"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.