Korea

We are way behind... we know.  We have been long gone from Korea for about three weeks now and have now freshly crossed in to Laos today. So we are two countries behind on our blog! Sorry! So Korea... I was really excited to go to Korea (this is Crystal writing). I was really excited to see my aunt and cousins who live in Korea but what made it especially exciting was to be there with Trev.  We got there about a week before we were planning to go to the Olympics and to tell you the truth, we spent a lot of it hanging out with my aunt on my mom’s side and chillin at home. We walked all around Seoul but the best part was all the home cooked meals. 

One of the cool things about Seoul is that the city has a ton of urban green spaces. One of our favorite days in Korea was a hike up to Mt. Inwangsan. During the Joseon Dynasty, the city limits were marked by a surrounding wall which a large portion still stands today. For this hike, you follow the wall up to a pretty awesome view of the city. This is just one example of how Seoul has incorporated green space within the city. Trever puts it in a cool perspective where he says that Seoul is a special juxtaposition in the sense that there is a lot of preservation of the really old and the really modern/new right next to each other  

There’s also an incredible river that runs through Seoul called the Han river. My aunt lives really close to it we rented a city bike and just rode along the river one day. 

We were really excited when my cousins and aunt (on my dad’s side) from the states arrived to meet up with us to go to the Olympics. Not only was it special to simply be seeing the Olympics but to do it in the motherland surrounded by family was beyond ideal. We couldn't have made it happen if it weren't for family. My cousin Jen and her husband Mike live in Korea and they basically arranged everything for us months and months in advance. We were able to see some speed skating, ski half pipe, a hockey game, and snowboard big air.

The Olympics were definitely a surreal experience. You would think that it was a event of utter madness and crowds but it really wasn't that. Everything was so organized and easy to navigate. We never had problems with parking and the shuttles were flawless. The crowds were minimal too. Crowds are worse at a place like Disneyland! I think because the events are spread apart and have specific times, everyone is spread out pretty nicely.  To say the least, the Olympics were a special experience and I felt lucky to be there. As you can see in the majority of our photos we do the classic! “yay! I’m having fun so I need to put my hands up!” pose. Being given the fortune to see these athletes from all around the world was an incredible experience. And for me, I felt an overwhelming pride for being Korean American and sharing that with Trever and my family.

Alright so onward from the Olympics.. We said our goodbyes to Katie, Erica and my aunt as they flew back to the states (not before hitting a hip Seoul club until 5 in the morning, of course.)  After saying bye, we hopped on an airplane ourselves to head to Jeju Island which is a Volcanic island just off the southern tip of Korea. We rented a car and drove around the island catching sunsets and eating good food. One day was really rainy so we hit up a popular and silly museum called the trick eye museum. It is basically a couple hours of standing in front of 2-D paintings that come alive when you take a photo at just the right angle. We also went to a outdoor museum called Loveland where there are numerous funky sculptures having to do with sex. Also a pretty silly but entertaining museum. My favorite part of Jeju was learning about the Haenyo divers of Jeju. They are these badass women, many of them in their 60s and even 70s, that free dive to gather shellfish. They took over what used to be known as a “man’s profession” and represent a powerful community of women. There is a lot to their history and they are way badass. Google it. 

We also walked through a pretty sweet lava tube!

 

After Jeju, we flew to Busan which is a large coastal city in the southern part of the Korean peninsula. Here, we ate delicious food and went on an incredible hike that hugged the coastline the entire way. We also ate really good food. Did I mention that already?

  All in all, we gained a lot of weight because we ate so much food and had an incredible time with family. We love Korea!!