A "Seoul" filled weekend

Andy and I had the opportunity to spend a long weekend in Seoul, Korea for his birthday at the beginning of April.  He had wanted me to join him there for quite a while, so when he had business there the few days before his birthday, that fell on a Friday, we jumped at the chance. We also have amazing friends, like one Lauren Waymire, who will stay with our children...a total gift.

The other interesting thing about the way this worked out was on Sunday, he would fly home to Hong Kong by himself, and I was headed to the U.S. for a two week trip...yes, two weeks by myself. 20 hours plus of flying on a plan....by myself.  My husband is a treasure.  And before you start thinking that I have it so easy, I had just come off of two straight weeks of Andy traveling and Marina in the Philippines.  So I was ready for a break.

I got into Seoul Thursday evening around 8pm.  I had way too much luggage, but needed to bring some things back to the U.S that were not needed in HK, and my friend's curtains that she had made in China on her visit (Heidi Sweetman loves me:) This caused a little disdain from the shuttle bus man who told me in Korean that I was only allowed two pieces of luggage.  I asked him in "I-am-too-tired-for-this" English, "What do you want me to do with my third suitcase?" He grumbled, gave me receipt, and put it on the bus.  He did point me out to the driver, who reiterated in broken English what I had done wrong...and I said I was sorry and that I didn't know.  Then our bus, which was occupied by myself and about 6 other people, left the airport for the hotel.

I made it to the hotel...Conrad Seoul...and our room overlooked the river.  I was famished, and pleased that Andy was ready to order room service. Ahhhh...that is when the blood pressure can lower.  I can't tell you how much confidence I have gained in traveling along internationally since living in HK, but it is always a bit stressful until I get where I'm supposed to be or who I am supposed to be with.

The next morning, we took a taxi to Itaewon, an area of the city known for its western influence since there is a large U.S. army base located right there.  On our agenda was hiking, but Andy realized that when he was packing for his week in Korea, casual shorts were not on his mind.  So, we decided that shopping needed to come first.  Plus, there are a number of yummy western restaurants.  We already had plans for Korean BBQ, and there are many more western choices in Seoul than HK.

We had a great time walking together on the main drag in Itaewon...just the two of us in beautiful spring weather.  We went in a couple of stores, bought a couple gifts for the kids, and looked for shorts...to no avail.  We found a Mexican restaurant, On the Border, and celebrated his birthday with chips, margaritas and enchiladas.  Then we continued our search for shorts...to no avail...and went on to walk to the museum.

A very happy birthday boy

Loved the cherry blossoms

Andy was given this partition when he asked if there was a fitting room...hilarious!

The Korean War Museum is a pretty powerful place, and very well-done.  I had little prior knowledge...just knew some basic facts and had a picture in my head from watching MASH episodes. We thoroughly appreciated all that we learned and got a very good sense of Korea's gratitude to the U.S. for it's leadership and involvement in the war. We also learned more about the persevering spirit of the Korean people.

That night we had plans to meet Andy's co-worker and her husband for Korean BBQ.  They took us to a fabulous restaurant called The Maple Tree.  We had a wonderful evening eating and drinking and laughing.  They were parents to a 1yr old, so we felt we could impart a little wisdom, and we enjoyed listening to their story.  Such a fun night!

A little more confusing than our MTR:)

The next morning was another great breakfast at the hotel, and then off to our day long hike.  We were hiking the Fortress Trail, and we weren't given many details about how to find the beginning.  But we ended up finding some English speaking locals who helped us out.  The weather could not have been nicer.  We had some sunshine, the right temperature...and NO RAIN (after coming off about three straight weeks in HK) The trail started off going through some woods, then we found the wall or fortress, which was built to protect the city from the North.  Now, we have been to the "other" wall in Asia, and this did not even compare in its magnitude, but it was eerily similar and was a constant reminder that there still is a threat.

We followed this trail for about two hours, getting up to a couple peaks, before it winded down to a little town where we found a convenient store for some sustanence.  Then it was time for the serious part of the trail.  We actually had to go through security and show them our passports in order to get a pass to continue hiking.  This part had some serious altitude, but it was it's proximity to the Blue House that made this part of the trail more important in the eyes of security. As we continue up and up, there were several signs that told us of areas where pictures were not allowed to be taken.  And as we reached the peak, it was hard not to be amazed that only 10 miles north, maybe within view that day, was the DMZ and North Korea.

A little town that reminded us of the U.S.

Campus Crusade of Christ in this town!

As we traveled down...after about 5 hours of hiking...we found a Starbucks (five levels!!!) and enjoyed a seat outside to view what we had just hiked.  Then we kept walking to find the Palace in the center of Seoul, checked out the outer gate, walked to listen to a Korean pop boys band sing Michael Jackson (random!) and then got a taxi for the hotel.  Such a wonderful day!!

The Blue House is where the President of S. Korea resides.  Apparently, the story is that when these 30 men got past the barrier and overlooked Seoul, they were shocked to see the city in such good shape after the war.  They expected to see it still in ruin.

Finally, after getting back to the room and getting cleaned up, we went to the steakhouse restaurant inside the hotel. Andy had been there earlier in the week with some coworkers and deemed it very worthy of our last night together in Korea.  The meal was delicious and the view was great, too...and after the long day of hiking we had, we were so grateful for the convenience of only having to travel a couple floors down to get back to our room.

It amazes me how very different Asian cities are from one another.  Each of them not only have a different look, but a completely different feel, and Seoul is not and exception.  One thing that Andy pointed out that I found comical was the color of the cars.  He mentioned that Koreans choose either black, white or gray cars (most taxis are orange).  After he said that I had a difficult time finding anything but those colors...just a little nuance about South Korea.