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.