Last Day in Korea

Photos Bottom to top

larvae Yummy!

Soldier checking our passports

Displays

One soldier who let us take his photo

amythest

lunch

view from hotel room

Bob the shoemaker
Our time is winding down quickly. We spent our last full day in Korea. Tomorrow we leave for the airport at 10:30 am. We ride the free shuttle from the hotel, and then our plane leaves at 4:30.  It is going to be a longgggggggggg day tomorrow. We will get to relieve Thursday twice!

Today we took a tour to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone).  We actually had to pay for the tour! After all those free tours in China it was a sacrifice to shell out the money!  But we just had to see it.  

We met the bus outside the gate of the military base and drove about an hour thru beautiful green valleys and rice fields. Reminded me of China.  Our tour guide was 27 years old, and single. Really cute guy! Reminded me of my sons!  But he certainly had some opinions of things. He told us that the Koreans don't like Japanese, Americans, or Chinese. I asked him who he did like and he said the Koreans like North Korea. He wants the North and South to get back together. I found that interesting. I haven't really found anyone that likes the Japanese, and after hearing of all the atrocities they have committed over the years I can understand that. 

We met a family of 4 who were there picking up their missionary. They had been at the temple yesterday, but we hadn't noticed them. They were in the later session. They are from Orem. Isn't it a small world?

We arrived at the DMZ that serves as a buffer zone between North and South Korea. It cuts the Korean Peninsula roughly in half crossing the 38th parallel. It is 155 miles long and about 2.5 miles wide, and is the most heavily armed border in the world. We stopped at a rest stop to use the bathroom and get a drink, and it was there that I tried a larve. I just had to do it so I could say I tried it. It was crunchy and nasty, but it wasn't moving like those grasshoppers that Adam, Mindy, Jake, and Kevin tried last year! Ha!

Korean Demilitarized Zone - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We had a Korean military policeman come on and check our passports. I took a picture of his back, but then the tour guide told us we couldn't take pictures. As we left the border he said we could, so several of us took some out the window. Then they stopped us again and came on the bus to see who had taken the pictures. Nothing happened and we continued on. 

It started pouring rain, pouring! We went to a building and watched a film about it, then toured a little museum. We then went over, put on hard hats and went down the 3rd tunnel. It was a long walk down, and quite cold. At the "end" of where we could go was barbed wire and a cemented door. Wonder what was back there!  We then made the long trek back up the hill and out of the tunnel.

We made another stop to see another film and to have a look over to the North. We could not see very well because of the rain, and they would make you stand behind a line to take pictures so you really couldn't get a nice shot of it!  But we were there!

One more stop to see a few more displays, and then the bus ride back to Seoul. We stopped for a few minutes at a amythest factory. I found a necklace and decided to make it a nice gift to remember Korea by.

They dropped us off at Ichewon and we did a little more shopping, had lunch, and picked up our custom made shoes. We left a Book of Mormon with the shoemaker who was reading his bible when we walked in. We also left his business card with the missionaries. I found a charm from Korea for my charm bracelet and another coach bag!  Couldn't help myself!  Cathy can pick which one she wants!

We had a nice Korean lunch that had rice on the bottom and covered with vegetables and an egg. It was yummy. The soup was good too, but the little mini fish, leaves, and kimchi were not eaten! 

We headed back to the hotel and started packing for the trip home. Bonnie is so nice as to take a few things home for me so I don't have to drag them to Utah first!

We have really enjoyed Korea, and are so glad we made the stop here!  I can check this off my list now!  On to new countries!

Tuesday in Korea

Another exciting day in Korea!  

We got up and headed to the temple, via the subway. Only $1.00 each way for as many transfers as we need! It is getting easier to ride, and if we were here another month we would probably get the hang of it!

We had a wonderful session at the temple. We attended a Korean session, but were given headphones to listen to it in English. It was full too, but mostly women. It was about the size of the Alaska Temple. There was a beautiful Korean chest in there that had a sign that said it was given to President Hinckley, and then he donated it back to the temple. It was very beautiful in there.

We then went back to the same market that we went to yesterday. I wanted to get my sister a coach bag. To bad I didn't think of it in China, it would have been much less expensive.  I looked for some military stuff for Kevin, but she wanted a lot of money and I think I can get it cheaper at the base in Alaska. We had lunch at a small food stall. We both had noodles and some "California rolls". Kevin would have loved them! They pack you into these tiny restaurants and it is loud and busy, but the food is filling and tasty.  They cook it right next to the pedestrian road. 

There are a couple of beggars in that market that just break my heart. They have a little wagon that they push in front of them that holds a basket to put money on. They crawl along the ground and pull with their arms because they don't have legs. They have made these pants out of old tires that they drag along the ground on. And one of them has a radio that he plays. It is very sad. 

We headed home and near the base is the Korean War Memorial. We decided to take a tour of it. It is a huge building with lots of displays. It really helped me understand the war a little better.  Korean War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I can now understand why the Koreans don't seem to like the Chinese. Kind of like the Chinese not liking the Japanese.  Too bad we just can't all get along!

We went and had a pedicure when we got back to the hotel. We figured we have been walking hard on these old feet for a month and wanted them to look half decent when we got home. It certainly wasn't as cheap as China, but less than the states.  Not much less, but less.  Our time of pampering is about over! Soon we will be back to the real world, cooking, cleaning, working! Oh boy!

Monday in Korea

Bonnie and I have mastered the subways, or rather Bonnie has. I have always been a poor map reader, and Bonnie looks so good with her little granny glasses trying to read the map. So after trying to read it myself and passing the exit we should have gotten off on, I have decided to let her be the navigator! Besides that, if we stare at the map long enough some nice Korean person will come over and ask us if we need help. One nice girl was even going our way and took us with her. Everyone we have met has been so nice and helpful!

We even met a foreign woman named Vickie on the way home who is LDS! We got to talking and told her we stopped here to attend church and the temple, and she asked what temple, and well, there you go! Another Mormon in Korea!

We decided to head to a shopping area called Namdae Mun market area where there are over 1,200 different shops. The prices were quite disappointing compared to China!  A "coach" bag that we could get in China for $20 was $40, but when I told them I got it for cheaper in China they said how cheap China is and that things are better in Korea.

We did pick up some ties, a couple of t-shirts for Kevin, and some cool flashlights for Kevin too.

We stopped at a small restaurant and had some bibimbip (rice, egg, meat, vegetables, and sauce). The lady mixed it all up for us, and gave us some soup and kimchi. Yummy. We also had some steamed rice rolls with meat in them. These tasted like China.  We watched a man make this honey candy. That was cool. He took a small piece of what looked like honey candy, stretched and stretched it into thin spider like webs, wrapped it over nuts and packaged it. It was a little pricey, but will be good for the family to try.

We then had the bright idea to go to Costco (yes, they have Costco!) and buy some Tim Tams that the Aussie demonstrated at church yesterday. So, we hopped on another subway and headed there. We had another girl stop and help us, and a short walk after the subway stop we arrived! And the prices! Wow! A jar of nuts-$19.oo, Mangos-$18.00. We bought the Tim Tams and that was enough!  We did stop to have a berry smoothie and sat next to 2 women who were having a slice of pizza...and condiments on the side. Get this....hot dog toppings, onions, mustard, catsup, and relish, all mixed up together, and then they ate it with forks!  I don't know if they realized that it was for a hot dog, but they seemed to enjoy it! 

We rode the subway ($1.00) back to the hotel, and crashed for a rest! All that walking and shopping! Whew!

We then headed out for dinner. We found a place that served bulgogi, and split one between us. It has one dish of meat and onions all cooked, and then lots of other small dishes with things like kimchi, soup, vegetables, garlic, dates, and squid.  I don't think Bonnie was very impressed! She took one bite of meat and that was enough for her. It was a lot like eating at the Korean place in Provo that I went to with my parents and Andrea and Norma.

On the way home this older man stopped us and offered to make us a pair of shoes. We decided to go into his shop and check it out.  He convinced us to do it, kept calling us sister and explaining that he believed in God. Very interesting man, and his wife was there too. She didn't speak much English, but he made up for it with his stories. He carefully measured our feet. We chose the style out of a book, and he was going to make them for us. We will go back and check out the shoes on Wednesday evening. We don't have to buy them if we don't like them. Another adventure.

We are heading to bed, and getting up early to go to the temple!

Later!

Church in Korea

Photos from bottom to top

Subway going to church

Up the alley to church

The church building

The temple

Heading back to the hotel after the temple

Another exciting adventure in going to church today. Bonnie and I had tried to find a church on base, with no luck. LDS.org listed an English speaking branch in another area with some directions, so we decided to try our luck on the subways and go. We made it thru the first subway to and down to the connecting subway when we came upon two young men, and a young lady all dressed up and looking like they were heading to church. We kind of hung around them until I noticed the tell-tell signs that they were LDS, and then I popped the question were they going to church? And they were! And they were our new best friends. They very kindly welcomed us to follow them, and we were off onto the subway again. We got off a few stops later and began the short walk thru alleyways to the church. They all knew each other, and the guys are dentists with the army, one is leaving Korea in the next few days, and the other is just beginning his tour.
We enjoyed all three meetings and there were probably about 60 people there of all nationalities there. The talks centered around The Plan of Salvation, where did we come from, why are we here, and where are we going? Excellent talks. There were many missionary couples who are called specifically because they are former military, and can help out on the bases. There were also "regular" young missionaries. The relief society teacher is a kindergarten teacher from New Zealand.
After the meetings they had a "linger longer" dinner. It was fantastic with both Korean and American food. I can't imagine all the work that went into preparing it for everyone, and it was so nice to have a meal. We were able to meet and talk with other people. I talked to one lady with 5 kids from Bountiful whose husband is teaching buisness at a university. She initially did not like living in Korea, but after going home for her grandpa's funeral came back and has decided it is ok, and she will make the best of it, especially since her husband bought her an American dryer! They are still only cooking with a toaster oven, which she finds hard because you can't fit in a cookie sheet. Small world, but when I said I was from Alaska she mentioned knowing Merlyn Chamberlain!
After the dinner this zealous Austrailian announced that there would be a special treat after dinner and to save our cups. He demonstrated how to eat Tim Tams. He picked up this chocolate square cookie and loudly said," First you say, "Struth the Crikie, You little Ripper, Tim, Tam" then you bite off one corner of the cookie, then the other corner, then dip it in hot chocolate, suck up a drink, and then stuff the cookie in your mouth." It was pretty funny, and delicious! We are heading to Costco tomorrow to get some! Yes, they have Costco here!
We then followed our new friends back to the subway and on to the Temple for a look around. Bonnie talked to the guy at the gate and found out that they both new Mont Mahoney, he is from Alaska. I don't know him. The temple was beautiful, but hard to find. Good thing we had new friends.
We took the subway back to the hotel with our friends, they were heading that way, and said goodbye.

So glad we were able to attend church in Korea, and China! So glad we met some new friends to help us! It is marvelous to have our church all over the world, and to be able to be studying and learning the same thing here, as we would back home.

Korea and some last photos of China

Photos from bottom to top
Our group from Alaska
The cave we visited
More friends from Alaska that taught in another city
Our last hotel in Shanghai the night before we left

Bonnie and I said goodbye to our friends in Shanghai. Some were staying to go to Beijing, and others were on the plane with us as far as Korea, and then on to home. Bonnie and I stayed in Korea, and found our way to the bus and then took a taxi from the bus stop to the Hotel on the military base.


We have found out that we can't buy anything from the commisary or AFFES, so we are stuck with eating fast food, unless we leave the base, which we intend on doing.


Our last day we toured a fantastic cave, a pearl factory, and then took a flight to Shanghai where we had free time to do some last minute shopping! Spend it!


We are heading out to find a church this morning. Going to take the subway.

Missing China Already

What I won't miss about China

People pushing

People grabbing you to buy something

People staring at you

The awful smell, especially bathrooms

Line cutters

Smog

Beggars

Dinner plates the size of a salad plat

Squat toilets

Bring your own toilet paper

Seeing the sick toilet paper in the garbage

Putting the toilet paper in the garbage cans

Mosquitoes

Scary driving

crowds

Heat and Humidity

Scary driving

taking your life in your hands everytime you cross the street

Overall dirtiness

one napkin per person

one drink per person at dinner, except all the beer you want

Bargaining-just give me the lowest price

Not being able to drink out of the tap

beg bugs

washing clothes in the sink every night, and waiting for 2 days for it to dry

Things I will miss

Dumplings

Chinese vegetables

All the new friends I made

Adventures everyday

Women wearing nylon anklets

chinese babies

babies wearing open bottomed pants and watching them go on the street

The beauty of China

Guilin Cruise

It was hot here today!  I read the front page of the Anchorage Daily News, after hearing about it from Jane who told all the Alaskans about it, and learned that Anchorage has had the coldest summer on record! There have only been 7 days with 65 degrees so far! In fact, the Anchorage Daily News reported snow in the mountains! And it is only July!  So glad I missed it!!!

Gloomy summer set for infamy: Life | adn.com

On with China. We got on the bus at 8:30 for an hour to get to the place where we got on a boat for our 3 1/2 hour river cruise. We could see them cooking our lunch on the back of the boat. The tour guides warned us that the food wouldn't be very good, but it wasn't bad. They even picked up food along the way. A smaller boat would pull up the our the bigger tour boats and give them fresh fish and live chickens.  How about that for fast food?

On the way our tour guide gave us a little history of Guilin and talked about the Flying Tigers coming to protect the city during World War 2. One of our teacher's father was a Flying Tiger. He started singing, and we all joined in with "You are my Sunshine", one of the favorite songs of the pilots, and it was very moving. Such a history there is to learn about here. They love to remember the Flying Tigers and what they did to help them against the Japanese. 

We all sat down at tables for eight where we could view the sights out the window. Once underway we could go up top for some even better viewing. I can't even describe the beauty that we were able to see. It reminded us a little of the Kenai Fjords cruise. Very green with lots of trees. There were even some sheep in the mountains. There were families bathing or swimming (the children were naked), or washing clothes in the river. 

It was interesting to see flat boats come up and hook onto ours to try and sell us junk. There was also a lady on board who would come around selling jewlery and other local crafts. She sold this snake wine. It was gross looking with the snakes floating in the bottle. Ugg!

We took lots of pictures of other boats, scenery, water buffalo, commoran birds, the ones that catch fish for the fishermen, and. It was a beautiful sunny day, and several people got sunburns. But standing out on the deck of the boat witnessing the beauty was worth it!

Of course, after the boat ride there was time for shopping......I'm out of Chinese money!  I guess I will have to wait until Korea to change the rest into their money!  And the bargaining gets really old!

I bought a beautiful tablecloth today. She started at 800 yuan. I offered 100 and stuck to it, and she kept getting lower and lower and finally I accepted, but decided to look elsewhere. Since I knew I could get it for 100 yuan, (15 dollars) I tried to get it lower elsewhere. The trick is to not show them that you really want the item. You decide what to pay and then stick to it. I tried 80 at the next place and there was lots of babble about me cheating them, and I just said fine, 80 is my last price and walked away, and then they came after me..OK, OK, Lady, and I bought it. But, it does get old and I really don't like it when people grab my arm! Ugggg! You know me and germs.  Everyone has become pretty good at getting things cheaper. We are always in competition asking each other what we paid and getting a laugh when someone buys the same thing you do for way less! 

We headed back to the bus and went to the University where we watched a demonstration on painting. A woman created a beautiful painting for us in just over 5 minutes. Of course they wanted us to buy stuff there too!

Then onto our last dinner together as a group! Can't believe our time is almost over. And guess what? We had Chinese for dinner!

This will be the last post until Korea!  I most likely won't have time to post tomorrow night from Shanghai. We will be leaving for Korea on Saturday morning.

Early Morning

A snippet of what is going on in the morning in Guilin.

People of all ages swimming in the River Li

People washing clothes in the river

Fishing in the river

Tai Chi and dancers on the river walk exercising

Selling fish near the river

Buying vegetables for lunch

I love the peace and quiet of walking early in the morning! 

Guilin

The photos are going in reverse order!  Start at the bottom of the pictures and go up! 

After a short 2 two hour flight  from Hangzhou, we have landed in beautiful Guilin. And beautiful it is!  I think that this is the most beautiful city I have seen in China!  Green and lush!  Guilin is known for the following 4 things, and more, but they say these are the most important: green hills, clear water, caves, and charming stones.  The weather is clean and cool, and they say the best air in China. We are really only 500 kilometers from Vietnam. The weather is subtropical. The name Guilin means "forest of sweet osmanthus" owing to the large number of fragrant osmanthus trees located in the city. The urban population is only 600,000, the size of Alaska! It is so nice to be in a smaller city, without the busy traffic and millions of people.

Guilin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

We left the hotel at 8 this morning, pilled into the bus, handed over our passports to our tour guide, Henry, and headed thru heavy rush hour traffic to the airport. You just can't imagine all the bikes, busses, taxi's, cars, vans, scooters, you name it, that are slowly making their way down the streets. I have yet to see an accident, and no one gets mad at each other in traffic.  It is amazing how they all move along smoothly, if not slowly. 

Several people had to give up their newly purchased lighters at the airport.  They did a group weigh in of the luggage so that those who traveled light helped those that traveled heavy.  I had to sit on my suitcase and bounce up and down to get it closed. I bought two silk pillows and they took up a bunch of room. I guess I will just have to buy small things, like jewelry!

When we arrived we were met by a local tour guide named Wei (weigh).  Our other tour guide came with us to Guilin, so we have 2 people taking care of us. They count heads everytime we get back on the bus after seeing something.  They try and take good care of us!

Because the weather was so cool, probably 80, they said we would do some touring right away. First place we went to was Seven Star Scenic Area. It was a beautiful park with some panda bears. We watched them for a while. One was sleeping, and one was chewing away on bamboo leaves. Monkeys came down out of the trees for a peek at us. We also visited a rock museum because there are many rocks and caves here. I bought a rock that glows in the dark, trying to remember the name, but it reminds me of the rocks that were used by the Brothers of Jared.

We then went to another park near our hotel called the Folded Brocade Hill. We climbed several hundred stairs to the top of the mountain for a 360 degree view of the city. Spectacular! Just at the time we got to the top it began to pour. There were many people crowded under an awning, and then someone lent a couple of us a big umbrella.  We were wet, but it was worth it to see the beauty!

We headed back down, went to the hotel, and met for dinner. Fresh cooked beans, sweet and sour chicken, pork, fried rice, fried bananas, beef and peppers, soup, and fried something like taquitos. It was yummy. A quick walk near the Li River, and now heading to bed!