Time flies when you’re having fun! Time went way to fast in Korea, and sadly it is time for me to leave.

For my last day in Korea, Maria and I went to the Namsan Seoul Tower in the morning. The view was amazing, but we decided it would be even better at night. We decided not to go up beacuse we were already running late for lunch with Pastor Kim.

We got to church and Pastor Kim had food waiting for us and he gave me a nice little sermon and then talked about how I need to marry young. He offered me a bunch of free church pens. Paspt Kim is the type of guy to make you feel like you are receiving something really special when he gives you something too. John Kim showed up at church and then after some good conversations we left to go to the Korean war museum.

I love visiting the foriegn history attractions, especially relating to war, because it is always interesting to here the local side the American text books leave out. A great example of this was the Vietnam war attractions I visited in Vietnam. Korea, however, made American sound like total heroes in the Korean war. It turns out the museum was funded partially by America. That’s why it was so pro America, but South Korea and the US do have a good relationship.

After the museum the three of us headed to Namsan Seoul Tower. This time we actually went up and got to see an incredible 360 night view of the city. At every angle you can see giant skyscrappers sprawling out over the landscape. Seoul is particularly beautiful to me because of the mountains intertwining there way through the metropolitan maze of buildings. Most all of these mountains are equipt with parks and hiking trails.

Korea is honestly one of the top countries I have ever been to. I have a habit of visiting a lot of poor underdeveloped countries probably because that’s more of my budget, but Seoul really took my breath away. I’m not much of a city guy, but there is just so much going on and always something to do. I was shocked how clean it was too. I rarely saw trash and almost every public restroom was pleasant. The subway system, maybe because it’s still a novelty to me, was awesome and actually kind of an exciting place to be as you could literally get to anywhere in the city for super cheap.

Growing up in the US, at least in my experience, you are kind of lead to believe that the United States is the greatest country in the world and that no other country comes that close. After visiting Korea I definitely no longer feel that way. Korea is one of the top countries in the world in my opinion. Good economy and great way of live as far as I could tell from my, admittedly, short stay.

Hong Kong on the other hand made me feel differently. I was really surprised by the amount of Western business men everywhere in the city. The city to me did offer nearly as friendly of a feel either. A huge chunk of the people there smoke so if you are on the sidewalk you are sure to get your fair share of second smoke whiffs. The city was nice too, don’t get me wrong, but it was a lot dirtier. Probably as dirty as a standard American city honestly.

The only reason I was in Hong Kong was on a long layover so I didn’t have a ton of time to really get to know it that well. I did manage to get to Victoria Peaks which is a nice high vantage point of the whole city. From what I overheard from a tour guide the largest building is apparently 480 stories. As a farm boy from Pigeon, Michigan this kind of stunned me as I realized how far away this is from anything I ever experienced as a city. This isn’t the farm any more!

After my flight out of Hong Kong I made it back to my apparently and got unpacked and resettled into my apartment. Tomorrow starts a usual day of training. Boy how I missed the road!

Not sure what my next post will have in store, but there might be some Thai Christmas celebrations coming up!

I had a crazy awesome couple of days in Korea, but now I am on a plane back to Thailand. Time to recap the adventures!

My Sunday in Korea was a good one! I’m the morning we got up and made our way by car to the Lutheran Church there. It is actually the only Lutheran Church in all of Korea. Everyone there was so nice when I first came in. They even had an shortened English service before the Korean one. After the English service I met Pat. Pat did the liturgy for the English service and was actually a US Army soldier stationed in Korea. Him, his wife, and two kids we’re actually from the West side of Michigan. It was really suprising and nice to see some people from back home.

Right before the Korean service James Lee walked in. James Lee is another high school friend. It completely caught me off guard because I had messaged him and he said he was going to be on military duty as a translator for the upcoming winter Olympics in Korea. Fortunately for me his departure dates for that got moved back! I was so happy to see him too. Everytime I see an old high school friend, like with Kisun, we always laugh about the good times in the dorms and I feel like things haven’t changed a bit!

After church there is a nice get together “youth” group. It was pretty much a group of the church’s young people who have graduated high school. Most of them have made studied either high school or college in the US so their English is very good. John Kim, another high school friend, showed up during this! More sentimental memories! After the youth group we had a meal as a church. Then the group of Maria, John, Kyle (nice guy I met at the youth group) went out to some markets.

After we wandered around the market, and I got my fill of hodduck they took me a Karaoke place. Karaoke here, like Thailand, is pretty serious. They have these places that are just filled with a bunch of dedicated mini karaoke rooms for you and your friends. The room is just big enough for a couch facing a pretty high tech Karaoke system and screen. There were two mics and the system allowed to configure everything like adjusting the key of the song to a better range for you. Even with these features I am still pretty horrible at singing, but it was a fun time!

After Karaoke we all went to a restaurant and had some typical snacks which was liver, intestines, rice cake, and dumplings. Good food! My chopstick skills are slowly but surely improving! After that we all split ways and Maria and I went home where her mom had actually made us dinner. Needless to say, I ate real well that night!

After a packed Sunday I had a more relaxing Monday morning. We woke up a little later and Maria and I went for a hike on a mountain near her house. After we went through the mountain I got some more hodduck of course! She bought some ingredients at a market for her mom. I think it was for kimchi. On a side note, the Ha family has their own fridge solely dedicated to the making and storage or kimchi. It’s a big deal..

After the hike and some lunch we had plans to rent the traditional Korean clothing and visit the palace. If you dress up, apparently admission is free. Plus it would be cool to pretend like I’m in the movie Mulan. So we got off the subway and got in our traditional clothing. Then we walked to the palace and got there at 4:15pm. It closed at 4pm… We had to improvise.

We went to go walk through some traditional village and we spent forever trying to find a park that was on this tourist map we had. But we couldn’t find it, and to make it worse it was around 15°. I’m used to Thailand’s 90° so this was a shocker. After wandering around for a bit and seeing some cool buildings we ended up taking pictures in front of the clothes rental shop!

After returning the clothes we wandered around downtown. They have a cool stream running through the middle of the city and the whole place was decked out with Christmas decorations! Warmed my heart. That’s the stuff I don’t get to see in Thailand. It’s good to be with friends during the holidays!
Next post I’ll talk about my last day in Korea and my Hong Kong flight mishaps and downtown Hong Kong explorations.

I started my normal day with a must Thai session on Wednesday, but instead of an evening session I was packing my bag! I left my apartment around 7pm and walked to the airport.

The nice ladies at the Hong Kong Express check-in desk upgraded me to the exit row because there was more leg room. Maybe because I’m tall by Asian standards? But funnily enough, when I boarded all the people in the exit isles were white people. In our defense we we’re taller than the majority of the passengers… Also, on a side note the security at the airport in Chiang Mai is so relaxed by US standards. Security take 5 minutes and isn’t nearly as serious. It’s pretty nice!

Then after a hour and a half delay I got on the plane and zoinked out until we arrived in Hong Kong. In my half sleepy state I wandered around and took advantage of the free WiFi. When I finally realized I should get to my gate so I can focus on getting some sleep, there were no lines for the immigration, transfer or whatever procedure I had to go through.

Then, since the Hong Kong airport is huge, I took a shuttle bus about 10 minutes to my proper terminal for my morning flight. Then, in the terminal, I found some bean bag chair at a kid’s entertainment section. Unfortunately, there was an old man sleeping on two and a girl sleeping hogging four. I assessed her sleeping and decided I’d risk stealing one from her. I snatched it and ran off to my own corner and set up shop for the night.

After about 4 hours of sleep I got up and repacked for my flight. After a quick bathroom break I was on my way to Korea. I slept most of the way there as well. Then off the plane I had to go through the line for foreign passports which consisted of me and a couple hundred Chinese people. The line was pretty slow, but I got through and Maria Ha was waiting on the other side for me! For those who don’t know, Maria and I went to high school at MLS together.

Then Maria guided us on the subway were we met up with her friend. The three of us went to a Korean hotdog shop for my first taste of authentic Korean food. I had a hotdog covered and deep fried in potatoes. Then it was rolled in coconut sugar and then drizzled in chili sauce. One of the tastiest foods I’ve ever eaten. I had immediate thoughts of bring this back to the US as a drunk, hung over food. In that market this could be an absolute hit! Then we went and got some Hodduck from a stand. I have had a little bit of an obsession ever since with it ever since my high school roommate, Kisun, started making it on special occasions. It’s pretty much a rice dough pancake with a honey, cinnamon, nutty, delicious center. It was so good. That alone made the trip worth it!

After that we went to a board game place where we planned a bunch of different board games and I enjoyed a Korean sports drink, similar to Gatorade. We played a game where you had to get a certain number and type of rubber fruits out of a bowl using chopsticks. Needless to say, I was completely outmatched versus two Koreans. It was super fun nonetheless, and after that we met Maria’s mom for dinner. While waiting for Maria’s mom to pick us up I saw my first snow of the winter season! The restaurant was one of those short tabled, sit down cross legged, restaurants. Food was great. However, my inept chopstick ability did resurface.

Then we went to some supermarkets and I enjoyed perusing the local selections. The fresh seaweed was a first for me. Maria and I happened to find all the free smples in the store which included green tea ice cream, Pho Vietnamese soup, and even rice wine. We bought a couple bottles of the rice wine and the banana flavored rice wine is pictured above.

Second Day in Korea

The next day was a special day because we we’re planning to visit my old high school roommate Kisun, the one who started my love of hodduck. We had a two hour subway journey to his military base. In Korea there is a compulsory two years of military service for all males. So he was just six months in on his military service after choosing to serve after his junior year of college.

After finally making it to the base we met the uniformed military soldiers at the gates. We headed inside the gates to the check in post and there was a hold up because of my US passport. We waited for a while, but while we waited out came Kisun for us! He had a suprised look on his face to see me. His mom told him a friend was coming to visit, but he didn’t know who. We hugged and then he told me that I actually wasn’t allowed on the base! Apparently foreignors have to process their paperwork in advance in order to be allowed on the base.

So we stood outside the check in post and ended up catching up for talking for 2 hours! I technically wasn’t supposed to be inside the gates, but we just kept in low key and we even snuck somewhere to take a couple pictures together. Apparently, according to Kisun, I am the first foreignor to visit the base since it opened 10 years ago. When we first talked to the check in post they had to call in to ask what the procedure was. It went up the line since no one knew what to do because it had never happened before. Maria could go in, but I couldn’t. So they went to the store on base while I just milled around. But we just spent most of our time right inside the gate just reminiscing about good times back in high school. Man, it was so good to see him! Even though I didn’t get to go in I am glad that we got o catch up. Maria and I were his visitors outside of his parents so I think it made him really happy to see us!

Maria and I thought about hitting the DMZ after we talked with Kisun, but there are apparently a ton of regulations now with rising tensions and we would need to plan better. I did get to see acrossed the river into North Korea though!

Next on my adventures are Korean church, possible DMZ visit, hiking some of the local mountains, and of course more hodduck!