Geomundo Island

Last Monday was the Korean Independence Day from Japan.  Emily and I decided to take a little weekend vacation to an island off the southern tip of Korea.  We booked the trip through a travel/tour group called Adventure Korea.  This is the same company that took us to the DMZ back in the fall.  We left Seoul about 12 a.m. on a charter bus and slowly made our way down south to the ocean.  The bus trip was around 6 hours.  We got to the ferry at 6 a.m. Saturday morning.  The ferry ride took us to Geomundo Island, which was 2 hours off the coast of Korea.  

After getting to the island bright and early on Saturday we had a few hours to do whatever, so we took a nap!  Since we were on the bus for 6 hours and we left at midnight I hardly slept.  I've never slept well on planes or buses.  We stayed at a little hotel run by an older lady.  Emily had stayed at places like this before.  I was shocked to see that we didn't have beds!  We each got a thick pad, a blanket, and a pillow to use.  I didn't take a picture of it but I should have.  The "bed" was more comfortable than I had imagined it would be.  

The first thing we did on the island was take a walk up a hill to see a few graves of British soldiers.  The British Navy had once been in this part of Korea to protect against the Russians.  The top of the hill had a great view of the ocean.  The rest of Saturday we hung around the island.  We walked around a bit to check things out.  It wasn't the nicest day so we were saving the big hike for Sunday.  While at the island we had most of our meals at the same little family restaurant.  The owners served us various traditional Korean dishes. It was the type of restaurant were you sit on the floor a little butt pads.  Those restaurants are always hard on my legs since they are so long!  

Sunday was a very nice day.  We went on a hike that took about 4 hours.  At the beginning of the hike we went what felt like straight up for 15 minutes.  Then, we began to walk along the side of the mountain which overlooked the coast.  Knowing my fear of heights I made sure to stay along the side of the trail that had the trees and bushes.  There were a few parts of the hike that scared me but I made it through with no problems. The goal of the hike was to make it to a lighthouse that was off in the distance.  We finally made it there after a couple of hours.  The views from the mountain were awesome.  I was able to take many good pictures.  The ocean water was almost teal in color, it looked pretty cool.  Thankfully it was such a nice day on Sunday for the hike.  We were supposed to take the hike on Saturday but it was colder and it rained a little.  

Now for the fun part.  We were supposed to leave Monday morning and return to Seoul around 9-10 p.m.  We woke up Monday morning and the wind was howling.  It wasn't raining at the time but it had rained before we woke up.  The island is very small and only 2 ferries leave each day back to the mainland.  It was so windy that the 10 a.m. ferry was cancelled because the ocean conditions were horrible.  We waited around in the little coffee shop and PC bong (rooms where Korean's go to play computer games) and messed around on the internet, waiting for any new news.  As 2 p.m. rolled around the decision was made that we could not take ferry AGAIN because it was still bad out on the ocean.  As much fun as it would be to stay there another day it put everyone in a bad situation.  The tour group had 45 people in it.  Everyone in the group was a teacher!  Needless to say we weren't able to leave the island until Tuesday morning, which was the first day of the new school year at my school and most all Korean schools.  I felt really bad that I wasn't able to be there to meet my new kindergarten class.  I had contacted my AC (academic coordinator) and director the minute we found out on Monday that we couldn't go back.  Although we are already short staffed because 2 people finished their contracts at the end of last week, they seemed to take the news well that I would not be there for the first day.  Obviously there was nothing I could do about it since it was just bad luck because of the weather.  All in all it was a good weekend trip even though it lasted longer than it was supposed to! Emily and I had the chance to watch many movies on TV Monday since it was windy and rainy and there was nothing else to do on the tiny island!  We met a bunch of cool people on the trip.  Also, everyone we met on the island was very kind and accommodating.  It was a great way to spend the weekend.    Note to self: It's probably not a good idea to visit an island when all you have is a 3 day weekend.  Maybe next time I'll stay on the Korean mainland!

 Ships in the tiny harbor  

View of the ocean from the British grave sites

Elementary school 

Memorial to the British soldiers that died here

As you can see taking pictures felt like being part of the paparazzi.  This is Baekdo Islands.  It was a chain of about 40 islands.  It took our boat about 40 minutes to get there from Geomundo Island on Sunday morning.

Emily and part of the Baekdo Islands

The town we stayed at.  This was taken while on the hike on Sunday.

Emily and I at one of the rest spots while on the hike

The very edge of the mountain

The lighthouse that we hiked to

The main road on the little island we stayed on

Lunar New Year and My Birthday

It has been awhile since I last posted a blog.  Maybe a little too long.  The weeks after Christmas break were pretty laid back with not a lot going on during the weekends.  Two weeks ago we had a 3 day weekend because of the Asian lunar new year.  This time of the year is very important to Koreans.  It may be even more of a celebration in China because people will celebrate for the entire week around the new year. This year the new year was on a Sunday.  Normally on holidays you get the day before, the day of, and the day after off of work.  It was too bad that this fell on a Sunday.  It would have been nice to get more days off.  Emily and I had planned to visit either Shanghai or Japan but the prices were a little expensive and the flight times weren't the best.  Instead we decided to venture around Seoul some more and visit places we had not seen yet.

On Saturday we went to a popular mall named Coex.  Among all the stores there was an aquarium and a kimchi museum (which I definitely want to see someday).  The aquarium was really cool.  It took us about 1.5 hours to walk through it.  The aquarium had many types of fish from all around the world and some land animals.  The path to follow in the aquarium took you through different parts of the world showing you fish from that region.  One cool part of the exhibit was that fish tanks were created using household or things you might see outside.  There were fish tanks inside of a refrigerator, washing machine, phone booth, toilet, mail box, etc.

A very interesting looking fish

Washing machine fish tank

Spider Man mailbox fish tank.  That was my favorite.

Traditional Korea next to a Coke machine

A pig-turtle

Shark tank

Emily and the jellyfish

The last part of the aquarium was the penguin habitat

Sunday happened to be the Lunar New Year and Valentine's Day.  We started the day off by going to Gwanghwamun, a region of Seoul.  I have been here before to look at some of the palaces.  This time there was a big festival going on on the street to celebrate.  Along the street there was different concerts going on, an ice skating rink, and many people flying kites.  Emily and I decided it would be fun to fly kites like all the Koreans were.  After flying the kites and walking around the area we went to a little sandwich shop for dinner which was delicious.  

Kites in the sky

Emily flying a kite

After the street festival we went to Seoul Tower.  This tower is in central Seoul and has a great view of the city especially at night.  The tower is 777 ft. tall.  The tower sits on top of a big hill so in order to get to the base of the tower we had to take a cable car.  When we got to the base of the tower there was a few restaurants, gift shop, and things to look at.  The cool thing about the tower is that along the fence that surrounds the tower at the top of the hill people who are dating or married put padlocks on the fence and then are supposed to throw the key over the side.  All of the fence space is full of locks that couples have put over time.  We were able to find a spot that was open.  We put a padlock on the fence that we had bought from the gift shop.  Putting the locks on the fence is supposed to bring good luck to those people so hopefully it does! After doing that we went to the top of the tower.  Knowing my fear of heights I was surprised that I wasn't freaking out.  I did get a little scared however, when walking to the window to look outside.  I made sure to stay about 2 steps away!  Who knows if I'll ever get over that fear or not.  On the windows around the top of the tower it showed international cities and countries that you are looking out at. Going to Seoul Tower was really cool and it was a cool way to spend Valentine's Day.  I plan on visiting it again in the future but during the day this time so I can see how much different the city looks when its light outside.  

View from the spot where the cable car left

Base of the tower.  I liked this picture because in the corner is a traditional Korean structure.  It looked cool to mix a traditional and modern styles. 

The fence that went around the base of the tower.  As you can tell it is full of locks people have left.  Our lock it behind the while pole near the Korean couple. 

Somewhere far, far, far away is Des Moines!

Lastly, Saturday was my birthday.  The plan was to go out to dinner with Emily and then meet up with friends in Sinchon and Hongdae (two places very close to where I live.  These places have universities so many people around our age hang out there). Little did I know that Emily secretly planned a surprise party for me. The restaurant was On the Boarder.  A Mexican restaurant from America.  We got to the restaurant at 8. Not expecting anything we were walked to our table which was in one of the big rooms set for larger groups.  As we walked I finally saw all of our friends sitting at the table.  I was extremely surprised and excited!  It was a great way to spend the night, eating and going out with all of my friends here in Korea.  A few of my co-workers and a bunch of Emily's came.  As we all know at restaurants when its someone's birthday they sing happy birthday to you.  They gave me a poncho and sombrero to wear.  After dinner we went to a bar owned by two Canadian men and we watched some of the olympics.  It's been cool to be able to watch the olympics here. Also, it has been interesting to see the focus on the athletes from a different country.  All in all it was a perfect way to spend my birthday.  I had NO IDEA that Emily was planning a surprise party for me!  It was much appreciated.  Thank you to all my friends and family back home that wished me a happy birthday! Also, congrats to the SJU swim team for the great job at the conference meet this past weekend.  I was able to stream the swim meet for parts of 2 evening sessions.  It looks like everyone swam well which is great to see.  This weekend Emily and I are searching for places to go.  Hopefully we will be able to find a flight somewhere, in or outside of Korea. 

My attire for the birthday song

A shot of most of the people at the table.  Apparently I have one blue eye and one red eye.
(Thanks Nicole for the pictures!)

90 degree weather in Thailand....OR....low 20's and snow in Korea??? Hmmmm

Merry Christmas and happy New Year to everyone!! It was quite different this year not being home for Christmas.  What stunk the most was that we had to work on Christmas Eve!  But, I did get a lot of presents from students ranging from a winter hat, gloves, lotions, etc.  As much as Christmas is celebrated in Korea it didn't really seem like Christmas time.  Maybe the lack of snow played a part in that.  Although it did snow a little on Christmas Day when our plane was taking off and while we were gone.  Figuring that staying in Seoul for our winter break would be very boring I went to Thailand with Emily and three of her co-workers (Matt, Cindy, Elyse).  We left Christmas Day around dinner time.  Our flight stopped in Taipei to pick up some more people then we headed to Bangkok.  In Bangkok we stayed at a little hostel.  We stayed in Bangkok for 2 full days.

On the first day in Bangkok we rode a boat that took us through the canals of Bangkok to one of the many palaces the city has to offer. It was a fun trip.  At random times people in their little boats would float up to us and try to sell us something. Water taxi's are very popular as we saw many people on the river/canal.  After getting off the water taxi we walked through a local market.  The market had all kinds of food and goods to buy.  Our plan was to go to the main Palace in Bangkok but it was a special day so that palace was closed so that the monks could pray.  Instead we went to a few smaller ones.  We went to one that had a massive Buddha statue.  In order to get to this place we had to take a tuk-tuk.  This is a type of taxi you can take in Thailand.  I recommend that if you ever to to Thailand, only to ride this ONE time!  Here are the reasons: 1.The drivers like to take advantage of tourists and try to rip you off as much as possible. Our hotel was very helpful when we asked them how much we should be charged when going from one place to the next.  Of course the price that the tuk-tuk drivers told us was outrageous.  You are able to bargain prices with them and we always got our price down to what our hotel had told us, or even lower in one case.  2.  The drivers try to make you go to more than one location so that they can coerce you into making a "stop" for them which allows them to refill on gas.  The drivers claim that the government gives them coupons for gas if they take you to either a jewelry or tailor shop.  In the 3 times we took a tuk-tuk we went to 4 tailor shops!  Compared to America tailor shops are VERY VERY cheap.  Around $300 for an Armani suit.  Obviously we didn't want to get a suit but we had to go into the shops for about 10 minutes each so the driver could get his coupon.  Riding in the tuk-tuks wasn't a bad experience since our hotel helped us in telling us prices we should demand.   Also, it was fun to ride in one because they zipped in and out of traffic.  In Bangkok driving would be a nightmare.  I though a lot of people in Korea rode little motorcycles.  Thailand has thousands more and they are driving every which direction.

Boat trip through the canal

See the little green motorcycle/car? Those are the tuk-tuks!

Standing Buddha

Emily and I in front of the statue

A shrine to Buddha in a small temple

One of the various palaces at night

The 2nd day in Bangkok we went to the Grand Palace.  This was the one that was closed the day before.  The Grand Palace covers a massive amount of area and has many palaces and temples inside its grounds. To go into the palace grounds men have to wear pants.  Women have to wear dresses/pants that go down to about the middle of the shin and their shirts have to have sleeves.  We were allowed to wear sandals which was the only good part about the dress code!  It was at least 90 degrees outside with little breeze.  I've never worn jeans in that type of heat.  It was crazy.  I can't imagine the people who do this everyday in Thailand.  This area had many smaller palaces that we visited, some  you could go inside and others you couldn't.  We did go into a pretty big temple but we weren't able to take pictures inside.  Inside the temple you had to either sit on your feet or point your feet/legs diagonally behind you.  The reasoning is that pointing your feet at anyone is offensive.  I would not make a very good Buddhist because I had a hard time sitting in both of those positions!   The look of all the temples/palaces in this area and all over Bangkok was awesome.  Most are covered in gold (not sure if its real gold or not) and have cool architecture to them.  There are also many cool statues, such as Buddhist demons, angels, etc.  After leaving the Grand Palace we walked about 20 minutes to the "Reclining Buddha".  The Buddha statue lays on his side inside a palace.  He is 150 ft. long and 50 ft. high.  It is a popular tourist attraction in Bangkok.  It is one of the worlds largest Buddha statues.  The 2 days we spent in Bangkok were a lot of fun.  It was neat seeing a lot about the history of the city and Buddhism in general.  The last 5 days of our trip we went to the beach in southern Thailand!!

Outside the Grand Palace wearing pants on a 90+ degree day!

One of the many statues

A palace inside the Grand Palace grounds

Palace with a very modern look to it

Almost like the Buckingham Palace guards.  They couldn't move.

Reclining Buddha.  I tried to get his entire body in one shot.

A temple that we were allowed to take pictures in.

After Bangkok, we flew down to southern Thailand and stayed about 2 hours north of Phuket, which is a popular tourist area.  Our hotel was on an island called Koh Kho Khao Island.  The first full day in Thailand was December 26.  Many people might not know but that day marked the 5 year anniversary of the tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean.  southern Thailand, especially Phuket and Koh Kho Kaoh (where we stayed after Bangkok) was hit very hard.  On TV that day there was a ton of coverage marking the anniversary and showing all the memorials people were holding.  It's strange to think that 5 years ago most of southern Thailand was gone but today it has all been rebuilt.  One of Emily's co-workers, Elyse, went to the area where we stayed in southern Thailand to help with tsunami relief in 2004.  We all stayed at the same hotel she stayed at when she came.  At one of the markets Elyse was able to find a Thai girl that she had met in 2005 when she came to help rebuild this area.

Our hotel was very nice.  The rooms were pretty big, the food was very good and everyone was very nice.  For the most part we laid out on the beach.  We did go to 2 excursions.  The first one was the day after we got there.  We went snorkeling out about 30 minutes from our beach.  We went to 2 different spots to snorkel  then we went to a little island that was nearby.  The island was pretty cool.  It was FULL of hermit crabs!  The water where we snorkeled at was pretty clear so we were able to see many cool fish.  After getting to the little island we hung out for about and hour.  We ate some food and laid out.  The second excursion we went on was my favorite part of the trip.  We started of the day by going on an elephant trek.  This was a lot of fun.  I've always wanted to ride an elephant.  The trek took about 1 hour or so through the Thailand "Jungle".  Each elephant carried 2 people.  On the first half of the trip Emily got to sit on the elephants neck/back.  After a break for the elephant to wash off we turned around an went back.  The way back I got to sit on the elephants neck/back.  At first it was hard to keep balanced.  Whenever we were going up or downhill the elephant would pin his ears back against our legs so we wouldn't fall off.  These elephants were very well trained.  After leaving the elephant camp we went to another site to have lunch and go on a canoe trip.  The trip went through a river and took about an hour.  It was nice to relax and hang out in the canoe while someone did the rowing for us!  The last part of this day trip we went to the "Monkey Temple".  Literally.  We went to this place that had mini temples and there were hundreds of monkeys around.  We were able to feed them nuts or bananas that we bought.  Our guides said that their favorites were nuts not bananas.  I bought 1 bag of nuts and 1 bunch of bananas.  I'm guessing our guides told us that they like nuts more because they went crazy when I pulled out the bananas!  I had monkey jumping up and chasing me trying to get the bananas.  The nuts they didn't care for as much, since everybody had them.   There was definitely an excess amount of nuts so at times it was hard to get the monkeys to take any.  It was funny watching them swing from tree to tree or attacking each other.  At one point, a little monkey jumped on Matt and Emily while they were trying to feed them nuts.  Sadly, I didn't have a monkey jump on me.  On New Years Eve our hotel had a buffet dinner and some shows/games for everybody.  Our group was the life of the party, taking part in all the games and winning all the prizes!  The day we checked out the lady told us thank you for making the party fun because nobody else wanted to take part in the games or activities like we did.  A tradition on New Years Eve is to light up paper lanterns and let them go over the ocean.  I am in a picture below with the lantern.  The point is to put all of your worries into this lantern and then let it go and watch your worries sail away!  Hopefully everyones worries sailed away that night.  This is also the case on the anniversaries of the tsunami.  People light the lanterns and let them sail away like we did on New Years Eve.

The boat that took us snorkeling and to the island nearby

Those are all hermit crabs.  This island had them everywhere.

One of the elephants

Starting out the trek

Emily and I riding the elephant.  She is riding on his neck.

Top of the hill just before we walked down to the river to canoe

On the canoe

2 of the many monkeys we saw

New Years Eve

About to let my worries sail away!

Overall, the trip was a ton of fun.  I couldn't have though of a better way to spend the week off from school.  I've traveled to a part of the world I would probably have never thought of going to until coming to Korea.  The trip to Thailand definitely ranks up there in my top 3 trips ever!  Now its back to teaching again tomorrow.  I did however wake up this morning and look out the window and there is about 3 inches of snow which is awesome.  I was told it doesn't snow too often in Seoul since its such a big city it melts away.  Hopefully the snows stays for a few days!  I'll have to start planning another trip.  We have a long weekend over Valentine's Day in February.  The Orange Bowl is tomorrow, go Hawkeyes!!! I'm going to do my best to find a way to watch and follow the game at work tomorrow, since it starts at 10 a.m. for me.  Happy New Year!

I'll be wearing my Hawkeye shirt under my work clothes tomorrow!