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.