A day exploring museums in Seoul

After JM's visit to the dentist, we decided to tour some museums in Seoul. We had taken an early train in and booked the last train back to Cheonan.

The first stop was the National Museum of Korea. There were many ancient artifacts, including rock tools and jewelery made of jade, and even old graves and bones. JM really liked the paintings. With free entry, you can't go wrong!

JM with some roof tiles

A really old compass

Room dividers that we want in our apartment

Next, we headed off to the war memorial of Korea. Not just a memorial, but a full museum, we were pleasantly surprised with all the information about Korean history and the full sized replicas of the turtle boats. Turtle boats were used to defend against the Japanese invasion in the 1590s. Admiral Yi Sun Shin was in charge of these boats and even though he was severely outnumbered, his men won the battle of the sea because of the innovative design of the boats. Outside of the museum was a display with fighter jets and tanks, many of which were open for the public, especially children, to climb aboard.

Panoramic view of the front of the war memorial

Turtle Boat

JM hanging onto a rock

We then went to Itaewon to try a new taco place, Vatos, for dinner. While we had to wait 2 hours to get a table (we headed back to the Canadian bar for some cider to pass the time), the tacos were quite delicious. Next time we'll make sure to come on the off hour or for lunch.

We finished our day with a trip to the Lotte Mart right near Seoul station. We were in search of some padding for the spare bed before JM's parents arrive in 2 weeks. We did not find what we were looking for, but, quite fortunately, we did find the massage chair section. With 30 minutes to kill before the train, JM and I took full advantage of some expensive chairs. he he.

Adios amigos, until next time ...

Jennika

Ultimate Frisbee Weekend in Taiwan

In November, I had read a post on the Korean Frisbee FB group about needing some girls for a team playing in a tournament in Taiwan. I messaged a few people and before I knew it, I had booked my flight and was leaving in a week and a half!

The tournament was Saturday, December 1st and Sunday, December 2nd in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Luckily, Taipei is only about a 2 hour 50 minute flight from Seoul. Unfortunately, Taipei is also very unpredictable weather wise, and we ended up playing on a rainy, cold weekend. Because we were playing frisbee for the most part, I didn't get to see too much of Taipei. I did manage to get to the National Palace Museum for a few hours and saw all these old artifacts (pottery, brass cauldrons, jade and wood carvings, and paintings) from different Chinese dynasties up to 5000 years ago. They were breathtaking. And of course, I met some great new international friends. The tournament itself was a bust - no points for me and no wins for our Renegade team, but we had fun and got reeeeeal dirty.

Entrance to the National Palace Museum. Sadly, I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside.

Statue at the museum

There was a lovely teahouse on the top floor of the museum where I enjoyed some hot chicken ginseng soup, a cup of tea and pineapple cake, a delicious traditional dessert

I created a panoramic of the stadium we played in for the tournament. By the end of Day 1 the fields were a mess.

We had to find new fields to play on for Day 2, but by the end of that day the new fields were also destroyed.
This is a picture of our Renegade team.

Making my way home from Taiwan:

I feel like such a jet setter when I can say 'oh I went to Taiwan for the weekend'. But it was also a learning experience for future travel. My Sunday night flight back to Seoul landed just before 10:30pm. I booted it through immigration and customs to catch the next bus home. Little did I know, the buses to Cheonan stopped running after 9pm. So did the trains. My only hope was to catch the next subway alllll the way to downtown Seoul (an hour ride) and then take the longggg subway ride home to Cheonan (another 2 hours). While on the subway, the guy next to me brought up the fact that the subway stops operating after 12:30am. Panicking, I checked my handy subway app and, horrifically, he was right. After 2 hours of travel, I was only going to make it to Suwon, still about 45 minutes away from Cheonan. Frantically, I got off the subway at the next stop and ran to the taxi stand. I handed them all my money and begged one of them to drive me the 90km home. One of them agreed, it cost me a pretty penny, and he drove at speeds up to 164km/h while I was curled up, holding on for dear life in the back seat. I arrived at my apartment at nearly 1am. I chose such drastic measures because not only did I work the next morning, but I hadn't slept much on the weekend and could feel myself getting sicker by the moment. I have now been fighting a nasty cold all week. Playing in the rain in Taiwan probably didn't help the sickness, but it sure was an experience!

Jennika

Walking Downtown

It is freaking hot here, but I try to go out at least once a day so that I don’t become a hermit. I sleep about four hours at night and mid afternoon (to beat the heat). The buildings are covered in banners explaining what is going on inside but I can’t read korean yet. There are two things I’ve liked on my walks. First, there is a river that goes through Shinbu-dong with a nice walkway. Secondly, downtown near a art museum there are some fantastic sculptures. 

The river.

He looks dashing!

That is all. 

JaM’s