The little things I love about Korea are:

The bus drivers wave to each other when they pass on the highway/street.

When eating a traditional Korean meal, they will not let your many plates go empty; meaning, if you run out of salad, they will immediately fill the bowl back up.

The many many side dishes to a Korean meal. In fact, there really is no "main" dish or "main" plate; rather, everyone is eating from every bowl simultaneously. I believe this enriches and encourages comraderie amongst people.

Galbi: my favorite, favorite Korean dish of all time. It consists of bbq (not American style bbq, mind you) beef on the grill inside of a restaurant. Each group of people prepares their own meat with some help from the staff. You then use chop sticks to pick up a piece of meat, dip into the most deliciously spicey sauce and place it into a piece of Romaine or this mint-like lettuce. I personally then add garlic, onion, rice, mushrooms, and whatever else suits my fancey. It is scruptuous. You don't tip here, and they are more attentitve than any waitress/waiter I've had back home in the states.

Public transportation: At times, it is a real bummer, especially if you are running late. Public transportation by definition is time-consuming, but much more affordable than having your own personal car and it forces you to be social, which I believe is a prize feature most Americans are missing out on.

Walking up stairs: I refuse to take the elevator unless it is socially awkward for me to refuse to. However, most days I climb an average of 40 flights of stairs, no exaggeration. I love taking the stairs. The very first time I took the stairs to work (8 flights), I was huffing and puffing. Now I go up 16 flights of stairs to my apartment and although I am a wee bit tired, I could keep going if I wanted to. I love this free exercise!

Last week on the bus (again) a man noticed I was the only person standing for the hour commute back to Yeongsu-dong, so he offered me his seat. I was touched by his kindness.

When random Korean children/teenagers speak to me in English. They normally just say "hello, how are you?" but they are so tickled to practice their English and speak with me, if only in the simplest forms. It is adorable!

Korean pop-singers are hilarious, especially the men. The men here are quite metro-sexual; meaning, they are very much into appearences (so much that they appear feminine at times). To see them dance and sing is quite humorous.

How cheap the taxi is: Although I am a firm advocate is walking and taking stairs whenever possible, my commute to work is long enough that I feel semi-justified in taking a taxi from the metro in Beombpae to my school. It's approximately 2 miles and only costs me $1.90. There is no way someone in the states could find a taxi that cheap.

The mountains: Seoul is surrounded by mountains. My friends and I recently hiked up one at midnight. It was a most beautiful sight from the top. It did give me a great workout.

Trees! Something so many of us take for granted. When I lived in Belgium, I called home telling my parents I missed the country, I missed green grass and trees. Although Korea is exceptionally crowded, they have planted a tree or bush in every nook and  cranny, resulting in the city being spotted with nature everywhere. I really believe one of the reasons I have not experienced culture-shock yet is because there are so many trees and flowers around. I am definitely in a HUGE city, but it doesn't neccessarily feel that way.

The way the elder woman looked at me when I gave her my seat on the metro. In Confucian teaching, the older you are, the more respect you deserve. Anyway, a woman probably in her 80s got onto the metro yesterday and I offered her my seat. I believe the entire group of people on the metro with me were shocked that the white girl offered her seat up. The lady kept telling me thank you. It was endearing!

Random oddoties:

There graves are mounds on top of the earth. They are also randomly placed. So when I'm commuting somewhere via bus I'll glance out my window and suddenly see a couple of mounds. There are rarely any gravestones, just a mound of dirt.

Things I don't like:

Men rule here. Women are still considered secondary citizens in almost every sense of the word. Seeing as I come from a country that is still aiming for equality between men and women, I sympathize with the great injustice afforded women here. They would never dream of living in a different country independently without family, friends, or a husband.

I don't like how much I stand out, but I've become accustomed to the stares.

I don't like having to stand on the bus for the hour-commute.

I don't like some of the super "fishy" food. It smells terrible.

I don't like the language barrier. Few people speak English. Most of the time, I manage just fine, but occasionally, I just want to communicate in English over a most simple matter and cannot.

Things I miss from the USA:

My family!!!!

My friends!

Understanding what I"m buying at the supermarket. (On the flip side, this is quite the fun challenge :)

Cheaper groceries.

Knowing how to get around. (Again, this is quite the fun challenge at times.)

I would love to elaborate and continue writing, but I must teach now. I hope you all are doing well. Love you!

Since my computer decided to wipe out the entire draft Ihad been working on for the last two days.....I will take a break until I am in a better mood to start all over again.  Come back later to see if my mood has improved.

Before coming here Korea was a bit of a mystery to me. I had never met a Korean in my life and, apart from Samsung and the Korean war I am embarrased to admit that I knew very little about this country. My closest encounter with Korea was a delicious (and incredibly epxensive) meal I'd had at a Korean restaurant in London about a year ago...

Seoul's motto is "Soul of Asia". Arriving here, I find it hard to believe this is something more than a wordplay (which I 've also unimaginatively attempted here). After visiting Cambodia, Korea will really have to prove itself!

I arrive at Incheon International airport - the largest and busiest airport in Asia and ranked as the best airport in the world - after doing a red eye from Bangkok and get my first taste of Seoul's impressive public transport. I hop onto the bus which is clean, fast and not expensive: around $9 from Inceon to Seoul, a distance of 50kms. On the way we are required to wear our seatbelts, which instantly reminds me that I am not in the world of cramped tuk tuks, motos and 10km bicycle rides under pouring rain anymore...

Not having the luxury of $10 rooms with AC and swimming pool anymore, I have booked a bed in a dorm of 6 at Banana Backpackers (http://www.bananabackpackers.com/). A great hostel located only 5 minutes from the popular attractions of Insadong and Changdeokgung palace. It is clean, modern, has free internet, a kitchen and the staff are friendly and speak english. It's a really popular place so booking in advance is highly recommended.

After a few hours of sleep, I set off to see the city. I arrive at a food stall which is surrounded by dozens of teenagers in their school uniforms dying to get their hands on what looks like a korean snack. This must be good I think, so I approach and wait in line for my turn. The girls giggle at the site of a tourist and one of them orders a cup of spicy tteokbokki for me. It tastes good and makes me happy that I'm already sharing food with the locals. My first encounter with Koreans is trully representative of their behaviour towards foreigners. As a country which is skipped from most Asian itineraries, the sight of a tourist still causes fascination among the locals, even in Seoul. However, Koreans are very unique in their behaviour: they are very shy when it comes to speaking English, even if their writing skills and reading comprehension are at a high level. Once you make the first step though they will great you with a big smile and try their best to help you, even if that means not uttering a single word in English. There were times when I felt I was causing stress to them so I resorted to gestures instead. This came naturally to me being Greek and all and was also pretty useful in a lot of cases.

My favourite place in Seoul was Namdaemun market. It has loads of stuff to buy, from travelling equipment to urban clothing and food. I walked around until my feet were aching and managed to bargain for a couple of tshirts. Having spent a few months in SE Asia really came handy in this case...

The feelings after a couple of days in Seoul are mixed. Landing at one of the world's biggest cities after spending a month in Cambodia is difficult to cope with and it takes me time to adjust to the "modern" world. Seoul is not a pretty place, there are nice spots such as the markets and the secret garden in Changdeokgung palace is trully beautiful, but it is a city full of ugly blocks which were definitely not built to please the eye. After being in a place where you greet people on the street while zooming past on your bike, I now have to deal with blank stares on the subway. Time to head to the smaller towns again, so I ask the girl at the hostel where to go.

She recommends Gyeongju.

"Heaven" for me was miles away from the Iowa cornfield in the movie, "Field of Dreams".

Believe me, I've seen more than my share of "homes away from home" but nothing could rival our temporary resting place called, The Sofitel Ambassador......well, perhaps that dream palace we occupied in Killarney, Ireland......but it's a close second.

The uniformed doormen greeted us as we arrived and whisked our bags away before we had a chance to say........don't leave our luggage unattended...............  We stopped by the check-in desk and gave our names........  "Oh, the Mobberlys!  You will check-in with the concierge on floor 16, the Luxury Room Club Level" 

 Since they seemed so proud when announcing this, we figured, well, it can't be that bad.   We were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by another lovely young lady in an immaculately tailored uniform who proceeded to acquaint us with the amenities available to us during our stay.......complimentary, hot buffet breakfast each morning; complimentary Happy Hour with a hot and cold buffet; both of these to be served on our private floor, available only by special key in the elevator.....hmmmm, not bad so far.....complimentary internet service in each room with loaner laptops if needed; complimentary shoe shine service; bathrobes; bedroom slippers; mini bar and a copy/fax machine in our room next to the desk.  To finish off this fairy tale, a china platter containing cookies and sweets were waiting for us on the coffee table. But the pièce de résistance, as I soon discovered, had to be the electronic loo. It was very similar to a bidet, but not quite the proper shape in which to wash one's feet or ice down champagne bottles.

I was already taking pictures of the city from our  window, when Mark came excitedly out of the bathroom exclaiming, "Come here! You've got to see this!"

I popped my head around the door into the bathroom and saw what I would soon decide was the greatest invention in the history of indoor plumbing.  Attached to what looked like a regular toilet was an electronic control panel, which indicated, in English, the area on one’s behind where a variety of water sprays could be directed.  It may be a bit indelicate to discuss an otherwise private exercise but it was rather exciting to discover that one could choose between light spray, pulsating spray or direct stream of water in either light or strong pressure. I guess the most interesting part of the entire procedure was the jet of air that completed the deal.  The only down side I could see about this would be the longer time involved to complete the task due to this “drying cycle”.  I’ve asked Mark to look into obtaining one of these for our own WC!

Due to the fourteen hour time difference between Dallas and Seoul, we naturally fell asleep early and awoke early, for me, this would be about 0115 am on Monday morning.  I left it until about 0330 before I started tossing and turning enough to make sure that Mark was awake as well.  Since we both were now awake we decided that a cup of coffee was in order and we could start making plans for our first full day in Seoul. 

We decided to search out the Nandaemun Market, which is the oldest open air market in Seoul.  But since it was still a bit early and the breakfast buffet was now available, we went down to check it out.

The mouthwatering spread containing numerous hot and cold selections as well as pastries, hot bevridges and freshly squeezed juices, tempted us to overeat but we restrained ourselves since a long walk through the market awaited us.

Shortly after 0900, we headed downstairs to wait for the 0930 shuttle to the market. We stopped by the hotel deli for a hot drink while we waited. Mark nearly choked when he paid for our two coffees, saying under his breath, “You don’t want to know.”  Of course I DID want to know and was astounded to hear that we’d paid $9.00 for each one!  I guess if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it!

Our visit to the Namdaemun Market was an indescribable  experience.  This is the oldest of many open markets within the city.  We lost our way in a warren of stalls and back alleys that twisted and turned for miles throughout the downtown area.  Although most of the merchandise for sale consisted of modern day knickknacks, household wares and clothing, one could still find the odd stall selling traditional Korean food or souvenirs. Buyers moved through the narrow streets dodging the numerous motorcyclists who transported any type of merchandise that they could fit on the back of their bike.

Since our Korean map reading skills were a bit rusty, we opted to catch a cab to the next stop on our itinerary, the Yongsan Electronics Market..  This area of town, specializing in anything electronic, was a haven for the young, twenty something techno geeks who thronged the shops filled with anything from cell phones to laptops. 

Our feet gave out before the shops did so we hailed the nearest taxi, arriving back at the hotel in time to wind down at the evening Happy Hour.  Ah….it’s a tough life but somebody has to do it……at least for two more days! 

prison break marathon so late start, dongdaemun to jongro walking.. street photography.. chongyechan (?? stream).. sundae bokkum and tuigim.. down to terminal, dunkin donuts... home.. beautiful scenery on bus

walking around gangnam/gyodae, to sinchon for pizza dakgalbi, hongdae.. back to sinchon (huangshi).. nowon... cheap jeans, water and beer

Well-known amongst Korean drama fans, the Coffee Prince cafe is the film venue of the popular Korean trendy drama of the same name - The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (http://wiki.d-addicts.com/The_1st_Shop_of_Coffee_Prince). Located in the Hongdae area of Seoul where 3 major Korean universities are located and where Seoul's nightlife is centered, this coffee shop is easily overlooked from the street. They offer different types of coffee and smoothies. Small snacks are also available. Inside, the walls still has some memorabilias from the drama. The cafe also has outdoor seating area - wonderful during the warmer weather. This cafe has become a tourist destination by Korean drama fans. Unfortunately, unlike the drama where the barristas are ALL cute Korean guys - thus the name "Coffee Prince" as the barristas were named "princes", this cafe has only female ones. I was disappoined. ;) According to my friend who had their cappuccino($10) - it was delicious and "almost like the cappuccinos in Italy"! I had to say the same from my kiwi smoothie($6) as well. It's a bit pricey I think but it seems to be the norm price when it comes to coffee in Korea. It's easy to get lost trying to find this cafe, so here's the direction. HOW TO GET THERE: Take Subway Line 2 to Hongik University, take Exit 4 -> turn right on Seven Springs corner -> walk 2 blocks -> at the end of the street, turn left -> turn right on the first right - > walk until you almost reach the end of the street where the street goes slightly uphill (about 500 meters) -> find the coffee shop on the right side

Last weekend Makeeya called me and requested my company at a tennis match near her dong in Olympic Park. How could I decline such a noble invitation? I brought my sunscreen, shades, and water and hopped on the metro for a 65 minutre ride from my dong to Olymic Park.

We ate breakfast there. Makeeya had an American breakfast of French fries and I had a Japanese breakfast of oodon and hot dog on a stick. Both are very traditional in their respective countries.

The 1st match was between the Korean M. Yuan and the British M. South. At first Miss South wasn't doing too well. This being Korea and her opponent being Kroean, she had no supporters. So, I took it upon myself to become her one-girl fan club. I repectfully cheered for her. (I not sure how to cheer at a tennis match. I think you have to be quiet most of the time...) After I started cheering for you, whether she heard me or not, she began to win. I think that she and Great Britain own me a debt of gratitude.

Afterwards we met up with Taryn and explore Makeeya's dong. There are some really weird restaurants there. We went to one place call CanMore, where they serve desserts. You sit on swings and can write on the walls. I would put some pictures of it up, buy I forgot my camera that day and I'm waiting for Taryn to e-mail me hers.

Today is my 100th day of travelling.

While sitting at Suvarnabhumi airport waiting for my flight to Korea I am reflecting on my travels up to date.

I realise that it's all about the people you meet.

We hung out with Holly in her dong. It's a great place for shopping.

But first we went near Taryn's dong for some expensive Indian food. ( I Love Curry!)

I guess I did do some face stuffing for Chu-suk...

We saw a great funky lights and music drum show. In the middle of the show the lady starts asking the audience some questions. I guess she didn't want us to feel left out so she said something about "Way-guk" to the audience and then asked us, "Do you know what is dream-do?" Taryn, so exited to hear some English, nodded her head. This made the woman feel good, so she started the performance again. (dream-do???)

We walked around Dongdaemun after the show. We found some great deals and wonderful underwear to read. We found some great “Rice & Beans” caps and had to buy them.

I love rice and I love beans and I love rice and beans. Now everyone will know.

We took a little stroll down Chonggyechoen. There were games, music, couples, and a guy sleeping by a giant shell thing. (I love finding random people sleeping in unusual outdoor places. Have you seen my photos from Vietnam?)  

It seems to me that Chonggyecheon is where old folks go to do some kanoodleing... at least during Chosuk.

Afterwards we went to Gyeongbuk palace. We walked around, took pictures, saw a man on a tight rope.

Let me talk about the tease on the tight rope. This pseudo-acrobat carefully pranced on the rope, not really venturing far from the stands on the pole. As he tip-toed away from the stand he looked like he would do a flip or something. BUT HE NEVER DID!! He was talking to the audience. I don’t know what he said, but I think it was something like, “I bet you think I’m going to do something amazing, but ha ha ha I’m just going to make you stand there and waste your time.”  

We were still pretty tired from the hike the day before, so we went home early.

I know. I’m lame. But I needed a nap.

(On my first day of Chusuk I met Makeeya in Gangnam for Mexican food. But I forgot to take any pictures, so I will leave it out.)

I work for SMOE so I got 2 extra days for Chosuk this year. I decided, before I came back to Korea, that I would climb every mountain in Korea before I leave and I am going to drag as many friends along with me as possible. (I might not have many friends left by the end of the year.)

I started by asking as many people as possible to join me on a hike up Dobongsan. Many people, like a certain blond curly-haired brit, flat out refused. I lied and said it was a very easy hike that would last 2 hours max. That worked on some. I also made a promise that I could not keep in a pancake feast at my place after the hike. That got them! (Unfortunately, I could not find any pancake syrup at the e-mart near my house, so we had fried chicken instead.)

I got 5 other people to come along. It was fun... really. Ignore all the expressions of anger and pain they have on their faces in the pictures. They all had a damn good time!

Land around 8:30 and a taxi tout comes up to me.  Don’t know if they’re legal here, but I always go to the rank, which I attempt to do.  Don’t know how it works here, usually you catch the taxi at the front, but drivers who aren’t at the front come up to me.  I say I want to go to Seoul.  There’s a lot of giggling from the drivers.  What hotel?  I think that’s the limit of their English.  I say I don’t know but it’s in Seoul and I’ll check in a minute.  I realize that they probably don’t understand my answer, but it really doesn’t matter until I get in the cab.  I answer the same question the same way five times while we’re walking to one driver’s cab and I’m getting annoyed.  When I get in the cab I ask the guy does he have a meter, as I can’t see one.  No reply.  What is the cost to go to the Hotel Sofitel Ambassador.  With these two questions he realizes that I’m a wise up to him and suddenly gets out and removes my case from the boot.  You have to be so careful with taxi drivers everywhere; they really can be villains.

I get into a taxi that has a meter.  The trip from airport to Hotel Sofitel Ambassador (AUD226 pn, booked by travel agent in Oz) takes over an hour and is around 75,000WON, AUD82.  Driving in from the airport the sky is totally overcast and grey and the smog is evident too.  Arrive around 10 at the hotel. 

I go to my room and decide that even though I’ve only had about 4 hours sleep, I’m not really tired and will go out for a walk.  Yes, another of my famous walks where I get lost.  I have four maps, one shows far too much, one far too little.  One has the Sofitel Ambassador marked, but when I walk in the direction that I think leads to a clothing/shopping area, the road doesn’t bend in the right direction.  Nothing seems to make sense. 

So I decide to ignore the maps and go where I think I will find some activity.  First I find an area with hundreds, well probably thousands, of motorbikes.  Then I hit the jackpot, yes I’m at the clothing centre of South Korea, Dongdaemun Market, 27,000 shops/stalls.  But I’m disappointed as most of the shops sell very junky clothes, jewellery and shoes.  I walk around for a long time and then look for somewhere to eat, where I can get a glass of wine.  No luck whatsoever.  Catch a taxi back to the hotel and have a steak sandwich in the deli (rather upmarket deli).

I’ve talked to the reception staff about doing a tour and go over to talk to them again.  I noticed that there was a sign outside the hotel about soft beds and tell them that my bed is hard.  Turns out that they’re in the process of changing over to softer beds.  Obviously I’m not the only person who doesn’t like hard beds.  The manager offers me an upgrade to a room with a softer bed.  I go with him to the 15th “luxury” floor.  To be honest, the bed doesn’t seem any softer, but I take the offer.

I tell him my theories on hotels charging for wifi and how it’s very old fashioned and they lose restaurant business as a result.  I tell him how in Helsinki the Hilton charged for wifi, but there was free wifi in the town.  The manager doesn’t think there’s free wifi in Seoul.  I’ll bet there is!  (The next day I find free wifi less than 50 metres from the hotel).

Have a reasonably early night; 9 pm ish.

Land in Seoul on Philippine Airlines 468, leaving 2:25 pm, arriving 7:15 pm.

Wake up with alarm at 8 but decide to go back to sleep.  Eventually wake up around 2 pm.  About 4 pm I go downstairs and have a glass of wine and an Australian beefsteak sandwich.  Catch the tour bus which does a 2 hour circle of the city.  A bit disappointing as it doesn’t really give much information, well not as much as I would have liked.  I decide to stay on the bus for a while longer and after doing a circuit I get off near Changgyeonggung Palace, in an area with lots of little restaurants/stalls and shops.  Buy a pair of earrings for the princely sum of 1,000WON, AUD1.1.  Don’t find anything that appeals for eating.  Would like a glass of wine, but very hard to buy here.  Moreover a lot of the food at street stalls is fried eg there is something that looks like a whole lot of chips fried all together on a stick.

Some places close quite early eg 9 pm, so no food at all there.  Walk a long way again, then catch a cab to the hotel, less than 5,000WON, AUD5.50.  Taxis are cheap here.

Have room service, a lobster salad (very small) 19,000WON, AUD20.9 and fruit salad 10,000, AUD11 and wine 9,000WON, AUD9.90 a glass.  Everything is plus 10% tax.  I must say that I vastly prefer the Oz version where you know the cost up front.  Some countries are ridiculous the way they add the tax on afterwards; you have to be a mathematician.

Can’t find any tennis on tv but there’s Tyra Banks and other mind blowing trivia to enjoy.  Get to sleep around 1 am.

Trivia:  I changed rooms today because I had made a comment that the bed was very hard and was offered another room.  Apparently the hotel is in the process of getting new, softer beds as the tourists don't like the more traditional, harder beds.