"Goodbye" Blog

It's time for my blog to come to end. I didn't include every little detail of my trip to Korea, but I think you can tell from what I have included that I loved every minute of my trip. I highly recommend a trip to Korea if you can possibly do it. Thank you so much to all of you who have followed my blog and given me your support in my effort to win a prize in the "Blog Korea! Visit Korea!" contest sponsored by the Official Site of Korea Tourism. Unfortunately I did not win anything, but I had a great time and learned how to blog. I would never have believed that to be possible. See you at my next blog! LOL

"Hello" Uijeongbu

You have to have a place to relax after a hard day or night of shopping. My DD and SIL love the Hello Coffee Shop in Uijeongbu. Not only are there great coffee drinks, but also the decor is interesting as well. Branches with white lights adorning them are all around, and they make each booth seem like its own separate room. What fun!

Nursery Schools in Korea

I fell in love with the nursery schools in our neighborhood. They were decorated adorably! We passed these 2 cute schools on our way to the neighborhood park.

Physical Fitness in Korea

Physical fitness is a high priority in Korea. In neighborhoods you will see groupings of 2 or 3 exercise machines every few blocks for public use. There was a nice park about 2 blocks from my DD and SIL's apartment. The park had exercise equipment, a wishing well, and stadium type seating. It was great!

The Second Market in Dongducheon

I know that I have told you that shopping in Korea is fantastic, and I'm not exaggerating! There are great shopping sites just about everywhere. The Second Market was located about 2 blocks from my DD and SIL's apartment, so it was quick and easy to get there. Parts of the Second Market are covered, so you can shop there rain or shine. Now that's my idea of smart! The pictures show entrances to the Second Market from various streets.

The Seoul City Tour Bus

I don't know why we decided to save the Seoul City Bus Tour for my last day. There are 35 stops on the tour so we saw many places we would like to visit, but I was all out of time. That's one of the many reasons why I would like to go back to visit Korea again. The traffic in Seoul is heavy, and of course we saw a Hard Rock Cafe there.

Korean Food

The food in Korea is excellent. We ate a lot of food wrapped in lettuce leaves. Yummy, and so good for you! That is called Korean barbecue. I also loved bulgogi, bibimbap, yaki mandu (my favorite!), and Korean fried rice. The Katusa snack bar on the base had the best fried rice and yaki mandu. I'm still dreaming about it. One of our favorite places to eat Korean barbecue was a place only one block from my daughter and son-in-law's apartment. It was the O-Rae Buffet. You cook the meat yourself at the table. I'm still dreaming about that too!

Shopping at Uijeongbu

Did I mention that shopping was fantastic in Korea? There are shopping complexes, underground shopping, shopping in and on the trains, etc. One of the places where we really enjoyed shopping was Uijeongbu. You may remember Uijeongbu from the old t-v show, "M*A*S*H." Uijeongbu was the town that their unit would go down to visit. Well it's not a town anymore, it's a full fledged city with plenty of shopping. We went underground shopping there and bought gladiator sandals, t-shirts, jeans, and souvenirs. What fun! The pictures show the Uijeongbu train station and one of the entrances to the underground shopping complex.

Cranes

All around the Han Lan River park there were statues of cranes. It was so peaceful and beautiful. The crane is a symbol of good luck in Asia and has a fabled life span of 100 years. The crane is also a worldwide symbol of peace.

White Water Rafting in Korea

White water rafting is a popular pastime in Korea. We went with a group from the Army base and had a great time. Unfortunately we didn't have a waterproof camera so there are no pictures of us rafting. We went to the Han Lan River, and it is a tourist attraction. There was a large pavillion with shopping and fountains. The children loved running around in the fountains as it was a hot day in June when we went.

Nam San Cable Car at N'Seoul Tower

We rode the Nam San cable car down from the N'Seoul tower for two reasons. It's a great view of Seoul from not so far up, and there is a lot less walking when you take the cable car down. We did lots of walking around Seoul without that! The cable cars were the first aerial lift system built in Korea. It opened in 1962 and runs over 2,000 feet.

N'Seoul Tower

It was a cloudy day when we visited N'Seoul Tower, but we still enjoyed it very much. We were lucky as there were no lines to ride the elevator up or down the tower. It was cloudy when I went to the Eiffel Tower, the Empire State Building, and the Washington Monument, so I was sure that it would be cloudy the day we visited N'Seoul Tower - and it was!

Musical Changing of the Guard at Deoksugung Palace

Three times a day there is a reenactment and musical changing of the guard at Deoksugung Palace. It is quite a production where guards, wearing differing colors of ceremonial robes, march up to the palace and perform. I got a good picture of my DD, Krystle, posing with the head guard.

Korean National Treasures at Deoksugung Palace

There are quite a few interesting objects on display at Deoksugung Palace, and some of them are Korean National Treasures. Treasure number 29 is the Sacred Bell of King Seondeok the Great. Treasure number 229 is an ancient water clock. This clock is the oldest and largest surviving example of an automatic water clock.

The National Museum of Art at Deoksugung

The art museum does not hold a permanent collection of art, rather the curator brings in exhibits from around the world to display there. The curator has a reputation for bringing in excellent collections. We were lucky enough to visit the museum while the collection of Fernando Botero, an artist and sculptor from South America, was being shown. Botero is known for his larger-than-life paintings and statues of large-sized people and animals, as you can see by his cat statue that sat in front of the museum when we visited.

The Garden at Deoksugung Palace

It was a lovely afternoon when we visited Deoksugung Palace and strolled through the garden there. The fountain is unusual because it goes against Korean beliefs that since water flows downhill, a waterfall, not a fountain, should be built in a manmade garden. We loved the otters spouting water around the main fountain!

Deoksugung Palace

There are 5 palace compounds in Seoul, and our Korean guidebook said if you could only visit one it should be the Changdeokgung Palace. You can tell from my earlier posts how much we enjoyed Changdeokgung, but our trip to Deoksugung Palace was just terrific! We liked the fact that we could just wander about the palace grounds versus the guided tour at Changdeokgung. There is also a beautiful garden at Deoksugung, a display of some of the National Treasures of Korea, an art exhibition, and a musical changing of the guard three times a day (more about all of these later). If you ever get a chance to go to Korea, I would put the Deoksugung Palace on my "Must-See" list!

Cruising on the Han River in Seoul

After visiting the 63 Building during the day, we decided to take an evening cruise on the Han River. The cruise lasted about 2 hours, and it was nice to sit and watch the scenery of Seoul pass by. One of the bridges that we passed under had an awesome light show as we approached. Then as we floated under the bridge, a shower of water sprayed over us! I was lucky enough to stay dry.

Shopping at Dongdaemun

Korea has to be one of the most amazing places in the world to shop. Everywhere we went there was a variety of above ground and underground shopping (usually at the train stations). We shopped in Dongducheon, Uijengbu, Itaewan, and various places in Seoul. One of the best places we shopped was at Dongdaemun. There are both above ground shopping and underground shopping at Dongdaemun. In fact, there are 26 malls with over 30,000 shops from over 50,000 manufacturers. One of the large stores that we visited had a whole floor of nothing but buttons. It boggles the mind!

Observatory and Art Exhibit at the 63 Building

We went to the art exhibition and the observatory at the 63 Building. The exhibit was called "In the Flower Garden," and it was lovely. There was a bridge in one of the paintings, and a little bridge was built in front where you could take pictures. Another sections had glass, mirrors, and metallic leaves that made an interesting effect. The views of Seoul from the observatory were awesome!

Seaworld at the 63 Building in Seoul

The indoor Seaworld at the 63 Building is great. There is such a variety of salt water and fresh water life and fun, interactive performances. We saw a new (for us) fish called "Doctor Fish" that come up and nibble on the dead skin on your fingers. That was a funny feeling, to say the least! Our all-time favorites were the penguins though. There was a tank where they could swim past, and you are allowed to pet them. We had never been able to do that before, so that was quite an experience as well.

63 Building Wax Museum

You can buy tickets to the exhibits at the 63 building in bundles of three events. We didn't choose the wax museum, but we enjoyed taking pictures with the figures out front. My shot with Tiger Woods turned out too fuzzy, but here's my DD with Leonardo DiCaprio and my SIL with Einstein. E=MC(2).

63 Building

The 63 Building in Seoul was obviously named for its 63 stories. This building houses an amazing array of activities. There is a Seaworld, yes an indoor Seaworld, a wax museum, an art gallery, an observation deck, and a floor filled with a food court and various other restaurants. We spent the whole day there and loved it!