Post-Christmas... the preface for my trip to Korea!

I'm just forewarning you that the Korean travel stories have the potential to be a massive post, in order to include some essential photos, as well as to tell a few stories, as I try to hit all the main highlights of this trip to a fabulous Asian country. But before I delve into the days of adventure (and cold) and travel, I figure a bit of a preface is necessary.

(I detest seeing this page)

After an enjoyable Christmas with Matt and Julie and the babies and Jett puppy, I packed up the next morning (Boxing Day), arranged details for the care of Jett, and juggled Skype conversations and the internet repairmen, who were switching over my internet service. Of course, they didn't "repair" the internet. They, in fact, made the situation all the worse. (The internet didn't work at all until after I returned from the trip, and since being "connected" a few days ago, has only been patchy, at best. So if you want constant communication from me, don't expect it. Only when I'm at school do I have semi-regular internet, it seems.)

I was anxious about my departure for numerous reasons...

Jett calendar schedules and care instructions

1. With Kate and Kari still Stateside, I had to leave our puppy under the care of many children and various families in the neighborhood who would come by in shifts to look after him. You see, our friend who had agreed to house sit for the duration of my week in Korea cancelled on me on Christmas Eve, leaving me the inconvenient day of the Christmas holiday to try to hurriedly find replacement caregivers for the time he was unavailable. (Do you know how hard it is to find available people, in a matter of a day, interrupting their Christmas agendas to ask a favor of them? I felt so horrible. Additionally, in this international community, so many people's plans change quickly due to travel plans during the winter break.) So I had to do a lot of shuffling and budging in rapidly throwing together a schedule of three or four different families and individuals who could take "shifts." And then I needed to contact them in order to "train" them and leave instructions with them as for how to obtain the spare key that would let them into our apartment where Jett would be staying. Luckily, Matt and Julie agreed to be Keepers of the Key to Apt. Twelve-Oh-Three, and monitor who had the key when. I made detailed schedules with complete contact information and logistics of Jett-care, of course.

Just SOME of the many meds I take while sick, in addition
to the usual allergy/respiratory-infection prevention crud.

2. I was also struggling to stave off the onset of a illness--sore throat, cough, possible fever... you get the idea. Having even slight signs of even a cold worries me these days (especially in the winter when it's cold and I'm exposed to elements of dampness and wind). Congestion that quickly goes to the chest then almost immediately turns into bronchitis for me, as in the last few years I've developed strong susceptibility to respiratory illness. I packed my antibiotic Z-Pak and other prescribed meds (dispensed to me while still in the US, on the happenstance that I did indeed contract respiratory illness). So I was a bit concerned about the prospect of illness on this trip to (dead-of-the-winter, cold) South Korea. Winters are hard times for me, especially when amplified by the factors of travel... in and out of cold/warm environments, wind and other harsh elements, mold and dust being exacerbated by musty heaters, irregular sleep and eating, etc.

Bus ticket from Beilun to Shanghai, purchased by
my friend, Shelley. Such a sweetheart!

3. Details of getting to Shanghai were another issue to be worked out. On Christmas Eve when I went to the office in Beilun to purchase a bus ticket to Shanghai, they informed me that they were no longer selling bus tickets, rather only train tickets (from Ningbo to Shanghai). I wanted a bus ticket for the direct route from Beilun to Shanghai. The bus station is clear on the other side of Beilun (about a 10 minute taxi ride away, not easily reachable by bike). So I thought I'd just show up at the station on the 26th and hope for availability to hop on a bus to Shanghai that afternoon. However, thankfully, on Christmas Day, while out grocery shopping for that evening's holiday feast, I ran into one of my Chinese friends. She said she'd be making a trip to the bus station to get tickets on the morning of the 26, and would kindly pick one up for my departure that afternoon as well. I am so blessed. We did the ticket/reimbursement hand-off around noon, amidst my dog-walking, plan-arranging, internet-fiasco, sickness-rebuffing attempts, and last-minute packing frenzy of a day.

That's all to say that I was hesitant to leave under all afore-mentioned conditions.

The maglev (301 km/h = 187 mi/hr)

But when all was said and done, I was in a taxi off to the bus station (taking a public bus to the station seemed like a silly idea with a suitcase to haul, and with limited time remaining before the bus departed to Shanghai). I caught the 3:50 bus for an afternoon/evening bus ride on a direct route from Beilun, Ningbo to Shanghai. Once in Shanghai (at the South Station), I took a long journey via metro and maglev (magnetic-levitating) train to the hotel on the far east side of the city, for a quick overnight stay. The next morning (Thursday), I was up at six to be at the airport by seven, and took a 9:00am into Busan, South Korea. There, I was greeted by my Whitworth (and Sequimmite) friend, Anthony.

The Shanghai Jiejia Chain Hotel;
looks sketch, but is surprisingly decent inside for the $22 I paid

An example of a room inside the hotel.
Shower with see-through glass right next to the head of the bed,
but clean and warm with heater... PLUS a flat-screen TV and wifi! 

Catching the plane from Shanghai to Busan, South Korea 

Flying into Korea (the eastern side of the peninsula)

In the coming blog posts, I will detail, day by day, some of the adventures that were had during my Korean travels, New Year's, and return to my home in Beilun (Ningbo), China. But as saith the old adage, pictures a thousand words, so I've also included a link to my Facebook album of photos from the trip, which are narrated by captions, and are probably a much better summary of my trip than what these blog posts will cover, in efforts to be brief. (I've told some of these stories many times already, so to spare some of you from repeated details, or just to spare myself some time, check out the photos; they're in time-ordered sequence.)