Seoul--Day 3

Breakfast then walked to the subway.  It was jammed pack full of people.  We were smashed in like sardines in a can.  I would hate to have to ride the subway everyday.  People were sleeping sitting down and standing up.  They must be use to this.  A couple different ladies rubbed Cameron's head and arm.  They must have thought he was cute. 

The Wallace's walking to the subway station.

A weird sculpture.

A lot of people ride the subway.

Squished and trying to hold on.

We were headed to Lotte World. It is an indoor/outdoor amusement park. Not too crowded first thing but it didn't take long. We immediately started outside. Cameron rode this big swinging, spinning ride twice. It made me feel sick watching it.

Doesn't he look thrilled in this picture?

Waiting for the gates to open.

Checking out the map.

Anybody notice Disney similarities?

It was pretty.

Cameron is on that round thing somewhere.

Safely back on land.

Ready for round two.

All strapped in and ready to go.

He hit the drop ride next. Spins as it goes up, stops, pauses, then drops straight back down. There was a whole lot of screaming coming from this ride. Next was the bungee drop ride. This one goes up, down, back up some, back down some. Pretty lame after the last ride.

Cameron is at the top getting ready to be dropped.

All strapped in.

Much calmer than the last ride.

Giant swings were next. Then an underground ride. We didn't think the line was long so we sent Cameron in by himself. Obviously there was a line underground because he didn't return for a half hour. When he did come out he wasn't smiling. He said it was not worth the wait...loud, dark, and not fun. We gave his fast pass away since he wouldn't ride it again.

Cameron is on the far left.

Cameron pointed this stand out.  Thinking of my friend Steph back home.

Boat ride was next. Comical. About 5 minutes long around a small body of water. We pulled back to the dock and Todd said "that's it?". Oh well. We were able to get a snack and have a drink and rest a bit. We went into a ghost house which ended up being the weirdest 3d movie ever.

On the boat.

The flowers were pretty to look at.

A look at Lotte World.

Love our shades.

Next we rode the monorail to the inside park. Much more crowded on the inside. Cameron rode a ride that just goes 365 degrees, a circle, which when he got of he said wasn't safe. When he was upside down he said he was off his seat and felt like he was going to fall out. Drama. No way he could get out of the seat. Todd and Cameron then went into a terror of doom. When they came out they we're both cracking up and Todd started filming 3 other boys with Cameron. They were up on a platform from me but I could see them.  When they came down I asked what the deal was. Todd said these boys were scared and were walking on the backs of his shoes and holding onto his shirt the whole time. The boys were still cracking up laughing when they got down to us and I took their picture with Cameron. They were cute and seemed to be having the time of their lives.

View from the monorail.

Another view.

Sorry expectant mothers and drunken elderly...you can't ride.

The "unsafe" ride.

Cameron looked like he was going to puke.

Scared friends.

Decided to leave the amusement park and get lunch. It is connected to a huge mall.  We went to TGIFridays because it sounded good. She told us it would be a 10 minute wait even though there were seats everywhere. Weird. While we waited we went to Toys R Us next door to look around. Oh how we have missed TRU. Back to Fridays to eat. We sat down to check out the menu. Holy cow was it expensive. It would have cost us almost $100 for lunch. We don't think so. We walked out.  The hostess looked at us like we were crazy.  Back to TRU to buy a Lego set. We found a Quiznos for lunch instead. Again my sandwich came wrong but I just took the two bottom buns off and made one sandwich. Again no problem.

How exciting.

They have vehicles at the end of each check out line.  Funny.

New Lego and Quizno's...life is good.

Back to the subway station to go back to the hotel. We had 24 stops before we got off. There was an older man sitting across from us.  First he took a toothpick and used it to pick his nose.  Oh my goodness.  He pulled it out and Cameron said "Oh, there is blood on the end of it."  Seriously.  The man put the toothpick back in his pocket.  A few minutes later he took it back out and started cleaning both ears with it.  I almost threw up.  A few minutes of that and he put the toothpick back in his pocket.  We didn't see the toothpick again.  We were grossed out.  Cameron fell asleep on my lap. When we woke him up I said "I thought you said this morning 'how could anyone ever fall asleep on this thing?' when you saw all the sleeping people". He smiled and said "I guess you can". Off at our stop then walked to the hotel.

He looks so comfy.

Cameron is holding up his side.

We dropped our stuff off in the room and went on the rooftop garden walk. Took some pictures and watched 5 army helicopters fly over. We then headed to a traditional market. Walked in and it was huge. Lots of stuff too. We continued walking through and I said "oh Cameron look at that". This is where it became VERY DISTURBING! Todd was filming until he was told he couldn't and luckily I didn't get a picture. What we saw will haunt us forever. Right in the middle of this market there was a guy taking the guts out of an animal. It was completely skinned with no head.  Gross! We couldn't tell what it was until we got closer. Cameron said "oh, what is that?  Is that a dog? That's a dog. Oh". Yes, it was a dog. Awwwww. I immediately felt sick. I really thought I was going to puke.  The next cooler case we saw had 2 dog bodies too. It was horrible, sick, and flat out wrong. We continued down the isles and didn't see anything else bad. But, we had to walk out the same way we walked in. Back past the dogs and more feeling sick. It took me a couple hours to get over it but now that I'm typing about it I feel sick all over again.  I just don't get these cultures.  We had heard they eat dog but we were skeptical.  Well, we can honestly say it is true.

Good kid.

The rooftop garden was pretty.

We both look goofy in this picture.

Our hotel is in the background.

Into the market we go.

Not sure what this is for or what it is made of.

A McDonald's Blizzard was needed.

Thought of my friend Megan in Colorado.  She sells Skinny Coffee.

Back to our hotel where we hung out for about an hour. Then headed to the lounge. We had some snacks and drinks and waited for Roubik. Our party was cancelled due to low interest but they took beer, cheese, crackers, and fruit to our room instead. We were just starting a new game of Skip Bo when we got word...Roubik is in the neighborhood. Todd ran downstairs to meet him. Cameron and I met them in the room. 

It was good to see him.  We sat around talking, eating, and drinking.  It was just like the old days.  Tons of laughs too.  We decided to go back to the Korean BBQ place we went to 2 nights ago for dinner.  The boys ordered Soju which is the Korean liquor.  In China it is Baijiu.  Both are very strong.  The Soju isn't as hard to drink though.  It tastes a little bit better.  It came in a beer bottle looking container and you drink it in shot glasses.  I only tasted it by sticking the tip of my finger in it.  I don't drink things like that.  Ick!  Dinner was great even though the lady thought we burnt our pork belly. 

Cameron was Todd and Jeff's butler.

Cheers. 

Enjoying a great dinner with a great guy.

Is anybody hot?

Cameron liked this funky card.

After dinner we went back to the room.  Roubik had a conference call from 10-11:30.  He sat in our hotel room while on it.  He was being goofy.  He put on the robe, tried to choke me with the belt (not really), and thought about whipping Todd's rear.  Cameron finally had to give in to exhaustion and fell asleep.  After his call we said goodbye. 

Getting ready to work.

Why is he trying to kill me?

Why is he a ninja now?

Todd walked with him to the subway station to make sure Roubik knew how to get back to Incheon which is about 45 minutes away.  It was great seeing Roubik.  Reminds us how much we miss seeing him.  What a great coincidence we were both in Korea at the same time.  Off to bed.

Seoul--Day 2

Breakfast and went down to meet our guide at 8:00. Found out it was 8:30 so we went to the underground shopping area even though the shops weren't open yet. Killed some time then headed back to the hotel.

Cameron was sleeping like a baby before I woke him up.

Outside our hotel.

Peacock?

We met Nikki, our guide, and a driver. We headed out for the day. First stop was Gyeongbok Palace. We saw where the king lived, where he did his business (not bathroom business), and where he slept. The buildings were neat and the gardens out back were really pretty.

Outside the palace.

We are ready to explore.

On palace grounds.

Our awesome guide, Nikki.

Part of the palace is behind us.

Neat palace.

A lot of neat sculptures and architecture throughout the grounds.

Beautiful gardens.

Nikki was full of information.

Arch to the gardens.

Next stop was The National Folk Museum, still inside the palace grounds. We rushed through this so we could get to the changing of the guards ceremony. What we did see of the museum was interesting. At the changing of the guards there were a lot of guys in their traditional outfits. Some played instruments and some carried flags. They marched around and ended up outside to stand guard. Once there they do not move. It was interesting.

The year of the horse statue.

Going in the museum.

Anxious to see what the museum is all about.

This is a real tree, turned upside down after it died, and then carved into a face.

The guards all dressed up.

Moving around the square.

Flag fliers.

Going out to their posts out front.

Next stop was the Ginseng Center. They showed us how Ginseng is grown. It takes 6 years to grow. At 6 years it has to be picked otherwise it becomes old and has no nutrient value. We then went in a room where they closed the door. They showed us different ways to take Ginseng and even did an experiment to prove its useful and helpful. Then here it came...the sales pitch. It was buy one get one free on boxes of Ginseng. No thanks. Back in the van Nikki was talking to us about some of the Korean beliefs with the use of food. Taking cold or hot "foods" help your body. Then she said "for example. If you have diarrhea bananas are good to eat to help that.  That is why I brought bananas today.". Cameron and I looked at each other as if to say--too much information lady.    We laughed about this later when we were back at the hotel.

N Seoul Tower was next. Our van drove us up the very steep hill to the top. We had 200 meters of hill we had to walk but we survived. We weren't sure about our guide. She said "boy, you walk fast". Up the tower to look around. Nice view. On the windows they are marked in the direction of different places like Chicago, South Pole, Shanghai, etc.  That's pretty cool.  Back down and to the van.

N Seoul Tower is pretty tall.

Awww.  Cameron wouldn't go to the Teddy Bear Museum...Thank goodness.

On our way to the tower.

So cute.

Seoul is packed with buildings.

Look really hard and you can see Chicago.

Looking down.  I'd hate to fall.

Back down the steep road.  It doesn't look it here but it was steep.

Cameron walked backwards like the Chinese like to do.
It works different muscles.

We rushed to our restaurant for lunch. It was a traditional Korean meal. There were about 20 different dishes. I ate exactly one thing...beef. The rest of it was non-edible in my opinion. The boys tried it all. The seaweed soup was by far the grossest looking. Green and stringy.  Yuck!  There was traditional Korean entertainment with music and dance too. However, the first song they played was the Titanic theme. We laughed at that.  When we got in the van even our guide made a joke about that.

The King on his thrown.

The food has arrived.

Tasting the porridge soup.

These were kind of like egg rolls.

The seaweed soup had chunks.  Cameron ate it.  It was shrimp.

Raw fish was a hit.

They were playing the Titanic theme.

His new best friends.

The King liked most of the food at the King's Cuisine.

Next stop was the Folk Village. It showed where and how Korean people lived. There were drum performances, taekwondo demonstrations, kite making, mask making, and spinning top making. Cameron made a top.  We watched the drummers for awhile and then checked out the village a bit more before heading out. 

We look cute in our Korean outfits.

Strong warrior.

Designing a top.

This nice man showed Cameron two different ways to spin his top.

The drum show was pretty cool.

Our guide new this lady so she gave Cameron a short demonstration.

Cameron liked the little Gatorade cans.  This is the size of their pop cans too.
About 2 sips for an adult.

Next stop was the Hon River Cruise. The river side is very neat. Lots of places to play, picnic, ride bikes, and obviously sleep. We got our tickets for what we thought was the 3:30 cruise. Our guide found out after we bought drinks and snacks for the cruise that we were cruising at 4:10 instead. No problem. Todd and Nikki hung out on a bench together while Cameron and I walked the river front checking it all out. Back to the boat where we boarded. Found seats on the upper deck. Sat for about the first 5 minutes then Cameron and I stood, then headed down to the first floor. Later Todd joined us. Nikki walked around. It was a great day to be on the river. There were crazy jet skiers around entertaining us.  Cameron was hoping he would get sprayed by one. Luckily that did not happen.  We docked around 5:30.

Taking a look at all the paddle boats.

Gold looking building was kind of neat.

All aboard.

Cameron went down below.

Enjoying a drink on the boat.

Nikki and Todd are in a deep conversation.

Neat.

Todd joined me on the bridge.

Then went down below with Cameron.

I love this kid.

This kids butt said Pluto.  The boys thought it would be funnier if it
said Uranus.

Cameron started sliding on this then others joined in.

Our tour was suppose to end but we made one last stop to the wholesale fish market. Huge place. Tons of seafood. We watched a couple fish lose their lives. They were chosen out of the tank and then they were either bashed with a bat or stabbed with a poky stick thing, put in a bag, then taken home by buyers.  Poor fish. Nikki couldn't believe how good the prices were. She's lived in Seoul for 20 years and she had never been to this market. She made a call to her husband and then bought a bagful of crabs. We are pretty sure she'll go back.

Right here it smelled of fish but inside it wasn't bad.

A ton of little "shops" selling seafood.

Cameron checking out the sea cucumbers.

These dried fish looked disgusting.

 Octopus...look how long the ones are on the right.

We thought the fish in the middle was saying "Nooooooo".

Jumping cones again.

Back to the hotel. The first thing I had to do was wash my feet and flip flops.  They smelled of fish really bad.  Walking around the market it was wet and gross.  I broke our rule l...never wear sandals to fish markets. 

We checked Facebook and good thing we did. We had a message from Jeff Roubik, Todd's college roommate. He said he was in Korea and then was headed to Shanghai. He was going to miss Beijing/Tianjin again. I sent him a message saying we were in Korea. He couldn't believe it. He was about 45 minutes from us. Todd finally went old school and called him. We decided he would come to our hotel tomorrow for our VIP party at the hotel. Yay!

We went to the mall to get dinner. We ate at a hamburger joint. They were good. Mine came with mustard so I had to wipe it off but no big deal. It is pretty hard to order in foreign countries. Back to the room and headed to bed.

Good, long day.