplating bolting an uncomfortable situation but she has been so kind and persistent on getting us onto bus numba 2 that we just can’t let her down.  Finally, bus numba 2 pulls up, and she shoos us up onto it.  We turn and bow deeply to her (a tradition of respect in Korea) and thank her in English profusely.  She just waves it off with a half smile as if to say, “I was sitting on this bench today waiting for you, you came, and I fulfilled my destiny.”  Bus numba 2 cost 95 cents and drove us all the way up the mountain to the Seoul Tower.  I got a picture of this bat shit crazy angel and it will be pasted right into the scrapbook next to this paragraph always eliciting smiles from me.  

The next evening, thanks to Melody and company,  we acquire front row seats to the parade of the Lotus Lantern Festival.  It is truly a spectacular event and we’ve been informed this year there is only Buddhist chants and a somber reverence in honor of the victims of the capsized ferry.  Hundreds of lantern bearers walked past with yellow ribbons commemorating the many youths lost on that boat.  This tragedy has struck South Korea’s very core and that grief is palpable throughout the event.  However, in true Korean fashion, lives are remembered and honored by prayers, beauty, and light and I, for one, am moved to have been a part of it.  

We arrived last night in Beijing, China where we will be for the next few days before returning home.  Wifi is sketchy at best and face book, twitter, and youtube is blocked by the government altogether so pictures will be posted when we return to the States and updates will be sent when a signal is strong.  We love you all.

Nic and Brad

Jogyesa Temple

Seoul! My friend Jacques met up with us for the day

Hitting up Korea's most boring museum, and looking fabulous doing so! 

The National Museum of Korea 

Prayer banners 

Lion lantern float

Hanbok and Hangul 

We scored lanterns to take home at the end of the parade! 

Lanterns at Jogyesa Temple

Nic & Brad Take Korea: Days 2-3

Today we're continuing the guest post series from my houseguests! They've conquered jet lag, but they're not here for very long so we are packing a LOT into each day! I sent them off to my favorite fortress on Day 2, then we went to a busy area of the city for dinner, and by the time the day was over, they were too tired for Brad to finish his Day 2 review. Days 2-3 got condensed, with very little info about our afternoon out in the Hanok Village (which is my FAVORITE thing about Jeonju! Come on, Brad!) ...maybe I can write about that later, when life slows down... HAHAHAAAAAAaaaaaaa slows down... when might that be?

Anyway~

Fun fact: Brad and I both LOVE dad-jokes. Enjoy!

Gochang Eup Seong and Jeonju Hanok Village South Korea - Days 2 and 3

안녕하세요 ANNYEONGHASEYO !!

We're not sure if our previous world travels have advanced our international skills or if Zara's brilliance at pointing first timers to Korea in the right direction is what has made for a seamless transition to a time that is 14 hours ahead of our own.  It's probably a combination of both but the short version of our first few days in South Korea is this:  we got this.  Neither of us are jet lagged in the least and our day trip to the Gochang Fortress could not have been any less drama.  Granted, Zara's exuberance for her home away from home coupled with her keen eye for detail has made the South Korea portion of this trip so incredibly easy and that, in turn, makes it easier to enjoy.  However, six years ago when Nicole and I began our voyages, even with instruction, we would not have masterfully caught a taxi to the bus station, purchased tickets to a city outside of home base, toured a site, and done the same in reverse...in a land where they don't even use the same alphabet.  uh uh - ain't no way.  Nicole and I were discussing this when I looked at her and said, "Now I can call you Virginia Slim."  While waiting on her usual laugh to my outrageously corny humor all I heard were crickets.  I said, "You know, You've come a long way baby!"  More crickets.  Later when I ran this by Zara her response was...yep, you got it - crickets.  Ya'll, I realize I'm not old but traveling with a hip chick in her 20's and a groovy chick in her early 30's can make a dude in his 40's feel like the crypt keeper.  

Our day trip to Gochang was so perfect and the azaleas in full bloom made for some beautiful photographs.  The traditional Korean architecture has lived up to my expectations as well but what I had no way to prepare for was the Korean people.  They are truly the friendliest of any country to which I've ever been.  Granted, me and Nicole stick out pretty well so when we look confused, people literally dash over to help us out.  This is true at the airport, bus stations, on the bus, etc.  Since Brad and Angelina are Brangelina the bald Brad and tall blond Nicole have now been dubbed Baldilocks.  And boy does that elicit some stares.  People almost always try to speak a few words of English to us without our ever having opened our mouths.  In fact, while at the Fortress, a school group of kids about 5 years old were about 50 yards from us and one little boy saw us and began waving and shouting at us, "Hellloooo!  Hellooooo!"  It was so sweet and that's when we realized that America's Baldilocks could be picked out of a crowd 200 paces away.  Not long after that older groups of school kids saw us and collectively began shouting to us "Hellloooo Helllloooo, What is your name?  Nice to meet you!"  Shortly thereafter  we ran into the same group where one kid remembered my name and called to me "Brad!!!" as if I was a friend he hadn't seen in years.  It was so endearing.  Later when we were waiting for our return bus, an older gentleman sits down next to me and I see him eyeballing my watch.  Now, in other countries, including my own, by this time I'd be up and moving somewhere else.  I'd already begun to develop a trust for South Koreans so I didn't flinch when he took my arm and held it up getting a better look at the watch.  I don't travel with anything but cheap watches for obvious reasons so I was perplexed by his fascination with it.  He took his off and compared it to mine and finally decided his Seiko was better so he put it back and asked me a few questions about my watch.  Not knowing how Wal-Mart translated into Korean, the exchange ended abruptly but pleasantly.  Just then a boy on a scooter races by, stops when he sees me looking at my ticket  trying to match the symbols to determine if it was the right bay to catch our bus in.   He doesn't speak English but we charaded our way to figuring it out and he disappears.  Moments later he appears with a jump rope and proceeds to parade his jump roping skills by us and disappears again.  Before we knew it, he was back with a tennis racket and giving us his best rendition of Andy Roddick on the tennis court.  Putting on the variety show that Sonny and Cher could only dream of pulling off as successfully, he returns again for the grand finale.  He breaks out in song and belts out every note to at least 2 songs in the movie Frozen....in Korean.  He was probably 9 or 10 years old and he wouldn't let me take his picture but he had no problem grabbing Nic's phone and taking a selfie.  I love the picture and can't wait to paste this paragraph into a scrapbook page next to it.

Throughout our walk in Jeonju Hanok village today I observe everything that I mentioned in the previous paragraph and smile.  I told Nicole and Zara tonight that I expected to like Korea but I never expected to fall in love with it.  I like reporting during travels when my heart is moved as much as I do the zany, quirky, and flat out crazy that we encounter.  There hasn't been much of the latter but after Seoul on Friday and Saturday, we fly back to Beijing for a few days.  That's when all the bragging will come to a screeching halt I'm afraid.  ;-]

hugs and love,
Virginia Slim and Lazarus

Gochang Fortress w/ azaleas... sigh!! 

Galbi

Bipimbap

Jeonju Hanok Village

Traditional games 

Gimp on a walk 

Punammun Gate

Nic & Brad Take Korea: Day 1

Today I've got a guest post for you! Nicole and Brad, two of my friends from the USA are in the country to visit this week!! Nicole and I grew up on the same street back in Texas, so she's pretty much been an older sister to me since I was six months old. She and Brad are flight attendants, so they have some awesome vacation schedules. They've used those awesome schedules (and their perks with the airlines) to travel together all over the world. Rio, Italy, you name it. This week has been fantastic! It's so much fun having guests. Y'all, I get such a kick out of hosting people! I should really open up a B&B :):):) We have spent most of the week in Jeonju and we'll be in Seoul all weekend before they fly out to China for a few days before heading back to Houston. It's delightful to see Korea through fresh eyes, reliving what it was like as a new foreigner in Korea!

So, without further ado, I'd like you to meet my dear friend Brad! He's been keeping a journal of their trip so far and I asked him if I could share them on the blog. He was kind enough to say yes, so here it goes! Enjoy~~


Planes, Planes, Buses, Taxis, and Walking - Day 1

It was in that order, starting with a 13 hour flight from Houston to Beijing, that we arrived in Jeonju, South Korea.  In total, it was close to 30 hours of travel time, a new record for at least me.  The sleep that we got on the first flight is what saved us.  Not one to have ever slept more than 2 hours on a plane, my nearly 5 hours of sleep was not only a lifesaver, it gave me hope for how to get rest on future flights.  Bonus:  I was in the middle seat of a very full flight; Count Dracula may have a future in sleeping during the dark after all!

I'd like to break this down for the record as it makes for good reading in the scrapbook years later.  Our first flight was a 13 hour nonstop from Houston to Beijing.  Watching the course of this flight on the airline tracking map took us by surprise.  For whatever reason, we thought we would shoot straight out from the west and cross the ocean.  Wrong.  We practically went across the planet to the North crossing Wyoming, Montana, Canada, Alaska, and what say what?? RUSSIA.  Yep, I went to sleep over Wyoming and awoke over Siberia, Russia.  I know we didn't actually visit Vodkaland, but flying over the former U.S.S.R. completely fascinated me, proof that even airline employees can be overwhelmed by the ability to relatively quickly access other parts of the planet.  Upon arrival in Beijing, we had 4 hours on the ground, then boarded our flight for Seoul, Korea.  The flight was only 1 1/2 hours but we got an inflight meal!  I'm unwrapping all of the food that we didn't recognize when I see a condiment that excited me.  I turn to Nic and say, "SCORE!  Hot pickled mustard!"  I tear into this anxious to sample some of my favorite flavors when I see this alien inside.  WHAT?  I look back at the package and re-read it.  Hot pickled mustard...TUBER.  Okay, I now know that it is simply the underground part of a vegetable but at the time it was something that if digested, would take over my body, call it's home planet to let them know a host has been found, and the rest makes for a bad B movie.  Nonetheless, the flight is quickly over and we have arrived in Seoul.  We quickly and easily acquire bus passes for our four hour bus ride to the town in southern South Korea, Jeonju.  The bus was quite luxurious and because there were only four other passengers on it with us, I wiped a tear of joy from my eye and settled in for the next portion of the journey.  Once in Jeonju, we were fortunate to immediately find a taxi to swiftly ferry us to the home of Zara Perciful, a childhood friend of Nicole's.  The driver lets us out at the address we showed him.  We gather our belongings and enter the building when we notice people coming and going with neck braces, back braces, wheelchairs, and mobile intravenous drips.  This doesn't look right...then we see the sign that says, "Welcome to the Hope and Happy Hospital."  WHAT?  I guess two foreigners looking like we did put us at the front of the triage line as a nurse hurries over and tries to admit us.  She was so incredibly kind and caring but we finally convinced her we were not in need of intensive care and she let us be.  A quick text from Zara and we found that we were only several blocks away to our great relief.  Whew!  We made it.  I look like a Yeti, but I digress.

Shortly after we make it up to Zara's charming apartment, we are met by her friends Marli and Monty Van Vuuren, originally from South Africa, who whisk the 5 of us off to a local restaurant where we got to have our first Korean food meal.  I loved everything that was put in front of me.  Nic didn't fare as well but then the foods here seem to be more geared to a strange palate that likes vinegar and fermentation.  Yes please!  We enjoyed the lovely couple but alas dinner had come to an end and so had my consciousness.  We returned home and shortly thereafter, I am somewhat certain I flatlined.  Obviously, I returned to the living and we are now preparing to spend our first day seeing sights in the south of South Korea.  Have a wonderful day friends.

hugs to you all,
Nic and Lazarus 

Trying kimchi for the first time... mixed opinions ^^

Dalkgalbi! Yum!