The Seoul of Korea

Seoul is a heart. A pulsating, beating, heart. Blood comes in, and goes out, without hesitation. The heart is the most used muscle in the body. It works hard... It works fast... and it works efficiently.

The subway, buses, taxis, motorbikes, and commuter cars flow together like cells, never halting. Traffic weaves together... in, out, around. People pushing carts filled with the wares that provide their livelihood fill the crosswalk as soon as the lights change. For a brief moment, the streets change ownership. Unlike the haphazard mess that is called driving in India or Thailand, Korea actually has a method to the madness. Everything runs like a well-oiled machine...like a heart.

Similar to other large cities in this world, the people of Seoul are always in a hurry to get to where they're going. Being a tourist means being in the way. If you visit the heart of Korea, feel free to meander and peruse your surroundings, by all means... but be careful not to get in anyone's way! There is no such thing as personal space here, and many bumps and shoves will be accidental. Some, on the other hand, will be entirely on purpose. If you're in someone's way, they will not stop or slow down to give you your space. In truth, where you're standing is not your space. You just happen to be occupying it at the time!

Don't get me wrong - everyone I've met here has been extremely nice. In general, Koreans don't seem to be very tolerant of tourists. This is just in comparison to other places of course. I don't mean they are negative towards tourists, they just don't take the time to really go out of their way to make you comfortable in their city like the people of say, Siem Reap Cambodia, Bled Slovenia or Reykjavik Iceland. For a good comparison, you can think of Seoul being the New York City of Korea. Too many people in one place make the addition of more people more of an annoyance than a novelty.

The impact of the Korean War is evident today... Both through the memorials and the people. Sang, the minister at the local congregation I visited, is originally from North Korea. His family was able to leave and settle in the rural area of South Korea and he now lives in Seoul. He has family members that he never knew, because they were unable to escape from North Korea. Much like The Civil War of the United States, brothers fought against brothers. The war tore families apart, and with nothing truly resolved between the two countries, families were left asunder. A war memorial that depicts this in Seoul is called the Statue of Brothers. It shows an older brother, a North Korean officer, meeting his younger brother, a South Korean soldier, on the battlefield. Their embrace is a powerful example of reconciliation, love, and forgiveness. 

Statue of Brothers

The weather has been somewhat unexpectedly frigid. I firmly believe that 30° in Alabama feels far more warm than the same temperature in South Korea. I'm not sure why, because I never wanted to be a meteorologist, but I'm not too happy about it! Now, when people ask, "What is the coldest place you've been so far? " I'll have to say South Korea. Not Iceland... not Minnesota... South Korea. I know I'm whining but you have to understand that I've always lived in hot and muggy areas of the States. Never the less, I'm braving the cold in an effort to learn more about this thriving city.

When you go about your day today, wherever you may be... look around. Appreciate what makes your city special. Big or small, fast or slow... what would an outsider say about your town? Do something for a stranger today. You never know...they might be writing a blog about your area, and you might be the one person that changes how they see it. Get out there and make the world a better place!

Excuse to be as lazy as I want

I randomly woke up at 6 in the morning, and decided to cook breakfast. I know, Mom... thats a dangerous thing to do! Shane was so surprised to be greeted with bacon and pancakes. I can't guarantee they tasted good, but he ate it all with no complaints! After taking the time to sit down and eat with me, he was running late for work so off he went.

Shanes truck is being borrowed by a friend and he has the car, so I have the perfect excuse to be as lazy as I want.  Realistically, I probably would have stayed in bed all day anyways,  but now I can feel better about it!

Vacations are made for relaxing. So many people feel like if they're not out doing and seeing, that they're somehow wasting their vacation. That's definitely not my sentiment!

Shanes roommate, Craig, came home early and I mentioned being hungry. He hadn't eaten either so we ended up going to a local restaurant,  "The Whistling Kite." I ordered a weird type of burger, that tasted really different but wasn't necessarily bad. I guess it just wasn't what I was expecting. When we went to pay the bill, Craig refused to take my money. I've been spoiled by these guys this week!

Shane and I have gotten slightly addicted to playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare. I must say, we make a good team! I've reestablished my old skill at these shoot em up games, and I can hold my own quite well. After a while of playing, we decided we wanted ice cream. After a quick rush to the store (we thought they were closing), we had chocolate chunk and vanilla ice cream with chocolate hard shell to drizzle (or pour) over it, and some cookies that tasted EXACTLY like thin mints to top it off. I always wonder how I gain weight when I'm traveling... I guess that mystery is solved.

Craig was watching The Walking Dead, and I haven't seen any of the new episodes since I've been traveling for a month. The 3 of us sat down and watched all the new episodes that Craig had recorded while destroying our huge bowls of ice cream.

I don't know about you guys, but relaxing in front of a TV with some ice cream is the perfect vacation. I never do that at home, just like I never play video games,  so today has just been an amazingly relaxing day.

I'm loving this life.

Cans. Cairns. Cans.

This day began on a plane, which seems to be my MO on this trip! My flight from Perth to Cairns (pronounced CANS) landed at 4:15 and I immediately made my way to the hostel. It felt great being on a domestic flight... no customs to go through!

The hostel was all locked up for the night, but luckily there were some guys drinking and playing pool that were able to let me in and wake up the night manager. He gave me a spare bed, and I was actually able to sleep for a few hours! That was almost a disaster though, since my alarm was on silent... I ended up sleeping 20 minutes past what I wanted, but I made it to the marina and jumped aboard the Tusa 6 diving vessel before being left!

I learned something new about myself that I never knew before... Apparently, given the right conditions, I get sea sick. That was NOT a pleasant experience,  but at least now I know to take something before the boat takes off!

We made it out to the first stop, out on the Great Barrier Reef. The GBR is made up of a ton of smaller reefs and is the world's largest living organism. It can be seen from space! Norman's reef, our first stop,  was full of colorful anemone, fish, clams, and some people saw a shark, although my group did not. We hit the deepest point my certification allows, 18m. I actually went 18.3... oops! I was disappointed because yesterday, there was a sea turtle hanging out,  but today he wasn't anywhere to be seen. He must be out helping Marlin find Nemo!

We did two dives on Norman's reef,  and then had lunch on the boat. The ocean was ridiculously choppy, and the boat was heaving this way and that, causing people to drop things, and we were unable to really get up and walk anywhere. Finally we arrived at the second dive site, and the boat came to a halt. Everyone heaved a sigh of relief, and began preparing for the next and final dive.

Fish hole, our final dive site, hosted a variety of fish and enormous clams... There was a barracuda hanging out under the boat, just relaxing. The colors of the reef were absolutely stunning... brilliant shades of purple, neon green, and yellow are only a few of the myriad of colors that littered the coral of the reef. All my dive photos are on a CD and my tablet doesn't have a disk drive, so you'll have to wait until I get home to see them all!

At this point,  I'm just thoroughly exhausted. After a "short" nap (3 hours) I headed to the local Irish pub for which I had a meal voucher. I can't believe I ever forgot how amazing Australians are at making fish and chips... Ugh I am FULL, sleepy, and ready for BED.

Uncomfortable worship isn't worship

To keep me from walking into something unexpected,  Shane explained that the church he attends here in Australia is not like what I go to in the states. After researching the group, I decided against going. I tried to find a more suitable congregation to worship with, but all seemed ok were over an hour away by car, and I didn't feel comfortable taking the car on all kinds of highways.

Shane came home in the afternoon and took me to Safety Bay, a small community situated on a beautiful bay front with a small beach and all kinds of cool shops along the street. We bought ice cream and just walked around for awhile. The weather is much better today than yesterday,  but it still tried to rain on us. After a short run back to the car, we were on our way back to the house.

I honestly couldn't bring myself to tell Shane I didn't want to go to church, and it turned out better than expected. The lesson was good and thought provoking, but the congregation chooses to use a band in worship. I will never understand how the loud music that drowns out the praise being given to the Lord is preferable over a group of Christians just singing their hearts out together. Why are instruments even thought to be needed? I know I didn't worship, because if something is being done that you believe is contradictory to the scripture, then how can it be worship?

SavHannah and her mom, Leanne, invited Shane and I to their house for dinner, and that's when we realized we hadn't eaten lunch or dinner! They had a Mexican type chicken dish in the crock pot for everyone to wrap up in tortillas and... You guessed it, sweet tea. They all think it's funny how excited I get over sweet tea...

Some girls from a mission group are staying with the Crabtree family, and we all had some interesting conversation about American politics, abortion, and I don't even know what else. The topic was just jumping all over the place!

All in all, it was a good day, and getting to know people is always exciting!

Surfs Up Dude

I woke up early to get ready for my first attempt at surfing. That's right, I'm going to SURF. Or at least try not to drown... remember,  this is Australia so both are equally difficult. I had no idea who this girl was that I was heading to see, but my life revolves around meeting new people so I was excited!

I drove to SavHannah's house (without driving on the "American" side of the road once!) and met the Crabtree family. The family is actually from Texas originally, but are here in Australia so that Ken, SavHannah's dad, can work in the oil industry. They've been here a few years,  and have a little over a year left before being moved elsewhere. When I came in to the house, I was immediately offered breakfast and wait for it... sweet tea. Oh delicious sugary goodness, how I've missed thee.

After discussing the plan for the day, we grabbed the boards and walked to the beach. I quickly learned that my arms are half an inch too short to carry a surf board comfortably. Oh, the hazards of being little! Eventually we made it to the waters edge, and SavHannah gave me a quick briefing on how to surf. Unfortunately,  the weather wasn't great and neither were the waves. I was able to ride a few waves in on my belly, but they were never long or strong enough for me to attempt to stand. At least now I have some practice under my belt!

We got cleaned up and waited for SavHannah's friend Tyler to come meet us so he could go to Fremantle with us. Fremantle is a little coastal town with some awesome weekend markets,  and everyone agreed that it was somewhere I needed to see while in Secret Harbour (Shanes town).

We drove out to Fremantle and what I thought was going to be some sort of farmers market turned out to be an enormous set up of vendors. Part was outside, but most was actually in what appeared to be 2 giant warehouses. I guess once the end of the weekend rolls around, they can just shut it all up and await the next weekend!

I met a girl named Jacinta on my trip around Ireland last November, and she lives in Perth. Lucky for me, she has completed her trip around the world and is home. She invited me to an Australian Rules Football game: the Fremantle Dockers vs the Gold Coast Suns. Since Fremantle is on the way to Perth, I followed SavHannah to the train station nearest to Shanes house and left the car there. That way, I was able to catch the train from Fremantle to the game, but then come all the way back towards the house afterward. I got off the train in Perth and as I was calling Jacinta, the bottom of the clouds above me fell out. I'm talking hurricane style! The wind and rain came out of nowhere and it went down hill fast. Jacinta and I made it to the arena as the rain started to die down a bit. We got inside and as we were waiting to sit down, a football smacked me straight in the face. Jacinta said of all the games she's been to, she's never seen that happen. Apparently I attract all kinds of odd events!

Finally, we decided that being wet just was not working for us and we left the game and headed to a local pub to watch the game there. We stayed until halftime but due to the rain, I think everyone had the same idea. There was nowhere to sit, and standing was getting annoying.

We drove to a tapas restaurant where Jacinta went a lot growing up. Apparently a tapas restaurant serves teeny tiny dishes at the cost of enormous ones. I was quite taken aback at the prices! They were the cost of a normal entrée,  except we shared 4 and were still hungry. We continued on to "Little Caesars" (not the same as the US chain!). They only have a few stores in the greater Perth area and I can tell that it will just take off over the next few years. The entire place was absolutely packed and the line out the door. Most pizza places have some desserts, but this place thrived on them. We ordered an AMAZING cinnamon apple pizza with 2 huge scoops of vanilla ice cream on the top of it. I'll just let the photo do the justice ok? Trust me.

By this point, we were actually pretty close to the main Perth train station so Jacinta dropped me off their and we said our "cya later's". It was absolutely amazing to meet someone in Ireland, and then hang out with them in Australia. That's why I travel. My friends and "family" are all over the world. Anywhere I go, I can call on someone! Next up, maybe Jacinta will go on a road trip in my tiny house...or maybe we will go to Iceland together. Who knows where, but it's only a matter of when.

Welcome to Oz - Part 2

I finally made it to Australia.  First off, I never thought I would be back in this beautiful country so soon! When studying abroad, we all said we'd be back "one day" and "eventually." The fact that I'm here after just 2 years blows my mind. Australia was the first country I went to as an adult. It's amazing that my first time traveling turned into an obsessive need to experience new places, people, and food. It feels like I've done some sort of rotation around the world. My life has changed so much in such little time... I wonder what the next 2 years hold in store for me!

I grew up in a military community in Southeast GA, and the Finck family were stationed there for a period of time as I was growing up. They came when I was probably 9 or so, and moved when I was about 16. Since then, I haven't seen any of them! Shane has been stationed in Australia for close to 2 years now. I found out he was here about a year ago and decided that I needed to try and go visit! I love to couch surf, but it's really cool when you can stay with people you know already! My last time in Australia was spent along the east coast, and Shane is all the way across on the west coast. Not only do I get to see an old friend, but I get to see completely different parts of Australia!

Shane had to go to work in the morning so he showed me where everything was and let me know that he actually would be away the whole weekend for a work trip.  Fortunately, he left me the car! He got back from work around 1 and then promptly left, but before leaving,  he got me in touch with a girl about my age, SavHannah. She and I are going to hang out tomorrow, so that way I won't be completely alone.

My day consisted of sleeping, talking to people on Facebook, and then some actual phone conversations. Shane has a magic jack so calls to the US are free! It felt nice to actually speak to people versus the usual Facebook messaging.

Here's where the fun part came in. I drove to the store (on the left side of the road of course), bought pizza and Coke, and then vegged out in front of the TV, playing some video games. I can't even describe how good that felt!

Tomorrow I'll be getting up early, but I won't tell you why just yet... good night America!  (And the odd ball from South America that keeps visiting my blog)

Malaysian Garden City

Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia is known as the garden city. As you explore the large, hectic, winding streets, you begin to feel like you're in a jungle that someone brought buildings to. Huge trees line the streets on both sides and down the median. They've decorated their street lamps to look like big plants, and have overall tried to let nature maintain its dignity within the confines of a big city. It was quite impressive for that reason, but for the most part, KL is just another huge city. I say that with utmost respect... kinda. I'm just not a city girl at all!

There are enormous buildings, a few of which boast of records for their height. The main building that people would recognize if they've ever seen Malaysia on the television (I'm pretty sure it was the starting point of The Amazing Race:Asia edition) would be the Twin Petronas towers. They're a major part of the Kuala Lumpur skyline, and rightfully so. They're downright impressive!

I arrived in KL late the first night, and just watched the news from my hotel room. The government has announced that the flight that's been missing for weeks now ended it's journey in the Indian ocean. The somber mood in the airport was enough to sober anyone. My typical excitement at being in a new country was just overshadowed by this tragedy.

The next day, I'm not going to lie... I slept all day. I left the room to walk around downtown a bit, and ended up eating at Outback Steakhouse, but then settled back into my bed for the remainder of the evening. I've hit a wall that seems to be preventing me from having any motivation whatsoever. It's a vacation though, so oh well!

My last day in KL, I got on the hop on, hop off bus, and made my way around the city. The weather wasn't great, so I was thankful to be under the cover of the bus instead of wandering around in the rain! As the bus came back around to my initial stop (it took about 3 hours), it was time for me to head to the airport. I showed my cab driver the e-ticket, and he said ok, KL international airport. We got to the airport and there was no sign for my airline. The driver talked to some other drivers and realized we were supposed to be at a different airport! By the time we got there, I was running late, but didn't think it would be too bad. The self check in computers were broken, so even though I had no luggage to check, I had to stand in a disastrously long line to get my boarding pass. The lines to get through customs and security were equally bad, and by the time I got to my departure gate, everyone was gone. A couple and I were frantically convincing airport staff to let us get on the plane. Finally, they said OK, run. Typically there is a bus that takes you out to the plane, but since we missed that, we had to run across the tarmac, passing plane after plane until we reached ours. I haven't been that out of breath in a LONG time. Running is one thing... But running with a heavy book bag is a completely different ball game! In the end, disaster was avoided, and my short stay in Malaysia was definitely memorable.

Indigestion in Indonesia.

After a full days worth of flights, I made it to Bali, Indonesia. In true Asian fashion, the roads are crowded with mo!tor bikes, and 2 lane roads are haphazardly converted to 4. My taxi driver was a younger guy, probably in his late twenties. We chatted back and forth on the long ride to my hotel, and the conversation ended up turning personal. "Do you have a boyfriend? Do you have kids?" At this point, I knew where he was going with this, but truly didn't expect what happened next. He abruptly said, "I like your body." Can you say, awkward? He then began to explain what he meant, by pointing out in broken English, "You big here (touched my thigh), small here (tried to touch my waist) and then big here (he smartly kept his hand near my shoulder instead of my chest)." After my experience in India, I seriously wanted to slap this fool across the face. In such a situation, you have to laugh it off because realistically, he could get really mad if he felt turned down, or had a stinging hand print on his cheek. With him in control of the vehicle, I couldn't act too offended. Let's just say I was happy to toss him some cash and get out of the cab!

Upon checking in, I was given a delicious mango drink (non alcoholic, MOM). Once I got to the room, I ended up just completely vegging out. Room service fish and chips, a cold Coke from the fridge, and some movies on my tablet. 

Then....it happened... In Mexico, there is Montezuma's revenge. In Bali, there is the Bali Belly. I thought my stomach was unhappy with the greasy fish and chips, but the longer it went on, the more I realized... I caught the bug that everyone who visits Asia fears. 

My. Luck.

Cat-Man-Do

Sita and I had an extra day that we weren't sure what to do with,  so we decided to go to Nepal for a day. When we showed up at the airport for our flight,  we were told we had to go on a later one,  but were not given much of a reason why. Waiting for a later flight severely affected us, since we were already working with a limited amount of time. Upon arriving in Kathmandu (pronounced Cat-Man-Do), we made our way through the bumpy, winding streets towards our hotel. Even as the biggest city in Nepal,  Kathmandu seems very small, and run down. The streets are covered in trash, stray dogs,  and the occasional monkey. The roads are in complete disrepair,  and with no red lights to be seen, traffic is a nightmare.

A redeeming factor of Kathmandu was the people. Everyone was kind, considerate, and talkative. The receptionist in our hotel told us to go to our room and relax, and to come check in when we were ready. I admit, this is my first trip staying in hotels, but I grew up staying in the occasional hotel,  and I've never seen that before! Most hotels make you get checked in before ever seeing the room, no matter how worn out and exhausted you may be!

After a few minutes of getting settled in, we headed out to walk around. The area of town we were in is called Thamel, and is jam packed with street vendors and stores with anything and everything for sale. I started getting pretty frustrated when some of the guys just walking around selling things would follow us for 5 minutes or more before finally giving up. Their price for whatever they were selling would be next to nothing by the time they stopped chasing. What I learned by this is that you never buy something right away! If you're ever walking around in a place like this, and you see something you like, just keep walking. These guys were cutting their prices by 90 percent before giving up!

After a bit of wandering, and a lot of souvenir purchasing, we happened upon a cool little pub called Tom and Jerry. Before walking in, we stopped at a little t shirt place. The elderly gentleman that runs the place said I could get any t shirt with any design embroidered on it for $5. I ended up asking him to do an outline of the world map with my blog title over the top. I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow!

Some local guys in Tom and Jerry asked us to play pool with them, and I really showed up. I was making some ridiculous shots! Of course I didn't tell the guys that I don't normally play that well ;).

After losing a lot of our time this morning, I'm happy with how the day turned out.

Holi Moli that was fun!

After sleeping in until 9, Sita and I crawled out of bed and went downstairs to eat some breakfast. We had a date at 11 with Himanshi (the little girl from last night) and her sisters. We were supposed to be celebrating Holi with her friends and family. The street was a war zone of color. People on the back of motorbikes would throw color at people as they walked, and children were running around with colored water in their toy guns,  spraying the unsuspecting tourists. Men and women were spread out along the side of the street with mounds of colored powder in front of them. We bought one bag of each color and commenced the attack. Many people were very respectful of us and asked if they could put color on us before doing so. Basically, you go up to someone,  say "Happy Holi!" and then smear color on both their cheeks. Then they do the same to you. It only got really rowdy when the children decided you needed to be a part of their war...

Himanshi had Sita and I sit down while the men hooked up big speakers in preparation for a long day of dancing. She brought out plates of food and would have force fed me if I had tried to refuse any! Apparently we needed to have food in our mouth and both hands in order for her to be content.

The day was filled with laughter, color, and overall silliness. The young boys had color fights,  while the teenage boys had dance offs... The women cooked and stayed off to themselves while the older men watched the activity and acted as body guards. We were in a wide alley way, and people (presumably drunk by their appearance) would try to join in. The men of Himanshi's family kept forcing people out, and wouldn't let many into our little party. It really seemed like they wanted us to be able to enjoy ourselves and not get harassed. One guy that kept trying to take pictures with Sita and I got led out into the street in the most unwilling manner. He was NOT happy! It impressed me that they kept those types of people away.

While getting henna done last night, Sita quickly allowed herself to get wrapped up in the idea of getting a tattoo while in India. After relaxing a bit and getting some of the color cleaned off of us, we hired a rickshaw/tuk tuk and went off looking for the tattoo parlor she wanted to go to. We really should have realized this ahead of time, but all the shops were closed due to the Holi festival. We risked life and limb in that rickshaw for nothing! I'm all about new experiences,  but you can only almost get run over so many times before getting fed up. The driving etiquette in this place is terrifying absent. I'm thankful every time I can step out onto solid ground without injury!