Time Travel to Seattle!

We were sitting in Seoul's Incheon airport yesterday afternoon, waiting for our flight to Seattle. About a hour before boarding, I got an email from our couchsurfing host in Seattle informing us that her sister and niece had been in a car accident and that she was not going to be able to host us.

So all of a sudden we were going to be arriving in Seattle, with nowhere to stay!

Last day in Korea

Sitting at Seoul's Incheon International airport, awaiting our flight to Seattle, USA.

We had a great last day in Seoul. We went and visited a palace, then an interactive museum, then dinner with friends...a fantastic way to end our first visit to Asia!

Busy hiking trail...but worth it!

The weather here in Seoul has become perfect for hiking, and so we decided to take advantage of it. High temperature of about 16C (62F), and with clear sky and sunshine. Perfect to hit the trails.

Seoul is a huge city, and Korea is a very mountainous country. Depending on what you read, there are about 37 different mountains that you can climb that are located in the greater Seoul area.

Which one did we decide to climb? Well, the tallest one of course!

Wandering around Seoul

We didn't have a plan today, so we just made things up as we went along.

Besides, part of traveling like we do means that we have to spend a certain amount of time on the internet researching our onward travel, so we did take some time this morning looking up some things regarding our upcoming travel day on Thursday when we fly back across the Pacific Ocean to Seattle, Washington.

Back in Seoul (part 2)

Sunday morning, we were up at about 8:30am. June's mom made breakfast, and what a meal it was! Not used to eating that much food at that hour, and some if it was a little different for us. There was squid, and seaweed soup. I found the soup a little strong tasting at that hour. And squid has a nice flavor, but it's a little rubbery. But the beef and rice was really tasty.

Good thing we had lots of food though, because after breakfast we went for a hike with June, and headed up the mountain behind where her parents live.

Back in Seoul

Yes, we are currently back in Seoul. But we had a busy weekend, and we really want to tell you all about both days, so...we'll get caught up on two posts during the next 24 hours!

So first, let's go back to Saturday morning.

We got up at 7:00am, because we had bought tickets on the 9:40am bus from Gyeongju to Gimcheon. A direct bus only leaves three times per day, so we had bought tickets a day ahead of time to make sure we had seats on that particular bus.

Overall, a good day. But a little disappointed...

We came to Gyeongju because there are three UNESCO rated heritage sites here.

The city itself is nice enough, but I'm not sure I'd plan a special trip here. Our preference would have been more time in the southern coastal area.

A look at our "love" hotel!

Late last night there was a knock on the door and it was our couchsurfing host Kim. Ruth had left her cheap reading glasses in the restaurant the night before, and Kim had made a special effort to go get them and bring them back to her!

Have we mentioned that Kim is a great guy?!

Great plans, but...

This time, things didn't come together.

We wanted to see the show at the world's largest water fountain. We had read that the Sunset Fountain of Dreams musical water fountain was really something to see, so after the morning rain cleared up a bit, we headed out on an excursion to Dadaepo Beach where the fountain is located.

Overwhelmed by the generosity of strangers

It was forecast to be a rainy day here in Busan, but we figured we would make an effort to get outside anyhow. And, we had heard from another couchsurfer here who offered to get together with us and show us around, so we asked her if she wanted to join us. She said that she had a car and would meet us at a nearby subway stop at 10:00am.

It was almost 10:10am and I was about to give up when we heard a call from across the busy street.

Couchsurfing comes through for us again!

Just after I lamented in a recent post that I was a little frustrated with couchsurfering, one of the hosts came through for us in a big way!

But before we get to that, I need to update you on the last three days...

Our Beomeosa Templestay experience!

When we were discussing our current trip with Korea Tourism's Toronto office, they asked if we were interested in taking part in their Templestay program. We had heard about it, and thought that it would be an interesting experience to learn about Buddhism and experience a day in the life of a Buddhist monk.

They have quite a few different programs available, but when we read about one that has a "trekking" option, we had the pen in hand, ready to sign up!

Joined the Korean Navy!

What a beautiful day today. We just wandered the city of Yeosu, and what a lot of fun we came across!

Tom and Elicia had come up with a bit of a walking tour for us, and we figured we could do it in somewhere between two and four hours depending on how many little side trips we did along the way. But we found there is simply too much to see! What a beautiful city!

A temple with a view

We had stayed up late last night (past midnight!) with Tom and Elicia. Great conversation, and a few laughs too. They're a fun young couple with a fantastic future ahead of them. Anyhow, 8:00am came around pretty fast, and they still had to go to work. We were up pretty much just in time to say goodbye to them, but thankfully we didn't have to rush off anywhere.

We've been going pretty much nonstop since we arrived here just under two weeks ago, but of course we're only here for 28 days and we don't want to waste any of our time.

A long travel day

I think we traveled about 250 kms (155 miles) as the crow flies and it took us 12 hours to do it! But everything happened according to plan, including a great evening with our new friends for the next three days!

It was an early start to the day. We were up at 5:30am!