http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , South Korea , Seoul en-us Tue, 24 Nov 09 22:35:11 +0000 Tue, 24 Nov 09 22:35:11 +0000 Never in my years of travelling have I gone from such despair to such joy as I did at the Vancouver airport on Wednesday. I was waiting to board my flight to Seoul when it looked like there wasn't going to be anymore than about 4050 passengers. I thought... a whole aisle to myself... Then to my horror a group of about 150 Korean school children aged 810 arrived like a swarm of bees... T http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-453440.html This will be a short entry it's more about the pictures than anything.This was a great weekend. Let me start by saying there is a serious cold front right now so the HIGH all weekend was about 36 degrees F. AAAAH Anyhow I had a rather uneventful week nothing good or bad. Irsquom having a blast teaching my kids ldquoJingle bell rockrdquo for the Christmas show. The accompanying dance is a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-453293.html After Chusok weekend ended life switched from a nice even 80kmh pace to 250kmh on an autobahn in a country that didnrsquot seem like South Korea it was a chaotic whirlwind but unforgettable none the less. The remaining four weeks that I had were filled with exam writing stress mad school stress coupled with the need and desire to attend every Hash and every party that was on the cards. It re http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-452018.html In order to celebrate the fact that we have been dating for three years Mike and I decided to head to Seoul for the weekend After school on Friday we came home packed ate a delicious dinner of KyoChon Chicken then headed down to the train station. We caught the KTX a little after 8pm so we arrived in Seoul just before 10pm. We got off the train and then took the subway up to Jongno 3. Al http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-451636.html I have been seriously yearning for taking pictures of Fall scenery. Sure CA has some signs of Autumn but with all the trees here I really feel like itrsquos Fall. One of my goals for this weekend was to go out and explore and take in the sights and smells of the season. So Alison and I decided to go to Seolleung tombs which are only about 30min away from home. As soon as we step inside 2 K http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-451545.html A week ago a few coworkers and I met at a relatively earlyish time for a Sunday morning 10ish. We travelled the distance to Bukhansan National Park where we climbed Bukhan Mountain. I would have said we climbed to the top however someone who was with me that Sunday may read this and those who know me know I probably didn't so the truth is we climbed to one of the many peaks. Still I got http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-446679.html On Saturday I went to Seoul Grand Park Zoo. Let me start by saying this was one of the best zoos Irsquove ever been to for several reasons. First of all the landscape is amazing beautiful Fall colored trees mountainous backdrop grass benches and other beautiful things. Second of all the animals all looked well taken care of and happy. When I went to zoos back in the states there were many http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-444312.html This would have been a ridiculously long update instead I am cutting it into 2 updates the first on Chuseok Itaewon the Soccer game and Hongdae and the second on The zoo and the DMZ. Last weekend was Chuseok which is probably the biggest holiday in Korea. We got last Friday off which was quite nice. On Thursday all of the kids in my school wore their humbocks not sure of the spelling wh http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-444306.html This is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada so it wouldn be right not to acknowledge it Happy Thanksgiving to everyone at home. I would do bad bad things for some roast turkey and moms stuffing right about now Some things that I am thankful for include but of course are not limited to family that loves me and friends that miss me i am surprised too my healthy wonderful body tom pettys http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/Sincheon/blog-444054.html First we would like to say CONGRATS to Pete's mom Georgianna she retired Friday Oct 2nd from Nursing after many years of service. We wished we could have celebrated with you but Enjoy Retirement and we are thinking of youWe started the morning with a healthy American breakfast Dunkin Donuts. Gotta love anything from the US when you live abroad and miss all the food from home even if we d http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-443223.html Hello folks First off we would like to wish a big Happy Thanksgiving to all our friends and family celebrating back home this weekend We will certainly be thinking of you this weekend and the delicious turkey we will be missingNow here in Korea last weekend was their version of Thanksgiving better known as Chuseok or Harvest festival it occurs on the full moon of the 8th lunar cycle. We http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/Insadong/blog-443198.html We got up and had the best American breakfast since we have left the USA and it was at the Holiday Inn next to our hostel. I had an omelet and Pete had waffles and bacon with the best coffee hmmmm. We then made our way to the bus stop that would take us the the Hong Kong Airport. All flights to and from Hong Kong are international the only airport I have ever been to that is like that. I know Ho http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-443178.html Chuseok Gwangju and the ultimate question how many Soju shots is too many this is a question I inevitably attempted to answer this weekend in the wonderful world of the 5 day weekendThursday morning 5pm I wake up drag my overly tired arse into the shower and attempt to run through what it is I have to do today. Having pack last night in a particulary unconscous state I soon realised that r http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-442625.html I'm going to try and keep this very short as I know my mom does not like me rambling on... Wednesday Andrew and I got on the bus after school and headed for Seoul Once we arrived we decided it would be a great idea to walk from the station to the motel... well an hour and a half later and a km walk across a bridge we finally gave up and got a cab only to find out that we were around the corner http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-441941.html As promised a few photos from some of our most recent activities. We are wrapping up our stay in South Korea after a busy week of visiting old friends hiking checking out our old stomping grounds and gobbling up as much Korean food as we can. Tomorrow onwards to Hong Kong. First here are some photos from Japan. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-441188.html Yes it has been a while. In my defense I havenrsquot really done anything blogworthy in the past few weeks. Last weekend my coteacher took us foreign teachers to Insadong which is a ldquotraditionalrdquo area of Seoul. It was nice but extremely crowded. Cars are not allowed to drive in the touristy area on weekends which made it a bit better. It is basically an area filled with shops and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/Insadong/blog-440696.html I went up to Seoul by plane to attend a two day conference at Ewha University.Beautiful place well organised people can speak English in comparison to Ulsan that is.I had to fly back on Sunday afternoon... which only left me with a few hours to explore. Stayed in a hostel called holiday in Korea. I can truly recommend it to other travelers. And it is ideally located if you want to see the o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-438961.html Hi Axel here. I was ordered to Korea to support bilateral exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian from 1229AUG. While I didnrsquot get to do a lot of tourism here are a few pictures of what I saw and did. I was assigned to the staff of U.S. Forces Korea for the duration of the exercise and learned a LOT about Army operations. This was my first experience in Joint operations. Despite the global http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/Itaewon/blog-438947.html Count down is now under twenty days until we shove off from the Hermit Kingdom and itrsquos starting to hit us that wersquore actually leaving. We are leaving Korea on October 5th officially and spending a week in Japan exploring Tokyo and down through Kyoto and beyond if we have time. Then on the 10th we will be jumping back on a plane to head back to the western hemisphere changing p http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-438306.html Here are a few videos of my precious monkeys. We have dance parties at random times of the day .. especially when they are sitting quietly doing work and least expect it. I flick the lights on and off and yell Dance PARTYYyyyyyy They know what to do.Note the 2 boys in the bottom right hand corner of the 2nd video. That's why I had to stop.. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Seoul/blog-436907.html