Riviera Seoul

... numbered and the name is announced at every stop. Oh, and everyone lines up single file to get on the train. It's so civilized and polite. I thought it was great.<br><br>Next stop, Olympic Park, home to the 1988 Olympics. The woman at the information center gave me a map and said that it takes about one hour to walk around the whole park. I thought, you have to be kidding me. With the wind and the 0 degree Celsius temp there was no way I was going to last ...

... end of them but i was naively mistaken. they've come to hunt me down twice since then! d and i were coming home on thursday when we ran into them on the elevator. we got on from the garage with another man, he was going to the 11th and we were going to the 5th. the elevator proceeds to stop on the ground floor and 2 women walk in. i was thinking that one of them looked familiar, maybe from the management office, and i almost said hi ...

... having another choice, we did so (so much for their paying 4 days before the tour policy). Unsure what was the real reason it was cancelled (e.g. not enough people, no tour guides, planned attack on North Korea), we didnt really stick around to ask, just thankful we got tickets. After that, we decided to have lunch. Not wanting to spend too long deciphering Korean menus as we had a while to get to the Korean Folk Village, we went to ...

... lets be honest!).<br><br>After a very painful massage and not relaxing at all we went to a light show on the river which was quite rubbish as they sang songs which meant nothing to us and verged on tacky.<br><br>The next day was our last day and we had or final group meal before we got on our last sleeper train with the group before getting to Hong Kong.<br><br>We got to this restaurant and they asked us to pose with this snake which some people did. This ...

Hello readers!<br>Today we went to the international youth hostel in Seoul.  A program called MIZY is run out of it and they run many different programs, some of which include things like sponsoring cultural exchange and helping impoverished youth.  Our group helped with their annual Shoes of Hope program where each person designs a pair of sneakers that will be delivered to a child who is less fortunate and does not own a pair of shoes.  This year, 2009, our shoes will be ...

... to follow the rite even though I didn't understand a word. And I love the bowing sign of peace! They did that in China as well. <br><br>After church Hemmi's Aunt took us to an underground (literally not knock off merchandise) mall and showed us to the food court where Allison and I ended up eating really nice food along with sharing some really good conversation. <br><br>It was still raining when I came inside but I hope it stops as we were planning on going to a soccer ...

... packing and walked a couple blocks to catch our shuttle. The shuttle from downtown Seoul to the Icheon airport took about an hour and drives in part along the river that goes through Seoul. When we arrived at the airport we got through ticketing and security in record time. I'd say we got through in no more than 30 minutes which is pretty good for an international flight! While there, we got some necessities (such as a new power converter - Katie's hair straightener ...

... ourselves on a bus to go to Mr. Kim's childhood friend's bar. The soju flowed madly mixed with beer. We drank on into the night and it was an all around good time. The next day Megan had organized a foreigner night at Beer World where a conglomerate of teachers from Canada, the US, and England swilled brews and chatted. We then went to the noribong and belted out some tunes. I went home around 3am to wake for a 12pm hike up a ...

... meal), kimchi (Seoul has an entire museum dedicated to the wonder that is kimchi!!!), ....umm, I thought of other things today too, but now I cant remember! I can't find napkins. I think people just use towels. No one in Korea wears sunglasses. You can always tell a foreigner from a mile away because he/she will be wearing sunglasses. I have started braving the sunlight so I fit in a smidge.....let's see how long it lasts! Face/skin care shops are ...

... seen so many tall Koreans in one place at one time. It seemed a little strange when the performers on the stage sang Auld Lang Syne before midnight but I was happy to let that pass after some great traditional drumming. Sadly there wasn't much of an opportunity to take photographs because you could not move your arms and hands from beside your body, it was an absolute crush of people and at times a little scary. I have ...