Saturday in South Korea

Now that we have fully recovered from our jet lag, and have gotten our lives back in order here at home, it's time to finish my Korean blog journal!

Here's where we left off: Saturday morning we all busied ourselves with packing for a three day trip to northeastern Korea, specifically to visit the Seorksan National Park area. I'd forgotten how much effort it takes to prepare for a trip with three young children along. Wow!

Before leaving, however, we all went back onto Camp Humphreys to watch Sophie's very first soccer game. (Andrew is assistant coach of the team.) We had a good time watching those young soccer players learn how to hustle and play a real game. We chuckled as we noticed that nearly every single kid there spent more time "watching the clouds go by" than watching the ball. Sophie got in a few good kicks, though, and it was fun to cheer her on!

After the game, and lunch at home, we completed the packing and headed out to travel the highways to the north eastern coast of South Korea. It was about a four hour drive, but the girls had brought along enough to do in the car that they were mostly content. Ken and I enjoyed the constant flow of towns, villages, and forest views on the drive across the country. When we reached the town of Yangyang on the coast, it was time for a break. Andrew found a public beach area and we all eagerly scampered across the sands to play in the water. Surprise! The water was not COLD! Just cool, and pleasant to play in.

 

Charlotte was somewhat hesitant to go out into the waves on her own.

I carried her out to join in some of the fun, but even then she wasn't convinced,

so she went back to play in the sand.

Sophie especially enjoyed playing in the waves. :)

Here's a look down the beach from where we were. Notice those clouds coming in??

About the time that we were headed back to the car, with a stop at the restroom to wash off sandy feet, we felt the first big splashes of rain drops. Within minutes it was a downpour and we were rushing as quickly as possible back to the car. Near the end of our dash, we paused a moment under the canopy of a shop and looked up at the clouds. OH, how I wish I had my camera out!! We saw a funnel cloud drop out of the skies and head towards the town!! Right or wrong (what do you do when you see a small tornado???), we hustled into the car, and I frantically reached for my camera to take a photo before we closed the door. What?? Where did it go?? Just that quickly the funnel had disappeared. Oh! Well, we were all witnesses and were awestruck. The tornado disappeared, but the rain continued pouring as we drove along the last couple miles inland to the hotel that Andrew had previously made reservations in.

Within minutes we had driven far enough to be out of the storm and the roads were dry. This squall was the only rain we experienced in Korea the entire time we were there. All the other days were dry and pleasant. (The jacket I brought along was only worn once or twice.)

Here is the hotel that we stayed in. That's Andrew in the photo, and his car is the greenish colored van next to the steps. The hotel is only a couple miles from the entrance of Seorksan National Park.

Andrew promised us an authentic Korean experience, and the hotel delivered. Our room did not have "beds" as we know them. The room was devoid of furniture except for a table and chairs in the kitchenette and a tall wardrobe that contained sleeping mats. Hmmm....my hips and shoulders were whimpering even before we tried to lay down and sleep! (Ken's thoughts were similar to mine.) Well, Andrew managed to communicate to the management that we wanted two more mats. It was funny because during this "conversation", Andrew was pointing to the mat and holding up fingers to request more, and the hotel people were counting heads and mats and were clearly confused because we obviously already had enough for our group. Ha ha! But they brought two more anyway and I gave them a smile and a pat to the hips which was finally understood by the woman. She laughed graciously. (Or I hope it was graciously....she was probably laughing about "soft" Americans!)

Well, let me tell you. Even with three mats, that floor was HARD. We had two long nights on that hard floor, but we survived without permanent damage. Ha ha! Thanks, Andrew, for a lovely authentic experience and the story to tell afterwards. :)

Ken and I shared our room with Sophie and Elanor (also on mats), while Andrew, Michelle and Charlotte had another room. THEIR room had a bed.....if you could call it that. Ken and I sat upon it once to discover that it was just as hard as the floor! They basically had the same sleeping experience we did, except their bed was elevated. (Charlotte had a mat on the floor in their room.)

For dinner that night we nibbled on foods that Michelle had brought, but Andrew and I went out to one of the local shops and found some Kimbap to supplement the meal. Of all the Korean foods I ate (and there were many!), this was my favorite dish. Yum. :) After eating we played a game of Apples to Apples with the girls and retired to our ""BEDS"" to rest for the next day's adventures.