South Korea, day five (Monday, Dec. 31)

One of the buildings on the Bulguksa site

I passed the last day of 2012 back in Gyeongju, South Korea's cultural cradle. In the afternoon, Anthony and I headed back on the bus from Pohang for an afternoon of sightseeing.

During "round two," we visited the Bulguk(sa) temple, which is classified as a "World Heritage Site" by UNESCO. There are many different temples and rooms, in fact, and several pagodas and statues of note. I, of course, loved reading the plaques with all the historical background and informative descriptive pamphlets. The painting and detailed decorations were stunning as well. PLEASE take a look at additional photos on Facebook to admire the intricacies!

This pagoda has one lion remaining and is very influential in "guarding" the temples...
which were later conquered and used as military camps during various Japanese occupations.

Fierce guardians.

Intricate decorations on the temple architecture.

We also stopped by the Gyeongju cultural museum, but, as it was New Year's Eve, the museum had closed. That didn't stop us from admiring the artifacts on display outside, however.

Headless-torso statues that we decided to give life to.

That night, we headed to the ruins of Banwolseong (Half-moon Palace/Fortress) palace grounds where modern-day covered structures stand in representational place of the large buildings of ancient ages past. While Anthony took long-shutter speed exposure snapshots of the site in all its glorious night light, I tried to stay warm, hopping between ice-covered pathways and shivering. Did I mention there was still snow on the ground, and it was well-below freezing? I think my already-low body temp (96.7ºF) decreased to an even lower degree that night. The two of us tried to take some night shots in the lights around some of the frozen ponds and still, clear-watered brooks, but none of them were turning out on Anthony's camera settings. They did make for some entertaining photos, however:

Anthony's a ghost

Anthony's head is cut off

Anthony's slightly blurry, probably because he rushed to get into the shot in time for the self-timer.
(I thought he would DIE trying to get hurriedly get across the icy stream bed!)

Finally, after trying to take self-photos with some strange eye-recognition setting on Anthony's camera, we gave up and asked a passerby to take a photo of the two of us. The ONLY good shot of the two of us together during that visit, after what seemed like an eternity of photo-taking.

Dumb eye-recognition made us laugh, but produced goofy results

At the ruins of Banwolseong (Half-moon Palace/Fortress)

After waiting at the bus stop in the frigid night-cold for what seemed like an eternity, we went back home to Pohang to layer up and prepare for a long New Year's Eve night ahead of us...


Look through the album of photos from my Korea trip, with more details and images of the day's sights and doings. Follow this link. (also see link on the photo menu to the right)

South Korea, day four (Sunday, Dec. 30)

Church at Anthony's Korean (Presbyterian) church is an all-day thing. He shows up at 9am to help with the youth group lesson teaching, and stays for first service from 11-noonish (more traditional). Then a buffet-style lunch is provided for the whole 100-200 person congregation. Young adults' group follows lunch, and the second service is held in the afternoon (more contemporary). After the final service is over around 3pm, then Anthony usually has meeting time with the pastor (his Korean father).

At Anthony's Korean church

I got to partake in this experience, accompanied by some interpretation and explanation by Anthony and an English-speaking missionary leader. It was lovely to meet more of Anthony's Korean friends and adoptive family.

Then we went downtown Pohang to the "Five-Day Market" site and put on a flash mob. Also performing was the church's youth dance ministry team. Cold, but fun, as I suggested that we blast the music from the stereo of a friend's car, instead of using wimpy speakers and an iPod.

Some of the flash-mob crew!

That evening, we were invited to a friend's traditional Korean family home, which is a basic, square structure with just two rooms with an adjoining kitchen and little shower corner. The outhouse, a few meters away, lacked a door. But, to my pleasant surprise, the house did have heated floors! The birthday boy, studying to be a chef, prepared a fantastic crab supper... and the traditional bibimbap dish (veggie-rice-egg bowl) for me, the vegetarian. It was SOOO yummy and I felt so special and honored that such a special meal was prepared, and I jokingly proposed marriage to the bashful birthday boy, on account of his good cooking and taking such good care of his new vegetarian-friend.

What a lovely Sunday!

Look through the album of photos from my Korea trip, with more details and images of the day's sights and doings. Follow this link. (also see link on the photo menu to the right)

South Korea, day three (Saturday, Dec. 29)

The "A" is where Gyeongju is located in South Korea.
Looking to the bottom left, Hangzhou (in the Zhejiang province)
is about 45 minutes' drive west of where I live in Beilun, Ningbo

The next day of my visit in Korea led me to Gyeongju, to get a taste of some of Korea's historical culture. After taking the metro to the bus station, we took a 2-hour bus ride, during which Anthony and I optimized the occasion to Skype our families back home in Sequim. They were conveniently together (or at least some of the members of our families were).

Once arrived in Gyeongju, Anthony hauling my suitcase in tow to and from various buildings and around cultural sites, we did some cultural crafts and tried on some Korean traditional clothing (Hanbok). Then we walked through snowy pathways and explored the famous hilled-tombs of ancient kings past. Once dusky skies met the picturesque landscape, the town lit up with its festive colored lights, highlighting the winter scenery. Another one of Anthony and Mia's friends, Scott, met up with us, and we got to store the suitcase in his Jeep. Then we walked around and froze my toes nearly off (despite the layers of fuzzy-socks and insulated, knee-high boots), admiring the city's historic observation tower and trying not to slip on the ice.

 

Making soap

Being "good Koreans" in traditional Hanbok attire

Walking on snowy pathways between kings tombs

King's tomb

Where the ancient king once rested... jewelry was left in place, more or less,
for viewing display, of course. Bodily remains were used for scientific study...
or something.

Observation tower.

Nighttime scenery

That evening, the four of us shared a super-yummy feast. The table was spread with the traditional Korean foods of kings and royalty past. I sampled dozens of dishes... soups and veggies and many pickled and spicy things.

Scott and I were pretty excited for the food.

We went "home" to crash at Anthony's house in Pohang that night. I think I slept through at least nine-tenths of the fourth Bourne (Legacy?) movie.

Look through the album of photos from my Korea trip, with more details and images of the day's sights and doings. Follow this link. (also see link on the photo menu to the right)

South Korea, day two (Friday, Dec. 28)

Day two of my vacay in Korea, we were trapped in Busan due to snow storms all over the rest of the country, it seemed. The South Korean peninsula, west to east, seemed to be in white-out mode. No buses or trains were coming or going from Busan that morning. We had wanted to go further south to see the green tea fields, but alas, they were covered in a blanket of white (what's the point in riding a bus for several hours only to see covered bushes?!)

So we stayed in the city for another day, while waiting for Anthony's friend Mia to come join us from Pohang (about 1.5 hours north of Busan), because public transport was a mess due to weather conditions, it took Mia a while to figure out how to meet up with us. Anthony and I went to the aquarium in Haeundae, along the nationally-renown Haeundae beach front (I hear it's packed with tourists in the summer).

I found out this week, according to Time For Kids,
as one of my students was reading a blurb,
that apparently THIS shark has a most-awesome belch.

Just chillin' with Obama

Then we took the metro to Centum City, Busan, to the Shinsegae department store franchise, which apparently is/was the world's largest department store, surpassing the NYC Macy's, when it was completed in 2009. We went to a wax museum exhibit there (related to a promotion that the aquarium was doing and our tickets there allowed us access to). We ate some marvelous crepes at the international food plaza... so. much. deliciousness.

We ate some Mexican food that night (something Anthony rarely has access to in Korea), and then went to watch Les Miserables in a nearby movie theatre that night.

Look through the album of photos from my Korea trip, with more details and images of the day's sights and doings. Follow this link. (also see link on the photo menu to the right)

South Korea, day one (Thursday, Dec. 27)

 (continued from my last blog entry, the introduction to my Korean travels)

... and so commenced my travels in South Korea! In this post, I will talk about all the exciting things I got to see and do on my first day in this lovely Asian peninsula!

Yay! Arrived in Korea!

First restaurant in Korea

Eating blowfish

On day one in Korea, after I landed at the airport, we went to the Haeundae district in eastern Busan (about 40 minutes from the airport). We dropped off my suitcase at a guesthouse and went to eat blowfish soup at this restaurant. It was Japanese-Korean fusion food, but a nice introduction to kim chi and other Korean side dishes.

Then we hopped on a bus headed towards Haeunjeongsa Temple (해운정사). We got off a stop early and took the beach/mountain adventure route. The construction men working on a new development in one beach cove had quizzical looks on their faces when we rounded the corner, climbing over tidepooled-boulders and along the concrete wall/sea-barrier. Then we got some awesome sunset shots in as the sun hid itself behind the hills over yonder.

Fun with exercise machines along the beachside pathways

Taking the adventurous route along the waterfront

Sun setting 

The fence under which we crawled to arrive on the site of the temple,
since we took the more creative "back route" along the beach and over the mountain to arrive.

With the remaining daylight, we explored the temple site (newly renovated and clean-cut construction made me guess that it had not been such a big operation in years past, and perhaps the continued collection of coins from the wishing ponds had funded new additions to the grounds??).

Workers cleaning out the
ponds and pools at the temple

After the temple, we went back into town and ate dinner at a little cafe that had an interesting toilet that I had exploratory interactions with, to satiate my curiosity of buttons and heated toilet seat settings. Look at my Facebook album for a photo of that darling piece of technology.

The reception desk at the jimjilbang. SO interesting.
I don't know why I'm including this photo instead of
the more exciting image of the high-tech toilet.

Then we decided to go to a jimjilbang (Korean spa). Anthony thought it would do my respiratory system good, opening up airways with sauna rooms, heated floors, public baths and water massage therapy. It was a lovely cultural experience. The common areas have heated floors, snack bars, televisions, and people relax even with their technology. Guests are given scrub-esque types of garments for co-ed areas of the spa (such as sauna rooms), but the gender-segregated baths have a birthday-suit dress code. I was the only non-Asian in the female side of the spa, but they seemed not to mind. So long as I don't know the people I am co-mingling with, I could totally be a nudist!

I did feel nice and warm after our few hours at the jimjilbang, as we walked the sub-freezing streets of Haeundae, Busan back to our guesthouse for the night, where Anthony began to teach me the Korean language (MUCH easier, mathematical, logical, calculated, phonetic than Chinese!). A nice ending to a first day in Korea.

Look through the album of photos from my Korea trip, with more details and images of the day's sights and doings. Follow this link. (also see link on the photo menu to the right)

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.)