A Foggy Fluke....or Something Like That:)

I recently heard about a Buddhist temple that we hadn't visited before, so we wanted to go there with Joe's parents. The temple is on a little island called Seongmodo, and it is VERY close to the North Korean border - pretty much on it. In this map you can see where it is located. The enlarged box shows a bigger island, and a smaller island. You cross a bridge to get onto the bigger island, and then you take a ferry to get onto the smaller island, which is where the temple is. It took us about 2 hrs. to get there, even though it's only about 40 miles from Seoul. When we were literally 1 kilometer away from the ferry, traffic completely stopped. We were on a narrow two-lane road. We didn't know what the hold-up was, but we inched forward as other cars turned around and went back the other way. We were there for at least another 1/2 hr. Finally, we forced Joe out of the car to go and see what was going on. He came back and said that the ferry had stopped running due to the fog. Did I mention that it was really foggy? Didn't you guess from the title? Anyway, people were getting antsy, and contemplating turning around ourselves. I did NOT want to go back. We decided that we would turn off the road, go and get some lunch, and hope that the ferry was running when we got done. Being that we were at the seaside, all the restaraunts were selling crab and shrimp. We all love crab and shrimp, so we figured this would be a treat for us. We ordered noodles with clams, a kind of soup with crab, and a big pot of king shrimp. First, the shrimp came out - a ton of them on a layer of sea salt, ready to be cooked.

You cannot tell from the picture, but the shrimp were ALIVE! We were not expecting that. It was a comical and disturbing to watch those shrimp get cooked.

You know how they say if you put a frog in cold water and then heat it up, it will never even notice that something is wrong until it's too late? Well, I would not say that's how it was with these shrimp. They were popping and jumping all around in there, and we were afraid the lid would come right off. But no, they died.

After the massacre was over, we used a pair of scissors to cut off the heads. Some were more wary than others.

Then they were peeled and eaten, along with the other food. Just think, we may have never experienced that if it wasn't for the fog. Well, the fog lifted enough, and we were able to ride the ferry over.

There was a quaint little town on the island, and at the base of the mountain where the temple was were all kinds of vendors.

This lady gave Madelyn a piece of something gooey - I have no idea what it was, but Madelyn had one bite, and then it got wrapped in a napkin and put in my pocket.

This was the entrance to the temple area.

It was a very steep hill that we had to climb to get there. You couldn't tell as much going up...

...but just look at it going down!

This was a gorgeous place, especially surrounded by the mountain and the fall leaves. And it was unique - unlike any other temple that we've visited. We were all very glad that we had not given up and just gone home.

Shopping, No Dropping

There is a lot of shopping in Korea, so of course we had to take Joe's parents to a few shopping districts.

1. Itaewon - This is very close to where we live, about a 5 minute walk. There is one long street that has hotels, stores and restaraunts galore. Do you want to eat food from India, Pakistan, Turkey, Thailand, Greece, France, Itlay, Mexico, America, or anywhere else you can think of? Okay, they've got it. Do you want to buy a custome-made suit, a leather coat, traditional Korean costumes, purses, shoes pottery, souveniers....okay, I can't just sit here and name all the stuff you can buy there, it's just a lot of stuff. Here's the beginning of the street.
Here's the middle of the street looking down one end.

And here's McDonalds. Well, I DID mention American food. Actually, Joe and I have not eaten at McDonalds one single time since we've moved here. But we had given Joe's parents their fill of Korean food, so we thought we'd take them here.

The coke tasted like good coke, although it was in a regular glass (not a throw-away glass). The french fries tasted like real McDonald's french fries. The Big Mac tasted like a real Big Mac (almost, except that they don't use American beef, and American beef is better, in my humble opinion).

"I'm lovin' it". Oh wait, is that outdated? I'm a little out of touch with American advertising. Besides, I'd really love it more if they offered a fruit and walnut salad here, instead of a Bulgogi burger. Oh McDonald's, and their regional deviations from their standard menu.

2. Dongdaemun - this is the blessed fabric market. This building is a city block long, and is 6 stories high. And it is FULL of fabric, as well as every other item imaginable that you would ever need for your sewing needs.

There is a virtual labyrinth of aisles like this - seriously, you could get lost in here.

Every aisle is booth after booth (see the blue signs), and each booth looks kind of like this.

Of course, this is the very best one - it's called Happy Quilt - it makes me happy. There are also booths that look like this, but are full of buttons, or ribbons, or zippers, or thread, etc. And even outside the building the streets are lined with shop after shop of the same stuff.

It is a sight to behold. Some people just get too overwhelmed when they come here for the first time, and they can't buy anything. The fabric is cheap too. If you are into good quality fabric, designer brands, etc., you can get it for pennies on the dollar here.

3. Namdaemun - this shopping area is like Itaewon on crack.

Did I use the word labyrinth already? Okay, let's mix it up. This is an intricate and perplexing arrangement of endless streets and alleys. I've blogged about this place before, way back here. Even after Joe's parents had seen all the other shopping places, they still weren't prepared for this one. I tried to explain it to Joe's mom, and she told me she thought, "How much different could it be then the other places? Ruth is probably exaggerating." But when she saw it, she was speechless. Some things you just can't explain. Some things you just can't fully capture in a picture. Some things you just have to experience for yourself. There are all kinds of interesting things to see in this place. In the picture below, right smack dab in the middle, is a lady balancing a large tray of food on her head (no hands).

Here is a motorcyle (delivery guy) FULLY LOADED! Surprisingly, it didn't tip over, but it precarious.

Here is a woman gutting a fish. Refridgeration is highly overrated, don't you agree. Okay, I admit it, I took this picture with Joe last winter, and it was pretty cold. But we had a guy come and seel fish on the corner of our last apartment complex every week - even the hot ones - and his were in open containers just like these.

This was the same time of year, and Joe was looking for a coat. Some of these stores are SO small, and they are SO packed with inventory, it just makes you laugh.

And here were some shop owner's who were having their lunch, just outside their shop, with a little gas grill they set up on a little makeshift table and little shares.

It's such a different world we live in.

A Royally Good Day

This is Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul. Built in 13194, it was the main and largest palace built in the Joseon Dynasty. It was a must for us to take Joe's parents to see at least one of the palaces, and we've never been to this one before.

I loved the royal guards.

It was a beautiful day, and this was a beautiful palace, and I don't think I can say anything that will be more interesting then just looking at the pictures. Enjoy:)

See what you're missing out on?

It Never Gets Old

The first place we took Joe's parents was the War Memorial. I have lost track of how many times we have been there, but it is enjoyable every time. So much history, it's fascinating and educational.

I think one of Joe's favorite things to do in the whole world is to make his family laugh, and he does it easily because he's so darn funny. I loved these shots of him laughing with his mom at the war memorial.

We Come In Peace

We've had visitors from another planet.....well, from the other side of the planet. But really, Korea might as well be light years away, because it's taken over a year to get any visitors here:) Joe's parents are here with us right now! They've been here 1 1/2 weeks, and are leaving in another 2 days:( It has been so much fun having guests. It has been waaaaaay too long since we've seen any family. It is like getting our batteries recharged.



We have done a lot of fun things while they've been here. Too much for one post. So I'm going to be posting every day for a little while, and telling you all about our adventures.



Having guests is fun because we get to see things through their eyes. Everything that we have become accustomed too in Korea suddenly seems new, exciting, funny, and crazy all over again.

Here's a good example.

These women are just outside of a hospital that we walked past. It is not uncommon at all to see people in their hospital gowns, rolling around their IV posts, OUTSIDE so that they can get some fresh air, visit with friends, or take a smoke break. Sometimes I forget to take pictures of things like this, and I can't take a picture of EVERYHING anyway, but it IS really funny to see:)



It's nice for visitors to come and experience the things that you see and do every day. No matter how well you explain things, or how many pictures you take, you just can't capture certain things unless you experience them yourself. Now they know for themselves a little bit about what we're talking about:) Who's going to be next?