We Found Herb!

  We have finally found a place in Korea that smells wonderful!  Diane, our Korean Language Teacher, took us on yet another field trip.  This time we went into Seoul to the Herb Market.  Before we even went through the gate you could smell the herbs.   As far as the eye could see were herbs.  As far as I know every type of herb was there, although I will admit I am not an expert.  I was very impressed with all the different types.  We even saw a guy on a bike making deliveries.  In fact he almost ran us over!

First gate to the herb market in Seoul.

Decorative gate at herb market

Diane points out all the different types.  The smell was incredible.

You can just see the guy on a bike delivering goods.

  Through another gate and we entered an indoor part of the market.  The smell was even more concentrated here and just as good.  There were even samples you could try.  People were everywhere buying, selling or delivering goods.  It was definitely a busy market.  A couple of times we got in the way and got yelled at.  We got out of the way the best we could and we all laughed about it... except the person of course.  I think we annoyed them very well. 

Through another gate and we arrive at the indoor market.

Still herbs as far as you can see...just indoors.

 Out the other end of the herb market the outdoor section continued on and on again as far as the eye could see.  We turned a corner and found the garlic and onion section.  In fact, we found the mountain of garlic section that was the most incredible sight.  Its not everywhere you see garlic piled higher than a person!  The lady in front of the mountain garlic seemed to get a kick out of the fact that I took her picture.  The whole group starting laughing afterwards!

Found the garlic!

  The final stop was the powdered section.  Here you could find all the herbs in a powder form which is used in herbal face remedies.  Everything from pimples to wrinkles are solved in all these vats.  Koreans are especially concerned about wrinkles and freckles.  The women want the clearest, smoothest and whitest skin possible.  Yes, I said whitest skin possible.  They go to extremes to avoid the sun.  The exact opposite of America where people pay for tans!

All the herbs in powdered form for the complexion.  Heather was about to dive right in!

A Fortress in Hwaseong

  Since 2007 Jason has been telling me about this fortress he visited in Suwon.  How amazing it was... How I had to go see it to believe it... How impressive the walls were, blah blah blah!  So last Friday we finally got there.  The kids had off school so Jason took the day off work.  We got a bit of a late start due to some much needed sleeping in and some general goofing off, but eventually we looked up the directions and headed out.

  About a 30 minute drive later, we found it.  What we forgot to look up was where to park.  So we drove around a bit looking at fortress and trying to find a place to park.  Meanwhile, the clouds decided to roll in and it started to rain.  Luckily we had some umbrellas in the trunk! The main benefit to traveling in Korea while its raining is the crowds seriously thin out.  I think thats the main reason why we stayed at the fortress even in the rain.  Jason was totally right, by the way, the fortress is amazing!!  Boasting that it is the world's first planned city, along the walls are so many different military fortifications that can't be found at any other fortresses in Korea.  (See link attached)

  As we were walking up to the front of the fortress we noticed  bell structure.  This is the typical structure we have found in Korea and this is as close as you can get.  Jason was thrilled since he loves these oversized bells here.  We have to stop and take some pictures.

Large bell with structure.  Very common here.

Typically this is how close you can get, maybe even closer than most.

Jason and the bell.

Main gate of the palace within the fortress.

  Within the fortress is a Palace that was used as a subsidiary to the main palace.  The fortress itself also functioned as a second capital.  As we toured around I noticed that the stepping planks were perfect to my stride proving once again how much I fit in this country.  Unfortunately we weren't able to take too many pictures because of the rain.

  We did decide to continue with our hike around the grounds despite the rain and I'm so glad we did.  Not only did we see some great scenery, at the top of the grounds we found a HUGE bell.  Every hour it rings 3 times and the tones are phenomenal.  As I stated before Jason loves these structures so he was ecstatic to be able to get this close to one.  It was a real treat that we thoroughly enjoyed.

Our goal!  We wanted to hike to this point!

Palace grounds from above.

Inner wall and pagoda.

The bell at the top we could walk right up to!

Yes, he rang the bell in the end.

A little goofing around goes a long way!

A VERY long way!

  Walking along the wall it reminded me a lot of the Great Wall of China.  The construction at Hwaseong seems to have a little better quality.  Perhaps the restoration is just better.  I loved the purpose everything had.  There was a reason behind every hole, every angle, every corner.  Every inch was extraordinarily well planned.  The views were breathtaking even in the rain.  At the end of the day I was VERY glad we went and stayed even though we were all soaked!  At least it was Friday and we had Happy Chicken to look forward to.  Enjoy the pictures and the link.

Me walking along the outer wall!

The river fortifications were amazingly beautiful. 

Link to information on Hwaseong fortress

 

Jebu-do Island Tour

  (Sorry for the delay of this post;  it seems a little writers block goes a long way!!)

  The very next day after the Blue House we traveled to a little island called Jebu-Do.  (see map)

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It is one of those neat little islands only accessible during certain times of the day due to the tides.  When the tide is out, you can fully access the island.  When the tide comes in, you are stuck there for a while. I absolutely love coastal landscapes so this field trip was a special treat for me. We made a couple of stops along the way but the highlight of the day for me was the island!

  After my first driving adventure in Seoul we took Stan up on his offer to drive.  I think that having an English speaking GPS here makes a huge difference in driving.  Plus Stan has been driving longer in Korea! 

  As we drove closer to the coast the landscape flattens out and you can smell the salty air.  The restaurants transition to mostly seafood.  We stopped at a small restaurant called the Water Wheel which actually did have a water wheel out front.  The food was almost exclusively seafood, but very well prepared.  Yes, I skipped the squid, but the potato pancake was full of flavor.  I did like the salad and the fish cake (who knew) but the nut/grain/rice bowl was the best.

  After lunch we proceeded to the art center where we made paper lanterns and fans.  It was fun and much easier than expected. Some day the glue will dry on David's fan!

Getting ready...making sure the fan works!

A quick lesson by the instructor.

The work begins.

A masterpiece in the making....some day the glue will dry.

  On we go to Jebu-Do!  Crossing the land bridge while the tide was out was really interesting.  The tide must have been waay out since there wasn't any water even close to the land bridge.  It was all mud and rocks.  

Crossing over to the island.  The tide is definitely out.

View from the car of the land bridge.

 We parked and headed right for the rubber boots vendor.  After a few minutes we all had boots on and made way for the ocean floor.  It was fun tromping around in the mud!  My boots got stuck a few times and I had to pull on the top of them to get them out.  I almost fell on butt a few times too!  It was totally worth getting muddy to see all the shells, crabs and especially the rocks!

The latest in mud flats fashion...rubber boots.

We join the crowd out in the mud.

Sinking in the mud.

Almost falling on my butt!

Somehow hold it together and didn't fall.  Ta-da!

If you give a boy a hoe...he will hit rocks with it...

Fun looking for crabs, shells and of course the rocks.

  After a while we headed for "shore" and the other side of the island.  This island definitely had a rough side, where the water hits the shore hard and the rocks are jutted and rough, and a smooth side, where the tide gently laps in and the shore is much smoother.  After a trip to the end of the island we headed back to the boot vendor to return the shoes.

The end of the island.

The rougher side of the island.

The VERY end of the island.

A large vein of quartz.

  Not quite done on the island we head to the other side for the boardwalk part including the long pier that stretches to yet another side of the island.  This was a beautifully constructed pier that went around the end.  We ran into some sculpture along the way.

The whole group on the boardwalk at sunset (Jason behind the camera).

Down the beach from the pier.

Running along the pier.

The pier goes the length of this side of the island and around the end.  Very impressive.

The boys find a shell sculpture and all crawl in.

The pier continues but we head back.

Meanwhile the boys crawl on top of the shell!

As you can see the boys loved the shell!  On the walk back we enjoyed the beautiful sunset!

The beach at sunset.

Final shot of the sun...and then it was gone.

It was a cool day to begin with that was even colder when the sun went down.  We jumped back into cars and headed back to Bundang.  We ended the day with a great meal of Korean Barbeque with Stan.  By the way, thanks for the ride Stan!  I'm pretty sure after driving to Seoul I never would have made the trip to Jebu-Do!

Driving to Seoul for a Blue House Tour.

  I never pictured myself driving into Seoul.  I'm still not sure how plans got changed to include this little detail but somehow they did without my realizing it.  Next thing I know we are meeting downstairs in my apartment parking lot and heading for Seoul.  I really have nothing against driving into Seoul... really... there just seem to be enough cars there already I'm not sure they need mine there too.  There is also so much adequate public transportation it seems kind of weird to drive, but drive we did.  Ms. Diane, our Korean teacher, was in our car and Heather with family was following.

  It was discovered that I had a tire low on air so the search began for a gas station that could fill up tires.  None was found.  Apparently, gas stations here don't have air.  You have to go to a specific tire place.  I now know where one is, and pass one almost everyday when I go to the kids school.  During our search, however, I got honked at twice for being in the wrong place... and lost Heather. Jason relayed directions to Heather on the phone (she has driven to Seoul several times and was more familiar with the route).  Luckily I have taken the bus enough times into Seoul that I knew generally where I was most of the time.  The only thing I hadn't done before was drive through the building just past Insadong.  You can't even call the thoroughfare through the building a tunnel since there is an intersection in the middle.  Somehow we found Heather just on the other side of the Han River Bridge.  Not much farther and we reached the Gyeongbokgung Palace and the parking garage near the beginning of our Blue House Tour.

  A short bus ride later and we reached Cheong wa dae which translates as blue tiled roof.  This is where the Korean President works and lives.  We went through the expected security and even received a free gift, cube box for the adults (turned out to be a mug) and a small skinny box for the kids (turned out to be a small notebook with a pen and post it notes pad).  There was some confusion over Galen and the security guard decided she was an adult and gave her a mug.  The look on his face was priceless and she was actually surprised to get the mug.

  We continued on through the gardens and different buildings.  There is so much history here and the people are so proud.  Originally a royal garden during the Joseon Dynasty, the Japanese built a house for the Korean Governor on the property during their last occupation   After World War II the new Korean President used the area for offices and residence.  Over the years the Japanese building was dismantled and the new buildings were completed in 1991.  I never realized how much bigger Korea used to be centuries ago, but it is amazing to think these people have survived so long situated between China, Japan and Russia.

Reifsnider Family in front of historic lawns and gardens.

Fabulous gardens and trails.

  Eventually we got close to the house but never got to actually go inside, which I will admit was a little disappointing.  We did get to go inside the Reception Building but only on the outer hall for a picture with a life sized cut out of the President and First Lady.  We lined up Steve and Jason for the shot and the whole crowd laughed and started taking pictures.

Jason and Steve with the President and First Lady.

  There aren't many pictures of this trip because security was so tight.  In fact I learned the hard way not to stray off the path and try to take a picture.  I was trying to get a shot in front of a mythical Haechi dragon and was immediately surrounded by security.  Luckily they didn't take my camera and let me finish the tour.

Reifsnider Family in front of Changwadae (Blue House).

The Blue House

   After the Blue House tour there were several small museums nearby.  We had lunch in the neighborhood next door.  It was a small artsy community with lots of small museums, private galleries, boutiques and cafe's occupying old Korean houses.  My kinda place!!

Lunch at 8 Steps with Diane.

   The drive home was uneventful although I did get honked a few more times.  There was a close call under the building intersection because a dark gray van didn't have its lights on.  Otherwise I drove straight home.

   The posts are going to start coming a little faster than the normal once a week.  We are traveling more now that the weather is better!  Stay tuned for our trip to Jebu-do Island.