Kickin’ it in Korea

With B-Rod’s job, he has to bid and plan for his holidays for the year all in one month which means he could have holiday days set for a year from now without having any idea what he is doing a year from now. If you know B-Rod, a year from now is way too far away for him to plan for!

This year, one of his “holiday bids blocked a year ago” happened to coincide with a period of time where many countries in Asia started to ease their restrictions and open up. If you know Rocky, you know her #1 direction to go is Asia . . . . most specifically SE.

So with nothing more than holiday days and a direction, we decided to head out. Except it IS a little more complicated than it used to be. So after putting in some time to research what countries require what and what we are willing or not willing to do to get into certain countries, we STILL headed out with the only plan being to go in the direction of SE.

In the past, we just went directly there with a transfer point we have to go through first. The usuals have been Hong Kong, Seoul, or Taipei. Only one time did we not get on the next flight and had to spend a night in Hong Kong, and . . . . . we had so much fun and vowed to actually explore Hong Kong or another transfer point on the way one day. We decided now is the time to enjoy one of these pass-thru cities (wow, that doesn’t sound fair to call them that!), so of the three, Seoul seemed to be the one that had the potential for us to get through with the least possibility for issues. We set our direction for South Korea with our next destination tbd while there.

Having lived and taught English in Korea over 20 years ago (has it REALLY been that long ago AND . . . . giving away my age a bit here!), I definitely have a soft spot for this country. I did come back to do a work project when I was working with MH College, but this is the first time I was coming back without anyone coming to pick me up and take care of me on that end. But, I was looking forward to showing B-Rod some of the things younger me living in a foreign country used to get up to! Which made it really tough to hear the news of what had happened a few hours before we landed. Though I didn’t live in Seoul when I was here, young me would have totally been up for a night out, and young me DID spend time in that area when I wanted to get out of the countryside where I was working to spend time with friends in the city. And though Koreans aren’t always outwardly emotional people, they are people who feel things deeply and I could sense the heaviness that had descended on the city while we were there.

And I’m not quite sure how to segue from something so devastating to sharing the little adventures we got up to except to highlight the fact (that B-Rod and I have been reminding ourselves of constantly this year) that life truly is short and precious with no way of knowing when it’s done, so live your life AND live it in YOUR way that makes YOU happy!

So . . . . what makes us happy? Exploring, eating good food and when in Korea norebanging!!

Sights of Seoul

Korean Food

. . . . . because you KNOW we are going there!

I remember when I left and had Korean food in Canada, I felt like it wasn’t the same somehow and I still maintain that. There’s nothing like Korean food in Korea!

Highlights

The majority of my time in Korea was spent in the countryside. I haven’t been back since I left, but we just didn’t have time (or didn’t want to make time this trip) to make the trek there. So instead we made our way to Anyang city which is only 21 km south of Seoul, but felt like a world away. It’s in a really pretty valley and is known for its art park which is basically a bunch of different art displays from different artists some of which are located along different mountain hike trails.

One thing I got up to that I was so excited about (which I have no pictures of) was going to the jimjilbang (Korean bath house). This is seriously one of the things I missed most about Korea. It might not sound appealing, but I spent a few hours in the buff with a bunch of other women going into different bath waters of varying temperatures, different types of saunas and splurged on the body scrub where I was scrubbed down everywhere (and I mean EVERYWHERE) until all of the dead skin rolled and flaked off into a kind of gross pile on the massage table I was laying on. It was HEAVEN and I felt like I was so much lighter and had released so much “stuff” that I really needed to let go of by the end. B-Rod did not partake and instead had an adventure of his own going up to the 123rd floor of the Lotte World Tower (world’s fifth tallest skyscraper).

One thing we weren’t able to do this time around was go to the DMZ.

Whew!! We got up to a lot. South Korea is such a great country, so easy to get around with such amazing people. The only reason we chose not to stay longer . . . . the weather! When we first arrived the sun was shining and it was beautiful. But, as we felt a change and shift in the air and a consistent chill (or a F*$% it’s cold), we decided it was time to make our way south!