It’s hard to believe that we have been back in the US six months now. Korea seems like a dream almost. If it wasn’t for the wonderful friends we made, the hundreds of pictures, the beautiful art pieces hanging on our walls (along with the ones that still need to be framed), the cultural habits we picked up, and the speaking in tongues. We would never know we were gone. But every time I hand something off two handed to a sales clerk with a slight bow, I...
Well, I'm sure all are aware now, but in case you missed the annoucement, we'll be coming back this Saturday. The movers are coming tomorrow and they'll be taking our trusty computer with them. So we might be out of touch until after the holiday, I dunno yet. I've got a few old blogs written up but never had time to post. Once we get settled in, you might continue to see a few more Korea observation articles. ...
We arrived in Xian at 2:00 in the afternoon. After some confusion because our plane arrived earlier than our guide, we were off to visit one of the things I have always wanted to see in person since I was a kid, the terra cotta soldiers. The tomb of the Terra Cotta soldiers from the Qin dynasty is one of China's most famous relics. It is amazing to think that it has only been uncovered for 29 years. Standing in front of an army of 1,000 that have been unveiled was ama...
On day 3, we started off at Tiananmen Square. As Lisa, our tour guide described the history of Tiananmen Square, all I could remember was the news shots from the 1989 student uprising. It' funny how the images of one news event can come back to you sometimes. This square is the entrance way to the Forbidden City. It is bounded by the Government Building, General Mao's Mausoleum, the National Museum, and the Forbidden City. The square is frequented by tourists and is...
I couldn't pass this up. In looking at past articles and thinking about our trip to China, I was brought back to the whole discussion about public restrooms. China is yet another country that uses pit toilets. Oh the joy. After laughing I had to share. Believe it or not there is a World Toilet Organization. And although their website is meant to be serious, I found it pretty funny. This is my favorite line though from the public notice "...
We started the day off with and Asian buffet breakfast. I swear some of the things they eat just are not the smells you want to encounter at 7:30 in the morning. But I am sure that they think that of some western food too. At 8:15 we were out the door on our way to the Great Wall of China. This is a 40 minute drive north out of Beijing. But first we stopped at a jade store/demonstration factory. Things we learned about buying jade were that real jade will ...
This trip Chris and I were a bit leary to take on China with out a guide so we decided to go on a package tour. We went to Beijing and Xi'an. Our tour company was called Xanadu travel adn yes they use Olivia's Newton John's song as there hold music. Which unfortunately became the pop song stuck in my head every time I looked at our luggage tags. Baring that they were a good company to go through and we had a great time. I am going to break this up in several articles over t...
The other day I was having lunch with several of my Korean friends. As part of the conversation one of my Korean friends brought up the story of a Korean man who was heavily fined for hitting his child with a cane for miss behaving. o some up the article it is an acceptable practice in Korea to "cane" misbehaving children. Hit them with a "love stick" when they don't follow orders. In the case of the article, the son had let his grades slip, skipping class, and was ...
What we call each other in terms of respect varies from culture to culture. Western cultures tend to use terms like Mr., Mrs., and Ms. Korean culture uses your last name first like Henry David Thoreau would be Thoreau Henry David. If you have a title that is the most important thing to use with your name. It is disrespectful to use Mr. or Mrs. Vietnamese culture uses the terms uncle or aunt for older generations and sister or brother for teens, twenties and people...
The weather is starting to get nice here on our side of the world. People are starting to plant flowers. It is starting to feel liked spring. As a result, we are motivated again to take on the outside world and try to see more of Korea. This past weekend we went to Gongju which is about 45 minutes to an hour west/southwest of Daejeon. This is one of the former capitals of the Baekje dynasty era. There are tombs of kings there. The tombs l...
The Perfume Pagoda Based on the advise of friends who had previously traveled to Vietnam, we signed up for a trip to the Perfume Pagoda. Our adventure began in Hanoi with a ride on a bus. After much shuffling between buses to get everyone to fit. We headed off to a small town that was about an hour outside of Hanoi. On this trip we met more Americans than we had seen in one location outside of going to Osan (the location of a US military installment). There were...
The celebration of Tet. The Tet celebration has much of the hustle and bustle like that of Christmas in the states. Overnight, photographic backdrops line the busy streets near temples and Pagodas alike. Two stages for free concerts are set up in the city. The one stage has the Vietnamese equivalent of Brittany Spears and Boy bands while the other stage has circus performers and martial arts demonstrations. The martial arts demonstrations usually involve what ...
On the third and the fourth days of our trip we booked an overnight stay to Halong Bay. This was a beautiful trip. The ride through the country side allowed us to enjoy the scenery and watch people perform the laborious task of planting rice and getting water into the fields. The sad thing about the view was the sheer amount of trash in some of the villages. You could have a beautiful house with a yard filled with bags of trash on more than one occasion. Some...
Since we had the week off for Seol (The Korean Lunar New Year) we decided to take the opportunity to see another Asian country. We decided to visit Vietnam on a friend's suggestion and see the country that Ho Chi Mihn made famous. We spent seven days wandering around Hanoi, Vietnam and taking a few trips to some other places around Hanio. To make it easier on everyone I am going to break this up into multiple blogs. We knew little of Vietnam before coming. As wit...
Just getting back from our week-long vacation in Hanoi, Vietnam. Fun time. I expect Heather will be doing a write up in the next couple days. We took a lot of pictures, we'll be posting a link as well soon. Short summary: Very cool country. Pros: Lots of great sights, great food, great people. Cheap food, hotels, shopping. Cons: Chaos in the driving, living with trash. ...