Korea

So, 6 months later, (and one baby almost ready…) our Korea photos are online!  Now, we’ll have to work on Hawaii (we just got back…)
Enjoy and happy travels!

There are many ways to get from the Seoul Incheon International Airport, and more are even coming with a subway line being built that will connect the Airport all the way to downtown.
The airport is actually quite a distance from downtown – it takes about an hour and a half to 2 hours.  However, there ... (read more →)

We found that making reservations ahead of time outside of Seoul was thankfully not necessary (at least in July when we were there).  People at the hotels did not speak English, so reservations would have been very difficult.  What we did do was to go to the nearest tourist info centre when we arrived in ... (read more →)

In the morning, we headed out to the Yongsan Elecctronics Market in Seoul.   It wasn’t really what I expected.  It is a collection of 20 buildings, and it wasn’t always clear how to get from one to the other.  The first building we went into was about 6 stories high (I’Park Mall), and is in ... (read more →)

We took the high speed train back to Seoul from Daegu. The train goes up to 300 km/h in sections, and was a very convenient way of crossing the country.  It cost us about $40 US per ticket. We got seats in advance, and the train left exactly on time and there was lots of ... (read more →)

Since it was our anniversary, we decided to go up the N’Seoul Tower to celebrate.  To get to the base of the tower you take a cable car, which provides you with great views too.  Once inside you take an elevator up to the observation deck with huge windows giving you great views out over ... (read more →)

 
We made not one, but 2 trips to Namdaemun Market – it’s that big.  Of course, it’s Korea, so it’s well organized with info booths with English speakers.  They have maps available, with bathrooms and banks clearly marked and all the buildings labeled and what they sell listed. 
 
There is a large wholesale market with approximately ... (read more →)

From Busan we traveled to Daegu.  From there it was easy to get to Haeinsa Temple by bus.  Daegu also had a huge market - Seomun – which seems to sell a ton of different food, mostly.  It was great for people watching and strolling.
There’s also a great downtown area which was really alive at night.  We ... (read more →)

 
Daegu is a convenient base to head out to yet another amazing temple – Haeinsa Temple.  There are buses everywhere in Korea, and they all run on time, all the time, and are impeccably clean.  Amazing. The road is windy and steep, and so it took an hour an a half to get there.  It was well worth ... (read more →)

The subway system in Busan is like all the others we used in Korea – fabulous.  The trains run very frequently and the stations are well organized, announced in English (and Korean, and Chinese, and Japanese) and everything is, of course, spotlessly clean.  Naturally.
Notice the arrows on the yellow strip at the edge of the ... (read more →)

From Gyeongju we traveled to Busan, a bustling port in the south of the country with plenty of US sailors everywhere – the USS Reagan had just docked, with 5,000 sailors on shore leave!  Plus there were other USS ships in port at the same time.
We had an amazing hotel room for $30 US (or 2 ... (read more →)

We stayed at the Goodmorning Haotel Motel, which was possibly the best value hotel we’ve ever gotten of all 51 countries we’ve travelled to. For $30 we got an exceptionally clean room, big tv, nice towels, bathrobes, huge shower with floor to ceiling glass windows to the main room – all the toileteries we could ... (read more →)

We stayed at Sarangchae Home Stay. We stayed in a tradiditional ondol-style room – basically this means the small room had a thin mattress on the floor, a fan, and nothing else.  Just a 30 foot walk from our room, the shared shower facility was clean, but very very small with nowhere to ... (read more →)

From the Wolseong Park we crossed the street and visited the gorgeous lotus flower ponds which are next to the Anapji Pond.  We didn’t actually make it into Anapji, we enjoyed the lotus flowers so much we stayed for quite a while.  There are a group of rectangular ponds, all filled with lotus flowers in ... (read more →)

From Tumuli Park, we crossed the road and checked out Wolseong Park, which was filled with beautiful orange flowers and more tumuli.  There’s also an observatory, which is apparently the oldest in East Asia, but to our untrained eyes seemed like a short tower…  We did, however, enjoy our stroll through the flower gardens and ... (read more →)

From the Seokguram Grotto we headed back into town and strolled through Tumuli Park.  The tumulis are grassy hills that enclose tombs built for the Shilla monarchs in the 5th century AD.  It’s a very pleasant park, with lots of trees, and some small ponds.  All the paths are clearly marked, and there’s piped in ... (read more →)

From Bulguksa Temple, we took the bus up to the Seokguram Grotto.  It’s possible to hike, but it would have been a very long 3.2 KM (2ish miles) in the 30C (90F ish) heat with incredible humidity!  Even from the parking lot there’s a bit of a walk in, but it’s through the forest and beautiful.  ... (read more →)

We arrived at the bus station in Gyeongju this morning, and immediately went to the excellent tourist info booth.  They’re all over and always seem to have at least one person who speaks English.  They were fabulously well organized and very helpful as usual.  They called and made a reservation for us and gave us ... (read more →)

Through our Lonely Planet, we discovered that a lot of the cheaper motels were categorized as Love Motels. We had heard of these, as they are prevalent in Japan where they are used by unmarried couples wanting a few hours “rest” away from their parents.  In Japan, the rooms have interesting themes like “Hello Kitty”. ... (read more →)

From Andong Folk Village we headed back to town to catch the bus out to the Hahoe Village. It’s another traditional village, but this one was a lot better. First off, it’s organized in typical Korean style. There’s an info booth right where the bus lets you off. They speak English and can provide you with a ... (read more →)

We spent today exploring Andong and the Hahoe Village. We started at the Andong Folk Village. According to our guide book it’s a group of houses that were relocated when they built a dam and flooded a alley. To us, it certainly seemed that they were still building new ones and it didn’t help that ... (read more →)

The Munhwa Motel was right in the thick of downtown, just a 5 minute walk from the bus and train stations and close to the market and pedestrian areas. The owner again didn’t speak a word of English, and we couldn’t reserve in advance, but it wasn’t a problem to show up without a ... (read more →)

We loved Korea.  We loved the people.  We loved the sights.  We loved how clean everything is.  We loved how organized everything is.  And so… we tried to like Korean food.  We really did.  And while we did enjoy the sushi from the little carts in the street, and the potato/onion pancakes, when it came to ... (read more →)

 
You’ll find Mammoth Bakery on Eumsikwigeori – the main restaurant road in downtown Andong.  We just wandered around the pedestrian area for a few minutes – it doesn’t take long to find it.  It’s signed in English (at least on the outside).  (It’s also just down the road from Lavender, a great Italian restaurant that ... (read more →)

This morning we got up and headed to Andong.  Went to the tourist info place on the way to the hotel and were instantly helped by someone in English (Koreans don’t speak English in general) and given a map, bus timetables, etc. all translated.  Very, very organized!  Found this hotel, and went for dinner at ... (read more →)

There’s a fairly big mountain that you can go up in a cable car – If it takes 7 mins and goes 10 miles an hour, how far up the mountain did we travel?  Pretty far.   Glad we didn’t have to walk.  You do get to walk a little at the top.  Of course, ... (read more →)

We didn’t have much luck finding a quick way to get from Seoraksan National Park to Andong.  Although it looked like it would have been possible to take a train, or a combination of buses going through Donghae, or Chuncheon, we were not confident this would work.
We ended up giving up and taking a local ... (read more →)

We tried to stay at the Meorujang love motel in Seroak-dong, close to Seoraksan National Park, recommended by the Lonely Planet. Well, it was supposed to be close. It ended up being a good 3 km walk. It had actually changed its name to Sorak Love Motel, or Sorak Love Resortel, but it was a ... (read more →)

Our second experience with Korean Vegetarian cuisine didn’t go much better than the first. Dimibang was more expensive (the cheapest meal was $15 US) , but the same selections of kimchi were presented to us.  Wendy couldn’t eat half of it because it was too spicy, and the spice used was the same spice in ... (read more →)

The first vegetarian restaurant we tried was the So Sim Vegetarian Restaurant on Insandong-il.  It’s right at the end of the street, close to a 7-11.  The restaurant is down the stairs from street level.  We were eating a little late, since it took us a while to find our hotel and get sorted. The ... (read more →)

We stayed at the Holiday In Korea (not to be mistaken with the Holiday Inn) in Insadong in Seoul. It  is a hostel, and offers double rooms for $43 a night.  The  location couldn’t be beat  – right in between two  important subway stops  -  Anguk and Jogno-3.  Insadong itself is a top tourist  destination, ... (read more →)

Well, it’s 6AM in California and we’re finally headed to bed here in Seoul where it’s 10pm.  We flew in earlier today, arriving around 5pm local time.  The airport is beautiful and extremely modern.  The bus service is incredibly well organized complete with flat screen tv and a voice to announce the stations in English ... (read more →)