Jejudo Trip (Day 1)

Since it was a long weekend (Memorial Day) for us, we decided to get away from the busy city life and take a vacation and traveled to Jejudo. Yes I know…you are wondering “where is it?” and “why haven’t I heard of it?” Jejudo has been referred to as Korea’s Hawaii.

“Do” (pronounced just like Homer Simpson’s trademark “doh”) is Korean for island, so Jejudo is actually Jeju Island. So even though we flew there, we didn’t leave Korea to go on our vacation. However, it was much different from the mainland. The air was fresher there, without the trademark odors that lead my kids to keep asking “what is that smell?” In addition, there were palm trees, wider streets with far less traffic, and most importantly the majority of people there actually obeyed the traffic laws.

After a short 50-minute flight, we arrived at Jeju International Airport on Friday. We quickly located our luggage, then left the airport and headed to parking lot #2 to find Budget Rental Car. The nice lady (who kept talking slowly to James) had explained to us that we needed to head over to "parking lot #2". However, we didn’t realize exactly how the rental car companies were set up. We were walking around and discovered that where we needed to go was actually located directly under a pole with a large #2 sign in the parking lot. There were large vans (or small buses, depending on how you look at it) under all the numbered poles where the rental car companies actually had their offices. James got the paperwork done and we all hopped into a nice new Hyundai Sonata, fully equipped with a GPS (all in Korean, of course).

Some of the rental car company "offices"

James programmed in the Hotel’s address and off we went. We really enjoyed the ride to the hotel (again, nice wide roads with minimal traffic). James was able to book us at the Shilla Hotel, which we discovered was a 5-star hotel. We were amazed and had the requisite “oohs and aahs” when we entered the room. After we got settled in and I threatened the kids not to touch anything in the fully stocked mini-bar, we decided to walk a little bit and sightsee at the Cheonjeyeon waterfall and Seven Nymphs Bridge. The kids were happy and running around like we had been traveling for days and were just excited about being out. As we walked over the bridge the kids found themselves in a new world. Everyone we passed would say, ”Hello, how are you?” as they had rehearsed in their English class. We would respond to their greetings with the standard “fine…and how are you?” The kids started to get a little bothered by everyone passing by rubbing their heads, or stopping them to check out their eye colors or to touch their faces. It was sort of like being at an old family reunion where distant relatives hadn’t seen them in ages. This started the weekend of the kids posing with random Korean families for their vacation pictures.

The kids posing in front of the Seven Nymphs Bridge

After seeing the waterfall from above, we decided to take a trail down the ravine to see another waterfall from close up. The trip down was rather pleasant and James struck up a conversation with a local family on the way down, discovering that their accent and dialect was a little harder to understand. Of course, when we got to the bottom, the Korean family wanted some photos with the kids. We then had the tedious job of returning back up the way we had just come. That’s when we discovered that we had descended (and now had to ascend) 270 steps on the trail down!

The upper waterfall as seen from the Seven Nymphs Bridge

The lower waterfall

We then headed back to the hotel to try to find something to eat that was agreeable to everyone. As I mentioned before, this was a 5-star hotel, so the hotel menu was a little too fancy for the kids (and us) so we got into the car and James programmed the GPS to take us to the local Emart so that we could enjoy their food court. The kids were actually willing to try the Korean food (which was great since most of the island was without any Western restaurants). James ordered Katsu Don with Udon on the side (actually Japanese food), I got the Bulgogi hot bowl and Ben chose the spaghetti. He was a little disappointed with his selection since it had big pieces of onion in it and mustard drizzled all over the top. This may have led to his willingness to try our Korean food. He ended up eating off our plates and kept asking for more.

We then walked around Emart and bought some ice cream and sat outside to eat them and enjoy the fresh air and relative quiet. We arrived back at the hotel around 9 and all got ready for bed. It was a great way to start off our weekend.

The E-Mart in Seogwipo City

DMZ / JSA

James went on a small tour up to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) with a few other people for work. Since it was only three people in the tour they were allowed to move slower and ask tons of questions. I wanted to show some pictures of his trip. We both went 10 years ago and plan on just the two of us going again (since they do not allow anyone under the age of 10 on the tour). Besides I don’t think I could trust my two to not run straight over to the other side...

He visited the Joint Security Area (JSA) as well as Observation Point Dora (next to the Dora-san train station that services the train line that connects the North and the South) and Infiltration Tunnel #3. These photos are all from the JSA.

Observation tower and the Freedom House on the South Korean side of the JSA.

Panmungak on the North Korean side, as seen from UN Row.

Interior of main conference room on UN Row with South Korean Military Police escort standing at the ready position.

The small blue building in the center of the photo is OP #3 which was the location of the famous Axe Murder Incident in 1976. In addition the road leading away from the OP towards the right goes directly to the Bridge of No Return.

Gijeong-dong, the Propaganda Village on the North Korean side of the border. Notice the enormous flagpole in the center of the photo. This is the largest flagpole in the world standing at 160 meters tall (525 feet) and flies a flag that weighs 270 kg (600 lbs).

The Bridge of No Return from the South Korean side. The small rusted sign to the left of the bridge is one of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) signs that are located all along the entire length of the border.

If you are interested in learning more about the JSA, the links above all go to their respective Wikipedia entries. In addition, there's a good Korean movie entitled "JSA" that you can usually find in the States (Netflix has it too) that describes a fictional incident occurring at this location.

Gyeongbok Palace

It is James’ ambition in life to see all of the National Treasures of Korea while we are here. I think there are a couple hundred that are located throughout the country, many of them at various museums.

Heungryemun, the gate leading into the main palace grounds.

So we let James have another turn at picking what were going to do on the weekend. He chose the largest of the five palaces in Seoul to visit. The kids were not too thrilled at walking around and looking at the beautiful architecture of the buildings. Ben got a little more excited once I let him start videotaping everything. If anyone wants a copy let us know, however, be aware that it may cause motion sickness. We were able to see three of the National Treasures while we were there. Yes, that’s right, we were lucky enough to knock three off the list in one day. We really did have fun and are looking forward to seeing the other four palaces.

Guards in front of Heungryemun

Interior of Gangnyeongjeon, the king's living quarters

Hyangwonjeong on a small islet in the middle of a pond. This pond is located in front of Geoncheonggung, site of the assassination of Empress Myeongseong by the Japanese in 1895.

Seoul Grand Zoo

After the sore legs we got from walking so much while enjoying James’ choice for weekend travel, I decided that the family would spend the day at the Seoul Grand Zoo. We packed a lunch and got a late start heading out. Since the traffic was a little backed up on the way there, we didn’t arrive into the parking lot until almost 11:30, so we ate our lunch in the car and then headed inside. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom so it was beautiful walking to the gate.

The Cherry Blossoms along the road leading to the Grand Park Zoo

One of the giraffes must have seen us taking pictures, so it stuck its tongue out at us.

For the whole family, it only cost 8000 won to get in (what a steal). We let the kids lead the way and take their time looking around. The most interesting thing was the bathroom near the giraffe exhibit. Each stall had their own window (one-way, I assume) facing into the giraffe area. It felt like they could sense you in there and would come walking up. The zoo was fun and the kids especially enjoyed the playground area they had there. It had a lot of dinosaur slides and climbing walls, as well as an elephant slide where you came out through the trunk. Everybody enjoyed themselves and we definitely plan to go back again.

Here's the kids sliding through a crocodile's mouth.

Ashley the Meerkat

Kudos definitely have to go out to the Koreans for their ice creams. We bought some while we were at the zoo and found even more varieties than we thought they had. I could probably do a whole blog entry on their desserts (and might...), but here's a picture of a particular favorite; doesn't it look delicious?

Buddha's Birthday

We were able to spend last Sunday night attending the Lotus Parade. We got there a little early, walked around and saw what was left of the tables where you could make your own paper lotus flowers. Since it was starting to rain, all the vendors were packing up and we had to resort to buying the kids their own lotus flowers on a plastic stick that lights up.

The kids posing in front of the festival mascot.

Some of the parade participants getting ready to start.

About half an hour before the parade started, we wandered over to the parade route and saw that you could sit down in chairs they had lined up. Of course, we chose to sit in the front row and then waited for the parade to start. The children were very patient, with a few M&Ms to keep them happy. Once the parade was underway it was exciting. We noticed that we must have been as entertaining as the parade, since a large number of camera men came up to take our pictures. We clapped and cheered and really enjoyed ourselves. There were even two different people from within the parade that stopped to give us the lanterns that they were carrying. The children got souvenirs and we had a great family night out. We are hoping we can attend next year and be able to do much more of the actual events. Happy Birthday to Buddha.

One of the many cameramen that wanted to take our photos during the parade.

Some images from the parade with participants and floats.

Two of our favorite floats: the dragons moved and made lots of noise. The kids didn't like them as much as we did...