October 4 - last day

Happy 60th to Fred!

Yesterday's cultural tour was of ancient Korea - today's is of modern.  We went to Dongdaemun Design Plaza, really interesting place.  Be sure to google images for it since my phone pics can't do it justice.  Over 40,000 sheets of aluminum coat the exterior.  There are ancient ruins on the site, but no way to really get close to them.

You know I called this blog "heatanhumidity" when I started it in Hong Kong, but it should really have been called "food&shopping".  Even at DDP, we managed to find a great store selling very modern items designed and made in Korea.


One of many great things about Korea is the excellent public transportation.  We took subways everywhere in Seoul, which definitely help with avoiding traffic congestion.  Here's a subway map to give you an idea of how extensive it is.  And the buses we took, Incheon to Daejeon, Daejeon to Seoul, and then Seoul to Incheon, were like tour buses - assigned seats that recline, and are super comfortable.

Last pics with Isabel in front of hotel - then to bus stop a block away.  Last hugs with her, but no tears.  Great to see how she has matured and really grown in confidence.  She toured us around Seoul and the subway like a native.

Long flight to Seattle, leaving at 4:45 pm on Sunday October 4th, and arriving in Seattle at 11 am also on Sunday, October 4th.  International Dateline messing with us 😃

Slept on airport benches for a couple hours - yep, that tired - then flight to Bozeman.  Picked up Charlie from the dog sitter, got groceries and finally home.

It was a GREAT trip.  Best part was spending time with Isabel.  Also the food and shopping!  And seeing South Korea,  a new country (for me).  It's also been fun writing this blog - had thought of doing it before we left, and thanks to Michael and Fred for encouraging me to do it.

If anyone is interested in going - highly encourage it.  Amazing part of the world, and great way to expand your horizons.  Love to all.

October 3 - exploring Seoul

For the first time all trip, slept in.  Isabel got us coffee, and we rallied to go to Myeong-dong.  It feels as though Korea has 2 national pastimes - eating and shopping.  Every area that I've seen has both.

Today was no exception - except that Loren was very disappointed that the street food carts weren't out when we got there.  After an hour or so, the carts started arriving in a long procession.  Loren was drooling just watching them go by!  We opted for some cultural activities and went to the Jogyesa Temple.  Watched part of a Buddist ceremony, but out of respect, no pictures of inside of temple (link has an image).

Lotus flowers - Dad, remember Lotusland?

Exterior temple shots

Hanging notes are prayers

Funny side note - there was a little stall on the temple grounds selling clothing.  I saw a beautiful silk scarf that Isabel kindly bought for me - and both of us felt it would be wrong to bargain in the shadow of the temple.

wearing my new scarf - thanks Isabel

Then wandered through the temple neighborhood- very interesting to see all the ceremonial clothing and tea sets.  If anyone reading this blog thinks that shopping is shallow, well it can be.  I prefer to think of it as seeing the economic side of current culture- shopping as a window to how people live, and what is important to them.  Also, having a few souvenirs keeps the trip alive when I'm home.  I remember the people that sold to me - the stores - even the weather.

It's Foundation Day today, and we ran into a band in costume.  Interesting to me that it's not more of a  big deal, or at least we couldn't tell that it was - other than the band.

We went to a "mall" that was organized like the Guggenheim Museum, with spiraling levels of shops/restaurants.

Found lots of traditional and modern arts and crafts.  Very beautiful things, and interesting too.  For example, an iPhone pebble - it sticks to the back of your phone, and props it up.  Then there were stores selling sleeping pillows.  I had a case of Visa fever, but managed to restrain myself until we were back on the street.  Then I found the scarf shop - 5 scarves for $30 - so excited!  Loren found the new French fry technique - potato on a stick.

Long day of shopping, eating and wandering - I do NOT want to go home, but we are checked in for tomorrow's flight.


Loren and Isabel out for street food - like father, like daughter!

October 2 - last day in Daejeon

After yesterday's rain, woke to beautiful day with bright blue skies.  We had arranged for late checkout, so took hike to city hall, a good 5 miles at least.  We went to see a store that had traditional handcrafts - no tourist knickknacks for us.  Very interesting things - found some cute cards with kids in traditional costumes.


Back to hotel to check out, and then back to "old downtown" to see a stationary store that was closed last night.  Glad we did - 5 floors of handmade papers, craft supplies, journals, etc.  really interesting to see what local people would buy.

Hello Kitty is still very popular - here's the most extreme version of branding I saw.

Hello Kitty swiffers!

So, the Korean school system is intense - Isabel teaches in a private school, and  students in her kindergarten class are 3-4 years old.  They go to school from 9-2:30 with no naps, and as she says "they NEED naps".  The older kids go to regular elementary school for a full day, then come to her school for after school English lessons from 3-7:30.  Isabel gets a lunch break, then a late afternoon break, and she's tired at the end of the day.  Can't imagine how they kids feel.  That was a segue to saying that we went to her apartment to meet her during her late break, then she went back to work. We had al fresco beers - quite the Korean tradition to get beer and sit outside the convenience store and drink.

The local beers are barely tolerable, so in honor of Raymond, we had Budweisers!

After Isabel was FINALLY off work, we caught the bus to Seoul, a city of 10 million people.  For comparison, New York has 8.5M, Houston 2M and LA 4M.  To deal with a city this big, you need to pick a neighborhood or two and focus.  We are staying in Myeong-dong, in the very cool Hotel Sin Shin.  If you can't tell from the link, we have a small suite, with 2 beds, a queen for us and right next to it, a single for Isabel.  The bathroom is super luxurious and it's nice to have to have the extra sitting area.

Loren and Isabel went out for street food and beers - I went to bed.

October 1 - Daejeon

Woke up to pouring rain, so lazy morning doing laundry at hotel.  Super easy, and very affordable.
Then off to the absolutely largest "mall" I've been in.  Who remembers The Galleria in Houston?  This is also called The Galleria, and it's 12 stories - each floor has dozens of boutiques/ salons.  Except for the basement floor which is a full size grocery store, about the size of the GucciB - so imagine that magnitude on another 11 floors.

 The very top floor is a food court - we've been adventurous eaters the whole trip, and would have been here, but all signage was in Korean, and there weren't any pictures to help us choose.  So we went with pizza by the slice - pretty good though sweet like almost every food here.  In talking with Isabel, it seems that white sugar is a fairly new commodity and since it's "Western", there is some status to it.  I'm n the other hand, white skin is very prized.  There are zillions of skin care stores, and each one has rows and rows of skin masks and other treatments to whiten skin.  White skin is so important that most of the women wear hats.  Isabel has an assistant teacher who is Korean.  After Isabel had been in the sun one weekend, the Korean teacher said - in a very disapproving voice - "Oh Miss Isabel, your skin is now so dark."

We met Isabel and some of her friends later, and went to the old downtown- Daejeon has grown so much that much of the civic buildings have been relocated to a newer part of town.  Anyhow, it was awesome.  We went to a typical Korean restaurant - they all serve a lot of extra side dishes - always kimchi, often pickles radishes, soup, and sometimes fish cake.  Honestly, I could just eat this and be done.  Rice is not served routinely- but it's very cheap to order as a side.

Loren and Isabel

I found the blow up signage fascinating.  In the daytime it looks like below, and is about the size of a 32 gallon trash can lid.  At night, it blows up like in picture above - just inside the left arch.

We wandered around the shopping area - mostly people watching.  Saw a bunch of guys help a friend give flowers to a girl - kinda like he was among her to go out - not a proposal.
Because the area is above a major subway station, there's also underground shopping - lots and lots of  small stores selling everything you can imagine.  Super entertaining.

Isabel has to work tomorrow- so more adventures to come.

Daejeon - September 30 - First Full Day

On one hand, I regret the globalization and Americanization of the world.  On the other hand, I am very glad to have Starbucks coffee right next to our hotel.
After breakfast, a nice walk across twin arches bridge,

and through the park to meet Isabel for lunch.
 Some weird architecture here - this tower was built for the Daejeon Expo of 1993.  It creeped me out - not sure if was from the past or the future.

There is also an enormous "statue" of a golfer at the local course.

Loren by his right foot - told you he was big

Isabel had arranged for a friend to take us around for the afternoon, which was great.  Korea has a 97% literacy rate, and taxi drivers will read your note to get you where you want to go - still easier with someone who knows the city.  We went to the "bag store" to get new suitcases - both of our were on their last wheels ;-)
Store has a whole floor devoted to suitcases, and I had a great time comparing features, prices, and styles.  Then back to first floor to browse through very high quality knock off purses, backpacks, briefcases and shoes. Bought 2 new suitcases - much more stylish than anything I've seen in the US

Then Isabel's friend took to Yuseong Hot Springs - ok, this was truly great.  Part of Daejeon is above hot springs, and the city has built open air places to sit and soak your feet.  First you wash off, then sit on the wooden benches.  Posted water temperature was 41-43 Celcius (106-109 F).  You might not think hot water is refreshing - but it felt great. We soaked for about 45 minutes, then got some beers and went down to sit by the river. 


People were playing a form of golf, with croquet mallets.  Great people watching.  We've seen lots of people wearing bandanas or masks, as well as gloves.  Seems to be a way to prevent catching germs, or avoid spreading them.  Also Koreans all wear long pants and long sleeves, often with jackets.  It's not to stay warm - but for modesty.

Kelsy (Isabel's friend) has a boyfriend - Matthew- who has been living here for 5 years, and speaks fairly  fluent Korean.  He met us at the river, then we walked couple miles to the "ramen restaurant".  I had the same experience when I lived in Qatar - the expats used a generic term for shops and restaurants - and everyone knew what and where you meant.  Anyhow, Isabel and her friend Anna met us for some great ramen.   The "kids" suggested going out for karaoke, but after walking about 8 miles today, we were ready for bed.  Kissed Isabel good night and got in a cab.

Day 5 - Hong Kong to Incheon

Fairly standard travel day - check out, train to airport.  Oh wait, the Hong Kong airport is NOT your standard airport. First, it's HUGE and second, it's a major shopping mall that happens to have some planes on the outside. And by shopping, I mean Chanel and Rolex, a full size Zara store, etc.

and did I mention a very large head of the Buddha made out of canned fish?  The blue wall comes to about my shoulder, so that gives you the scale.

Single experience - but highly recommend Korean Air.  Almost as much leg room as First Class, and good food. Excellent service too.

Landing at Incheon Airport finally felt like being in a foreign country.  Don't get me wrong - loved Hong Kong, but it felt very similar to being in San Francisco's Chinatown.  South Korea is different.  The language, the people and especially the buildings.  They are quasi- military, somewhat old fashioned and yet futuristic.  Lots of new apartment buildings to accommodate the growth.  Interesting anachronisms too.  For example, in the building housing Isabel's school, there is a Parisian bakery.  I used the building restroom, with high tech keypad access. But, as I had been told, no toilet paper - you bring your own tissues, and drop them not in the toilet, but in the bucket on the floor.  Also, sink had both soap and hand sanitizer but a cloth towel.  We surmise that paper must be expensive?  Note - our hotels had the fanciest bidets I've ever seen - multiple wash options, blow dry, heat dry, and some other options I couldn't figure out - there were pics but even so.

While I'm thinking about the city, the sidewalk curbs are 6-8" high.  They have monsoons here, though not this year.

Back to arrival - quick snack of udon at airport, then caught bus to Daejeon.  Bus was quite luxurious - assigned seats, window curtains, and big comfortable seats.  It was dark, so I slept most of the 2 hour ride.  Dropped our bags at hotel, then went to Isabel's apartment.  It's one of the nicer expat apartments - small by American standards, but cute and comfortable.  She's in an older neighborhood, so lots of little businesses.

Exterior of her building - she's 2nd floor left 

She's fortunately only a 10 min. walk to her school, with lots of other teachers in the same neighborhood.

Exterior of her school building

She took us out to her local cafe for Korean BBQ.  Full on pork and garlic.

I had a great zucchini soup (in the black bowl - front left of pic), with rice that had small purple beans - no one has yet been able to say what the beans are - but they are yummy.  The cooking platter is slightly tipped to drain the grease into the silver bowl on the right.  At the top of the platter are strips of pork with cloves of garlic, and on the right of the platter is kimchi.  When you order a main dish in Korea, it comes with a 3-4 sides, always kimchi, often soup, and in this case, a salad that is the right foreground of pic.  In the back left of pic are various sauces - all of them SPICY HOT.

Back to Lotte City Hotel.  Isabel chose well for us - we are right on the Gapcheon River, and overlook the Convention Center, and the twin arches bridge. Hotel is luxurious - inexpensive by US standards ($100/night) but quite pricey for Asia.

There were charcoal air fresheners in room along with the fancy bidet.

Couldn't figure out all the controls :-(

You can google Daejeon - and find more.  It's a city of 1.5M, but with only 6,000 expats, almost all of them teachers.  There is tremendous pressure to ace 2 major exams, one at end of middle school to get in right high school, and another at end of high school to get into the right college.  Basically, if you don't get into the right schools, you become a factory worker.  Interestingly, there are no middle age workers in the stores - it's either a part time job for students, or the owners are staffing store.

According to Isabel's friends, the expat teachers have the lowest professional wages - they start at $2,000/month, but any other college educated person starts at $2,600/month.   If you are wondering how Isabel can live on that, she actually started higher, her housing is paid for, and her utility bill is about $4/month.  And food and transportation are super cheap. Our dinner tonight - 3 full meals, and 4 beers, was less than $30.  Cab rides seem to be about $3 to get to most parts of the city, while bus/subway day pass is $1.

More adventures tomorrow.