"Sunday morning, rain is falling"

“Sunday morning, rain is falling.” I’m up before the alarm and the wake-up call that Aidan (!) has placed for us. Also up before the 6:40 AM call from Master Moore reminding us to bring all of our luggage down with us before we eat breakfast. Another fantastic breakfast at the Shilla hotel: I get smart this time and order coffee for Aidan too, so that I don’t run out of caffeine as quickly as I did the day before. The bus leaves at 8 AM sharp as we have a 9:50 flight and the airport is at the other end of the island, an hour’s drive away. Our drive to the airport takes us through the downtown section of the island, and it surprises me how populated Jeju really is – I guess we’ve been hitting the periphery of the bustling town center up until now.

We make it to the airport with plenty of time – and thanks to some baggage shifting and employment of our extra duffle bag, we don’t go over the 44kg per luggage piece limit. Airline travel within Korea is very easy – security is present, but not a huge hassle like at LAX. Travel with a large tour group, while at some times constricting, is more stress-free than I anticipated. Surprisingly, I’m quite happy to relinquish the planning and control reins to someone else. Our tour guides are very adept in herding us through tourist attractions, restaurants and airports. And it’s quite pleasant to walk in and have someone else take over ALL logistics. As a mom, this definitely felt like a vacation, and not a business trip which most/all vacations feel like when travelling with children – (Modern Family.) I managed to get ahold of Brian at the airport – and coincidentally *he* was at the airport too, getting ready to ship Julia and Edwin up to Lake Tahoe for the week. Deciding to go on this trip to Korea necessitated some pretty detailed logistics in order to leave 3 kids at home: the younger 2 could be shipped to my sister for a week (taking her kid count to 5! thank you Hilary!); Colin needed to be home due to daily football practice, which then needed a ride every day across town (thank you Noli!); rides to and from the airport for me and Aidan (thank you Mom!); on-line summer school set up for Colin etc… the list goes on. Which is maybe another reason I enjoyed being on a tour – no planning to do and nothing to arrange for 9 WHOLE DAYS. We had just enough time at the airport to pick up a few postcards and souvenir keychains for Julia and Edwin. The keychains are replicas of the “grandfather” stone statues that are found all over the island.

Landing to *heat* and light rain in Busan, (or Pusan, depending on which sign you read – a confusing practice here in Korea) Korea’s second largest city, and a huge shipping port. The armada of colorful shipping containers in the waters around Busan was quite spectacular – like nothing I’ve ever seen – especially from the air. We boarded new buses and headed downtown for lunch at the harbor. Lunch is in the 5th floor of a building by the marina and host to HUGE seafood market. We had a bit of time before the meal started, so we toured the fish market. The “live” side of the market was a better show than a visit to any aquarium: you could get up close and personal with the octopus, squid, tiger sharks, sting ray, fish of all kinds, and “sea worms” that looked too much like a certain male anatomy part – and had everyone talking about them. The fish stalls were mostly run by families of women (perhaps the men did the catching?) and these commendable women looked like they spend long hours in their respective stalls. It did not look like a particularly easy life. As curious tourists, we were greeted with smiles, and even a few inquiries of where we were from. When we answered, “Los Angeles” or “California” they all grinned and exclaimed, “Oh! USA!” Not the “American” label like in Europe, but “USA.” I thought that this slight identification difference was interesting. Another buffet style lunch awaited us upstairs. In addition to rows of prepared food, this place had gas grills at all the tables – and a refrigerated display case full of meat to choose and pick from. How great is that??? Carnivore heaven.

Next up was Busan Tower, a large tower overlooking the city. We went up for the view and had it been clear, we could have seen Japan’s closest island. But the threatening rain kept the clouds and fog low and visibility even lower. After our trip up, we posed for our first group shot in front of a dragon statue (“Tae Ryong “ translates to constantly growing dragon) and learned how to take a picture in Korea: “Hana, Dool, Sett…Kimchi!” From Busan tower, we headed to Gyeongju – the old capital during the Shilla period – about a 2 ½ hour drive. About ½ hour of the drive was blissful peace and the other 2 hours were filled with the strained strains of Karaoke. Each bus was equipped with a sound system and mounted TV screen. Usually the sound system was taken over by the tour guides to provide us facts about the customs and culture that we were visiting. [And here is where I will state that our bus had the best tour guide… Kristin was fantastic!] Today, however, the microphone was put to far more ear-spliiting use. We did learn that Karaoke on the bus wasn’t exactly legal, and if caught, our bus driver could be fined. Happily, a police sighting stopped a particularly screechy version of “Back in Black” – temporarily, of course. Aidan took his turn on the microphone for a Peter Brady-esque version of “Hello, Goodbye” – a song he became familiar with thanks to lots of Glee watching this spring.

The drive from Busan to Gyeongju was beautiful and as we approached Gyeongju, I finally got to see the Asia that I had pictured in my head for so many years. Rice fields, buildings with slanted, curved tiled roofs, and plenty of green farmland. Stunningly beautiful – and it felt like we were travelling back in time. Dinner was beef stew, upstairs at a restaurant where downstairs was traditional cross-legged on the floor seating. The Hite beer was flowing at the meal, and a stop at a convenience store next to the restaurant yielded more and the first “Coke Light” purchase of the trip. Off to the hotel around the other side of the lake – many resort hotels lined the lake as well as a few amusement parks (one named California) Our hotel room had A/C a la Italia (so really, not very good or strong) and the only place truly cool in the hotel was the elevator (which I consider riding up and down for an hour just to cool off.)

After quick clean-ups and showers (yes to another bidet and complimentary robes; no to the niceness of the rooms…we have been SPOILED by the Shilla hotel on Jeju…because these rooms are actually pretty nice) down to the bowling alley in the basement for Aidan and the Karaoke bar for me (= Glutton. For. Punishment) as it has proven so popular on the bus. The Karaoke bar in the hotel is closed (Sunday and all…) so we head offsite to a random hole in a wall about 5 minutes’ drive away-via hotel shuttle van. There is some communication barrier when our group arrives –which improves slightly when the next group joins us, as one of them speaks a little Korean. I will not go into many details here about the evening to protect the innocent. Let’s just say that there was much “singing” – Soju and beer consumption, and a little bit of pants’ splitting jumpy dancing. We left mostly intact, collectively down 200,000Wan. I Know!

Hakuna Matata

[picture to be added at a later date...]
Saturday morning, Jeju Island. We’re up at 6:30 am because we haven’t figured out how to use the control panel by the bed (in the phone) to turn the lights on and off – the panel also controls the A/C which, like at home, is a necessity. So I “blast” the lights on (according to Aidan, who desperately tries to crawl 3 feet into his bed to escape waking up) and do the morning routine to get ready for breakfast.

Our tour organizer, and Grandmaster of all Tae Ryong studios, was not able to make the first part of our trip. His wife, however, was able to come. She is a most gracious and lovely woman – and acted as host and culture interpreter. She has lived so long in the US (by her own admission) that some of the things we encountered were even foreign to her. But all in all, she was such a great help to our group and added the (desperately) needed class we were sometimes, ahem, lacking. Aidan and I had the pleasure of sitting with her during breakfast and she mentioned that she had been looking forward to *this* breakfast at *this* hotel for a long time now. And she was right: the breakfast buffet was stunning. The first of many breakfast buffets that would enjoy “amazing” status: Asian, Western European and American breakfast items in huge and beautiful displays. Dim Sum, dumplings, Japanese squash, kimchi, seaweed soup, rice, rolls, fresh bread, tropical fruit, cheese plate, danish, eggs made to order, beans, sausages, bacon, yogurt and cereal – muesli *and* cocoa puffs. Just to name some of the items. We filled up on food and got ourselves ready for a day of sightseeing.

Our first stop was the waterfalls – a close bus ride. We get off the bus to a muggy, humid overcast day – but no downpour! There are 3 waterfalls along the river and a tall, arched bridge that leads to a temple and statue fountain – which we threw pennies into. Mine made it in the top spot…Aidan’s didn’t. I wished for no rain downpour for the day – and thankfully, the fountain granted my wish. Aidan had purchased a camera with some birthday money before our trip. One of it’s features is the ability to snap panoramic views. He became quite the photographer and used this function to take some great shots. Following one of the other people on the trip, Aidan also climbed over a roped-off area to strike a zen-pose on a moss covered boulder with cascading waterfall in the background. It would not be the first time that he would scamper off to perilous places on this tour. The third waterfall consisted of many stairs down (and then UP) to view it – and it really wasn’t all that spectacular. But the march down and back was just enough to get soaking wet- with sweat. (And not the fun Debbie Allen kind)

The next bus stop was black columned cliffs formed by rushing lava 25,000 years ago. This was a popular tourist place with masses of people crowding to get good pictures at the railings. It was also the site of many food vendors anxious to pawn their delicacies off on the tourists. No strangers to tourist attractions, I wasn’t surprised at all to find all of these vendors lining the entrance. What did surprise me was the food they were selling: roasted silkworms and squid jerky; fresh sea cucumber and abalone – skewered sliced fresh pineapple, and of course the ubiquitous Jeju oranges. One of the members of our group is an especially daring eater. He purchased the Dixie cup full of roasted silkworms and proceeded to share and coax everyone into trying one. Aidan and I were game. They tasted like kidney beans with a crunchy shell – like softshell crab. The flavor was smoky, but the aftertaste was funky. The Pepsi I bought to wash out the flavor was the best 1000Wan I spent the whole trip. The cliff view was indeed spectacular and beautiful – but the highlight of this stop was the silkworms - grubs...yummy.

Off to lunch – another buffet with a huge selection of food. There is an amazing arrangement of sushi (the first of many to come in restaurants) which we were told by our guide that Koreans on Jeju *don’t* eat in the summertime (freshness factor and all…) Also on the buffet table: “Live Spaghetti” - the first of many translated signs that made me do a double take. Live spaghetti turns out not to be some living creature, but spaghetti made fresh to order at the buffet station – a bit of a letdown, actually. After my silkworm adventure, I thought I’d be game for sea snails. Turns out I wasn’t – I couldn’t get past the texture. I also pass on the abalone porridge. Random restaurant sighting: Guiness on tap. I’m told it was good too. We pass on the tea that smells like seaweed and the coffee that looks like weak tea. Aidan sits with me and some other moms at lunch when he is unkindly kicked out of the teenagers table. Luckily he meets up with some other kids later in the day who are more his age, attitude, and abilities.

Next stop: World Peace Museum. In 2005, Jeju Island was designated a Peace something or other and many summits are held on the island. A large building with a museum was built to commemorate the event. There were 2 levels of museum – the bottom most containing a wax museum of Important Korean Personalities and those dignitaries present at the summit – including Clinton waving from the door of Air Force One. The room also contained statues of those important world peace figures: Ghandi, Mother Theresa, Mandela and as the final entry: Jackie Chan - (of course!). Aidan offered to push Mrs. Rogers (in a wheelchair due to a broken ankle sustained from a flip during black belt testing practice) and proceeded to read every sign of the museum to her as he pushed her slowly through. [NB - he was the only teenager and one of only a few handful of men to offer to push her throughout the whole week.] We made it back to the bus and head to our last sight: The Green Tea plantation and museum. It was more gift shop than museum, but we did get to walk through a display of about 1000 old tea cups. Something else that the museum displayed? It’s bathrooms. The front of the building was floor to ceiling glass panes. Unfortunately, the front of the building contained the bathrooms. Lovely bathrooms with skylights and amazing natural light. So amazing that from the outside, you could see in. Not so much a problem with the ladies room, as we all have stalls in our bathrooms. Not so good if you are a guy. The urinals, while faced away from the window, still were out in full view. We all had a bit of a chuckle at this as we walked away back toward the buses, green tea ice cream and gift shop purchases in hand.

Free time! The only free time we had at this amazing 5 star beach resort - a short 1 ½ hours. I changed into my suit and headed down to the beach – down another million stairs. Korea is full of stairs. Stairs and Rain. The sand on the beach is darker and softer than I expect it to be. But the water is just as cold as home only much clearer. You can actually see through it. I met Aidan on his way down to the beach. Our free time was almost up – so I went for a quick dip in the lukewarm pool (forgoing the 106 degree spa) and then got ready for dinner. While in the pool, many of us remarked that we would like just one more day on Jeju to spend enjoying the resort. On our way to dinner – we stop at the the Jeju World Cup Stadium which is remarkably open to the public (can you imagine the Colosseum being open all the time for just anyone to walk in and take a picture of? You can't even get into Notre Dame stadium without having to bribe someone.) Korea was host to the World Cup in 2002 and built an amazing stadium on Jeju Island (it was half sunk into the ground to combat the island winds.)

Off to dinner – and this time at dinner, everyone is awake and feeling good. The BBQ was delicious – if not *warm* - indoor grilling is less comfortable during the summer time. Cold beer helps combat this, however.

World Cup madness takes over the hotel lobby: dozens of big screen TVs are set up. Our group passes the time until the game starts – some in the pool (Aidan) some trying Soju for the first time (me.) The light rain that has followed us all day stays mostly away while we are outside, pool side, “relaxing:” albeit fraternity rec. room style. At the start of the game, we had moved inside to watch South Korea hopefully advance. The game started at 11:30 pm and I made it for about 30 minutes before advancing to bed became more of an interest than soccer.

Welcome to Jeju Island

After finishing a 12 hour flight, the last thing anyone wants to do is get on another plane. But in order to visit a slice of paradise, that's where we found ourselves: on a commuter flight bound to Jeju Island. Jeju Island is a volcanic island off the coast of Korea, and a popular vacation destination for Koreans and Japanese alike. Jeju Island used to be the honeymoon destination, much like Niagara Falls, but now enjoys all types of tourists - especially tired Californians. We were met by our tour guides at Incheon airport, but didn't really meet them until we got off the plane and on to charter buses at Jeju airport. From the airport, we travelled to the Manjanggoul volcanic Lava Tube - (which I misread to say "Love Tube" - Tired eyes from the flight, that's my excuse) a 1 km underground tunnel carved from the lava flow. It was quite cool in the tube, and slippery to boot. We walked the length, and then back again. As we ascended the stairs back to ground level, we were met with the hot, steamy and sticky humidity that is June in Korea. It honestly felt like a sauna. I was warned by my friend Jane that Korean weather is not friendly to curly-haired girls. She was right. I quickly donned a hat, and was good to go.

It was at this point in the trip that I started playing the "Have you seen Aidan?" game. The game lasted well into the tenth day, and boy did it get tiring. Most of the time, I was content knowing that Aidan was "somewhere:" I didn't need to know exactly where. As long as he was on the bus when it was time to leave, I was cool. Only a few times was I worried about his whereabouts; because, after all, it *is* Aidan. Unfortunately, other people didn't have as much fun playing the Where's Aidan? game, so I towards the end of the trip, I got a little stricter. (Ask Aidan if that's even possible....)

After the Lava aka Love Tube, we headed for our first meal as a group - Korean pork BBQ. I took pictures of almost all the meals we ate: the food and its presentation is beautiful over there. (Except, maybe, if you don't eat pork.) As the tour was split into 2 buses, we tended to group together at the eating tables by bus also. Later in the trip, we mixed things up a bit, but at first, most people stuck together with the groups they knew from their respective Tae Kwon Do studios. I will later go into Tae Kwon Do Eating Etiquette (not as fun as the Etiquette Bell.) Suffice it to say from this quasi-feminist child of the 70's, I didn't handle it with quite the grace of some of my fellow martial artists. What I will say now about the first meal together was that is was wonderful. We learned that the lettuce leaves were used for rolling up cooked pieces of meat, rice and condiments "like a fajita!" There is a name for this type of meal, maybe I'll look it up later. The condiments that are served with the main meal differ from restaurant to restaurant, but essentially compose of kimchi (of varying spiciness) and other root vegetables marinated - some in vinegar, others in chili sauce. Other than the grilled meat - which was delicious EVERYWHERE - the condiments were my favorite parts of our meals. Rice and seaweed soup were the other side dishes consistently served. Water was always served - often in chilled small metal cups. Coke and Kin Cider (like sprite) and Hite beer were usually available for purchase running anywhere from 2-4ooo Wan. (The dollar was about 1200 wan to 1 dollar)

The next stop was a traditional folk village on Jeju Island - and a working village at that, as people stilled lived in the houses. There was an elaborately painted temple (our first of many to come on the trip) as well as homes with unusual thatched roofs. The unusually thatching is due to the heavy constant winds that fall on Jeju. Jeju is known for a few things: it's delicious mineral water (of which we bought many bottles) and it's orange groves - mandarin oranges in particular. As it wasn't orange season, I didn't feel the need to try the local delicacy. But we did bring back some chocolate covered orange candy for Colin. The oranges were in all the gift shops and stands of them lined the entrances to the visitor/tourist traps. It was a quick tour of the folk village as it was pouring rain. Add in the factor that we were still in the clothes from 24 hours before when we left LAX... well, you get the picture.

We were in great shape (not!) to roll into our 5 star accommodations: The Shilla Hotel. Watch out Shilla, here come the loud, stinky Americans. Wow. What a place this was. A slice of paradise overlooking the sea. The rooms were amazing (bidet in every bathroom!!) if the beds were a bit on the hard side. Aidan explored the hotel while I had a quick power nap and then we all showered (phew!) and dressed and got ready to go to dinner. Freshly caught fried fish was on the menu for dinner, which I think might have gone over better with people had we not all been fighting jet-lag so hard. (Aidan joined in the "anti-fish" train and nearly got popped by me in the process- I did back off, sensing his jet-lag, but I let him know that trying all the food was a requisite in staying on the trip) I enjoyed the meal - and even tried the dried anchovies coated in chili paste and the deep fried________(something. Don't know what it was. Don't really want to know either) I drew the line at jellied pickled crab bodies. I'm sure they were good, but I just couldn't do it. After a mass departure from the restaurant to the local minimart outside, many of the tour filled up on ice-cream bars: especially the "Meloni" brand of melon Popsicle which would find their way into most people's hands after many meals. It was a definite hit of the trip. That night, during the DOWNPOUR outside, I learned that Aidan snores. Hooray.

The Etiquette Bell

So today I turned 40, and I feel like I've been inducted into a club. One of the perks of that club is the permission granted to discuss bodily functions. (Well, perhaps I've jumped ahead a bit, maybe that was a "60" year club rule.) Nevertheless, it gives me great pleasure to express my wonderment and excitement for all things bathroom related: a subject that Korea takes seriously. The seriousness of which is not lost on this traveller: age 40, mother and birther of 4 (LARGE) kiddos.

The first stop after our 12 hour long plane ride was to the bathroom in Incheon airport. Doing my thing (on- phew!- a regular toilet seat) in the bathroom stall, I happened to notice the "Etiquette Button" - an intercom looking device with volume control. Being of a curious nature, naturally I pushed the button and was awarded with the tinkling sounds of running water. Running water sounds to mask the sound of what you're doing in the stall. How Brilliant Is That??? I was very impressed with this Etiquette Bell discovery - and would continue to be impressed all week with the restroom accommodations.

All hotels had bidets - and NOT! the separate fixture kind. Nope. These babies were the all-in-one variety atop the porcelain throne. Buttons of all kinds (in both English and Korean) indicating the type of function: water spray, water drizzle, warming seat, and fan blowers!!! Some of the nicer restaurants (and even some of the not so nice restaurants) had these fun fixtures. Additionally on the bathroom front, many of the women's rooms were equipped with a kiddie stall - a US handicapped sized stall with a regular toilet, and then a much smaller version toilet (and urinal!) for those moms travelling with small kids. Usually these stalls were brightly painted in colorful themes. On occasion, we would encounter the "squat toilet" - I'm not sure any of us were desperate enough to use one of these. Thankfully, the squatters were labeled outside on the stall door, so we could choose to avoid them, if possible. Finally, one bathroom (Pizza Hut, I believe) surrounded the sink counter with fake grass, creating a lovely diorama garden scene while you washed your hands. Throw in the super fast hand drying tubes and the disposable mouthwash dispensers, and you've got yourself in a heck of a country - dedicated to making the most out of the "rest" room. Other than the toilets at the Buddhist temple - an experience that earns it's own post later- most of the bathroom adventures were quite lovely.

On our last night in Korea, we went shopping at the supermart below our hotel and I found bidets for sale - I can't think of a better 40th birthday gift!

An nyoung ha seh yo Korea

Hello Korea. That's what this latest travel blog will be about: 9 days (give or take with flights, jet-lag and travel over datelines) of touring with the Tae Ryong Tae Kwon Do studio tour of Korea. Aidan and I set out to discover Asia with 49 other Tae Kwon Do students and instructors - most of them black belts of various degrees - on an organized tour of Korea - aka Atlantis, due to the moisture level present at all times.

Many people asked me before I left why was I going to Korea, and why was I taking just Aidan with me. Well, for starters, I've never had much desire to visit Asia - mostly due to the language barrier. I've done pretty well in Europe, but the Asian languages were something I couldn't begin to understand or even slightly master (it turns out that speaking them requires left brain activity, which explains a bit why it's so hard for me...) so I never thought I'd go. When this trip came up through our Tae Kwon Do studio, I thought maybe it would be an opportunity to see a part of the world that up until now remained inaccessible. The price, while high, seemed fairly reasonable, given the all-inclusiveness factor. In fact, I've never eaten so much, or so well, on any vacation I've ever had. And all the hotels were close, if not exactly, 5 star accommodation. Well, except the temple stay, which will be a blog of its own. And since Aidan also takes Tae Kwon Do, it seemed to justify my desire to take the trip if I took a kid with me. I couldn't handle Edwin, and in truth, much of the trip's meaning would probably be lost on him. And honestly, 12 hours on a plane with Ed just wasn't going to happen. As it turns out, this trip with Aidan occurred right after the end of his 8th grade year. Colin went to Italy at the end of his 8th grade year. Looks like I have 3 years to plan a trip overseas for Julia. Hmmm, Australia might be nice. They play soccer down there, don't they? :)

Anyway... the trip presented itself, we jumped on board and on June 23rd, made our way down to the International terminal at LAX to board an Asiana airline plane to Incheon, Korea. Tae Ryong TKD studios has 5 branches in the LA area. The main one is in Camarillo, where Grandmaster Shin is based. The rest of the studios are operated under him, and it's one extended "family." There were 8 people from our local Saugus studio, and then various people from the others. Some familiar faces greeted us at the airport, but, for the most part, the group was full of strangers. A few families went, several mother/son duos, married couples and younger 20-somethings individuals made up the group. As we headed through the security check/take off your shoes/X-ray portion, we were greeted with the loud shouts of "CODE BRAVO!" "CODE BRAVO!" "EVERYONE REMAIN STILL!" Apparently, TSA decided at the exact moment we were passing through to have some kind of warning drill/false alarm. Nothing like a little security breach to wake you up. By the time we arrived at our gate, I was ready for a cocktail - not quite sure what I had gotten myself into.

Which brings up the other question I kept hearing before I left: How safe is Korea to visit right now? Well, I didn't really know the answer to that before I left. All I knew was that I'd be travelling with something like 45 martial arts black belts - so I felt pretty safe within the group. As it turns out, the safety factor was a non-issue. Korea is a very safe country: safer than the US. And the "threat" of North Korea, is so constant a presence, that it almost seems like a non-presence.

Off we went - and had our first Korean meal of the trip on board the flight, served by impossibly thin flight attendants. Luckily, we had a bit of sleep and were ready to go when we landed on Friday morning at 5:30 AM local time.

An nyoung ha seh yo (Hello) Korea.