The Spa in Korea

Yes, we are taking a shower and I am taking pictures. woo-hoo!

What is this? Oh ya, we're taking a shower in a cafe. A foot shower ;) but still in a cafe...you know, the kind you eat in.

My reaction to getting the spa treatment. Why yes, aren't spa treaments normally grand? For me they are...

Look closely, very closely.

These little fishes tickled SO much--
what a weird sensation that was!

We got about 15 mins of tickling sensation.

And this is our after spa treat.
We really had no idea what we were ordering but ended up liking it.

Who ever thought of a 2-in-1 Book Cafe and Foot Spa?
Well, we're fans whoever they were!

Korean Video Games

Rick and I finally got to go to a big movie theater in Korea. Not that movies are the best thing to do with in another country but it's so interesting experiencing a foreign movie theater. First off, you don't just wait in line to buy your ticket, you take a number and then wait. Next, after buying your ticket you are assigned your seats. They show you a chart with what's available so you can pick from what's left. That possibly makes sneaking in and out of the theaters harder (you know who you are!). The arcade in the theater amused us for hours and we found some of the video games very interesting. Take the example below:

I don't exactly know what is going on here. I guess it's a race to see who can take their mask off the fastest...

How many people can you cram into the subway?

Now what this is, I am very concerned, but have an idea... Is it like how many times can I get slapped on the butt? Rememeber my posting about things NOT to do on the subway? They broke that rule!

Chop-suey! Make kimchee fast fast fast!

Hi-ya!

No, I swear, it really is a video game, I'm not making it up.

This post has been in my draft box forever. Just trying to make it perfect, ya know? So you might see old posts every once in a while. opps

Osan Market

A couple weeks ago we went down to Osan. Osan is where one of the Air Force bases in Korea is. Going there is soooo different than Army posts. Air Force bases are totally clean and nice, and their hotel is only $28 compared to ours here that is over $75! Air Force people get it good. We stopped in at the market on the way:

Can you tell how HUGE these green onions are? They were about 2 feet long and super thick.

Fish? Anyone? Anyone? You see fish just about everywhere in Korea--even for sale in the subway.

Rick was saying this was sort-of like a deli, where you could get potato salad, pasta salad or other deli food. Except this is a Korean style deli.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

Melon of Water

Nothing like some good watermelon in the summertime. Watermelons can run about $18 at regular stores here in Korea. I got this puppy for $5 or $6 (I can't remember now) at 5 Day Market. It had it's own burlap-ish carrying contraption so I was eager to lug it home--big mistake. The walk home had to be about 2 miles, if not more and it was hot and humid that day like crazy. When I finally got home I was so proud of myself and I wanted Rick to cut open the melon and enjoy my devotion to summertime treats. It didn't happen that way, instead, I think it sat on the counter for a day or two until I tried to cut it myself (that didn't work) so I had to threaten Rick to cut it or else... Once it was cut it was oh, so delicious!

KORAIL

I cannot pass up posting about our mode of transportation throughout Korea!



Dear KORAIL Subway System,

You have been so good to us. We can get where we need to go because of you. Not only are you clean and on time but you are inexpensive too! I am so glad you visit us all the way up in Dongducheon, and even go to Soyosan Mountain where we still want to go. You are very popular and have many visitors daily. I am glad I can put my things up above on the racks and never think that they might get stolen. I also appreciate that you are so easy for sellers to walk up and down the aisle trying to sell me stuff I never knew existed. Yes, I did buy 3 pairs of sport sleeves even though I'd never worn the first pair I bought a month ago. I bought a gloucosomine patch even though I couldn't understand all the benefits associated with it. And yes, I bought the cucumber slicer. This little gadget slices cucumbers so thin you can practically see through them. It was very amusing when the salesperson put them all over their face. A few minutes later another salesperson came through slicing cucumbers but this time proceeded to put the slices on other people's faces. Oh that was a good one! I also bought fans that turn into sun hats and some regular old fans but way cheaper than in the market. Shopping while traveling on your efficient train always brightens up my day!

Oh, Korea Subway, you are too good to us. You are speedy and reliable and you keep growing!

May you always remain wonderful,

me

Rick checking out the map

A door that leads to the other cars on the train, choo-choo!

See, nice and clean

People actually care about the elderly here, these seats are set aside for them and they are red as opposed to the normal blue seats. Thing is, men have priority in Korea. Sometimes I'll see a woman give up her seat to a man even if they are about the same age, no thank you.

Symbols of Our City

Don't worry if you were worried the pigeon would get left behind all the other birds and never have a city to represent. The pigeon is, in fact, the symbolic bird of Dongducheon. We even have a couple cartoon characters to boot, which we see on the sides of buildings and on the street divider. Bet you wish the pigeon was your city's bird!

Boots

Do these look cute or what? I tried to get them custom made and it turned out horrible. Loooong sad story but basically I got a recommendation from a girl with really cute custom made boots. So I put in my order after many months of waiting. When I went to pick it up, they looked vaguely like the boots in the picture. They sort of looked like farmer's goulashes when I tried them on... I could give more details but it's just way too depressing.

Have you ever anticipated something that turned out so opposite you could have cried?

Interesting Name

That's an interesting name. That isn't the only store name that's made us do a double take. In fact, we found a store that had the F*bomb in the store name for everyone to read and see. I mean, how do they answer the phone? "{Bad word} lovely, how can I help you?" Rick made me stand in front of the store for a picture but I'll have to white out the bad word because this is a G-rated blog.

Does this make our blog PG now?

Nanta

A few weeks ago we attended a performance of Nanta


We had a fun time. Nanta is a rhythmical theater show about cooking. When it tours outside of Korea the show is called Cookin'. It was fun to do a "night thing" because in Seoul we usually just do tourist stuff during the day. But I think my favorite part about it was the dinner beforehand. I think we had the best bulgogi yet! Seriously, if I would have known how good bulgogi was, I would have tried it more often. The thing about eating out at Korean restaurants is you usually sit on the floor. Sitting on the floor is okay for a short time but not for too long. Also, the places we've been are buffet style, so you have to get up and get your own stuff and then cook it over the fire in front of you at your table. This is okay for starters but honestly, if I go out to a restaurant, I don't want to have to worry about cooking my own food. Anyway, at this place we ate before the show, since we were on a tour with other people, the other lady at our table cooked the food at our real-live table; long legs and everything. Plus, the food was so delicious! The only sad thing is, our pleasant experience was over so quickly. We were sitting there, enjoying our meal, when, without any notice, we we told by our tour guide that we had to leave. No notice, nothing. So here Rick and I are trying to finish our last bites and get some water before our tour left us! And the other sad thing was, we showed up to the performance like 45 minutes early. Have no fear, we snuck some of our favorite Macadamia nut chocolates into the show only to find out later I got some chocolate on Rick's new fancy shirt. Luckily it came out and doesn't he look so good in it pictured above?

After the show we were on the bus back to our starting point. Suddenly the bus makes the wide U-turn in the middle of the street. Some U-turns in Korea require buses to do that (I'm not sure about it--they've got different U-turn laws) but this was weird-ER. Anyway, we look in the distance to see a ton of beef protesters with their candles in the middle of the street. Later that night we saw more protesters before finding our way to Namdaemun. There we found a few bargains before calling it a night. All in all we had a great time!

4th of July 2008, Korea

This 4th of July was really a great one--we both really enjoyed ourselves and were able to celebrate the day while remembering our country. Being on an Army Post often has it's advantages. The entire day was filled with a schedule of things going on here on post. We slept in a little too much so we missed some things in the morning but once we got moving, we had a blast. Never thought I'd be able to climb up into one of these:

The soldiers telling us about their vehicle, I forget the technical name of it, were so nice and helpful. I noticed they all had battle patches on their uniform signifying that they've been to war. I should have spoken up and said thank you for their service but didn't. Can I tell you the area where Rick is is tight and tiny! I feel like I barely squeezed in there and felt a bit claustrophobic (trying spelling that when blogger doesn't have a spell checker! Where'd it go???) It also does NOT smell good in those things. Not like it should smell good but I mean it just smells bad. If you look right where Rick's chin is, you can see the lens they see through. It's called paradiam lenses or something because the driver actually sits lower in the seat but his lenses see above for him. That way if they're getting attacked he doesn't have to worry about his eyes! I know I'm not explaining it great but it was fascinating to learn about.

Inside the tank.

Vroom vroom. Was I on M*A*S*H or what?

We got to meet Chuck Norris. I guess all the guys get to name their tanks. Behind us was Aphrodisiac! (Thank goodness firefox has spell check!!!)

We got to ride in these go-carts. How cool--they set these up for the 4th of July and they'll be here on the weekends throughout the summer.

We got to see "cheerleaders" perform

And another group, The Maxx performed. Rick said it should have been the Maxxx, with triple x's because it was uh, extremely provocative. And even though they most thrusted and gyrated, we stayed because I like dance and this was...sort of dance.

This was so cool and the highlight of the night. I think it was called "A Salute to the Nation". Each state was presented according to the date it joined the Union or United States. A soldier marched a flag to the stage and then a barrel salute was made. The soldiers were totally on task and it was fun to see them in action. Sometimes a barrel misfired and so the guy next in line promptly gave the signal for his firer to go!

It was so cool and so loud!

This video does not do the loud bang justice--it was super loud!

After that we watched the fireworks, which we were pretty impressed with. I wonder if the Koreans in town were wondering what was going on or if they are used to it by now. At any rate, we had a wonderful day!

I upload pictures but then they disappear...what is up, does this happened to you?

Have you thanked a soldier for their service and sacrifice?

Do you have a 4th of July tradition?
Are you going to answer these questions in a comment form or are you going to 'read and run'?

Piryong/Biryong* Waterfall

For all you visual people out there, this is a picture of the waterfall that Rick decided to scale (previous post explains more).  He started on the right side of the waterfall (left if you're looking at it).  He climbed up a little on the side of the hill before starting to climb on the rock part.  I wonder what he might try and do next...

*Koreans use their Ps and Bs interchangably, their Ks and Gs, and their Ts and Ds.

Seoraksan Part II

Seoraksan Part I Continued...

This is a very important photo because it is proof that Rick likes to take challenges and almost fall, hit his head, and die in front of his English speaking wife in a Korean speaking National Park.  On our way up to the cave at the top of ALL the stairs we passed by this rock formation.  Rick thought it would be cool to stand between the two "kissing rocks" (that's the name I made up, not Rick).  He must have been thinking about it our whole journey up the mountain because he was ready to tackle it when we came back down.  Unfortunately the picture does not do it justice.  These were two large boulders that were touching eachother.  In the picture it looks like there is another rock behind that he could stand on but that rock was unreachable--it's just the way the picture looks with the sun hitting it.  Here is a collage of Rick climbing on to the rocks:

It was quite challenging for him to get up between the rocks.  I told him to abort abort because if he would have slipped and needed help I knew I'd be fairly helpless.  Lucikly all went well, mission accomplished, boy happy but boy said he shouldn't have attempted mission in the first place.  Remember this story, it comes in handy the next day.

The next day,

We went on one of these

There's Budda, way down there

.

We hiked up that.  One lady hiked in her bare feet!  It was an intense hike in your shoes, can't imagine it without shoes.

At the top

You could see everywhere!

Out to the ocean

I was a little nervous about all the chipmunks

We kept finding rock creations throughout the park

Ahhh, the picture with the story:

Rick decided he really did want a distressed wife who couldn't speak Korean try and save her husband who is almost double her size in the middle of nowhere.  This picture is actually not the exact waterfall that Rick decided to scale!  We didn't take a picture of that because he had the camera in the hopes of getting pictures from the top.  We hiked all that we could (aka all that a normal person could) because the trail ended at a waterfall.  Rick was convinced he'd read in the guide book that there was a "an unfrequented trail leads from this pool around the left side of the falls and up to the end of this narrowing valley to Towangseong Waterfall...it's one of the most enticing in the park".  He was set on getting to this other waterfall.  It's a shame we don't have any pictures because it is obvious that there is no trail to the left of the waterfall from where we were sitting, almost getting attacked by chipmunks but that's a different story. 

Rick decides to go up the side of the mountain.  I stay put.  There is no trail that I can see and I am fine with that.  He seriously is climbing up the side of a mountain with no trail and tons of brush.  He aborts that plan but decides to scale up the side of the waterfall.  At first I am thinking he will try it and then come back down after he sees it is not smart and extremely risky.  Nope.  He keeps going.  I am getting nervous.  We've hiked quite a ways since seeing someone and I have no first aid kit and I doubt I will be able to move him after he's fallen.  Later he tells me the climb was okay in the beginning but then his hand hold was getting slippery from the wet moss the waterfall created.  He is also in some sprawled out positions trying to get up the side of the waterfall.  It's gotten to the point for him where it's risky to go up but going down would be harder.  He yells to me.  I can't hear him over the noise from the waterfall.  Suddenly, a Korean hiker appears from above.  She is decked out in hiking gear and appears to have a rope.  *Hence, the last post of us joking that the Koreans took their hiking gear a little seriously.  We're not joking anymore*  She crosses the waterfall and is now on the same side as Rick but on the landing above.  Others appear up top on the opposite side, but they stay put.  It is up to the woman to save Rick. 

She begins to throw down the rope and I am thinking, there is no way she is going to be able to pull him up or lower him down.  But then she ties it to a ring shaped anchor in the side of the rock.  He grabs a hold and climbs up the side of the waterfall.  Meanwhile, the men are just looking on.  Rick is saved by the Koreans, well the Korean woman, with all the gear.  We now have a vow in our family never to make fun of Koreans with their outfits and gear.  They are hardcore.  Everyone motions to me to go back and I have no idea when or how I am going to see my husband again.  I hesitate but go back to where we came from hoping to meet up with Rick again back by the entrance gates or somewhere by the bus when I hear people coming down the mountain.  The trail was to the left of the waterfall but 100 yards or so to the left!  Here comes Rick down that trail all in one piece, just the way I like him.  Turns out the really beautiful waterfall he was trying to get to would have been half a day's journey away--it was really far away. 

Lesson not learned day one.  Hopefully lesson learned day two.  I like my husband in one piece.