Family Visit Itinerary

As some of you may or may not already know, my mom, dad and brother will be visiting me for the holidays! They arrive in less than four days now! I am so excited to have them here and can't wait to do some new travel and exploring with them. What a Merry Christmas it will be!


Tuesday December 21 - Wednesday December 22

Departure:
Los Angeles(LAX) to Tokyo(NRT)12/21/10 10:10 AM - 3:10 PM
Tokyo(NRT) to Seoul(ICN)12/22/10 5:00 PM - 7:40 PM

Wednesday night I will travel from Wonju to Incheon International Airport by bus to pick up Mom, Dad and Scott. They will have traveled one day into the future and most likely will have been moving and "awake" for over 24 hours. After an dramatic and emotional greeting (or maybe sluggish and fatigued?) we'll grab some food and hop on a bus back to Wonju. The bus should take 2 hours. After a long night we'll all settle into my apartment for sleep. 

Thursday December 23

I'll get up at my usual time and head to Sangji Girls Middle School for work. My family can sleep (try to sleep? Hopefully jet lag won't get them too bad, your body will want to wake up in the wee hours of the morning) and relax in the morning, maybe take a walk if they want. At lunch time I'll come get them and we can all go over to Sangji together. Then they can see the school, meet my coworkers and see some of the students. We will be sure to sample the local snacks at the Croquette Sandwich Shop, dumpling shop and cookie "fish" pastry stand. For dinner we'll have 슨두 부 (sun du bu), my favorite Korean tofu soup! Depending on how everyone feels we can also walk to Lotte Cinema to look at some shops and grab some dessert. 

Friday December 24 - Saturday December 25

In whatever way the feeling of the days dictate. 

Things to make sure we see in Wonju: 

- Central Market, Bica Cafe

- View of Wonju from the side of the mountains, cute coffee shops

- Lotte Cinema

- Sauna 

- Bus Terminal 

- Sam gip sal 

-  칼 국 수 (kal guk su) 

- duck 

- mr. pizza 

- shabu shabu

- dak gal bi (닭갈비)

- galbi

- norebang (노래방)

- Trout Fishing Festival 

We will have a nice dinner either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. We will open presents and celebrate being together! Merry Christmas! 

Sunday December 26

We will get up early and catch a bus to Gangneung, a coastal town about 1 1/2 away from Wonju. There we will take a local bus to Jumunjin Harbor and fish market. After that we'll head up coast to Naksansa Temple and the Uisangdae Pavilion. The day will be complete with a trip over to Seoraksan National Park. There we will ride the cable car to the top of the mountain to see the view as well as take in the giant buddha at Sinheungsa Temple. This long day will conclude with a bus ride back to Wonju for some sleep.  

Monday December 27 - Wednesday December 29

Travel to Seoul

Things to see in Seoul:

Gyeongbok Palace

Itaewon

War Memorial Museum

Myeong-dong

Insa-dong

Bukchon Hanok Village

Seoul Fortress

Hongdae

National Museum of Korea (at night) 

Seoul Tower and Namsan Park

Coex or Samsung or Hyundai Dept Store

Thursday December 30

Departure :(

Field Trip and Outlet Mall Shopping

Last week all the native English teachers of Wonju were taken on a (mandatory) field trip. We got to miss school for this and it ate away part of our weekend. A bus of 40 of us, plus about six Korean coteachers, traveled down south to Gyeongju. There we saw the anicent mounded tombs of the Kings of the Silla dynasty. We also got to do some hangji paper crafts. (Although our Korean instructors kept taking the crafts away from us as if we weren't doing it correctly, I felt like I was the kind in first grade who is bad at art and their teachers wants them to know it.) On the second day we go to see a famous old buddha statue and some temples. After that we headed down to an island that is south of Busan. There we took an exciting ferry trip to a botanical garden and saw these huge, impressive rock cliffs that composed the smaller islands in the area. There was a definite (and appreciated) temperature change between the snow in Wonju and the bright plants growing on the island! We didn't want to leave!

One of the "highlights" of the trip was our loding for the first night. All off our meals and lodgings were paid for by the Wonju Office of Education, which was ridiculously nice of them. The first night though, our bus pulls up in front of some traditional looking Korean homes. The owners come out to greet us and we realize we are staying there. Thinking there must be more to the complex than we initially saw no one is concerned. Until we realize that all 40 of us will be staying in only four rooms. Each room has only four floor mats. And while they did have ondol heating, the walls were made of paper and the doors didn't close all the way. It was cold. People were unhappy, especially the boys, who outnumbered the girls and had 12 people in one room! It didn't turn out too bad for me, I was surprisingly able to sleep, although many people had problems. Amber and I shared a spot on the floor. You were supposed to use the mat to cover your body and keep in the warm air, which we did. Some of the boys also didn't realize this and were freezing all night. The problem with that is that it left no padding for you to sleep on, you just slept on the hard wood floor. Needless to say my shoulder, hip and back were quite stiff.

The shock the first night also continued when we found out where dinner would be. We were initially told we were going to a resturant. But this was not true. Instead we had dinner at the loding complex, in the middle of the square the four buildings created. Outside. In the freezing cold. They set up tables and chairs for us and built a big campfire in the middle of them all. It was warm if you stood right next to it, but no where else. We had sam gip sal for dinner. When I saw it was freezing I mean it. Literally there was ice forming on the lettuce they set out which had recently been washed. All in all the night turned out pretty fun though, as everyone stood around talking for hours because it got dark so early. I felt like we were camping.

The next night we staying in a beautiful hotel with a bay view. We had a balcony with chairs and two double beds. We wanted to stay longer but sadly didn't get much time there. That night there were no bars near the hotel and while some people took taxis into town, a group of us decided to be really Korean sit and drink in front of the Family Mart. We bought wine and candy inside and used the plastic chairs outfront. We had a really good time just relaxing and talking, sipping our wine and chomping on mentos. The weather was beautiful, cold but not freezing.

Earlier that day we had also stopped at a POW museum, located on the site of where a POW camp was created during the Korean War. North Korean and Chinese soldiers were brought to the camp when they were captured. The museum was huge with lots of lifesized diaramas and rebuilt structures. It was a little strange but I learned things about the Korean War that I didn't know and may not have known without visiting the camp.

The trip was fun but a lot of time was spent on the bus, we were glad to get home. Checking my email Saturday night I noticed a message from two of our friends from orientation in August, Janine and Ben. They live in Sokcho, high up the coast, but were coming down near Wonju to do some shopping at a near by outlet mall in Yeoju. They are married and thinking of staying in Korea for two years so they bought a cheap car. They invited Jason, Scott and I to join them for the day. We happily agreed!

On Sunday morning they picked us up (which was glorious, no taxi or bus this time!) and thanks to Scott's excellent navigation skills made it on the highway to Yeoju. They shockingly don't have a GPS in the car (it seems like everyone in Korea does!) but they make it around okay, although we did get a lost a few times. The outlet mall was huge and definitely wasn't bargain shopping. It was filled with designer labels from Gucci to the Gap, and had two Starbucks! It was a pretty place with lots of Christmas decorations. We visited most of the stores in the place, Ben was intent on finding shoes that fit him (size 12 is huge here and he ended up not finding any!) and I was looking for a down jacket since everyone keeps telling me I "need" to buy one! After two trips to Starbucks and lunch at a revolving sushi bar we called it quits. Right before we left we did pop into the Nike store where at the last minute I found a great down jacket, comfortbable and warm but still kind of cute! (I think I might look like a marshmellow.)

The day was lots of fun and it was great to talk with old friends, now that we've been here for four months we all have new things to talk about. Last time we saw them we were saying "good luck" this time we were talking about coming up to Sokcho to stay with them in their two bedroom apartment.

Everland

Saturday Jason surprised me by suggesting we should take a trip to Everland! Everland is one of Korea's most popular amusement parks. (There is also a popular amusement park in Seoul called Lotte World, it is indoor so some claim it is the better of the two, as even during winter it is not cold.) I was very excited to go, especially since I'm so used to going (read: spoiled) to Disneyland every Christmas season. While Everland is not Disneyland, it was a very fun day full of Christmas lights and parades!

By 9am Saturday morning we were up and headed towards the Bus Terminal. There we caught a bus to Yongin, the town where Everland is located. The bus ride was only about an hour so we were there in no time! Once we arrived we made sure to by bus tickets back to Wonju right away (last bus was at 8:30) -- sometimes the buses from Seoul get full very early in the day and we didn't want to risk this happening in unfamiliar Yongin. There was no need for us to worry though, as it didn't seem like the most popular of destinations. The ticket lady was also able to point us in the direction of the right city bus to take us to the Everland entrance. It was so easy and convienent to hop on the bus and be dropped right at the gate to the park!

Admission was only 31,000 won each (we got a foreigner discount too) and the park was not crowded at all! Overall it was a really cute place, the entrance had Christmas decorations and lights all over and the main street was made up to look like famous places from around the world, I noticed hints of Venice and Egypt. In the center of main street was a huge fairy like tree all decorated with lights and christmas ornaments. The rest of the park was loosly divided into different theme areas "Magic Land" "European Land" and "American Land" were just a few. American Land was hilarious and ironically our first stop! Jason went on a spinning "rodeo" ride, we stopped by a tipee, took pictures next to "rusty" mining gear and saw the sailing ship Columbus. It was all quite funny! The only other part that made up American Land was a hometown Diner and Burger Cafe!

Entrance to the park. The cast member who took our picture told us to make the hearts!

Large fairy tree with Christmas decorations.

"American Land" -- there were space heaters inside too! 

Aesop's Fables Land 

Cute hats, scarves and gloves were everywhere!

Roller coaster riding.

While all the sections of the park were cutely decorated and attended by "cast members" wearing silly Christmas coats, snow hats and gloves, the rides were a little lacking. Most of them just went in circles or up and down. We did go on one great roller coaster though! Its claim to fame, and now mine since I rode it, is that it is the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world! They aren't lying, that first drop is dramatic and takes your breath away! It was also super cold outside so by the end of the ride you are quite frozen. 

The cast members working the park were also super cute, they always had to wave their hands at passers by, as in, at all times. It did make things pleasant but when I waved back and they didn't stop I always felt like I should keep waving too! Everytime they saw Jason and I they would speak English too, like "have a good day!" We saw a few other foreigners while we were there, most likely military people (why else would there be a group of middle aged American men and women walking around together?)

We also saw two parades! During the day there was a Christmas Parade and at night the Moonlight Magic Parade. Both were really cute, the second was kind of like the eletrical parade at Disneyland because it was full off floats will really beautiful lights all over them! The strangest part about the parades were the people in them... they were not Korean! Well, a few of them were, but the majority of the parade actors were white, they looked some kind of European to me because they all had pointy noses and inset mouths, as if they were from the same country... Jason wonders how I could make a guess like this (he said they could be American for all we know) but I really doubt this... I just wonder how you get a job like that! I know that foreigners work carnivals and fairs during summertime in the US too but its just such a strange concept for me. We also noticed that unlike Disneyland the actors do not have smiles plastered to their faces. This really does make a difference. You just don't feel like they are having a good time if they are not smiling!

One of the best sections of the park was the animal area! We wish we had visited it right away instead of waiting until the end of the day. They have a little wildlife/zoo section. We saw white tigers, a polar bear, sea lions, pegiuns, all types of monkey's, leemurs, snakes, etc. There were tons of cool animals to look at! We felt a little bad for the polar bear though, he was the only animal that was all alone, without a companion. The baby fox was so cute!

Perhaps the biggest highlight of the day was... the penguins! For creatures that move so slowly I feel like the amount of time we got to see them was very brief but... at 3pm we headed to main street to watch the pengiuns walk around... dressed up as Santa and his Reindeer! It was the cutest, strangest thing! These little guys came waddling out and walked in a giant circle, urged on by their handlers, to the cheers of a sizable onlooking crowd! They also brought out a baby fox and leemur, I got to touch the leemur's tale! The whole thing was pretty ridiculous... ridiculously cute that is!

Aren't they too cute!?

Baby lemur!

Lemur, penguin and baby fox!

We ended the night by strolling through the Chritmas lights before catching our bus back to Wonju. The day was chilly and long but lots of fun. I had the best person to spend it with too. (When I told some students and teachers about my trip to Everland today they all went "with your boyfriend?! Date?! Awww.")