President Hotel Seoul

... with Americans, and no one bothered Jeremy or I.  It seemed that the underlying problem was the Koreans' issues with the new president, who'd been in office for about 100 days so far.  But no pesky protests would get in our way.  ...

... tickets and again hustled us away from the glass entrance way. Seems that they were holding the funeral of an ex president. We speculate from the presence of the secret service and the riot police, that this ceremony was not without controversy. ...

... about all the incidents in the DMZ.  There have been several presidential assassination attempts by North Korean commandos on the president.  Also, numerous soldiers have died on both sides, ships captured, and loads of other things.  It ...

... .  The club had showers so I was able to rejuvinate myself.       I arrived in Seoul at a very new and modern airport.  My hotel was in the center city so I made my way to the information desk.  I knew that a ...

     Included with our plane tickets from Asiana Airlines is an option for a day tour of Seoul or a hotel room to relax in during the 12 hour layover each flight has in South Korea. Not willing to give up the opportunity to visit one more ...

... a little late. It couldn't possibly have anything to do with the necessary Secret Service sweep that had to be completed before former President Jimmy Carter boarded the plane. Surely not! That was a long-ass fight for sure. But kudos to Korean Air. What ...

... with the huge live blowfish in a tank as we walked in.  Breakfast was traditional with soup and sides.  The President and Division Director joined us and then we walked a few doors down and met Director Cho's wife at her restaurant.  He ...

... the National Folk Museum.  But, on our way, we stopped to take a photo of the Blue House; the place where the Korean president resides.  You know, their version of the White House.  It was so...regal on top of the hill with guards all ...

... ; into North Korea - I think it was a frozen lake – seemingly to satisfy his own curiosity and was immediately imprisoned. Ex-president Jimmy Carter then had to go over there and plead for his release so no doubt they used aid as a bargaining chip. ...

... off. After language classes everyone from the dorms filed off to the barbeque (a.k.a., free food fest) held by the president of Yonsei university for the international students. The food was really excellent, with barbequed Korean beef (bulgogi) as ...

... grounds and hardly a security threat. They showed us a 160 year old tree, and a smaller one planted by the current president. After walking around the grounds we could see the Official Residence from a distance.  Later they took us to the ...

... to start running between Seoul and Pyongyang but the only one that ever ran was the first one on which the President went.  Immediately after the relations between the two Koreas deteriorated and the scheduled service never got going: This was in ...

... for roads. In 1968, during the presidency of Park Chung-hee, an elevated highway was built over it. In July 2003, then- Seoul mayor, current President Lee-Myung-bak initiated a project to remove the elevated highway and restored the stream. It was a major ...

... Koreans.  Whilst we couldn't understand the many signs and banners it turns out that most of the protests were directed at the President and whilst it was peaceful and there was just a lot of drumming and chanting it was kind of scary given the ...

... between UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC) and the Supreme National Council (SNC) with Prince (not King now) Sihanouk as president. The royalist party (FUNCINPEC) won the next election but the CPP, led by Hun Sen would not relinquish power so ...

... about the number of heads of state who have agreed to attend the opening ceremony and putting a top Communist leader, a vice-president no less, in charge of preparations. Yu thinks China is perhaps over-sensitive because the country still suffers a ...

... . All the travelers we met were interested in the US election and several wished they had a vote! The fact is, whoever is President of the US impacts the whole world. I am glad to see that the Americans appear to be energized and hopefully they will ...

... Palace, which was the last official site of our Saigon Tour. The palace was the residence of the South Vietnamese president and was very interesting. We saw ceremonial rooms, private areas (movie theater, bedrooms, etc.), and the basement where planning ...

... were seated on the stage on huge leather chairs, not unlike the seating  at the International Convention.  Next the President's Representative was introduced with his wife and they sat in huge chairs on the opposite side of the ...