happy new year! this is a shitty post, cause 1: we’re drunk 2: happy new year 3:Shawn just lost his wallet in a taxi. all good, cause at least a woman is in charge of the passports and money, LOL
Monthly Archives: December 2017
Museum, Street Food, Bowling
Hola folks. Spent a big portion of the day visiting the Korea War Memorial Museum. It was really good with a bunch of restored planes/tanks/ships on the outside, then informative and interactive exhibits on the inside. Plus they had a cinema playing a free Movie (English Subtitles). The pollution was bad here today, some of the worst I’ve seen besides Beijing. But most of the pollution IS coming from China, ugh.
Statue of Brothers.
This is a memorial of two brothers who were fighting on the opposite sides, and happened to meet on the battlefield. (true story). Read more here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Brothers
B52 Bomber.
Truck/Tank combo
Replica of old Korean naval war boat
Side view of the armored “Turtle Boat”
Afterwards, decided to head back to the Namdaemun Market (a street market dating back to 1414) and eat from the vendor stalls for dinner; then do some more shopping. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namdaemun_Market One of the nearby shopping centers had an awesome light show going on.
Assortment of things wrapped in dough and fried. My favorite was the spicy seafood one.
Some delicious omelet thing with meat, onions, cabbage, and sauce.
We’ll try a lot of things, but “Roast Lobster with Cheese”… ewwwwww
If it wasn’t $15, we may have given it a taste test just to do it.
And then it started raining.. ugh. What to do? Go bowling!! It was a blast, except it’s ONLY bowling. There are no nachos, hotdogs, or beer to enjoy. People just bowled and left, it’s not a “hang out” place like we have at home. Shawn beat me 2/3, and there were some interesting house balls available for use.
Weird bowling ball #1. WTF?
Interesting bowling ball #2
Nothing better than bowling, on a cold/rainy Saturday night!
Heading back to the subway station, we ended up on “Cartoon Street”. Kinda weird, but it’s ligned with a bunch of cartoon statues everywhere.
“Cartoon Road” with a bunch of crazy fun stuff everywhere
Back to the room with our Soju Bombs and weird snacks for the evening.
tonight’s snack chips. “Tomato & Shrimp”.. and “Chocolate & Shrimp”
Not sure about either of them, but we shall see….
Walking, shopping, walking, eating, walking, drinking, more walking….
You get the point, it was 9 miles of strolling today according to the pedometer. We originally headed out to do an “easy” hike to a temple, but when we saw people coming down the mountain in full-gear (boots, hiking poles, and large backpacks), we decided we probably weren’t equipped to deal with the snowy mountain conditions. Just decided to roam instead. So more awesome shopping and food, and the tech makes it so easy! Also, Shawn broke down and bought some “smart phone” gloves like mine, cause it’s too cold to take them off!
Snowy mountains, but hard to see from the pollution/smog from China.
My latte comes in a cute cup!
Shawn was too scared to use the river crossing. Not sure why, it’s only 30 degrees here today. It’d just be a bit cold if he fell in
“Chicken & Beer”.. it’s a thing here. Really really big fad. There are “chicken-n-beer” places everywhere!
Gotta love the future!
Looking at a picture menu and pointing works most of the time for ordering food. But what to do when it’s just a bunch of chicken, and you don’t know the flavor? Use Google-Translate, and bam!! It will translate anything you point your phone at. Here’s a vid showing it deciphering a Korean menu.
Soju Bombs away
We found a waterfall in Korea!
Kinda freaked out, until we realized it’s the symbol for “temple” here.
Ahh.. this is the way to the temple we’re looking for.
Finally, found a selfie stick to buy
Selfie, waiting for our next subway train. Shawn is finally over the walking.;-)
Cat Cafes and a Cooking Class
Took the day easy, and had a relaxing time. Korea has a bunch of themed cafes everywhere, especially with animals.
There are cafes to play with cats,dogs, goats, and reptiles! Enjoyed a cat-cafe, then went to a private cooking class. We’ll have to have a dinner party when we get back!
Ended up buying some new gloves that let you use your smartphone with them on. Awesome!
Cat Cafe!! Missing my kitties at home, no problem. Stop at a cat cafe to sip coffee and chill with a bunch of cool cats.
Picking out our ingredients at the street market
So many delicious kinds of kimchi to pick from at the street market
Shawn da Chef, in his cute kitty apron.
Prepping the stock for the stew
Prepping the bulgogi marinade
Getting ready to eat!
Blury selfie, eating the stew
Bibimbap is done. Cant’ wait to eat it
Sundubu Jjigai (Spicy Stew) was delicious!!
Bibimbop was delicious!
Bulgogi, my favorite!!
A Korean, some Americans, a Pakistani, and an Indian walked in to a bar….
Guess what happened? Awesome times!! Remember folks, we’re all just human. Everyone loves good times, good food, and good company.
Today we lounged, went to the Korean National Museum, and went on a food/drinks tour.
Brunch!! Kimchi Fried Rice, Fish Pancake, and a Bento
Fish Pancake on a Stick. YES!!
Korean National Museum
Four story pagoda carving!
ZEN! try it
Museums are awesome. Visit them everywhere and donate!
Still on the 1st floor, at least we can come back tomorrow to see more.
Museum is over, time for our Food/Drinks tour. Our guide “T” was great, and our traveling companions for the evening were awesome too!!
Our awesome host for the evening “T”, getting our Korean BBQ ready
Eating Korean BBQ… drooooollllll
No, it’s not daylight. The lights of Hapjeong are just that bright. Also made some new friends for life!
More Seafood n Noodles. Delicious!
Bar 2, tasting 5 types of rice wine. And yes, we split all of these amongst the group.
14 inch seafood potato pancake. Yummy, and it soaks up the rice wine.
Yikes.. Let the Korean drinking games begin. Our host “T” starts us off with something fancy…
Next trick, I nail it first… (Sorry Tiki Lounge and LAB, we’re bringing these home)
Shawn get’s it next..
Our new friend “Vibes” is up to the challenge.
Ok, time for more amazing food!
Seafood, seafood, seafood, and something tasty
Ruh Roh Raggy…. the subway just closed. Oh…. guess we’ll keep going Round-the-World-in-Beer, and wait for a taxi.
Yeah… Ummmmm… Wellllll… Okkkkk… I got nothing to say about this. 😛
Love Engrish..
This is a single stall bathroom at a restaurant. The only thing I can figure is it means “Hay dudes, don’t piss everywhere cause your fellow guy may have to clean it up”
Peace and Love!!
North Korea, Gangnam Style
Took the DMZ tour today, and got to gaze in to North Korea. Unfortunately the JSA was closed today (where you can step foot in to NK in a joint conference room), but had a good time and very clear views to look at the sites through scopes. Afterwards, went and checked out the Gangnam district made famous by everyone’s favorite song/video “Gangnam Style” (go ahead, click the link!)
Holy Shit… our first glimpse of NK across the river, taken from the tour bus.
Thomas the Tank’s sad cousin. (Last train to leave the DPRK for Seoul, and was heavily damaged by munitions)
Freedom Bridge between North and South. Someday they hope it will be open between both countries.
Oddly, there is a janky amusement park at this site too. Just where I’d want to spend my summer days….. :/
Prayer ribbons by the Freedom Bridge. Tokens from people hoping for the safe reunification of their loved ones in NK.
Wow, a bit more touristy here than I’d thought…..
This stop had a museum and we also got to go explore in to the “3rd Entrance Tunnel” that was dug by NK trying to infiltrate.
This could be anywhere in the world, but holy shit it’s North Korea!! yikes
Hard to see in the pics (but amazing through the binoculars behind us). Dora Observatory overlooking North Korea. We could see the fake propaganda town very close, and also the town of Kaesong (real town) in the distance. Fucking crazy!
Sorry Mainland folks, only the Hawaii people will get to take a taste of “Uncle Kim’s finest Alcohol”
Yes, this is some kind of mystery-liquor brewed in North Korea, and can only be purchased at the DMZ.
Oh shit, we drank too much of Uncle Kim’s brew, and bought train tickets to Pyongyang, NK….
Nah, this is Dorasan Station. A new rail station at the boarder that is connected to North Korea again, not in use but they hope it will be one day.
After the tour, decided to check out Gangnam. And damn, it’s fucking freezing here by the way so we didn’t do much outside. Basically shopped and hopped around to different bars/cafes.
You know you have the song running through your head now, muahahahahaha.
Ummmm… I can’t get Shawn to stop dancing. LOL
Spicy Ramen with Quail Egg. Perfect to warm up on a freezing evening.
Wonton Ramen, delicious!
Looking for a place to get a beer in Gangnam.
Beer/Cocktails, nice end to a long awesome day.
Merry Christmas (updated)
Made it safe n sound, slept well, and went exploring. Tomorrow we’re going to do a tour to the DMZ on the north korean boarder, so stay tuned for that exciting update.
So far today, just breakfast of spicy kimchi noodles, yummy!
breakfast of champions
gobble gobble
Stopping at a coffee shop for coffee and wifi. Decided to try the “Squid Black Ink &, Cheese Bread” Delicious!
don’t be scared
Aloha!
funky xmas tree
2018 Winter Olympics mascots
2018 Winter Olympics countdown
brother from another mother
Deoksugung Palace
Deoksugung Palace
Deoksugung Palace
Random meat on a stick. Woof, meow.
Merry Christmas
Ending the evening with delicious beer and snacks in the room.
Yummmmmmm!!!! Why can’t we get chips like this in the USA?
Business as usual….(and I ain’t talking about our seats)
Thanks to TBone’s Mario Andretti skills, we (barely) made it on our flight to Ohau. Wasn’t really worried, cause our flight to Korea is delayed a bit, so we could’ve gotten the next hopper.
on the way to Honolulu
Now our flight is delayed 3 hours, it was late coming from Seoul because of fog. Luckily we have access to the lounge with free drinks, snacks, and internet. woot! We’ll be taking off at 4:40pm HST. Hopefully the free wine helps us to sleep the whole way, lol.
Honolulu lounge is rocking
Finally, wheels up fo Seoul. Thanks for following, and Stay tuned!
Kimchi bound
Korea!!!
We’ll be going to South Korea from December 23 – Jan 1, please stay tuned for daily updates. We love comments!
lf you haven’t commented before, all we have to do is approve the first one, and the rest will auto post. Aloha!