Seoul October 8th thru the 12th 2008

This was by far my favorite during my trip to Asia. The city was very cool filled with lots of history and tradition and the People were very friendly. During my visit we stayed on the Youngsan military base at a hotel called the dragon hill lodge in Seoul. It was very nice, it is there for Military vacations in Seoul. This is a picture of the Dragon Hill Lodge

Getting to Seoul was another story. Our flight left from Guam at 3AM and landed in Seoul at 7:30AM. We flew business class because that was all they had.......It was quite the experience, we flew Korean Air and it was the best customer service I have ever seen. there must have been 6 people waiting on business class alone and there were only 30 people in business class. the seats were like big leather recliners that virtually laid flat. they gave you the nicest Airline blankets i have ever seen. ( I will show it to you if you come to my house..LOL). The food on the flight was fantastic, and if you didn't like the Korean food just tell them and they will find something to make for you. Here is a picture of my friend Steve on the flight.

We all tried to sleep some on the flight. when we arrived I got my first taste of what I came to find out as normal when waiting in a line in Asia........ The lines are just there as recommendations, you could be waiting in a line for 5 minutes and someone will walk right up and cut in...... once we figured that out we were the crazy Americans because we never waited in a line the rest of the trip. Although we received some dirty looks, it really saved us time in crowded places. We had a Top US Military IT person take care of us while we were in Korea. his name is Roy Hoshino and he seemed to be everywhere for us. we never had to be worried about how to get anywhere because he not only would take us but also deliver all of our belongings before he even took us to the destinations. There were 12 of us traveling together, so we had over 30 bags ( see picture) that was a feat in itself to get all of our bags from country to country. I am now ready to be a roadie for a band!!!!!

We had a free evening the first day and we had a group dinner. It was really cool to go to a traditional Korean BBQ restaurant. You sit on the ground and cook the food in Woks that were heated by placing Nuts and Bolts that were placed in a big fire and then placed under the BBQ grill. The food was really good. we were all also introduced to Korean Liquor the firsts were Soju a wine made from wheat, sugar cane and sweet potatoes...it is clear like sake and takes like sake. the second was Shochu which is made from the same ingredients but tastes 10 times stronger.....don't mess with this one. The last was Makkoli which we ended up naming Macaroni.....it is a traditional Rice wine, like sake. It looks and tastes like unfiltered Sake, creamy and sweet. they serve it to you in a big wooden bowl and wooden cups. this one is dangerous because the hosts keep this one flowing never letting a cup empty......

Ok enough about that,,,, the food was fantastic, it was Beef, pork, marinated in spices and lots of tofu vegetables. if you like pure spicy food Korean food is the ticket.

So a funny story from that night is that we all decided to go to Etawon which is a city where all the US military people go to blow off steam, so it is full of shopping, bars and the other places you hear about in Asia. Since there are so many people looking for American restaurants there is a hard rock cafe, macaroni grill, McDonald's and Dunkin Donuts. We all decided we wanted to get donuts for our 20 min walk from Etawon back to Youngson base. We actually got asked to be quiet inside the Dunkin donuts.....when we didn't they kicked us out!!!!! we had only been in Korea for less than a day and we got kicked out of a Dunkin donuts. we laughed about that for days......

Here is what Etawon looks like

Also while in Etawon I visited the New York Tailors a famous place to buy clothing. I had a suit and shirt made for me from scratch, i picked the material and all style and it was ready in 2 days. for 250.00 US. The suit was fantastic.

Another are we visited was the electronics mart. This area blew my mind, I saw more phones, computers, DVD's and Gaming systems than I ever imagined even exsisted let alone under one roof. I went into a mall that was 12 stories high and every floor looked like a huge electronic Flea market. Here are a couple of pictures of what I saw.

We spent the nest 2 days in seminars. after the seminar one of the nights we took Roy to dinner at the Hyatt which is at the top of a hill overlooking some of the city. It is where president Bush stayed when he visited Korea, many of the US movie stars stay there as well.

on Saturday we had another free day, our largest customer in Korea asked if we were interested in taking a hike. only 6 of us said yes and so we decided to meet outside the Miltary Gate at 3PM. this gave us time to visit the Seoul tower. it looks like the seattle needle but much taller. from up on the tower you can see how big korea really is. Here is a description of it:

Viewable from almost anywhere in Seoul, Seoul Tower serves as an excellent landmark. Built on a 262 meter peak in Namsan Park, the tower reaches to 480 meters above sea level. When the weather and pollution levels cooperate, visiting the observation tower (370 meters above sea level) allows you to view the entire city and surrounding areas. Because of the vistas, many people enjoy climbing up here for early morning exercise or for a romantic stroll after dark.

we then met DK back at the Base and his staff picked us up we went to the top of a mountain and saw the some gates that were patrolled by the Korean army, I tried to take some pictures but they didnt like that very much so I cant share any with you, But the trail that we went on had milage markers and excersize equipment ever half mile or so.

DK put a great hike together because we walked all downhill. when we got to the bottom we ended up near a monument to a Korean war hero and then entered the area containing the equvilant of the Korean White House, It was beautiful. as you will see in the pictures. we then went into a traditional shopping market part of downtown to go to one of his favorite restaurants. we ate really great food.