Memorial Day in Korea,
June 6, the teachers again have a day-off.
We originally planned to do another hike but we decided to take
it easy for now while we recuperate.
From Samseung Station of Seoul Line 2, we walked inside the
Coex Mall to an herd of fashionable Koreans. There was quite
a difference in fashion here compared to other parts of the
city. People here seemed to be well dressed and very stylish,
including foreigners. Speaking of foreigners, there're more
of them in Seoul compared to Incheon so playing the "punch
buggy, no punch backs" when you spot a foreigner here will
get you beaten-up.
We went to Coex Aquarium
in Seoul and we almost had a heart attack from the price...
so much for "trying to recuperate". Well, we travelled
for over an hour to this place so after a little bit of hesitation
(and bruises), we just decided to go in. |
|
  June
10-11. I haven't mentioned that I
have very nice and special Korean friends. We have been meeting
for dinner and they've been very kind in helping us experience
Korean tradition and different kinds of Korean delicacies (excluding
the crabs on the second photo).
For this weekend, we went for a trip to Anmyeondo.
This "island" is on the southern tip of the Tae-an
Seashore National Park.
The weather sucked the whole Saturday. We got caught in a crazy
thunderstorm. We kept hoping that it would be better when we
get to the beach but we had no luck there |
either. We had a break
from the rain for a few minutes at the beach... enough to catch
little crabs for the kids to play with and enough time for us
to walk to a tent restaurant for cover. It was 12:30 in the
afternoon but it got so dark outside, it felt like dooms day
had finally arrived.
The next day was very nice. We spent a lot of time on the beach...
caught more crabs and had a small picnic.
On our way home we stopped at a local fish market for another
raw fish experience. This time we had our friend Simon to guide
(and extremely motivate) us in eating some live sea creatures.
I had this experience with Simon already back in Incheon. We
had some live octopus. I tell you, he had to work really hard
to make me eat it. It didn't look alive on the plate so I said
"oh, it's not that bad". But when I started poking
it with my chopstick, it started squirming. I had to wait for
a bit for it to die before I could start eating. While waiting,
I had to spent some quality time staring at my plate...with
one hand on my soju, and the other with my other soju. I tried
to buy my way out of it but it didn't work. The octopussy was
good by the way.
Anywho, our trip left us with good memories and good friendship.
Hail to the power of Kimchi! I devour thee... I devour thee. |
|
The day after, I went
for a solo hike to Mt. Manwolsan.
A miniature rocky mountain of Incheon.
Still, I was thirsty for more. On June 15,
I again went for another solo hike. I picked a traverse from
Mt. Geomasan to Mt.
Soraesan. These mountains are all around Incheon
Grand Park. It's a good 4hr hike on a short day. |
|
| On Sunday June
18, we left early for a whole-day trip to Seoul. We
consider Seoul as a big trip because it takes a minimum of 1hr
to get there from our place, and it's a tiring subway ride. |
  Our
first stop was a hike to Mt.
Inwangsan. Then our next plan was to descend the other side
of Mt. Inwangsan for another hike to Mt. Bugaksan. Unfortunately,
I failed to keep my bearing and we lost a lot of time walking
the wrong way. We decided to skip the ascent and we went on
to our next plan. We walked down the road to the Blue House
(Cheong Wa Dae). This house is the presidents home. It explains
why the mountains and roads around it were packed with guards.
Reservation of 2 weeks in advance is needed to visit the Blue
House so we didn't get to see the inside. There |
seemed to be a lot of tourists waiting in line to go in
that day. There were a lot of tour
buses and people
outside the perimeter... enough to lose a child. This tricycle
pulled over
beside us to deliver a lost child to a
parent. The parent was probably happy to see the bike
too
so he took advantage of the kindness of the cop and rode the
bike for a photograph.
Another man got jealous so
he also rode the bike. And another. Damn I should've ridden
it
too. There were also cops in full neon spandex
gear on their rollerblades. I sure would like
to see
them carry a lost child... or a pleased parent on piggy back.
Hiyaah!!!
Gyeongbokgung
Palace was next on the list. It was quite a walk to get
to the front
entrance of the palace from the Blue
House. We entered through the east-gate to save us
from
more walking. After a long observation around the palace, we
went to the National
Folk Museum. This museum is inside the palace and
it's included with the entrance fee. |
Also in the area is
a small Folk Village.
To finish-up this trip, we left the palace and walked through
Insadong Market. We then hit Jonggak Station of Seoul Line 1
and went home. |
|
  June
25, another Sunday, another day away from busy streets
of Incheon. We made a short trip to Yongyudo
Island. I don't understand why Yongyudo has a separate island
name because it's very much intact with Yeongjongdo. Anywho,
we spent a full hot day on Eulwang and Wangsan Beaches. |
| |
2006
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