안녕 Until Next Time (4)

This is my last post about my adventures in Korea! I'm pleased with myself for sticking with it! I've been trying to be better about keeping this blog updated. With school starting soon, we'll see how well that goes ;)

Day 10

We had the opportunity to visit the temple during our visit! You can't tell from the pictures, but it is in the middle of the city! After our cab ride we were walking down the street surrounded by buildings, then suddenly we turned a corner and walked up a hill and it was there! It was beautiful! My friend Saeyoung had arrived back in Korea earlier in the week (after getting engaged! yay!) so we were able to attend together!  

I was grateful that Saeyoung and I had time to do a session inside. Before we went I had had some things on my mind that were troubling me, but after we finished I felt much calmer. It is a blessing to be able to go to a place where you can forget about the cares of the world and take time to focus on what is really important in life. 

 

Yet another small world story! Saeyoung and I were waiting in the foyer after our session was done when suddenly she recognized one of the temple workers as the father of our friends from BYU-H! I worked with his daughter Amelie and his son Jun at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Saeyoung started talking to him and introduced me. We talked for a bit and I told him I knew his children. Saeyeon and Kristen came inside to meet us and then Brother Hwang offered to take us to lunch! 

We went to the mall and ate bibimbap! It was delicious! It is one of my favorite Korean foods. The word means "mixed rice" and it is usually served in a thick bowl like the ones in the photo. We also got lots of yummy side dishes :) I am so grateful for Brother Hwang's kindness. It was nice to talk with him and get to know him better. 

 

Before he left to go back to the temple, he also treated us to bingsu! (Korean ice cream) We said goodbye and then left for the subway. There, we parted with Saeyoung as well. I'm so glad we were able to spend some time with her :)

Saeyeon, Kristen, and I took the subway and headed to Lotte World! It is one of the biggest amusement parks of Korea! They were having a deal if you used your student ID so we got our tickets for a great price! 

It is a really cool park! Half of it is outdoors and half of it is indoors. We started with the outside rides so we could enjoy them before it got dark.

They had lots of cute headbands and ears to wear just like at Disney :)

This was on Saeyeon's favorite ride! It was dark and fast like Space Mountain so I loved it!

This is what the inside looked like! I took this from the hot air balloon ride. 

We had so much fun! The rides were great! We kept finding new ones as we explored the different floors and since the lines were short we went through some of them twice!

We finished off the day by getting Krispy Kreme! 

  

In Korea the glazed donuts come in sweet and hot. I wasn't brave enough to see what the hot ones tasted like haha but the sweet ones were delicious!

Day 11

This is the day we (almost) went to North Korea

We didn't know if we would have time to visit the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) during our visit, but Saeyeon's parents wanted to go too so they were kind enough to drive us up! When we arrived we were hungry so we looked for the food court. Do you know what we found? A Popeye's! I did not expect to see that at the DMZ! 

 

These pictures show the tracks that that were used by the last train to visit North Korea.

Family photo! Aren't they the cutest?

This is the Third Tunnel of Aggression. I got this picture off Google since we weren't allowed to use our cameras. It is one of four known tunnels under the border between North and South Korea. When it was discovered, the North Koreans denied building the tunnel and said it was part of a coal mine. However, geologically it is unlikely that any coal is in that area because the rocks are igneous and coal comes from areas with sedimentary rock. The South Koreans have taken control of the tunnel and now it is visited by tourists. We took the train underground. (There is also a ramp you can walk if you are claustrophobic) We traveled 240ft down until we reached the main tunnel. It is very small and even I at 5'3" had to bend over so I wouldn't hit my head. It was very surreal to be down there. 

Our bus tour took us to a lookout where we could see North Korea. I never thought it would be something I saw with my own eyes. You can't see it in this picture, but to the right off into the distance is a town. I even found a North Korean flag waving out there! 

It was interesting to tour around and learn more about Korean history. I'm grateful we had this experience! 

 

Kristen and I on the tour bus! We freaked out a bit when a soilder came on board and asked to see everyone's passports. Thankfully Saeyeon had taught us to carry ours with us wherever we went :) Other than that it was a fascinating experience. I am glad we were able to visit. On the way home we got some ice cream and even found Dippin Dots!

Day 12

 

This was one of my most favorite days because we got to meet Baby Jun! He is Saeyeon's cousin's son. I had only seen him in instagram photos so I was happy to finally meet the little cutie :) Saeyeon's cousins were very nice to drive out and visit with us. 

They also took us out to lunch! Jun liked riding the trains and cars they had at the mall :) 

   

After we said goodbye to baby Jun we went to a cat cafe! I had always wanted to go to a themed cafe.  Others have dogs and some even have raccoons! It was fun! The cats came up and jumped right into my lap! 

Since this was my last day in Korea, we decided to visit Han river and order chicken for dinner! (read my Cultural Surprises post if you want to learn more about that!)

We got an extra mat to share from ordering chicken :)

   

It was a perfect day and the sunset was beautiful!

 

After we ate we started to walk along the edge of the river and we found a bunch of food trucks! Saeyeon got horchata and I ordered a churro. It was a fun way to end my last day. 

I want to say thank you to Saeyeon for being our tour guide during this trip! She helped us have the best trip and took the time to plan everything. And also thank you to her parents for being so sweet to us. We became their second and third daughter and they told us to call them eomma and appa  :) I'm grateful too that Kristen could travel with me. It really helped to have someone from the US there to experience new things with me :) 

I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to visit Korea. It was a wonderful experience and I learned a lot. I hope I can go back again soon!

Thank you for reading! 읽어 주셔서 감사합니다! 

♥ TTFN, KARISSA

Sights in Seoul (3)

After our weekend trip in Busan we came back to Seoul. Thanks to Saeyeon we had fun things planned everyday :)

Day 8

First things first, when we got back we went to the mall and I invested in a selfie stick. Using Mina's in Busan was fun so I wanted to get one for myself :) 

We then spent the day at the National Museum of Korea. It was organized by kingdoms and time periods. It was relaxing to wander around learning new things. 

  

After a bit, we took a break to get something to drink because I was starting to get one of my headaches. Saeyeon's was a fruity one that I have never tried before. I believe it was called omija. It was tasty! 

 

The round desserts were filled with red bean paste.

    

We left the museum and Saeyeon's dad was kind enough to drive us to Itaewon. It is a really cool neighborhood. This is one place where all the restaurants are very international. And can you believe it? We found a Greek restaurant!! I never thought I would eat spanakopita in Korea :)

 

Another American restaurant I found in Korea! We didn't eat here, but I had to take a picture for Mom :) She loves the Dorito tacos at Taco Bell.

 

After we ate we headed back to the bookstore. We visited this store about four times during our trip haha It had everything, music albums, books, and cool inventions. The thing I am wearing on my head is supposed to massage your temples. Perfect for headaches they said. At the same place Saeyeon found her favorite hand massager :)

To finish the day we stopped by Gangnam. Yes the namesake of one of the most popular videos on YouTube, Gangnam Style. Kristen and I embarrassed ourselves by doing the dance in the subway station but it was fun :)

Day 9

 

 

Wearing hanbok was one of my favorite things we did in Korea! These are traditional outfits that are worn for special occasions. We found a shop that allows you to rent them for a few hours. It was across the street from Gyeongbokgung Palace so we went over there to take pictures. The main section was closed but we were able to get some good shots on the outside. We felt like princesses :) 

 

Underneath the dresses we wore a hoop shirt of sorts which is what makes them more round. The store had many designs to choose from. I think we got colors that fit our personalities :)

 

Now this is a small world story. When we were in Busan, on one of the nights Mina and I relaxed in the hotel while Saeyeon and Kristen went to the club. They made friends with a kid from Hong Kong but they forgot to get his contact information. Later when we were at the train station waiting to go back to Seoul, they saw him again! He was going to Seoul as well! Saeyeon friended him on FB and then we met up with him a few days later! His name was Brian and he was really nice :) 

We visited Gwangjang market together. It has lots of yummy street food. 

This restaurant we went to was special because it shares the name of one of my aunts, SoonHee! We got Korean pancakes here and they were delicious! The ones we had were made with mung beans. 

This is probably one of the most adventurous things we did during our visit. We ate... live octopus! We had been wanting to try it and we found it at the market. The lady selling them was very excited when we came over. She took the octopus out of the tank, let us touch it, and then started chopping it up in front of us! It was still moving when she gave it to us on the plate... I told myself I would regret it if I didn't try so I took a bite. Surprisingly it wasn't that bad! The flavor was ok, but the texture was not pleasant. You could feel the tentacles and it was rubbery like chewing a rubber hose. I'm glad I tried it though! My friends were braver than me and ate the rest :)

 

I treated myself to an ice cream filled waffle afterwards ;) 

Selfie stick adventures! 

 

Brian had to leave after a few hours to meet up with more friends and we headed to Seoul Tower. The walk there was pretty much straight up a hill. Thankfully they had an incline that took us the rest of the way up. The view from the top was beautiful! 

 

 

I'll finish up our adventures in my next post!

Thanks for reading!

♥ TTFN, KARISSA