As many of you may know, my wife is Korean-American; she was born in the U.S. to two immigrants from Korea who both came here in there young-adulthood as their parents fled the Korean peninsula for reasons associated with that country’s civil war. Many of you also may know that we, as a family, try to take one “big” vacation every year, with the majority of those occurring in Europe (last summer, we spent a couple of weeks in Slovenia).
What many (most?) of you don’t know is that none of us (with the exception of my wife) had ever been to Korea. It is not that we didn’t want to go, but for various reasons over the years (my older son is now 23), “the trip” had been postponed, delayed, or otherwise scuttled. It happened so often that it became a common theme that whenever “Korea” was mentioned, one of us would openly question the nation’s existence; we had heard so much about it over the years, but none of us had ever been there.
Until now.
A couple of weeks ago, the four of us embarked on a two-week trip to Korea, or as Nathan said: The Mother Land.
After a few days in Busan and one in Gyeongju, we headed back up to Seoul for another few days to finish off the trip. This time, we stayed right in the heart of the Myeongdong District.
Myeongdong is perhaps synonymous with the street food culture of Seoul, which the boys did not mind at all.Much of the focus of our return to Seoul was a day trip to Suwon, and the famed Hwaseong Fortress. We took the short train out of Seoul. A quick note on Korean trains. Having spent an inordinate amount of time on European trains, the Korean rail system is just as (if not more) efficient and waaaay cleaner.While no longer a single, enclosed entity, much of the Hwaseong Fortress still exists, including an impressive exterior wall.Along the wall there are several structures of various import. This, I believe, served as a lookout.…and this is one of the gates that formerly served as entry into Suwon.There were also a few defensive fortifications that remained.I never tired of taking photos of the ornate roofs.…or the enormous bells/gongs.We eventually made our way to the “temporary” Hwaseong Haenggung Palace, which was built for the king and royal family as a retreat during wartime. This is the largest such fortress in Korea.
We also happened to witness a demonstration of martial arts. But it was so hot, we left to explore the palace. Another amazing roof.The photo opportunities were near endless within the palace.Back in Seoul, we had time for another quick stop at a local restaurant, whose “waiters” did not believe in much “chit-chat”.Our last night, we were able to score some tickets to a Korean baseball game, which I highly suggest. It was one of the highlights of a fantastic trip.
The game was almost an afterthought as chants like this happened throughout the game, non-stop. It was fascinating. Everyone (except us) knew all the songs, all the cheers. It was as if it were one giant karaoke party where a baseball game broke out.Giant bikes.
That is all I have from our trip! Perhaps the most memorable (and certainly the most anticipated) of all of our family vacations!
the drunken cyclist 