Annyeong-hi Gyesayo

I'm pretty sure that  means goodbye or "go in peace" in Korean, but then again there's a different goodbye for if you're leaving or staying and I did not commit to learning the language during our three years here.  Still, I put in a pretty solid effort at making best buddies, trying new foods, traveling around Asia, and being charmed by my surroundings.  It's been a wonderful and memorable three years, and now it's time to close this chapter of our lives (and this blog) and make our way back to the States.  Long lost family and friends, here we come!  Peace Out, Korea.

Sending our love to America on Independence Day.

Best Men

Andrew's BFF Matt came to Korea for a 12 day visit this month.  His timing was impeccable since we know as much as we'll ever know about Korea (we hope).  Matt was, as always, great company and he was genuinely fascinated by this crazy place.  Matt joined Andrew and I on most of our "victory lap" around SoKo.  We went to the beach; we hiked to Seoul tower; we went to a baseball game; we sang karaoke; we flew a Chinook (simulated); we stayed out til all hours of the night in Seoul; we ate everything imaginable.  Here are some photo highlights:

Are they coming toward us or going away?  At Mallipo Beach on Korea's West Coast.

The beach town has a carnival feel and a pirate ship!

Why our friends fly to Korea: to loiter outside of convenience stores for hours.

Seafood feast with a white glove to keep from burning his hand.

Boys sure love their fireworks!

Who can guess the genre of music?

All smiles after the Samsung Lions beat the Nexen Heroes in Seoul.

Hong Kong Part Deaux

Traveling to Hong Kong for the second time taught us the following valuable lessons:

Lesson 1: All cities should be visited more than once to give them a fair assessment. 

Too bad we’re leaving Korea this summer and our vacAsians will be very limited, for a while anyway.  Our “Hong Kong the Remix” trip this Memorial Day weekend was devoid of any tourist pressure and gave us the chance to experience the city in a very natural way (lazily).  On the previous visit we hit the tourist highlights and posed in front of the obligatory sights, and really enjoyed seeing the city.  But the trouble with a first visit is that there are always too many “must-sees” for the time available, and there’s a continual undercurrent of wonder whether we’re tasting the true flavor of the city. 

View of Hong Kong from the Star Ferry.

Lesson 2: Visit cities with a fun tour guide friend to show you around.

This time we revisited what we enjoyed (the double-decker tram, the harbor lit up at night) and leaned on Tasha, a friend who has lived in Hong Kong for a few months, to show us her favorite places.  Can't beat a buddy for a tour guide since she knows what we like and she's always great company.

Tasha and Chloe at the beach on HK island.

 Lesson 3: Eat and drink fabulously.

I’d be lying if I said we didn’t eat and drink to our stomachs’ content on every trip in Asia, but Hong Kong was pretty terrific.  Tasha is practically a professional happy hour attendee, a requirement in a city so expensive and pretentious in places.  And the mix of Eastern and Western foods can’t be beat.  One night we had $10 happy hour glasses of wine overlooking the Hong Kong harbor before going out to gritty street food on Temple Street where the servers used cardboard boxes instead of serving trays to carry the orders to our table.   

Happy Hour at dusk overlooking Hong Kong harbor.

Lesson 4: Take a hike.

Combining exercise with a sightseeing mission by hiking to the Big Buddha on Lantau Island was a brilliant choice.  Instead of riding the cable car up, we hiked the two hours to the top.  It was a rare opportunity and pleasure to be alone and in nature near such a gigantic city.  One drawback was that I was too sweaty to be photogenic once I got to the picture-worthy spots, but that means less time spent trying and failing to get that perfect shot. Can you see why the hike gets my glowing review?

The view near the end of the hike: cable car overhead and Big Buddha on the left.

Riding the cable car down.

(Obviously I played with photo editing software for these picture effects, just for something different.)

Good Fortune

Last weekend was our second annual Memorial Day Hong Kong trip.  We enjoyed it last year but left feeling unsatisfied as if we missed something, so we decided to go back this year and do some more exploring in search of the elusive "What makes Hong Kong Hong Kong?"  Since our last visit, our good friend Tasha moved from Seoul to Hong Kong so she was our tour guide and bar hopping coordinator.  Also visiting for the weekend was Tasha's Korean friend Chloe (her English name) from Seoul.

Chloe speaks English beautifully and we took advantage by asking her a gazillion questions about Korean culture, specifically about her new boyfriend.  Every answer inevitably led to another question, but after one revelation we were so shocked we had to linger on the topic for quite some time.  Here's the story:

Koreans observe strict filial obedience and seek their parents' permission for nearly everything.  One example is that Chloe is 30 with a good job and her own apartment (shared with her sister, but rare to be living away from her parents while unmarried), but her parents insist that she send her money home.  This isn't because they need financial assistance, rather it's because her parents want to ensure she's spending her money wisely and therefore they manage it for her.  Chloe had to ask for permission to go to Hong Kong, both for budgetary reasons and because it was a long way to travel.  So it's safe to assume that Chloe's parents have strict rules for dating, and sure enough they do, but it's not quite what you'd expect.  Most parents want to know the background and education of their daughter's prospect, but Chloe's mom went to the fortune teller to get the real story.  In fact, she went to three fortune tellers to be sure she was getting the right story, and Chloe's boyfriend's mom went too.  So after about a month of dating, six fortune tellers weighed in on their relationship and determined based on their birth dates, birth times and birth locations that they are an "okay" match.  Not written in the stars or damned as star-crossed lovers, just "okay."  Chloe and her boyfriend didn't attend any of these sessions, but they were beholden to the results, because they said if they got bad results then they would break up.  How very superstitious!  Chloe said she was extremely nervous beforehand because her older sister was in love with a man for half a year before her mom consulted the fortune tellers, but the readings were ominous so she had to break up with him anyway and is still lovesick over him.  Can you imagine?  Chloe says all couples she knows have been vetted by several fortune tellers and she offered to take Andrew and me to see our future.  Korean fortune tellers use a book of numbers based on birth dates and times so there are no tarot cards or palm reading.  I'm pretty curious….

To be honest, I think we learned more about Korea than Hong Kong on this trip, but it was a superb trip nonetheless.  Expect another post with HK photos in a few days….

AAAA Ball

We attended a military ball at the Hyatt in Seoul on Friday night.  Leave it to Korea: there was more traffic coming back at 1am than there was at 4pm on our way up there. Go figure!

Our friend Mark took and edited prom-style photos for us.  It's so handy to have a good photographer around to make us look glamorous!

 

Coffee

This week our great friends Kelli and Steve left Korea and it was really hard to say goodbye.  Farewells are an inevitable part of military life and I'm certain we'll keep in touch and vacation with them, but I don't do well with goodbyes and I tend to compartmentalize any sadness and just act awkward instead.  True to form, I won't reminisce in the blog about all the fun times we shared but rather allow myself to be distracted by something insignificant.

 

Kelli and Steve had the "Leaving Korea Fever" and were itching to get back to America.  I think that's a natural response after more than three years here and they've infected me with the bug too.  With less than 75 days left in Korea, I'm starting to get twinges of that familiar mix of oh-my-gosh-I'm-sick-of-this-place and wow-I'm-going-to-miss-this-so-much that I feel everytime before we move.  Topping the sick-of-this list are crazy drivers, living in a construction zone, and being out of touch with home.  Counterweights on the I'll-miss-this list are the friends we've made, public transportation, and the availability of coffee.

 

Growing up in the Northwest, I've certainly been indoctrinated into coffee culture.  But Korea takes it to a new level.  There are Starbucks here but they are vastly underrepresented in the coffee shop world.  Korea itself, a country of about 60 million people and the size of Indiana, has the following homegrown coffee chains: Holly's Coffee, Angel-In-Us, Beans Bins, Tom N Toms, Cafe Bene, NesCafe (an actual place)..... And a plentitude of mom and pop shops.  I've taken it upon myself to taste lattes from as many establishments as I can, and I find the results to be delicious. The menus consistently list a "banilla" latte that is very yummy.  The hours of these shops are unique to Korea though: good luck finding a coffee shop that opens before 10am or closes before midnight.  They're packed to the brim in the afternoons and evenings but they're ghosthouses in the mornings.  Even Starbucks has been affected: the Starbucks in the Pyeongtaek train station doesn't open until 10am so if you want coffee bright and early you have to go to Dunkin Donuts, a convenience store, or a coffee vending machine.

 

Convenience stores like 7-11s and Family Marts all have a full wall dedicated to coffee. Yes, there's freshly brewed but more popular are the premixed instant coffee sticks or the pre-packed ramen-like cups that just need hot water added.  My favorite is choosing a pack of liquid that gets poured over a readymade plastic cup of ice with a lid to create my own iced latte in two seconds. 

 

As if those options weren't convenient enough, there are coffee coin vending machines absolutely everywhere.  Every restaurant has complimentary coffee machines (in small dixie cups) for on your way out the door and all train and subway stations have a ton as well.  In fact, I'd be surprised if you could find an elevator lobby in an office building that doesn't have a coffee vending machine.

 

I tried to do a mental count of the number of coffee opportunities I would pass each morning when I commuted to Seoul for work by train (as I did for a few month stretch).  I stopped counting at 20 because I wasn't even in the Seoul subway yet.  It's no wonder that South Koreans have the world's lowest average number of hours slept per night- too much coffee!

 

Circling back to Kelli and Steve, I have to mention the Maxim instant coffee sticks.  These things are all the rage- there must be crack in the powdery mix.  My Korean coworkers probably drink about five apiece each day, and Kelli's parents got hooked during their visit last year. So hooked in fact that they bought a suitcase during their visit to take home filled with only Maxim coffee sticks!  I've agreed to be their supplier, and I'll send a box to anyone who's interested in starting a new addiction....

Korean Wedding 2

In December 2009 we attended a Korean wedding in Seoul and it was a very unique glimpse into the normal lives of Koreans, so when my coworker was getting married this Spring I did my best to score an invite.

My coworker Johnny is ethnically Korean but born and raised in the States.  He moved here a few years ago and started dating Korean women, and I learned a lot about Korean women from his stories and solicitations of relationship advice.  Weddings can be stressful when two Americans tie the knot, so to have two cultures intermingled made this one a little more complicated.

Andrew and I attended their wedding on Easter Sunday afternoon in a wedding hall in a neighboring town.  Wedding halls in Korea are full-package deals for the ceremony and reception and they have multiple weddings going on at the same time in different rooms.  The wedding we attended was at 2pm but the next one was scheduled for 4pm so it was a quick event.

I won't bore you with the details since I've already written about a Korean wedding, but here are some parts of the experience I thought were worth sharing:

• When we arrived at the wedding hall, we showed our invitation and were given two meal tickets.  We could choose to eat at the buffet before, during, or after the ceremony we were invited to attend.  That meant we were eating with the guests of many different weddings.
• For the ceremony, the guests were seated in round tables in the ceremony room.  Most shocking to me was how the guests were using the ceremony as a social hour: coming in and out, greeting one another and talking, or playing on smartphones.  It seemed that no one was paying attention!
• All the wedding photos were taken in a studio a few months ago and on display in the reception hall.  Both Johnny and his wife were wearing different tuxes/gowns in the pictures than they had on that day and Johnny was wearing different glasses.  He had told me that the wedding photographers were very restrictive in the pictures and they waxed his eyebrows beforehand and even told him which faces to make for the silly pictures.  The pictures turned out stunning, but I'm afraid they didn't capture his personality very well.  Maybe if Andrew loses a bet I'll make him take Korean wedding photos with me just for the bizarre experience of it.

Cheers to Johnny and Jennifer! 

(Side note: Johnny chose the English name Jennifer for his wife and he calls her that.  He says it was because her hair reminded him of Jennifer Anniston, and he also named her Korean friends after famous celebrities in the States. I feel sorry for the woman he named Charlize....)

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

To celebrate Andrew's birthday, we got tickets to the opening day game of the Korea Baseball League: the Doosan Bears versus the Nexen Heroes.

The game played on the field was very recognizable but the stadium experience had some unexpected aspects.  A few highlights of how the Korean baseball culture is different than America's pasttime:

• Team names come from corporate sponsors instead of cities.  I think you'd recognize some of the big Korean conglomorates: Hyundai Unicorns, Kia Tigers, and Samsung Lions.
• Concession stands were standard fast food restaurants and convenience stores rather than vendors specific to the stadium.  There were KFC, Dominos, and Dunkin' Donuts and each sold a special game pack of food.  The best part was that prices were the same as anyplace in Korea, so the cans of beer we bought from the convenience store were regular 7-11 prices.  Nice!
• Each team has cheerleaders who lead the fans in choroeographed cheers/dances during the game. They only cheer while their own team is up to bat.  My favorite was the head male cheerleader who wore white gloves and used a whistle to keep the beat.
• I saw four players slide head-first into first base. Isn't that very rare in MLB?

We had a wonderful day out in the sunshine with friends.  Great celebration!

Jamsil Stadium.

An ajumma (Korean auntie) selling Korean snacks and bevs.

Dunkin' Donuts stadium snackpack had donuts and blankets.

Burger King's fare.

COL Sanders is waaaay cuter than Ronald McDonald.

Getting ready for the first pitch.

I didn't get a decent picture of the cheerleaders but they're standing on the blue platform.

The beer vendor. Great beer backpack!

Eating our stadium snack of choice: Dominos Pizza.

The MVPs after the game.

This looks just like where you'd go in the States after the game for a beer, right?

Bali Part III- Ubud

Already it sounds like I'm writing advertisements for the Bali Tourism Board, but wait until I get started about how incredible Ubud was.  I can't write enough glowing reviews of Ubud.

Ubud is inland on Bali and was made famous by the book and movie, "Eat, Pray, Love."  It's a small, charming town surrounded by rice terraces and farms.  The hotels are spread out and it seems each one has a world-class restaurant and spa. 

Hindu offerings overlooking a valley of palm trees and rice terraces.

Our original hotel reservation fell through at the last minute, but we're glad it did because Andrew found an incredible substitute: The Junjungan.  The delightfully decorated rooms were huge with balconies looking over the rice terraces, but of course the way to my heart is through my stomach.  The free breakfast had a selection of eleven gourmet options and the afternoon tea/coffee with decadent dessert was divine.  No surprise here: we planned our daily sightseeing itineraries around the afternoon tea!  One day while I napped, Andrew got a two hour chocolate and avocado massage at the hotel.  He smelled amazing afterwards.

The door to our hotel room.

Such a serene and peaceful view.

Consistent with the favorite mode of transportation in our Asia travels, we rented scooters in Ubud too.  For $5 a day, how could we not?

Gassing Up.

Can't beat the views while scootin'.

First scooter stop was the Monkey Forest.  We had been warned to not bring in food because the monkeys will climb all over you to get it.  Unfortunately, most other tourists didn't heed the advice and bought bunches of bananas to feed the monkeys who learned quickly that the majority of tourists bring in treats for them.  I spent the whole time treading carefully and watching my back so no monkeys would touch me.  I felt like we were all Dennis Nedry in Jurassic Park: those critters are cute but they can gang up and turn on you!  Mark was sitting for a moment to get a good photo angle when a little monkey climbed up and sat on him.... and peed on his shoulder.  Marking his territory!  (pun intended)

Mark made a buddy!

The stone statues in the Monkey Forest were pretty cool to see, but even better when used as a monkey perch.

How adorable is the baby monkey?

A safe distance from the monkeys, but I still booked it out of there after the photo was taken!

Another stop we made in Ubud was to a newly famous health clinic, the CNN Hero of the Year for 2011 Ibu Robin and her women's health clinic that provides midwifery services.  Poor Indonesian women who deliver at the hospital aren't allowed to take their babies home until they can pay the full hospital bill, so this clinic provides a safe alternative and a very welcoming environment.  It was a fascinating tour to a very worthwhile cause, and Jess was especially happy to be a visitor instead of a patient!

The clinic's sign and logo.

Way to go, Rotary, donating an ambulance!

One morning our American-ness got the better of us so we went to Starbucks for coffee.  Check out these surroundings!  This has to be the most scenic of all Starbucks worldwide.

Beautiful temple and lotus garden.

Same beautiful temple and lotus garden, viewed from Starbucks.

True to form we enjoyed the food at plenty of restaurants and scouted out the markets for good deals, but my favorite spot (besides our hotel) in Ubud was a temple about 15 minutes North of the town named the Gunung Kawi Water Temple.

Read entrance rule number one.

Sprinkling myself with holy water before entering.

Andrew looks nice in a sarong, doesn't he?

The official last stop on our visit was the surfing town of Kuta, but Kuta was a disappointment after the first three incredible Bali destinations.  We had rainy and stormy weather that kept us off the beach and by Day 12 of our vacation we were ready to go home to Korea.  So Kuta doesn't get a separate blog post but I look forward to going back someday and giving Kuta the chance to redeem itself.

All together, Bali was an exquisite vacation destination.  I can't wait to go back and in the meantime I hope I've convinced you guys to visit so I can live vicariously through you.  Or better yet, let's go together!

Bali Part II- Gili Trawangan

Gili Trawangan, or Gili "T" for short, was our next stop for three nights.  The three tiny Gili islands are to Bali's northeast and are closer to Bali's Muslim neighbor, Lombok.  There is no motorized transport on the Gili islands and the vibe is very relaxed.  It's the sort of island made for sleeping in, leisurely meals, taking a dip in the ocean at any time, and enjoying a good book.  The soundtrack of the restaurants on the island included Bob Marley, Jack Johnson, and (surprisingly) Tracy Chapman.

The boys scuba dived and we did a lot of wandering the sandy path around the island.  One day we took the local ferry to Gili Air, an even quieter island, where we continued the theme of relaxing and also snorkeled where we saw two sea turtles. 

Andrew and I rented bikes to make a sunset lap around the island but great happy hour deals kept beckoning us to stop in for a drink so it took a few hours to make the complete lap.  It didn't help that some parts of the path were too sandy for me to ride.  I have trouble on a stationary bike so steering and pedaling through sand after a cocktail wasn't a pretty picture.  But Andrew sure got a good laugh!  I pray all video evidence is destroyed....

Sadly, Gili "T" made us feel old. There are big island parties three times a week and we were asleep well before they even began. There were signs for magic mushroom shakes and some locals tried to sell pot to Jess, who was six months pregnant at the time. But keeping drastically different hours than the other tourists and patronizing the less sleezy establishments meant we seemingly had the island to ourselves for much of the time.  So peaceful!

Our bungalow. Inspired me to hang a hammock on our deck this summer.

The front view of our hotel and bar.

View across to the other Gili Islands.

Walk, bike, or horse drawn "carriage" were the only transport options on the sandy beach path.

The most people we saw on the island at once.  Beautiful water!

Andrew climbing up to our happy hour treehouse.

Watching surfers from the happy hour treehouse while drinking mojitos.

Waiting for sunset. 

My favorite picture from Gili T. I love the chickens in the background too.