Seoul City Bus Tour

This weekend we got the chance to take the Seoul Bus Tour. For only 10,000 won (roughly $10) the bus toured us around to some of the most famous, ancient, incredible sights in the city. Here are some highlights from the trip!

Above: These women were incredible! They played the drums (along with various other instruments) while bending backwards, jumping, yelling, etc....AWESOME traditional performance at the Seoul Folk Village!

Changdeok Palace. Originally constructed in 1405 during the Joseon Dynasty.

Traditional kimchi pots and cooking hut.

Changing of the guards at Deoksugung Palace.

Guards at Deoksugung Palace which was built in the 1500s.

Busan and the beach!

Our three day trip to Busan (over Budda's birthday weekend) was plagued by continuous rain, but through it all...was a great trip! We took the KTX ("bullet") train for the 2 1/2 hour journey south on Friday morning. We arrived to sunshine and heat so decided to get in some beach time. After locating our tiny hotel, which had an even tinier sign in English, we hit the beach for our first (and unknowingly last) beach day. Gwangalli Beach was beautiful though the water wasn't the cleanest. We stayed on shore and played Frisbee mostly. For dinner was got to join up with some friends we've met who live in Seoul, Lexi and Iassac. That night there were fireworks on the beach :)

The rain started (and never stopped) on Saturday. We went to the Busan Aquarium, along with about a million other Korean kids and parents. For dinner we headed to the Jalgachi Fish Market, one of the biggest in Asia! It was AWESOME! We picked a live fish, they chopped its head off in front of us, and we went upstairs to the restaurant while they cooked it. YUMMY!!!

Sunday was mainly shopping and going to see "Robin Hood." Barely made in back in time for class on Monday morning. Wonderful trip to the beach, regardless of the rain...

The DMZ

This past weekend was BUSY! The weekend kicked off with a little birthday celebration for Daniel. The big 28! He got a new skateboard... i guess boys will be boys! Bright and early Saturday morning we woke up and headed to Seoul to meet up with the Adventure Korea group. From there we traveled about 2 1/2 hours to the 2nd Infiltration Tunnel of the DMZ, which is northeast of Seoul. We toured the tunnel, Communist Labor Party Building, bombed train station, and a few other small things.

The 2nd Tunnel was made by the North Koreans to invade South Korea, but was discoved on March 19th, 1975. The tunnel is 3.5 km long and is 50-160 meters below the ground. It can accommodate up to thirty thousand people and is large enough for tanks to pass through.

That night, AK held a bonfire in front of our hotel and we roasted marshmallows. Marshmallows are hard to come by here...so little treats like that make me miss home a bit :) On Sunday, we toured the White Horse Battle Field and then did a rice planting event. Later we had free time to explore the Odaemi Village area on double seater bikes, a small town of rice planters. It was a very fun trip overall, although I did get a killer sunburn that I'm just now starting to lose. This weekend we're headed to the beach at Busan!

Central Park

When we're not traveling around Korea, we usually spend our time in "Central Park." The park is only 2 short blocks from our house and it is amazing! There are three separate water displays, one of which does a show to music everyday (like at the Opryland Hotel). There are endless things to do in the park...badminton, tennis, volleyball, and basketball courts, soccer field, track, 2 skating rinks...just about anything you can thing of! It's GREAT!

The stream which runs the entire length of Central Park. Kids love to play in it in their undies ha!
One of the 3 water displays. A view of Dongtan apartments in the back.

One of the beautiful pagodas....

Golfing 9 holes....

This is a video Daniel made of us during the lesson. Marilyn is in front and me in back. The little guy kept running around correcting us the whole time! It was supposed to be serious, but I was laughing the whole time :) They told us to make good, "water noises" and the adjumma was so mean looking! The main points were to pick things up with your right hand, always hold your sleeves back from the table, and above all...smile and look calm!

Hadong Wild Tea Festival

So, this is a long overdue post about the Hadong Wild Tea Festival...sorry for the delay! As you know, on our Adventure Korea tour to Mt. Jirisan, we stopped over on Sunday in the beautiful, mountain town of Hadong. There they had an annual Wild Tea Festival. Out of the 80 AK members, 20 drew lucky numbers to get to participate in the tea serving ceremony. Marilyn, Daniel, and I happened to be part of the lucky 20. An old adjumma demonstrated the proper way to serve tea and we (along with help from a translator) spent the better part of 2 hours learning. Serving tea to family and friends is a tradition that dates back to thousands of years to the ancient dynasties of Korea.

According to Wikipedia, "The first historical record documenting the offering of tea to an ancestral god describes a rite in the year 661 in which a tea offering was made to the spirit of King Suro, the founder of the Geumgwan Gaya Kingdom (42-562). Records from the Goryeo Dynasty (918-1392) show that tea offerings were made in Buddhist temples to the spirits of revered monks."

This is a good link explaining some of the origins, history, and process that we learned about that day: http://www.teamuse.com/article_020601.html

Women are still taught this custom and it is a integral part of Korean formal occasions. After learning the intricate process, we set off to perform our newly found talents in a "Tea Serving" competition. On a huge stage in the middle of the festival, we were brought up in groups of 4. They played music and we performed the ceremony with the help of some adjummas. At the end there was an awards ceremony for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. Winners received prizes worth between $300-$100! Wouldn't you know it, but Daniel won 2nd and Mariyn won 1st!!! So, there prizes definitely paid for our trip a few times over. Daniel won a wonderful clay tea set including the kettle, cups, serving dishes, etc. Afterwards we had a bit of time to walk around the festival and check out all the crafts, food, and exhibits. Overall Adventure Korea was a very fun and enjoyable experience. So much so that we're heading to the DMZ with them this weekend...woohooo!!!

Pictures:
1. 3rd, 1st, and 2nd place "Tea Ceremony" WINNERS!
2. Me and one of the assistant ladies who told us what to do in case we forgot
3. At the end of the serving competition, waiting for everyone to finish
4. A booth at the festival where we practiced our new skills with some actual tea masters

Mt. Jirisan

This weekend, Daniel, Marilyn, and I made our first "Adventure Korea" trip...and it was a blast! Adventure Korea tour group takes tons of fun trips around the country and even some to North Korea. The trip this weekend included hiking up Mt. Jirisan and participation in the Hadong Wild Tea Festival. So on Saturday morning at 5:30am we got started on our trek to Seoul to meet the group. About 80 or so foreigners went, so two charter buses were our mode of transportion. The drive down to Mt. Jirisan took about 4 hours. The mountain is located close to Busan, in the southern most part of Korea, so it took awhile to make it there. Once there we were alotted 3 hours to hike up and back down the mountain, which was easily do-able. The mountain range extends across three provinces and has some of the most well-preserved forests in Korea. Our bus let us out at the car park at 1,090 meters...we hiked to Nogodan Peak, the third highest peak, which is at 1,507 meters. The hike was beautiful. There was still snow on the mountain, but it was around 80 degree at the base. It was so much fun!

That night we stayed at the Jirisan hot spa hotel. We slept on the floor with mats, which is very traditional here. Its not so bad because the ondol (floor) heating keeps you very warm! We got to hang out that night with other teachers on the trip. On Sunday we had breakfast with the group and then headed out for the Wild Tea Festival...more on that to come!!!!

Daniel and I made a video message at the top for all our family and friends! Just ignore the end...haha!