Why we're here

Keeping in mind that this little guy is the reason we ever came here in the first place, and the main reason we came back to see it again. With the typhoon season right on top of us, Michael's only really had two chances to do much of anything outside. It's early in the trip, though, and we are promised a beautiful day on Saturday.

Meanwhile, here's The Dude taking in his first few days in Seoul. (click on any photo to enlarge)
This is a beautiful public area we walked to called Gwanghwamun Citizen’s Open Yard, just south of the original Main Gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace.


Michael's favorite attraction at the Citizen's Yard is the koi pond. Or "giant goldfish" as he and Belinda call them.

Sometime I'll take a snapshot of that stone book & do some online translating.

The center of the citizen's yard is a gorgeous set of water gardens.
The hotel has some awesome chess tables. Michael beat me yesterday.


Ironically, the only day we could get in the hot tub was too hot to be in there for long. The regular pool a few feet away was icy cold from all the rain.

Back to Gwanghwamun Citizen's Yard the next day after Belinda got back from teaching.

The tall building across the street (west) is the Central Government Complex. Just to the south of us is the US Embassy.
Main Gate (Gwanghwamun) of Gyeongbokgung Palace.

Location:Jongno 1(il).2(i).3(sam).4(sa),Seoul,South Korea

Lotte Mart!

A treat from the university yesterday was a guided group trip to "Lotte Mart", which is Korea's answer to Super Walmart. Try to picture going through a Super Walmart with no norms about passing or blocking aisles, and no compunction against crashing into one another, and you almost have the intensity of a Lotte Mart experience. Still not quite to the militancy level of a Whole Foods trip, granted, and the Korean labels were honestly not much tougher to decipher.
The most poignant moment for me personally was as I was checking out and realized that, not only were my groceries not going into bags, but there were no bags at the checkout at all. Rather, everyone around me was putting their stuff back into their carts and proceeding to a "self service packaging station" that included stacks and stacks of broken down stock boxes and rolls of packaging tape!
I learned a few minutes later that other checkers would offer pretty pink grocery bags, but for a price, and so I guess I did okay, given that I am cheap. The California Pak n Saves have the right idea making you bag your own groceries, but I bet they could go a step further with the stock box model.
Needless to say, despite being served an incorrect burger afterward (call 911!) and a watermelon-related near fatality this morning, the grocery excursion was an acceptable success, and our fridge is full. Sorry that no pictures came from it. They'd have all been blurry anyway.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Jongno 1(il).2(i).3(sam).4(sa),Seoul,South Korea

The Air Travel Whiz Kid

I've got to briefly acknowledge an accomplishment that we still don't quite fathom. Yesterday, we witnessed a bit of logistics wizardry by Jim McDonald (Belinda's dad), who somehow adjusted his own flight itinerary to overlap his Atlanta layover with us, and then proceeded to spot us in the enormous terminal. Since 1998, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport has been THE WORLD's busiest passenger airport in terms of both enplanements (boardings) and total passengers, and he seriously owns the place. Even as you chalk it up to just good planning, it's still pretty mindblowing.
However he did it, the end result included my first trip inside a SkyClub. Did you know about these? Behind that unceremonious looking door is tantamount to a 5-star convention hotel lobby, only with quiet zones and free everything.
Thanks Jim. That free bourbon soda was a definite trip highlight. :)

Made it!

We are settled and unpacked. Somehow, the long flight was a bit more relaxed than last time... Perhaps because we flew up through the arctic circle, making things a bit more chill. Or maybe because our baby is now 6 and actually knows who we are this time.
So, let's jump ahead a sec and talk about how AWESOME this hotel is. Where to begin...





The intake desk handled three disheveled zombies quite gracefully. It was 1730 Friday here, but 0330 to our bodies. That's about the point where I become a reptile and need a heat rock, or at least a 45 minute hot shower. They had one of the two in our apartment.





Oooooh...





Aaahhhhh...





Awwww.

I have no memory of our arrival at this point, except that our shuttle driver had put up a sign with Belinda's name outside customs. Cool! Otherwise, I can only draw from some pics I snapped on the drive over from the Incheon airport that the most interesting things we passed were a few bridges and this curious object. Any help on what this is supposed to be?

















- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Gyeonji-dong,Seoul,South Korea